Dear The Ghost In The Machine:

"The Ghost In The Machine" wrote in
message ...
....
NASA is going to produce and launch a mammoth exercise in bleeding
edge high technology including large span precision optics on time and
on budget? Uncle Al predicts panic in 2015 - and no JWST in sight.
Remember that NASA put woven ferrite core memory in the original Space
Scuttles.

It would be interesting to contemplate the effects of a stray
proton moving at orbital speed on a 0.1 micron transistor. :-)
I doubt they'd be pretty. That's probably why the engineer
decided to use such old tech. (As it is, I'm not sure that
proton wouldn't affect the magnetization of the ferrule.
However, a backup unit with error correction might help there.
Of course that backup unit increases the weight, which increases
the cost to orbit, etc.)

If Unc is correct about the Shuttle originally being a nuclear platform,
the the magentic cores make sense here too. Once the "plan" for a program
is set, the incremental decisions that support its inception are rarely
reviewed.

The diameter of the Space Scuttles' solid fuel boosters is
directly traceable to the summed widths of two horses' asses.

Really. The booster segments are hauled by train to Florida from
California. (Does the political bull**** ever end?) If they don't
fit through the railroad tunnels they don't ship.

Interesting. I'll admit to wondering why the infrastructure for
building the boosters didn't get built in Florida and the
raw materials -- presumably crushed ore and coal of various
types, but I'd have to look; I do know the finished product
is about the consistency of rubber.

Highly explosive rubber.

The "pork" for producing these went to two companies in Nevada. One of
those companies blew themselves up, breaking windows in Las Vegas, a few
hundred miles away.

Had it happened anywhere in Florida, the environmentalists would have had a
fit about either polluting the ground water, or killing crocks. And yes
the plant was staffed when it disappeared.

David A. Smith

\(formerly\)" dlzc1.cox@net wrote in message news:K9_Xa.6003$2g.5216@fed1read05...
Dear The Ghost In The Machine:

"The Ghost In The Machine" wrote in
message ...
...
NASA is going to produce and launch a mammoth exercise in bleeding
edge high technology including large span precision optics on time and
on budget? Uncle Al predicts panic in 2015 - and no JWST in sight.
Remember that NASA put woven ferrite core memory in the original Space
Scuttles.

It would be interesting to contemplate the effects of a stray
proton moving at orbital speed on a 0.1 micron transistor. :-)
I doubt they'd be pretty. That's probably why the engineer
decided to use such old tech. (As it is, I'm not sure that
proton wouldn't affect the magnetization of the ferrule.
However, a backup unit with error correction might help there.
Of course that backup unit increases the weight, which increases
the cost to orbit, etc.)

If Unc is correct about the Shuttle originally being a nuclear platform,
the the magentic cores make sense here too. Once the "plan" for a program
is set, the incremental decisions that support its inception are rarely
reviewed.

The diameter of the Space Scuttles' solid fuel boosters is
directly traceable to the summed widths of two horses' asses.

Really. The booster segments are hauled by train to Florida from
California. (Does the political bull**** ever end?) If they don't
fit through the railroad tunnels they don't ship.

Interesting. I'll admit to wondering why the infrastructure for
building the boosters didn't get built in Florida and the
raw materials -- presumably crushed ore and coal of various
types, but I'd have to look; I do know the finished product
is about the consistency of rubber.

Highly explosive rubber.

The "pork" for producing these went to two companies in Nevada. One of
those companies blew themselves up, breaking windows in Las Vegas, a few
hundred miles away.

Had it happened anywhere in Florida, the environmentalists would have had a
fit about either polluting the ground water, or killing crocks. And yes
the plant was staffed when it disappeared.

David A. Smith

The company's name is Morton Thiokol. The fuel is aluminum
powder, 16% by weight. The oxidizer is amonium perclorate.
A review board in the early 70s wrote that making the SRB in
sections would compromise the crew's safty but it was overided because
two of the top officials were close to NASA's top administrators. A
later plan to build the boosters in Misissippi was nixed because of
cost.

stephen kearney

In sci.physics, (formerly)
dlzc1.cox@net
wrote
on Tue, 5 Aug 2003 19:58:38 -0700
K9_Xa.6003$2g.5216@fed1read05:
Dear The Ghost In The Machine:

"The Ghost In The Machine" wrote in
message ...
...
NASA is going to produce and launch a mammoth exercise in bleeding
edge high technology including large span precision optics on time and
on budget? Uncle Al predicts panic in 2015 - and no JWST in sight.
Remember that NASA put woven ferrite core memory in the original Space
Scuttles.

It would be interesting to contemplate the effects of a stray
proton moving at orbital speed on a 0.1 micron transistor. :-)
I doubt they'd be pretty. That's probably why the engineer
decided to use such old tech. (As it is, I'm not sure that
proton wouldn't affect the magnetization of the ferrule.
However, a backup unit with error correction might help there.
Of course that backup unit increases the weight, which increases
the cost to orbit, etc.)

If Unc is correct about the Shuttle originally being a nuclear platform,
the the magentic cores make sense here too. Once the "plan" for a program
is set, the incremental decisions that support its inception are rarely
reviewed.

Hm. Figures.


The diameter of the Space Scuttles' solid fuel boosters is
directly traceable to the summed widths of two horses' asses.

Really. The booster segments are hauled by train to Florida from
California. (Does the political bull**** ever end?) If they don't
fit through the railroad tunnels they don't ship.

Interesting. I'll admit to wondering why the infrastructure for
building the boosters didn't get built in Florida and the
raw materials -- presumably crushed ore and coal of various
types, but I'd have to look; I do know the finished product
is about the consistency of rubber.

Highly explosive rubber.

The "pork" for producing these went to two companies in Nevada. One of
those companies blew themselves up, breaking windows in Las Vegas, a few
hundred miles away.

Had it happened anywhere in Florida, the environmentalists would have had a
fit about either polluting the ground water, or killing crocks. And yes
the plant was staffed when it disappeared.

Yipes. My condolences to the surving relatives, friends, etc. of
the workers. But I think you've answered my question...and now
I'm wondering whether we should take tj's tunnel idea and
put the plant way out in the Atlantic.... :-)


David A. Smith


--
#191, -- insert random highly explosive rubber here
It's still legal to go .sigless.

Dear Old Physics:

"Old Physics" wrote in message
om...
\(formerly\)" dlzc1.cox@net wrote in message
news:K9_Xa.6003$2g.5216@fed1read05...
....
The "pork" for producing these went to two companies in Nevada. One of
those companies blew themselves up, breaking windows in Las Vegas, a
few
hundred miles away.

Had it happened anywhere in Florida, the environmentalists would have
had a
fit about either polluting the ground water, or killing crocks. And
yes
the plant was staffed when it disappeared.

The company's name is Morton Thiokol. The fuel is aluminum
powder, 16% by weight. The oxidizer is amonium perclorate.

And Morton (of Morton salt) Thiokol is the only *surviving* contractor of
this service.

A review board in the early 70s wrote that making the SRB in
sections would compromise the crew's safty but it was overided because
two of the top officials were close to NASA's top administrators. A
later plan to build the boosters in Misissippi was nixed because of
cost.

I suspect that the decision to make them in the sizes that they are
currently, was either based on the distance between two horse's asses
(railroad track dimensions), or the ability to process such a casting (the
propellent) of such a size at the time they needed to meet contract.

A lot of technology bypasses such programs before their time is run.
Apollo 17 was very much like Apollo 2 or 3, in the computing department,
even though a lot of better choices existed. No need in looking for
"errors" when such things drive decisions. The process itself makes its
own errors.

David A. Smith

(formerly)" dlzc1.cox@net wrote in message
news:1QgYa.6325$2g.1790@fed1read05...
A lot of technology bypasses such programs before their
time is run.
Apollo 17 was very much like Apollo 2 or 3, in the
computing department,
even though a lot of better choices existed. No need in
looking for
"errors" when such things drive decisions. The process
itself makes its
own errors.

David A. Smith


Apollo 2 or 3?? Do you have any idea what you're talking
about?

Dear Steve Harris:

"Steve Harris" wrote in message
...

(formerly)" dlzc1.cox@net wrote in message
news:1QgYa.6325$2g.1790@fed1read05...
A lot of technology bypasses such programs before their
time is run.
Apollo 17 was very much like Apollo 2 or 3, in the
computing department,
even though a lot of better choices existed. No need in
looking for
"errors" when such things drive decisions. The process
itself makes its
own errors.


Apollo 2 or 3?? Do you have any idea what you're talking
about?

It wouldn't be the first time if I didn't. Apollo 4 is the earliest I can
find in the archives. As Apollo 1 never left the ground.
http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/lunar/apollo.html
I guess I meant to say "from almost the beginning of the program".

I believe the computers were in all of them, and were the original design:
http://www.abc.net.au/science/moon/computer.htm
http://www.klabs.org/richcontent/Mis...GC_History.htm

A whopping 74kb of memory.

David A. Smith