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It would seem

By agentjka03 on 1/1/2008 2:08:28 PM , Rating: 1

With all of the continued delays, one might question how ready this shuttle is to launch. Every time they fix the last bug, another sprouts in its place. It must be a trial for the engineers and astronauts to depend on these spacecraft, when uncertainty continues to develop.

RE: It would seem

By Ringold on 1/1/2008 5:31:49 PM , Rating: 2

If you think back and recall past reasons for aborted launches you might note that many launches have been scrubbed by these blasted fuel sensors. There are 8 of them total, 4 for each. When they're in agreement that fuel has been depleted, they make the SSME's stop. I assume it's to avoid running those uber-pumps dry..

I was under the impression they'd go with one not working, but apparently not. I guess they figure if they lost one or two more during take-off, any sort of odd thing could go wrong.

Not sure myself if this shows its age or simply its wild complexity.

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RE: It would seem

By grath on 1/1/2008 7:52:16 PM , Rating: 2

I would go with wild complexity. Even when the shuttles were brand new there were still a thousand little things that would go wrong with them, the majority of which wouldnt scrub a launch because there was sufficient redundancy. Also considering that the external tanks are not reusable and this one wasnt manufactured more than a few years ago, age shouldnt be an issue for this particular problem. On the other hand, problems on the orbiter side of the system would be much more susceptible to age.

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RE: It would seem

By Scribs on 1/1/2008 8:47:22 PM , Rating: 2

Im going off memory here so I might be wrong, but I believe the external fuel tank is not the issue, it is the space shuttle fuel tank. The external tank feeds (again, off memory, so forgive me if I make a mistake) the internal tank, which then feeds the engine on the shuttle itself. The internal shuttle tank, which is part of the actual shuttle and continuously reused, is where the trouble sensor system resides, thus it has been a problem again and again for years.

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RE: It would seem

By Manch on 1/1/2008 11:16:18 PM , Rating: 6

quote:
You know we're sitting on four million pounds of fuel, one nuclear weapon and a thing that has 270,000 moving parts built by the lowest bidder. Makes you feel good, doesn't it?

~ Rockhound

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RE: It would seem

By kenji4life on 1/2/2008 12:42:13 AM , Rating: 2

It'd be nice to see the kind of advancement in spacecraft as we have seen in aircraft since it's birth. It doesn't seem like we've gone as amazingly far, granted we've going to space for a much shorter period of time, but rockets have been around for a much longer time than aircraft right?

What I'm trying to say is, why are we still flying in space with Cessna's when we should be in SR-71 Blackbirds or even F22 Raptors

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RE: It would seem

By kenji4life on 1/2/2008 12:43:16 AM , Rating: 2

Terrible grammar.. Sorry for that.

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Since russia can't use toursim anymore...

By lompocus on 1/1/08, Rating: 0

RE: Since russia can't use toursim anymore...

By ImSpartacus on 1/1/2008 10:08:56 PM , Rating: 2

I would think bringing the billionaires of the world to space brings a pretty penny. I'm sure it would help.

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RE: Since russia can't use toursim anymore...

By TMV192 on 1/1/2008 10:35:36 PM , Rating: 2

well Russians still have a lot of Soviet knowledge to back them. That includes a lot of experience with Space Stations, and the incomplete Buran program. I wonder how feasible it would be for them to focus on making a tourist only space station without all the technology involved for space research.

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RE: Since russia can't use toursim anymore...

By lompocus on 1/2/2008 5:01:16 AM , Rating: 1

They've fallen behind in everything already. I guess space tourism is a valid venue, however.

Dude...so it'll be america at pluto and russia with the space mcdonalds!

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RE: Since russia can't use toursim anymore...

By Cygni on 1/2/2008 1:34:36 PM , Rating: 2

Russia's (and the Ukraine's) space industry has hardly 'fallen behind in everything'. Their lift industry is the most active in the world with 18 Soyuz, 12 Proton, 5 Dnepr, 6 Zenit, 3 Kosmos, and 4 smaller launches in the last 2 years, with 2 failures (a Proton 2nd stage failure, and a Zenit ignition explosion caused by a foreign object.. most likely a bird)

Even NASA and the US lift industry knows this, often using Russian and Ukrainian companies as sub contractors.

When it comes to launches and space stations, literally nobody knows as much, or does it as well, as the Russians. They may have fallen on hard times after the dissolution of the USSR, and with no funding for so many years they were certainly rough around the edges. But the Russian space industry is as active as its been in 20 years, and they are most definitely not behind the curve.

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