NASA's Orion powered on for the first time
Discussion
scubadude said:
Judging by the stream fueling rockets is a leaky process, seems to have Over pressure release on the rocket and flaming off excess to the side, not very "green" :-)
Seriously- surprised they haven't found a way to trap this boil off and recycle it, seem like alot of wastage?
Often wondered this my self but it happens in a lot of places. The steel works at Port Talbot can look like the city skyline from blade runner at times. Rigs burn off as well, I expect there is the cost that makes it cheaper though?Seriously- surprised they haven't found a way to trap this boil off and recycle it, seem like alot of wastage?
jmorgan said:
Often wondered this my self but it happens in a lot of places. The steel works at Port Talbot can look like the city skyline from blade runner at times. Rigs burn off as well, I expect there is the cost that makes it cheaper though?
Yes probably but its bl**dy annoying when we get sh*t for not having the latest boiler and solar panels on our houses yet industry and others are wasting power so readily, anywhere there is a flame there could be a boiler and generator... in this case that flame could power those huge floodlights :-)It's only oxygen and hydrogen - not rare and not pollutants.
The exhaust is essentially water.
The Saturn family used kerosene and liquid oxygen for its fuel and oxidant. There was no boil off of kerosene as the rocket sat on the pad because kerosene remains liquid at normal temperatures. The exhaust of the first stage of the Saturn Is and Vs were not much different to a jet engine.
The exhaust is essentially water.
The Saturn family used kerosene and liquid oxygen for its fuel and oxidant. There was no boil off of kerosene as the rocket sat on the pad because kerosene remains liquid at normal temperatures. The exhaust of the first stage of the Saturn Is and Vs were not much different to a jet engine.
Interesting piece of information from one of the Orion designers interviewed yesterday - one of the reasons for going for a 'glass cockpit' is to save weight.
With a conventional control panel you have the weight of all the switches and instruments, plus the considerable weight of all the wiring to each switch and instrument, plus the weight of the structure required to support all that weight against the high G loads which could be encountered. All this also uses up a lot of space.
A glass cockpit using touch screens and keypads is a lot lighter and uses a lot less volume, with the added benefit that any changes or enhancements don't require wholesale physical rewiring, but can be done in software instead.
With a conventional control panel you have the weight of all the switches and instruments, plus the considerable weight of all the wiring to each switch and instrument, plus the weight of the structure required to support all that weight against the high G loads which could be encountered. All this also uses up a lot of space.
A glass cockpit using touch screens and keypads is a lot lighter and uses a lot less volume, with the added benefit that any changes or enhancements don't require wholesale physical rewiring, but can be done in software instead.
k up the last one!That's kind of what happened with Apollo. The Apollo Command and Service Module was being designed in 1959 even though no serious work had been done on what became the Saturn V until 1961/62 and the Lunar Module design wasn't settled on until 1965.
The reason why Orion exists and the other stuff is coming along later is because Orion was originally part of the Ares project, which was cancelled by Obama. He wanted to cancel Orion too (he has absolute zero interest in US manned spaceflight) but he was persuaded after much lobbying to keep Orion going whilst they worked out what it could do with no moon landing programme in the offing.
SLS arrived later.
The reason why Orion exists and the other stuff is coming along later is because Orion was originally part of the Ares project, which was cancelled by Obama. He wanted to cancel Orion too (he has absolute zero interest in US manned spaceflight) but he was persuaded after much lobbying to keep Orion going whilst they worked out what it could do with no moon landing programme in the offing.
SLS arrived later.
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