03-11-2006, 01:13 AM
cat bed heaters have been around for decades. He proposed that they remotely reroute the fuel flow throughout the entire spacecraft and keep the fuel flowing in a huge loop and back in to the fuel tank. Turn the fuel into coolant, and the entire craft into a heat sink. All this to prevent the valve from overheating. It was supposed to be a huge joke, and they took him seriously. It must have worked. It had about a 2% chance of working, according to the guestimates.
This was an off the cuff wild-ass solution with the craft 2/3 of the way there. "What could be done remotely?"
He actually took the time to look at the data coming back from the telemetry. He had casually spotted the problem not soon after launch, but it wasn't his dept or his responsibility at that stage in the game. They came to him, and he pointed out that he told them on such and such a day in his memo number whatever that this would likely happen, and pulled it up on his computer screen, and he then told them he had been ignored. He bails them out, and his boss takes the credit for his dept finding the problem and providing the solution. This was after he was the one who burned up the money that would have gone to engineer the system properly in the first place..
I am the contracted photo/video guy. I worked on staff for 4 years, got laid off, then hired back 6 months latter for twice the money, and half the work. But before I changed school paths back to my passion of photography, I was studying engineering. The math kicked my ass, and that was that. It was rather disconcerting, as I understand the basics of physics and chemistry rather well, and I am genuinely interested in learning where and when i can. So when i ask questions at work, and they are thoughtful and intelligent, I usually get quite a good schooling. 3 of my drinking buddies are engineers (and I grew up with them) 2 are aerospace engineers (one the thermal expert, known worldwide) and the third is an EE with the power company with a background in generation plants. the fourth buddy is a master outboard/inboard engine mechanic.
So I learn an awful lot when we BS at the bar, at work, or out on the boats they own. Lots of guy talk when 4 single guys get together plus me (I am the only one married). 2 of them have garages bigger than their houses, and one owns his own forklift! Why? because it was cheap, and he always wanted his own forklift.
Hydrazine pour it on rich organic dirt, and watch it burst into flames! Roughly 5000 per lb for the High-Pure spec stuff. When a sattelite tank may hold 500 lbs of fuel, that's a very expensive fuel fill-up.
This was an off the cuff wild-ass solution with the craft 2/3 of the way there. "What could be done remotely?"
He actually took the time to look at the data coming back from the telemetry. He had casually spotted the problem not soon after launch, but it wasn't his dept or his responsibility at that stage in the game. They came to him, and he pointed out that he told them on such and such a day in his memo number whatever that this would likely happen, and pulled it up on his computer screen, and he then told them he had been ignored. He bails them out, and his boss takes the credit for his dept finding the problem and providing the solution. This was after he was the one who burned up the money that would have gone to engineer the system properly in the first place..
I am the contracted photo/video guy. I worked on staff for 4 years, got laid off, then hired back 6 months latter for twice the money, and half the work. But before I changed school paths back to my passion of photography, I was studying engineering. The math kicked my ass, and that was that. It was rather disconcerting, as I understand the basics of physics and chemistry rather well, and I am genuinely interested in learning where and when i can. So when i ask questions at work, and they are thoughtful and intelligent, I usually get quite a good schooling. 3 of my drinking buddies are engineers (and I grew up with them) 2 are aerospace engineers (one the thermal expert, known worldwide) and the third is an EE with the power company with a background in generation plants. the fourth buddy is a master outboard/inboard engine mechanic.
So I learn an awful lot when we BS at the bar, at work, or out on the boats they own. Lots of guy talk when 4 single guys get together plus me (I am the only one married). 2 of them have garages bigger than their houses, and one owns his own forklift! Why? because it was cheap, and he always wanted his own forklift.
Hydrazine