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From: henry@utzoo.UUCP (Henry Spencer)
Newsgroups: net.columbia
Subject: Re: Space tug - (nf)
Message-ID: <3573@utzoo.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 23-Feb-84 16:53:57 EST
Article-I.D.: utzoo.3573
Posted: Thu Feb 23 16:53:57 1984
Date-Received: Thu, 23-Feb-84 16:53:57 EST
References: <989@minn-ua.UUCP>
Organization: U of Toronto Zoology
Lines: 21

Scot Wilcoxon suggests, re a space tug to retrieve the mis-orbited
satellites from the latest shuttle mission:

  It might depend upon whether you want a tug which will last for 10 years and
  can handle any job (such as the one launching in 4-5 years), or you want a
  tin can with a rocket nozzle and a net.  Maybe someone is willing to gamble
  a little with some collection of spare parts which has a reasonable chance of
  costing less than the $50 million cost of a new satellite...

The question is not whether somebody is willing to gamble on building
a tin can with nozzle and net, but whether NASA is willing to gamble on
launching it.  One thing NASA is *not* willing to gamble with is the
safety of their shuttle orbiters, and so anybody who wants to fly a
rocket engine in the shuttle cargo bay has to meet very stiff safety
standards.  In practice, you would probably need to use a well-proven
off-the-shelf propulsion system.  And finding one of those that has a
useful total delta-V and is restartable, several times, in space is not
a trivial exercise.
-- 
				Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology
				{allegra,ihnp4,linus,decvax}!utzoo!henry