Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!floyd!harpo!seismo!hao!hplabs!sri-unix!dietz%USC-CSE@ECLA.ECLnet From: dietz%USC-CSE@ECLA.ECLnet Newsgroups: net.space Subject: Shuttle Follies Message-ID: <16488@sri-arpa.UUCP> Date: Tue, 7-Feb-84 11:56:00 EST Article-I.D.: sri-arpa.16488 Posted: Tue Feb 7 11:56:00 1984 Date-Received: Fri, 10-Feb-84 06:34:12 EST Lines: 34 Well, now they've lost two satellites and a balloon (the spacewalk seems to be going well, though). The satellites used identical PAM's, with fuel from the same batch. This seems to be a problem with the shuttle: since satellites are launched in groups if problems are found with one you can't easily fix the others without bringing them back to Earth and lanuching again -- very expensive. One news story I heard suggested the PAM nozzles shattered. Could the PAM failures have been caused by damage inflicted during the shuttle launch? I wonder -- maybe the vibrations were very bad in the payload bay this time. Were the satellites stored at the rear end of the cargo bay? This would be very bad news for the shuttle program (and very goods for Ariane). The use of a balloon for a radar target was pretty stupid. Why not just use a radar corner reflector? The Westar (at least) seems to be in a low elliptical orbit, reachable from the shuttle. Unfortunately, no one imagined that the satellites could end up in such orbits, so neither satellite has an adaptor for repairmen to grab onto (like Solar Max does). As a result, they can't be despun safely to be put back into the shuttle. I've heard future satellites will have such devices, which should help reduce insurance rates. Some other shuttle problems (not related to this flight): recall that UV telescope on the Spacelab mission? It failed completely. One theory on why it failed was interference from the surface glow detected on forward facing shuttle surfaces, possibly caused by the interaction of high velocity oxygen atoms with the shuttle. There is some concern that this glow will make the Space Telescope useless in low orbits (in orbits the shuttle can reach).