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If the shuttle continues to fly through 2020, we can be guaranteed of losing another one, and possibly two, orbiters. If the shuttle is flown in a manned configuration for that long, it would be downright wrong to not provide the astronauts with an escape system. Such systems have been proposed in the past, but all have been rejected on weight/cost grounds.
Individual ejection capsules (on the B-58) have been tested at speeds up to Mach 2 and altitudes of 70,000 feet. This solution would also be light in weight and complexity. A crew ejection capsule, such as that on the X-2 or F-111, would be heavier, but it has been tested at Mach 3. Either would have given the Challenger crew a fighting chance at surviving.
For a Columbia-style accident, something better would be needed to withstand the plasma sheath surrounding the shuttle as it disintgrated. Engineers have looked at systems to survive these accidents. I feel that a spherical crew ejection capsule would be ideal, although it would be impossible to refit to the current orbiters. Maybe when NASA asks the industry to design a new-generation launch vehicle (not the diminutive OSP, which will have launch-abort rockets,) the spherical Voskhod-style capsule will be considered.
Who needs Michael Griffin when you can have Peter Griffin? Catch "Family Guy" Sunday nights on FOX.
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If you are going to design a shuttle like system to replace the shuttle I would also be in favor of a spherical ejection capsule. I suppose the OSP would have the same kind of launch abort system as in the Saturn V/Apollo system, right?
I just don't understand why some people insist on sending cargo and people together. If I understand correctly the Buran had the same capabilities as the shuttle but could be operated completely by remote control. I think it actually flew into space twice with no crew.
I say stick with small ships for people and large unmanned vehicles for cargo.
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Buran flew in space only once. Still, manned crews were always part of the Buran plan, in addition to cargo.
The reasoning with the shuttle was that it took humans to perform useful work in space like construction, retrieval, and repair. Even satellite deployment required humans, at least in the mind of the original shuttle planners. The idea isn't totally debunked, but separating crew and cargo is being pushed because it would result in a safer manned vehicle.
Who needs Michael Griffin when you can have Peter Griffin? Catch "Family Guy" Sunday nights on FOX.
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Well, I hope they keep pushing the separation idea. I can't believe that administrators would actually fall for the line, "We need people up there to deploy our satellites." Satellites had already been deployed for years without help from a guy in a clumsy space suit. And as for construction, repairs, and retrieval, maybe it was necessary to send crew and cargo together in the 80s but we can do a lot more with robotics and remote than we could back then. If we do need a large cargo bay and a crew together, we do know how to send two vehicles to the same spot, we could even do that back in the 70s.
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