I WOULD DO THIS.
... the reason is: Dead weight, as a counterweight, allows a "mini-Shuttle" (MAKS, Pioneer, Space Van) to use a tether ... Space Van, for instance, is a reusable Delta/Centaur adaptation designed 20 years ago with a payload of about 1500 pounds ... plus or minus...
The CAIB rigged the test 3 ways:
# 0. They DID use real foam against a real RCC panel, at the real speed ... BUT:
#1. Despite Cameras showing the Foam breaking up into a cloud 8 feet wide by 20 feet long ... they used a SINGLE slug, long and narrow (& wrapped in tape, too) so that its...
Jim: I was thinking of requesting it though at first I thought I had it directly from Ali in hardcopy 14 years ago; yours seems to be a bit updated (at the time Ali was perhaps overly concerned with the ET seam busting at Launch whereas wear on the main bearings, etc, provided so many routes not...
You all need to read Gregory Landis on this.
And Gold IS senile -- but brilliant. Note his claim that ALL oil wells are in Mountains, which he forced Scientific American to treat opponents badly for.
Re the Light/heat you will find that heat energy from the Sun is about 3000 times the...
Challenger was killed by the small explosions in the fuel called "Combustion Instability". However of the 7 known holes in Challenger's side 5 clustered at spots (the struts) Ali calculated overstresses at -- and (see the pictures in the May 1988 Spaceflight) one of these burned a hole...
A Foam cube broke the wing.
So what ?
SOFI Foam - often described as the consistancy of Shaving foam -- always breaks up into a fine mist when hit with a 1500 mph wind.
The Cameras showed this.
The Commission ignored that several percent of the Upper wing surface blew away long...
The "260 Inch" Solids blew out windows 20+ miles away
Every Titan or even Delta (despite its 2% loss rate) has failed when built large enough to carry a Shuttle's cargo.
The unpredicatable explosions "for no reason" are called "combustion Instability".
To...
In May 1988 Ali AbuTaha's Spaceflight Cover article forecast the Columbia Loss.
Personally, I believe Challenger died for a different reason, however, as his calculations showed areas of the vehicle would have pre-existing metal fatigue my own mechanism -- small explosions in the fuel prompted...
