Fri, Sep 19, 2003
'Capsule' Re-Entry Vehicles Will Push Space Technology 'Back'
Ten Years
The next generation of
re-entry vehicles NASA uses may look and act a lot like previous
iterations. NASA is seriously considering returning to "capsule"
technology, leapfrogging backwards over the 1970s-era Shuttle
design.
A Reuters report says that, since Columbia's loss
February 1, more and more in, and close to the space program, as
well as a growing group in congress, are thinking out loud that
capsules may be the way to come home, for a decade or more. Winged
transport is losing favor.
Add to that, the Columbia Accident Investigation Board
(CAIB) report that urged NASA to get on with whatever they're going
to use, to replace the generation-old Shuttles.
NASA has developed procedures for an inflight patch kit, so that
repairs to damage similar to Columbia's could be made
during a mission; the agency admits, though, that it might not be
copmprehensive-enough to have repaired the extensive damage the
last shuttle suffered, as a piece of foam breached the wing's
protective outer zone on takeoff.
No shuttle launches are scheduled until next Summer.
Could the current shuttle fleet continue to do the job? Not if
NASA is to go much beyond the roughly 250-mile high orbit of the
International Space Station. A current-technology shuttle would
never survive a re-entry from a great distance -- like another moon
shot.
So... does the next 'shuttle' have to have wings? NASA spokesman
Bob Jacobs said this week, "We haven’t spelled out that it
has to glide back to Earth and land like a plane. That’s not
a requirement."
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