Fwd: Hermes Final Message...

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From: b <rrdd3939@aol.com>
To: rrdd3939 <rrdd3939@aol.com>
Sent: Thu, Nov 22, 2012 3:41 pm
Subject: Fwd: Hermes Final Message...

 

                         HERMES FINAL MESSAGE

             by Richard DePersio with Citizen Journalist

Hermes: "It appears as if I'll be flying away. It seems like

only yesterday that I arrived. I got my nearly finalized walking

papers from the BIG Guy...no; not Zeus...Citizen Journalist."

Let's talk trash...no, you won't have to wash you f'n mouth out

with soap...space garbage, that is. It has become a major threat

to manned and unmanned space exploration and exploitation.

       Since Sputnik 1 was launched in '57 (A temporary aside

{where's the Adderall?}: It despicable that we have to pay Russia

to get to the space station for which we footed most the bill. It's a

disgrace too: we who won the Space Race to the Moon! We

know that deep spending cuts are dictated by BO's Debt Crisis.

Nonetheless, his canceling the Constellation Program meant

turning money spent up to that point into wasted money and

many lay-offs. Sometimes canceling a program doesn't result

in expected savings. The makers of Atlas, United launch 

Alliance, have indicated that they could achieve manned 

launches by 2014, about 3 years ahead of companies like

SpaceX! It would make Atlas happy. Remember: Since NASA's

inception in '58, it has been completely or partially responsible

for over 30,000 inventions and discoveries; for every $ budgeted

to NASA, you get a return of about $5 over 7 years; it is one

of the few fed gov entities that work. It too must take cuts but

they should be sparingly. We should return to the moon - BO

is wrong - for scientific exploration and for He3 and silicon; we

should develop nuclear thermal propulsion for solar system

exploration. We should do these things in conjunction with our

real Friends {except certain aspects - not all - which might have

commercial applications}: UK; Canada, Australia, Japan, Czech

Republic, Poland,  India, Guyana, Israel and UAE - the latter

 two will have to work out their differences. Obviously, some

can't contribute as much as others. Getting back to Atlas, ULA,

also is considering entering the space tourist business.

Initial flights would be expensive. NASA would keep ULA

fiscally viable until tourist business gets off of the ground.

Just barely with 1 - 3 flights per year for they would be

expensive {NASA must contribute to debt reduction but

exempt from the BIG Axe for reasons given. For more info

on these issues, please visit stages below --- good news:
elevator has been repaired). Where were we...you, in the

front row...since '57...right....Since '57, litter has been

accumulating in the space environment at a perilous rate.

It includes spent rocket stages, defunct satellites, explosion

and collision fragments, mission-related debris. Small

Category: objects smaller than a grain of sand; as they are

so small, it's not possible to detect them from the ground.

Medium Category: A grain of sand to about the size of a

melon; tens of millions fall into this category. Large

Category: A melon or larger; over 22,000 are tracked. By

 the way, there are about 700 working spacecraft and sats in

orbit.

       Space debris can render a satellite inoperative and can

kill astros aboard spacecraft. Think about this when you fall

asleep: a piece of space debris could strike the earth

unexpectedly or even if trajectory is known nothing can be

done to alter it. Scientists are working on the latter issue.

Goodnight. But wait!...

Nature of mission and funds will dictate the rocket employed.

Most common is serial staging: one stage mounted on

another. The most famous example is the Saturn 5. Another

method is parallel staging wherein usually solid rocket

boosters are strapped usually to the first stage. The boosters

are sometimes referred to as zero stages. The most famous

example is...correction: sadly, was the Space Shuttle. The

Titan 3 is a famous example of a combo: serial and parallel

staging. If the payload is destined for an orbit higher than

600 miles or is leaving earth orbit, a 3-stage rocket is

usually used.

      Multi-staged (serial) rocket's first stage once fuel is

consumed fall into the ocean while the other stages either

burn up in the earth's atmosphere or are added to our

collection of space debris and orbit the earth until their orbit

decays and they to eventually burn up in earth's atmosphere.

     NASA had to render a decision for it couldn't afford

both. The X-15 was achieving records in speed and altitude

but would have to go 3x faster to reach space. When

President Kennedy set the goal of a moon landing the choice

had been made for them: you couldn't land a plane on the

moon! Nonetheless, in '62 plans existed for a space shuttle-

type glider, X-20 (aka Dyna Soar - for DYNAmic SOARing)

to be launched by a Titan 3 into orbit (The Titan 2 launched

the Gemini spacecraft into orbit in our 2-man program of 10

flights; Titan 4 is currently our largest and most powerful rocket).

Six pilots were selected, the program was canceled in

 '63, less than a year before its hoped for first flight - lack of

funds. The Air Force had BIG plans for their own version. Not a

total loss - our NASA is always thinking -. R & D was used in

Space Shuttle program.

There are three basic types of airplane wings: low, medium

and high aspect ratios. Wing Loading: The mass of the

aircraft divided by the area of the wing  (upper surface of

wings).  High aspect ratio indicates long, narrow wings - less

fuel needed to maintain constant speed, less maneuverability;

low aspect ratio indicates short, wide wings - more fuel needed to

 keep at constant speed, swift maneuverability,  (examples: most

 fighter planes; X-15). A glider will be light and have long, narrow

wings. A plane not a glider can lift off at a lower speed than a

plane with short, stubby wings or can carry a heavier load  when

the speeds are the same (most high altitude subsonic crafts

such as airliners).

 Clarification: In "Hermes BIG Challenge" we stated that sounding

rockets are sent between 30 and 900 miles up. Actually, they are

most commonly used between 30 and 120 miles up: this is a region

too high for balloons and too low for sats to gather data. The

flights are sub-orbital: up and down on an arc.

CJ: "Plato not here. You're needed at www.comsat-ak.blogspot.com

If you can't connect directly, go to Facebook's Second American

Revolution - available to everyone.