TiME |
TiME |
May 5 2011, 08:48 PM
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#1
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Member Group: Members Posts: 613 Joined: 23-February 07 From: Occasionally in Columbia, MD Member No.: 1764 |
Ahoy mateys!
NASA announces Discovery mission selection for Phase A. Titan Mare Explorer (TiME) is among them. Har! |
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May 16 2011, 03:10 PM
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#2
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Senior Member Group: Admin Posts: 4763 Joined: 15-March 05 From: Glendale, AZ Member No.: 197 |
I suppose engineering specifics are way down the road on this, but I can't help but wonder what kind of materials and design they are going to use for the "hull" of this vessel. It's been a few decades since I studied materials science, but intuitively it would seem that it's going to be difficult to isolate the heat from whatever warm-electronics-box will be buried in the craft's interior, not to mention protruding instrumentation. Compared to the temperatures internal to most spacecraft, it wouldn't take much to nudge the outer structure a couple of degrees above the boiling point of the liquid it will be floating in (-250 -260 F or whatever the exact figure is).
The other issue that comes to mind is the mechanical characteristics of whatever outer cryo-materials will be used. They are going to need structural members that will survive launch vibration conditions and still retain or resist changing ductility and brittle conditions over such a wide temperature range during and post-EDL. It's going to be a fascinating process and I can't wait to read about the engineering challenges and solutions. -------------------- If Occam had heard my theory, things would be very different now.
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