The novel Footfall and shuttle scenario

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Bash - 18 May 2006 23:17 GMT

Delurk time for me for the first time since the mad scientists sub
thread last year.....

I just reread Niven and Pourvelles novel Footfall for the first time in
15 years. Without launching (no pun intended) into a book critique, I
have some questions that perhaps the regulars here may be able to
answer.

At the end of the book an Orion type craft launches into space carrying
a number of small craft (stovepipes) and also all four shuttles that
existed in 1985. To each shuttle is attached an ET. I know that the
shuttle max acceleration is 3 G and I think the orion peak acceleration
at each propellant pulse from what I have read may be as little as 3 G.
That last figure is from wiki, hardly a reputable source.

My hypothetical questions are:-

Would the shuttles remain attached to the ET pylons during the ascent
to orbit in view of the pulsed acceleration. Could the nature of the
acceleration cause then to separate from the ET pylon during ascent?

Could the ET be attached to the hypothetical mothership on the opposite
side to the shuttle via the same pylons? That I think is the only way
they could have been hauled into orbit with the orion craft. I would
suspect the tank would collapse under two loads even at 3 g.

Would propellant slosh be an issue when the shuttles are undocked to
accelerate away? (not withstanding that the SSME's have no means to
start in vacuum) Could the OMS be used as an ullage engine?

Some of these questions may be a bit mad but any answers would be
appreciated...

Cheers

Bryan

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Terrell Miller - 20 May 2006 14:22 GMT

> Delurk time for me for the first time since the mad scientists sub
> thread last year.....
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
> have some questions that perhaps the regulars here may be able to
> answer.

that was the novel where NIven finally jumped the shark for me, until then I
was still valiantly hanging on. Have only been a sporadic Niven reader ever
since.

Two major peeves with Larry: 1) his stories all have pretty much teh same
plot (beings from an advanced civilization become stranded in barbarism and
have to use their wits to get back to civilization); and 2) he's spent the
last ~20 mainly recycling the same existing stories over and over again in
slightly different configurations (how may anthologies has he come out
with?).

Pity, he was my alltime favorite sf author through the '70s.

Signature

Terrell Miller
millerto@bellsouth.net

Many scientists recall President Dwight Eisenhower's warnings about the
danger of the rising postwar military-industrial complex, notes Mr. Happer,
now a Princeton physicist. In the same speech, however, Eisenhower also
warned: "We must also be alert to the equal and opposite danger that public
policy could itself become the captive of a scientific-technological elite.
It is the task of statesmanship to mold, to balance, and to integrate these
and other forces, new and old, within the principles of our democratic
system...."
-The Week

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Bob Haller - 20 May 2006 23:04 GMT

foam loss and management screw ups would be the main problems:(

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Bash - 28 May 2006 18:55 GMT

Well it's not as if they were expected to re-enter right..... :-p

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Hyper - 21 May 2006 06:44 GMT

> My hypothetical questions are:-
>
[quoted text clipped - 6 lines]
> they could have been hauled into orbit with the orion craft. I would
> suspect the tank would collapse under two loads even at 3 g.

If mass is not an issue, I guess you could prop a shuttle&ET. Even use
some shock absorbers to reduce shocks.

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Space Forum / Shuttle / May 2006

The novel Footfall and shuttle scenario