Space Forum / Space Flight / December 2005

Do spin-stabilized satellites have attitude drift requiring
periodic correction?
If not, why? Even inertial navigation platforms have drift.
If yes, how do they correct their attitude? Thrusters?

One of the limiting things in Earth to orbit rockets
is first stage initial thrust. The rocket engine
of the first stage has to carry all the weight of
the stages and fuel in the rocket and thus be big

I was reading about the airship to orbit idea, and how it is probably
impossible.  This got me to thinking, are there any materials like
carbon nanotubes that could concievably be used produce a large volume
vacuum container or "balloon"?  I recently asked one of those

I was reading about the airship to orbit idea, and how it is probably
impossible.  This got me to thinking, are there any materials like
carbon nanotubes that could concievably be used produce a large volume
vacuum container or "balloon"?  I recently asked one of those

Couldn't a large comet or asteroid go right through one of our lage gaseous
planets (perhaps not right through the middle, to avoid an eventual hard,
inner core), and come out the other side?
br

Why were early US manned spacecraft pressurized with pure oxygen at 5
PSI when the partial pressure of oxygen at sea level is only about 3
PSI?
I'd have thought that a lower pressure would 1) allow a lighter

Does silicon have plastic deformation?
And how is Silicon Stress-Strain Curve modeled.

I have this idea for an orbital rocket fuel refueling
station; has this idea been studied already?
The refueling station is a solar powered satellite which
scoops up water vapor from the atmosphere and then

I've long noticed that the problem with the space industry is
limited demand.  With demand for only so many space shots,
there doesn't seem to be a potential for economies of scale.
However, what if each launcher was composed of many

I'm trying to guesstimate the mass budget for a
Falcon 1.  Public information seems to be limited
at the moment, especially since SpaceX has
removed its Falcon 1 payload users guide from its

Large rocket engines cannot be reusable because they are
damaged by large Reynolds number. The Reynolds number =
Re = V*D*S/N    where:
V = gas velocity