R
rogers_buck
Guest
I know its too late for the STS, but it would be interesting to catalog some ideas for how to protect an ET type assembly from icing to eliminate the foam problems experienced by the shuttle.<br /><br />Hwere are a few ideas that come to mind.<br /><br />1) ET condom. A plastic envelope baloon filled with He or dry Nitrogen. At launch, the bag would pull away.<br />2) Pyro-foam. When the solids ignite, so does the ET foam. It burns and spalls off at a low temperature that will not damage the vehicle. The foam would burn off by the time the tank hit 20,000 feet the tank would be bare.<br />3) Microwave beams bathing the tank in combination with a thin layer of foam. Ice would be evaporated keeping the tank nice and dry even though it would be cold.<br /><br />These might be dumb ideas, but so is the FOAM!<br />