[rescue] Space Shuttle Main Engine

[Carl R. Friend]

    On Sun, 17 Jan 2010, Sandwich Maker wrote:

> " From: "Carl R. Friend" <crfriend at rcn.com>
>
>> "SSMEs don't get the best fuel mileage, but the thrust-to-weight-
>> "ratio on my small Nissan.....!  :-)"
>
> you'd certainly top the urban folklore about the fellow who put a
> jato on his car...

    At risk of sounding like a mere pedant, I do feel the need to
mention that the proper term is "RATO" for "Rocket Assisted Take-
Off".  "J", as in "jet" assumes quite a bit of assorted ancillary
hardware (like compressors, turbines, and whatnot) whereas rockets
can be as easy as lighting off (via suitably violent means) any
manner of propellent.  (Note: black powder is not a propellant;
it's a low explosive.  Smokeless counts as a propellant, but do
not try this at home.)

> i've actually handled a bit of ssme.  in the early '80s i worked for
> an ultrasonic instruments company; i was a peon in a group developing
> a flowmeter.  it worked by sending clicks up- and downstream through
> the liquid and measuring delta-t, and they sent us a bit of plumbing -
> for the o2 iirc - to give it a try, but we couldn't help them.
> massive cavitation in the flow totally destroyed our signal.

    The operant question here is what they did with the results of
your test.  Did they jsut fly anyway?

+------------------------------------------------+---------------------+
| Carl Richard Friend (UNIX Sysadmin)            | West Boylston       |
| Minicomputer Collector / Enthusiast            | Massachusetts, USA  |
| mailto:crfriend at rcn.com                        +---------------------+
| http://users.rcn.com/crfriend/museum           | ICBM: 42:22N 71:47W |
+------------------------------------------------+---------------------+