I mean that the Hexagon forward section structure appears to be suspended from the middle of the Dorian spacecraft, hanging like a ponderous chandelier inside of a 10-foot-diameter cavity, with no visible means of support from below. As an aerospace engineer, this strikes me as a very implausible way to transmit launch loads to a spacecraft.
To "Anonymous 2":
To begin with, I cannot explain why you do not know what I am seeing here, given that I stated it very plainly. Secondly, I am quite aware of what the Hexagon forward section contained, also I am quite familiar with its shape; I worked on the Hexagon program for four years, so I am confident that I know one when I see one. Thirdly, the body of the Manned Orbiting Laboratory spacecraft, a 10-foot diameter tube, would have been a perfectly suitable basic structure for light baffles; there would be no need for a separate internal structure, which would have added mass to the design to no advantage. Fourth, if what I claim is a Hexagon forward section is actually a light baffle structure, why does it stop short of the primary mirror? Fifth, if as you claim, the Gemini B was to return film, where in the spacecraft would it have been stowed? What were the dimensions of the take-up reel? I would need to see the drawings before I began to seriously entertain the notion. What is your source of information on this, name and date?
Although Dwayne Day does not explicitly state that there is a Hexagon forward section in the drawings in his Space Review article, this is implicit in his statement, "Now a more detailed drawing of the 'Baseline MOL Unmanned Mode' has been released, showing far more detail, including what appears to be up to twelve satellite recovery vehicles (SRVs) used to return film to Earth." I count six SRVs that are visible in the forward fairing and I believe that two other objects in the nose of the fairing are something other than SRVs, but Day's count makes sense if he sees eight SRVs, which then begs the question, where are the other four? The only plausible answer is that they are in what is obviously a Hexagon forward section.
Compare the Dorian drawings with this Hexagon drawing also released by the National Reconnaissance Office:
I readily accept the possibility that astronauts did practice transferring film to the Gemini B, but in what context? The recently released Dorian drawings show that the MOL concept and design evolved over time. There is no doubt that astronauts participated in a number of exercises to evaluate procedures, because being engineers, they would have been intimately involved in the development process; that does not mean that a given procedure passed its evaluation.
Ode to Big Bird, Part 8: Dorian and Hexagon
More Declassified Drawings of Manned Orbiting Laboratory (Dorian)
Hexadorian, the Ten-Bucket Abomination
Debating Dorian and Hexagon
No comments:
Post a Comment