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From: bernhold@red8 (David E. Bernholdt)
Newsgroups: sci.space.shuttle
Subject: Re: KSC and tornados
Message-ID: <27967@uflorida.cis.ufl.EDU>
Date: 11 Apr 91 18:21:59 GMT
References: <1991Apr10.213011.8851@umiami.ir.miami.edu> <1991Apr11.161508.29856@zoo.toronto.edu>
Sender: news@uflorida.cis.ufl.EDU
Organization: Quantum Theory Project, Univ. of Florida
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In article <1991Apr11.161508.29856@zoo.toronto.edu> henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer) writes:
>In article <1991Apr10.213011.8851@umiami.ir.miami.edu> jdeitch@umiami.ir.miami.edu (Jonathan Deitch) writes:
>>... Would a shuttle on the launch pad be able
>>to withstand a tornado without too much damage...
>
>Probably.  The pad structure, nowadays, pretty completely encloses the
>orbiter, so the question is how the pad hardware would stand up to it.
>Such structures tend to be built for worst-case weather.

But one of the design constraints on the MLP transporter is that it
had to be able to bring the whole setup back to the VAB quickly enough
to avoid hurricanes or other severe weather, right?

I'd guess that hurricanes and tornados would have similar effects on
the pad/shuttle (aside from duration and advance warning), and they
felt it necessary to protect the system from hurricanes...

On the other hand, although Gainesville is a good distance from KSC,
my experience is that tornados are pretty rare.  Perhaps more so than
hurricanes?  Certainly less common than when I lived in Chicago.
(Tornados, that is -- Chicago didn't get many hurricanes ;-)

Just thinking out loud, as it were...
-- 
David Bernholdt			bernhold@qtp.ufl.edu
Quantum Theory Project		bernhold@ufpine.bitnet
University of Florida
Gainesville, FL  32611		904/392 6365