Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!att!ihlpl!knudsen
From: knudsen@ihlpl.ATT.COM (Knudsen)
Newsgroups: sci.space.shuttle
Subject: Re: What's Wrong with this Picture?
Message-ID: <7016@ihlpl.ATT.COM>
Date: 3 Oct 88 20:55:24 GMT
References: <6981@ihlpl.ATT.COM> <1988Oct2.021158.15076@utzoo.uucp> <5705@killer.DALLAS.TX.US>
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories - Naperville, Illinois
Lines: 31

In article <5705@killer.DALLAS.TX.US>, rcj@killer.DALLAS.TX.US (Robert Johnson) writes:
> With the incresing speculation on the Soviet Shuttle, I was just wondering
> why the hell they are using Energia?  The whole advantage to ours is that
> our main engines are reusable.  The Energia and engines will fry, and all
> that will be reusable is the shuttle itself, and maybe the SRB's (well, 
> LFRB's...).  All I have to say to this is why?  It's akin to sticking a
> Shuttle on a Saturn V...Sorta defeats the purpose.

Well, I've thought about this, and maybe saving the main engines
is not the only purpose of a shuttlecraft.
First, the Soviet engines are probably a lot cheaper than ours
(built to use only once), and the Soviets don't have to be quite so
gung-ho on cost-cutting -- they shoot off lots of expendables.
(Ironically, with Mir they have a good use for recoverables, tho).

Remember, the orbiter itself is 100% re-usable.  We never re-used
any of our space capsules with ablative heat shields, tho maybe
with the constant Mir traffic the Russians do.  And they'll
turn their orbiters around a lot faster since they don't have to
refurbish the engines (we don't just refuel our SSMEs -- they
get dismounted and overhauled).

Their shuttle can still deploy heavy payloads needing human assistance,
and bring back satellites in the cargo bay.  And they can glide
and land lighter without dragging the main engines back in their tail.

Splashing down in the ocean (or a Soviet beet field) under parachutes
is an undignified, dangerous, and bumpy way to come back to Earth.
If we had Saturn V's, I'm not so sure that strapping engineless
orbiters to them would be such a bad idea.  Although I'd sure work on
a parachute scheme to get those F1 1st-stage engines back.