This article is written for SAE-UK by our Executive Director, Dr. Anthony Mc Donagh-Smith, showing an insight into previously unexhausted areas of NASA’s activities. Of particular interest to budding Rocket Scientists will be the effects on human and animal life of close proximity to rocket launches. Consequently, the Space Program has always been beset by tragedy and arguments over the worthiness of NASA’s budget. In this article the effects of rocket technology on its environment and, vice-versa, the effect of the political climate on the Space Program are both discussed. The site was named the John F. Kennedy Space Center after his assassination in 1963, prior to that it was known as NASA’s Launch Operation Center. Before his death President Kennedy intended to move a second command centre to his home State of Massachusetts. His successor in the White House however hailed from Houston, Texas, the rest of that story requires little explanation. Future plans for NASA Only 2 more shuttle launches will be funded by October 10th, 2010. After 2010 when the last shuttle is scheduled to fly and Government funding for the Shuttle ceases - the Space Program returns to the more conventional method of astronauts atop rockets to launch them skywards. It seems that the era of the Shuttle has gone the same way as Concorde – too advanced for its time and overly hazardous. A simplistic view would be that there are essentially 2 problems regarding going into Space. Namely, the first is getting there and the second coming back again. The Shuttle has shownthat with the right methods it is possible to get back in a reusable vehicle which essentially glides back to Earth. The key is that the ceramic tiles can withstand     the massive temperatures of 3000 Degrees Fahrenheit. The business of getting up there is still one of extreme risk. The Greatest name ever in Rocket Science would have to be Werner Von Braun, initially an Officer in the SS he went on to lead the Space Program at NASA until the end of the Apollo Missions to the moon at which point he retired. Werner Von Braun always proposed that the rocket method of launching in to Space was too dangerous and indeed the tragedies of the Discovery and Columbia have confirmed that. Carrying humans on rockets filled with explosive propellants was not the ultimate ambition of Werner Von Braun. Instead the technologies that will eventually allow us a safer transport seem just as incredible now as the Shuttle did the first time it landed. There are essentially two technologies that hold the greatest promise for the advent of truly sustainable space travel. The first is the scram-jet technology which will open up the supersonic, indeed hypersonic means of propulsion in the upper atmosphere – the gateway to ascending into orbit. This technology on test at NASA uses an air intake profile to compress the air rather than a conventional turbine blade. The result is massive thrust at high altitude and therefore high speeds. Anecdotally it is suggested that a journey onboard a ‘hypersonic’ or ‘scramjet’ plane from London to Sydney would take 2 hours.

In addition, developments in Materials Science will make it possible to broaden the dive angle which is currently very small indeed for the return journey to earth. In fact these technologies work both ways both on ascent and descent. In the past the materials problems were believed to be completed around 2010. If we can solve these technical issues then a rumoured launch date for a Mars Mission at NASA in 2020 seems possible. It was suggested that Mars missions would be launched from the moon. We can only speculate that the motivations for doing so are constituted of the obvious advantages of launching under reduced gravity but also the continued suspicion that water persists on the poles of the Moon and Mars. Water would be the feedstock for fuelling such a mission as well as the humans travelling upon it. SAE-UK.org Tour of the NASA facility.   on the VAB’s 40th birthday using paint donated from different organisations over the years. Each of the red stripes is over 8 feet wide, marginally wider than a coach. The Space Shuttle is composed primarily of 4 parts; the Orbiter carrying the passengers, the solid booster rockets that are reusable and the External tank, the largest of the components which is used only once. Lifecycles of the individual parts are very approximately; The Shuttle’s Orbiter could be used for up to 100 missions, the solid booster rockets are lifed at 20 cycles but are only used for a maximum of 15 and the external tank is used but once. The cracks and fissures that develop in the dome of the external tank due to the pressure differentials of dispensing that much fuel make it difficult to reuse. It was explained to us that the call signal on every launch of ‘Throttle back’ is intended to minimise the damage to the nose section of the external tank, which would otherwise prove fatal. The external tank would therefore be a contender for the world’s largest and most expensive disposable item. The external tank explodes after release from the Shuttle. The whole Shuttle weighs 4.5 million pounds; 3.8 million pounds composes of 500,000 gallons of cryogenic fuel, liquid oxygen and hydrogen, consumed in 8.5 minutes after which the tank is jettisoned. The tank subsequently vents atmosphere and explodes. Once in orbit the craft travels at 17.5 thousand miles per hour which is 1 mile per 5 seconds completing each orbit in 90 minutes. The Shuttle carries a payload of 30 tonnes reputed to cost $1 million per kilogram as a general rule. The heat shielding is composed of 24,000 tiles which can withstand 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit. During the initial return phase the 4000 degrees Fahrenheit would otherwise be achieved except for an elaborate manoeuvre that presents different parts of the vessel to the braking direction. The Space Shuttle Orbiter vehicle itself is a 100 tonne glider which takes approximately 1 hour to travel back from the ISS, discussed next     Launch Pad 39 Surrounded by water (the India River, Banana River and the Atlantic) the site is protected by unpaid security guards… Alligators are abundant in the area. The Causeway road to Pad 39 has a surface that is designed to minimise vibration using river bed rock that crushes under the weight of the load providing a measured cushioning effect for the shuttle during transport. Apparently, the shuttle is attached to the Crawler Transporter by 8 bolts of 3 inch diameter. The carrier weighs 8.2 million pounds and has a top speed of 3mph but is rated for use carrying a shuttle at only 1mph to prevent vibrational damage. Pad 39 is elevated due to a high water table on the island. The fire pits underneath would be flooded without the additional height of the launch pad. Huge volumes of water are pumped into the fire pits of pads 39A and B in the 10 seconds prior to launch and 10 seconds during launch. The aim is to reduce noise levels from 180dB to 142dB to prevent the loss of any heat shielding tiles. Above 142dB the damage to tiles can be substantial leading to loss or damage to the heat shielding. Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) stands 525 feet tall and is the largest single storey building in the world (3.6 million m3) - also hurricane proofed to wind speeds easily exceeding 125mph. Despite this, hurricane damage repairs are visible from the image shown. Windows on the VAB are fitted with filters so that only diffuse sunlight enters the building to prevent damage to sensitive equipment inside. Originally designed for the Saturn V at 363 feet high which is now housed in its own building. The largest rocket produced there was just 6 feet shorter than the size of the door opening on the VAB. Saturn V was used in the Apollo missions from 1968 to 1972 including the final Apollo 17. The flag was added

International Space Station (ISS) ISS Development is also located within the Kennedy Space Centre. The ISS commenced in 1995 with NASA and the Russian Space Agency connecting the shuttle to the MIR space station. A second phase involving the Russian Proton Rocket in 1998, launched from the desert of Kazakhstan. It houses a liveable volume of workspace larger than two 747 plane interiors put together. Principle benefits include medical and materials research, for example, growing protein crystals more easily to contribute to the work being done on finding cures for AIDS and Cancer. There are 16 nations involved in production of the ISS. Currently it is orbiting at 220 miles above the earth at an inclination of 51.6 degrees to the equator and its position relative to your hometown can be garnered online at www.spaceflight.nasa.gov/station Operating in 91% gravity the speed of the structure at 17,500mph counters this pulling effect so that like all earth satellites the body experiences near zero-gravity conditions. 1 million pounds in weight, and 356 feet across and 290 feet long when construction is complete will make the ISS larger than 2 football fields. It is the largest, most ambitious space program since the Apollo moon landing. The entire lab for the assembly of the ISS is available for public viewing and the montaged panorama above shows the work as it happens. Human and Environmental Factors. Covering such a large area the Kennedy Space Center location attracts wildlife including manatees, ‘gators, and eagles which have been nesting there for over 3 decades, 500 species of birds, reptiles, mammals and amphibians. The danger of close proximity to a launching shuttle would be fatal to all such creatures. Shotgun sounds are imitated to scare away birds which are then dispersed by a circling helicopter over the launch pad which drives the birds away, following this the sounds of hunting eagles going in for the kill is played discouraging the bird’s return. Alligators submerse themselves and thus avoid vibration damage. Huge volumes of water are pumped into the fire pits of the launch area 10 seconds prior to launch and 10 seconds during launch. The enthusiast may have considered the flames to be the most obvious threat but the vibration damage from noise and thrust generated by a rising shuttle are invisible killers in their own right.   The effects of a launching shuttle causes fish to jump from the surface of the nearby Atlantic. Unfortunately for smaller fish the launch pad is shaped so as to exhaust the thrusting flames out to sea with the resultant effect that the smaller fish are burnt and so do not survive. Effects on a human standing within a mile of a launching shuttle would be deafness, vibration damage to internal organs and rupturing capillaries at the skin’s surface closely followed by death. Despite this people still attempt to view the shuttle close up for which there is an onsite SWAT team including a missile armed helicopter which follows the Astronauts to the pad and surveys the local site prior to launch. A safe distance of 3 miles is recommended. The images that are seen from nearby cameras do not convey the vibrational effects, instead the platforms on which they reside float on a bed of gaseous nitrogen. Whilst the images appear stable the experience of viewing at that distance would be immediately fatal. I hope you found this article an interesting insight into the world of Space Travel, the environmental effects of a rocket launch were most surprising and the diversity of the work carried out at Kennedy was also impressive, being both a site for the launch of the Shuttle and the development of the ISS. Interested Readers may find out more at; www.nasa.gov and www.nasa.gov/centers/kennedy Dr. Anthony Mc-Donagh Smith B.Eng. (Hons.), M.Res., Ph.D., M.S.A.E. Editor, DefenceIntegration.org