Xref: utzoo sci.space:7183 sci.space.shuttle:1284 Newsgroups: sci.space,sci.space.shuttle Path: utzoo!henry From: henry@utzoo.uucp (Henry Spencer) Subject: Re: Unmanned w/old SRBs (was Re: space news from July 11 AW&ST) Message-ID: <1988Sep24.053829.16201@utzoo.uucp> Organization: U of Toronto Zoology References: <1988Aug16.040406.5434@utzoo.uucp> <6137@dasys1.UUCP> <1988Aug29.172104.10823@utzoo.uucp> <6185@dasys1.UUCP> <1988Sep7.212736.6080@utzoo.uucp> <6377@dasys1.UUCP> <1988Sep13.164340.1289@utzoo.uucp> <484@c10sd1.StPaul.NCR.COM> Date: Sat, 24 Sep 88 05:38:29 GMT In article <484@c10sd1.StPaul.NCR.COM> johnson@c10sd1.StPaul.NCR.COM (Wayne D. T. Johnson) writes: >... why not remove the oxidizer from the >old segments and put it into the new ones? Possible in theory; very difficult in practice. It's not the most stable material in the world -- obviously -- and the setting process that occurs after casting is not readily reversible. NASA was originally planning on igniting the old segments under controlled conditions to make the casings available for re-use. As far as I know, there's no other safe way of cleaning them out. -- NASA is into artificial | Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology stupidity. - Jerry Pournelle | uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry henry@zoo.toronto.edu