Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!ames!think!husc6!m2c!wpi!tmurphy From: tmurphy@wpi.wpi.edu (Tom [Chris] Murphy) Newsgroups: sci.space.shuttle Subject: Re: Why 3 SSME's? Message-ID: <4337@wpi.wpi.edu> Date: 28 Sep 89 17:07:10 GMT References: <24@loop.UUCP> <1979@hydra.gatech.EDU> Reply-To: tmurphy@wpi.wpi.edu (Tom [Chris] Murphy) Organization: Worcester Polytechnic Institute CAD Lab Lines: 20 In article <1979@hydra.gatech.EDU> ccsupos@prism.gatech.EDU (SCHREIBER, O. A.) writes: >In article <24@loop.UUCP> keithl@loop.UUCP (Keith Lofstrom) writes: > --- >albeit in the form of escape towers. It seems to me that you don't >just design a manned space vehicle by being satisfied with a >percentage of catastrophic failure low enough, you ought to >supply a backup escape system at least in the most traumatic >sequence of flight (vertical ascent). It seems to me that manned aircraft are designed exactly like this, by keeping a failure rate low. Perhaps this is a bad approach, but if it's good enough for commercial aircraft, it should be valid for spacecraft as well. Thomas C. Murphy Worcester Polytechnic Institute CAD Lab Internet: tmurphy@wpi.wpi.edu tmurphy@zaphod.wpi.edu BITNET: TMURPHY@WPI BIX: tmurphy CompuServe: 73766,130 If the Universe is constantly expanding, why can't I ever find a parking space?