NASA busts booster booster An RL-10 rocket booster – the kind that just lifted the Martian Space Laboratory on its trip to the Red Planet – has been confiscated by NASA after being offered for sale on the Internet. New Scientist says NASA’s Office of Inspector General has revealed the confiscation in its semi-annual report. The Pratt and Whitney engine …
Does NASA need to have an "export license" for these sorts of rocket motors when they're exported ^h^h^h^h^h^h^h^h launched into space?
Don't laugh. Apparently they reclaimed import duties after launching ^h^h^h^h^h^h^h^h^h re-exporting a special optical window made of something expensive like sapphire.
IIRC it was a 60-70 carat (12-13g) perfect diamond used in one of the Venus landers, diamond being the only material with the right combination of optical/strength/corrosion resistance characteristics for a camera lens or such.
NASA had to pay import fees amounting to 44 percent of its cost when they imported it from SA, but the fee was refunded when NASA signed a statement that the diamond would not be resold after it was sent to Venus.
Can't find much about it on the web since its one of those little "pre-internet" side notes in space exploration.
"One careful owner, fell off the back of an Atlas launcher if you know what I mean..."
But seriously, WTF??? How does one of these "go missing" and end up on eBay? It's not as if you can hide it under your coat when you leave work!!
PS And who the hell would be searching on eBay for one of these, let alone bidding on it anyway?
I think every country in the world has seen schematics of this old beast. They've had half a century to send in spies, honeytrap engineers and managers, buy blueprints and parts on the black market, pay-off employees and contractors...
Do they think some crazy person is going to use this part and strap a dirty bomb to it and launch it towards a populated area? I wouldn't worry about that unless it's known that ebay has recently sold a 40ft long metal cylinder, a large supply of chemicals, a guidance system, a DIY self-assembly launch pad, and who knows what other parts are needed.
There are much more modern engines around, which would be what you'd want to look at if you were interested in nicking the technology. The oxygen-rich, closed-cycle, RD-180 engine at the bottom end of yer Atlas these days is a good example and vastly superior all round.
But those are Russian engines of course and not subject to US restrictions on trade. Best way to get your paws on that tech is probably to, er, go and buy one. Maybe the Russian space programme ought to open an eBay store?
" I wouldn't worry about that unless it's known that ebay has recently sold a 40ft long metal cylinder, a large supply of chemicals, a guidance system, a DIY self-assembly launch pad, and who knows what other parts are needed."
Have you been on ebay recently? It sells fair weirder shit than that.
First off.... NASA's not wanting booster tech to get out into the world.... NASA doesn't actually build things..Lockheed builds things, NASA's just acting as a government schill for their corporate owners and justifying their continued existence as the primary agency responsible for stopping anyone else from having a space capability and nobbling private companies with withdrawn contracts when they can't stop them legally.
Secondly. 1960's technology, No doubt theres been updates but if a 1960's engine still has secret bits they haven't really been busting a gut trying to improve the things have they? And as has been said, unless someone happens to have 300 cubic feet of liquid oxygen and hydrogen handy, they won't be getting far with launching it.
NASA and big Aerospace just seem more and more like a for-profit conglomerate trying to keep a monopoly by doing as little as they possibly can while going slow on solutions.
The difference being that the fuel pump on even a 50 year old RL-10 is driven by a turbine that generates 500kw. So just the fuel system has more power than any car you can ever dream of owning. And the entire rocket motor weights 140kg, so less than your car's engine. When things are are crazy as this you don't want complexity. You want every last possible thing that might go wrong removed. The sophistication is in the simplicity.
follow the money. Banks do it millions of times per second. They know who, what and where-they HAVE to or they'd lose control of it.
You could easily trace who received payment for the thing.
But not as easily as screwing over the honest folk.
which is how the Entitlement-Governmental Complex does things these days.
At the risk of being cuffed and stuffed for wanting "in" on Top Secret Stuff, does anyone know why that big pipe goes for a trip around about 1/3 of the upper exhaust bell?
I had a car once that relied on the gasoline passing through the fuel pump to keep it cool (and woe to he who suffered vapor lock when it didn't). Does this engine use the cryogenic fuel to cool the bell for some reason, and if so, why only one side?
Not a spy, just love real science.
...engines for several military aircraft being on auction, like the engines for a Phantom II. Except they are not designed to fit many different models of aircraft, if you catch my drift. Eventually the entire plane is on auction too.
But those folks going for the land record love when that happens. One of them bought the entire airplane with said engines (this time not a Phantom), removed the wings, and changed the landing gear. Presto, a land record contender.
And most of these boat races use(d) WWII engines from P-51 mustangs and other later models. So I heard.
The next stage is this, a sub-orbital-rocket-booster-whatever-rocks-you-past-mach-10.
No doubt this mis-placed 1960's kit has already been analyzed by the Russians - either this unit or one just like it. There are no secrets here, although NASA would like us all to believe there are.
What does NASA do for heavy lift rockets right now?? Oh, that's right. NASA pays the Russians to launch it.
The Register 
Biting the hand that feeds IT
Copyright. All rights reserved © 1998–2024
