From: Mike Lorrey (mlorrey@yahoo.com)
Date: Sun Feb 02 2003 - 14:07:04 MST
--- Damien Broderick <thespike@earthlink.net> wrote:
> Very upsetting, terrible.
>
> Consequences and implications might be various:
>
> Swifter abandonment of the Space Station?
>
> Winding down of the clunky shuttle program, finally?
>
> A military satellite detected a heat spike. What exploded on board?
There is fuel on board, in the OMS tanks as well as in the fuel cells
that generate electricity for the shuttle systems.
>
> Officials are warning anyone who finds fragments to stay well clear,
> due to `lethal toxic fumes' from unburned fuel. Well, hmm, that
> sounds implausible.
The maneuvering thrusters do not burn hydrogen and oxygen. Don't recall
at the moment, but I believe they burn hydrazine, which I think is
toxic. Also, termal transformation of composite materials can produce
some rather toxic fumes as well. You might recall that there is always
a rather large fan that parks in front of the shuttle after it lands to
not just cool the tiles, but to blow away toxic fumes that accumulate
near the skin.
Looting/souvineering is already a federal felony in any sort of air or
spacecraft crash.
=====
Mike Lorrey
"Live Free or Die, Death is not the Worst of Evils."
- Gen. John Stark
"Pacifists are Objectively Pro-Fascist." - George Orwell
"Treason doth never Prosper. What is the Reason?
For if it Prosper, none Dare call it Treason..." - Ovid
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