NASA Building Giant Roller Coaster For Science

Jamie found a story of NASAs Giant "Science" Roller Coaster. It will be used as an escape chute on rocket launchpads, and will be the 3rd highest drop in the world. More like the Cedar Point Demon Drop than a roller coaster, but still, I'd ride it.

Oh man.

Just be sure you pack the adult diapers for that ride.

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Oh yeah, because astronauts poop their pants in free-fall.

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"Oh no! The launch is a disaster! To the bunker! Wheeeeeee! Abort! Abort!!"

Escape shoot?

Somewhere, Noah Webster and Samuel Johnson weep.

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Prescriptivism became passe in linguistics decades ago. Why should we care what its figures had to say, when we now understand descriptivism is the way to go?

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The author of that book is not a recognized linguist.

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And Wyle E. Cyote mourns that they stole his idea.

More shoot than chute

From the description of it, it sounds like more of a shoot than a chute.

Maybe in addition to the Depends, you need a pellet gun to ride the thing, which would make the device a shoot and make you Psycho Astronaut to even want to go down it.

Chute, not shoot

I guess that needs to be corrected....

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I'm pretty sure he was making a joke.. how were you modded insightful? :P If I knew the people he was talking about the I possibly would have found it funny. And rather than his first respondent being on crack, I'm guessing he actually got the joke and was

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Oops, you weren't replying to that other post. My apologies - the summary had already been corrected by the time I read your post :P

Pedant Warning

It will be used as an escape shoot on rocket launchpads, and will be the 3rd highest drop in the world.

I think the word you're groping for there is 'chute'. ^_^

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With a huge rocket possibly exploding behind you I believe shoot is the correct term ;)

One minute you are sitting the aiming for the ky, the next you are hurtling downwards towards the centre of the Earth.
I hope the harness is easier to use than a real coa

Re:Pedant Warning

I noticed your post had a few typos... but I'm not a nazi

One question though, was the 'aiming for the KY' intentional? :)

Re:Pedant Warning

Well, when you've got a gigantic rocket pushing up your ass..

So,

not only do they get to go to space, but free rollercoaster rides aswell.

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This will be the most part of Space Camp next year.

the alternative?

Dying in a giant fireball? Yeah, I'd ride it too.

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I would sincerely hope people who get launched into space wouldn't be skittish about going on a rollercoaster...

Now my wife, on the other hand, would probably choose 'dying in a giant fireball' over riding a vertical rollercoaster...

Coming soon, Die Hard 5.1.1beta3

"F***, there's a bomb in the ship!"
*Fastens seatbelt for the chute*

"OH SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII...."
(Insert giant explosion in the background)

Is this really good for anything?

Has NASA ever had an accident where 4 minutes to escape is good enough? Most of the accidents that I've read about went "Boom" and was over, long before any escape system like this could work.

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>long before any escape system like this could work.
But they have to be seen to do *something*.

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The Apollo 1 fire would be a good example. If there was a cockpit fire and any of the crew got out, you'd want them out of the way and on the ground fast. That takes a lot less than 4 minutes.

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How is it a good example? The crew was dead less than 30 seconds after the fire started. With the pressurized 100% O2 environment they were testing with on the pad, it was more of an explosion than a fire. They couldn't even get the capsule door open befor

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What scenario are they planning for? Shuttle has the escape wires because there is no other method of escape. (At most times during the mission, your only hope to survive a Shuttle flight is to land safely.) Orion will have a good, old-fashioned escape

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Given the fact that the launch tower and associated facilities for Orion will be built / modified anyway for at a cost of billions of dollars why not spend a few extra million to provide yet another obvious escape route? Heck NASA could even license the na

They didn't even give the Wikipedia link

You can read more about it here [wikipedia.org].

There's a source of extra funding

Charge tourists for rides when the launch pad isn't being used.

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Yes!! I've long said NASA doesn't effectively utilize it's resources to get external funding. They didn't even respond when I proposed my awesome 'Space Shuttle Trip Lottery' program. :)

It's the Great Space Coaster!

http://youtube.com/watch?v=Dddm5bQeKvg [youtube.com]

Here's Demon Drop

Sounds like Taco has taken a ride or two...For those of you that don't know what that is here you go. http://www.cedarpoint.com/public/park/rides/thrill/demon_drop/index.cfm [cedarpoint.com]

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>God: When you do things right, people won't be sure you've done anything at all.
That's IT isn't it? Does that mean all techies are Gods? Yeah!

Pennies on your knees

The thing to do when you were a kid riding the Demon Drop was to put pennies on your knees. During the initial acceleration you'll fall faster than gravity and the pennies will lift off of your knees. Then - during free fall they'll hover in front of you

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I've been to CP probably around 50 times in my life (my grandfather was a software engineer there back in the 80s).. and I never rode the Demon Drop until this summer. I'm not scared of roller coasters... the only reason to go to CP is to ride the best

Whee!

I was at Cape Canaveral this past spring, just as a tourist. (Missed
Buzz Aldrin signing his book by half an hour, dernit!) We took the better
tour that let you see more of the launch pads and the construction sites.

Anyway, the escape system they have right now is a zip line. If something
bad is about to happen, the astronauts grab onto the harness and slide down
a metal cable. There's a sorta-fire-proof vehicle at the end of the zip line
ready to haul ass at a moments notice. Their instructions were to get in the
vehicle and take off. Fast. I assume praying would also be involved. The
guide said that MIGHT be enough to keep them from becoming BBQ, but not blowing
up the craft is still the best strategy.

Getting blown into space on top of a barely controlled explosion is still a
pretty dangerous profession. I admire those with the guts to do it.

Re:Whee!

Correcting myself.

I just remembered that they don't slide down individually. There's a
basket they all get into, and THAT slides down the wire. Still sounds
like a fun ride, as long as there aren't several tons of rocket fuel
about to explode behind you.

Not to be pessimistic...

But it takes 4 minutes to evacuate these people. Does any disaster involving space travel and rockets have a 4 minute window for people to escape? Normally if a life threatening disaster occurs, it's so fast the people involved don't even know what hit th

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Does any disaster involving space travel and rockets have a 4 minute window for people to escape?

In the accidents this system is designed to protect for, it can. This really is not to help out a crew that is strapped into a launch system during terminal c

Best ride people won't enjoy

Putting aside for the moment that the people this is intended for will only be using it in emergency situations, they are also the group of people least likely to appreciate such a "ride" even if it were in casual circumstances. These folks already ride a massive controlled explosion into orbit where they are weightless for a week or more at a time. Compared to that ride this "third highest drop in the world" probably sounds like a day off for their stomachs. ;)

Coaster trajectory versus old escape system

It looks like this track goes straight down along the launch tower, while the old system had wires going from the top of the tower at a shallow angle. It seems to me that the old solution gets you out of the blast radius quicker. It certainly stays farther away from the noisy end of the rocket.

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Either way, you're relying on that tower to stay standing for at least the first part of your adventure down the track, might as well build up some speed before you hit the independent part. Zip lines can break a lot easier than metal rails (would make se

escape chute on rocket launchpads ..

What they should design is a small engine-less glider that sits on top of a conventional rocket and in an emergency a small solid fuel rocket would propel it and the occupants to safety.

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What they should design is a small engine-less glider that sits on top of a conventional rocket and in an emergency a small solid fuel rocket would propel it and the occupants to safety.

Both Mercury and Apollo [wikipedia.org] had that. In a pre-launch emergency, a so

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I think a fully-enclosed water slide is the best solution. No time wasted strapping in, just jump down the hole and you're safe. Water provides some fire protection. Coat the inside with teflon so it'll work if the water supply fails.

Dupe

Waoouw. A 1-year old dupe [slashdot.org].
So, if the 'new' story link is slashdotted, try this one from the 'old' news: http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/content/?cid=4888 [nasaspaceflight.com].

reverse it

Now all they need to do is put some electromagnets on it and run it in reverse. Voila, a booster with 100% reusable parts :)

Buh and boom

> More like the Cedar Point Demon Drop than a roller coaster, but still, I'd ride it.

No doubt it would be highly exciting as the shuttle or rocket it was attached to is probably in the process of exploding.

Lemme know how it goes.

Giant Roller Coaster Of Science?

Sounds like something from the Bill Nye (the Science Guy) show.

(BTW, anyone know if that's available on DVD? My younger kids were just asking about it and the tapes I made off the air years ago are getting pretty worn.)

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Did you try opening another window and actually looking? There are dozens of different DVDs for Bill Nye, some are special DVD-only shows too. ..I remember when Bill Nye used to be on Almost Live.

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Third star from the left and straight on til morning.

No you fool! It's the second star on the left! The third star is a trap!