NASA Building Giant Roller Coaster For Science 85
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.
Here's Demon Drop (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Whee! (Score:4, Informative)
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.
Re:Not to be pessimistic... (Score:3, Informative)
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 count. In that case, the launch abort system is fired and the whole capsule is carried away rapidly. This is actually what happened during Soyuz T-10-1 when it caught fire (link here [wikipedia.org]).
Where the pad escape system really comes in is those days and hours before launch when ground crews and the maybe the flight crew itself is out at the pad doing launch prep and some sort of accident occurs, such as a fire. I've done work out on the shuttle pads, they are really industrial areas, like a petrochem plant. Getting out in a hurry is tricky business, involving riding elevators, finding your way through the pad structure itself (which has hatches) and making your way to the ground. This system and the current zip line system is designed to get workers off rapidly if there is an emergency, especially before the crew is strapped in but after the upper stage is fueled.
Re:escape chute on rocket launchpads .. (Score:3, Informative)
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 solid fuel rocket on an escape tower atop the capsule would fire, explosive bolts would detach the capsule from the booster, and the astronauts would take a very short, high-G ride upward, away from the booster. Then more explosive bolts would detach the escape tower and a parachute would open. It was a whole-capsule ejection system. Never had to be used.