Subject:
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Re: Galaxy Explorer (Was Re: Poor packaging by TLC )
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.space
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Date:
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Fri, 11 Feb 2000 01:36:07 GMT
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Viewed:
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2217 times
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In lugnet.space, Duane Hess writes:
> In lugnet.space, Steve Bliss writes:
> > We all have our prefered pet peeves. I personally don't care that many LEGO
> > space ships are not (physically) fully enclosed. But I know that annoys many
> > spaceheads.
> >
> > Steve
>
> It doesn't bother me too much either, but I imagine an open cockpit would make
> atmospheric re-entry a little dicy :-)
>
> -Duane
In the interest of providing a sense of realism, I always build fully-enclosed
spacecraft. Even in a spacecraft the never enters the atmosphere, the crew
needs to be protected from radiation. Our atmosphere, and Earth's
electromagnetic field, screen out alpha and gamma rays that are bad news for
DNA.
Now, for those spacecraft that DO enter the atmosphere, I have always wanted to
build the entire underside in a color that suggests a heat shield -- in other
words, black. Until recently, I haven't had enough pieces to do this for any
but the smallest models.
One might imagine a spacecraft that can slow down from orbital speeds (on the
order of 7.5 km/sec) BEFORE hitting the air. But a spacecraft that did that
would immediately be fighting the effects of gravity, or else drop like a stone.
So, we're talking fanciful high-tech here.
--
John J. Ladasky Jr., Ph.D.
Department of Structural Biology
Stanford University Medical Center
Stanford, CA 94305
Secretary, Californians for Renewable Energy <http://www.calfree.com>
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