Timeline for Why did NASA wet the road in front of the Space Shuttle crawler?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
14 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Jul 30, 2019 at 14:02 | comment | added | Organic Marble | @aml instead of embedding a question in your answer, consider asking it as a standalone question! You're more likely to get an answer that way. | |
| Jul 30, 2019 at 6:48 | history | edited | amI | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
added addendum
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| Jun 28, 2019 at 10:53 | comment | added | Uwe | 2,721 t (6,000,000 lb) is the curb weight of the crawler with all tanks filled to the top but no payload. The lifting capacity was increased from 5,400,000 to 8,200,000 kg (12,000,000 to 18,000,000 lb). So a total weight including payload may be up to 10,921,000 kg or 24,000,000 lb. Ground pressure will be much more 14.6 bar, I calculated 59 bar, that is four times the pressure of the crawler alone with no payload. | |
| Jun 27, 2019 at 17:11 | comment | added | Organic Marble | The next picture has a more normal perspective (looking the other way down the crawlerway) imgur.com/OUhONpr | |
| Jun 27, 2019 at 17:05 | comment | added | Organic Marble | @Adám the gravel lane is 40 feet wide. The two lane highway to the right is normal size. I was holding the camera low to the ground to show the crushed stone but get the launch pad in the distance. | |
| Jun 27, 2019 at 13:48 | comment | added | Adám | That photo has an unusual lack of sense of scale. | |
| Jun 27, 2019 at 12:17 | comment | added | flawr | Thee crawler had 8 tracks, and of each of those usually 22 shoes touch the floor. Each shoe has a size of about 1.5 x 7.5 feet = 1.05 square meters, so a total area of 8 x 22 x 1.05 = 185 square meters. Assuming a weight of 2721 tons this results in a ground pressure of about 14.6 bar = 213 psi (an average car has a ground pressure of about 2.2bar = 32psi). So that is quite a bit, but I still didn't expect it to crush these rocks the way it did! | |
| Jun 26, 2019 at 22:04 | comment | added | wallyk | @NeutronStar: Around here (NW Oregon), most gravels spark slightly when driven over since they consist of basalt which is about 50% silica. | |
| Jun 26, 2019 at 18:16 | comment | added | Skyler | @NeutronStar quartz is piezoelectric and produces electric sparks when quartz pebbles are rubbed/banged together. In some places quartz is a common component of gravel. | |
| Jun 26, 2019 at 18:01 | comment | added | Kevin | This is a good reminder that this crawler is insanely heavy. It is listed as weighing 6 million pounds (~2.7 million kgs) | |
| Jun 26, 2019 at 17:49 | comment | added | NeutronStar | @RonJohn, perhaps "prevent sparking" could be a reason, but in this case the specific type of rock was chosen to prevent sparking. Don't know where in the world sparking on a gravel road might happen. | |
| Jun 26, 2019 at 14:26 | comment | added | RonJohn | Is "reduce dust" ever not the reason to spray water on a gravel road? | |
| Jun 26, 2019 at 12:59 | history | edited | Organic Marble | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
added 247 characters in body
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| Jun 26, 2019 at 4:26 | history | answered | amI | CC BY-SA 4.0 |