On 2017-06-01 20:44, Fred J. McCall wrote:
> You know, you'd probably do a lot better if you started thinking and
> stopped trying to go for some 'gotcha' moment.
In a context discussing possible launch frequency, you argued rabnge
safety takes weeks BETWEEN flights to get ready. I have tried to
understand this.
I get that they have old systems from the 1970s and need to prepare
punched cards containing all the paramenters. I get that this may take
weeks to get done. But surely they do this montsh before launch after a
company has booked a pad and provides the launch parameters.
Since the randar antennas are able to track a moving rocket, surely has
has the ability to re-orient itself to a new launch pad within 24 hours.
And if they have the punched card ready, then reading them doesn't take
that long to load the program and have the antennas move to their
designated "start" position and know how to move as the rocket ascends.
And since they are able to go from one launch pad to the next very
quickly, then "taking weeks" between flights can't be a valid answer
since they already turn around much more quickly.
Where they may have limits is how many flights per year they can load
onto punched cards if each flight takes say 2 weeks of work to program,
then they could only do 26 flights per year if there is staff that has
no vacation and works every day of the year.
However, that would not dictate turn around between flights per say.
Only maximum overall throughput in a year. (you could have 26 flights in
December, but all the flight plans and range safety filed and developped
over a period of a year).