But a Minuteman has to perform targeting operations, and thrust
control, because it had to hit something. An orbital launch system
should (I know little about this) be simpler. I'm sure there are
seals of some sort in every rocket. Just that we only hear about them
from the Challenger incident. And all seals can crack. But if this
was a maiden flight of a new vehicle none of this is necessary. New
technology is naturally less reliable than old, perfected technology.
>Cracked seals were specific to the solid booters of the Shuttle launch
>system.
>
>< seals could once again be the problem. Also, rockets don't rely on
>< computer controls. These are 20-year old technology. It's unlikely
>< they have anything more than a bunch of servos like in a model car.
>
>B0y are you wrong. rocket/missle technology was using computer
hardware
>as early as the late 50s. I know the first hardware I could actually
hack
>was from a minutman missle a rather strange serial word/math disk based
>machine that wasn't fast but apparently enough to do the job.
>
>
>Allison
>
>
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Received on Fri Aug 28 1998 - 10:10:34 BST