Author Topic: NASA's 30 Billion Dollar Scam  (Read 161803 times)

Offline peter eldergill

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Re: NASA's 30 Billion Dollar Scam
« Reply #210 on: January 10, 2013, 11:01:40 PM »
I use scotch tape for soldering.  Well...to hold parts to perf whilst I'm soldering them down!  From what I can tell it has about the same ability to withstand contact with hot metal as my own fingers do.

Perhaps I shouldn't mention my own experiences with soldering :-*

Pete

Offline nomuse

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Re: NASA's 30 Billion Dollar Scam
« Reply #211 on: January 11, 2013, 12:59:14 AM »
Hrm.  It sort of bothers me to go in this direction.  Sure, it's Kapton tape.  Incredibly tough stuff.  Can (does!) hold airplanes together.

But there's two errors being made.  One is seeing what looks like a familiar material -- scotch tape, cardboard, tinfoil -- and assuming that this is what it really is.

The other error, though, is declaring by fiat that "scotch tape" is incapable of doing the job, or is the inappropriate material.  I've never had my hands on Kapton, but I've used scotch tape, gaffer's tape, and electrician's tape in a production environment.  I've used them in load-bearing tasks.  The point is needing to understand the actual environment of use and the engineering constraints.

Declaring "tape would never hold" of the LM is a failure to understand the operational environment; an assumption that what you know of things like cars jouncing around roads under 1G and being torn at by 60 MPH headwinds has diddly-all to do with what a spacecraft landing on the Moon experiences.  Both for good and for bad.

Declaring "tape looks cheap" is deciding that what you know first-hand of craft-paper work for a preschooler's party decorations makes you fit to understand the production process and direct the work of the skilled craftspeople of other industries -- not just aerospace, but everything you think looks similar enough to what you do in your own kitchen that you can stroll onto the shop floor and dictate the best way THEY should build.


(And, yeah, there is a bit of both of those when it comes down to the actual tape and adhesive.  Because as an outsider to those materials you are thinking in terms of direct experience, NOT in terms of the physical chemistry and physics of materials.  Because if you could actually do the work from first principles, you'd see just how those kinds of bonds are capable of weathering strains much larger than anything you've come to expect from your experience sealing christmas presents.)

Offline raven

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Re: NASA's 30 Billion Dollar Scam
« Reply #212 on: January 11, 2013, 02:08:59 AM »
I know of some of the uses duct tape has been used in Apollo, helping make a jury-rigged carbon dioxide filter adaptor for the LM and a dust flap for the lunar rover, but what sort of uses can you personally recount, nomuse, for duct tape in the aerospace industry?

Offline Noldi400

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Re: NASA's 30 Billion Dollar Scam
« Reply #213 on: January 11, 2013, 02:20:26 AM »
Eternidad, if you're still looking in on us, check YouTube for the Moon Machines series; there's a ton of good information on the various mechanical systems of Apollo.
"The sane understand that human beings are incapable of sustaining conspiracies on a grand scale, because some of our most defining qualities as a species are... a tendency to panic, and an inability to keep our mouths shut." - Dean Koontz

Offline raven

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Re: NASA's 30 Billion Dollar Scam
« Reply #214 on: January 11, 2013, 02:45:18 AM »
Eternidad, if you're still looking in on us, check YouTube for the Moon Machines series; there's a ton of good information on the various mechanical systems of Apollo.
I second Moon Machines. It gets a few technical details wrong according to more knowledgeable friends, but is still an intriguing look into the lives of the people who built the things in all their human detail, their troubles and hardships.

Offline nomuse

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Re: NASA's 30 Billion Dollar Scam
« Reply #215 on: January 11, 2013, 03:57:41 AM »
I know of some of the uses duct tape has been used in Apollo, helping make a jury-rigged carbon dioxide filter adaptor for the LM and a dust flap for the lunar rover, but what sort of uses can you personally recount, nomuse, for duct tape in the aerospace industry?

I have no personal recollections of the aerospace industry.  My field is the theater, and there are shows that are almost literally held together with gaffer's tape (which is -- in a lesser degree -- to duck tape as Kapton is to Scotch).

I'm willing to bet a lot that there are plenty of harnesses dressed with plain old vinyl electrician's tape.  And a whole bunch of more esoteric aerospace solutions that still come off a roll and are applied by hand.

Offline ineluki

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Re: NASA's 30 Billion Dollar Scam
« Reply #216 on: January 11, 2013, 08:57:10 AM »
As I said before, I won't be coming back until I have researched the Apollo missions properlly,

If you come back and still believe the LM was some sort of bad and shoddy construction, please don't forget to explain why NASA wouldn't even try to fake a convincing LM.


Offline JayUtah

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Re: NASA's 30 Billion Dollar Scam
« Reply #217 on: January 11, 2013, 10:35:10 AM »
...held together with gaffer's tape (which is -- in a lesser degree -- to duck tape as Kapton is to Scotch).

And which is actually the tape carried on Apollo and on subsequent space missions -- not duct tape.  The official supplier is Shurtape.

Gaffer tape is cotton duck impregnated with fire retardant and electrically insulative resins, supplied in different colors but used chiefly in black.  The pressure-sensitive adhesive is low residue when removed within a few weeks, and functions in a vacuum.  It can be torn easily by hand either lengthwise or widthwise (i.e., the cardinal dimensions of the duck weave), but maintains high tensile strength when axially loaded.  (It does, however, shear somewhat more easily than duct tape.)  It has been flown on every space mission since Apollo, for the same reasons it's so useful in the entertainment industry.  A square of gaffer tape is robust enough to plug a quarter-inch hole in a spacecraft pressure hull.
"Facts are stubborn things." --John Adams

Offline raven

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Re: NASA's 30 Billion Dollar Scam
« Reply #218 on: January 11, 2013, 12:46:35 PM »
Ah, interesting. I know the stuff aboard Apollo was the grey silver often associated with duct tape, at least on some missions.

Offline cjameshuff

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Re: NASA's 30 Billion Dollar Scam
« Reply #219 on: January 11, 2013, 01:09:42 PM »
Because if you could actually do the work from first principles, you'd see just how those kinds of bonds are capable of weathering strains much larger than anything you've come to expect from your experience sealing christmas presents.)

...I've actually used Kapton tape on Christmas presents. (It's what I had.)

Offline JayUtah

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Re: NASA's 30 Billion Dollar Scam
« Reply #220 on: January 11, 2013, 01:19:42 PM »
But the two pictures I posted of the lunar module are absolutely different.
One looks like a proper module and the other one is shabby and has Scotch tape all over the place.

Well, first, you can't tell the difference between the Apollo command module and lunar module.  So clearly you already know less about the Apollo missions that most school children of the 1960s and 1970s.  And you certainly know far, far less than the dedicated amateurs such as those here who emphatically study and preserve a legacy of technical excellence.  And in comparison with what I as an aerospace engineer, and the others here similarly situated, know about the field, you don't know enough even to warrant much further attention.  Your knowledge of my profession is negligible.  Do you really think such abject ignorance is the proper position from which to launch a critical attack of it?

Let me help you put this in perspective.  You say you have children.  I, however, have none.  I would consider myself rather inept as a parent, knowing nothing of the theory and practice of child-rearing, and having negligible practical experience in the long-term care of children.  Imagine what you would do if I told you that you were raising your children inappropriately and that I was going to report you to the authorities.  Imagine if the yardstick against which I measured your performance were nothing more than my own ignorant suppositions and expectations that practically no experienced parent shared.  This is exactly the sort of fool you're making of yourself here.

Second, and also belabored, these two spacecraft were built for very different purposes.  They look different because they had to look different.  The command module is sleek because it's also an airplane.  The lunar module is minimal because it has the highest fuel compounding factor for the mission.

Third, and further belabored, you still refer to "Scotch tape" and other wrong, preconceived notions despite their having been clearly rebutted.  We'll get back to this.

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You have not proven anything to me.

If your argument is "This doesn't look right to me," then you have the burden of proof to show that you know what you're talking about.  Specifically you bear the burden to prove that your expectation of what a lunar lander should look like is what a real engineering company would build.  Your romantic notion of what a real spaceship looks like is entirely irrelevant to how the industry really works.

You didn't reason your way into your beliefs.  You just decided that's the way things should be.  Therefore you can't be reasoned out of beliefs you hold simply because you like them.

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I’m not some kind of hoax fanatic...

Clearly you are.  As has already been said, what other kind of person would spend hours putting together a massive web site plagiarizing other people's arguments in favor of a hoax?  Lots of people put together summary pages as personal study and writing projects.  You expended zero original thought, neither in formulating your hoax claims nor in researching opposing views.  You simply plagiarized other people's work and subscribed to it wholesale.  How is that anything other than uncritical homage to hoax theories?

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...and I’m willing to accept defeat if proven wrong

Clearly not.  You continue to refer to "shoddy" construction for the lunar module even when it's been painstakingly shown to you just how wrong you are.  You don't have the faintest idea how the lunar module was built and why it had to have been built that way, and you are unwilling to accept information and correction from well-qualified practitioners in the field.  You are refusing the strongest kind of proof that exists, so I think it's fair to say no one believes your sudden forthrightness.

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I have decided to do a proper investigation into everything to do with the Apollo missions to the moon.

Based on what you say, I doubt it.

I'm the webmaster of the most widely consulted web site on the subject of debunking Moon hoax claims.  That site has been in its present form and at its present location for more than ten years.  On your page you reiterated claims that have been debunked for literally a decade, and which even a cursory effort at balanced research would have uncovered.  You had the opportunity to do proper research before.  You obviously weren't interested in doing it.  And when presented here with material that challenges your borrowed beliefs, you don't consider it -- you simply dig in your heels and re-assert your original claims.  Hence no one believes you when you promise us that you'll be doing more balanced research.  You don't seem especially motivated.

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I will be using some of Jack White’s findings...

No "proper investigation" of the Apollo missions considers what Jack White has published on the subject anything more noteworthy than the ignorant and dishonest ravings of an egomaniacal crackpot.  I have debated him directly, and all he could do was call me names and threaten to sue me.  He was shown repeatedly what was wrong with his methods and claims, but chose to ignore his critics and pay attention only to his fans.  He was never acknowledged or endorsed by any professional body of photographic interpreters and analysts.  His only "analysis" efforts were in chasing one conspiracy theory after another and lamenting about how agents provocateurs dogged his "obvious" brilliance.

Not only did White lack any sort of legitimate qualification or recognition as a photographic analyst, his basic spatial reasoning skills were so poor as to likely rank him below average among laymen.  He constantly made egregious and embarrassing errors of basic observation, all the while crowing about his supposed skill and basking in the admiration, behind walled gardens, of legions of fans who looked to him to give pseudo-scientific justification to all manner of irrational conspiracy beliefs.

This even culminated in his intentional fabrication of photographic evidence allegedly of fakery.  Not content with merely misinterpreting legitimate photos and "accidentally" cropping away exculpatory evidence, he put together his own composites and tried to trump up arguments that arose only in the composition, not in the original source material.  What better evidence do you need of his willingness to put his own goals ahead of serious scholarship?  Do you really want to continue using material so thoroughly discredited and refuted?

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...but I will look into them carefully and taking into account the laws of physics, unchangeable wherever you are in this reality, even on the moon.

There is more to the proper interpretation of photographs than vague recollections of high-school physics.  It is just as specialized and skilled a field as aerospace engineering.  If you've realized that we don't accept your bluff and bluster on the subject of how to build spacecraft, then you should also realize we won't accept your bluff and bluster about how to properly interpret and analyze photographs.  And in case it's not explicit enough, any argument that simply requires us to accept Jack White's opinion as if it were that of an expert photo analyst is an immediate non-starter.

Given your obvious bias, I'm not confident your newfound devotion to the "laws of physics" is going to reach a useful level of skepticism over White's drivel.  You had that knowledge a few weeks ago.  What prevented you from applying it then?  If you're now admitting that you have a lot to learn about how to interpret photographs properly, then I agree.  However I don't agree that you presently possess the required knowledge, nor that you're likely to suddenly acquire a useful amount of it over the next few weeks.

It might be easier simply for you to concede that people far more knowledgeable than you and Jack White aren't fooled by the handwaving references to "anomalies" and "inconsistencies" in photographs.

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You have not proven anything to me yet, even if you posted that beautiful picture of the satellite but that proves nothing.

Yes, it proves you aren't willing to be corrected on any point.
"Facts are stubborn things." --John Adams

Offline JayUtah

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Re: NASA's 30 Billion Dollar Scam
« Reply #221 on: January 11, 2013, 01:22:10 PM »
...I've actually used Kapton tape on Christmas presents. (It's what I had.)

Coincidentally my employees and co-workers did that to me at the company holiday party recently.  They completely covered their gift to me in Kapton tape, knowing that it would be nigh unto impossible for me to open it.  With some scissors provided by another attendee and a knife borrowed from the bartender, I was finally able to get through it.  It took just over four minutes; I'm told there's video.
"Facts are stubborn things." --John Adams

Offline gillianren

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Re: NASA's 30 Billion Dollar Scam
« Reply #222 on: January 11, 2013, 01:54:15 PM »
If you were inclined to do that to a person, why wouldn't you record it?

The funny thing is, my expectations of what a craft designed to land on the Moon should look like is entirely based on seeing pictures and so forth from Apollo.  This is partially my age; I was -7 when Apollo 11 landed on the Moon.  Heck, my parents hadn't even met yet!  So far as I'm concerned, Apollo is exactly what lunar landing craft would look like and the stuff in the movies looks fake and silly.  I'm much happier that way; I like being more in touch with reality than fiction.
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Offline JayUtah

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Re: NASA's 30 Billion Dollar Scam
« Reply #223 on: January 11, 2013, 02:05:12 PM »
Ah, interesting. I know the stuff aboard Apollo was the grey silver often associated with duct tape, at least on some missions.

Most notably Apollo 17.  And in 1972 what you bought as gray-silver duct tape was very similar to what you now buy as gaffer tape.  Today's duct tape has departed from its original form, and what you now buy as gaffer tape more closely carries on the legacy of the early product.  In short, it makes sense only today to differentiate so markedly between duct tape and gaffer tape.  However modern space usage continues with the gaffer tape, owing to experience learned through Apollo.  In short(er), yes it's unfair to distinguish between gaffer tape and duct tape in the context of a 1972 space mission.

Modern duct tape has gone the route of a polyethylene membrane attached to a scrim of natural or artificial fibers.  That formulation existed in Apollo times, but was unsuitable for various reasons, most notably not being hand-tearable.  Mission rules strictly limited the use of cutting tools while wearing a space suit.  Hand-tearability was a requirement for Apollo and remains a requirement for modern space usage.  Gaffer tape today has better adhesives than duct tape, specifically so that it doesn't contaminate fingers or other surfaces.

And conversely you can still get aluminized gaffer tape, which is specified for high-temperature applications.  But for most entertainment purposes it eschewed in favor of matte black, for visual reasons.  The plastic in gaffer tape is vinyl -- as noted, respected for its thermal and electrical insulative properties.  But rather than being a vinyl membrane, the vinyl is impregnated into the fabric.  The duck is a very tight weave, like a muslin.

The products have diverged a great deal.  They have that common ancestor, so I'm okay calling Apollo 17's provision "duct tape."  What you see in Apollo 17, during the attempt to repair the rover fender, is aluminized, vinyl-impregnated cotton duck.  What you see in Apollo 13 is gray gaffer tape, which is a reasonable stand-in.  What they carried on the space shuttle is gaffer tape manufactured by Shurtape.

There has been some debate whether "speed tape" was used in all these contexts, but speed tape isn't generally hand-tearable.
"Facts are stubborn things." --John Adams

Offline raven

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Re: NASA's 30 Billion Dollar Scam
« Reply #224 on: January 11, 2013, 02:44:00 PM »
Ah, interesting. I know the stuff aboard Apollo was the grey silver often associated with duct tape, at least on some missions.

Most notably Apollo 17.
I don't know about most notibly. Without duct, or gaffer, tape, the crew of Apollo 13 wouldn't have made it back home, though I understand the danger of rooster-tails from a broken fender from a thermal control perspective.
Thank you though for the fascinating reading on the present and past differences of duct tape and gaffer tape.
« Last Edit: January 11, 2013, 03:05:07 PM by raven »