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Author
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Topic: Shuttle RCC leading edge wing sample
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composite_w
New Member Posts: 2
From: Washington, USA
Registered: Feb 2020
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posted 03-29-2020 09:39 PM
  
I recently purchased this sample on eBay, with little documentation. Purportedly from Space Shuttle Columbia. Seller was in New York, where I do know Northrop's composites center of excellence is located, but I don't know if that is related or not.I work in the composites field, so I can say it does look like a composite and might be reinforced carbon/carbon (RCC), but I don't know what someone would have a framed sample like this, with "orbitor" spelled wrong. I occasionally teach classes for the boy scouts/civil air patrol/etc, so I thought it would be a nice show and tell piece. Anyone have any thoughts they could share about it? Trying to figure out how to work the background of it into my classes.  |
SpaceAholic
Member Posts: 4488
From: Sierra Vista, Arizona
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 03-29-2020 09:50 PM
Looks like a legit example of carbon carbon (of course it would be layered and conformally molded for flight vehicle application). |
composite_w
New Member Posts: 2
From: Washington, USA
Registered: Feb 2020
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posted 03-30-2020 06:55 PM
Thanks for the reply. Is this legal to own? I'd expect something like a NASA scrap tag at a minimum, or I'd risk confiscation if I asked them to authenticate it, correct? I would think this would be ITAR restricted. I've never seen RCC in the "wild" before — has anyone else? |
SpaceAholic
Member Posts: 4488
From: Sierra Vista, Arizona
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 03-30-2020 07:23 PM
This is a sample (presentation layer) of RCC before component fabrication. Voight Corporation manufactured the RCC components so title was not transferred (most likely) to NASA. It is ITAR restricted, if you are a US citizen ownership is fine. |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 43494
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 03-30-2020 07:39 PM
quote:
Originally posted by composite_w:
I've never seen RCC in the "wild" before — has anyone else?
Your sample appears to have originated from a seller who claimed to find a small supply of the material at a yard sale. He said they were prepared for the Columbia Accident Investigation Board members, but I spoke to the chair of the board and one of its members and they had no knowledge of it.I have one (with the same misspelling but a different style mount) and the (alleged) RCC appears to match a sample I have from a desktop set presented by Voight to space shuttle program manager John Yardley (obtained from Yardley's estate). But I don't know; the material would need to be tested to know for sure. (I also have a segment embedded in acrylic that was part of Columbia for its first three missions and then was presented by Voight to Michael Collins, who at the time was a vice president at the company. So it is another example "in the wild.") |
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