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  Help identifying orbiter high temp insulator?

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Author Topic:   Help identifying orbiter high temp insulator?
7 Forty7
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posted 02-03-2009 03:37 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for 7 Forty7   Click Here to Email 7 Forty7     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I need some help identifying a piece of orbiter hardware. The scrap tag shows it as an "INBD FWD HI TEMP INSULATOR" with the part number V070-197123-002 and the remark "Door #9".

Can anyone give me more information on where exactly it was located on the orbiter and what its purpose was?

sts205cdr
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Posts: 649
From: Sacramento, CA
Registered: Jun 2001

posted 02-03-2009 05:18 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for sts205cdr   Click Here to Email sts205cdr     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Vent door on the aft fuselage?

Robert Pearlman
Editor

Posts: 42981
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999

posted 02-05-2009 09:21 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
FarthestReaches.com entry for the same part number insulator:
This Inboard Forward High Temperature Insulator was flown on STS-94 (Columbia - OV102) from 7/1 - 7/17/1997. It may well have flown on prior flights as the NASA documentation indicates it was removed from the orbiter one month following STS-94 and prior to the flight of STS-87 in November of that year. This substantial piece of flown material measures 6.75" long x 2" high x .75" thick. It is accompanied by a NASA Unserviceable Tag along with matching serial nos.

Jay Chladek
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From: Bellevue, NE, USA
Registered: Aug 2007

posted 02-07-2009 11:41 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Jay Chladek   Click Here to Email Jay Chladek     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Sounds to me like it is something related to one of the payload bay vent doors. These doors line the cargo bay just below the payload bay doors themselves. They keep the payload bay unpressurized during flight. As such, I can see insulators sitting inside the areas behind the vent doors as presumeably there would be equipment in that area related to the heat radiators in the cargo bay and the payload bay door hinges themselves.

Robert Pearlman
Editor

Posts: 42981
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999

posted 02-09-2009 10:48 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
To keep both site's threads up to date, here's the latest reply from the counterpart topic on NASASpaceflight.com:
"V070-" signifies that this is flight hardware.

The first two digits identify the Orbiter subsystem. In this case "-19xxxx" identifies the hardware as belonging to the Wing Thermal Protection System. Usually odd numbered parts (the 7) were for the left side of the Orbiter.

There are only a few places this part could have been - behind the wing RCC leading edge or inside the wing/elevon interface. There were no such high temp insulation in the wing elevon area, but there were high temp insulation parts on the forward edge of the wing spar (behind the RCC leading edge). These were part of the rather complicated high temperature attachment hardware (and related insulation blankets encased in steel foil) used to attach the RCC leading edge to the wing spar (aluminum). This part is most likely is part of the left wing RCC attachment hardware. The Orbiter fuselage vent doors did not have any such high temp insulation blankets - and they would have had a different part number (for the PV&D subsystem).

7 Forty7
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posted 02-14-2009 11:59 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for 7 Forty7   Click Here to Email 7 Forty7     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Just to update the thread, I've been given some other info on the part.

It has been identified as "OV-102 Flipper door 9 forward corner insulator, deleted for lightweight door. It is an Inconel insulator... went under Elevon Flipper door #9 (inboard side). This was associated with the old style flipper doors, and is no longer used with the new Aluminum flipper door (weight savings mod)".

Shuttle Endeavour
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Posts: 234
From: Freehold, NJ, USA
Registered: Aug 2013

posted 12-10-2013 10:21 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Shuttle Endeavour   Click Here to Email Shuttle Endeavour     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I just bought a piece of STS-55 flown Inconel blanket. It is a flat piece of metal with some burnt sides, and in the scrap documents it says that a gap filler was nearby.

Does anyone know where on the orbiter this piece was likely at?

Editor's note: Threads merged.

Ken Havekotte
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Posts: 2913
From: Merritt Island, Florida, Brevard
Registered: Mar 2001

posted 12-10-2013 11:36 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Ken Havekotte   Click Here to Email Ken Havekotte     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Just for the record, just about all the shuttle orbiter high-temp insulators on the market today came from Columbia after STS-94 in July 1997.

My firm was able to acquire most, if not all, of the wing elevon flipper door area insulators about three to four years after they last flew as part of Columbia on the orbiter's 23rd flight, also known as the re-flight of STS-83.

It was believed that all of the high-temp insulators did in fact, or in most cases, were flown/used aboard all subsequent OV-102 orbital missions since STS-1 in 1981 until their replacements after July 1997 (the first 23 of her 28 flights altogether from 1981-2003).

danh
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From: Carmel, IN
Registered: Apr 2016

posted 08-12-2016 10:24 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for danh   Click Here to Email danh     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
"V070-" signifies that this is flight hardware.

The first two digits identify the Orbiter subsystem. In this case "-19xxxx" identifies the hardware as belonging to the Wing Thermal Protection System. Usually odd numbered parts (the 7) were for the left side of the Orbiter...

There's some great information in this thread. I'm particularly interested in the numbering convention mentioned above. Is there a reference that explains this in greater detail, specifically the numbers for other subsystems?

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