Its Not rocket science

[morganb]

"Its not rocket science" is a favorite quote of many in technical fields. I often wondered what guys who worked on rockets said.
I met a guy who used to work for NASA.
Finally I got to ask him what NASA guys say when they encounter a problem. "Its not brain surgery" was the reply. Does anyone know what brain surgeons say?

[on-ramp]

brain surgeons probably say, hey it's not rocket science

[singpilot]

Remember that old saying about the difference in pay between the Porsche mechanic (Technician if over $90./hr) and the heart surgeon?

The heart surgeon was complaining about the cost of repairing his Boxster. He said he thought the mechanics' hourly rate was atrocious. The Mech responds, "Well, how much an hour do you charge?" The heart surgeon responds "$2800. an hour." The mech says he thinks that is outrageous, in that they both do roughly the same thing. That they open stuff up, fix it, and put it back together.

The heart surgeon ends the conversation with "But I do my work while the engine is running"



My recently departed uncle was the chief design engineer on the fuel delivery turbopump on the F1 engine that took Apollos to the moon. He went on to design and test the restartable engines for the space shuttle. After he retired, Rocketdyne asked him to come back and do the upgrades. His only condition was that he wanted to design his own business card on Rocketdyne's blank.

He put his name, and under it, instead of the technically perfect title that Rocketdyne wanted, was "Rocket Scientist".

[djmcmath]

Rocket science isn't what it used to be, though. Most of the really hard stuff has already been done. Now it's more of an out of place cliche, I think. I always imagine the brain surgeons saying "It's not nuclear power," which is what I say when I'm not doing nuke work.


Dan

[HarryD]

I usually tell them: "if it was easy, everyone would be doing it".

[Adam]

Dan, what kind of Nuc boats do you serve on?

I use "Rocket Surgeon"

[djmcmath]

Adam, I was on Tridents until August. Now I'm on shore tour. If I decide to go back, it'll be one of the fast boats (potentially VA class), probably out of Guam. Why? What do you do?

[350HP930]

I'm just glad people still use the phrase enough for me to crack a few one liners of my own like "I will give it a try anyways".

[beepbeep]

Originally posted by djmcmath
Adam, I was on Tridents until August. Now I'm on shore tour. If I decide to go back, it'll be one of the fast boats (potentially VA class), probably out of Guam. Why? What do you do?

Cool! I did some reading about those boats, just for fun. Are there any liquid-metal cooled reactors on US boats like there are in old Soviet designs?

[djmcmath]

Liquid metal reactors? Short answer: No. I'd like to give a much longer answer, but I'm not sure what we've declassified, and I don't feel like usurping that authority, myself. Look for Chernobyl documentaries, perhaps stuff done by the TVA or Naval Reactors. The good ones explain exactly what happens in a graphite-moderated reactor, and why US designs are more safe.

Cheers,

Dan

[beepbeep]

Certain graphite moderated designs have so called "positive void coeficient", but my question was about use of intermediate cooling medium.

I took some classes in nuclear energy physics, just for fun, so I still have interest left :-)

[cegerer]

In the construction industry, when someone is being overly careful we say, "hey, we're not buildin' a watch here ...... ".

[350HP930]

When I worked at our area porsche dealership for a few months anytime I used up all my allotted time to do a quality job my managers would tell me 'its not like you are working on the shuttle there tony'.

[tabs]

Interesting to note that alot of high tech people like Porsches...I wonder why?

[350HP930]

In addition to the unique design I like that the motors remind me of aircraft engines.

[djmcmath]

Originally posted by beepbeep
Certain graphite moderated designs have so called "positive void coeficient", but my question was about use of intermediate cooling medium.

I took some classes in nuclear energy physics, just for fun, so I still have interest left :-)

I almost wish I did nuke power for fun, rather than profit. It's a lot more fun when you're not doing it for real. US design reactors don't generally use an intermediate heat transfer substance. Typically, the moderator is the coolant, per se. You might expect to find a standard two loop design like you'll find in your college textbooks on a submarine -- the primary loop is both coolant and moderator, and supplies heat to the secondary, which is the steam that drives the engines and turbines. Having taken some nuke classes, that's what I'd expect to find, but because it's classified, I can't obviously tell you what we actually have. (In all seriousness, there are a number of reactor design issues that affect sound propogation, which is way more secret than the nuclear props of the reactor). Graphite, as you know, has great heat transfer chars, but stupid nuclear properties, so American plants don't generally use it. There's other substances that are a lot cheaper, more readily available, and don't have the bizarre chars of graphite.

There are, btw, several notable exceptions to any of the standards. One prototype plant used liquid control "rods" for a while. There were big drain holes at the bottom of the core, and in the event of an emergency, the reactor would be "flushed," rather than "scrammed." I was waiting for someone to connect a dangling chain (a la vintage outhouse) to the scram switch.


Dan

[Adam]

Originally posted by djmcmath:
Adam, I was on Tridents until August. Now I'm on shore tour. If I decide to go back, it'll be one of the fast boats (potentially VA class), probably out of Guam. Why? What do you do?

Hey Dan, sorry I forgot about this thread. I'm not in the Navy or anything - I'm just an enthusiast.

Have you read Doug Waller's book on Trident duty called "Big Red"? I loved it. It's a pity I'm not a US Citizen, as I'd sign up for the Silent Service in a flash - I even seriously considered taking that path a year or so ago.

[djmcmath]

I haven't, in fact. It took me many years to read "Blind Man's Bluff," which a lot of people said I ought to read. Still haven't gotten around to "Thunder Below." "Big Red?" I'll add it to my list. Don't you Aussies have a pretty impressive silent service of your own? Seems like your new diesel boats are pretty sweet little toys. Have you considered playing on those?

Having almost completely hijacked the thread, my apologies to the original poster. Sorry, man.

Dan

[speeder]

I have heard "We're not curing cancer here" around the film industry once or twice.

FWIW, I have never heard of a Porsche, (or any other marque), mechanic making anything like $90/hour, the shop where they work might charge $90/hr., big difference. But I realise that would screw up the joke.