🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <C0ozH8.4p4.1@cs.cmu.edu> roberts@cmr.ncsl.nist.gov (John Roberts) writes:
>
>-From: Mark.Perew@p201.f208.n103.z1.fidonet.org
>-Subject: Fiber optic umbilical
>-Date: 4 Jan 93 15:30:14 GMT
>
>-Putting a fiber optic umbilical on a remote sensing platform designed to
>-traverse rough terrain seems very odd to me.  Can someone explain to me why 
>-this was done?  A few things come to mind such as eliminating the weight
>-required for a radio and associated power supply.  Also the fiber optic does
>-allow for high reliability and high speed data transfer.
>
>-I'm *not* throwing stones at the Dante folks.  I'm just doing some head
>-scratching and hoping someone will explain this to me.
>
>Well, one thing for sure - plans for an Earth-Mars fiber optic link
>will have to be scrapped. :-)
>
>I can imagine the Dante team trying to straighten out the cable by hand,
>and that tiny, heartbreaking "snap" (or maybe they didn't hear anything
>at all). Commercial fiber optic cable is great in stationary applications,
>but it's too easy to stretch it or bend it beyond the radius of curvature
>limits. The people who install our fiber optic links put up warning signs
>with a drawing of a hangman's noose, implying what will happen to anybody
>who tries to move the equipment. :-)
>
>Does anybody (the phone companies or the military, for instance) use 
>fiber optic cable that's stiff enough to reduce the risk of breaking?
>
	Speaking to a friend in Pittsburgh who is apparently
acquainted with one of the students on the Dante team this weekend,
she commented that they had apparently had an intermittent glitch in
the fiber cable before they went to Antarctica (N.B., while likely,
this is still 2nd hand quasi-rumor).  The cable supplier apparently
tested the assembly and claimed to find no problem.  So, the flaw may
have existed all along, and progressed to a complete break in field
condition.
	Actually, fibers can be quite rugged.  Isn't there a new
version of one of the wire-guided anti-tank missiles that uses a fiber
instead of copper, to reduce weight and increase range?  Is it
operational?  The key is to make a cable that is not stiff, I would
guess.

-- 

Brad Whitehurst    |   Aerospace Research Lab
rbw3q@Virginia.EDU |   We like it hot...and fast.