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What is the function of the corrugations on a section of the Space Shuttle's external tank?

What happened to boiled-off gases from the storage tanks at Launch Complex 39?Why did the External Tank not have its own engines?Why is the shuttle's external tank's metal skin painted the same dark color as the foam insulation?Challenger disaster: how full was the external tank at the time of destruction?Are the US shuttle and Buran the only space planes to have launched vertically with wings exposed?How many times were there thirteen people inside the ISS? Is it hard on the station?Why didn't the space shuttle use non-foam-shedding external tanks?What is Astronaut Sunita Williams wearing on her wrist?What's on the bottom of the Shuttle's external fuel tank?What is the meaning of this writing on the InSight lander, and why is some in Braille?Why didn’t the space shuttle external tank have pressure-relief vents?

8

$begingroup$

There is a section of the Space Shuttle's external tank that appears to have large corrugations. I spotted them and saw how deep they are in a photo in this answer, a cropped section of which is shown below.

I could speculate about thermal or aerodynamic functions, but luckily there's a much better way to find out, so I'll just ask...

Question: What is their function? Why only this section?

---

below: Cropped from image found in this answer. Credit: NASA

above: Cropped from Space Shuttle Atlantis launches on STS-132 below: Cropped from STS122 Atlantis.

space-shuttle identify-this-object external-tank

share|improve this question

edited 5 hours ago

uhoh

asked 8 hours ago

uhohuhoh

43.7k19168547

$endgroup$

• 
  
  
  

  
  2
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  $begingroup$
  they're the stiffening stringers on the intertank.
  $endgroup$
  – JCRM
  8 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

8

$begingroup$

There is a section of the Space Shuttle's external tank that appears to have large corrugations. I spotted them and saw how deep they are in a photo in this answer, a cropped section of which is shown below.

I could speculate about thermal or aerodynamic functions, but luckily there's a much better way to find out, so I'll just ask...

Question: What is their function? Why only this section?

---

below: Cropped from image found in this answer. Credit: NASA

above: Cropped from Space Shuttle Atlantis launches on STS-132 below: Cropped from STS122 Atlantis.

space-shuttle identify-this-object external-tank

share|improve this question

edited 5 hours ago

uhoh

asked 8 hours ago

uhohuhoh

43.7k19168547

$endgroup$

• 
  
  
  

  
  2
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  $begingroup$
  they're the stiffening stringers on the intertank.
  $endgroup$
  – JCRM
  8 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

$begingroup$

There is a section of the Space Shuttle's external tank that appears to have large corrugations. I spotted them and saw how deep they are in a photo in this answer, a cropped section of which is shown below.

I could speculate about thermal or aerodynamic functions, but luckily there's a much better way to find out, so I'll just ask...

Question: What is their function? Why only this section?

---

below: Cropped from image found in this answer. Credit: NASA

above: Cropped from Space Shuttle Atlantis launches on STS-132 below: Cropped from STS122 Atlantis.

space-shuttle identify-this-object external-tank

share|improve this question

edited 5 hours ago

uhoh

asked 8 hours ago

uhohuhoh

43.7k19168547

$endgroup$

share|improve this question

edited 5 hours ago

uhoh

asked 8 hours ago

uhohuhoh

43.7k19168547

share|improve this question

edited 5 hours ago

uhoh

asked 8 hours ago

uhohuhoh

43.7k19168547

asked 8 hours ago

uhohuhoh

43.7k19168547

asked 8 hours ago

uhohuhoh

43.7k19168547

1 Answer
1

active

oldest

votes

10

$begingroup$

That's the intertank - the cylinder that connected the bottom of the LO2 tank to the top of the LH2 tank.

It didn't contain propellant, but did contain the forward interface with the Solid Rocket Boosters, and was built for lightness and strength, with skin-stringer construction. The ribs you see were the stringers.

The intertank is a steel / aluminum semimonocoque cylindrical
structure with flanges on each end for joining the liquid oxygen and
liquid hydrogen tanks. The intertank houses ET instrumentation
components and provides an umbilical plate that interfaces with the
ground facility arm for purge gas supply, hazardous gas detection and
hydrogen gas boiloff during ground operations. It consists of
mechanically joined skin, stringers and machined panels of aluminum
alloy. The intertank is vented during flight. The intertank contains
the forward SRB-ET attach thrust beam and fittings that distribute the
SRB loads to the liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen tanks. The
intertank is 270 inches long, 331 inches in diameter and weighs 12,100
pounds.

This shows how the three sections fit together:

During the launch campaign for STS-133, some of these stringers caused a launch scrub - they were made from substandard material and cracked.

Sources

• NASA Press Manual


• researchgate


• stringer crack incident investigation report

share|improve this answer

edited 7 hours ago

answered 7 hours ago

Organic MarbleOrganic Marble

64.5k4177273

$endgroup$

• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  $begingroup$
  Where is the rubber band that connects the two tanks, pulling them sung into it?(humor) It looks to me like it was just applied to the outside of one long cylinder; so both my guesses were way off, as usual.
  $endgroup$
  – uhoh
  7 hours ago
  
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

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10

$begingroup$

That's the intertank - the cylinder that connected the bottom of the LO2 tank to the top of the LH2 tank.

It didn't contain propellant, but did contain the forward interface with the Solid Rocket Boosters, and was built for lightness and strength, with skin-stringer construction. The ribs you see were the stringers.

The intertank is a steel / aluminum semimonocoque cylindrical
structure with flanges on each end for joining the liquid oxygen and
liquid hydrogen tanks. The intertank houses ET instrumentation
components and provides an umbilical plate that interfaces with the
ground facility arm for purge gas supply, hazardous gas detection and
hydrogen gas boiloff during ground operations. It consists of
mechanically joined skin, stringers and machined panels of aluminum
alloy. The intertank is vented during flight. The intertank contains
the forward SRB-ET attach thrust beam and fittings that distribute the
SRB loads to the liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen tanks. The
intertank is 270 inches long, 331 inches in diameter and weighs 12,100
pounds.

This shows how the three sections fit together:

During the launch campaign for STS-133, some of these stringers caused a launch scrub - they were made from substandard material and cracked.

Sources

• NASA Press Manual


• researchgate


• stringer crack incident investigation report

share|improve this answer

edited 7 hours ago

answered 7 hours ago

Organic MarbleOrganic Marble

64.5k4177273

$endgroup$

• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  $begingroup$
  Where is the rubber band that connects the two tanks, pulling them sung into it?(humor) It looks to me like it was just applied to the outside of one long cylinder; so both my guesses were way off, as usual.
  $endgroup$
  – uhoh
  7 hours ago
  
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

10

$begingroup$

That's the intertank - the cylinder that connected the bottom of the LO2 tank to the top of the LH2 tank.

It didn't contain propellant, but did contain the forward interface with the Solid Rocket Boosters, and was built for lightness and strength, with skin-stringer construction. The ribs you see were the stringers.

The intertank is a steel / aluminum semimonocoque cylindrical
structure with flanges on each end for joining the liquid oxygen and
liquid hydrogen tanks. The intertank houses ET instrumentation
components and provides an umbilical plate that interfaces with the
ground facility arm for purge gas supply, hazardous gas detection and
hydrogen gas boiloff during ground operations. It consists of
mechanically joined skin, stringers and machined panels of aluminum
alloy. The intertank is vented during flight. The intertank contains
the forward SRB-ET attach thrust beam and fittings that distribute the
SRB loads to the liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen tanks. The
intertank is 270 inches long, 331 inches in diameter and weighs 12,100
pounds.

This shows how the three sections fit together:

During the launch campaign for STS-133, some of these stringers caused a launch scrub - they were made from substandard material and cracked.

Sources

• NASA Press Manual


• researchgate


• stringer crack incident investigation report

share|improve this answer

edited 7 hours ago

answered 7 hours ago

Organic MarbleOrganic Marble

64.5k4177273

$endgroup$

• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  $begingroup$
  Where is the rubber band that connects the two tanks, pulling them sung into it?(humor) It looks to me like it was just applied to the outside of one long cylinder; so both my guesses were way off, as usual.
  $endgroup$
  – uhoh
  7 hours ago
  
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

$begingroup$

That's the intertank - the cylinder that connected the bottom of the LO2 tank to the top of the LH2 tank.

It didn't contain propellant, but did contain the forward interface with the Solid Rocket Boosters, and was built for lightness and strength, with skin-stringer construction. The ribs you see were the stringers.

The intertank is a steel / aluminum semimonocoque cylindrical
structure with flanges on each end for joining the liquid oxygen and
liquid hydrogen tanks. The intertank houses ET instrumentation
components and provides an umbilical plate that interfaces with the
ground facility arm for purge gas supply, hazardous gas detection and
hydrogen gas boiloff during ground operations. It consists of
mechanically joined skin, stringers and machined panels of aluminum
alloy. The intertank is vented during flight. The intertank contains
the forward SRB-ET attach thrust beam and fittings that distribute the
SRB loads to the liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen tanks. The
intertank is 270 inches long, 331 inches in diameter and weighs 12,100
pounds.

This shows how the three sections fit together:

During the launch campaign for STS-133, some of these stringers caused a launch scrub - they were made from substandard material and cracked.

Sources

• NASA Press Manual


• researchgate


• stringer crack incident investigation report

share|improve this answer

edited 7 hours ago

answered 7 hours ago

Organic MarbleOrganic Marble

64.5k4177273

$endgroup$

share|improve this answer

edited 7 hours ago

answered 7 hours ago

Organic MarbleOrganic Marble

64.5k4177273

answered 7 hours ago

Organic MarbleOrganic Marble

64.5k4177273

answered 7 hours ago

Organic MarbleOrganic Marble

64.5k4177273