[Elecraft] OT-NASA soldering

[Bob Nielsen]

Yes.  In the early days of NASA, launch weights were a major  
problem.  I worked on the Syncom satellites at Hughes in the early  
1960s and we even used aluminum coax connectors which could reliably  
be connected only a few times (what a relief it was was when SMA  
became available).  Our electronics didn't use circuit boards, but  
the components were soldered together supported by their leads and  
foamed in place inside small chassis of thin gold-plated aluminum.

Bob, N7XY

On Oct 26, 2006, at 7:59 AM, Jeremiah McCarthy wrote:

> Judging from a direct response, it seems that my statement about  
> using minimum solder to save lift-off weight during the lunar  
> lander program generated skepticism...At that time NASA estimated  
> that they saved 450 pounds on the entire Saturn 5 launch vehicle by  
> limiting the amount of solder used for a "one-shot" launch...NASA  
> did not use Mil-Spec, they had their own spec...
>
> Jerry, wa2dkg
>
>>> Anything that is built for NASA and will fly will most likely  
>>> have to be conformal coated...Leaving excess lead length might  
>>> cause the ends to protrude out of the conformal coating,  
>>> defeating the purpose of the coating...I was not aware of any min- 
>>> max lead length protrusion in my dealings with NASA....We used  
>>> minimum solder to save lift-off weight and we always trimmed  
>>> flush...<<
> _______________________________________________
> Elecraft mailing list
> Post to: Elecraft at mailman.qth.net
> You must be a subscriber to post to the list.
> Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.):
>  http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
>
> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm
> Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com
>