Space Survivability of the B1B Lancer (theory)

[Devonai]

I am considering a new sci-fi novel (always a dangerous proposition) in which an experiment accidentally suspends a B1-B Lancer in space/time, causing its relative location to shift halfway across the galaxy.

Assuming that the crew has already prepared for high-altitude flight, how long would they live in the vacuum of space?  They will be rescued before they die, a la Hitchhiker's Guide, but I need to describe the scene in the moments before they black out.

Any thoughts?  I'm guessing they'd have possibly 30 seconds before they froze to death; asphyxiation seems avoidable at least as a primary cause of death.

[CNYCacher]

The vacuum of space, while extremely cold, isn't a good conductor of heat, so the freezing to death in 30 seconds isn't as likely as you would first imagine.

I once read a long article on survivability in a vacuum and this was one of the points.  Death from heat loss is the least of your worries.

[erictank]

I am considering a new sci-fi novel (always a dangerous proposition) in which an experiment accidentally suspends a B1-B Lancer in space/time, causing its relative location to shift halfway across the galaxy.

Assuming that the crew has already prepared for high-altitude flight, how long would they live in the vacuum of space?  They will be rescued before they die, a la Hitchhiker's Guide, but I need to describe the scene in the moments before they black out.

Any thoughts?  I'm guessing they'd have possibly 30 seconds before they froze to death; asphyxiation seems avoidable at least as a primary cause of death.

How close to the nearest star?  I'm given to understand that COOLING is required on Luna's surface, if you're on dayside.  In a vacuum, heat leaves a body slowly, as there are no means of convection and few to none of conduction, leaving only radiation, so freezing might not be the problem you think it would.

Just looked up some historical exposures to vacuum from the space program, and blackout due to lack of O2 sets in at about 15 seconds, assuming you don't try to hold your breath - which would kill you nearly instantly in space, as the air in your lungs tries to expand into the vacuum.  After that, apparently, you've got a few minutes until brain death due to oxygen starvation and/or ebullism (the boiling of bodily fluids due to the low pressure around you).  Not knowing how airtight a B-1 is, I can't really guess how long it would take to get there, overall.  I would guess that they'd have between 30 seconds to several minutes, at a minimum, before the plane hit vacuum internally.  Aren't they sealed for NBC resistance, or is that only an overpressure thing?

[mgdavis]

Not to burst your bubble or anything, but I doubt the skin of the aircraft is strong enough to withstand the pressure differential. I wiould anticipate nothing less than instantaneous explosive decompression.

Note that reality often has limited application in sci-fi novels, so don't let things like that discourage you. 

[RaspberrySurprise]

Not to burst your bubble or anything, but I doubt the skin of the aircraft is strong enough to withstand the pressure differential. I wiould anticipate nothing less than instantaneous explosive decompression.

Note that reality often has limited application in sci-fi novels, so don't let things like that discourage you. 

Unless the B1B is internally pressurized to above standard air pressure I don't think that would be a problem. Space isn't negative pressure, it's no pressure.

[AmbulanceDriver]

Unless the B1B is internally pressurized to above standard air pressure I don't think that would be a problem. Space isn't negative pressure, it's no pressure.

Even if the B1B is pressurized to 8000 feet above sea level, that's 10.9 pounds of force on every square inch of the aircraft.  Normally that's balanced by atmospheric pressure on the outside up to 8000 feet, and then there does exist a pressure differential above that altitude.  The aircraft's structure is designed to withstand that pressure differential.  However, going from atmosphere to hard vacuum, the differential is larger, and likely sufficient to rupture the aircraft's skin.

[AZRedhawk44]

Mythbusters did an episode where a sealed prison cell was ruptured and blown apart by 5PSI generated by antacid tablets and water.

It took tens of thousands of antacid tablets to generate the pressure... but that's not the issue here.

The issue is a concrete/rebar reinforced prison cell that was made airtight, blew apart from 5PSI pressure differential against every square inch of its interior.

I doubt the skin of an aircraft can contain the same pressure unless expressly designed to do so.

The smart answer would be to write Boeing and ask them.  Maybe they'll answer.

Actually... I'm dating a girl who is works in Boeing's HR department here in town.  Her employees all work on the Apache but maybe she knows someone who worked on the B1?  I'll find out.

[DustinD]

Does anyone know the leakage rate of a B1-B? I think it would run out of air in no time. If it was on ground level before it was moved to a vacuum I think the fuel tanks might rupture. Other non pressurized areas might blow up as well.

[alex_trebek]

The plane is designed to fly at supersonic speeds, which means it can probably withstand more than 1 atm DP.

Furthermore, the plane is designed to pressurize in somewhat cold environments.  The structure is rated to handle 400,000+ lbs total payload.  The hard part is getting to/from outerspace. How many spacecraft have been lost IN space? None that I am aware of, a good number lost to/from though.

There is no question that the crew is boned (bad pun intended), however they will probably die from cosmic radiation exposure (depends on location) before cold or asphyxiation. This is assuming that the aluminum holds long enough to keep pressure. I would expect the Al to become quite brittle assuming it sees the a temp <200K.

[Matthew Carberry]

If the cabin can maintain pressure seems to be the key as the crew will be (or can quickly be) on O2.

Reminds me of a Futurama where the ship crashes in the ocean and is sinking. 

Professor Hubert Farnsworth: Good Lord! That's over 5000 atmospheres of pressure!
Fry: How many atmospheres can the ship withstand?
Professor Hubert Farnsworth: Well, it was built for space travel, so anywhere between zero and one.

[Jamisjockey]

Besides, its ScFi...it only has to be remotely plausible....

[RaspberrySurprise]

Mythbusters did an episode where a sealed prison cell was ruptured and blown apart by 5PSI generated by antacid tablets and water.

It took tens of thousands of antacid tablets to generate the pressure... but that's not the issue here.

The issue is a concrete/rebar reinforced prison cell that was made airtight, blew apart from 5PSI pressure differential against every square inch of its interior.

I doubt the skin of an aircraft can contain the same pressure unless expressly designed to do so.

The smart answer would be to write Boeing and ask them.  Maybe they'll answer.

Actually... I'm dating a girl who is works in Boeing's HR department here in town.  Her employees all work on the Apache but maybe she knows someone who worked on the B1?  I'll find out.

Aluminum probably flexes better than rebarred concrete though.

[RocketMan]

Think back to the old Gemini and Mercury capsules.  Weren't they of mostly aluminium skin construction?  Granted the Mercury capsule's skin was corrugated for strength, but I think it was just an aircraft grade aluminum over stringers for the most part.
The Gemini capsules were pressurized so the astronauts could fly without their helmets on.  Is the construction of a Gemini capsule (when considered as a pressure vessel) that much different than a B1-B Lancer?

And one more thing:  Would the pressurization system waste gate(s) blow by or blow out in an over-pressurization event in a B1?  I wonder if that would mitigate an over-pressure condition if a B1 were to suddenly find itself in a vacuum?

[Gewehr98]

B1B are pressurized to a service ceiling of FL 60.0. 

There's a big difference between that and the vacuum of space. 

[thebucket]

All right, this is my area of specialty. I'm an Electrical/Environmental Systems Technician, AFSC 2A656, in the US Air Force. Once aircraft go above ~30,000 ft (the exact altitude depends on the specific aircraft) they switch into a differential pressurization mode where the cabin pressure is maintained at a fixed amount above the atmospheric pressure. An F-16 for example maintains ~5 PSI differential above atmospheric pressure. A B-52 in combat mode maintains a 4.8 PSI differential, in standard mode it would be about 7 PSI if I remember correctly. In fact for the F-16 doing a pressurization check on the ground, you are NEVER to exceed a 5.5 PSI differential. I'm going to assume that a B-1 uses a similar pressurization scheme and is maintaining ~5 PSI differential as I have not worked on a B-1 before.

Now at sea level atmospheric pressure is about 15 PSI, at 30,000 ft the pressure is around 5 PSI. So an aircraft maintaining a 5 PSI differential would have a cabin pressure of 10 PSI. Now according to your story a B1 in flight is suddenly whisked away to the vacuum of space. A few things are going to happen, first the engines will stall due to lack of air. This will stop flow of air into the cabin. Now check valves should maintain cabin pressure though and assuming the internal bellows of the cabin pressure regulators can withstand the pressure difference they will try to re-establish that 5 PSI differential. However the regulators may not be able to react fast enough to the change and hull may well buckle and rupture. If the hull does not rupture and the regulators can compensate fast enough than the cabin will be at about 5 PSI and the aircrew will definitely feel colder, due to the depressurization, but if they have their oxygen masks on already they may well survive until their oxygen is depleted. However that is only the case if they are using LOX (I doubt a bomber would use GOX as it is bulky to store the cylinders and assuming the LOX converter survives the pressure change as well.) B-1's can use MSOGS (Molecular Sieve Oxygen Generating System) as well which uses bleed air from the engine and absorbs nitrogen from that air and delivers it to the crew. Since I said earlier that the engines would have stalled the crew of an MSOGS equipped B-1 is likely going to suffer a quick death from anoxia.

[MechAg94]

Considering that a bomber is designed to handle all sorts of stresses of flight and maneuver, I can't for the life of me imagine that it couldn't withstand 15 psi of pressure differential.  That is not really that much.  Much less than your tires. 

Now leaking and such would be a different issue.  Do those pilots suit up in space suits like the spy planes?

[DustinD]

Mercury capsule's skin was corrugated for strength, but I think it was just an aircraft grade aluminum over stringers for the most part.

The outside was made of Rene 41, a high nickle super alloy, I am pretty sure the corrugations were for temperature differences.

Considering that a bomber is designed to handle all sorts of stresses of flight and maneuver, I can't for the life of me imagine that it couldn't withstand 15 psi of pressure differential.  That is not really that much.  Much less than your tires.

The pressurized space inside of a tire is not several feet in diameter, and tires are also very thick. I know that most civilian airplanes that are pressurized are designed around that requirement more than any other including flight loads and crash safety.

[Gewehr98]

No, just the U-2 and SR-71 folks suit up.  They need them in the event of a high-altitude catastrophe, because it'll take them a long time to get down to real air density. 

I had a rapid decompression incident in a B-52H in 1993, we were at 49,980 feet enroute to FL50.0 when the outflow valve let go.  Since were were already above FL30.0, we had our masks on and O2 flowing.  It was still a bit of a rush, literally and figuratively.   

[MechAg94]

I would think tires are thick because of wear and the fact that they flex and bend with every single revolution of the wheel.

What is the real difference in load between a 5 psid differential and a 15 psid differential?  I guess someone could run a cylindrical pressure vessel calc to see what the design thickness would be for an aluminum cylinder handling 15 psig over atm.  Another question would be how thick is the wall of the 125 psig air tank you keep in the garage?  It isn't that thick either.

I believe nickel alloys would handle heat better than aluminum as well as fatigue issues.  Can't really say on that without knowing why the materials were selected. 

I just think the pressure differential is not really all that high and you wouldn't need much thickness to handle it. 

[Devonai]

Thanks to everyone for the feedback!

G98, I'll have to do more research on A/C because based on your comment it seems the B1-B may not be the best choice for my story.  The crew needs to live long enough to know what's going on and for myself as the narrator to describe it.  That they get rescued before death is improbable regardless of how long it takes (to channel Douglas Adams once again).

I was originally leaning towards a stolen space shuttle or other actual space vehicle, but the logistics and believability of such a feat are a much bigger problem.  Yes, I find the prospect of stealing a space vehicle much more of a stretch than the subsequent quantum experiment that sends it halfway across the galaxy.  There is also the fact that I want to avoid too many similarities with Farscape.

[alex_trebek]

Thanks to everyone for the feedback!

G98, I'll have to do more research on A/C because based on your comment it seems the B1-B may not be the best choice for my story.  The crew needs to live long enough to know what's going on and for myself as the narrator to describe it.  That they get rescued before death is improbable regardless of how long it takes (to channel Douglas Adams once again).

I was originally leaning towards a stolen space shuttle or other actual space vehicle, but the logistics and believability of such a feat are a much bigger problem.  Yes, I find the prospect of stealing a space vehicle much more of a stretch than the subsequent quantum experiment that sends it halfway across the galaxy.  There is also the fact that I want to avoid too many similarities with Farscape.

I never saw farscape, and am only moderately aware of the status of the first shuttle, Enterprise. So forgive my ignorance.

I do know that Enterprise is only partially completed, but theoretically it might be easier to steal it from the smithsonian than a functional one from NASA. Also you could set it in the near future when the shuttle fleet is retired, say sent off for recycling when someone steals it in an attempt to sell on the black market. Even though the technology is decades old, I am sure there are ambitious countries willing to pay something for a shuttle.

Just food for thought. Quasi more plausible, and good luck.

[Tallpine]

Yes, I find the prospect of stealing a space vehicle much more of a stretch than the subsequent quantum experiment that sends it halfway across the galaxy.

Well as long as you're just making up stuff, why not transport an ex-Russian Whiskey class submarine halfway across the galaxy? 

Shouldn't have to worry so much about pressure differential.

(I guess the sub would be rushin' again  )

[mgdavis]

Just to play devil's advocate, I wonder if a sub actually might have issues? They're designed to take huge amount of pressure from the sea, but not air pressure pushing the other way. 

They're so heavy duty that I can't imagine it would hurt them to much, though.

[Matthew Carberry]

Submarines as space vehicles?

John "Oh no Ringo NO!" did it.

What's out in the boneyard that could be surreptitiously stolen and rebuilt?

[MillCreek]

The Japanese beat us to it with Space Battleship Yamato!