On Sep 11, 11:46*pm, JF Mezei wrote:
David Spain wrote:
Since we cannot return the broken ammonia pump for failure analysis on the ground are there any plans to conduct forensics on orbit?
Would the bulk of this work require EVAs to accomplish? What, if any, forensics have been done so far?

Is there any way to purge/safe the pump to eliminate any ammonia and
make it safe to be brought into the ISS for disassembly and forensics ?

Could DEXTR be used to open the pump outdoors and take a look inside ?
Not as good as real examination and touching by a human hand, but still
better than throwing it overboard.

I thought the working hypothesis was a control unit issue, perhaps
failed electronics components (or power components) ,,, did I misread?

If the control unit(s) can be extracted easily, ammonia wouldn't be an
issue and that might fit in a shuttle return bag, or (if individual
boards) even in a Soyuz. But that would also depend on the unit not
requiring special tools for disassembly.

/dps