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Old September 18th 04, 06:22 AM
John Doe
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Explorer8939 wrote:
Big laugh. There is no US O2 generator on ISS. There is a CO2 scrubber
in the US Lab but that died after a couple of weeks (it hasn't worked
in ages).


CDRA may not be problem fee, but it is still operational. The way I have
heard, they just minimize its use because it has a low MTBF.

There is an O2 supply in the US Quest airlock, but that apparently is
out of order.


I am not sure of the use of Quest O2 for ECLSS has been implemented or not
(but I suspect it should have been functional by 8A). I do not know it has
ever been used for ECLSS purposes (but I it has been used for EVA ops and has
been refilled once or twice. (not sur for second time).

However, with the shuttle grounded, there is no way to replenish those tanks,
so it is logical that NASA would want to reserve that O2 for EVA ops if O2 is
available from other sources for cabin air.

Basically, US ECLSS suffers from the same fate as a lot of other US
space technology, lots of systems engineering, great viewgraphs, but
the damned thing doesn't work.


The last sentence should be "the damned thing hasn't been debugged yet".
Remember that in many cases, ECLSS systems can't be debugged until they are in
orbit because 0g can't be simulated on ground.