ISS micrometoerite impacts

Hi all,

I was reading this article about today's spacewalk, and the
astronautics found a lot of micrometeoroid impacts.

http://spaceflightnow.com/shuttle/st...d5/index3.html

I was wondering if there have ever been any station repairs due to
impacts?

Thanks

Yes, I was listening live early hours of this morning here in the UK, I
know they took a lot of photos. They seem to have a history of impacts
around the quest airlock and toolbox area. I imagine you would need to see
what attitude they fly in most of the time to work out why. it could be of
course that they are just more noticeable there, but what I'd like to know i
is are these impacts from general dust, like the regular meteor showers that
occur when we pass through the cometry debris trails, or from man made crud
which we have been shoving up there for years.

Brian

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"mellery" wrote in message
...
Hi all,

I was reading this article about today's spacewalk, and the
astronautics found a lot of micrometeoroid impacts.

http://spaceflightnow.com/shuttle/st...d5/index3.html

I was wondering if there have ever been any station repairs due to
impacts?

Thanks

"Brian Gaff" writes:

Yes, I was listening live early hours of this morning here in the UK, I
know they took a lot of photos. They seem to have a history of impacts
around the quest airlock and toolbox area. I imagine you would need to see
what attitude they fly in most of the time to work out why. it could be of
course that they are just more noticeable there, but what I'd like to know i
is are these impacts from general dust, like the regular meteor showers that
occur when we pass through the cometry debris trails, or from man made crud
which we have been shoving up there for years.

I think one of the "suitcase" experiments out in the open was meant to
look exactly for this. We will certainly see a paper about this sooner
or later.

What I'm wondering: There obviously have been quite a few impacts seen
on surfaces and shielding. But there are also a lot of cables, coolant
tubes and other rather delicate devices on the outside. Have there been
any malfunctions or problems due to such impacts?

Jochem

--
"A designer knows he has arrived at perfection not when there is no
longer anything to add, but when there is no longer anything to take away."
- Antoine de Saint-Exupery

"Jochem Huhmann" wrote in message
...
"Brian Gaff" writes:

I think one of the "suitcase" experiments out in the open was meant to
look exactly for this. We will certainly see a paper about this sooner
or later.

What I'm wondering: There obviously have been quite a few impacts seen
on surfaces and shielding. But there are also a lot of cables, coolant
tubes and other rather delicate devices on the outside. Have there been
any malfunctions or problems due to such impacts?

Jochem


I seem to recall some reports about at one point Mir possibly developing a
leak and a high-pitch whistle being detected. (Though now that I think
about it, this may have been after the Progress collision).

I don't know about ISS, but I believe there have been several reported cases
of satellites suffering damage.

And as I posted recently, I was reading David Scott's book and he mentions
how during this Gemini flight with Neil Armstrong they noticed what they
realized where shooting stars in the atmosphere below them. Then they had
the sobering thought that those "shooting stars" had to have passed by them
to get below them.

--
Greg Moore
Ask me about lily, an RPI based CMC.

On Wed, 2 Sep 2009 23:29:48 -0400, "Greg D. Moore \(Strider\)"
wrote:

I seem to recall some reports about at one point Mir possibly developing a
leak and a high-pitch whistle being detected. (Though now that I think
about it, this may have been after the Progress collision).

Yes, that was when Progress got up close and personal.

I don't know about ISS, but I believe there have been several reported cases
of satellites suffering damage.

Uh, yeah. Just ask Iridium. "We have 66 satellites in our
constellation!" (SPLAT!) "We have 65 satellites in our constellation!"

Brian

On Wed, 02 Sep 2009 23:57:22 +0200, Jochem Huhmann
wrote:


What I'm wondering: There obviously have been quite a few impacts seen
on surfaces and shielding. But there are also a lot of cables, coolant
tubes and other rather delicate devices on the outside. Have there been
any malfunctions or problems due to such impacts?

The radiator problem is the only one I know of, and that was
self-induced (spacewalking cosmonaut jettisoned thermal cover
overboard, which came back and whacked one of the radiator panels on,
I think, S1.) It's the bent-back one you see in pictures quite often,
as NASA is keeping an eye on it. Looks like a replacement panel will
go up on 133 or 134.

They've seen lots of pitting, but I haven't heard of actual damage
otherwise.

Brian

Re your last question, yes, some radiator damage, but I don't think it
actually affected performance. Also of course there is that bit of shielding
hanging off the Russian segment sort of bodged back with some sort of
tether.

Brian

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Email:
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"Jochem Huhmann" wrote in message
...
"Brian Gaff" writes:

Yes, I was listening live early hours of this morning here in the UK, I
know they took a lot of photos. They seem to have a history of impacts
around the quest airlock and toolbox area. I imagine you would need to
see
what attitude they fly in most of the time to work out why. it could be
of
course that they are just more noticeable there, but what I'd like to
know i
is are these impacts from general dust, like the regular meteor showers
that
occur when we pass through the cometry debris trails, or from man made
crud
which we have been shoving up there for years.

I think one of the "suitcase" experiments out in the open was meant to
look exactly for this. We will certainly see a paper about this sooner
or later.

What I'm wondering: There obviously have been quite a few impacts seen
on surfaces and shielding. But there are also a lot of cables, coolant
tubes and other rather delicate devices on the outside. Have there been
any malfunctions or problems due to such impacts?

Jochem

--
"A designer knows he has arrived at perfection not when there is no
longer anything to add, but when there is no longer anything to take
away."
- Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Yes, and that is 65 sats and a lot of bits and pieces of Russian satsa nd
ours.

Brian

--
Brian Gaff....Note, this account does not accept Bcc: email.
graphics are great, but the blind can't hear them
Email:
__________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________


"Brian Thorn" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 2 Sep 2009 23:29:48 -0400, "Greg D. Moore \(Strider\)"
wrote:

I seem to recall some reports about at one point Mir possibly developing a
leak and a high-pitch whistle being detected. (Though now that I think
about it, this may have been after the Progress collision).

Yes, that was when Progress got up close and personal.

I don't know about ISS, but I believe there have been several reported
cases
of satellites suffering damage.

Uh, yeah. Just ask Iridium. "We have 66 satellites in our
constellation!" (SPLAT!) "We have 65 satellites in our constellation!"

Brian

A few flights ago, a Shuttle got quite a large ding in a window that
happened while on orbit but nobody actually could tell when.

Iyt was not there after launch though.


Brian

--
Brian Gaff....Note, this account does not accept Bcc: email.
graphics are great, but the blind can't hear them
Email:
__________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________


"Brian Thorn" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 02 Sep 2009 23:57:22 +0200, Jochem Huhmann
wrote:


What I'm wondering: There obviously have been quite a few impacts seen
on surfaces and shielding. But there are also a lot of cables, coolant
tubes and other rather delicate devices on the outside. Have there been
any malfunctions or problems due to such impacts?

The radiator problem is the only one I know of, and that was
self-induced (spacewalking cosmonaut jettisoned thermal cover
overboard, which came back and whacked one of the radiator panels on,
I think, S1.) It's the bent-back one you see in pictures quite often,
as NASA is keeping an eye on it. Looks like a replacement panel will
go up on 133 or 134.

They've seen lots of pitting, but I haven't heard of actual damage
otherwise.

Brian