WFTV: "Mysterious Object Floats Away From International Space Station"

"John Doe" wrote in message
...
BTW Sasha is smoking !!!! This morning, while working behind a panel, he
kept
tripping the smoke alarm in that cavity ! First one was taken seriously by
both US and russian ground controllers, but once Foale noticed the
detector
was right next to Shasha's head, they realised what was happening.

Probably not -- Sasha kicked up some dust, my sources tell me. How MANY
times did the alarm trip, johndoe?

ISS On-Orbit Status 2/9/04 -- FE Alexander Kaleri successfully removed and
replaced the Vozdukh's noisy MR5-15G blower fan. The carbon dioxide (CO2)
scrubber was then again switched to automatic mode, with CO2 partial
pressure set at 3.5 mmHg and airflow at 80%. During the activity, dust
stirred up by the crew caused a close-by smoke detector to issue a false
fire alarm. Appropriate procedures recovered and restored all affected
systems.

JimO wrote:


"John Doe" wrote in message
...
BTW Sasha is smoking !!!! This morning, while working behind a panel, he
kept
tripping the smoke alarm in that cavity ! First one was taken seriously
by both US and russian ground controllers, but once Foale noticed the
detector
was right next to Shasha's head, they realised what was happening.

Probably not -- Sasha kicked up some dust, my sources tell me. How MANY
times did the alarm trip, johndoe?

ISS On-Orbit Status 2/9/04 -- FE Alexander Kaleri successfully removed and
replaced the Vozdukh's noisy MR5-15G blower fan. The carbon dioxide (CO2)
scrubber was then again switched to automatic mode, with CO2 partial
pressure set at 3.5 mmHg and airflow at 80%. During the activity, dust
stirred up by the crew caused a close-by smoke detector to issue a false
fire alarm. Appropriate procedures recovered and restored all affected
systems.

That's good to know. I really doubted that anyone would be stupid enough to
smoke on-orbit but hey, as RAH once wrote, "Never understimate the power of
human stupidity."

That said, it should have been easy enough to determine if it was smoke or
not, presuming the U.S. TCM (Trace Contaminant Monitor) is actually
operating - various combustion products are part of what it specified to
check for; it was designed to help verify atmosphere of a sealed-off
element following a fire and atmosphere purge prior to re-entering that
module. I guess the smoke alarm in question only measures obstruction by
smoke/dust particles rather than also detecting an IR signature.

--
Herb Schaltegger, B.S., J.D.
Reformed Aerospace Engineer
Remove invalid nonsense for email.

Pat Flannery wrote:
Well, let's hope that they aren't in this case. Because that could imply
that the thing either has been damaged to an unknown degree by a impact,
and things are still falling off from the damaged area;

Yes, inspections are in order, whether the vehicle is making strange sounds or
not. When you have a new house, you inspect it regularly, especially as
seasons change and after winter to see how it has faired, especially during
its first year.

Strange noises don't necessarily mean things are breaking. It could be just
some metal expanding because it'd been exposed to the sun due to a specific
attitude versus sun. It could have been any of the many systems inside. Or it
could be something really broken and being held up by the insultation.

And yes, they really do need to get better pictures when they see stuff
floating away. They need a web cam outdoors pointed backwards that records
everything 7/24 with some computer software to ring a bell whenever it sees
something moving.

John Doe writes:
And yes, they really do need to get better pictures when they see stuff
floating away. They need a web cam outdoors pointed backwards that records
everything 7/24 with some computer software to ring a bell whenever it sees
something moving.

Please tell me, in a microgravity environment, exactly which direction
is "backwards"? I must have missed that lecture when I was in
college.

Jeff
--
Remove "no" and "spam" from email address to reply.
If it says "This is not spam!", it's surely a lie.

In article , Herb Schaltegger wrote:

That said, it should have been easy enough to determine if it was smoke or
not, presuming the U.S. TCM (Trace Contaminant Monitor) is actually
operating - various combustion products are part of what it specified to

Can't see anything on a TCM, but there's a TCCS - Trace Contaminant
Control Subsystem (or Subassembly, sometimes). It seems to be currently
operating, as of Saturday.

--
-Andrew Gray

In article ,
jeff findley wrote:
...They need a web cam outdoors pointed backwards that records
everything 7/24 with some computer software to ring a bell whenever it sees
something moving.

Please tell me, in a microgravity environment, exactly which direction
is "backwards"? I must have missed that lecture when I was in college.

I believe it was Jim Oberg who pointed out that there *is* one particular
direction to watch: most objects coming off (he was talking about the
shuttle orbiter, but the same principle applies) are likely to have less
mass per unit frontal area than a large heavy spacecraft, and thus will be
more affected by air drag. This will tend to move them into a slightly
lower orbit with a slightly higher orbital velocity. So if your camera is
pointed *ahead* and slightly down -- especially at sunset times, when the
Earth below is dark but objects near the station are still sunlit -- most
anything that has fallen off will pass through its field of view.
--
MOST launched 30 June; science observations running | Henry Spencer
since Oct; first surprises seen; papers pending. |

Pat Flannery wrote in
:



Jorge R. Frank wrote:

Because humans are naturally adept at "connecting the dots", whether
or not they are actually connected.


Well, let's hope that they aren't in this case. Because that could
imply that the thing either has been damaged to an unknown degree by a
impact, and things are still falling off from the damaged area; or is
structurally unsound, and has begun to shed things- some of which make
sounds as they leave.

We'll find out on the 26th. There's an EVA scheduled that day, and an
inspection around the point of the reported noise has been added.

That's the prudent way to go - an EVA carries risks of its own, so no point
in scheduling a dedicated EVA for inspection, or unnecessarily rushing this
planned EVA.


--
JRF

Reply-to address spam-proofed - to reply by E-mail,
check "Organization" (I am not assimilated) and
think one step ahead of IBM.

jeff findley wrote:

John Doe writes:
And yes, they really do need to get better pictures when they see stuff
floating away. They need a web cam outdoors pointed backwards that
records everything 7/24 with some computer software to ring a bell
whenever it sees something moving.

Please tell me, in a microgravity environment, exactly which direction
is "backwards"? I must have missed that lecture when I was in
college.

Jeff

I think in context, Mr. Doe must have meant "opposite the velocity vector."
That said, I don't think it would help, much. Too much stuff venting (H20,
CO2, perhaps some other stuff), for instance; you'd get way too many false
positives.

--
Herb Schaltegger, B.S., J.D.
Reformed Aerospace Engineer
Remove invalid nonsense for email.

Bob Tenney wrote in
:

On 08 Feb 2004 20:06:53 GMT, (Hallerb) wrote:


Ah, but in another twenty or thirty years, after all the repairs and
kludges and refits, after cobbling together a collection of modules
from whatever countries will pay

What makes you think it will last anywhere near that long? Isnt its
end of life due about 2015 or so?

Dunno... ask me again in 10 years. The 2015 date would make it darned
hard to finish the station before abandoning it.

The US *should* be able to complete its segment by 2010, perhaps a little
later.

The station's 15-year lifetime is a cert limit. It's not the date at which
the whole thing suddenly falls apart. Mir was rated for five years, but
lasted 15. ISS should likewise last longer than 15.

--
JRF

Reply-to address spam-proofed - to reply by E-mail,
check "Organization" (I am not assimilated) and
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BTW Sasha is smoking !!!! This morning, while working behind a panel, he
kept
tripping the smoke alarm in that cavity !

Sorry, I didn't mean for it to come out that way. I wasn't thinking about
cigarettes at all, I was thinking more along the lines of smoke coming our of
his ears or hair, a bit like in the movie "Airplane" where the guy gets a
smoking ticket (litterally).