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Elektron is Offline - Again
from 'NASA WATCH' : Elektron is Offline - Again
NASA Space Station On-Orbit Status 4 January 2005 link to http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewsr.html?pid=14981 "The Elektron is currently off. After it shut down on 1/1, reactivation was not attempted until after yesterday's troubleshooting by Sharipov, who worked on removing any air bubbles in the pumping system. When turned on, the machine ran for a short period of time and then shut down again. TsUP/Moscow is currently developing new troubleshooting steps." Posted by keith cowing at 04:24 PM Jan 04 JimO adds: No alarm bells -- There are plenty of consumable oxygen supplies, enough to get the next Progress.... but is the unit finally hard-broke like all previous ones, or can it be nursed back to health and last until a supposed solid-state electrolyzer unit is ready for flight later this year? There seems to be some cumulative degradation of every previous unit of this series, that finally reaches the point that it can't be operated. What is the cause of this -- uncleanable contamination, seals failure, sensor burn-out, something else, what? |
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"Jim Oberg" wrote:
JimO adds: No alarm bells -- Right. And the tile damage caused by foam didn't break anything major did they? And the problem with O-ring blow-by turned out to be a non issue too, didn't it? *Anytime* a primary system is OOC, especially when it's a chronic condition (as it seems to be with Elektron), alarm bells should be ringing so loud as to crack the windows. There are plenty of consumable oxygen supplies, enough to get the next Progress.... And what shall we leave off of Progress to accomodate the extra O2? Or shall we simply expend margin and hope for better luck? D. -- Touch-twice life. Eat. Drink. Laugh. -Resolved: To be more temperate in my postings. Oct 5th, 2004 JDL |
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"Derek Lyons" wrote in message ... "Jim Oberg" wrote: JimO adds: No alarm bells -- Right. And the tile damage caused by foam didn't break anything major did they? And the problem with O-ring blow-by turned out to be a non issue too, didn't it? *Anytime* a primary system is OOC, especially when it's a chronic condition (as it seems to be with Elektron), alarm bells should be ringing so loud as to crack the windows. Apples and oranges. There was no backup for the TPS damage on Columbia and there was no backup (still isn't) to prevent o-ring blow by on the SRB's from turning into a disaster. Those are crit-1 failures. Hopefully we'll finish developing the TPS repair techniques that NASA abandoned after they became comfortable with the TPS performance early on in the program, so at least that won't be crit-1 anymore. However, ISS has no less than four sources of O2: 1. Elektron - Preferred the most because it turns otherwise useless H2O into O2 2. Progress O2 tanks - Preferred second (likely because of upmass efficiency and safety) 3. Solid O2 generators - Not as preferred (likely due to higher upmass and safety issues) 4. US airlock O2 tanks - Not currently preferred due to the current shuttle grounding. There are plenty of consumable oxygen supplies, enough to get the next Progress.... And what shall we leave off of Progress to accomodate the extra O2? Or shall we simply expend margin and hope for better luck? The Russians are very good at this balancing act. They've been doing it ever since the first Progress launch in the 1970's. It would certainly be helpful if the shuttle was flying, but with only two people on ISS, this situation really isn't much different than what the Russians did with Salyut and Mir. If you expected ISS to improve on what was done with Mir, what was the basis for that belief? The US went into this knowing full well that US life support wouldn't be online for many years into the program. That along with lack of a US CRV and many other things makes the ISS very dependant on the Russians. Really, this is more of a US failure in the way the program was structured rather than a Russian failure. The Russians know the limitations of Elektron very well. Jeff -- Remove icky phrase from email address to get a valid address. |
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Derek Lyons wrote:
*Anytime* a primary system is OOC, especially when it's a chronic condition (as it seems to be with Elektron), alarm bells should be ringing so loud as to crack the windows. Has it occured to anyone that unless and until they do find a solution to the problem, no amount of sending up new Elektrons will resolve the situation ? If they want to eventually have a reliable Elektron system, the best course to take is to really debug the current unit to find out, through repeated experiences, what works and what doesn't and why it fails. If there is degradation of the unit, they have to find out what portion is degrading. In a closed loop system, systems such as elektron are critical. And if man is ever going to go to mars, knowing how to build field servicable, simple and more importantly reliable systems that handle gas and liquids is extremely important. If they manage to make elektron reliable on ISS, it will perhaps be the ISS's largest contribution in terms of space research. Watching crystals grow won't get us to mars and beyond. Finding a way to generate oxygen reliably will. |
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