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NASA Relies on Thrusters to Steer Station



 
 
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  #23  
Old December 9th 03, 12:38 PM
John Doe
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Default NASA Relies on Thrusters to Steer Station

The CMGs fit through neither russian or US hatches. So they must arrive at
station as part of unpressurized cargo.

At the time of the first CMG's failure, if they had known about the extended
shuttle downtime, perhaps they could have talked to the russians to launch a
CMG on a modified progress with a large enough hollow section in the middle to
fit the CMG, leaving enough hardware to allow the progress to dock, even
though the hatch would lead to space. Then, with an EVA and arms, they could
have moved the CMG to Z1.

At the time, it wasn't seen as an emergency task. (and it wasn't). So there
was no incentive to get the russians to build a special progress. After
Columbia, initially, they thought the grounding would last just a few months.
So again, not worth asking the russians. A few months later, shuttle then
slipped a bit more. By now, if they are confident they will launch in
September 2004, it would be pointless to contract with russians to build a
special progress.


If they now fear a certain failure rate for the remaining CMGs, they may have
come to the conclusion that with a worse case scenario, the failure rate would
exceed the possible launch rates with available cargo space, so the priority
would be given to extend as much as possible the life of CMGs.

And they probably really want to bring back the first failed CMG for a post
mortem to ensure that replacements don't have the same flaw.
  #24  
Old December 9th 03, 03:37 PM
jeff findley
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Default NASA Relies on Thrusters to Steer Station

John Doe writes:

The CMGs fit through neither russian or US hatches. So they must arrive at
station as part of unpressurized cargo.

At the time of the first CMG's failure, if they had known about the extended
shuttle downtime, perhaps they could have talked to the russians to launch a
CMG on a modified progress with a large enough hollow section in the middle to
fit the CMG, leaving enough hardware to allow the progress to dock, even
though the hatch would lead to space. Then, with an EVA and arms, they could
have moved the CMG to Z1.


The Russians have done this before. The Piers docking/airlock module
was launched in this way on a Soyuz.

And they probably really want to bring back the first failed CMG for a post
mortem to ensure that replacements don't have the same flaw.


Surely. If you somehow delivered a new CMG on a Progress derivative,
you'd likely want to attach the old CMG elsewhere on the station to
await a return flight by the shuttle.

Jeff
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