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Astronauts told to return to ISS after sheltering over air leak repairs

bbc.com

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Re: Astronauts told to return to ISS after sheltering over air leak repairs

#71

Post by vitally3643 »

Quitschquat wrote: post #14
SoftTalker wrote: post #11

Imagine something like this happening halfway to Mars and zero chance of escaping, getting any help or parts sent to you.

Recently started an embedded hardware/software job. Shipping firmware to the manufacturer feels like that for the device classes that have no internet.

My first week on the job they told me they're about to manufacture 20k units and can you please fix this bug in the firmware by Friday?

I've never shipped anything to real customers in the wild before, so let me tell you how insanely stressed I was to open the firmware and find a 10k lines of C contained entirely within a single switch statement. I think they used some no-code tool to graphically design a state machine then plopped the generated code straight into the device.

Re: Astronauts told to return to ISS after sheltering over air leak repairs

#73

Post by echoangle »

ordu wrote: post #64

Can't they just get things out of the module and paint it fresh? Maybe with some special paint, or with several layers of a paint? Obviously they can't, it looks like an obvious solution they couldn't have missed. But I wonder why it is impossible to do.

Some problems i can see with that:

It might be hard to access the actual pressure hull from the inside (there's probably insulation and padding on top)

If you use paint, you somehow have to get rid of the solvent in it when it dries, which might be a problem when painting a whole module

Re: Astronauts told to return to ISS after sheltering over air leak repairs

#74

Post by cpursley »

sigmoid10 wrote: post #46
threwrfaway wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The hubris of forgetfulness; to think that until Elon showed up the West couldn't even put a person in space anymore. The Soyuz, the MIR, the human space records, the Venera program, closed cycle rockets, all have no equivalent in the West. Even their version of the shuttle was superior (it flew 100% autonomously). I don't like Musk, but he single handedly saved the Western space programs.

This sense of national pride based on long past achievements will always be bewildering to me. Do you really think a country that is actively engaged in a full scale open land war and whose economy is in shambles is able to maintain (much less build) a venerable space program? Elon might have saved the American tax payer from the senate launch system jobs program, but the majority of the global space industry is and…

Well, they managed to rebuild their launchpad ahead of schedule and launched this big boy not long ago:

https://www.space.com/space-exploration/launches-spacecraft/...

They've also got some new passenger jets certified and about to enter production (MC-21 and SU-100).

Re: Astronauts told to return to ISS after sheltering over air leak repairs

#75

Post by danjl »

threwrfaway wrote: post #23
willy_k wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is less debris around on the way to mars and this is a known and worsening for the ISS due to its age.

A top (arguably, the top) metallurgist who studied previous failed parts told me it's corrosion of the Russian alloy used. Corrosion is a hard problem in living quarters (ie moisture and salt) in space (sealed with no gravity)

It seems as though the leaks are always in the Russian section? Perhaps this is why. Humans are the weak link. Damn breathers.

Re: Astronauts told to return to ISS after sheltering over air leak repairs

#76

Post by smilespray »

hgoel wrote: post #68
SoftTalker wrote: post #11

Imagine something like this happening halfway to Mars and zero chance of escaping, getting any help or parts sent to you.

Ideally your Mars transit vehicle hasn't been taking 90 minute heating and cooling cycles nonstop for 26 years.

Interesting thought. Isn't it possible to design around this?

Surely this was considered when building the first modules.

Re: Astronauts told to return to ISS after sheltering over air leak repairs

#77

Post by hgoel »

ordu wrote: post #64

Can't they just get things out of the module and paint it fresh? Maybe with some special paint, or with several layers of a paint? Obviously they can't, it looks like an obvious solution they couldn't have missed. But I wonder why it is impossible to do.

If you mean on the outside, paints that apply well in vacuum and microgravity probably need to be developed and tested first.

If you mean on the inside, it'd be a lot of time and disruption to devote to maintenance on a station that's already having to spend an increasing amount of time on maintenance instead of science.

The modules have a lot of stuff that has been wired between them over the years, all that would need to be sorted out, consequences understood and more before ever starting the work, and by then it'll be time for the ISS to retire anyway.

Re: Astronauts told to return to ISS after sheltering over air leak repairs

#79

Post by SoftTalker »

hgoel wrote: post #68
SoftTalker wrote: post #11

Imagine something like this happening halfway to Mars and zero chance of escaping, getting any help or parts sent to you.

Ideally your Mars transit vehicle hasn't been taking 90 minute heating and cooling cycles nonstop for 26 years.

Well one side will be facing the sun and the other will be facing the void, so there might be similar issues.

Re: Astronauts told to return to ISS after sheltering over air leak repairs

#80

Post by malfist »

ordu wrote: post #64

Can't they just get things out of the module and paint it fresh? Maybe with some special paint, or with several layers of a paint? Obviously they can't, it looks like an obvious solution they couldn't have missed. But I wonder why it is impossible to do.

For every complex, difficult and hard problem, there is a simple, easy and wrong solution.

Paint obviously is not the right tool for making seals air tight.

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