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Astronauts drop tool bag into orbit that you can see with binoculars

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Re: Astronauts drop tool bag into orbit that you can see with binoculars

#21

Post by morelisp »

fouronnes3 wrote: post #3

Anyone got a link to an official report detailing what happened? The article is kinda light on details, but I assume this is a major mishap that can only happen if multiple things go wrong simultaneously? Everything m they do up there is a precisely choreographed dance so it would be interesting to read a technical report on that.

It's hard to have more failsafes on a single toolbag than "don't let go". The mission was successful (or it seems, partially successful, not due to loss of toolbag); losing the toolbag is the "one thing" that can go wrong without risking the real goal.

Re: Astronauts drop tool bag into orbit that you can see with binoculars

#22

Post by [deleted] »

garblegarble wrote: post #10
Throwfi44 wrote: post #2

There is a rumour that several years ago some tools were dropped on purpose. Because astronaut did not liked to stay on orbit, and he/she wanted to return to Earth ahead of schedule.

Are you sure that's not a half-remembered version of Russian propaganda[1], where they tried to blame NASA Astronaut Serena Auñón-Chancellor with drilling holes into a Russian spacecraft, ostensibly so she could get sent back to earth early for medical treatment? They were trying at the time to deflect blame for what were clearly Russian manufacturing defects (especially in hindsight, given the number of defects and…

[deleted]

Re: Astronauts drop tool bag into orbit that you can see with binoculars

#24

Post by GauntletWizard »

munk-a wrote: post #17
p1esk wrote: post #15

Tool bag “valued at $100,000”? What could possibly be in there?

Probably just regular stuff but of a high enough quality that we'd consider sending it to space? Defense and space equipment procurement is usually a lot more expensive than normal because 1) companies exploit the bidding system 2) you really don't want a screw driver that fails when you're re-attaching a solar panel to something floating in LEO since the run to the local Lowe's is going to be quite expensive.

Not to mention that the mere act of sending it to space costs $30,000 per pound of payload, so it was probably $10k of quality tools totaling 3lbs of weight.

Re: Astronauts drop tool bag into orbit that you can see with binoculars

#25

Post by sieste »

fouronnes3 wrote: post #3

Anyone got a link to an official report detailing what happened? The article is kinda light on details, but I assume this is a major mishap that can only happen if multiple things go wrong simultaneously? Everything m they do up there is a precisely choreographed dance so it would be interesting to read a technical report on that.

Yes it's a bit light on details. But they do point out the most important facts, namely what gender the astronauts are and that it has not been officially confirmed whether the tool box contained a 10mm wrench. Personally, that's everything I needed to know about the situation.

Re: Astronauts drop tool bag into orbit that you can see with binoculars

#27

Post by kolinko »

munk-a wrote: post #17
p1esk wrote: post #15

Tool bag “valued at $100,000”? What could possibly be in there?

Probably just regular stuff but of a high enough quality that we'd consider sending it to space? Defense and space equipment procurement is usually a lot more expensive than normal because 1) companies exploit the bidding system 2) you really don't want a screw driver that fails when you're re-attaching a solar panel to something floating in LEO since the run to the local Lowe's is going to be quite expensive.

Also, it may include a cost of shipping to orbit.

Re: Astronauts drop tool bag into orbit that you can see with binoculars

#28

Post by hotpotamus »

sieste wrote: post #25
fouronnes3 wrote: post #3

Anyone got a link to an official report detailing what happened? The article is kinda light on details, but I assume this is a major mishap that can only happen if multiple things go wrong simultaneously? Everything m they do up there is a precisely choreographed dance so it would be interesting to read a technical report on that.

Yes it's a bit light on details. But they do point out the most important facts, namely what gender the astronauts are and that it has not been officially confirmed whether the tool box contained a 10mm wrench. Personally, that's everything I needed to know about the situation.

If you've ever worked on a modern car, you'd know the importance of the 10mm wrench. Maybe they had some Toyota guys consult on the ISS.

Re: Astronauts drop tool bag into orbit that you can see with binoculars

#29

Post by bandyaboot »

morelisp wrote: post #21
fouronnes3 wrote: post #3

Anyone got a link to an official report detailing what happened? The article is kinda light on details, but I assume this is a major mishap that can only happen if multiple things go wrong simultaneously? Everything m they do up there is a precisely choreographed dance so it would be interesting to read a technical report on that.

It's hard to have more failsafes on a single toolbag than "don't let go". The mission was successful (or it seems, partially successful, not due to loss of toolbag); losing the toolbag is the "one thing" that can go wrong without risking the real goal.

I’m not familiar with how the *nauts tether themselves to the station, but I figured it would be something similar to safety tethers when working up high in precarious situations —2 tethers with only 1 allowed to be disconnected at any particular moment. I wouldn’t have been surprised if the same thing were done for anything that they don’t want to float away. But, perhaps that adds more complexity than it’s worth.

Re: Astronauts drop tool bag into orbit that you can see with binoculars

#30

Post by mikepurvis »

crazygringo wrote: post #20
kristianp wrote: post #13

They need a drone to go and pick these dropped items. How much fun that would be!

Now you've got me genuinely curious -- does something like that exist? A space drone with gas propulsion and a grasping hand? It seems like it would be "relatively" simple, and useful for basic tasks that don't need a full human. I mean, now that you mention it, it really seems like that ought to be a thing, and that this would be a perfect use case for it. (Visual inspection of the ISS exterior would be another.)

I think in theory Robotnaut 2 was supposed to be something that could eventually be that: https://www.nasa.gov/robonaut2/

But going with a humanoid form factor made it overlay ambitious and all that complexity prevented it from being useful for the kinds of basic teleop + grab tasks you're envisioning.

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