Cooling Pump Malfunction On ISS 86
eldavojohn writes "On Saturday at 8pm GMT, the crew of the International Space Station awoke to alarm bells as one of two ammonia pumps shut down due to a spike in power. Their backup cooling (Loop B) is functioning as designed and NASA released an official statement: 'The crew is in no danger, but will need to work additional troubleshooting on Sunday to keep the station in a stable configuration, including the installation of a jumper cable to maintain proper cooling to the Zarya module in the Russian segment.'"
HOWTO: Fixing stuff in space (Score:5, Funny)
2) Duct tape something ("including the installation of a jumper cable to maintain proper cooling to the Zarya module in the Russian segment");
3) Problem solved!
Is Feature! (Score:5, Funny)
Ditch the pump... (Score:2, Funny)
They should develop artificial gravity. That way their absorption chillers won't need pumps.
Much simpler.
Re:frist psot (Score:1, Funny)
frist psot
Wrong. According to the article, it's more the frosty piss (or the lack thereof) they are worrying about ;-)
attitude control? (Score:1, Funny)
> Once awake, space station astronauts powered down some attitude control systems
I wonder what the attitudes are now, without the control systems in place.
Re:Sounds like Russian thing: JUMPER CABLES IN SPA (Score:3, Funny)
Well of course you wouldn't leave without them, Mr. Human-Cyborg.
That said, I agree fully. There are certain people in this world who, given a problem and some small versatile components, can fashion a solution. I don't mean simply the ones titled "engineer"; it's more of a personality trait. Duct tape [octanecreative.com], jumper cables, a good pocketknife, plastic sheeting, and a skein of rope can solve most everyday problems, and many that aren't so everyday.
For a while, I carried a small coil of Romex 3-conductor wire in my trunk. I don't know how it got there, but when a screw fell out of my car door's latch 150 miles from home, it was nice to have materials to make a makeshift replacement. Just 2 inches of one of the conductor, folded in half, and threaded into the hole. The plastic insulation held as threads, and I had a working screw.
...or better yet, carry AAA Plus, it's only $97 per year. For the ISS, I would go with SSS (Space Station Society) Plus because you get 4 free tows to a higher orbit each year.
Re:Why human presence still matters (Score:4, Funny)
after the first few weeks/months, living off-planet would be a hellish claustrophobic monotony punctuated only by the occasional crisis. By the time the first critical life-support system gave out and killed everyone, it's likely that most of the population wouldn't mind dying.
You make it sound like living in New York. I don't think it'll be that bad.