bobthemonkey - 16/3/2008 8:31 PMAdding an LEE is probably not that much use as it would not be able to articulate unless you flew an entire joint set on the new arm.
Analyst - 16/3/2008 3:17 PM...Why not build a simple SSRMS extension, a boom with a PDGF at one end, a LEE on the other and cables in between, maybe 10m long. No joints, no sensor packages, no cameras etc. It could be launched in place of the OBSS on any future flight if the OBSS is left on ISS by the flight before (just as done with STS-123 and STS-124). It could be stowed at the same place where the OBSS is stowed during STS-123."I never knew this site existed until this past weekend, and now I feel like a kid in a candy store (or like the first time I walked into a Snap-On truck...whoa baby).Actually, this was something I had asked a science editor here in Canada, although more basic in concept:Why not leave the last OBSS on the station? It has already proved it's worth for the damaged solar array, it may be called upon again for a similar (or identical task) one day. In space, you never know. Seems like a perfectly good waste of hardware to be in a museum on the ground.It makes even more sense now, in that the mounting stations and keep-alive cables are in place.