I believe they're getting the new intercom keysets.
Quote from: Jorge on 05/30/2012 08:53 pmI believe they're getting the new intercom keysets.Yes, I've seen posts about this on Twitter - the old DVIS keysets are being replaced with DVICE ones.
Quote from: erioladastra on 05/24/2012 09:54 pmthe FGB panels produce up to about 500W of power. The Russians use this power and reduce what the pull from the USOS based on how much they are getting.Really?Do you have a good source for this?
the FGB panels produce up to about 500W of power. The Russians use this power and reduce what the pull from the USOS based on how much they are getting.
Quote from: Danderman on 05/30/2012 08:13 pmQuote from: erioladastra on 05/24/2012 09:54 pmthe FGB panels produce up to about 500W of power. The Russians use this power and reduce what the pull from the USOS based on how much they are getting.Really?Do you have a good source for this?Yep, i was just looking at a plot of the power output.
If the aging FGB panels are still producing power in their folded state, then it is reasonable to assume that new panels in a different form factor
Quote from: Danderman on 05/31/2012 05:31 pmIf the aging FGB panels are still producing power in their folded state, then it is reasonable to assume that new panels in a different form factorNot really. The same area is exposed for the same given length and so the power output would not change
I believe that solar energy striking a panel that is at an angle, as are the folded FGB panels, will always produce less power than a panel that is perpendicular to the incoming solar rays. Therefore, a flat panel would produce more power than a folded panel.
Sorry if this has been asked before, but could someone make a sketch or something that illustrates exactly what a "beta" angle is and how it affects the ISS? I had great difficulty visualising it from the descriptions I've read. Thanks in advance.
Quote from: peter-b on 06/01/2012 09:50 pmSorry if this has been asked before, but could someone make a sketch or something that illustrates exactly what a "beta" angle is and how it affects the ISS? I had great difficulty visualising it from the descriptions I've read. Thanks in advance. This Flash presentation may be of help - click on the "Beta Angle" button to see an explanation and animations of ISS in high and low beta angle conditions.http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/station/flash/start.swf
I was trying to find out how many portholes there are on the ISS, and where they are located, but no luck, so thought I'd try here. I found info for the Russian components, but nothing for the US. I read James Oberg saying there were quite a few, of good optical properties, but where are they? What direction do they face? Any help appreciated!
Are there any plans to have an astronaut on board the ISS for more than 2 expeditions? I can imagine they don't want to do that due to health concerns of the astronauts, but there would be some scientific value in having someone stay in space for longer than the 6 months that is standard for expedition-crews.
Quote from: Solon on 06/03/2012 05:01 amI was trying to find out how many portholes there are on the ISS, and where they are located, but no luck, so thought I'd try here. I found info for the Russian components, but nothing for the US. I read James Oberg saying there were quite a few, of good optical properties, but where are they? What direction do they face? Any help appreciated!On the Russian Segment, there are six nadir-facing portholes in the Service Module (SM), as well as one porthole on each of the two EVA hatches of both the Docking Compartment-1 (DC-1) and Mini Research Module-2 (MRM-2). All four of these portholes are "clocked" at plus/minus 45 degrees to the positive/negative velocity vector - so DC-1 has portholes facing port-forward and starboard-aft, while MRM-2 has portholes facing starboard-forward and port-aft.In addition, Soyuzes offer three portholes when docked - via two side-looking portholes in the Descent Module, and one forward-looking porthole in the Orbital Module. Due to their specific clocking when docked, a Soyuz docked to MRM-2 has portholes facing port, starboard, and nadir, while a Soyuz docked to MRM-1 has portholes facing starboard-forward, port-aft, and zenith.On the US Segment, in addition to the obvious Cupola, there is one large nadir-facing optical-quality porthole on the US lab (which is used exclusively for Earth observation payloads via the WORF rack), and two port-facing portholes on the JPM.In addition, every USOS CBM hatch has a porthole, however the portholes on unused ports/hatches are covered with an external flap (called a CBCS flap), which can only be uncovered via EVA if the port is unused. The only portholes on unused CBM ports that are currently NOT covered with a CBCS flap are the Node 2 nadir and zenith ports - so these are the only CBM hatch portholes that the crew can "see" out of (and there isn't really much to see out of the Node 2 zenith porthole - except the blackness of space).
Thanks Space Pete! That's the most informative answer I have had to date, by far. Kind of disappointing that they can't see out of some of the portholes, but there must be a good reason for them to be covered. Would it be to prevent too much harsh sunlight from entering so they don't need as big an air conditioning unit?