Quote from: Robotbeat on 01/21/2013 04:17 pmThey can operate in vacuum (have to in case of accident, or you put them in their own nitrogen pressurized container), so put them in the unpressurized portion. No oxygen to burn with.Lithium reacts with nitrogen. It reacts with water too, which can lead to an explosion when exposed to oxygen. Flood it with Argon gas and the fire goes out, but when the Argon is removed, the fire starts again. It takes a Class D extinguisher, but even then there are limits to what can be accomplished.So put it in vacuum, but then what happens when the capsule reenters, exposing the damaged battery to oxygen, nitrogen, and water? - Ed Kyle
They can operate in vacuum (have to in case of accident, or you put them in their own nitrogen pressurized container), so put them in the unpressurized portion. No oxygen to burn with.
Point taken. Yet Soyuz still uses solar arrays. Would be interesting to see the trades.
The FISO CST-100 update is available:http://spirit.as.utexas.edu/~fiso/telecon/Reiley_2-6-13/I wasn't sure if the CST-100 was going to be reused but the update is clear that the CM will be refurbished.
There was also an interesting discussion about the need for spacesuits. Boeing didn't initially think that they were necessary. But NASA disagreed and made it a safety requirement. So the CST-100 will have them for NASA (but maybe not for Bigelow; depends if Bigelow requires it or not).
Wait, I hadn't noticed before, but does CST-100 have a trunk cavity in the SM? It certainly looks from the CAD drawings that does. Roughly measuring from the picture below, it's about 2.8 m (111 inch) in diameter, and about 1.3 m high, for a volume of almost precisely 8 cubic meters. For comparison, the largest cylinder than could fit in a standard Dragon trunk is 3.6 m diameter, 1.1 meter high, with a volume of 11 cubic meters.This sounds like a pretty good selling point of CST that I've never heard discussed before.
Quote from: BrightLight on 02/06/2013 09:34 pmThe FISO CST-100 update is available:http://spirit.as.utexas.edu/~fiso/telecon/Reiley_2-6-13/I wasn't sure if the CST-100 was going to be reused but the update is clear that the CM will be refurbished.Very interesting presentation. When asked about the lenght of time that the CST-100 could stay in space, he said that it was originaly 60 hours but that it has now increase (because of NASA requirements) to the point that it is now only limited by your consumables. There was also an interesting discussion about the need for spacesuits. Boeing didn't initially think that they were necessary. But NASA disagreed and made it a safety requirement. So the CST-100 will have them for NASA (but maybe not for Bigelow; depends if Bigelow requires it or not).
Weird to have a scoring feature and not advertise it...
Quote from: yg1968 on 02/10/2013 03:29 amQuote from: BrightLight on 02/06/2013 09:34 pmThe FISO CST-100 update is available:http://spirit.as.utexas.edu/~fiso/telecon/Reiley_2-6-13/I wasn't sure if the CST-100 was going to be reused but the update is clear that the CM will be refurbished.Very interesting presentation. When asked about the lenght of time that the CST-100 could stay in space, he said that it was originaly 60 hours but that it has now increase (because of NASA requirements) to the point that it is now only limited by your consumables. There was also an interesting discussion about the need for spacesuits. Boeing didn't initially think that they were necessary. But NASA disagreed and made it a safety requirement. So the CST-100 will have them for NASA (but maybe not for Bigelow; depends if Bigelow requires it or not). A lot of NASA's own data, and many in the crew office who don't believe suits are warranted. In fact in many situations they make things worse and at best prolong the enevitable.
It could make abort /slightly/ trickier, so I understand why they aren't blabbing about it.
Quote from: IRobot on 02/10/2013 10:28 pmWeird to have a scoring feature and not advertise it... Not a trunk. Open space just due to structural/shape needs and won't be used for anything.
Quote from: erioladastra on 02/11/2013 12:54 amQuote from: yg1968 on 02/10/2013 03:29 amQuote from: BrightLight on 02/06/2013 09:34 pmThe FISO CST-100 update is available:http://spirit.as.utexas.edu/~fiso/telecon/Reiley_2-6-13/I wasn't sure if the CST-100 was going to be reused but the update is clear that the CM will be refurbished.Very interesting presentation. When asked about the lenght of time that the CST-100 could stay in space, he said that it was originaly 60 hours but that it has now increase (because of NASA requirements) to the point that it is now only limited by your consumables. There was also an interesting discussion about the need for spacesuits. Boeing didn't initially think that they were necessary. But NASA disagreed and made it a safety requirement. So the CST-100 will have them for NASA (but maybe not for Bigelow; depends if Bigelow requires it or not). A lot of NASA's own data, and many in the crew office who don't believe suits are warranted. In fact in many situations they make things worse and at best prolong the enevitable. Hmm. Tell that to the crew of Soyuz 11.
Quote from: vulture4 on 03/23/2013 06:21 pmQuote from: woods170 on 02/11/2013 06:41 amQuote from: erioladastra on 02/11/2013 12:54 amQuote from: yg1968 on 02/10/2013 03:29 amQuote from: BrightLight on 02/06/2013 09:34 pmThe FISO CST-100 update is available:http://spirit.as.utexas.edu/~fiso/telecon/Reiley_2-6-13/I wasn't sure if the CST-100 was going to be reused but the update is clear that the CM will be refurbished.Very interesting presentation. When asked about the lenght of time that the CST-100 could stay in space, he said that it was originaly 60 hours but that it has now increase (because of NASA requirements) to the point that it is now only limited by your consumables. There was also an interesting discussion about the need for spacesuits. Boeing didn't initially think that they were necessary. But NASA disagreed and made it a safety requirement. So the CST-100 will have them for NASA (but maybe not for Bigelow; depends if Bigelow requires it or not). A lot of NASA's own data, and many in the crew office who don't believe suits are warranted. In fact in many situations they make things worse and at best prolong the enevitable. Hmm. Tell that to the crew of Soyuz 11.Soyuz-11 was 42 years ago, and was a freak accident. No one can stay in suits continuously. The Orion requirements have added immensely to cost. As Burt Rutan said, if you can't design a reliable pressure cabin you have no business flying passengers.Not the best example seeing as how the passengers aboard SpaceShipTwo will be wearing pressure suits.
Quote from: woods170 on 02/11/2013 06:41 amQuote from: erioladastra on 02/11/2013 12:54 amQuote from: yg1968 on 02/10/2013 03:29 amQuote from: BrightLight on 02/06/2013 09:34 pmThe FISO CST-100 update is available:http://spirit.as.utexas.edu/~fiso/telecon/Reiley_2-6-13/I wasn't sure if the CST-100 was going to be reused but the update is clear that the CM will be refurbished.Very interesting presentation. When asked about the lenght of time that the CST-100 could stay in space, he said that it was originaly 60 hours but that it has now increase (because of NASA requirements) to the point that it is now only limited by your consumables. There was also an interesting discussion about the need for spacesuits. Boeing didn't initially think that they were necessary. But NASA disagreed and made it a safety requirement. So the CST-100 will have them for NASA (but maybe not for Bigelow; depends if Bigelow requires it or not). A lot of NASA's own data, and many in the crew office who don't believe suits are warranted. In fact in many situations they make things worse and at best prolong the enevitable. Hmm. Tell that to the crew of Soyuz 11.Soyuz-11 was 42 years ago, and was a freak accident. No one can stay in suits continuously. The Orion requirements have added immensely to cost. As Burt Rutan said, if you can't design a reliable pressure cabin you have no business flying passengers.
>For now, Virgin Galactic isn't planning to put its passengers in pressurized flight suits.>"Our customers will probably wear some from of coverall -- no doubt it'll be very trendy and very Virgin -- and possibly some type of protective headgear," [SS2 lead pilot David] Mackay said.>
Designing a sound pressure vessel is easy in theory but apparently not always so in practice. Airplanes develop holes in them not infrequently and for this reason have backup oxygen for passengers and crew. What's different about spaceflight that makes backup air less useful?Edit: see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncontrolled_decompression#Notable_decompression_accidents_and_incidents for examples.