Author Topic: General ISS Q&A thread  (Read 879628 times)

Offline Space Pete

Re: General ISS Q&A thread
« Reply #1920 on: 05/30/2012 09:03 pm »
I 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.
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Offline Jorge

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Re: General ISS Q&A thread
« Reply #1921 on: 05/30/2012 09:20 pm »
I 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.

Pic that a friend posted, with comparison to the Gemini/Apollo era VIS.
JRF

Offline erioladastra

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Re: General ISS Q&A thread
« Reply #1922 on: 05/31/2012 05:21 pm »
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.

Really?

Do you have a good source for this????


Yep, i was just looking at a plot of the power output.

Offline Danderman

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Re: General ISS Q&A thread
« Reply #1923 on: 05/31/2012 05:31 pm »
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.

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 that would allow full deployment within the available area would produce a lot more power.  We know that solar panels on earlier TKS vehicles can be moved around.

 This might be a topic for the Advanced Concepts section.

Offline Jim

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Re: General ISS Q&A thread
« Reply #1924 on: 05/31/2012 05:45 pm »

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



Not really.  The same area is exposed for the same given length  and so the power output would not change

Offline Danderman

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Re: General ISS Q&A thread
« Reply #1925 on: 05/31/2012 07:11 pm »

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



Not 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.

More to the point, a new solar panel for FGB could be made wider and shorter to provide for more area for energy production.

Lastly, new panels could use new technology for the panels to provide for greater efficiency.
« Last Edit: 06/01/2012 11:58 am by Danderman »

Offline Nicolas PILLET

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Re: General ISS Q&A thread
« Reply #1926 on: 06/01/2012 04:49 am »

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



Not really.  The same area is exposed for the same given length  and so the power output would not change

No, because in this position, FGB's panels are unable to track the Sun.
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Offline Jim

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Re: General ISS Q&A thread
« Reply #1927 on: 06/01/2012 12:52 pm »

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.


Not true, the panels at an angle still provide the same projected area as a flat panel

Offline Ronsmytheiii

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Re: General ISS Q&A thread
« Reply #1928 on: 06/01/2012 04:27 pm »
Does it really matter, as the US SAW's are producing more than enough power for both the USOS and RS.....

Offline peter-b

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Re: General ISS Q&A thread
« Reply #1929 on: 06/01/2012 09:50 pm »
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. :)
Research Scientist (Sensors), Sharp Laboratories of Europe, UK

Offline AnalogMan

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Re: General ISS Q&A thread
« Reply #1930 on: 06/01/2012 10:18 pm »
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. :)

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

Offline peter-b

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Re: General ISS Q&A thread
« Reply #1931 on: 06/01/2012 10:26 pm »
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. :)

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

That was awesome, thanks!
Research Scientist (Sensors), Sharp Laboratories of Europe, UK

Offline Solon

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Re: General ISS Q&A thread
« Reply #1932 on: 06/03/2012 05:01 am »
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!

Offline Sparky

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Re: General ISS Q&A thread
« Reply #1933 on: 06/03/2012 05:12 am »
There is a window in Destiny, facing the Earth, and two in Kibo, facing port. And of course, Cuploa. Other than that, there are CBMs with small windows in the hatches, but I'm not sure if all of them do.

Offline Space Pete

Re: General ISS Q&A thread
« Reply #1934 on: 06/03/2012 02:42 pm »
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!

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). ;)
« Last Edit: 06/03/2012 02:52 pm by Space Pete »
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Offline Joris

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Re: General ISS Q&A thread
« Reply #1935 on: 06/03/2012 09:39 pm »
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.
JIMO would have been the first proper spaceship.

Offline manboy

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Re: General ISS Q&A thread
« Reply #1936 on: 06/04/2012 02:52 am »
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.

They want to eventual fly a few long duration crews but who knows if it will actually happen. Below is taken a NASA press conference on May 3rd, 2012.

Question: Reflight of Mars 500 mission on ISS?
Mike Suffredini (ISS Program Manager): “Clearly in order to be able explore beyond low earth orbit we are going to stay in orbit a little longer than six months and so one of things we have been talking about for some time, in fact since the advent of the low earth orbiting platform, is its benefit for human research and how long the human system can survive in a microgravity and can it survive in a microgravity environment for a extended period of time and then land on a foreign planet and expect the human to be able to do his or her tasks while they’re there and then return home and again experience the same microgravity environment for an extended period of time. That’s a long winded way of saying, yes, we’re considering that, we’re talking to our partners about that.

In-fact it was a bit of a discussion at our heads of agencies in Quebec about what kind of steps do we need to take to put in a position to extend the crew's time on orbit as part of the human research study on the human system’s ability to with-stand long duration spaceflight. Absolutely that’s part of what we’re looking at but Dina will tell about in just a second is really the beginning of a set of simulations that were to also include an extension of crew on-orbit, as so you said that’s not an activity that’s going to occur tomorrow but we’re taking step and we will evolve to this point over a number of years so that we can get all the data we need before the end of the ISS’ lifetime.”

-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16rfcTbU_D4&t=31m25s
« Last Edit: 06/04/2012 02:53 am by manboy »
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Offline Solon

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Re: General ISS Q&A thread
« Reply #1937 on: 06/09/2012 02:42 am »
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?

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!

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). ;)

Offline Space Pete

Re: General ISS Q&A thread
« Reply #1938 on: 06/09/2012 08:31 pm »
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?

Glad to be of help. :)

The reason for the porthole covers is related to orbital debris - specifically preventing any of it from hitting the portholes, which are very susceptible to debris strikes due to the fact that they are very thin.

I have attached an image of the exterior of a CBM hatch for you, in which you can see the open CBCS flap. In case you or others don't know, this flap is open as the port in question (Node 2 Nadir) is used regularly to attach cargo vehicles to the ISS - and as part of the berthing process, a camera system is mounted to the hatch porthole (on the interior side) to check alignment between the camera system and corresponding markers on the hatch of the cargo vehicle. This is called the Centerline Berthing Camera System (CBCS) - hence the name of the flaps. If the flap were closed, the camera wouldn't be able to see out of the porthole to view the alignment markers on the hatch of the cargo vehicle.
« Last Edit: 06/09/2012 08:32 pm by Space Pete »
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Offline FinalFrontier

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Re: General ISS Q&A thread
« Reply #1939 on: 06/09/2012 11:46 pm »
Alright question  here because I have seen conflicting videos.


To confirm, The PMM (pressurized multipurpose module) Leonardo is currently located on Unity Nadir.

Correct or incorrect?
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