So, the only minor modification / process change is to plastic weld, not glue, the joints near the waste fan assembly / storage tank (white tee and purple banded fitting in the lower left of the ECLSS floor photo). The additional cycling / use from I4 likely caused the glue joint to fatigue and the hose to blow off under sustained fan pressure. SpaceX likely used glue originally for ease of assembly, inspection and refurbishment.This will just make the toilet more resilient and prep the system for long term use if deployed in Dragon XL for Artemis.We also now know that they use Oxone to pretreat the urine. Excuse me while I go buy LXS-DE stock. /s
SpaceX, concerned that the same toilet issues are plaguing its other vehicles, had astronauts use a borescope to investigate the Crew Dragon currently docked to the ISS. They confirmed SpaceX’s suspicions and indeed found similar contamination under the floor, Gerst said
Seems too complicated.Modern hospitals are using a fitted vacuum fixture for automatic urine collection from bed bound patients.It vastly eases the task for the nurses and is much more comfortable for the patients, as soaked diapers are no longer an issue. Containing the liquid component this way seems a much better zero G option than the large bowl currently used.My guess is that feces are equally manageable with a fitted vacuum hose plus some initial liquid priming. We just have to get off the idea that a toilet should be sat on.
Quote from: etudiant on 10/26/2021 11:32 pmSeems too complicated.Modern hospitals are using a fitted vacuum fixture for automatic urine collection from bed bound patients.It vastly eases the task for the nurses and is much more comfortable for the patients, as soaked diapers are no longer an issue. Containing the liquid component this way seems a much better zero G option than the large bowl currently used.My guess is that feces are equally manageable with a fitted vacuum hose plus some initial liquid priming. We just have to get off the idea that a toilet should be sat on.Rather sadly, I just had some experience with "external catheters" in the case of my (now) late mother-in-law. It seems to me there is a pretty viable alternative for our ladyfriends (e.g., "PureWick"), but not as viable for us guys. Obviously, a problem looking for a solution.
We also now know that they use Oxone to pretreat the urine. Excuse me while I go buy LXS-DE stock. /s
Containing the liquid component this way seems a much better zero G option than the large bowl currently used.
My guess is that feces are equally manageable with a fitted vacuum hose plus some initial liquid priming. We just have to get off the idea that a toilet should be sat on.
Quote from: Perchlorate on 10/27/2021 12:27 amQuote from: etudiant on 10/26/2021 11:32 pmSeems too complicated.Modern hospitals are using a fitted vacuum fixture for automatic urine collection from bed bound patients.It vastly eases the task for the nurses and is much more comfortable for the patients, as soaked diapers are no longer an issue. Containing the liquid component this way seems a much better zero G option than the large bowl currently used.My guess is that feces are equally manageable with a fitted vacuum hose plus some initial liquid priming. We just have to get off the idea that a toilet should be sat on.Rather sadly, I just had some experience with "external catheters" in the case of my (now) late mother-in-law. It seems to me there is a pretty viable alternative for our ladyfriends (e.g., "PureWick"), but not as viable for us guys. Obviously, a problem looking for a solution.I thought it was solved for the guys, too. I read somewhere, might have been in Neil's or Buzz's books or later with someone like Mike Mullane. They had a "fitting" that came in small, medium, or large. Naturally, all the astros at the time, were XL.
Here I plot height versus tim,e for the Dragon 2 (Crew and Cargo) trunks jettisoned in orbit. 4 of 8 remain in orbit as of today.
Drag sails/tethers/etc can have their own issues (the materials used for some of the sails flown to date degrade rather quickly in LEO). I'd like to know why they don't lower the trunk for the Crew missions. The only thing I can think of is some abort contingency. It seems like they could figure out how to leave them in an orbit that would decay more quickly.
Go Searcher with one of the dragon practice capsules.
Wikipedia has a manifest table for crewed flights and with the Polaris flights it's now up to 17 (excluding all uncrewed).Unless some of those flights are cancelled this puts Dragon on track to exceed the total of 15 crewed flights of Apollo and this will make it the most flown US crew capsule.Shuttle and Soyuz are very far away though.
Quote from: DreamyPickle on 02/16/2022 08:51 amWikipedia has a manifest table for crewed flights and with the Polaris flights it's now up to 17 (excluding all uncrewed).Unless some of those flights are cancelled this puts Dragon on track to exceed the total of 15 crewed flights of Apollo and this will make it the most flown US crew capsule.Shuttle and Soyuz are very far away though.Had not thought about this before. But I projected out the yearly possible crewd D2 flights and I got the possibility that in 2025 that the total would cross >20. Note here that if everything goes well for Starliner in this year. That Starliner would have only ~3 flights (1-2023,1-2024,1-2025).Even if NASA decides to accelerate the usage of Starliner to occasionally use 2 Starliner fligths to ISS in a year. That would not impact crewed D2 flights by as much as most would believe. Such that at most a loss of 1 of 3 flights but may be as low as a loss of only 1 of 5 flights in a year.The non ISS crewed D2 flights in a year will be some combination of Axiom and Isaacman sponsored organized flights. Some years 2 and others could be as high as 4. If other uses besides these 3 sources for flights occur such as usage as an alternate for SLS/Orion by loading up and off crew in LEO of a Starship that transport them back and forth to the Moon could occur to. Eventually though D2 will be overcome by Starship. It is more so a mater of when. But before then D2 will set new records possibly starting this year 2022 with the highest altitude/distance from Earth non-Apollo flight. First private citizen EVA. We have hit another inflection point. One in which that in a few years that private crews to space in one year will outnumber government ones.
