Slashdot Mirror
Trouble on the International Space Station
lewiz writes "The BBC News website has an article that explains the International Space Station has run into troubles due to one of four gyroscopes breaking down. They say while this is a serious problem it will not have any massive effect but it will have to be replaced quickly as the gyroscopes stabilise and control the flight."
The In Space, No One Knows You Read Vogue story, just two posts ago, had the supermodel report which seemed to already cover this.:
They also reported a loud, growling noise inside the space station. It turned out to be a broken gyroscope that was commanded to spin down and then shut down. One of the bearings apparently seized up.
NASA said the other gyroscopes were working fine and that the failure would not affect the station's navigation and control. But the bad unit will need to be replaced, and the soonest that can happen is early next year.
I.O.U One Sig.
As usual, spaceflightnow.com and space.com have better articles with more detail. These sites usually have space/shuttle/station information up very quickly so I tend to rely on them more.
Planetes
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No. Gyros have to be carried on board the Shuttle. They are not intended to be launched on board an unmanned rocket and must be manually lifted from the shuttle's payload bay using the Canadarm (RMS) and installed on the station by spacewalking astronauts with the help of a shuttle crew.
0 8cmg/ :
From http://www.spaceflightnow.com/station/sts111/0206
NASA has a spare CMG available, but it cannot be launched until early next year. That's because a CMG package - the gyro and necessary sub-assemblies - weighs some 1,100 pounds at launch and must be mounted on a special carrier beam in the shuttle's cargo bay. The next two shuttle flights, in August and October, will carry up huge sections of the station's solar array truss and don't have room for a CMG. As a result, the station may have to get by with three CMGs until early next year.
However, what the Slashdot story failed to note is that redundancy: only two control moment gyros are required for full control. One failed, leaving the station with three. No need to panic yet -- and even if the last one fails, the Russian modules attached to the station (which seem to be forgotten now, since all the activity is on the US side) are capable of using conventional rocket thrusters to control the station.
i am a soviet space shuttle
"Critical" is the wrong word for any of the problems they've had so far. "Critical" implies immediate danger, and none of these problems has caused that.
(People would be considering evacuating the station if a critical problem arose.)
The computer problems were very time consuming and annoying, but certainly not critical. The gyro problem will make us launch a new gyro, and spend a spacewalk installing it. But, there are three more left while only three are necessary to keep orientation. The station can do just fine with none, it just consumes more propellant.
NASA is correct to not get overly stressed about this problem.
From this article on Yahoo! News: Link
"The loss of one gyro will not impact operations. In fact, the station can function with two. Even if three failed, the station can use thrusters for stability, but that means using up precious propellant that has to be flown up from Earth. The gyroscopes work on solar power.
"To lose a CMG is a big deal; this is a major component, but from a risk perspective right now we're in good shape," flight director Paul Hill told reporters. "The next CMG we lose, there is going to be a gut check."
I'd say they're not super-concerned at this point, but if one failed, another could fail quite easily...
They look like they are about the size of an iMac, but I could be wrong. Here, take a look for yourself (they are the third image down the page).
2 _o verview.htm
http://www.shuttlepresskit.com/ISS_OVR/assembly