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Writing in Space with a Cheap Ballpoint Pen
Roland Piquepaille writes "Some days bring big surprises. Like many people, I always believed that it was impossible to write in space with ordinary pens because ink would not flow. So imagine my astonishment when I read Pedro Duque's diary from space this morning. Pedro Duque is an astronaut since 1992. Now, he's on board of the International Space Station (ISS) since October 18, 2003. And he's writing -- from space -- with a cheap ballpoint pen, like Russians apparently always did: 'So I also took one of our ballpoint pens, courtesy of the European Space Agency (just in case Russian ballpoint pens are special), and here I am, it doesn't stop working and it doesn't "spit" or anything.' Isn't it amazing? This summary contains more details and a photograph of Pedro Duque on board ISS." Note that NASA didn't go crazy developing a pen for space. Surface tension is the important factor for all pens, not gravity.
The ink cartridges in some pens is pressurized.
What's next? That astronauts didn't actually drink Tang in space? All those glasses of orange drink just so I could be like them gone to waste?
Phoenix
if gravity doesn't matter, explain me why you can't use a sheet of paper and a ballpoint pen on a wall for more than 5 minutes ?
Are we talking about a pen that would be used in the space capsule or shuttle or outside in a vacuum?
I want a pen that has a help desk in india.
He's writing in a space station that's pressurized and kept at around 20C. The 'space pen' was designed to work in a vacuum in a temperature range of something like -100C to +200C, as experienced on the lunar surface: try doing that with a $0.50 plastic ballpoint.
"Here I am floating in my tin can far above the world planet Earth is blue and my trusty pen is too!"
It's the surface tension propteries of the ink, commonly known as capillary action.
We must be alert to the danger that public policy could become captive to a scientific-technological elite. - Eisenhower
Have you ever had trouble writing upside down with a ballpoint anyways?
yes, I have. Or, as another poster said, on a vertical surface. Also, if I put a ballpoint pen upside-down in my trouser pocket, all the ink dribbles out and gives me a blue stain on my thigh.
Generally, I don't notice this until I'm in the shower the next morning, and mistake it for a big nasty bruise, especially if I've been out drinking the night before and can't quite remember if I fell over or not.
I'm still waiting for NASA to solve this problem.
evil math within Nature's Cubic Creation!
because they have multiple purposes. Imagine an electronic wire broke within the ISS: Using a pencil one can at least use the conducing graphite to link the two parts together again. I don't see you do this with a cheap (plastic) BIC-pen :=)
:)
Ofcourse, one can also break a pencil in two, and voila: TWO pencils, you colleague astronaut has one too now...
Third option, that a pen doesn't normally provide, is the fact that a pencil can be erased more easily without nasty chemicals. Easy if you want to wipe out the last log-entry in which you were a little drunk and have written down nasty things about the flight-captain.
When you need to draw a very fine line, one can sharpen the pencil to make it so. I don't see them sharpening a pen
Concluding: regardless of the truth of the "pen doesn't work in space but pencil does" story, it is still a much more versatile tool than a pen, so it "works" better....
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would you trust your research to a pencil? i wouldn't. i'd have to write it in pen when i got home, so that when the pencil fades (like my physics notes from 3 years ago), i'd still have the pen copy.
I write code.
Are easily amused. Oooh look at me! My pen works in space!
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
Surface tension is indeed the important factor, but what you're missing is this: although gravity is not needed for the pen to write, in space it's not working against you when you try to write upside down.
I guess in 1965-67 business and business leaders still had some integrety.
Fisher just developed the pens to be helpfull.
Of course having NASA use his pens was great advertising and did give them a great run in the comercial sector.
In the 60's we longed to use space technology to explore other worlds, and did a great job of it. Then we decided to make spaceflight routine and do great science on orbital space stations. They would be used as stepping stones to the Moon and Mars we were told. What we got is an expensive, perpetual, and feckless welfare program for the exploration of triviality. In the 30 years since Apollo we have answered such pressing questions as: How long does it take to get sick in space while spinning on a gyroscope? Can spiders spin webs in zero g? Can ballpoint pens work in space? With the exception of planetary missions, the current space program is a complete waste.
an ill wind that blows no good
is how he got it past security. Does he have a nail file to? Someone should lock up this terrorist! Somebody call Ashcroft!
Robots are everywhere, and they eat old people's medicine for fuel.
Problem with a pencil is the graphite dust. Normal gravity, graphite dust isn't an issue, it gets mostly on the paper, you don't worry about that. Now, in space, that graphite dust lingers, gets into things, makes the environment not as friendly to be in as it could be. With a pen, this is much less of an issue, as the physics of writing are a lot different.
Marxism is the opiate of dumbasses
Don't they have a Zaurus each instead of pen & paper?
Didn't this remind anyone of the Seinfeld episode with the famous Fisher Pen ?
The reason for using pressure in pens, it seems, is that surface tension alone may not be enough to pull a long column of ink through a narrow tube. If there is a little bubble in the column of ink, the surface tension is broken, and there is no way to pull ink past the bubble.
The problem of a bubble in the column of ink happens on land, too, not just in space. People deal with it by just throwing the pen away. Since cheap pens cost less than 15 cents, someone may develop the habit of throwing away pens without noticing what he is doing. If a bubble develops, it is usually after the pen has had considerable use, so there is little complaint.
In situations of varying temperature and outside air pressure, unpressurized pens may develop a bubble more easily. Pressurized ink cartridges are a little more reliable, and cost the manufacturer only a little more.
Pfft! who's the moron!
If we have the pen upside-down, the nib won't be on the paper!
Microgravity.
What happens to all the pencil shavings and eraser crumbs?
Chip H.
And that's not a good thing to have in an environment dependent on technology...
having zero gravity is different than having the pen's ink being pulled the opposite direction of the way it is trying to be sucked towards (through "capilary action" as has been referenced in other comments).
.. write like crap when you have them oriented correctly anyways ..
and well some of those pens that don't write well upside down
I sooo hate cheaply made pens (not meaning you can buy a good pen at a low price)
Who makes you Sig?
> NASA spent millions of pounds and many man years developing a pen that writes in space.
Must be one huge pen. How they ever got it in space is a wonder.
Oh, I'm sorry. Didn't realise you were British.
This Sig will self-destruct in 3 se....
/.ers that read articles? Ha! just another case of urban folklore, they don't exist.
You fail it, Norwegian knobgobbler!
NASA spent millions of pounds and many man years developing a pen that writes in space. The Russians took a pencil :)
Except that's not true.. It always fun to make fun of Americans even if you have to make up stories though I guess.
Billions of dollars have been siphoned to US technology companies, to precisely those companies in the districts of the senators and representative who voted for this "feckless welfare program." It has served the purpose it was designed for quite well. Are you some sort of Pinko Commie or what? ; )
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Signature_bloc
You have to admit that as both a government and as a society we're awfully good at doing things that are worthy of making fun of us.
NASA spending millions to develop a space pen may not be true, but it certainly sounds like something NASA would do. Thats the key component on a humorous witty comment like the original poster made.
Where I come from NASA spends dollars, not pounds.
Seriously, try it.
A pencil is the ultimate space pen. It writes because the graphite flakes off and sticks to paper, which will happen in a vacuum as well as at 1 bar.
I remember when the Americans invested over a billion dollars into researching a pen that would work in space.
Considering that is just a myth, it'd be a hard thing to remember.
Now according to the Snopes article, the main problem was tips breaking off pencils and floating around. Graphite dust would not have been a problem, because I believe they were using lead pencils.
(Granted, it would be an issue today if pencils are used in space, but in those days, it wasn't.)
~~~~~
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If you want it to last, type it up!
"We spent millions of dollars developing the Space Pen program. Know what the Russians did? They used a pencil."
Its almost too neat not to be true, and in a way it is! Ok, in fact it was an independant company that spent $1 million on developing a "space" pen, and not NASA themselves, but in the end the US did spend the money, whereas the Russians were happy with the low-tech solution, although of course they took advantage of the high-tech solution once the money was spent.
The above Russian/US comparison probably holds up better today than the 60's - currently the US is spending $3 billion/year on the (white elephant) Shuttle, whereas the Russians are keeping the ISS running at under $100 million a mission.
Below is a related extract from a piece posted on www.space.com, by Robert Zubrin - an advocate of reform in the US space program - interesting reading...
In the recent Columbia hearings, numerous members of congress continually decried the fact that the US space program is "stuck in Low Earth Orbit." This is certainly a serious problem. If it is to be addressed adequately, however, America's political leadership needs to reexamine NASA's fundamental mode of operation.
Over the course of its history, NASA has employed two distinct modes of operation. The first, prevailed during the period from 1961-1973, and may therefore be called the Apollo Mode. The second, prevailing since 1974, may usefully be called the Shuttle Era Mode, or Shuttle Mode, for short.
In the Apollo Mode, business is conducted as follows. First, a destination for human spaceflight is chosen. Then a plan is developed to achieve this objective. Following this, technologies and designs are developed to implement that plan. These designs are then built, after which the mission is flown.
The Shuttle Mode operates entirely differently. In this mode, technologies and hardware elements are developed in accord with the wishes of various technical communities. These projects are then justified by arguments that they might prove useful at some time in the future when grand flight projects are initiated.
Contrasting these two approaches, we see that the Apollo Mode is destination driven, while the Shuttle Mode pretends to be technology driven, but is actually constituency driven. In the Apollo Mode, technology development is done for mission directed reasons. In the Shuttle Mode, projects are undertaken on behalf of various internal and external technical community pressure groups and then defended using rationales. In the Apollo Mode, the space agency's efforts are focused and directed. In the Shuttle Mode, NASA's efforts are random and entropic.
Imagine two couples, each planning to build their own house. The first couple decides what kind of house they want, hires an architect to design it in detail, then acquires the appropriative materials to build it. That is the Apollo Mode. The second couple polls their neighbors each month for different spare house-parts they would like to sell, and buys them all, hoping to eventually accumulate enough stuff to build a house. When their relatives inquire as to why they are accumulating so much junk, they hire an architect to compose a house design that employs all the knick-knacks they have purchased. The house is never built, but an adequate excuse is generated to justify each purchase, thereby avoiding embarrassment. That is the Shuttle Mode.
In today's dollars, NASA average budget from 1961-1973 was about $17 billion per year. This is only 10% more than NASA's current budget. To assess the comparative productivity of the Apollo Mode with the Shuttle Mode, it is therefore useful to compare NASA's accomplishments between 1961-1973 and 1990-2003, as the space agency's total expenditures over these two periods were equal.
Between 1961 and 1973, NASA flew the Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, Skylab, Ranger, Surveyor, and Mariner missions, and did all the development for the Pioneer, Viking, and Voyager missions as well. In addition, t
"You lied to me! There is a Swansea!"
Surface tension is the important factor for all pens, not gravity.
Really? How about we do a little experiment then. Take a pen, and write on a wall. Or maybe even write something upside-down.
Soon, you'll find that the pen doesn't work. Why? Because ink is being actively pulled away from the ball by gravity. All his ability to write in space does is prove that the ink doesn't have to be pulled to the ball, so long as its not pulled away from it. Makes sense - the ink is just wandering around inside the cartridge, and still bumps into the ball. I'll buy that.
Additionally - I don't suppose you'd care to explain to us perhaps what causes surface tension in the first place? Would the water in a glass stay in the glass - with the least amount of surface possible - if it was in a zero-gravity environment?
Someone is not rocket-scientist material...
This is Ground Control to Major Tom You've really made the grade And the papers want to know whose pen you use Now it's time to write in the capsule if you dare
[I can picture a world without war, without hate. I can picture us attacking that world, because they'd never expect it]
See, space exploration is still teaching us new things. What a breakthrough!
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Yes, you're right. Mea culpa. I guess this last link was added after the story moved from `the mysterious future' to 2:31 pm. Sorry about it.
You really could use this.
--
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Paper Mate in the late 1960's used to advertise that their pens (pressurised cartriges) were used by NASA in space. These were the same pens that they sold on the street.
I learned how to write in school. But I don't think I have used that skill since then...
--Still waiting for that awsome sig to just leap out at me..--
...it truly is a thing of wonder. Not much biger than your standard NATO round, mine continues to write as it did the day I got it twelve years ago. (Obviously I'm not writing with it all that much, but a true testament to the ink used).
You can easily experiment writing without gravity. Or didn't you guys buy Windows XP?
So I read, from the good old 'Programming Pearls' book. It was example case to guide people to first consider simplest solutions, and good one at that.
I like paying taxes. With them I buy civilization -- Oliver Wendell Holmes
"The Prune Tang worked, but the Depends didn't."
of course its surface tension, like liquid sticks together with itself and some liquid like ink sticks to surfaces too (otherwise your words would roll off the paper.... DUH!)
But its gravity that causes ink to fall back away from a pen point, so yeah what we really have with those specially designed space pens is really earth pens that can write upside down in the gravity of earth.
Its all about what space you are talking about and of course marketing...
How many bought a space pen while having absolutely no possibility of ever getting into outerspace to find out if they were sold a defective product?
And some still believe the moon landing was a fake.... Hmmm, like there is some reason to not believe? DUH!
I actually use the Millenium space pen from Fischer pens.
It will never run out of ink, writes in a vacuum (thanks to a pressurized ink cartridge), writes underwater, at extreme temperatures. Kinda cool. Will I ever write in those conditions. Not likely, but for the price, a pen that will never run out of ink is worth it.
What's next? That astronauts didn't actually drink Tang in space? All those glasses of orange drink just so I could be like them gone to waste?
Those glasses of orange juice didn't to go waste. They went to your waist.
144l. ph34r my 133t l3g4l 5k1lz!
How does fire look without gravity? I mean, standard open flame always directs itself upwards by heating air and making it lighter than surrounding, making it flow upwards. But what, if there's enough air, but no "upwards"? A ball of fire that lasts until it uses up all available oxygen? Some odd fractal? Somebody ask the astronauts to light a match for a moment and send us a movie!
45 5F E1 04 22 CA 29 C4 93 3F 95 05 2B 79 2A B2
I saw that about ice cream on some space show on discovery last night. It was about black holes and hosted by the guys that do the Myth Busters show. They would give space facts between show and commercial.
Pedro Duque's diary from space I am writing these notes while doing a spacewalk without a spacesuit. Why is that important? As it happens, I've been working in space programmes for seventeen years, eleven of these as an astronaut, and I've always believed, because that is what I've always been told, that a spacesuit is required while working outside a spaceship. "See, you can breath space", they said. "you can even take your t-shirt off, you'll be ok", they said.
...one of the things that people marvelled at was that they would write under water.
"How to Do Nothing," kids activities, back in print!
Those glasses of orange juice didn't to go waste. They went to your waist.
And then they became waste.
Details here
Although I'm not sure if they're called space pens because they are used in space or because they are shiny and silver, they do work really rather well. Mine worked well when writing on report sheets upside down under machines in the factory, or in the wet outside.
Note that I only use past tense because I managed to lose the pen. Bah. I bet they can't invent one immune from that!
Please tell me again why they dont use laptops?
I understand there were no laptops in the 60s when they sent the first people up. but wouldnt the new picturebooks be lighter than a writing pad plus a paper?
And with the new digital cameras, we should be getting much higher resolutions of pictures we see around.
"Give orange me give eat orange me eat orange give me eat orange give me you." -Nim Chimpsky
Ah, Christ, don't tell me that's an ugly chick pissing herself. ...
Fuck you.
Well, duh, there's an easy solution. Turn the paper upside-down too!
Not to be Cross, but Captain Parker's use of a Waterman in orbit is no Bic deal.
Given one hour to live, the student replied: "I'd spend it with professor FP who can make an hour seem like a lifetime."
I'm sure the gov't still found *some* way to spend $500 each on them.
"Orthodoxy is unconsciousness" - Orwell
what's wrong with an ordinary non-ink pencil?
I must be stupid....
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http://www.snopes.com/business/genius/spacepen.asp
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"What kind of pen is that?" "This pen?" "Yeah." "This is an astronaut pen. It writes upside down. They use this in space." - Jerry and Jack Klompus, in "The Pen"
the ink isn't good enough?
Who said the penis..uh pen isn't mightier than the sword? Remember, the inventor of astroglide is a rocket scientist!
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Was that it had 12 different (pressurized) ink color cartridges available. Back before astronauts were just using laptops, they had to color-code their reports. These days, they've dropped some of the stranger colors (e.g. turquoise), but they do make a very cool extra-fine with a tungsten ball, and a bold which is much wider than the average ballpoint. Plus it's nice to have a pen that's small enough to fit into your pants pocket, yet tough enough to sit on and small over and over
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Why do the planets orbit around the sun? Why does the space shuttle stay around earth? You only float in orbit because your space shuttle is in free fall all the way around earth! Even I know this !
Perhaps NASA didn't waste million of dollars space pens because Oggle the Warrior discovered rubbing coal on the cave wall back in 200,000 BC. Number 2 graphite technology isn't that far off.
Besides pencils are better for NASA for those times you realized you forgot to convert from metric to english units and have to erase a few lines.
During the Apollo era they spent a lot of time and energy trying to figure out how to shave in space. They spent oodles of $$ designing vacuum assisted electric razors and such. Finally on one of the Apollo missions just before landing they bravely tried their experiment. Turned out regular shaving cream and razors worked just fine. Doh! The moral of the story is that MS Word is a word processor written to NASA specs...
I remember reading somewhere that NASA spent millions trying to develop a zero-G pen, whereas the russian just used pencils. Hrm.
is to work in a vacuum as well as zero gravity. There is no problem with a regular ball point pen (well, a modern one) inside a space craft at zero G, it's taking the pen outside (to do graffiti on the side of the ship of course!) that doesn't work. What generally happens in a vacuum is that the ink tries to force its way past the ball, for obvious reasons. Nasa probably never spent a dime developing such a pen, I'm not sure how often they anticipated needing to use a ballpoint pen during a space walk. I dont think astronauts carry clipboards with them outside the space craft. If there were a need, i'm sure they would do perfectly well with a large grease pencil, one large enough to grip with the cumbersome space suit gloves.
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I realize you were joking... but organizations that require you to log stuff generally prohibit the use of pencil for just this reason.
Sean
"The Prune Tang worked, but the Depends didn't."
You can keep your Prune Tang. I'm having Poon Tang. Tastes great, less filling, fewer calories. I note that many slashdotters just can't get any no matter how hard they try.
I got one of those "air-space" developed pens (you can buy them as a gift). The trick is that the ink is pressurized. Well, it's soo-soo. It did work on wet bathroom tiles, but just any pen it stoped when it was half-full.
No, I just prefer the solution the Russians are said to use: no fancy pressured pens. They just used plain crayons...those work great.
While the US spends thousands of dollars on creating a pen that works in space, Russia decides to use a pencil....
--vrwarp
"lead pencils"? you mean, with actual lead, as in the element 'Pb'? I think you're mistaken... it's possible that you think that "graphite" is some special kind of pencil material, rather than the standard
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I can't remember all the tangeled details, but basicaly, the ball point was designed to be used by fighter pilots. I seem to remember that it was a Russian who came up with the original design. Pilots use to write with pencils, but pencils have drawbacks. I think it was BIC ( a French Company?) who first licenced the technology. The fact that it was usable in space was known at that time. Pental, then created the "Space Pen" to get around patens. They then went on an adertisment blitz, leveraging NASAs need to use American products. The Ad blitz was a very Microsoftish attempt to remove knowledge of the original Ball Points abilities from the public psychy.
1. I, but apparently not you, read and posted this just after the headline was put up, and at that time, you fat assed egotistical little terd, the amendmant to the headline was not yet posted, and therefore my posting was not redundant, but relevant. Did I forget to mention that you are a pompous busy-body who has nothing better to do than to criticize other people over silly things? Your post was not worth the electricity and server space it consumed.
2. If Slashdot is so low, then go away. It might help.
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I was thinking more water based then solvent based. There are a number of them on the market, which would include crayola large tip, to nice small tips in the 5mm range. I use such pens with graph paper my self
I would think that felt tips would be as practical as a pencil in space due to the fact that the basic idea is direct leaching of the ink stored within to paper.
There is no sanctuary. There is no sanctuary. SHUT UP! There is no shut up. There is no shut up.
this is great news.....hence the inventor of the ball pen rests happily in his grave....
Don't you love how the amount of money we spent on this keeps increasing? I mean, at this rate, we'll have gone bankrupt several times over for a single pen!
"73% of quotes on the Internet are made up" -Ben Franklin
No, let me clarify. Pb was at one time used in pencils. These days, they use graphite. I wasn't sure when the switch was made (now I know that it was before the space programs), but there was a time in history when people wrote with the metal. Hence, the term "pencil lead" which we still use today to describe the graphite.
~~~~~
Pet Peeve: Perscription drug advertising to the general public.
that is not true... graphite pencils replaced charcoal, not "lead" lead pencils. we call it lead because like lead, it's soft enough to rub off and leave a mark on surfaces, and it's darkish grey.
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