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Space Station Leak Found, Fixed
Rommel writes "NewScientist.com is reporting that the cause of the leak in the International Space Station has been found and fixed. The leak was found in a hose in the Destiny lab module. The hose was used to equalize pressure and eliminate fog between two panes of a window. While the leak was so slow it was unlikely to pose a direct threat to the crew for months to come, some equipment on the ISS is only certified to operate above a certain air pressure. The leak was originally mentioned on Slashdot a few days back."
I was looking forward to watching the ISS sputter around the sky like a deflating balloon with a couple astronaughts hanging on for dear life and screaming bloody murder.
-- "Government is the great fiction through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else."
That's one small step for duct tape, one giant leap for mankind.
some equipment on the ISS is only certified to operate above a certain air pressure.
such as the crew maybe?
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I guess it wouldn't have been practical to dip the whole station in a tub of water.
This is actually a bit frightening when you think about it. If it took them nearly a month to find this problem imagine if it were a much more serious threat. You would hope that the station would have sensitive enough monitering equipment to detect where problems are occurring. I would probably think twice about spending my powerball winnings on a vacation to the ISS and wait till the Hilton is on the moon, ...no not Paris you dirty minded /.er, although 0-Gravity sex... ...nevermind.
Try my new smokable Sig,
Sounds more like it was trying to equalize pressure between the space station and the vaccuum outside...
The Blaster Master Fighting for Truth, Justice, and Evil Pie since 1979
Are you using an old Pentium for your calcuations, or do you just work for NASA? They'd be down to 13.01 psi thank you very much! :)
When aboard the space station, use Scotch brand magic transparent tape to affix photos of loved ones to the wall. NEVER EVER EVER use push pins, even Scotch brand magic push pins.
With reduced pressure, the thermal capacity of the cooling air is proportionally reduced. Combined with changes in forced air flow and microgravity not creating convectional cooling, you can have long-term overheating issues with equipment that consumes very little power.
This is solved on satellites with conductive cold/hot plates, but that results in much heavier equipment.
Regarding leakage rates, it's very difficult to estimate leak flow rates. The flow might be proportional to pressure squared, or cubed. If it's in an elastic seal, it may completely re-seal when the pressure drops to a specific level.
Humans can function at elevations of about 5psi (see the other posts about mountain climbers), and survive on a little less. Since O2 is less than 20% of the atmosphere, you can theoretically live on 1psi of pure O2. But secondary effects are killers at that low pressure, such as keeping enough moisture in the lung tissue. When near-pure O2 is used, it is usually at about 3psi or nearly the partial pressure of O2 at sea level.