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Space Station Dogged By Oxygen Problems

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the room-to-breathe dept.

Alien54 writes "All of the Russian made Elektron oxygen generators on the International Space Station have failed. The three Elektron units on board the space station are the last of their kind. The company that manufactured them has gone out of business, and the engineer who almost single-handedly made the final adjustments of flight units died several years ago. Reportedly he retained some 'trade secret' about the final adjustments of the devices -- and it died with him. But NASA is not alarmed."

5 of 58 comments (clear)

  1. Alternatives by wetlettuce · · Score: 3, Interesting

    It seems to me that the actual process is pretty simple to actually produce the oxygen (Battery across two metal plates dipped in water, oxygen bubbles from one, hydrogen from the other - more info). Granted you have to ensure the quality of the supply and get rid of the hydrogen but surely this isn't beyond the expertise of NASA. They have known for years that there no expertise in fixing these units. Why have they not been designing and building replacements?

    1. Re:Alternatives by BusterB · · Score: 2, Interesting

      But help is on the way. ?Three completely redesigned units are currently in production,? a NASA source said. The new devices will not use the liquid-gel electrolyte system that has led to all previous units eventually breaking down. Instead, they will rely on a solid polymer electrolyte.

      Delivery of the first of these units is expected ?in March or April of 2005?, the source continued. How fast they really can be completed, tested and flight-qualified remains an open question in the severely underfunded Russian space program.

      In the longer term, NASA is examining the chance of speeding up a U.S.-built oxygen generator to have it available in four years, rather than the currently scheduled six years.

    2. Re:Alternatives by WolfWithoutAClause · · Score: 2, Interesting
      Actually, the Russian gadget does that; more or less.

      So far as I can tell, they don't spin the gadget, they set up a vortex in the electrolyte, and that gives you a pressure gradient (essentially artificial gravity) that gives the bubbles an 'up'- in this case an 'in'. They then feed the oxygen into the cabin and dump the hydrogen overboard.

      --

      -WolfWithoutAClause

      "Gravity is only a theory, not a fact!"
    3. Re:Alternatives by CompressedAir · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Yes indeed they are, and that was a major factor in the design of the BOCS.

      The Mir Oxygen Candles used a powered fan to disipate the heat produced by the reaction. When the fan failed, the candle soon burned through its housing, causing the fire.

      Our system uses all passive cooling. The air flow that cools the candle is pulled through the Venturii housing by the oxygen expelled by the Candle. This also has the benefit of mixing the oxygen with the cabin air, preventing a dangerous pocket of pure oxygen.

      It is really pretty neat, but I know I am biased.

  2. Re:Pulic domain enforcement by David+McBride · · Score: 2, Interesting

    http://www.archive.org/

    "The Internet Archive is building a digital library of Internet sites and other cultural artifacts in digital form. Like a paper library, we provide free access to researchers, historians, scholars, and the general public."