ISS Oxygen Generator Fails

caino59 writes "It hasn't been too long since the food shortage on the International Space Station - now the main oxygen generator has failed. Apparently, the backup supply should allow them to make it to 60 days, which is past the next scheduled trip up. Hopefully, previous crews didn't hog all the O2."

Comments

O2 Generator is Back on-line

[Rocket_Sci]

This is a non-story. The problem was fixed. Here is a link to Spaceflight Now: SpaceFlightNow

Re:O2 Generator is Back on-line

[stevesliva]

I nominate you for the most ironic combination of post and sig ever.

This would not have been as much of a problem

[AtariAmarok]

This would not have been so bad if Dmitri didn't start thinking that the ISS was getting stuffy, and he opened both doors in the airlock to get some fresh air in there.

And the guys at EA thought they...

[exp(pi*sqrt(163))]

...had bad working conditions!

Re:ISS vs MIR failure rates?

[Rocket_Sci]

I'm not sure if that is true of not... MIR was a much smaller design. Here are two things I do know about MIR:

--There was a major fire in 1997, the crew was barely able to extinguish it before it killed them (story here).

--We have no idea what the failure rate of equipment on MIR was before the USSR collapsesd. Who knows what might have happened up there. It was not reported in the press.

--Here is list of problems on MIR: (list)

Re:ISS vs MIR failure rates?

[w3weasel]

Name's Scruffy... the janitor.
I'm on my 10 minute break.
Scruffy's gonna die the way he lived.

How space stations work

[displague]

I was curious about the "Elektron Oxygen Generator" and found a brief description
here:

1. The Russian Elektron generator will make oxygen by splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen (electrolysis).
2. Solid fuel oxygen generators or oxygen candles will be burned to make additional oxygen, if required.
3. The space shuttle or Progress supply ships will bring nitrogen from Earth, and store it in external tanks on the station.
4. In later phases of construction, external tanks will supply oxygen; these tanks can be refilled by the space shuttle. In the final stage, an additional electrolysis oxygen generator will be added to the station.
5. The pressure control assembly (a system of pumps and valves) will mix the nitrogen and oxygen in the right percentages, monitor the atmospheric pressure and depressurize the station when necessary to prevent overpressure or to extinguish a fire during an emergency.

Re:ISS vs MIR failure rates?

[Saeed al-Sahaf]

Scruffy's gonna die the way he lived.

Spaced out???