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ISS Releases Baby Sputnik
illumina+us writes "CNN is running an article about the recent space walk taken by the personnel of the International Space Station. On today's walk the two astronauts 'carried out a 1-foot-long, 11-pound satellite called Nanosputnik, designed for experimental maneuvering by ground controllers.'" The article also has some tidbits on the ISS's gyroscope problems and how the thrusters used to compensate have caused problems for spacewalks in the past.
1-foot-long, 11-pound satellite called Nanosputnik
1 foot = 0.304 x 10^9 nanometer
11 pound = 4 989.5 x 10^9 nanogram
Quite a big nano I would say..
-Flamebit-
[Purpose of Nanosputnik is to support development of satellite control techniques, monitoring of satellite operations, and research on new attitude system sensors and other components.]
Also, space.com has an article mentioning it.
I'm surprised there isn't more coverage. It is a little reminiscent of the latter days of the Apollo program when there was little/no coverage on the press, or to a greater extent the latter days of SpaceLab.
-F
the altitude is not the issue, the speed is. gps is only used until they're within a couple kilometers of docking, then onboard sensors determine relative distances.
Come on mods, that's just a troll... Russians don't have a near monopoly on commercial launches, and all those links lead to, uhm, exciting sports pictures of a younger-than-18-year-old...
(squirrel)
I believe posters are recognized by their sig. So I made one.
The problem is they "derobe" in the ISS, which brings those toxic materials inside.
Mods, click the links.
Each link is a different picture of a squirrel on water skis.
This isn't informative. This is a troll.
I am disrespectful to dirt! Can you see that I am serious?!
Your prize for asking that rare gem, a perceptive question on /., deserves to be rewarded by a (hopefully) informative answer:
Jim Oberg has a good analysis of the problem in an article on an earlier thruster incideny. In summary, a "mystery force" is being applied to the station during spacewalks which torques it and overloads the gyroscopes normally used to maintain attitude control. The Russians think it may be a small leak from the airlock, NASA is leaning more towards venting from the spacesuits.
"Just once, I'd like to meet an alien menace that wasn't immune to bullets." -- The Brigadier, Dr. Who
"effectively changing the base unit to suit their scale."
No, they're implying the accuracy of their measurment. 5000 km is measured to the nearest km, while 5 Mm is measured to the nearest Mm, less accurate by three orders of magnitude.
Just because it's easy to move around that decimal point in metric doesn't mean you should.
Is this nano-sputnik the same as the ones released by MIR in 97?
p ://www.skyrocket.de/space/doc_sdat/sputnik-40.htm
They are about the same mass and size.
http://www.skyrocket.de/space/index_frame.htm?htt
Cabage soup is called shchi. It not that bad. Try it.