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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.
Not mentioned in the CNN article (but mentioned on the NASA website - http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/station/ - is that a GPS antenna was installed to help guide the European Automated Transfer Vehicle...what kind of accuracy do you get from a GPS system at that kind of altitude?
A refined version of this would be a good tool for the space shuttle for exterior inspection without requiring a space walk. A small robotic webcam could peruse the wings for damage and relay video to the shuttle or ground crew. And at 11 pounds (less if they create a mini-version), the impact on the mass budget is not too bad.
Two wrongs don't make a right, but three lefts do.
Is there any more information out there about why and how the stations loses stability during spacewalks? I hadn't heard of this before.
I'm surprised there isn't more coverage.
Oh, that's because of Star Trek and Star Wars. The general public won't get excited about star travel until we have a FTL drive and can go visit/kill aliens.
I wish that some one would produce a hit space series where it occurred all in our solar system. We don't need to see aliens to see strange things, and we don't need to get out of the neighborhood to have conflicts.