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.

Comments

Sound Idea

[filmmaker]

Each time, Russian thrusters have to take over, potentially exposing the crew to toxic fuel. This time, flight controllers were careful not to fire the thrusters until the spacewalkers were at a safe distance.

That's probably a sound idea. Definitely pin that up next to "Use either Metric or Imperial units consistently throughout."

Re:Sound Idea

[lxs]

If only the crew could wear some kind of air tight suits during the spacewalk, then it wouldn't be a problem.

Re:Sound Idea

[igny]

'carried out a 1- foot-long, 1-pound satellite called Nano-sputnik,

"Use either Metric or Imperial units consistently throughout."

I think, lack of consistency is evident.

Re:Sound Idea

[e2mtt]

Is there any more information out there about why and how the stations loses stability during spacewalks? I hadn't heard of this before.

Re:Sound Idea

[crawling_chaos]

To be perfectly pedantic, there are no metric units used anywhere in that phrase. Unless there's a new SI unit for satellite size called the Sputnik that I am unaware of, of course.

Re:Sound Idea

[mboverload]

The problem is they "derobe" in the ISS, which brings those toxic materials inside.

Re:Sound Idea

[orac2]

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.

Re:Sound Idea

[Lisandro]

Well, they have all this free time to think, since they don't have to worry if their pencils work or not in space.

Re:Sound Idea

[Cpt_Kirks]

See, that's why I make my kids take their muddy shoes off OUTSIDE...

Re:Sound Idea

[drinkypoo]

Maybe they could wear disposable bunny suits over their space suits. It would be a snag hazard, though.

Re:Sound Idea

[WWWWolf]

Unless there's a new SI unit for satellite size called the Sputnik that I am unaware of, of course.

Well, they already use Libraries of Congress, Football fields and Volkswagen Bugs as comparative units, I think we could use Sputniks to comparatively measure the sizes of satellites...

Awe. Its so cute.

[Anonymous Coward]

Have you started a college savings program for it yet

Nanosputnik

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm offended. Clearly, the Visputnik is superior!

Re:Nanosputnik

[Rosco P. Coltrane]

Actually the Emacsputnik is a lot better, but they couldn't even lift it off the ground...

Re:Nanosputnik

[Guppy06]

Edsputnik is the standard satellite!

Re:Nanosputnik

[WWWWolf]

Actually the Emacsputnik is a lot better, but they couldn't even lift it off the ground...

Actually, they could get it off the ground, they just added bigger thrusters to the rocket. And once it was in orbit, it relayed communications, did outstanding photography on complete spectrum, and also provided far higher resolution telescope images than Hubble ever could. The only catch is, it's twice the size of the Moon, so it's kind of visible and tends to block the sun ocassionally too...

(Sorry, I was in middle of reading Fritz Leiber's The Wanderer =)

Toxic ??

[Sperryfreak01]

Exposing the crew to toxic fuel I thought they were in space suits, they only thing toxic they should be exposed to is if one of them had the three bean salad for dinner

Re:Toxic ??

[TheKidWho]

Umm, the fuel gets on the suits and once they get back into the station the stuff on the suits you know gets into the air?!?! Russian Rocket fuel is nasty stuff that you don't want to be breathing in or touching.

Holy bejeezuz you might actually have to think for a second like the guys at NASA/Russian Space Agency do!

Re:Toxic ??

[TheGavster]

Probably messy to take the suits off if they're covered with toxic stuff ... rather cramped quarters, I don't think that they have any sort of decontamination facility (though, if Brannon and Braga were in charge, we'd try to revitalize interest in manned spaceflight with decon paste orgies)

Re:Toxic ??

[r2q2]

Well, eventually they must take the space suits off in an airlock. When they do that the transfer of the fuel on the suits would possibly be inhaled/absorbed by them therefore they could get some of the toxic stuff.

Re:Toxic ??

[tokabola]

Step 1 - get toxic fuel on outside of space suit. Step 2 - enter ISS Step 3 - toxic fuel residues contaminate ISS air supply. QED Tommy

Re:Toxic ??

[Rosco P. Coltrane]

Russian Rocket fuel is nasty stuff that you don't want to be breathing in or touching.

I feel the same way with their ubiquitous cabbage soup...

Re:Toxic ??

[JaredOfEuropa]

I feel the same way with their ubiquitous cabbage soup...

You obviously haven't had any proper cabbage soup (borscht); it can be very tasty. Also keep in mind the old Russian saying: "the more you beat the wife, the better the soup will taste".

Re:Toxic ??

[Drooling Iguana]

Brannon Braga was split into two seperate people? Was there some sort of transporter accident? Is one good (but without any decision-making ability) and the other evil?

Re:Toxic ??

[khrtt]

I feel the same way with their ubiquitous cabbage soup.

Borscht is mainly made with beets, though they put cabbage and carrots in there as well. But the main ingredient is beets, so you can't really call it "cabbage soup". And it's not really Russian, it's Ukranian. Russians eat it too, but usually a simplified version. If you want real borscht, order "Ukranian borscht".

Re:Toxic ??

[Anonymous Coward]

Cabage soup is called shchi. It not that bad. Try it.

Re:Toxic ??

[21mhz]

I feel the same way with their ubiquitous cabbage soup...
Have you even tried it? Shchi is best flavored with smetana (sour cream). Still better when it's made of sauerkraut. Ah well...

Re:Toxic ??

[gnuman99]

order "Ukranian borscht"

Is it cheap as borscht?

Nano ?

[karvind]

-Flamebit-

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-

Re:Nano ?

[TheKidWho]

its as nano as my weener!!!!

...like in the movies

[lxt]

"Everything is like in the movies, and it's hard to believe.", Sharipov said... ...you mean, everything was faked then? :)

Linux

[wlan0]

I bet we'll get it running Linux in no time.

1 ft, 11 pound?

[Eunuch]

That sounds like something to be proud of!

See?

[PornMaster]

No wonder we don't switch to metric!

Even the people who use it don't know how to use it.

Actually, it pisses me off that people who use metric will say 5000 kilometers instead of 5 megameters... effectively changing the base unit to suit their scale.

Re:See?

[coopseruantalon]

"people who use metric" You do know that that is about everyone expect in the US...

Re:See?

[Guppy06]

"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.

Re:See?

[PornMaster]

Actually, 5000 km vs 5 Mm would be a matter of precision, not accuracy.

If it were only a matter of precision, people would at least sometimes use Mm. I've never heard it used in conversation at all.

Re:See?

[Guppy06]

No, I'm using pretty standard and accepted practices when it comes to metrology. No decimal point, no trailing zeroes, it's to the nearest Mm unless specifically stated otherwise. As such, 5.3 Mm is to the nearest 100 km, and 5.000 Mm is to the nearest km.

Re:See?

[n6kuy]

On the other hand, going south out of Tucson on Interstate 19, there is a sign giving the distance to the next exit as 500 meters, instead of 1/2 km.

I wonder how come in the rest of the country where highway signs are still marked in miles, we don't see "next exit 1320 feet" instead of 1/4 mile...

Re:See?

[pedroloco]

Actually, it pisses me off that people who use metric will say 5000 kilometers instead of 5 megameters... effectively changing the base unit to suit their scale.

Actually, it pisses me off that people who use Imperial units will say 3000 miles instead of 190080000 inches... effectively changing the base unit to suit their scale.

Re:See?

[PornMaster]

The flaw in that is that there isn't a "base unit" in the Imperial system.

Units

[Anonymous Coward]

1 Foot = 1 Nanodecamile

And soon...

[Rosco P. Coltrane]

Microlaika, a dwarf chihuahua, will soon be the launched onboard Nanosputnik 2 by the Sovi^H^H^H^H ISS.

Sheesh, what extiting times we live in. It almost makes that guy who claims we'll walk the on moon some day sound serious...

Re:And soon...

[quarkscat]

NASA-Houston called, and they want several more
metric tons of the fake moon dust they have been
using since the 1960's. (Oh, wait. That happened.)

Fake photography has advanced by light years (bad
pun intended) with the advances in CG, so the
next round of Moon landings/walks will be much
more realistic. No doubt the bulk of the taxpayers
money back then actually went into the secret
(okay, not so secret) war in Cambodia and Laos.
But hey, all this money goes into the same huge
military-industrial complex pot-of-gold anyway,
so what's the difference?

Re:And soon...

[shadowbearer]

Why doesn't slashdot have a +1:'Perfectly Aimed Sarcasm' moderation? ;-)

SB

GPS

[lxt]

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?

Re:GPS

[FatAlb3rt]

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.

Re:GPS

[jfernand]

Altitude is not the issue. In principle you can use GPS outside of the spheroid in which the satellitles move, at about 20,200 km of altitude. Your accuracy would start suffering outside of 25,000km or so, and the software you use to calculate your position cannot make the assumption that you are inside of the spheroid.

Re:GPS

[twiddlingbits]

You get very good GPS as you can see a large number of the GSP satellites. I had a friend who worked on the GPS for the STS (Shuttle) back in the 1990's. The number of data points from seeing so many sattelites overwhelmed the Integrator software in the GPS unit and it had to be rewritten to use more data points. Apprently getting TOO MUCH data could hurt the older generation GPS, I don't know if that is a problem now. If you can't measure distance accurately how can you measure the closing speed/distance of the two vessels so the supply mission knows when to slow down and use the radar to dock. The only reason the ISS went to GPS is the new Progress ships use it, there had been no docking problems with the old systems except the one time the Russian cosmonaut tried to hand fly to Progess to the dock and came in a bit too hot.

More coverage

[Cyclotron_Boy]

Here's a little more information about TEKh-42 (the technical name). Quote:

[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

Re:More coverage

[BigWhiteGuy_27]

or to a greater extent the latter days of SpaceLab
I'm assuming that you meant "Skylab". "Spacelab" is carried in the payload bay of a Space Shuttle.

Re:More coverage

[no-body]

Not enough coverage - eh?

Could it be that this is actually a toy for star wars - or whatever they call the US military's ambition to "strike any target on the planet" - you can read more about this BS (plutonium driven lasers, total US dominance of space, upsetting everyone else - China, Russia, N-Korea..., more junk in space) in the US Air Force Transformation Flight Plan, the document is there . Analysis of the text is at: <http://www.space4peace.org> <http://www.nuclearpolicy.org> < http://www.cdi.org>.

There was a show recently on TUC Radio , the first part of the show can be heard on that page , further down, at: MOST RECENT PROGRAMS: Arming the Heavens.

Re:More coverage

[Cyclotron_Boy]

D'oh. Good call. Skylab.

-F

Re:More coverage

[glesga_kiss]

I thought that the fact he launched it by hand was pretty cool. Would be great to know that you had thrown an object into orbit!!

Re:More coverage

[kabocox]

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.

Re:More coverage

[johannesg]

I'd recommend making a series out of "Heart of the Comet" (Benford and Brin), then. One of my favorite SF books, and most of the technology is at least superficially feasible.

Basically it is about a group of researchers that hitch a ride on a halley's comet for a 76-year round-trip. Unfortunately they run into some unexpected problems, and end up having to fight for their survival.

Re:More coverage

[meringuoid]

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.

Hmm, good idea. Since there'd be no aliens, it would be human vs human conflict - maybe a space Western. You'd have to fudge things a little to have habitable environments; terraform Mars, heat up the Jovian moons by means not gone into, that sort of thing. Wreck the Earth in order to give people a massive motivation to get out into space. Let there be a more or less anarchic Wild West feel to the place; there's a government and a police force but their reach isn't as long as they'd like.

Then you'd need characters, characters, let's see... well, OK, let's have a hotshot pilot, but not the Tom Cruise type... we're looking for a cool and stylish rogue. The guy probably knows kung fu as well. We also want an older guy, experienced veteran of many adventures, ex-cop maybe, and perhaps missing a limb. We want gratuitous female eye candy, and possibly a weird hacker kid. Oh, and a dog, everyone loves cute pets.

Then you just have to get a really massively awesome theme tune at the start. Dah dah, dah dah, dah dah dah daah, daaaaaah....

Yeah, that would be a totally awesome show!

Re:More coverage

[xander2032]

They released a couple back in the good old days of Mir too. Definitely cool stuff! :)

Space shuttle should carry one of these

[G4from128k]

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.

Re:Space shuttle should carry one of these

[bleckywelcky]

"And at 11 pounds (less if they create a mini-version), the impact on the mass budget is not too bad."

Heh. Try telling that to a subsystem manager from whom you are trying to steal 11 pounds.

No Jokes??

[lilrowdy18]

10 posts about a Russian satellite with no Yakov Smirnoff jokes. Maybe the slashdot crowd has matured a bit ......

Re:No Jokes??

[johannesg]

10 posts about a Russian satellite with no Yakov Smirnoff jokes. Maybe the slashdot crowd has matured a bit

I was just thinking the same thing. Then you came along and spoiled it...

Re:This

[Nine Tenths of The W]

In federated Commonwealth of Independent States Baby Sputnik launches YOU!

Mini dog and more...

[Lotharjade]

Well, after we send the minurature dog into space (chiwawa) then we have to send a minurature John Glenn.

After that if the tin hat brigade is right, we will have to fake a minurature moon landing...

Re:Read about this before

[Scarblac]

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)

Conversation

[Chemisor]

Astronaut 1: Oops. I think I just dropped our navigation module.
Houston: No problem. We'll just call it "nanosputnik" and everyone will think you did it because we told you to.

What it really is

[Patrick Mannion]

It's actually Baby Death Star. Heh, good god. I just got the creepiest thought of George Lucas launching a Baby Star Wars franchise! GOOD GOD!

Re:What it really is

[Nine Tenths of The W]

You mean Jar-Jar was aimed at adults?

Re:Read about this before

[merlin_jim]

Mods, click the links.

Each link is a different picture of a squirrel on water skis.

This isn't informative. This is a troll.

Navigation issue

[ADRenalyn]

I hope they aren't using Dual Shock controllers to remote pilot that thing.

Re:Navigation issue

[citizenr]

not the dual and not "that thing", but there is an FF in space shuttle arm controller

Yes, but thruster exhaust can leave toxic residue

[johnny cashed]

Which, upon reentering the space station, could be, well, toxic. Hydrazine is a common thruster fuel, and is very toxic. You don't want to bring it back into the station with you.

Obligatory Simpsons quote

[cmburns69]

Announcer One: The three astronauts are a colorful bunch, in fact, they've been dubbed the "Three Musketeers".

Announcer Two: There's a mathematician, a statistician, and a different kind of mathematician.

Bart: Oh no! Not another boring space launch! Quick turn it off!

Is the nano-sputnik same as released by MIR?

[homerito]

Is this nano-sputnik the same as the ones released by MIR in 97?
They are about the same mass and size.

http://www.skyrocket.de/space/index_frame.htm?http ://www.skyrocket.de/space/doc_sdat/sputnik-40.htm

Someone has to say it...

[halber_mensch]

In America, you hit the gas.
In Soviet Russia, the gas hits you!

Re:Nano....

[VAXcat]

It's "Sigue Sigue Sputnik"....not "Zig Zig Sputnick"...

O_o

[DeathByDuke]

he _threw_ the satellite?

Russian space program must be really very cash strapped...

(for those who ask, http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/exp10_eva2_05 0328.html)
'He later deployed the small satellite by tossing it into space'

Re:O_o

[Nerull]

How else would an astronaut release a satillite? A rubber band slingshot?

For the size and purpose of this satillite, i'd imagine it was much, much cheaper to load it on Progress with the other supplies and have them deploy it rather than waste a full LV on it.

how small is it?

[zixor]

Nanosputnik?? Does that mean its somewhere between microsputnik and picosputnik?

Poop ?

[Easy2RememberNick]

Was I the only one thinking this was a euphemism for dumping human waste from the Space Station?