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Space Station Gyro Problem Dangerous?
mysterystevenson writes "After bringing more mass than ever before up to the ISS, one of the gyros has failed. Gyros help maintain attitude position in space; the more mass needed to be controlled, the more force that is exerted on the gyros. Now there is the danger that the Shuttle may be bringing yet more mass and starting construction while turning off another gyro, which could cause a need for thrusters to maintain attitude. The assemblies are not all constructed to be able to withstand such force and in a bad situation there could be a collapse which could affect the Shuttle and the ISS as well. Worse case could be total loss; a wise idea might be to alter the construction schedule and address the Gyro and Gyro design problems, before going forward with the introduction of more mass."
that would suck
STOP MAKING ME HUNGRY!
It's only 11:00, the gyro cart won't be out for another hour!
This is unclear ...
:))))) ... it's so full of fat !!! :)))))
Are they talking about "pita gyro" or something ???
So it would be normal that they have got a excess of mass
Sorry, I couldn't resist.
No other backups are available, but the failed gyro currently is being refurbished.
Shouldn't they have had more than *one* spare in the production pipeline, or placed bids or whatever for a second spare back in 2003?
Ask any system admin: RAIG only improve reliability if the MTTR is significantly less than the MTTF.
So all they have to do is to disconnect all the modules and tie them in a neat bundle at the centre instead of having all those radical sticky out bits.
Okay, who thought it was a good idea to put solar arrays so fragile that they can't withstand small rockets firing on a station that is equipped with those rockets? Ideally, they would just add another gyro to the December mission (which I imagine would cause the mission to be delayed for training at this late date), but apparently they don't currently have a spare. One of these gyros failed previously and the spare was installed. So someone felt that with FOUR of these gyros on the station, it was okay to have only ONE spare? Most of my customers would not accept that sparing ratio, and IANARS! I guess the best case scenario is that perhaps they can change the manner in which they plan to rewire the station to avoid taking 2 out of the 3 working gyros offline at the same time. This brings up training and procedure issues again, of course -- it takes time and practice and well-written, simulation-testing procedures to get people to do complicated jobs like this correctly, the first time. If I reverse the order of two ethernet plugs, or two variables in my code, I might need some time to find the problem later, but no one is going to be electrocuted, and no rockets will fire. :-)
This seems rather alarmist. First off, why would they risk destroying the station to preserve the attitude? It seems that letting it turn somewhat for a limited amount of time would be far better than risking its destruction to preserve its orientation at all costs.
And the time would be limited. Remember, there is conservation of angular momentum. If you are tumbling, you will need to use the thrusters to stop it in any case (gyros don't create or destroy angular momentum--if you want to get rid of some permanently, you'll need to cast off some reaction mass). But for what they do do, which is reorienting a ship by temporarily holding some angular momentum, they can be used as slowly as you want. Heck, if you weren't in a hurry you could turn the ship by hand (actually, foot) by just "walking" around the outer wall without any gyros at all.
--MarkusQ
We may need to get Sonic the Hedgehog here for an attitude transplant, stat!
Thank goodness they have such a renowned inertial theoritician to alert them to this problem. It's just lucky for all of us that he took time away from work adapting massage devices for use as space propulsion devices. When will NASA learn to stop relying on those empty pieces of paper that their engineers call PhD's and start listening to people who've been interviewed by their local media at some indeterminate point in the past and now maintain a wiki.
"Don't you know you're going to shock the monkey?"- Peter Gabriel
""After bringing more mass than ever before up to the ISS, one of the gyros has failed"
Perhaps this might be because the left the mayonnaise-laden sandwiches sitting in the back of someone's station wagon for 3 days before loading them in the shuttle.
Where were you when the voynix came?
"Okay, who thought it was a good idea to put solar arrays so fragile that they can't "withstand small rockets firing on a station" that is equipped with those rockets?"
But if the attacking ships use phasers instead of rockets, the solar arrays can take it.
Where were you when the voynix came?
No kidding! I have enough spares of all my PC parts lying around to build an entire spare computer or two, and I'm just a tinkering hacker. None of my possible gadgetry falures threaten me with exposure to the cold, unforgiving vacuum of space... at least not today.. not before lunch, anyhow.
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Wow! Good thing there are experts like you on the scene, Mystery Stevenson, who know every single detail and design of the ISS better than the American and Russian agencies that built and launched it. You'd think after all these years that NASA would start hiring smart people instead of just grabbing random joes from the unemployment line and entrusting them with millions of dollars worth of space hardware on the first day.
Comment of the year
Or mis-quote???
"I canna change the laws of physics!"
According to Friday's update from NASA, everything on the ISS is fine and dandy. The station is operating on 3 of the gyro's which is A-OK because it can work on 2 if necessary.
4 4_station_status.html
The situation is being assessed but things continue to progress. Other "minor" problems include the fact that the Russian Oxygen generator has stopped working as well.
http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2006/oct/HQ_SS060
So we won't make same (stupid?) design or operation mistakes again in future. Scientific and technological progress means being able to make completely new and unheard of mistakes... :-)
"Worst case would be a total loss" .. Really? No.. This article is based on speculation and hypothetical conditions. Just fix the Gyro...
Ad eundum quo nemo ante iit!
Isn't such stuff usually submitted as an Ask Slashdot?
The grass is always greener on the other side of the light cone.
Let me know when it starts singing "Bicycle Built For Two."
I'd like to state at the beginning , that this post is not for points , a zero is fine by me , just want you to know I really mean the next sentence . I thank Slashdot for going ahead and publishing this story ; you had to know it would generate some heat, also for keeping it up when it seemed there were those that would rather it not remain. A big thumbs up for integrity.
As for the story, there were many important parts that are being missed; the lives of the Astronauts, granted they signed on for the job, but space is a cold unforgiving mistress, and there is so little room for error, we should give them every chance they can have.Also note that in the slightest chance that something could go wrong, this is an International Space Station. International means that Nations would be pointing fingers at Nations, the World situation does not need further problems right now. There have been many cuts in recent years in R&D budgets, if there was a spectacular failure in space, then expect science cuts everywhere ! There were some comments about; just fix the gyro problem, there is no emergency . My point exactly , but changing is not at the top of the list at NASA, I felt I had to report this as I have been on this story for over 2 weeks. You may think this all happened on the 11th, but I have read and posted on mission reports of this gyro problem for weeks and asked why was this story not going public ? By the way I was sent an url from a local TV station near the Space Center about the need for changes on the upcoming mission here it is;
http://www.wesh.com/news/10057885/detail.html
From this story it would seem a change was in the works, but as another mentioned in the comments, on the other hand , they are proceeding with the mission as scheduled. Smoke and mirrors, there are more politics running this than the scientists. I wish the Rocket Scientists WERE allowed to do their jobs. They have pointed out the problems!
As for the comments about the author, I accept any blame for errors that I may have made. But from the number of detractors on such a worthless and undeserving story, I am reminded of a quote from Shakespeare's play Hamlet ; "The lady doth protest too much". And there was one particular comment framed as sarcastic reply : "Mysterystevenson to the rescue!" Ok aside from the intent, I had to laugh, it really was funny. I mean I loved it. LOL , LOL
MYSTERY
Its good that people care about life and the safety of the ISS crew ,and without the questions then there can't be answers,YES GOOD POINT JIM.