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."

Comments

This seems rather alarmist

[MarkusQ]

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