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What You Don't Know About Living in Space
Ant writes "There are spectacular moments, as well as the mundane, in space. Over the years, living in space has forced astronauts to make a few concessions to things you would not give a second thought about when staying at a hotel/motel. The article lists a few things that people may not have known about living in space." Your iPod needs to be modified to use Alkaline batteries. And also, did you know... that in space... you only get one spooooon. And some people, are spoon millionaires...
1. Go to space 2. Take spoons and become a spoon baron 3. ???? 4. Profit
The seekers do no need truth, the seekers do find truth and the finding do be painful
A million spoons? It seems like there'd be better things to take up into space than that...
This guy's the limit!
Personally, I enjoy people being able to hear me scream at the Holiday Inn. :)
"Slow down, Cowboy! It has been 3 years, 7 months and 26 days since you last successfully posted a comment."
[Insert Garfield joke here.]
When I was a kid, I really wanted to be an astronaut. When I was told though that they had a 6 foot tall maximum height requirement, I was devastated. (I'm not sure if this is still true, I've later heard of 6'2" astronauts). Regardless, now I don't feel so bad, as they do not have pizza in space. How do they cope?
Rhymes that keep their secrets will unfold behind the clouds.There upon the rainbow is the answer to a neverending story
Funnily enough a friend and I were recently discussing the interesting geometric possibilities which would be possible when cooking in zero g, one of the recipies we came up with was the sperical pizza, where the dough gets inflated into a sphere (you need the air because the pizza dough would want to shrink) and the topping get layered around the outside, all of course being stick to the dough using the sticky marinara sauce.
This could then be cooked in an oven with the 'inflation pipe' blowing hot air into the middle to cook the dough, and also acting to keep the 'space pizza' in the middle of the oven.
The result, pizza with no crusts!
It's really really really really really really big.
Knowledge is power. Knowledge shared is power lost.
"Their T-shirts, socks and underwear have a special silver thread lining that absorbs odor and keeps items wearable longer." "Now this is made from a space-age fabric specially designed for Elvis. Sweat actually cleans this suit!"
So they have laundry that is special treated to go for weeks without being washed. Is it a bad sign that my first thought is "Man, if I had that, I wouldnt' have to do my own laundry so often! Where can I order some?!"
According to the article, "There is also no ice cream in space. No freezer." But besides freeze-dried ice cream, according to this blog, they actually did have frozen ice cream on the ISS.
"Anyone who [rips a CD] is probably engaging in copyright infringement." - David O. Carson
A lot of the article isn't accurate, either. For example, they've had freeze dried "astronaut ice cream" for decades! Almost every science museum that I've ever been to sells this stuff. I've heard that they've also tried "space pizza" prototypes as well.
I also find it hard to believe that the standard battery on an iPod is going to suddenly going to turn into an explosive device if they take it into space. That sounds like more of a bureaucratic oversight than anything else.
Carries a lot of implications for traveling to even near by planets, with travel time measured in months instead of days. It's tough enough to manage consumables, but traveling to Mars without a change of clothes or some way to launder them is a huge technical challenge all on its own. Maybe clothing becomes another consumable, dispose after using. And you have to pack enough groceries to sustain the entire trip, grow your own or starve if there's a mishap.
And those are our near neighbors, even living on the moon. Extended life in space is going to involve a lot of research. Let's face it, we're adapted for life on this planet. Trying to carry these living conditions across space is not only a technical challenge, it's a financial one as well. Who's going to pay for all this technology? All the lift capacity to get it into space and...then what? If we set up a moon base, we have to supply it. That's not going to be cheap. A Mars trip...even more expensive.
That's our life, the big wheel of shit. - The Fat Man, Blue Tango Salvage
you don't have to worry about who is gonna sleep on the wet spot that night. Though I didn't look from a female perspective; it actually might be frustrating to them.
When I was posted in Antarctica for a year they gave us all a questionnaire about what foods we liked/disliked, to determine what to put in my food parcel. When I got over there I found they had packed all the foods I didn't like ! It's supposed to stop you scoffing all your food quickly. I was thinking of killing and eating penguin within a week.
Bastards.
I imagine space expeditions such as a manned Mars mission will use a similar methodology - fussy eaters beware when you fill in the form !
Given the huge success of unmanned missions to the planets, it really is very tempting to ask, why don't we just stop doing this stuff. Either we are going to have a planetary energy crisis, and will have to stop wasting vast amounts of fuel on sending people to orbit, or we will find a clever fix, and so be able to do this much more cheaply at some future date. It seems pointless to do something not very useful at the limit of human capability when there are so many more interesting engineering problems to solve - energy efficient housing and vehicles, efficient and cheap solar power, all need the technologies used in manned spaceflight, but on a different scale and in different ways. A ten year moratorium on manned spaceflight with the effort entirely going into solving energy supply and global warming problems could have a huge payback.
From scarped cliff or quarried stone she cries "A thousand types are gone, I care for nothing, no not one."
On earth, gravity striates your stomach contents so the heavier stuff is on the bottom and the gas is on the top. So when you burp it's mostly gas which comes up. In space, this doesn't happen, and burping is a lot like throwing up. So foods that make you burp, like carbonated beverages, are a no-no.
Okay, others seem to be talking about freeze-dried ice cream being available (blech). But in any case it seems like there'd be a way to design a freezer that takes advantage of the close proximity of outer space.
(Imperfect analogy warning) Back when I was in college, which was before the days of affordable small refrigerators, we used to take stuff we wanted kept cool and hang it in a plastic sack outside our dorm window. For a good part of the Seattle school year, it's cool enough outside for that to work...
#DeleteChrome
Among them are that pizza is a gravity sensitive food. There is an up side and a down side. The crust may be flaky or crumbly at times and that's a big problem in 0-G environments. But more than that is the possibility of liberated ingredients. I know it might seem funny to say it, but no one needs a "flying sausage in space."
I do like to say it though... heh... flying sausage...
Whooorst!
But luckily, unlike Taco, you do get a spelling checker!
...why rechargeable lithium batteries aren't OK in space but alkaline batteries are? I can't think of any way gravity would affect battery operation or why the electrode material would matter.
It's true that in general, when an iPod goes into freefall, it stops working very quickly. Maybe some idiot has just taken that rule of thumb, true on Earth, and applied it to space?
Lithium metal is prohibited, if the batteries are mistreated lithium metal can form, hence it is banned.
I am just wondering, why not use nickel metal hydride chemistry, the laptops on the ISS use it, it would save the annoyance of disposable alkalines.
http://www.geoffreylandis.com
Won't that void the warrantie?
What?
Listen, about the astronauts,
if you're wondering how they eat and breathe,
And other science facts.
Then repeat to yourself, "It's just a shuttle,
I should really just relax."
Shop as usual. And avoid panic buying.
As the Endeavor approached the space station this week, crew members on board the station snapped this shot.
Saddle up: Riding with Robots
They've caught fire here on Earth. I expect the effect of such a fire in space would range anywhere from serious to catastrophic.
I was going to post asking about the ice cream before. I've heard of freeze dried ice cream on several occasions, there are even places you can buy it here on earth. I have no idea how the process works, but it makes ice cream that does not need to be frozen.
As for the iPods, I'm sure that's a technicality. They are a bit paranoid about safety up there since you can't just dial 911 in an emergency and get help on the way in 9 minutes. They probably remove the batteries and then attach them to the external packs you can buy around here, that take four AA batteries.
It's also very likely they have an alternate adapter to jack into the ISS's grid to power it, a bit like a cigarette lighter jack but something smaller I'm sure. The batteries are probably only needed when they are inconveniently away from an outlet, or say out on a space walk.
I bet they have even more stringent requirements though for what you can take on your person when on a space walk. It would not surprise me if ipods are barred. And for some of those 8 and 11 hour marathon walks we hear about from time to time, that's gotta be a bummer.
I'm surprised this article gave so few details though - I've heard offhand of numerous other issues I was expecting to read about in this article. It had all of what, five interesting factoids? Lets hear about
- toilets
- showers
- drinking liquids
- anything to reduce weight on liftoff, like hair cutting
- I wonder if there's an "in case of emergency" bean-o pack on board? heh... y'know, one recirculating air system and all...
- the sorrid details of a long space walk. how do you drink? anything for food in 8-11 hr walks? yes, you get to wear a diaper and WILL be using it, etc
- stories of what happens when an astronaut gets sick - flu etc. I recall someone on Appolo getting appendicitis in mission.
- do astronauts sign an agreement not to have sex while up there? or how was that addressed? you know they had something to say about it.
- personal limitations? we saw max height mentioned, but is there a minimum? how about weight? (of course!) are implants ok? glasses barred am guessing? are contacts ok? medical history? I assume the same rules of being a pilot apply, plus more, as far as medical are concerned. Minimum strength requirements?
- what is their contingency plan for if an astronaut dies while up there? (aneurism, accident, whatever) Again you KNOW they have an action plan for this because they HAVE TO. Do they keep body bag(s) on board or just gonna wrap the body in a lot of duct tape?
- cross training? I have to assume all astronauts have at least basic knowledge of 100% of the critical systems?
That article is soooo lacking.
I work for the Department of Redundancy Department.
It's not a "bureaucratic oversight".
NASA hasn't certified (those) lithium batteries for space.
And NASA hasn't certified iPods for use on the space station.
If it isn't tested, it doesn't fly.
It may seem like bureaucratic red tape, but that kind of meticulousness is what keeps the space program so safe.
On the upside, at least astronauts get to have iPods with replaceable batteries.
[Fuck Beta]
o0t!
What do they use for the really big onboard batteries then? (if you know) thanks in advance!
Do they use an FM transmitter, cassette adapter or did somebody modify the console with an Aux-in...
in a submarien; except we had real food on the boat. Non-smokers could make som egood deals near the end of a deplpyment when the smokers were out of smokes.
I'm a consultant - I convert gibberish into cash-flow.
FTFA:
``But now the people who figure out just where to stow everyone on the space shuttle have to find space for spare double-A batteries, because the iPods tend to be battery burners!''
Compared to CD players? (mentioned earlier in the article) That surprises me.
Please correct me if I got my facts wrong.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
for being astronauts I am surprised that all they eat is junk food! I throw pizza in the junk food category. Especially when formulated by scientists!
Balderdash!
But that is US politics, which I stay out of. The ISS includes European tax income, and as I pay Gordon about $40000 a year, I think I have a right to comment on how some of my taxes are spent. I'm afraid I actually support what our Army is trying to achieve in Afghanistan, where the problem there is partly caused by US funding of the Islamic fundies in the 80s. Somebody has to take a stand against people who oppress women.
From scarped cliff or quarried stone she cries "A thousand types are gone, I care for nothing, no not one."
I've heard of freeze dried ice cream on several occasions, there are even places you can buy it here on earth. I have no idea how the process works, but it makes ice cream that does not need to be frozen.
They sell it at the Smithsonian National Air & Space museum. I've eaten it. Three flavors, Vanilla Strawberry and Chocolate, all in one cosmopolitan package. It doesn't taste very good and it doesn't 'feel' like regular ice cream. If you want to try some, go here: http://www.thespaceshop.com/neopicecream.html
Fly me to the moon Let me sing among those stars Let me see what spring is like On jupiter and mars
[quote]Their T-shirts, socks and underwear have a special silver thread lining that absorbs odor and keeps items wearable longer.[quote]
Like every other cloud, duh.
It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong.
More importantly, is there a severe penalty if you brought along a fake face-hugger from "Alien"?
WARNING: Smartphones have side effects--most of them undocumented.
Thanks for helping me to recover my dream. Imagine a trip to mars alone. But i would say "I am not alone. There are 3 of us. Ben & Jerry & I" Come on people! We just saw 'kimchi in space' article a decade ago. what else is impossible?
The way I heard it, in microgravity, fluids accumulate in your respiratory tract. Being in space is like having a head cold, not exactly the best condition for getting good work done.
Hmmph. I try to humorously (?) point out that some moderators have missed the point by calling GP Insightful rather than Funny. The GP then gets Funny and I get Troll. Apparently said lunkheads were not amused.
What You Don't Know About Living in Space...
CAN KILL YOU!!!
Sorry, I've been watching the local news again.
Unknown host pong.
Reading the article, it seemed obvious to me what the solution is likely to be. Cook them, let them cool to room temperature, cut into slices, package them airtight, and then use existing technology for food irradiation to render them shelf-stable at room temperature. Packaging them as separate slices would likely make them easier to handle, albeit at the expense of extra packaging material (although I think that there would be an interesting publicity shot in a group of astronauts around a pizza floating in the middle of the cabin). There might be some issues with arranging how they sit in the launch vehicle to ensure that they're not placed sideways to acceleration -- 3G across the surface of the pizza would rip the toppings right off.
In space, no one can hear your ice cream.
For example, they've had freeze dried "astronaut ice cream" for decades!
That styrofoam flavored crap doesn't count as ice cream.
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
I think that is exactly the reason most likely, lithium type batteries are restricted on aircraft due to the risk of them overloading and catching fire as well and planes are in basically the same situation as in if they burst into flames in flight basically every occupant is dead there is no way to evacuate an airliner plane in flight anymore than you can evacuate a space station (unless they have re-entry pods of some kind?) but even if there was some way to get the people out the multi million dollar piece of hardware is going to be destroyed especially when the fire gets near those big oxygen cylinders.
If they can't have a freezer, couldn't they bring real ice cream (and other freezer kept foods) and keep it outside in the shade?
The bit about no padlocks reminds me of a head-thumping bit from an episode of ST:TNG (one written during the previous writers strike, in defense of the show's regular writers). The Enterprise has picked up a 20th century business executive, who in the middle of a tense military confrontation with the Romlulans is able to nag Picard using the ship's intercomm, because the Federation assumes that everyone on board will use the comm system responsibly, so it has no authentication or usage restrictions.
http://alternatives.rzero.com/
... wondering if they could introduce you to this wonderfull food product called Hot Pockets.
Ummm i thought this was common knowledge... Highly oxygen rich environment + a highly volatile element such as lithium = big big big boom.... imagine a fire like this... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odxR1lkfiEI that will burn even hotter and more violently because of the pure oxygen environment, And what about all those noxious fumes? I'm pretty sure a CO2 scrubber wont remove nasty stuff like that
...you've played knifey-spoony before.
Homonyms are fun!
You're driving your car, but they're riding their bikes there.
From TFA:
> On a previous mission many years ago a space shuttle commander was concerned about a crew member
> he considered potentially volatile. He requested a padlock to lock the hatch to keep someone from
> opening it unexpectedly during a mission.
Holy crap, if a commander is concerned that a member of his crew might actually kill people, why would he even allow that person onboard? Psychological screening seems like a better solution than a padlock.
--I'm so big, my sig has its own sig.
-- See?
After all, a hoopy frood always knows where his towel is.
They read /. all day.
It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong.
I was going to post asking about the ice cream before. I've heard of freeze dried ice cream on several occasions, there are even places you can buy it here on earth. I have no idea how the process works, but it makes ice cream that does not need to be frozen.
The Wikipedia article seems fairly explanatory: real ice cream has gone to space; freeze-dried ice cream was for longer-duration missions to reduce weight.
As for the iPods, ... They probably remove the batteries and then attach them to the external packs you can buy around here, that take four AA batteries.
It's also very likely they have an alternate adapter to jack into the ISS's grid to power it, a bit like a cigarette lighter jack but something smaller I'm sure. The batteries are probably only needed when they are inconveniently away from an outlet, or say out on a space walk.
RTFA: iPods are not cleared to be used on the ISS, only on the Shuttle. And they go through a heck of a lot of AA batteries. You realize the whole point of an iPod is that you don't have to plug it in, right?
I bet they have even more stringent requirements though for what you can take on your person when on a space walk. It would not surprise me if ipods are barred. And for some of those 8 and 11 hour marathon walks we hear about from time to time, that's gotta be a bummer.
If you've ever watched an EVA, there is no opportunity for the spacewalkers to listen to music, as they are constantly in communication with ground control. They also have to concentrate on, you know, making sure they're always tethered and not going to float away, that they're clear of hazardous objects, etc.
I'm surprised this article gave so few details though - I've heard offhand of numerous other issues I was expecting to read about in this article. It had all of what, five interesting factoids? Lets hear about
- toilets
- showers
- drinking liquids
- anything to reduce weight on liftoff, like hair cutting
Sunita Williams went up a year or so ago and stayed on the ISS. She had long hair going up, and cut much of it off while in orbit because it was floating around like a puff ball. Considering she probably weighed less than most of the male astronauts, I doubt hair really matters.
- I wonder if there's an "in case of emergency" bean-o pack on board? heh... y'know, one recirculating air system and all...
First, you take bean-o at the start of the meal, not after you start passing gas. Second, I'm sure meals are highly regulated to ensure that they don't cause gas (for example, the thing about carbonated beverages that someone mentioned in another comment). Third, *all* smells are regulated. Every piece of material that goes up in space is rigorously tested to make sure it has no smell. I think there was an issue a few years back where a piece of velcro was allowed to go up into space, and it was causing troubles because the plastic in it was off-gassing a chemical odour that caused discomfort.
- the sorrid details of a long space walk. how do you drink? anything for food in 8-11 hr walks? yes, you get to wear a diaper and WILL be using it, etc
- stories of what happens when an astronaut gets sick - flu etc. I recall someone on Appolo getting appendicitis in mission.
- do astronauts sign an agreement not to have sex while up there? or how was that addressed? you know they had something to say about it.
I expect that they don't talk about this stuff in order to respect the astronauts' privacy. Things like illness are likely dealt with on a case-by-case basis. In February, the first spacewalk was delayed because one of the would-be spacewalkers was feeling ill. NASA and the astronaut refused to divulge details, citing privacy reasons.
- personal limitations? we saw
Hey pal, this isn't a pleasantforest, so don't waste my time with pleasantries!
Face-huggers are FUN.
I used one as a prank someone who's an arachnophobic AND completely freaked out whenever watching the Alien series.
Made it drop onto his head while he was sleeping.
Trust me - in a dorm EVERYONE can hear you scream.
We do not live in the 21st century. We live in the 20 second century.
That's crazy lol Padlocks!
Tech/Reviews blog
Cold pizza is only good with warm beer.
If you open your mind too wide, people will throw trash in it.
If and ever artificial gravity is discovered, a hell of lot will change regarding our lives.
In the meantime, couldn't a rotating space station be constructed so as that there is some simulated gravity environment on board?
You realize the whole point of an iPod is that you don't have to plug it in, right?
Actually, no, that's not the whole point of an ipod. It's certainly one of the bigger points though, agreed. The other major benefit of an ipod is portability of music. I can remember carrying around a small suitcase of cassette tapes with my battery-powered (4xC) cassette recorder. People still are aware of CD wallets, only because they want to consolidate their collection at home, not because they intend to lug around 500 CDs with them. Finding power on the go, be it a place to plug in the iPod for power, someone else's USB connector to jack into, or a fresh set of AA's, is a lot less of a hassle than hauling around all that media.
If you've ever watched an EVA, there is no opportunity for the spacewalkers to listen to music, as they are constantly in communication with ground control. They also have to concentrate on, you know, making sure they're always tethered and not going to float away, that they're clear of hazardous objects, etc.
Listen to some more of them. When they run into a snag, it's not uncommon for them to sit there waiting for ground control for 10-15 minutes to research or test something. They take it very slow and relaxed to avoid mistakes. Many things you only get one shot to try because you have to get it right the first time. You don't think they're completely occupied the entire time of a 7 hr space walk?
I work for the Department of Redundancy Department.
A backpacking trip to the back country...
No freezer, no icecream.
Few will pack a Dutch Oven or box oven, so no pizza.
Eat everything you can so there is less in the trash.
Compress the trash so it takes up less space.
No washing -- maybe rinsing the clothes.
Differences from backpacking:
No silver threads in the underware... we just stink.
No bears in space, so you don't have to hang a bear bag.
There is a toilet, so no cat holes.
I'll match Star Pizza and Fuzzy's pizza, both in HOuston Texas, against the best New York and Chicago have to offer.
There is no God, and Dirac is his prophet.
I also find it hard to believe that the standard battery on an iPod is going to suddenly going to turn into an explosive device if they take it into space. That sounds like more of a bureaucratic oversight than anything else.
Given that ipod batteries (admittedly rarely) explode down here on earth as well, I guess they just don't want the chance of it happening in space
Vacuum cleaners suck. Kings rule.
Nope, not a fake. You can see the originals right here on NASA's site:
http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/217427main_iss016e032312_hires.jpg
http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/217432main_iss016e032313_hires.jpg
Having broken the Prime Directive of /. by RTFAing, I wonder why they're surprised that astronaut's "goody stash" become a source of "trade goods" towards the end of a mission.
People in an isolated environment, with restricted access to status goods use a lower status material of restricted availability as a proxy for other items of value. Look in any prison at the trade in "contraband" tobacco. Look also at the submariner's tale (up-thread, look for a typo of "submarien", IIRC) of tobacco rations being treated similarly. Look back to the rationing in the war (any war), and what a GI could get for a pair of nylons. Come out to an oil rig with my colleagues and I for a couple of weeks and notice how the "can of coke and a Mars bar" becomes a local variant of a gold standard.
To be honest, I'd suspect that the mission planners DELIBERATELY included the sweeties etc. - in a "stashable" form - so that people would develop this sort of economy. It then naturally provides a (seemingly) self-developed social lubricant to minor awkward moments. Good psychology.
That's probably why the submariners had a "smokes" ration too. This isn't exactly a novel situation.
Which would you prefer - chocolates, smokes, or a good dose of Rum, Sodomy and The Lash (allegedly Winston Churchill's list of the traditions of the Royal Navy).
Birds are not dinosaur descendants;birds are dinosaurs, for all useful meanings of "birds", "are" and "dinosaurs"
find -name "*base*" -exec chown us {} \; ; ln -s
My god! You just betrayed that you also read TFA! Mods! Ask this man to leave his /. card at the door!
Huh?
Is "in a centrifuge" the next "over the internet"?
As copyright owner of this comment, I authorize everyone to defeat any technological measure which limits access to it.