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| John Doe... |
 Posted: Mon May 19, 2008 5:19 am |
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In terms of the USA segment, the current design is actually fairly neat.
Nodes to which you can attach a number of tin cans. And the CBM design
for how those tin cans dock to each other is far mroe advanced than
previous designs, allowing for most connections to happen inside the
pressurised space.
The concept of the MPLM was brilliant for moving cargo to/from the station.
The fact that the solar arrays are so big compared to the station is
just an indication of the difficulties in building structures that can
actually do stuff in space. You need a lot of solar arrays to power the
station.
While the truss segment is not "cosmetic", it has some neat concepts,
such as rotating joints, and the mobile transporter than can move the
arms around. And the space station arm itself is also a fairly
sophisticated and very useful tool to work in space.
And when the cupola is finally launched, the crews will finally have
usable windows. (do they ever use the WORF anymore ?)
I would think the biggest failure is the lack of windows on the USA
segment. The russian segment has a number of windows, but they are small.
When Bush decided to kill the shuttle, he should have ordered a few
additional cupollas to be berthed in every free CBM hatch on the station.
The station is a long way from the sleek ones portrayed in 2001 a space
odyssey, or other science fiction series since then. We are still at our
infancy with space structures, but what they developped for ISS could
become quite useful for long trips to mars. And the experience gained
from trying to operate the ISS will also teach us what works reliable,
what doesn't and what can and cannot be fixed in space. And that is very
important. |
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| Derek Lyons... |
| Posted: Mon May 19, 2008 9:59 am |
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John Doe <jdoe at (no spam) doe.org> wrote:
[quote:5a047a1566]I would think the biggest failure is the lack of windows on the USA
segment. The russian segment has a number of windows, but they are small.
[/quote:5a047a1566]
Beyond something like the WORF, and few windows to observe work areas,
window aren't really useful on a space station.
[quote:5a047a1566]The station is a long way from the sleek ones portrayed in 2001 a space
odyssey, or other science fiction series since then.
[/quote:5a047a1566]
Mostly because the ISS has to work in the real world, while fictional
stations don't. Comparing them is stupid.
D.
--
Touch-twice life. Eat. Drink. Laugh.
http://derekl1963.livejournal.com/
-Resolved: To be more temperate in my postings.
Oct 5th, 2004 JDL |
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| Revision... |
| Posted: Thu May 22, 2008 3:06 am |
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Alpha is an odd looking critter, and yeah I wish it looked like the 2001
Space Odyssey version. What I wonder about is the future of the thing ...
no one seems to put a date on any retirement. I assume that it will be kept
running indefinitely, or that is to say as long as the users have sufficient
pull with various govt funding sources.
** Posted from http://www.teranews.com ** |
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| Rocket... |
| Posted: Mon May 26, 2008 8:57 pm |
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WORF flies sometime later in 2009. There are multiple
experiments planned for its use when it is installed. The Lab
window is used stand-alone in the meantime for both crew
preference photography as well as science, as are the plethora
of windows in the Russian segment...
"John Doe" <jdoe at (no spam) doe.org> wrote in message
news:4831553b$0$31221$c3e8da3 at (no spam) news.astraweb.com...
[quote:033b501965]
And when the cupola is finally launched, the crews will
finally have
usable windows. (do they ever use the WORF anymore ?)
[/quote:033b501965] |
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| John Doe... |
| Posted: Mon May 26, 2008 11:57 pm |
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Rocket wrote:
[quote:743fc6b94a]WORF flies sometime later in 2009.
[/quote:743fc6b94a]
Are there issues with using the window now ? Seems we don't see the
crews using it anymore. Do they use it for the shuttle inspection
pictures when the shuttle back flips ?
Once they plug the window with the rack, will it become unusable by
humans for sightseeing or taking pictures of the shuttle ? |
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