Posted on 05/09/2013 6:23:28 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
Astronauts on the International Space Station have discovered a leak of ammonia coolant on their orbiting habitat, and NASA is looking into the problem, though it poses no immediate danger to the crew, officials said today (May 9).
The space station uses chilled liquid ammonia to cool down the power systems on its eight giant solar array panels. A minor leak of this ammonia was first noticed in 2007, and NASA has been studying the issue ever since. In November 2012 two astronauts took a spacewalk to fix the problem, rewiring some coolant lines and installing a spare radiator due to fears the original radiator was damaged by a micrometeorite impact.
At the time, those measures appeared to fix the problem, but today astronauts on the football field-size space station noticed a steady stream of frozen ammonia flakes leaking from the area of the suspect coolant loop in the Photovoltaic Thermal Control System (PVTCS). [Gallery: Building the International Space Station]
"It is in the same area, but we don't know whether it's the same leak," NASA spokesman Kelly Humphries of the Johnson Space Center in Houston told SPACE.com. Humphries said the agency was taking the leak seriously because it affects an important system — if they loose the ability to cool that particular solar array, it won't be able to generate power for the station. In fact, the leak has worsened to the point that Mission Control expects that particular loop to shut down within the next 24 hours.
However, "the crew is in no danger," Humphries stressed. It's too soon to speculate on a possible spacewalk or other measure to deal with the issue, he added.
Mission Control has been discussing the problem with the astronauts on the station throughout the afternoon.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
real rednecks just use black pepper
Road lights? It’s only 12 um something and 100 others and to use 10 wire. I suppose that’s just to keep them on the bumper, and I think is overkill, cause the Warn has 8 wire, and it’s much bigger, and hasn’t fallen off yet., but it’s gonna all be okay, cause I don’t need 200 of lights to winch out, and I don’t need to winch at 70 on the slabs. And the limiter kicks out at 6.
See, balance in the universe.
Okay, here’s the units I used in the above stuff... volts, whats, gauges, what the hell is a gauge?, oh, and miles in a hour, and revolts in a standard, non-metric minute. At sea level. Attention to detail - it’s a engineer thing.
This is probably ammonia in “heat pipes”
HAL just renamed the AE35 unit an “ammonia leak”. Don’t go out without your helmet Dave.
/johnny
“”A minor leak of this ammonia was first noticed in 2007, and NASA has been studying the issue ever since.”
Government in action.”
The committee to select the blue ribbon panel to select commission members is working on it feverishly even as I write this.
Yes. Thank God we have a shuttle to fly back and forth to help out on issues like this. Oh. Wait. I got laid off at KSC in August 2011 when the last flight was over and the orbiter secured. Ooppps! Oh well, it cost too much anyway.
I just heard a FEST was prepping to go help. Sadly, they were told to stand down. Don’t know who said that but it must have been high up. Like the ISS.
Cage the ability.
“Oh well, it cost too much anyway.”
All the lazy Rat-voting parasites need all their free stuff so the frivolous military and NASA spending needs to cut their “fair share”.
My body leaks ammonia multiple times a day
and is glad to get rid of it.
Donations are free
Send up some stop leak additive.
LLS
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