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Posted by Jim Oberg on October 5, 2006, 11:17 am
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See the on-going discussion at nasaspaceflight.com,
here:
http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=4678&posts=14&start=1
I'm advised that a pressure drop in the freon loop, possibly caused by a
leak from
an impact, would have triggered an automatic isolation of that loop -- but
the leaking
loop would be no longer usable, putting a thermal load on the Orbiter ECLSS.
It could
well have prompted a 'next PLS', depending on how much water was available
to
feed the flash evaporator cooling system.
October 4, 2006
// NASA studying a 'ding' on shuttle
Was it the result of space debris impact during Atlantis' flight?
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15134114/
By James Oberg // NBC News space analyst // Special to MSNBC
Space shuttle experts are reportedly examining a small hole that was
discovered on Atlantis after it landed.
The small crater, labeled "Ding 18," is about a tenth of an inch (2.7 mm)
in diameter. It is located on the aluminum surface of one of the shuttle's
two thermal radiators, panels that unfold from the spacecraft's open payload
bay doors in flight to dump excess heat from the cabin. They are folded back
inside the shuttle for the return to Earth.
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Posted by Brian Gaff on October 5, 2006, 1:38 pm
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Well, there is another vote for having redundant systems and alternatives.
I imagine this is going to occur more as we go out into space, although we
do seem to be making a grand job of creating a ring of debris for the Earth!
Be interesting to see if they can deduce what made the hole.
I was intrigued by that deposit on the outside of the station they found as
well.
Brian
--
Brian Gaff....Note, this account does not accept Bcc: email.
graphics are great, but the blind can't hear them
Email: briang1@blueyonder.co.uk
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
show/hide quoted text
> See the on-going discussion at nasaspaceflight.com,
> here:
>
http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=4678&posts=14&start=1
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Posted by Rusty on October 6, 2006, 8:02 am
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Brian Gaff wrote:
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> Well, there is another vote for having redundant systems and alternatives.
> I imagine this is going to occur more as we go out into space, although we
> do seem to be making a grand job of creating a ring of debris for the Earth!
In the early 1960's the Air Force released millions of copper needles
into orbit under a project called Westford. The needles were released
in an orbit several thousand miles high. They were cut to an exact
length to be used as radar/radio reflecting dipoles. It was an
experiment to try and reflect radar/radio waves around the earth by
boucing them off the needles, which had spread out into a belt around
the earth.
Rusty
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Posted by Rusty on October 6, 2006, 8:32 am
Please log in for more thread options Rusty wrote:
show/hide quoted text
> Brian Gaff wrote:
> > Well, there is another vote for having redundant systems and alternati=
ves.
show/hide quoted text
> > I imagine this is going to occur more as we go out into space, although=
we
show/hide quoted text
> > do seem to be making a grand job of creating a ring of debris for the E=
arth!
show/hide quoted text
> In the early 1960's the Air Force released millions of copper needles
> into orbit under a project called Westford. The needles were released
> in an orbit several thousand miles high. They were cut to an exact
> length to be used as radar/radio reflecting dipoles. It was an
> experiment to try and reflect radar/radio waves around the earth by
> boucing them off the needles, which had spread out into a belt around
> the earth.
> Rusty
Here's more detail about Project Needles (Westford):
http://www.astronautix.com/craft/wesedles.htm
http://72.14.209.104/search?q=3Dcache:aNilWh0c1MoJ:iaaweb.org/iaa/Studies/s=
pacedebrismitigation.pdf+westford+copper+needles&hl=3Den&gl=3Dus&ct=3Dclnk&=
cd=3D4
http://history.nasa.gov/SP-4217/intro.htm
http://www.aoe.vt.edu/~cdhall/Space/archives/000289.html
Westford Needles experiment, where several million copper needles were
released in 1961 and 1963 between 3500 and 3800 km altitude, with 96
and 87 deg. inclination. These clouds of 2 cm needles were released as
part of a communication experiment.
This project involved launching nearly 500 million-hair like copper
wires into orbit in 1963, thereby forming a belt of dipole antennas.
Lincoln Laboratory then used this artificial ionosphere to send
messages between Camp Parks, California, and Westford, Massachusetts.
West Ford Dipoles
Today's Spacecraft of the Day is Project West Ford, which put into
orbit the most and the smallest "spacecraft." The experimental system
comprised hundreds of millions of small copper needles(dipoles)
intended to reflect radio signals at 8 MHz, with transmitters at
Westford, Massachusetts and Camp Parks in Pleasanton, California. The
project was pproved in 1961 and successfully launched on May 9, 1963,
from the Western Test Range on an Atlas-Agena B, with a 19 kg payload
of some 480 million 1.78 cm x 0.00178 cm AWG-53 copper needles.
The primary payload was the MIDAS 6 MIssile Defense Alarm System, which
remains in orbit (1963-014-A). An earlier MIDAS launch on October 21,
1961, failed to deploy the needles, and that spacecraft also remains in
orbit today (1961-028-C).
Several early sources indicated that the dipoles had re-entered by
1966. However, it appears
that many clumps of the needles are indeed still in orbit, adding to
the orbital debris problem
(pdf). For example, one clump is identified as 1963-014-E, and has the
following orbit information, as of 11:21:28 AM UTC, Saturday, September
13, 2003:
Eccentricity: 0.0046420
Inclination: 87.3097=B0
Perigee Height: 3,583 km
Apogee Height: 3,676 km
Right Ascension of Ascending Node: 263.1877=B0
Argument of Perigee: 299.8841=B0
Revolutions per Day: 8.67192725
Mean Anomaly at Epoch: 59.7386=B0
Orbit Number at Epoch: 27747
Westford Needles Chronology
* 1961 October 21 - Westford - Launch Site: Point Arguello. Launch
Vehicle: Atlas LV-3A / Agena B.
* 1962 April 9 - West Ford Drag - Launch Site: Point Arguello.
Launch Vehicle: Atlas LV-3A / Agena B.
* 1963 May 9 - Westford - Launch Site: Point Arguello. Launch
Vehicle: Atlas LV-3A / Agena B.
Rusty
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Posted by Craig Fink on October 7, 2006, 5:47 am
Please log in for more thread options Maybe a Cosmic Snowflake, with a meteoroid nucleus. From the LDEF
Silver/Teflon shield data, it seems that 90% of meteoroid impacts may
actually be Cosmic Snowflake impacts with the meteoroid as a nucleus.
Sure looks like what one would expect a big Cosmic Snowflake impact to
look like.
http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/160094main_OV104_MMOD_schematic.jpg
Symmetric blast area inside the honeycomb, one inch in diameter, spanning
five honeycomb cells. Bottom face sheet cracked, a tension failure of the
honeycomb cell that was impacted, with a hole from the nucleus showing the
impact angle.
Note the black around the entry hole.
http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/160065main_OV104_radiator_hole_02.jpg
Most likely silver oxidized on the silvered teflon coating, similar to
the LDEF Teflon/Silver shield "Bulls eye" rings.
I wonder if this hole is big enough to show up in On-Orbit pictures of the
payload bay?
http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/160063main_OV104_radiator_hole_01.jpg
Or, Orbital debris with a large portion consisting of water. If it's
waste water, I would think it would have other trace elements in blast
area consistent with waste water. Wonder if they are going to look at it
in that much detail?
--
Craig Fink
Courtesy E-Mail Welcome @ WeBeGood@GMail.Com
--
On Thu, 05 Oct 2006 17:38:01
+0000, Brian Gaff wrote:
show/hide quoted text
> Well, there is another vote for having redundant systems and alternatives.
> I imagine this is going to occur more as we go out into space, although we
> do seem to be making a grand job of creating a ring of debris for the Earth!
>
> Be interesting to see if they can deduce what made the hole.
>
> I was intrigued by that deposit on the outside of the station they found as
> well.
>
> Brian
--
Craig Fink
Courtesy E-Mail Welcome @ WeBeGood@GMail.Com
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