Not to mention the fact that even -40C is balmy compared to the empty space that would fill that part of the sky if the Earth weren't there.

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Bring back Firefly!

"It is quite clear that Occam's razor does not sharpen in your pyramid." (Nicolas)

"Still, a man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest." (Paul Simon)

Enlightenment in Mississippi usually only comes in the form of incinerated religious symbols.


Well, that's not entirely fair, that was ages ago, but then again, entirely too rampant to be completely eradicated, even today.

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I'm not completely heartless, the doctor who removed it told me he'd never be able to get it all.

Wow, what do you get if you roll IDW and Moonman together......


Perhaps he's vanished because the NWO, Illuminati, Skull and Bones, Bohemian Grovers, Fractional Reserve Banking, and 911 conspirators send their black helicoptors after him. Hope he remembered to pack his MRE's and ball of string.

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Howling from the Shadows

It must be fun to lead a life completely unburdened by reality. --- JayUtah

You can't reason an irrational person out of an irrational belief. --- Noclevername

Apollo: The History and the Hoax
Enter the World of Athran

Wow, just... WOW. I've been inspired to register and reply thanks to the 1st post in this thread. Pardon me if I'm repeating others' points below:

First, a little about myself: I've been an ISS flight controller (one of those guys in Mission Control with the headsets in front of the big screens) since 1999. My areas of concentration in that time have been ISS Guidance, Navigation, and Control and Environmental Control & Life Support.

You're wrong about the first part. The ratio of insolation to eclipse is dependant on the Beta angle. The Beta angle is the angle between the orbital plane of the ISS and the sun. It varies cyclically and predictably over the course of the year. At the time of my posting the ISS spends ~55 minutes of its orbit in the sun and ~35 in the shade.

Yes, it does require massive radiators to remain cool and remain habitable. Clearly you don't understand why...

Yes, ammonia is one of the coolants used. Since ammonia in concentrated form is extremely dangerous to humans, interface heat exchangers are used to couple the ammonia loops outside with water loops inside.

So WHY is there a massive cooling system on ISS? To reject the heat created by the computers, batteries, power relays, payloads, etc. All this equipment turns electricity to heat and it gets hot - very hot. This equipment operates without the advantage of gravity-aided convection. To remedy this, the equipment is placed on cold-plates which transfer the heat to the internal water loop and then to the external ammonia loop. The heat is then rejected by the radiators.

The crew cabin tends to stay pretty close to a shirt-sleeve environment thanks to the all the heat that is generated in the station. Inter- and intramodule ventilation helps to even the temperature across the station's air volume (and ensure no pockets of Carbon Dioxide!).

I have a hard time believing you actually think this but I'll let that lie for now.

Do you know what the Shuttle provides to ISS components which are en route to the ISS? Power. Why? To run heaters. Without the internal equipment running the hardware gets VERY cold in space. Every mission has a thermal constraint related to the payload - go without power long enough and your hardware will be permantly damaged by the cold. Even powered and mated modules have "shell heaters" to prevent humidity from condensing on the cold hull.

So now you know - and that's half the battle.

-DW

EDIT: the original poster would do well to look at the ISS' assembly sequence. The thermal control system has expanded dramatically over the course of construction even though the ISS spends just as much time in the sun today as it did back in 1999 - as more equipment has been added, more heat rejection capability has been required.

DrivinWest - A Hardy Welcome to the BAUT Forum!! I hope you stick around, and help us correct bad science!

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"I have this theory that the Apollo missions were faked when NASA found out that general relativity was wrong because the Earth was expanding due to the Sun's iron core being influenced by magnetic waves from the electric universe after being perturbed by Planet X and thereby causing global warming. Where should I start a thread about this?" ~ ToSeek

"Those are the people that wonder how a thermos knows whether to keep something hot or keep something cold." ~ NeoWatcher

Many thanks!

I've been meaning to join this forum for some time! I've followed BA for a while and always admired Phil's work.

Speaking of which... I was talking shop with one of my astronaut friends a few weeks ago. On my way out of his office I noticed he had Phil's Bad Astronomy book on his desk. My friend saw a look of recognition in my face and said, "that's what I read to convince myself that I've actually been in space."

Class!

There are several options, but first it's important to understand how the ISS fire detection and suppression system works.

A fire can be detected by the crew or by a series of smoke detectors throughout the ISS. If a smoke detector sees smoke in a given module, the Command & Control computer shuts down intermodulation ventilation (IMV) and intramodule ventilation for that module and that module only. This prevents the fire from being fueled by fresh oxygen and prevents contaminated atmosphere from being spread throughout the station.

A crew annnunciated fire response is slightly different in that it shuts down IMV across the ISS but allows the intramodule ventilation to continue. The logic behind this is that the crew may annunciate the fire response in a module other than the one there's a fire in (fair enough - you won't want to hang around to pull the fire alarm either!). Because the fire might not be pronounced and the crew may react having only smelled smoke, the intramodule ventilation stays running to determine where in the ISS the fire is. Remember, without gravity the smoke will simply billow outwards from it's source rather than rising to the ceiling like it does on Earth - without air being forced past the smoke detectors they won't work.

Basically this all means that fires and fire byproducts will be isolated to parts of the station. If the severity of the fire warrants it, the module can be sealed off (well, some) from the rest and vented to space. More than likely, however, the IMV will simply be reestablished so that filtering units can do there work. Air is a commodity up there so they don't vent it overboard if they don't have to.

If the fire is bad, and I mean REALLY bad, the crew will simply close the hatch to the burning module, turn off all the equipment in it (remotely), and wait. Of course when they close hatches they make sure to remain on the side of the hatch that permits their escape via Soyuz or Shuttle!

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Funnily enough, my first journey into space was a complete accident...

I join with Serenitude in welcoming you to BAUT. I'm sure your insights on many issues will be very instructive.

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At night the stars put on a show for free (Carole King)

This is why I love this place; a PhD at large an in charge, veterans (like myself), engineers from aerospace industries, and now an ISS flight controller!

I read Phil's book to bring reason back into my life after a bout with other insanities.

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I calculated the odds of this succeeding versus the odds I was doing something incredibly stupid...and I went ahead anyway. - Crow T. Robot

Godspeed, John Glenn. - Scott Carpenter

And these atomic bombs that science burst upon the world that night were strange even to the men that used them.
- H.G Wells, The World Set Free

To the conspiracy crowd, radiation is a big Boogey Man that inspires terror and death in all who encounter it. - JayUtah

What does the 'B' in 'B-EZ' stand for. Its not 'Bart' is it?!

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Of all the things I've ever lost, I miss my mind the most!

Maybe it's "Bort".

Obscure reference. Bonus points to those that get it.

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I calculated the odds of this succeeding versus the odds I was doing something incredibly stupid...and I went ahead anyway. - Crow T. Robot

Godspeed, John Glenn. - Scott Carpenter

And these atomic bombs that science burst upon the world that night were strange even to the men that used them.
- H.G Wells, The World Set Free

To the conspiracy crowd, radiation is a big Boogey Man that inspires terror and death in all who encounter it. - JayUtah

[Stewie Griffin]
He collapsed on himself, like a neutron star!
[/Stewie Griffin]

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I calculated the odds of this succeeding versus the odds I was doing something incredibly stupid...and I went ahead anyway. - Crow T. Robot

Godspeed, John Glenn. - Scott Carpenter

And these atomic bombs that science burst upon the world that night were strange even to the men that used them.
- H.G Wells, The World Set Free

To the conspiracy crowd, radiation is a big Boogey Man that inspires terror and death in all who encounter it. - JayUtah

The Simpsons of course! I believe the episode was the one where the family went to Itchy & Scratchy Land. Bart was unable to find a novelty license plate with his name on it though there was a plate for "Bort." Bort also turned out to be the name of the guy behind the register and another kid in the store.

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Funnily enough, my first journey into space was a complete accident...

The Simpsons of course!

No, no, no. "Bort" is the name of Blaatu's robot in The Bay the Bearth Stood Bill.

I remember one project where the test director was just a little too pretentious and enthusiastic on the comm loop. We all had to stifle a laugh when an unidentified voice came on and said, "We need more 'Bort' license plates in the gift shop!"

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"Facts are stubborn things." --John Adams
Clavius Moon Base

Which begs the question, what happens when a severe fire occurs in Svedza or whichever module the Soyuz is docked to? Lockdown, abandon, and redock?

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I'm not completely heartless, the doctor who removed it told me he'd never be able to get it all.

If the crew can get to a usable Soyuz they'll likely abandon ship in such a scenario. If the Soyuz is on fire or otherwise inaccessible they'll close the hatches and let it burn. A replacement Soyuz can be sent or the crew can return via the next Shuttle.

Emergency scenarios are all trained with the understanding that you can't predict and plan for every situation there is - while specific training applies most of the time, it might not apply all of the time. Ultimately it comes down to the discretion of the ISS commander.

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Funnily enough, my first journey into space was a complete accident...

Hmmmm, so no opening the burning section to space and letting the vaccum suck the atmosphere and fire out?

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Howling from the Shadows

It must be fun to lead a life completely unburdened by reality. --- JayUtah

You can't reason an irrational person out of an irrational belief. --- Noclevername

Apollo: The History and the Hoax
Enter the World of Athran