Walter Watts
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Computer Problem on Space Station Persists
« on: 2007-06-14 15:32:29 » |
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My confidence is NOT high on any interstellar trips being scheduled before earth summarily belches H. sapien and its SUV's into oblivion.
Oh, well. On the bright side, we won't be fucking up any other terrestrial exoplanets orbiting in the habitable zones of space surrounding other stars that such interstellar travel might have made possible.
Jeeeeeeeeeezus. At least fix the Hubble so we can be decent voyeurs in our final days.
--Walter
<whose head contains images of a large, odd-shaped, spindly space station tumbling out of orbit like a Yugo dropped from an Ilyushin cargo plane>
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The New York Times
June 14, 2007
Computer Problem on Space Station Persists
By JOHN SCHWARTZ
The Russian computers that help keep the International Space Station in orbit were largely out of commission for a second day, a glitch that could imperil the $100 billion space laboratory.
NASA officials expressed confidence, however, that the problem could be resolved. “I fully expect us to be able to do this,” said Michael T. Suffredini , the manager of the station program.
The station depends on Russian and American computer systems to maintain the positioning of the station as it orbits the earth. The United States computer system runs the network of gyroscopes that provide stability, and the Russian system controls thrusters that correct the orientation of the station when the gyroscopes alone cannot do the job and that shift its position for operations like docking and avoiding debris.
The problem first emerged on Tuesday as astronauts were connecting a new 17.2-ton truss to the station. The three navigation computers in the Russian section crashed and could not be restarted. Thruster control was passed to the shuttle Atlantis, which has enough fuel to adjust the station’s positioning for several days. Other computers affected by the glitch control Russian environmental systems that provide oxygen to the station and remove carbon dioxide from the air.
“That’s not an urgent situation,” Mr. Suffredini said. “But clearly we need to get this resolved before the shuttle leaves.”
On Thursday morning, Russian engineers were poring over fresh data from the station and working to bring up the systems, said William Jeffs, a spokesman at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, in an interview this morning. “The Russians were sending commands overnight to troubleshoot the problem, and they reestablished contact with the computers” in the Russian portion of the station, he said.
He said the Russians believe that the problem is related to the additional power from new solar panels and not a problem with the computers’ software.
Though much work still needs to be done, the Russian engineers were able to restore power to Russian systems that had been switched to battery power and could, if necessary, fire the Russian thrusters, said John Ira Petty, a NASA spokesman. "We are very encouraged about that," he said.
If the problem is not corrected, the station could be unable to maintain the best position for charging its solar arrays when the gyroscopes become overloaded and, at worst, this could cause it to tumble. In the worst case, astronauts would have to abandon the station.
“We can always leave ISS if we need to,” Mr. Suffredini said, but he again expressed confidence that the problem would be resolved quickly.
Officials said that the mission managers were exploring ways to extend the stay of the shuttle at the station as long as possible to provide more time to work through the problem.
The computer problems clouded an otherwise productive day aboard the station. The astronauts Patrick G. Forrester, a retired Air Force colonel, and Steven R. Swanson, spent more than seven hours outside the station as spacewalking handymen.
They worked to free a rotating joint that will allow the station’s new solar arrays to track the sun. The astronauts removed all but one of the locks that had been placed on the mechanism to secure it for its trip to the station. They left the last one until problems with one of the joint’s two drive locks — which apparently were wired incorrectly — could be resolved.
Earlier in the spacewalk, they helped fold a balky solar array that sits atop the station and must be stowed so that the new arrays can rotate freely. Using lessons learned from arduous attempts to fold a similar array in December, the astronauts working inside and outside of the station were able to poke, pull and coax the array so that nearly half of its 115-foot length was folded.
Mission managers also announced that they had decided how to repair a pulled-up bit of the shuttle’s heat shield. On Friday, astronaut John D. Olivas is to pat down the insulating blanket and use surgical staples from the station’s medical kit to bind it.
Copyright 2007 The New York Times Company
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