Well, us taxpayers (and the Europeans and Japanese) have by now dumped BILLIONS into the International Space Station. WHERE IS IT? The Russians launched the first module last year; since then we haven’t heard a peep. Of course, now that the Russians have bankrupted themselves (due to the war in Chechnya), we probably won’t see them in this disaster. Is this another boondoggle that Clinton and the Congress want to die silently? Will it ever be built, and will it ever result in any worthwhile research?
At this very moment it is just east of the southern tip of South America.
http://liftoff.msfc.nasa.gov/temp/StationLoc.html
Hey, you guys, I can see my house from here!
(This is a great debate waiting to happen).
Whoops, it’s just over the west coast of Africa now. Hurry, it’s gettin’ away.
After the government downsizes it a couple of more times, it will finally go into operation when it’s about the size of the TeleTubbie’s house.
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- I don’t have the magazine around I’m sure, but the last news I heard of it was that since Sputnik, the Russians weren’t worth two shits, spacewise. The original plan was for several “first-world” nations to put money towards its construction, and each build some part of the station in their own country. (IIRC, the Russian module was to be one of the two main living quarters -i.e., one of the two biggest pieces- , but I’m not sure of that) Like, groovy, man. Goin’ into space as one people- right on.
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- Soon after it was discovered that the Russian government had gone completely bankrupt, and their part of the project was still only in the planning stage, and not well along even there. What I read was that it would take eight years to construct assuming that it was begun immediately, and that the US was going to have to cough up the money to pay the Russians to do it. At the time the US had supplied the Russian government with two billion dollars of “seed money”, and the Russians had absolutely nothing to show for it.
- That was some time back; I don’t know what’s flying around up there right now, or what the final decision was on the Russian module. Among NASA and the military, “alternate plans” began circulating informally that allowed for the possibility that the Russian piece might never get built. - MC
The guy who used to sit in the very next desk to me spent a lot of time on the space station. The program is proceeding as fast as possible given the current level of funding. Yes, it’s all happening much slower than anyone ever imagined, and yes, the Russians are having a very difficult time meeting their obligations. But it’s still happening. They are building hardware and launching it.
They re-engineered and downsized the program four or five times when the costs kept creeping up. I don’t suppose there is any real reason to think their cost projections are any better now than they ever have been but they have finally gotten off the drawing board so there’s much less likelihood of another re-design. Whether they will continue to the full-up design is another question.
well well said the royal desiccation my political opponents back home always maintained
that i would wind up in hell and it seems they had the right dope
Don Marquis
archy interviews a pharaoh
I just read an article about the Space Station a few days ago. It seems that not only are the Russians behind schedule, but they exceeded the noise-level limits that were set for station modules at the beginning of the project. One of these noisy modules has already been put up into orbit, so it seems that a fix will be elusive. Knowing of the problem, the Russians recommended to NASA that astronauts wear ear-plugs and only stay in the module for four hours daily. Obviously, this wasn’t an acceptable option for NASA. (Link below)
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/science/DyeHard/dyehard.html
You can visit the Kennedy Space center on the eastern coast of Florida (just east of Orlando) and watch some of the modules being constructed. You can even visit a series of similar modules to the station. Not exactly a great deal of room in each of the modules.
Interesting link, voltaire.
This sig not Y2K compliant. Happy 1900.
Most of the modules are being constructed at Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. Saw quite a few pieces there the last time I went. There are many finished components awaiting launch at Kennedy though.
Currently the biggest problem is the Russian-built habitat module, now two years behind schedule. It is mostly complete, but now there are questions about the reliability of the Proton launcher: the last two launches of this rocket failed. This module is a critical component with life support equipment and is dragging the whole project behind schedule. They did announce yesterday that they intend to launch the module on July 12.
It doesn’t help that the Russians are still spending money and effort on Mir. NASA is really ticked off at this.
Right now, the International Space Station has two main components on-orbit. One is the FGB (a Russian acronym) that provides propulsion, electrical power, and some communication (when the ISS is over Russian ground stations). The second component is the Node, which is a tinker-toy-center kind of module with six docking ports. The Node provides near-constant communication with the ground via a network of satellites called TDRSS.
The next Russian component to be launched is the Service Module, which has life support capability and bigger thrusters than the FGB. See, right now the FGB can maintain attitude for itself and the Node together, but that’s about it. We need the SM to be up there to control the station if it gets any bigger. As a result, the US hasn’t been able to launch any of its other module to continue construction, so the FGB-Node complex has been orbiting up there since the end of 1997 just hanging out.
The Russians have sworn that they can launch the SM this summer. Right now, as some other posters have mentioned, a number of components (including a power module with end-zone sized solar arrays, the core Lab module, a new robotic arm, and a couple of Italian logistics modules) are in the Space Station Processing Facility at Kennedy Space Center. As soon as the Service Module gets launched, the Shuttle fleet will start running these modules upstairs. In the mean time, a logistics/repair mission is planned for mid-April to fix some power hardware and tweak a lot of small things.
A few weeks ago when I was driving home, the radio news announcer said, “If you’re looking for something interesting to watch tonight, the MIR space station is scheduled to re-enter the earth’s atmosphere at 6:05 PM.”
*PLEASE X-CUZ ME for my ignorance * but how bad, exactly in noise in a space craft? I live in a small apartment – VERY SMALL – and have an a/c running all day, along with a ceiling fan, plus the television along with the computer. I fall asleep at night with it all humming and purring away.
Is there something I missed here, like perhaps the sealed interior of a space craft amplifies noise or the lack of outside atmosphere to buffer vibrations increases the level of sound or just equipment far noisier than household stuff?
Enlighten me. (2001s Discovery seemed rather quiet).
What? Me worry?’
Yeah, it does sound ridiculous to have noise problems. But remember that ventillation is much more important and difficult in free fall - dust doesn’t settle, and warm air doesn’t rise. Cooling is more difficult because there’s no natural convection; every little piece of electronics needs a fan. Also, the Russian module provides not only habitation space but also life support for much of the space station. I imagine there are lots of moving parts in ‘life support equipment’, whatever that includes.
Also I wouldn’t be surprised if some agency like OSHA had strict regulations for noise in work environments. I think the last lab I worked at got cited for it, though it never bothered me.
As for 2001, I’m sure movie sets are much quieter…
The Russian side of the ISS, the FGB, gets as loud as 72.5 dB, which is about as loud as a vacuum cleaner. For comparison, the Node of the US side is quieter than 59 dB, which is as loud as normal conversation at 3 feet. The FGB is quieter now - the last shuttle mission that visited the ISS (last May) installed a bunch of mufflers around fans and air ducts.
The noise problems in the FGB were known on the ground, but the decision was made to install the mufflers later because if they were installed on the ground, they would have to be beefed up to withstand launch loads. By doing them on-orbit, they only had to use a little velcro.
But if you have the AC, a ceiling fan, and a computer running, your apartment is probably about as loud as the Node. Turn on the TV and you’re as loud as the FGB. It’s not that people can’t withstand the noise, but it can get to be kind of a drag if you’re trapped in a tiny tin can that’s that loud for months at a time.
Getting back to the OP, NASA has a specific web page devoted to Space Station news items, including launch schedules.