6 Likes
If only they had access to the best engineers in the world who no doubt thought of that because they know what they are doing… oh wait, they do!
1 Like
By design, in fact. It’s not atmospheric pressure in a space craft, because it turns out we can breathe just fine with a lot lower pressure if the oxygen content is higher. So, tweak the gas mix and you can run at, say, 4psi instead of 14. Now the hull can be a whole lot thinner (aka lighter, aka easier to get up the well). Credit Apollo engineers for figuring this one out. It was part of an 11th hour crunch to get weight down.
ETA: Oops, I was wrong about ISS here. Thanks @Michael_R_Smith for the correction above.
1 Like
9 Likes
That was my dad fixing our washing machine back in '72 or so, but where did you hear about it?
4 Likes
Ah yes. The thinking [hu]man’s duct tape.
4 Likes
Given its modular nature, couldn’t you Ship of Theseus it?
4 Likes
It’d be like an axe with a new handle and a new head.
I remember people suggesting this when Mir was being shut down. Cut loose the older modules and replace them. But it locks you into legacy interfaces, for what is effectively a new spacecraft.
The new world is completely different. Its not a partnership between USA and Russia. Its a thing more like a hotel, serviced by privately run vehicles.
At some point you just have to start from scratch.
4 Likes
Those engineers didn’t write the article though. This is the expert opinion of the journalist at TASS.
1 Like
With all the brilliant engineers involved in the design, what if it turns out like The Wonderful One-Hoss Shay?
2 Likes
Luckily journalists aren’t responsible for fixing space stations.
4 Likes
I hope they brought some duct tape.
1 Like
Up there it’s called Spacelite.
2 Likes
It’s a crack but it’s not statistically significant
Probably because P-values are kept in a bag in outer space and recycled into drinking water.
1 Like
I think this is going to be true for anything we build in low earth orbit. But once the structures start to get attached to places like Luna or Phobos or Ceres, it will become important to design them in a way that’s more future-proof.
Wet navy warships have hard points and conduits set up so it’s possible to install weapons systems that weren’t possible when the keel was laid, so there’s a limit to how much needs to be rebuilt with the next upgrade. Something similar seems inevitable once we start building structures and vessels that take us to actually useful spots in the system and let us stay there. Before then, there’s a pretty big design space to be charted.
2 Likes
There may be not one but two new air leaks in International Space Station: Russian boss tells us not to panic
3 Likes
Crack an egg in the leaking module. Just kidding.
I’m sure there’s a name or formal version of this engineering rule, but it never fails that anything designed to not leak will and anything designed to always flow won’t.
What is gun tape?
This topic was automatically closed after 5 days. New replies are no longer allowed.
