Re: SPACE: Why so much EVA on ISS?

From: Chuck Kuecker (ckuecker@mcs.net)
Date: Sat Mar 17 2001 - 08:12:18 MST


More than that - what's the rationale behind putting all those cables on
the outside of the units? Every cable that pierces the hull is a potential
leak - and any wiring problems now force an EVA, with attendant loss of
expensive atmosphere. The cabling is now more susceptible to damage from
space junk, etc.

What's so difficult about running the cabling and piping inside the
interconnections?

Chuck Kuecker

At 08:38 AM 3/17/01 -0500, you wrote:

>It seems like designing a standard modular protocol for power and data bus
>connections would be an important part of developing a robust space
>infrastructure. I've envisioned a basic system in which design modules are
>applied to one or two basic structural "envelopes", a la LEGOs(tm). You see
>hints of this in the video downlinked in the last couple of days from ISS in
>the way that the Italian Leonardo MPLM "moving van" is just a simplified
>version of the design for the US lab module in size, shape and basic
>mechanical structure. Why isn't this approach applied at a finer-grained
>level to the power and data cabling?
>
> Greg Burch <GBurch1@aol.com>----<gburch@lockeliddell.com>
> Attorney ::: Vice President, Extropy Institute ::: Wilderness Guide



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