SPACE: Re: Is ISS a boondoggle?

From: Brian D Williams (talon57@well.com)
Date: Mon Mar 19 2001 - 14:20:36 MST


From: "Robert J. Bradbury" <bradbury@aeiveos.com>

>>On Mon, 19 Mar 2001, Michael Lorrey wrote:

>> Well sealed cannon plugs are not difficult to make or use. The
>>rationale for putting stuff outside is that it maximizes the
>>space inside to use for people and real equipment. Wires don't
>>need air to live (and are less likely to make a high O2
>>atmosphere go fizzle...boom). This also minimizes pressure vessel
>>mass for a given amount of workspace.

>Mike, think about this for a minute -- the quotes I keep seeing
>are that the inside volume is going to be ~ that of the cabin
>of a 747. The maximum head count that I've seen for "occupation"
>of the ISS is 7 people. Thats 7 people inside the volume of a 747
>cabin. Don't you think its unlikely they will be tripping over
>each other? Cables can't take up *that* much space.

Well, as a Union electrician for the last 20 years and an Avionics
electrician before that (A6-E EA6-B) I must say it makes alot of
sense.

Yep, put anything poisonous or dangerous (like high voltage/amps)
on the outside of your pressure hull. I don't know offhand what the
actual atmosphere is, but it's probably more explosive than
standard. Not only that but if anything goes bad it'll be alot
easier to replace on the outside than behind all your inside
mounted equipment racks, as anyone who works on planes, or on boats
can attest.

NASA used to have a rather extensive operators manual for the ISS
online, I downloaded the whole huge thing awhile ago, and anybody
interested could probably find alot of answers there.

Brian

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