Best Improvisation of 2007: Two cosmonauts use jumper cable to boot six computers
- From: Florida <demeter547opine@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 01 Jul 2007 13:01:07 -0700
http://www.floridatoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070616/NEWS02/706160332/1007
A new use for a jumper cable
Russian flight computers online thanks to cosmonauts' creativity
BY TODD HALVORSON, FLORIDA TODAY
HOUSTON - Two cosmonauts acting as orbital electricians coaxed
malfunctioning Russian flight computers back into operation Friday,
apparently solving a problem that had perplexed engineers for three
days.
Outpost commander Fyodor Yurchikhin and flight engineer Oleg Kotov
used a jumper cable to bypass a suspect power supply switch and then
tried to boot the system three command-and-control computers and three
guidance-and-navigation computers.
Yurchikhin reported that two computers in each set started
successfully and appeared to be operating normally. That restored
prime and back-up capability on the Russian side of the station.
"Well, good news," an unidentified specialist in the Russian Mission
Control Center outside Moscow told the cosmonauts. "It's good news
that it's working."
Flight controllers were keeping a round-the-clock vigil over the
system and more diagnostic testing was expected to take place today.
All six of the computers shut down inexplicably after new American
solar wings were added to the outpost earlier this week.
The computers enable station crews and ground controllers to fire
Russian steering thrusters that help keep the outpost flying in a
stable manner. Doing so is crucial to pointing the station's solar
arrays at the sun so they can generate enough electricity to operate
outpost systems.
Four dome-shaped gyroscopes on the U.S. side of the station provide
the primary means of keeping the outpost properly oriented.
But the Russian thrusters are employed when the U.S. gyroscopes are
out of service or when station activities -- such as the arrival or
departure of visiting vehicles -- create more momentum than the
gyroscopes can handle.
They also are used if the 258-ton station must be maneuvered to avoid
space debris.
U.S. and Russian managers planned to use shuttle thrusters, if needed,
to augment the gyroscopes during Atlantis' stay at the station.
Plans were laid to conserve enough power to keep Atlantis there as
long as possible -- until next Wednesday -- to give engineers time to
fix the problem.
Engineers also were hatching schemes that would allow flight
controllers to keep the station properly oriented after the shuttle
departed.
Among them: using larger engines on a Progress cargo carrier to
provide a propulsive capability. They can be operated by specialists
at the Russian Mission Control Center.
NASA and the Russian Space Agency also had agreed to move up the
planned Aug. 8 launch of the next Progress space freighter so new
computers and spare parts could be hauled to the station. The launch
was targeted for July 23.
Senior managers had expressed confidence Friday that engineers would
resolve the problem.
"This is just a day in the life of the space station. We work problems
like this all the time. We come up with creative solutions," said NASA
space station manager Mike Suffredini. "I fully expect us to repair
this problem."
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