STS120, will be the 120th Shuttle flight Options

[climber]

Could be lighting -- there was good sunlight along the belly of the orbiter as it separated from the ET, perhaps the sun angle simply was advantageous in highlighting sparklies that are always there.

Interestingly, I thought they weren't supposed to launch into cloud decks as low as the one they launched into...? Maybe the post-Columbia launch restrictions are being eased a bit?

-the other Doug

Pam Melroy report having seen some ice debris after Meco : could be what we've seen.

[djellison]

We had that rather cool ice-duvet a few flights back not long after launch. There is so much cryogenic fun to be had, it's not suprising.

Doug

[punkboi]

Send a personal message to the space shuttle Discovery astronauts!

http://spacecenter.org/message.asp

All the messages will be placed on a CD that will be presented to the crew at Johnson Space Center after they return home from STS-120.

[Marz]

Thanks for the link Punkboi!

There were definitely some Jedi mind tricks being played on me last night. We were watching a very bright ISS cross the skies over Dallas, Texas. As it approached the south, a low flying helicopter caught our eye... when we looked back, the ISS had vanished! The same trick happened again with Discovery just a few minutes later; we glanced away, and then it disappeared. I'll watch again this Saturday to see just how fast the fade is, and this time shall not be so easily distracted!

[nprev]

Dammit...

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/28/science/...shuttle.html?hp

Another ISS issue.

[jmjawors]

I considered it good news today. This problem has been around for 50 days or so (getting that number from the press conference earlier), and now they have a lead on what's causing it. We're heading in the right direction...

[punkboi]

Dammit...

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/28/science/...shuttle.html?hp

Another ISS issue.

Meh. Just another lame, dramatic headline to grab attention for this situation. Kinda like how CNN and MSNBC both had headlines to the likes of "Spacewalkers make disturbing find" for their article on the SARJ situation.

It's not like Dan Tani found a human bone jammed inside the rotary joint.

[djellison]

It's a real problem - normally I'd chastise the press for making dodgy headlines - but the motor is pulling .3 to .8 amps instead of the .1 the other side pulls. Its a genuine problem which could result in an MER-A Front-Right wheel like issue at some point in the future - and if that happened it would mean they'd have to have some careful power management in the future.

Doug

[nprev]

How much modularity is there in the design? The only fix I can think of short of a full replacement is a beefed-up motor, provided that we're just dealing with an otherwise non-damaging friction problem in the joint (big assumption, I know). Dunno what the current rating of the motor windings are, but if it's pullling three to eight times normal load, those windings aren't going to last much longer...

[jmjawors]

It's a real problem - normally I'd chastise the press for making dodgy headlines - but the motor is pulling .3 to .8 amps instead of the .1 the other side pulls. Its a genuine problem which could result in an MER-A Front-Right wheel like issue at some point in the future - and if that happened it would mean they'd have to have some careful power management in the future.

Doug

Funny... I used that same analogy when describing the situation to a friend earlier today (with Spirit's right-front wheel).

Looks like they're kajiggering (a highly technical term) the upcoming EVA's. Going to take a look at the port SARJ as a baseline comparison (to see what a "normal" SARJ should look like) and talking about pulling all the thermal blankets off the starboard SARJ to see how widespread this is.

It's a big problem, that's for sure. We're just at the beginning of the troubleshooting, and it was mentioned in the presser earlier today that all the "wearable" parts have replacements. Whether that actually applies to this situation... I guess that's what we're waiting to find out.

In other news -- P6 relocation is going well, S1 radiator deployment went well and Harmony processing is ahead of schedule.

[nprev]

We're just at the beginning of the troubleshooting, and it was mentioned in the presser earlier today that all the "wearable" parts have replacements.

Gotta find out where those metal shavings are coming from (just found out about them today). To me, that says that the motor's probably okay, but there's a lot more friction than normal in the joint...

[punkboi]

The tile repair test (TRAD) for EVA-4 has been scrapped...and that spacewalk will now be devoted to SARJ troubleshooting, according to today's Mission Status Briefing.

[nprev]

Wow. They're taking this pretty seriously then; sounds almost like a one-time inspection (OTI) for aircraft.

Sensible though in a lot of ways. Seems to be no reason that the TRAD couldn't be performed by the station crew at a later date.

[jmjawors]

Wow. They're taking this pretty seriously then; sounds almost like a one-time inspection (OTI) for aircraft.

Sensible though in a lot of ways. Seems to be no reason that the TRAD couldn't be performed by the station crew at a later date.

And actually it was *supposed* to be done at a later date, but was moved to STS-120 at the last minute because of the infamous "gouge" on Endeavour.

Yeah... this SARJ deal really bothers me. But NASA has done many amazing recoveries both on the manned and unmanned side in the past... we're just at the very beginning of troubleshooting now.

*fingers crossed*

[nprev]

Reuters now reporting that a preliminary onboard analysis revealed that the shavings are iron, not aluminum, implying that the joint mechanism itself was the source...not good. Might well be the motor-joint interface, hope it's not stripping out.