What You Don't Know About Living in Space

Ant writes "There are spectacular moments, as well as the mundane, in space. Over the years, living in space has forced astronauts to make a few concessions to things you would not give a second thought about when staying at a hotel/motel. The article lists a few things that people may not have known about living in space." Your iPod needs to be modified to use Alkaline batteries. And also, did you know... that in space... you only get one spooooon. And some people, are spoon millionaires...

Implications for exploring other planets

[HangingChad]

Carries a lot of implications for traveling to even near by planets, with travel time measured in months instead of days. It's tough enough to manage consumables, but traveling to Mars without a change of clothes or some way to launder them is a huge technical challenge all on its own. Maybe clothing becomes another consumable, dispose after using. And you have to pack enough groceries to sustain the entire trip, grow your own or starve if there's a mishap.

And those are our near neighbors, even living on the moon. Extended life in space is going to involve a lot of research. Let's face it, we're adapted for life on this planet. Trying to carry these living conditions across space is not only a technical challenge, it's a financial one as well. Who's going to pay for all this technology? All the lift capacity to get it into space and...then what? If we set up a moon base, we have to supply it. That's not going to be cheap. A Mars trip...even more expensive.

Re:There IS Icre Cream in Space

[Lumpy]

correct, there are refrigeration units for food on the ISS. they have things like Milk, OJ, IceCream (real) and other things like that. The article is incredibly out of date or based on bad information. Most of the meals do not require forks, spoons, etc... Some do but the astronauts typically dont use them unless it's a photo-op for news.

Also lots of the other items are off. the ISS has regular garbage runs, Progress supply ships turn into garbage containers for the return trip/burnup. you finish all your food because you are on an incredibly scripted and designed diet for you. The portion you were given was designed for you and it is incredibly important to your health to eat your diet plan. Ipods may have been banned but other mp3 players that use a approved battery design (AA cell size) have been welcome for a long time now and the ISS crew is allowed several personal items.

Besides, a year ago the sent up a mp3 player loaded with songs that some Norwegian girl chose as music for people in space, that mp3 player model was certified for use and is in use by ISS personnel. Just because they cant have a Trendy Ipod means nothing to them.

Re:I weep for national news services

[Anonymous Coward]

Lithium metal is prohibited, if the batteries are mistreated lithium metal can form, hence it is banned.

I am just wondering, why not use nickel metal hydride chemistry, the laptops on the ISS use it, it would save the annoyance of disposable alkalines.

Re:spoon millionaires?

[MightyYar]

Source:
This documentary [youtube.com] :)

Re:spoon millionaires?

[plover]

RTFA, it's short.

The astronauts are issued one set of silverware per mission. It's not just a spoon. But because they cannot do dishes, they wipe them down with a disinfectant towlette at the end of each meal.

And since there is no money, as they approach the end of the mission whoever has squirreled away enough m&m's or tortillas has the most "bargaining power" to trade for whatever else is left.

Re:There IS Icre Cream in Space

[NMerriam]

Would it not be easy to have an unheated compartment insulated from the ISS, with 5 sides exposed to open space and in a shadow? I'm sure it would get cold enough (by heat radiation), and it would probably be useful to have a freezer to keep food/experiments fresh.

Things don't need to be heated in space, they need to be cooled. Radiation is generally not a very efficient way to get rid of waste heat, so it's usually quite warm in any enclosed space. So no, you can't really keep stuff cool without active refrigeration, which generates heat of its own that has to be radiated, so you don't want to do any more than necessary.

Re:batteries

[Anonymous Coward]

Really expensive custom job. I've heard that the Certs alone (never less testing, etc.) to get the batteries to fly was outrageous. Even the batteries we use were (very) tough to locate.

http://www.lerc.nasa.gov/WWW/RT/2003/6000/6910dalton.html [nasa.gov]

Re:No ice cream? No Freezer?

[RightSaidFred99]

People seem to think outer space is cold. It isn't, it just has no temperature because there's nothing there. If you dump water in outer space it isn't going to just instantly freeze because the only way it loses heat is through radiating it out - nothing pulls the heat out of it.

Re:Silver-lining Laundry

[echucker]

You can buy it any place that carries hunting clothing. Undergarments with silver threads as an anti-bacterial agent are commonplace at stores like Cabela's and Bass Pro Shops. They're used primarily by bowhunters to reduce human scent when stalking prey with a good sense of smell.

Re:From TFA...

[thewiz]

If I was the astronaut who'd had lasagna for the past 6 days, I'd probably go for the creamed spinach.
Actually, after lasagna for 6 days, I probably be the only astronaut who hadn't gone!