Astronauts To Repair Cooling System On ISS

GWMAW writes "NASA Astronauts will conduct a spacewalk on Thursday to repair part of the cooling system of the International Space Station. The cooling system is essential for maintaining the temperature inside the station. There are two 'loops' in the system, one that uses water and draws heat from the inside of the station, and one uses ammonia and dumps the heat into space. Ammonia is used because it freezes at a much lower temperature than water. On Saturday the pump that controls the flow of ammonia through the system shut down."

...CME radiation...

[Anonymous Coward]

...given the current geomagnetic storms, isn't this thursday a bad time to be outside in orbit?..

Re:Open a windows

[Anonymous Coward]

Dear troller troll...
You cannot loose heat in the vacuum. So all your heat is stored inside the space suit and not going anywhere. So yes, you can only overheat.
In a mostly metallic structure, the hot side will irradiate the heat to all its body. So if not isolated, ALL ISS will be at +/- 121C.
The space is cold, but you cannot feel it, because there are (almost) no heat transference.
But if you touch, for example, an asteroid, all you heat will be quickly absorbed, and you will freeze to dead.

Re:Why was it cold in Apollo 13 ?

[thrich81]

Without knowing the exact heat balances in play there, I'll take a stab at it. In a vacuum (assuming no out-gassing or other mass exchanges) there is only one way to change temperature -- absorb electromagnetic radiation (visible light, infrared, microwaves, etc.) to heat up and emit similar radiation to cool down. In the case of Apollo 13, the spacecraft absorbed solar radiation, although being painted white and bright aluminum it must not have been an efficient absorber. And it emitted radiation, peaking in the infrared due to its temperature, which would cool it down. So the equilibrium between absorption and radiation was trending toward an uncomfortably cold spacecraft.

Re:The press release.

[DerekLyons]

Had I said anything about "can't do", you'd have a point. And I notice you can't be bothered to either answer my questions or address my points.

And that's because you can't do either - because all you bring to the table is attitude and slogans.

Learn the difference between your fantasy world and the real one, or shut up.

I've lived in an environment much like ISS, I know how it feels when one of two systems your life depends on goes down - and what can and can't be done about it. I've lived through situations where a critical system went down and you don't have any more spares and have to bang the system back together with duct tape and baling wire. I know how hard logistical planning, and designing for maintenance is. Ive had the effin' t-shirt so long it's been worn to rags.

You have nothing.