Canadarm2 May Get Arthroscopic Surgery 49
Soft writes: "Atlantis' rainsoaked tiles were barely dry when SpaceflightNow reported that the International Space Station's brand-new arm might have developed a problem in the Shoulder Pitch joint, which could require on-orbit replacement in what they call a "daring spacewalk". The incident could play havoc with the shuttle launch schedule, since the next mission, which was to deliver the station's big US airlock, requires a fully-functional arm there." There's another article about the malfunctioning arm at space.com.
Re:Reaching space by overeaching ourselves. (Score:1)
Technology and morality have no direct correlation. Technology is a tool that is to be used in the way we see fit to use it. The tendency to make war and rape the environment is not something that technology has spawned. What you've seen in the 20th century is the actual inner workings of the "normal" human psyche when given the chance to express itself uninhibited. Technology only allows us to enhance the return on our efforts.
Also, who are you to dictate what is acceptable cultural practice? Morality is not absolute. It is relative to your personal beliefs and prejudices.
advocating ignorance through ignorant posts is not the way to solve any problem.
Re:Each spacewalker wears a large, absorbent diape (Score:1)
Re:Now we'll get credit (Score:1)
Re:I just wish those bloody yanks... (Score:1)
Remember that Lover's Arrival always trolls. (Score:1)
At the rate I'm losing karma with all this trollbusting, I'll hit the karma cap sometime in 2004.
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Re:Reaching space by overeaching ourselves. (Score:2)
The fact is that humans can survive very well on a completely non-meat diet. . . .
The Matrix showed that humans can survive very well on liquified remains of other humans, with our brains plugged into virtual reality simulators.
"can survive" and "have a fulfilling life" are two very different things. While I feel blessed and lucky to live in a wonderful country like the US, where I can eat all the tender juicy steaks I want, and have a great standard of living, and still have money to donate to worthy causes (including feeding hungry children in places like Mexico and India, for example) - I do *not* feel compelled to lower my standard of living just to satisfy some vegan extremist's rhetorical fantasies.
Pol Pot thought that he could take millions of decadent fascist urban capitallist pigs, and march them out to the countryside and make them live on collective farms (as vegetarians, by the way), serving the common good. He's on the top ten list of history's worst mass murders of all time. 10 million of his own countrymen - whom he thought he was going to save from the pits of capitalistic depravity. Go watch "The Killing Fields", and think about that the next time they ask you at the grocery store "Paper or Plastic?"
2001 (Score:2)
WATCH OUT FOR THAT ARM!
-l
Re:They should leave it to the russians (Score:1)
Actually, it's plan B (the backup system) that's failed. Plan A (the primary system) is OK.
Well spoken! (Score:1)
Re:Cryptic Sentence in Article (Score:3)
It's still possible, it just isn't a good time.
Orbital mechanics is the mathematics of orbiting bodies.
Re:Reaching space by overeaching ourselves. (Score:1)
Humans are omnivores, meaning we require both animal and plant products for a healthy diet. If we were meant to be strictly vegetarian, our digestive tracts would be much longer - more like a cow's. If we were meant to be strict meat eaters, they would be shorter, like a lion's. Our tracts lie somewhere in between - just like our diets.
That said, it is true that mostWesterners eat much more meat than they require for a healthy diet.
Adapt and perform (Score:4)
I worry that observers/media will sieze on this as another example of the problems with the space program. In reality, things don't always work. It even looks like it's operating as planned -- it's actually a backup system that's causing problems, the main works fine.
This stuff isn't easy, and if we only want to use technology that has 0% risk, we're going to sit on the ground for a long time. Hey, this is real life. Stuff happens, you change your plans, fix it, and move on.
Damned shoddy workmanship... (Score:1)
Bias in the media (Score:1)
THings like "The new space arm was added today," or "The arm was added by an astronaut launched from the NASA shuttle Atlantis," etc.
Canadian media write the story:
"The new Canadarm2 built in Canada by Canadians was added today". "The newest technology to come out of Canada," etc. (slightly exagerated of course)
Obviously, the Canadian media wants to brag about it's achievments, and the US doesn't need or care to. But I bet this little quirk in the arm will bring the word Canada to the forefront of space news this week...
Blame Canada eh?
A Daring NASA (Score:3)
I'll consider nothing NASA does "daring" until NASA headquarters are in space and HQ authority is exercised exclusively by those in space.
Re:...and I am a ISS-hooker. (Score:1)
--Clay
Blame Canada (Score:1)
First they rip us off by diluting our money supply one maple-leafed penny at a time, now they scheme to drain our space budget with these robot arm shenanigans. Darn them! Darn them to heck I say!
But seriously, I for one welcome our Canadian overlords and their socialized medicine. God save the Queen!
Spares.... (Score:3)
Best get him on the next shuttle up there to fix it with parts from an old bicycle, a VW engine and whatever other stuff the Scrapheap Challenge/Junkyard Wars folk can spare.
Re:They should leave it to the russians (Score:2)
However russian designs - not only in space but in aviation and other areas - are indeed very different from western ones. The equipment is intentionally made as simple as possible, with highest reliability. Western style is opposite - to install 17 embedded computers, entrust everyone's life to them and when they all crash just say "it can't happen". We all saw it happening on ISS last month. Russian sections worked because they don't depend so much on computers, and computers are known to be unreliable in space - where high energy particles are plentiful.
So in my opinion, the robot arm is overdesigned. It is too complicated. Maybe it works great, but what's use of that greatness if it doesn't move? Computer controls outside of the station? Why? Saving on few wires? I think the device could be much simpler and more reliable. Note that the current failure mode was not even expected by designers! That's bad. You must always have plan B.
No Prob...just send up Uncle Red (Score:2)
Conversation (Score:1)
"Just get me another beer, eh." "Take off, eh, you hoser."
Re:Reaching space by overeaching ourselves. (Score:1)
1) I agree with you that Scientists should consider social impact, but ultimately it is the consumers responsibility.
2) Excellent point about "reserve the right of moral indignation". Ignorance is NO excuse. People who smoke, chose to smoke (I don't force them, the government doens't force them, you don't force them, etc)
3) What do you mean by "ostrich technique"? I've never heard of it before.
4) Consider this, without the Nike factory in the 3rd world country, would those people even have jobs? You do realize that the U.S. Employment had a similar structure from 1820's to the 1920's. Low wages and overworked women and children.
5) Being a vegitarian and feeding the world are mutually exlusive. Having enough food and giving it away is poor thinking b/c you are forcing someone to be dependent on you for food. See Ethiopia in the late 80's. The USA gave away food to the country throughout the 70's and early 80's. This caused priced to fall putting local farmers out of business. When the US stopped shipments, there were no local farmers in the country, and massive famine ensued. Give a man a fish and you can feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you can feed him for a lifetime.
6) Humans we not ment to be vegitarians. We have to clean our vegtibles b/f eating, or else the dirt would scrape the enamle off our teeth (unlike Cows for example, which have much harder teeth) While we definately eat too many McDonalds hambergers, I fail to see the moral convictioon about why we should be vegitarians. Isn't that a personal choice? What we eat?
Huh? (Score:2)
- Atlantis' rainsoaked tiles were barely dry
Hmm, I still think I'm pretty skeptical.Now we'll get credit (Score:3)
Now the U.S. media will start calling it the CANADAarm instead of "the big arm"!
You killed Kenny, Bastards!
well ... (Score:3)
and I said, they shouldn't take the cheap one - they always need fixing!
wanted: Space Mechanics (Score:4)
I believe that the majority of people who make the flight average then to twenty years older. I hate to say it, but at that point often you are starting to slide physically, even if you are peaking metally. This will take a whole new training approach as well, since you are dealing with someone with a technician/mechanic level of knowledge. Side note: you will be looking for the short guys. The day of the 6'4" astronaut is not here yet, just due to weight considerations.
Which brings up the idea of a new job title: space mechanic.
Check out the Vinny the Vampire [eplugz.com] comic strip
MacGuyver (Score:1)
Re:I just wish those bloody yanks... (Score:1)
Ok, you're right! We submit! I also move that Canadians in space be known as "Canadauts, eh?"
What a Shame (Score:1)
Re:They should leave it to the russians (Score:2)
Your logic escapes me. The Russians are able to put in orbit durable and cheap modules despite being severely limited by their budget and general economic chaos of the country, and you're arguing that their space savoir-faire is inferior? It's like saying Linux sucks, simply because Torvalds couldn't afford to work with good hardware and so made sure his OS was light-weight enough to run on the cheapest 386. Rather irrational, don't you think?
As for "nobody being happy" about the ISS using the same technologies as MIR, I'm sure NASA, the ESA and the taxpayers of their respective countries would beg to differ. Reusing Russians' experience with MIR and Salyut, both technical and human, saved billions of dollars.
Overall, it seems pretty silly to attack an entire space program on a few incidents happening way after a spacecraft's MTBF had been reached or some poor developer's failure to account for the difference between the metric and imperial system. Shit happens, in space and elsewhere. How many people died on their way to the mall in something as technologically primitive as a Ford Pinto?
--
Violence is necessary, it is as American as cherry pie.
H. Rap Brown
Re:Reaching space by overeaching ourselves. (Score:2)
Because wouldn't it really, really suck if some alien society like the frigin' Vogons beat us to becoming the custodians of the universe?
Where ignorance is bliss, 'tis folly to be wise. I hold that we can't afford to continue this pattern of knowledge seeking and loss of innocence any further.
Well, I wish you godspeed in your pursuit. What little knowledge you still harbor seems to be causing you more pain than bliss.
I do hope you'll forgive me if I pursue a life of folly, though...
(Counter-troll: your first sentence, taken in the context of the non-pursuit of knowledge, is absolutely golden.)
Osteoarthritis in Space Shuttle? (Score:1)
Well, well, Osteoarthritis [medscape.com] doesn't only attack seniors nowadays, but also a newborn species of space shuttle. Seems that NASA should begin looking for geriatrics experts. :-)
"daring spacewalk". (Score:3)
Seven countries working on the ISS (Score:2)
forgot to register (Score:4)
NASA - Engineers this week discovered the robotic arm on the new space station ceased functioning when they failed to register RoboticArm XP with Microsoft before it was used 15 times. As a result, the robotic arm only boots into a "safe mode." This activates the breaks and the arm does not move. A Micro$oft spokesperson referred to this lack of movement and functionality as evident Micro$soft is providing NASA with the "most secure robotic arm product ever."
After registering RoboticArm XP, engineers eventually had to replace a troublesome joint in the arm as well. The hardware change required NASA engineers to call Micro$oft and convince them RoboticArm XP was not being installed on a new robotic space station arm but in fact, on the same robotic space station arm with a new joint.
Shares of Micro$soft were up an 1/8th on news they actually sold a copy of RoboticArm XP.
RC
Re:They should leave it to the russians (Score:1)
The russkies are no great designers of space equipment. They get by on the cheap, because they have to. And the risks are higher. In fact, the ISS is using some of the same technologies as MIR, and nobody is happy about it at all.
Re:Reaching space by overeaching ourselves. (Score:1)
As a rebuttal to 4, I would like to point out that the United States (both government and businesses) deliberately block most 3rd world countries from developing independant industries capable of supporting themselves in the same manner as we are. As you stated, the US looked much the same in the late 19th/early 20th centuries, but it was self-imposed. The difference between what we had back then and what we're doing now is that now all the significant revenue flows back to the US because most of these large industrial companies are US-based. The US is not "creating jobs" to help people, only exploiting low-cost labor and lax working conditions standards. The 3rd world countries we exploit will never become independant of this process (if things remain as they stand now) because the extra profits generated by this low overhead all go out of country.
#5 is a very good point, and normally I would agree but the fact is that in order for people to farm on an industrial (not subsistence) level, they need complex machinery, processing facilities, fertilizers, and steady supply of necessary resources. Therefore industrial-level farming is not feasible in most 3rd world countries outside of near slave labor-like conditions where scores of under/non-paid people do the work of a single machine. Unless we wish to give those countries all the machines/technology they need (and therefore create a competing market... assuming their dictator governments do not just sell the stuff for munitions etc) we can only let them starve or give them food.
#6 (whether or not humans were "made" to be vegetarians) is irrelevant. The fact is that humans can survive very well on a completely non-meat diet. I agree that it is your choice, but the point I was making is that most Americans do not give it a second thought and do not want to be told about how much their choice costs the rest of the world.
Re:Reaching space by overeaching ourselves. (Score:1)
Will the ISS *ever* function? (Score:2)
Re:Reaching space by overeaching ourselves. (Score:2)
The only reason that the west has become morally degenerate as you state is because people listen to sayings like that. Scientists who develop technologies without regard to the social impact it may have follow your line of reasoning and deliberately remain ignorant of the potentials of their technologies because they can't be bothered. The masses ultimately allow the use of the technology, but remain deliberately ignorant of the issues in order to reserve the right of moral indignation (they never told us smoking was bad/addicting so it's not my fault etc). The US is a prime example of the ostrich technique. Our economy is based on the suffering of many underdeveloped countries, yet most US citizens are vehemently opposed the exploitation of impoverished people. By deliberately remaining ignorant of the facts, people can claim the moral high ground--and still get cheap Nikes. If the US were to become vegetarian, there would be more than enough food for everyone on the planet (we supply more than enough grain for domestic and foreign markets, and we feed 80% of our grain to livestock, which take more than 1,000,000 times the resources to produce, pound per pound, than vegetables). But we can't be expected to give up our hamburgers and... SPAM! And besides, nobody actually "knows" this, so it's ok.
The only way technology/progress sees immoral applications is when people choose to remain ignorant of the realities.
Re:Reaching space by overeaching ourselves. (Score:1)
If God meant for us to be vegetarian, then why did he make animals out of MEAT!?!
A lot of fuss... (Score:1)
Color Me Honkin' Suprised SPQR (Score:1)
up why waste our few remaining gasps of power
with this news. Here in the Cote Azure the frogs still
haven't killed off the fish with all the nuclear power plants;
but we can't a lego art technology to work.
Lets start another war & steal some more german rocket scientists-
Ve Vill not Tolerate Dis ... Ve vill got to der press.
N degrees of Freedom huh- Get a Cowboy SPQR (Score:1)
The idea of an N dimensional Arm is about as bankrupt as the whole idea of of lo orbital dwelling [for what purpose God only knows].
Except for relays in synchronous orbit, the use of lo orbit technology for other than docking to interplanetary craft is nothing but air pollution on a hi level. Perhaps a few sattellites to takecompound shots to husband the earth's recources might be in order: but to move in fulltime is totally unrealistic.
The idea of an arm is to tie an object to an infinite mass body in order to manipulate it. NASA scientists believe that in order for an arm to lift a 60 LB. body it requires a 460 LBS. stand to hold that arm, ergo cum sum humans don't exist!
What they need is a 'hand' not an arm.(in more ways than one)
A hand clamps on to an object& then modifies the orientation of the object by applying force which does't have to be restricted to the Shuttle but to ropes , rockets, cowboys, mass drivers etc. The inertial countermass of the shuttle arm is restricted to the shuttle & the tortional strength of the arm's lever, bothe of which thanx to NASA technology is restricted!
Re:...and I am a ISS-hooker. (Score:1)
Tito! (Score:5)
Tito looks around.. hums to himself nervously.. floats away quietly.
Re:Reaching space by overeaching ourselves. (Score:1)
- Your economy is not based on the suffering of many underdeveloped countries. Trade is mutually beneficial. Your economy is indifferent to the suffering of people in underdeveloped countries, or there would be more trade, not less.
- There is more than enough food for everyone on the planet already; no-one needs to be a vegetarian who doesn't want to.
Just a little fact check.Cryptic Sentence in Article (Score:1)
Say what? Last time I heard "orbit" and "blackout" in the same sentence, someone was describing heroin. But seriously, this is hard to decode. Is an orbital mechanic a mechanic in orbit? I could see a blackout period then, because the Leonid meteor showers will be at peak. Is it a mechanic who works on the orbiter (which is currently on the ground)? In that case, a blackout period must be a union thing. Can someone from NASA please enlighten us here?
Solution (Score:3)
They should send Dr. Strangelove up there, or at least his arm.