All the diagram in which by means of a fourth spacewalk Saturday to wrap up repairs of the coolant machine in a $2 billion cosmic ray detector, Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano and Drew Morgan chanced on a leak in one among eight coolant lines that were spliced accurate into a recent pump module all the diagram in which by means of three earlier excursions.
Tightening up the suspect connector did now not solve the mission. So Parmitano tried one extra time earlier than returning to the International Rental Situation’s airlock to retrieve a jumper and the instruments wished to splice in a bypass if necessary, throwing a wrench into the crew’s moderately scripted spacewalk timeline.
But as it turned out, the bypass surgical treatment became as soon as no longer wished. When he checked coolant line No. 5’s leak indicator a 2d time an hour later, a crimson line in a pop-out becoming became as soon as now no longer considered, indicating he had efficiently mounted the leak the 2d time he tightened the correct.
NASA TV
“No crimson! No leak!” Parmitano exclaimed.
“OK, shut it rapidly,” astronaut Jeremy Hansen replied from mission control. “Let us all carry a breath down right here and I’m going to rep motivate to you.”
And with that, all eight coolant lines within the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer’s severe thermal control machine were racy for popular coolant machine pressurization. Parmitano and Morgan were suggested to press ahead with work to re-set up insulation that became as soon as removed earlier to produce access to the instrument’s cooling machine.
Morgan and Parmitano, the identical spacewalking surgeons who conducted a troublesome coolant pump transplant closing December, began their fourth joint spacewalk at 7: 04 a.m. ET, switching their spacesuits to battery energy whereas restful contained within the station’s Quest airlock.
After exiting the airlock, Morgan and Parmitano gathered instruments and double-checked safety tethers earlier than heading for the 7.5-ton Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, mounted on the tip facet of the station’s energy truss aesthetic inboard of the lab’s correct-facet describe voltaic arrays.
Launched to the station in 2011 aboard the shuttle Endeavour, the AMS became as soon as constructed by a world personnel of researchers below the management of Nobel Laureate Sam Ting. The exercise of an spectacular electromagnet, the instrument is designed to deflect electrically charged high-energy cosmic rays into an array of sensitive detectors.
The goal of the study is to be taught what came about to the antimatter presumably created all the diagram in which by means of the monumental bang in equal measure with popular matter; to shed light on the personality of the unseen darkish matter making up nearly a quarter of the recognized universe; and to be taught extra about the mysterious “darkish energy” that appears to be like to be speeding up the growth of the cosmos.
In the starting up set designed to characteristic for aesthetic three years, the AMS chalked up eight years of operation earlier than being sidelined by the sequential failures of 4 carbon dioxide coolant pumps. The coolant machine is what permits the AMS detectors to originate the specified levels of sensitivity.
NASA TV
To restore the machine and lengthen the instrument’s lifestyles by means of the tip of the station program, engineers developed a four-spacewalk concept to set up a custom-constructed 350-pound module containing four pumps and a reservoir of recent carbon dioxide coolant.
The AMS became as soon as no longer designed to be serviced in space, making the work particularly tense. But all the diagram in which by means of spacewalks closing November 15, 22 and December 2, Morgan and Parmitano opened up the AMS, removed insulation, snipped eight coolant lines, save within the recent pump module and spliced, or “swaged,” the coolant lines motivate into set.
Special fittings were designed to pop open a little bit, revealing a crimson line if the interior stress indicated a leak. And that’s the reason what the crew saw when they checked line No. 5 Saturday.
“Luca, I’ve gotta know, what made you deem (line) No. 5 first?” Hansen radioed from mission control later.
“It became as soon as the closest,” Parmitano replied.
“I became as soon as questioning within the occasion you had some model of instinct or something.”
“Admire I said, it’s almost better to be lucky than correct,” Parmitano noticed.
“There is no other methodology to perform that to originate extra drama than giving us that discover on the first one,” Hansen said. “I judge everyone’s coronary heart stopped.”
“Yeah, I ponder what my flight surgeon saw on .. my coronary heart rate,” Parmitano said. “It both flat lined or spiked, one among the 2.”
Parmitano tightened up the correct after which he and Morgan checked the opposite lines whereas ready for a one-hour timer to dawdle out. When checked again, the indicator in coolant line No. 5 restful confirmed a leak.
“I’m sorry to file I perform luxuriate in a leak,” he said. “It appears to be like like a perfect leak to me. (The indicator) is fully open.”
NASA
He then became as soon as asked to tighten up the correct one additional turn and then, whereas ready for one more one-hour clock to tick down, return to the airlock to rep a bypass jumper. But it no doubt wasn’t wished.
In any case, the sudden work with coolant line No. 5 resulted in odd lulls within the workflow, giving the spacewalkers an different to marvel on the gather out about of Earth bigger than 250 miles underneath all the diagram in which by means of an evening movement over Japan.
“I do now not know within the occasion you guys are aesthetic bored on the market aesthetic killing time, but you would possibly perhaps perhaps additionally account for me, a non-spacewalker, what it appears to be like like in an evening movement, searching down within the world?” Hansen asked. “What perform you undercover agent?”
“I became as soon as going to seek files from you the set we were, because I don’t judge I’ve ever regarded motivate down there at Earth all the diagram in which by means of an EVA on an evening movement,” Morgan replied. “I aesthetic turned my lights out, I’m out right here within the inky shadowy above the ISS. Taking a leer down I will be able to undercover agent … (we aesthetic) flew over moderately quite a lot of giant night lights.”
“It appears to be like like you are above the Sea of Japan aesthetic east of Asia there,” Hansen said.
“Yeah, it regarded very intently populated. So we are going to be over Japan then almost at present?”
“I will be able to already undercover agent it underneath me,” Parmitano chimed in
“Uh huh, there it’s. Yep, I saw it, down to the Sea of Japan, we aesthetic handed it,” Morgan said. “You can undercover agent some fishing fleets on the market in the Sea of Japan after which you would possibly perhaps perhaps additionally undercover agent the total monumental island of Japan.”
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