From Discovering The Secrets Of The Universe To In-Space Servicing, We’ve Got The Tools For The Job

From Discovering the Secrets of the Universe to In-Space Servicing, We’ve Got The Tools for the Job

If you need to fix something on Earth, you could go to a store, buy the tools you need, and get started. In space, it’s not that easy.

Aside from the obvious challenges associated with space (like it being cold and there being no gravity), developing the right tools requires a great deal of creativity because every task is different, especially when the tools need to be designed from scratch. From the time an engineer dreams up the right tools to the time they are used in space, it can be quite a process.

On Nov. 15, astronauts Luca Parmitano and Drew Morgan began a series of spacewalks to repair an instrument called the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS-2) on the exterior of the International Space Station. The first of four spacewalk focused on using specialized tools to remove shields and covers, to gain access to the heart of AMS to perform the repairs, and install a new cooling system.

The debris shield that covered Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer floats away toward Earth as astronaut Drew Morgan successfully releases it.

Once repaired, AMS will continue to help us understand more about the formation of the universe and search for evidence of dark matter and antimatter.

These spacewalks, or extravehicular activities (EVAs), are the most complex of their kind since the servicing of the Hubble Space Telescope. AMS is particularly challenging to repair not only because of the instrument’s complexity and sensitivity, but also because it was never designed to be fixed. Because of this design, it does not have the kinds of interfaces that make spacewalks easier, or the ability to be operated on with traditional multi-purpose tools. These operations are so complex, their design and planning has taken four years. Let’s take a look at how we got ready to repair AMS.

Thinking Outside of the (Tool) Box

When designing the tools, our engineers need to keep in mind various complications that would not come into play when fixing something on Earth. For example, if you put a screw down while you’re on Earth, gravity will keep it there — in space, you have to consistently make sure each part is secure or it will float away. You also have to add a pressurized space suit with limited dexterity to the equation, which further complicates the tool design.

In addition to regular space complications, the AMS instrument itself presents many challenges — with over 300,000 data channels, it was considered too complex to service and therefore was not designed to one day be repaired or updated if needed. Additionally, astronauts have never before cut and reconnected micro-fluid lines (4 millimeters wide, less than the width of the average pencil) during a spacewalk, which is necessary to repair AMS, so our engineers had to develop the tools for this big first.

With all of this necessary out-of-the-box thinking, who better to go to for help than the teams that worked on the most well-known repair missions — the Hubble servicing missions and the space station tool teams? Building on the legacy of these missions, some of our same engineers that developed tools for the Hubble servicing missions and space station maintenance got to work designing the necessary tools for the AMS repair, some reworked from Hubble, and some from scratch. In total, the teams from Goddard Space Flight Center’s Satellite Servicing Projects Division, Johnson Space Center, and AMS Project Office developed 21 tools for the mission.

Designing and Building

Like many great inventions, it all starts with a sketch. Engineers figure out what steps need to be taken to accomplish the task, and imagine the necessary tools to get the job done.

From there, engineers develop a computer-aided design (CAD) model, and get to building a prototype. Tools will then undergo multiple iterations and testing with the AMS repair team and astronauts to get the design just right, until eventually, they are finalized, ready to undergo vibration and thermal vacuum testing to make sure they can withstand the harsh conditions of launch and use in the space environment.

Hex Head Capture Tool Progression:

Hex Head Capture Tool Used in Space:

Practice Makes Perfect

One of the reasons the AMS spacewalks have been four years in the making is because the complexity of the repairs required the astronauts to take extra time to practice. Over many months, astronauts tasked with performing the spacewalks practiced the AMS repair procedures in numerous ways to make sure they were ready for action. They practiced in:

Virtual reality simulations:

The Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory:

The Active Response Gravity Offload System (ARGOS):

Astronauts use this testing to develop and practice procedures in space-like conditions, but also to figure out what works and doesn’t work, and what changes need to be made. A great example is a part of the repair that involves cutting and reconnecting fluid lines. When astronauts practiced cutting the fluid lines during testing here on Earth, they found it was difficult to identify which was the right one to cut based on sight alone.

The tubes on the AMS essentially look the same.

After discussing the concern with the team monitoring the EVAs, the engineers once again got to work to fix the problem.

And thus, the Tube Cutting Guide tool was born! Necessity is the mother of invention and the team could not have anticipated the astronauts would need such a tool until they actually began practicing. The Tube Cutting Guide provides alignment guides, fiducials and visual access to enable astronauts to differentiate between the tubes. After each of eight tubes is cut, a newly designed protective numbered cap is installed to cover the sharp tubing.

Off to Space

With the tools and repair procedures tested and ready to go, they launched to the International Space Station earlier this year. Now they’re in the middle of the main event – Luca and Drew completed the first spacewalk last Friday, taking things apart to access the interior of the AMS instrument. Currently, there are three other spacewalks scheduled over the course of a month. The next spacewalk will happen on Nov. 22 and will put the Tube Cutting Guide to use when astronauts reconnect the tubes to a new cooling system.

With the ingenuity of our tool designers and engineers, and our astronauts’ vigorous practice, AMS will be in good hands.

Check out the full video for the first spacewalk. Below you can check out each of the Goddard tools above in action in space!

Debris Shield Worksite: 2:29:16 – Debris Shield Handling Aid 2:35:25 – Hex Head Capture Tool (first) 2:53:31 – #10 Allen Bit 2:54:59 – Capture Cages 3:16:35 – #10 Allen Bit (diagonal side) 3:20:58 – Socket Head Capture Tool 3:33:35 – Hex Head Capture Tool (last) 3:39:35 – Fastener Capture Block 3:40:55 – Debris Shield removal 3:46:46 – Debris Shield jettison

Vertical Support Beam (VSB) Worksite: 5:15:27 – VSB Cover Handling Aid 5:18:05 – #10 Allen Bit 5:24:34 – Socket Head Capture Tool 5:41:54 – VSB Cover breaking 5:45:22 – VSB Cover jettison 5:58:20 – Top Spacer Tool & M4 Allen Bit 6:08:25 – Top Spacer removal 7:42:05 - Astronaut shoutout to the tools team

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com.

Astronaut tweets

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alittleasteroide

1 year ago

did a silly project for valentine's day this year, since furryduo/forestduo has been stuck in my head for a month, i think its a good time to sort out a playlist for them, also its easier for me to create new ideas to draw them :D

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1qPhGRO5heafLuEh1e0NFZ?si=0a279a3be0634c5f

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alittleasteroide

1 year ago

Nah, don't worry. He has ABSOLUTELY NO INTEREST to betray him. Why ? He has always been there for them from day 1. He helped him all the time and he helped him all the time too. Betray him ? Never.

Betray someone if you have an interest to do it, but he knows perfectly that if he asks he will have. No interest, then.

He wants to run this company with him. He could have decided to do it alone.

He is his bro, the person he trusts the most only and completely. Not Etoiles ? He trusts Etoiles too, but..... Purgatory. And who was with Aypierre, when happened Fred kidnapping, Purgatory and prison ? The person he knows will always be with him and i remind you he has abandonment issues.

They save each other all the time.

Maybe the person he can fall in love with, in the future but......

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alittleasteroide

5 years ago

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alittleasteroide

1 year ago

My main POV is AyPierre and I can't see him betraying BBH.

Etoiles knows cc!AyPierre really well but not q!AyPierre, they never were in a serious RP before QSMP. I see their relationship as brothers, and big brothers (q!AyPierre) don't want their little brothers to see how hurt they are.

Since he has lost Maxo, he is much more guarded with his emotions and the only one he opens up to is his Bébou (and Pomme but he tries to protect her by not saying everything).

Of course he loves to troll, but destroying everything you built with your best friend is not just a troll...

Not to mention that the only reason cc!AyPierre showed up for QSMP 2024 is cc!BBH.

The only way I can see a betrayal is AyRobot showing up.

Anyway, I am sure they are cooking together behind the scenes to break all of our hearts. Can't wait for the angst !

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alittleasteroide

5 years ago

Hulk by Nic Klein.

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alittleasteroide

5 years ago

First All-Woman Spacewalk

NASA astronauts and best friends, Christina Koch and Jessica Meir, made history Friday, October 18, 2019, by conducting the first all-woman spacewalk outside the International Space Station (ISS)! The Expedition 61 flight engineers ventured into the vacuum of space at 7:38 a.m. EDT to swap out a failed power controller that regulates the batteries used to collect and distribute power to the orbital laboratory – a task that took a total of seven hours and 17 minutes to complete.

This was Koch’s fourth spacewalk and Meir’s first. Both women, selected as astronaut candidates in 2013, are on their first trip to work and live aboard the space station. Meir will be the 15th woman to spacewalk, and the 14th U.S. woman.

Get to know the astronauts

In addition to being an astronaut, Christina Koch is an engineer and physicist. Her career has taken her to extreme parts of the planet to conduct scientific field missions in places like the Antarctic South Pole and Greenland’s Summit Station. Prior to being selected as an astronaut candidate in 2013, she worked as an Electrical Engineer at our Goddard Space Flight Center’s Laboratory for High Energy Astrophysics.

Koch left Earth on March 14, 2019, and is slated to set a record for the longest single spaceflight by a woman with an expected total of 328 days in space. Her extended mission will provide researchers the opportunity to observe the effects of long-duration spaceflight on a female body in preparation for human missions to the Moon and Mars.

Jessica Meir dreamed of the day she would make it to space since the age of five. That dream became a reality on Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2019 as she left Earth on her first spaceflight – later floating into her new home aboard the International Space Station.

While Meir’s new home is more than 200 miles over the Earth, she is no stranger to extreme environments. She studied penguins in Antarctica and mapped caves in Italy – both of which prepared her for the ultimate extreme environment: space.

#AllWomanSpacewalk, what’s the deal?

The all-woman spacewalk wasn’t something we purposefully planned; it is a testament to the increasing number of female astronauts in the space program. For example, Koch’s and Meir’s 2013 class of astronaut candidates was 50 percent women!

When asked in an interview about the importance of conducting her mission and this spacewalk, Koch said,

“In the end, I do think it’s important, and I think it’s important because of the historical nature of what we’re doing. In the past women haven’t always been at the table. It’s wonderful to be contributing to the space program at a time when all contributions are being accepted, when everyone has a role. That can lead in turn to increased chance for success. There are a lot of people who derive motivation from inspiring stories of people who look like them, and I think it’s an important story to tell.”

It’s important to note that spacewalks are not easy; astronauts typically describe them as the most physically challenging thing they do. Assignments are made on the basis of which astronauts are the best prepared to accomplish the tasks at hand under the conditions at the time. Today, Koch and Meir were the top astronauts for the job.

Women are no stranger to spacewalks!

While this was the first spacewalk to be conducted entirely by women, women are no strangers to spacewalks. Exactly 35 years and one week ago, Kathryn Sullivan (pictured above) made her own historic debut as the first U.S. woman to conduct a spacewalk. Since then, a total of 14 women (15 including Jessica) have ventured into the vacuum of space on 40 different spacewalks. Former Astronaut Peggy Whitson performed a record number of 10! From Astronauts to mission directors, women have been making their mark at the agency for decades now. A few of our recent pioneers are:

Astronaut Kate Rubins: First person to sequence DNA in space

Astronaut Peggy Whitson: First woman to command the ISS

Sandra Cauffman: Director of our Earth Science’s Division

Nicola Fox: Director of our Heliophysics Division

Lori Glaze: Director of our Planetary Science Division

Coming soon: The first woman to walk on the Moon

The first all-woman spacewalk is a milestone worth noting and celebrating as we look forward to putting the first woman and the next man on the Moon by 2024 with our Artemis lunar exploration program. With today’s historic event, we once again set a precedence for women to lead in space exploration.

We hope achievements such as this provide inspiration to you all around the world, proving that hard work can lead you to great heights. This is not just a historic day for NASA, but a moment we can all feel proud of.

Didn’t have time to tune in? Check out the replay, here. Koch was wearing the spacesuit with red stripes, while Meir’s had no stripes.

If you’d like to keep up with Christian Koch and Jessica Meir’s work 254 miles above planet Earth, follow them on Twitter at @Astro_ Christina and @Astro_Jessica.

Be sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com

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alittleasteroide

1 year ago

Les quelques headcanon que j'ai à propos de q!Aypierre.

1. Ce n'est pas ma propre headcanons à proprement parler mais le chat/communauté d'Aypierre, sont en fait des espèces de IA. Certaines sont spécialisée dans la création de musique, le photoshop, la programmation, le build, la programmatipn... Aussi elles aiment bien espionner ce qui se passe sur l'île lorsque q!Aypierre est en train de "dormir" pour ensuite gossip avec lui. C'est comme ça qu'il sait certaines choses qui sont arriver lors qu'il était absent. Q!Aypierre peut communiquer avec ses IAs avec ou sans ses lunettes.

2. Q!Aypierre a une forme très légère de prosopagnosie à cause de la première opération/Mind transfert de la Fédération. Ca qui explique pourquoi Q!Pierre a des difficultés de reconnaître les habitants de l'île et même lui-même sur les tableaux au musée.

3. Q!Aypierre est bi ou pansexuel (c'est surtout parce que je suis moi même bisexuelle et que j'aime lorsqu'il y a de la représentation bi et pan).

4. En fait, lorsque q!Aypierre va dormir c'est souvent un des moments où Ayrobot prend le contrôle du corps et peut en profiter pour grinder des ressources, créer des machines ou build des salles.

5. Q!Aypierre est l'un des rares mortels dont q!Etoiles est devenu ami avec. Q!Aypierre semble aussi être un espèce à cubitos humoïdes et plus ou moins mortels et il semble former plus facilements des amitiés plus profondes qu'avec des humains mortels (l'exemptipn notable étant Maximus).

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