Questions...
Hi folks,
I'm a writer struggling to find the relevent infomation from the web. Wiki has helped to a certain extent, but I need more detail.
I'm writing a short-story about a USA space station some time (25 years or so) in the future. This is a zombie story for an anthology intitled, "Zombonauts", so it doesn't have to be too serious or plausable - I'd just like some facts. The USA station comes across an old Soviet station from the eighties, and wants to dock. An experiment took place on this station, one that went terribly wrong. USSR lost contact and it shut down, went off course, but remained somewhere in orbit.
I would like to know if this would be possible, a modern station being able to dock an older foreign version?
Would air-locks be involved?
Would the USA station have to report its findings? Would they need permission to dock first? Who from? Would the president be involved?
Also, are space stations always in contact with earth, if so, with who?
What sort of technology do space stations have on board as far as computers are concerned?
They find a dead Soviet unaffected by the experiment, and he has an eighties camcorder with him. Would it be viable for the modern station's technology to be able to play back the older technology's video?
Finally, if an astronaut dies in space, running out of oxygen, and remains in space, would cell degeneration work in the same way? Or would they be preserved?
Thanks for you time,
James
Your questions about your story.
Answer to Q1
It depends whether or not the PMAs (pressurized mating adapters are compatible with each other.
Newer PMAs may not work with older ones. Designs change, configurations change. It's called
evolution. (example) : 1936 ford Model A water pump will not fit on a 2008 ford Taurus automobile
A2Q2
Airlocks would have to be involved, unless the astronauts are donning their EVA suits and making the trip from outside of the new station to the inside of the old station.
A2Q3,4&5
NASA logs & reports everything. (at least internally)
Permission is always better when dealing with Russia.
A2Q6
The station is not always in contact with earth.
The station has 4 types of communication. The 1st is audio, two way radio and they have several
different frequencies they use, 2nd is Data or telemetry. All the sensors that tell the ground where they are, what equipment is running, what condition the equipment is in (etc.) 3rd is video or KU.
When you see the inside of the station on NASA TV, it is transmitted on the KU band.
The 4th is amateur radio which is an emergency backup in case all other frequencies fail.
Most of the astronauts have their amateur radio licenses. Nicole Stott's license or call sign is
KE5GJN. I am also an amateur radio operator, my call sign is KF6EII.
As far as who they are in contact with, that would be ISS Mission Control in Houston, TX There is also the shuttle mission control which is right down the hall. They are only active when the shuttle is in orbit. Currently active with STS-128 Discovery.
All these bands or frequencies are fed through satellites which are down links and up links from earth to the station. Depending on where the station is in orbit in relation to these satellites, momentary drop out is common. In fact NASA knows when these will occur and usually gives the
crew a heads up. NASA calls this "LOS" or Loss of signal. Also a partial LOS is called "Ratty Comm".
A2Q7
The station uses 4 main computers, they only need one but have three backup systems in case of problems, computers control in air pressure inside the station, altitude, attitude, monitor the hundreds of sensors, they sound warning alarms if there is an emergency, mission control also monitors the computers and sensors in case there is an emergency. There are normally 6 astronauts on board ISS, Right now there are 13. (+7 from Discovery).
If there is an emergency where they have to leave the station the 6 astronauts go to two Russian Soyuz spacecrafts that are connected the the station, 3 in each. the other 7 go to the Shuttle Discovery which is also connected. Discovery will be leaving the station in Sept leaving the 6 original astronauts to live and work.
As far as the last two questions.
It probably won't connect, different hookups
And.....
They would be preserved, oxygen speeds decomposition, no oxygen, decom is reduced.
This is your semi-fictional story. You can write anything you want. if you want purple bunnies or red turtles that shoot laser beams from their eyes or fly or have rockets in their feet, you can write it.
Use your imagination. The sky is the limit.
Good Luck!!
73 de kf6eii
MI ANTERIOR INDICATIVO EB7FME-
Soy hispano parlante. Perdonad si cometo algún error. Mi nombre es HORACIO y soy muy aficionado a seguir los pases de la ISS.
Saludos. AQUà MANDO COPIA DE LOS CONTACTOS QUE HICE EN LA PMS DE PAKET RADIO. ¿SIRVEN PARA EL 25 ANIVERSARIO?
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ISS Hamradio Status by MAREX-NA - Dec. 17, 2002
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CONFIRMED: ISS PACKET OK OVER EUROPE
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List RS0ISS-1 9 DEC 2002 :14:51 UTC
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forum topic - pe2jmr - 1 Jan 1970 - 12:33am - 0 comments