ISS: "Strange Sound" Again

Palomar · 2004-04-02 16:36:09

[http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/is … 40402.html]Read Me

*They're hearing it again. Described as a "drum-beat" type sound, or like a sheet of metal flapping/banging. Happened in November too.

--Cindy

~Eternal~ · 2004-04-02 17:37:28

The ISS is meteor waiting to happen .

SBird · 2004-04-02 18:07:36

For $20 billion, is it too much to ask NASA to make something that doesn't have chunks fall off and doesn't go 'bang' for unexplained reasons? Sheesh...

GCNRevenger · 2004-04-02 21:19:04

I think that its about time we stop calling it the ISS, and call it what it really is... MIR-II. Its a Russian space station with a US lab and solar pannels glued on. And Mir was a deathtrap in its later years.

Mark Friedenbach · 2004-04-04 01:16:10

Jeez people, these things happen. I bet it's nothing.

SBird · 2004-04-04 04:33:29

I'd buy that if the ISS were an old house or something. However, I'm pretty sure that teh baning noises are not coming from window shutters flapping in the wind. If I hear lound, unexplained baning noises from my CAR, I pull over and try to figure out what's going on. This is much more serious.

Obviously, with something this highly engineered, loud, unexplained noises shouldn't happen. Plus, stuff's already fallen off and there have been serious anamolies in the life support systems. ISS is not demonstrating the sort of behavior from a structure that I would willingly trust enough to ride around at 17,000 mph in a vacuum in.

GCNRevenger · 2004-04-04 09:05:30

Amen to that... ISS will be warn out before its even finished... 2016 can't come soon enough. The idea of building ISS lego-brick style fully knowing your launch vehicle can't fly >4-5 times a year has to be one of the biggest engineering blunders in recent memory.

Time for a little dreaming... say we built a 60-80MT capacity Shuttle-C, with a 11m x 6m cargo bay...
~Two Mega Jumbo TransHabs, 10m long and 12m wide inflated 5-6 decks each, possibly S.A.F.E solar arrays on the ends. Total internal volume ~2,200m^2
~One large traditional aluminum docking/airlock/life support/reboost platform 70MT with large TransHab ports on the ends, multiple docking ports for spacecraft (3-6). It may also accomdate 3-6 ports for modular laboratory addition later on for stuff that won't fit through the spacecraft hatches.

Mmmm mega space station, with only one year of launches.

Palomar · 2004-04-04 09:29:58

I'd buy that if the ISS were an old house or something. However, I'm pretty sure that teh baning noises are not coming from window shutters flapping in the wind. If I hear lound, unexplained baning noises from my CAR, I pull over and try to figure out what's going on. This is much more serious.
Obviously, with something this highly engineered, loud, unexplained noises shouldn't happen. Plus, stuff's already fallen off and there have been serious anamolies in the life support systems. ISS is not demonstrating the sort of behavior from a structure that I would willingly trust enough to ride around at 17,000 mph in a vacuum in.

*Yes indeed. Is the source of this occurrence of the sound the same as in November? If not, then it's a new source for a strange sound. And if the source is the same, why does the sound seem to come and then go, only to return?

I suppose we could ask James Lovell about "mysterious bangs."

If I were an ISS astronaut, I think I'd be sleeping with a parachute. :-\ (Yeah, I know...).

--Cindy

Rxke · 2004-04-04 09:56:35

Yup, GCNRevenger, you nailed it right on the head, i still remember those pics from the first two buildingblocks in space, thinking: "by the time the station is completed, these blocks will already be midtime their lifecycle..." That was 1998-99 (i forgot...) or somewhere back, before the launchdates started slipping over and over again... So by the time it is finally complete, (2010 or later?) they can start thinking about ditching it right away, sigh... The project is too cumbersome, given the low launch-rate... What were they thinking? The Shuttle becoming easier to operate after a while, or the X-33-4-5-6-7-8-9-... to the rescue? Sigh, sigh, sigh.

Mark Friedenbach · 2004-04-04 19:37:36

I'd buy that if the ISS were an old house or something. However, I'm pretty sure that teh baning noises are not coming from window shutters flapping in the wind. If I hear lound, unexplained baning noises from my CAR, I pull over and try to figure out what's going on. This is much more serious.
Obviously, with something this highly engineered, loud, unexplained noises shouldn't happen.

I'd bet money (if I had any ) that this noise is nothing more than it sounds like--flexing sheet metal. A small pressure difference gets built up between an instrument and a bulkhead, causing the sheet metal between them to flex which makes the banging noise as they described (just like wiggling poster board). Could have been cuased by a number of things, but more than likely the pressure difference is within normal bounds and just no one thought of the acoustic effects flexing metal would have.

You guys are overreacting. A lot of thought went into the design of the ISS, but it was never flight tested. So what can you expect? Of course unexpected things have happened. Things like this have always happened in the space program. The fact that the ISS works at all in it's first flight is a testament to the amazing engineering work that NASA and company have done to get it right the first time.

I suppose we could ask James Lovell about "mysterious bangs."

Lovell may have used the same word, but you can't compare apples and oranges. For one thing this sound is transient, it doesn't seem to have any effect on the operation of the station. But for another, the sound is distinct and seems to be well identified as coming from a harmless source (I trust Kaleri's word that it's flexing sheet metal, a very distinctive noise). You're also forgetting all the bangs and other noises that were heard on the other successful Apollo flights, Mercury, Gemini, Skylab, Shuttle flights, and Mir.

Palomar · 2004-04-04 20:36:22

I suppose we could ask James Lovell about "mysterious bangs."
Lovell may have used the same word, but you can't compare apples and oranges...snip...You're also forgetting all the bangs and other noises that were heard on the other successful Apollo flights, Mercury, Gemini, Skylab, Shuttle flights, and Mir.

*Yes, of course; I was simply making an off-the-cuff sort of comment.

You guys are overreacting

*I sincerely hope so.

--Cindy

SBird · 2004-04-04 22:52:51

Well, for the sake of the astronauts on board and the space program, I certainly hope that I'm overreacting. However, overreacting to potential safety problems is what you have to do. Just assuming that the banging noise is due to a piece of sheet metal is a big assumption. It's a rhythmic noise, like a loose object, jumping pipe or malfunctioning piece of machinery. The potential results could range anywhere from benign to petentially fatal for everyone aboard.

Just saying - Oh, it's impressive enough that it works at all, so what - is why we didn't bother to abort the Challenger launch due to cold weather or to check Columbia for leading tile damage.

Palomar · 2004-04-07 06:12:40

*This is from Space.com's "Astronotes" (which is in continuous and archived column form, so I'll have to copy and paste it). Ventilator the cause? And what could be that "something" which might have "caught between the ventilator blades"? I'm not trying to drum (pardon the pun) up any drama with this; am just curious (like usual).

***
April 7

Ventilator May Be Cause of Drumming Sound on ISS

MOSCOW (Interfax) -- The Russian and American mission control centers believe that the disturbing sound the ISS crew heard recently might have come from a ventilator.

"It seems that the sound heard by Alexander Kaleri came from an ISS system. A similar thing happened last November. We thought back then that the sound was coming from the ventilator. This time the sound may have the same origin," NASA PR coordinator Sergey Puzanov told Interfax.

The Russian mission control center agrees with that theory. "Something might have been caught between the ventilator blades, and the cosmonaut heard the bang. Besides, sounds are louder in a limited space," head of the Russian mission control center's press service Valery Lyndin said.

On Sunday, Alexander Kaleri heard a metallic noise, which sounded like drumming, and immediately informed the mission control center about it. It was the second time such a thing has happened on board the ISS. The crew reported last November that they had heard a metallic noise, which sounded like a tin can hitting the ISS.

The Russian and American mission control centers checked on the ISS systems and did not confirm that the ISS had collided with any objects.

"All the ISS systems are functioning normally, the pressure is stable, and there are no problems with the equipment," Lyndin said.

***
--Cindy

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#1 2004-04-02 16:36:09

Re: ISS: "Strange Sound" Again

#2 2004-04-02 17:37:28

Re: ISS: "Strange Sound" Again

#3 2004-04-02 18:07:36

Re: ISS: "Strange Sound" Again

#4 2004-04-02 21:19:04

Re: ISS: "Strange Sound" Again

#5 2004-04-04 01:16:10

Re: ISS: "Strange Sound" Again

#6 2004-04-04 04:33:29

Re: ISS: "Strange Sound" Again

#7 2004-04-04 09:05:30

Re: ISS: "Strange Sound" Again

#8 2004-04-04 09:29:58

Re: ISS: "Strange Sound" Again

#9 2004-04-04 09:56:35

Re: ISS: "Strange Sound" Again

#10 2004-04-04 19:37:36

Re: ISS: "Strange Sound" Again

#11 2004-04-04 20:36:22

Re: ISS: "Strange Sound" Again

#12 2004-04-04 22:52:51

Re: ISS: "Strange Sound" Again

#13 2004-04-07 06:12:40

Re: ISS: "Strange Sound" Again

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