Space Station Smacked by Sun
EmailThis from Gina Sunseri: The solar flare yesterday appears to have had one consequence–the gyroscopes that keep the space station oriented in space are down. (See yesterday’s STORY, if you missed it.) The reason is complex: extra energy from the Sun made the outer layers of the Earth’s atmosphere slightly thicker…which may have added drag on the station, 220 miles up…which may have confused the gyros. They were powered down while the astronauts were updating the station’s wiring. When they turned them back on overnight, the little extra bit of drag was just enough to throw the gyros off. The astronauts are fine. Discovery’s attitude control can keep the docked shuttle/ISS combination stable until the gyros come back up. Discovery is currently scheduled to undock Monday afternoon…assuming the gyros, and a few other things, are fixed by then.
Space Station Flies Over Eastern U.S. at Night 
RSS
Twitter
Facebook
What do the astronauts have to do to fix the gyroscopes? Is this considered a major repair or a relatively minor one? These questions come from someone who’s only dealt with a toy gyroscope in his youth.
Posted by: chuck | December 15, 2006, 11:14 am 11:14 am
Hello, Chuck. My understanding is that it’s not a major issue, just an odd one. The gyros refused to restart because, as they powered up, they sensed an unusually heavy load trying to keep the station stable. The cause of the load: a little bit of extra drag from the upper fringes of the atmosphere. Once the solar activity quiets down, so will the atmosphere…and the problem should solve itself.
–Ned
Posted by: Ned Potter | December 15, 2006, 6:22 pm 6:22 pm
Thanks for the explanation, Ned. I’m glad to see it isn’t anything too serious!
Posted by: chuck | December 16, 2006, 9:03 pm 9:03 pm