Today's Video: We got a wicked shimmy up here
Shaking on space station rattles NASA, MSNBC
“Under the worst-case scenario, such vibrations could rattle the station so much over the long term that the structure might begin to crack and leak. One of the solar arrays might bend out of position, affecting the station’s power-generating system. Experts cautioned that it was too early to determine how likely or unlikely these scenarios might be.”
NASA ISS On-Orbit Status 29 January 2009
“Reboost Oscillations Update: As structures specialists continue in-depth loads analysis of the 1/14 reboost anomaly, the call for the next reboost on 2/4 with the SM twin main engines is awaiting a Go/No-Go decision, to be made by the joint IMMT (ISS Mission Management Team) on Monday (2/2). [As of now, evaluation of the external video survey conducted over the last weekend and a review of subsystem data have not shown any off-nominal results.]”
NASA ISS On-Orbit Status 26 January 2009
“Reboost Oscillations: Joint assessment of the offnominal reboost on 1/14 is continuing. Moscow reported that the root cause of the observed strong structural oscillations was an error in parameter settings uploaded to the SM engine gimballing control system, which then caused a malfunction of a dynamic (frequency) control filter. Both the MCS (Motion Control System) and the filter itself are continuing to function properly. Corrective measures are underway.”
NASA ISS On-Orbit Status 14 January 2009
“ISS Reboost: Today’s planned reboost using the SM main engines was successfully performed at 1:06pm EST, with a burn duration of 2 min 22.4 s. Total delta-V achieved was 3.05 m/s (3.05 m/s planned). Mean altitude increase was 5.36 km (2.89 nmi). Science windows in JPM and Lab were closed for the thruster firings. The reboost is the first of two reboosts used to set up phasing for the STS-119/15A and 32P launches.”
Video of oscillating station during reboost below
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For all of you who haven’t seen the movie “Apollo 13” the line “We got a wicked shimmy up here” can be heard here as the Apollo 13 command and lunar modules shake after the LOX tank explosion. The video of the ISS shaking reminded me of the movement of the two spacecraft in the film. Go to 2:10 in the video.
