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| RoyvdL | ||||| Saturday, March 09, 2002 - 08:41 am
I'm curious to know what becomes of the parts removed to make way for the ACS, new solar panels, etc?
Are they brought back to Earth, or tossed over the side of the shuttle? If they come back, what happens to them?
(If you're giving away the solar panels, let me know.) |
| Edward Cheung | ||||| Saturday, March 09, 2002 - 07:06 pm
I know of three places where old hardware is stored:
1) In the mezzanine of our huge (at one time world's largest) cleanroom back home at Goddard. Home of HST hardware development.
2) Smithsonian Air and Space Institute in DC. For example, the first Reaction Wheel Assembly retrieved during SM2 in 1997.
3) We have a warehouse in Laurel, MD where some carrier hardware and tools are stored.
About Solar Arrays, during SM1 in 1993, we retrieved one Solar Panel and released the other (it would not roll up, and further handling was a safety hazard for the astronauts). The retrieved one was dissected and then samples cast into acrylic blocks for souvenirs. I have one ;-). |
| Gabriel Pagliarani | ||||| Monday, March 11, 2002 - 12:47 pm
Space trash: it isn't a fool question! Where are the used batteries?If the new solar array give 20% more power and Hubble draw every half-orbit in the Earth's shadow, revised Hubble needs more battery capability now, and/or the old smaller ones are 11 years old. Surely STS-109 replaced them, but they are not listed in the replacement kit nor in the list of used parts. |
| old_codger | ||||| Monday, March 11, 2002 - 01:25 pm
STS-109 did not replace batteries. These are slated to be replaced on the next servicing mission. |
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