Satgen439 MIR Problems by GM4IHJ (BID SGEN439) 23 Aug 97 To listen to the UK media, the Russian space station has been doomed 5 times this week , and 6 times the week before. In fact they have had a "fender bender", and while these are more dangerous in space , most folks manage to hit the garage or the gatepost at least once a year. So some considerable exaggeration is taking place, and the media is as usual, much happier to talk up things which go wrong, rather than things which go right. Far from being unusual , most of the problems encountered by Mir, will be familiar to anyone who has served in nuclear submarines. Space ships and nukes, have a lot in common, when you consider that in both , one is dealing with a closed atmosphere, which requires efficient recycling if it is to be kept habitable,( Eg shades of the terrestrial biosphere disaster). Mir has been up for 11 years ( longer than most of us keep the same automobile) ,so it is no surprise that oxygen generators give trouble. Nor is it odd to find that there are problems with CO2 scrubbers , which are difficult chemical beasts at best, and vicious opponents when they go wrong. Even less surprising has been Mirs stabilization problems. Early Salyuts were not stabilized at all ( but the media did not notice). Mir is not an easy beast to stabilize. Its centre of gravity is 10m or so away from any major structure , because of its odd collection of shapes. Worse still it uses inertial wheel stabilization ( as will Phase 3D) and this has always been demanding , noting that it requires a lot of electrical power, and it consists of fine wiring revolving at very high speeds, (please note the number of inertia wheel unit failures in say Hubble, if you want a comparison). As indicated, Mir has all the balance /stability( or lack thereof) of a bent toasting fork. So when constant repair maintenance results in computer stabilization sensors being temporarily disconnected , the unbalanced complex soon begins to lose attitude pointing , and the worlds media has another field day reporting imminent abandonment and total loss. Anyone doubting Russian courage and recovery potential , should remember the superb job done on Salyut 7 in June 1985, when internal water leaks and freezing cold, in the temporarily deserted station, turned the interior into a monster iced lollipop. Where it was so cold that as the recovery crew spoke into their microphones their frozen breath particles rattled the microphones and their vocal cords seized up after a few words. But eventually they got everything back on line and Salyut 7 had several more visitors before it was replaced by Mir in 1986. So please remember, if you talk to the media about qsos with Mir. All the media ask about is disaster. They need constantly reminding that only the Russian have operated long term in space, ( yes I do remember the Americans did a few months in Skylab) . By my rough count the Russians have more than 35 man years experience, and no one else can approach their understanding of how to keep space stations running and how to keep their occupants fit and well.