Space Forum / Shuttle / November 2007

I listened to the sts 122 briefings etc, and a couple of questions came up
in my mind.

Firstly, if they are going to, look at the Sarj in one of the eva's,
presumably this means they have suspicions and need to see if they are
right, but in the briefings they seemed a little evasive on this point.

To me, it almost sounds like something was missed in final inspection, like
some swarf or debris which go in there and has been pulverised by the
rotation and thermal conditions and worn the  bearing plate to some extent.

I was also confused about the shuttle power transfer cables. It is suggested
that  connecting these is going to be done by expedition 16 eva later this
month, yet the eva description seems to suggest that these are being routed
on a shuttle eva, so will the shuttle be able to use station power or not?

Lastly, on the rcc problem. Looks like an aging problem but then again, they
have apparently had a few on earlier missions. Its not surprising to me that
at the edge of a formed component that the packing density is lower than on
the body of the material. I'm not sure why this was apparently surprising.
One would have thought extra insulation would be built in to compensate.

Brian