II “Jules Verne”-First Human Rated Spacecraft
Whether the water delivered to the Jules Verne was in compliance with NASA or Russian State Space Agency Roscomos really did not matter as they both are similar in standards as far as quality but not mineral consistency, but the decision to carry only the Russian water type from Italy was made by the ISS partners.
The main difference in the water types are certain amounts of minerals in the water—Roscosmos standards prefer with with certain amounts of calcium, magnesium, fluoride, and disinfection with silver obtained via electrolysis. On the other hand according to the ESA website, NASA potable standard requires a water with a low dry residue, similar to the type produced through “reverse electrolysis process” by fuel cells on the NASA space shuttle, and that of disinfection with iodine.
Purging and the replacement of pure synthesized air occurs when the ATVs pressurized module is closed and sealed. The purpose is to make sure when the astronauts unload the cargo the air will be clean and free from particles, bacteria, microbes, and the off-gassing that could result from the transfer. Here on Earth windows are opened and clean air is routed through-out stuffy areas, but on the ISS and space vehicles the climate is routinely checked and balanced.
The off-gassing sounds like something unimportant, but it is serious due to the fact cargo objects put out odors and odorless gasses that have the ability to endanger the environment of the cabin. Because of this, the air inside the pressurized module is regularly analyzed until it launches by ESA, NAS, and the Institut Pasteur experts. This analyzation will check to make sure the air quality isnot altered by the cargo’s off-gassing, then mixed with the atmosphere of the Space Station once it arrives.
Now that the year 2008 is officially here, the Jules Verne ATV has been transferred to the restricted propellant area in the zone of building S5-G, with the cargo vessel being transferred during the first days of February to a different site for integration atop a special Ariane 5 launcher. The scheduled flight on the Ariane for launching and maiden voyage to the International Space Station will occur in February of 2008.
This entry was posted on Saturday, December 1st, 2007 at 5:04 pm and is filed under Space Agency News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
