The Glastonbury Module
Given what gets left in tents at Glastonbury, I'm sure the Astronauts/Cosmonauts/new recruits will be sligthly wary entering that module in a few months time.
The International Space Station (ISS) grew by 16m3 on Saturday as the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM) was successfully inflated at the second attempt. Time-lapse images of the BEAM inflation. Pic: NASA TV Success: The ISS gains 16m3. Pic: NASA TV NASA Astronaut Jeff Williams spent around seven hours gradually …
Funnily enough they've thought of that. The outer layers are designed to provide radiation shielding as well as impact shielding for micro debris of the type you mention. This is one of the checks that I assume they will be carrying out while it's up there, assessing the proofiness of the proofing.
Since windows aren't very flexible, they have to dissipate all the energy of the said paint flec, almost workout moving (or move and break). Since the fabric of this is flexible, there is an opportunity to deform slightly without breaking. Comparte what a car body panel does, compared to a bullet-proof vest.
Comparte what a car body panel does, compared to a bullet-proof vest.
Surely you jest. Ayone who watches TV cop shows knows that car body panels easily stop machinegun bullets, while bullet-proof vests leave their wearers lying on the ground, badly bruised, from only a rifle shot...
Surely you jest. Ayone who watches TV cop shows knows that car body panels easily stop machinegun bullets, while bullet-proof vests leave their wearers lying on the ground, badly bruised, from only a rifle shot...
Doesn't a single bullet impact cause the whole vehicle to explode in a spectacular fireball?
Only if there are bad guys in the car. If its the good guys sheltering behind the car, they are fine. Unless of course they realize that the car is about to explode and then it will handily wait just long enough for them to sprint far enough away before exploding to give them the opportunity to make a heroic dive to safety (probably behind another car...).
What do you mean Action films are not documentaries?
At orbital impact speeds EVERYTHING is flexible and basically liquid like! The usual approach for satellites is two thin sheets, first one gets holed but the impact vaporises the (very small) projectile so it is stopped but makes a modest dent in the 2nd sheet due to the gas pressure. Big stuff and its game over though...
Since the fabric of this is flexible, there is an opportunity to deform slightly without breaking
As such an impact will dissipate a little energy from the foreign body, I imagine they could use the discarded BEAM to clean up some of the debris already in orbit...
Vic.
If a tiny fleck of paint can crack the window, I wouldn't like to spend any time inside it! Any object would simply go straight through - both envelope and occupant.
The BEAM module, like Bigelow's Genesis I and Genesis II before, has a multi-layered skin about 18 inches thick that includes micrometeorite and orbital debris (MMOD) armor. The basic principle is that of the Whipple shield and, as shown in the fifth picture on that Whipple shield link, there's been a considerable amount of development in inflatable structures armored against space debris. Not to mention nearly a decade of spaceflight experience with the Genesis demonstrators.
Since the fabric of this is flexible, there is an opportunity to deform slightly without breaking.
No, when impactor velocity exceeds about 1.5-2km/s, the impact occurs faster than the speed of sound in the materials. Impact happens too fast for a mechanical response in surrounding material to contribute, so all that matters is local interactions. Hence space armor attempts to provide a bumper layer to first evaporate an impactor, then give its evaporated remains room to disperse before hitting a tougher back layer. Or better yet, multiple layers - see the Whipple shield link I gave above.
A flexible armor might be handy for the aftermath and damping any vibrations that might bother the rest of the station, but it won't do much against debris moving as fast as orbital debris.
Yes bulletproof vests have flexible layers that remove the energy from a bullet or pellet to prevent penetration. Fabric-only bullet proof vests can protect against small calibre ammunition and shotgun pellets. They can't stop a high velocity projectile from a rifle. This is why the vests designed to stop armour piercing rounds have ceramic[1] as well as fabric layers.
The best bulletproof vests can stop bullets travelling at 800m/s.
Space junk impacts at an average of 10,000m/s.
KE = 0.5 mv^2
[1] i.e. hard, like glass.
i was watching the first attempt on NASA TV and he was being told to inflate it in one second bursts. It did seem to me that his definition of "one second" was somewhat quick and evidently mission control thought so too because the fourth or fifth "go" command contained the addendum " ... and make it a generous second".
...when struck by something sizable like a decent micro-meteor or bits of exploded Chinese satellite, does it compress comically, accompanied by the sound of someone squeezing an accordion hard?
And with that in mind, if we used these to connect various lengths of station together, especially the habitation sections... we could create the space-going equivalent of a bendy bus!
Actually, there are studies regarding the feasibility of human coitus in space. Which should surprise nobody. Well, if anything it should be much, much easier to roll away from the wet patch on the sheet.