back to article NASA duo plan Tuesday ISS spacewalk to replace the mux that sux

An external comms box on the International Space Station has failed, leading NASA to schedule its first unscheduled spacewalk since 2015. After a software upgrade in March, a multiplexer/demultiplexer (MDM) data relay on the S0 truss failed on Saturday, so command routing is being handled by a backup unit for now. According …

  1. tfewster
    Facepalm

    Uh-oh

    Not the AE-35 unit. We know how this plays out.

    1. Zog_but_not_the_first
      Happy

      Re: Uh-oh

      Dam you tfewster. That was my first thought.

      1. Bandikoto

        Re: Uh-oh

        It was everyone's first thought.

        1. Martin Summers Silver badge

          Re: Uh-oh

          "It was everyone's first thought."

          It wasn't mine. I had to Google it. And now I feel ashamed...

          1. John Brown (no body) Silver badge
            Thumb Up

            Re: Uh-oh

            "It wasn't mine. I had to Google it. And now I feel ashamed..."

            In your defence, the film was premièred 50 years ago (as of next year) so most of the commtariet probably weren't even born when it first did the cinema circuit.

            How many of you, like me, now feel REALLY OLD! ;-)

  2. AJ MacLeod

    Unscheduled?

    Maybe it's just too early on a Monday morning, but I'm struggling to grasp the concept of a scheduled unscheduled spacewalk...

    1. Doctor Syntax Silver badge

      Re: Unscheduled?

      "I'm struggling to grasp the concept of a scheduled unscheduled spacewalk"

      Yup. Bernard Woolley wants a word with Richard.

    2. Francis Boyle Silver badge

      Re: Unscheduled?

      Sounds like something Captain Kirk would say to a computer he really didn't like.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Kirk....

        Especially if it implies later helping a woman to get out her space suite...

    3. lglethal Silver badge
      Boffin

      Re: Unscheduled?

      Shall i be that numpty that explains? Why not.

      Spacewalks are planned months in advance. Even if something fails, unless its truly mission critical, you would normally just wait until the next planned spacewalk to fix it.

      This is obviously something they consider very critical. They're willing to go out and fix it pretty much ASAP, which tells you all you need to know about that.

      Also, It takes time to get everything ready for a spacewalk, so thats why they can say "we will go out Tuesday", so yeah its planned (to an extent) but this is not part of the advance schedule, so its not a scheduled spacewalk.

      Probably whats most amazing for me here is that its been 2 years since the last time something rated as critical failed (and even then there are backups). Thats pretty damn good reliability, in whats probably the most demanding environment, we have! Big ups to all the space agencies involved!

      1. allthecoolshortnamesweretaken
        Pint

        Re: Unscheduled?

        Pretty sure the majority of the commentariat knows this. But this is something you just have to see the funny side of. I think it's even stated in the rules somewhere. Why don't we all just have a pint and relax, and toast our colleagues in spaaace?

        1. Doctor Syntax Silver badge

          Re: Unscheduled?

          "Why don't we all just have a pint and relax, and toast our colleagues in spaaace?"

          I'll drink to that.

      2. Named coward

        Re: Unscheduled?

        Considering it takes hours to put on the suit, an unscheduled spacewalk is not something one would want to contemplate...

        1. Robert Helpmann??
          Childcatcher

          Re: Unscheduled?

          ...an unscheduled spacewalk is not something one would want to contemplate...

          Yeah. Watch that first step: it's a doozy!

  3. RyokuMas
    Joke

    Letters, not numbers

    Wonder if they originally intended to call it "MDM-A", then someone wait "waaaaaiiit a minute!"

  4. What? Me worry?
    Boffin

    Opportunity for an On Call article?

    Not sure if it's 'dodgy' enough, but it is unscheduled! Perhaps Simon can ask Commander Whitson for an On Call Friday rundown of the spacewalk to replace the MUX. That's one I'd definitely look forward to for a friday afternoon read!

    1. allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

      Re: Opportunity for an On Call article?

      Yes!

      El Reg, please go for it! I'll promise not to nit pick on at least three articles. Okay, five.

  5. DocJames
    Pint

    Obligatory

    https://xkcd.com/705/

    Icon for afterwards. Best not before.

  6. Fizzle
    Alien

    Lithium Overload

    Obviously the latest upgrade drew too much power and fried the battery. "On Earth as it is in space..."

    Thumbs up to the intrepid travellers though.

  7. imanidiot Silver badge

    Just another day in the office?

    Have they fixed the second cooling and power umbilical yet? Last spacewalk one of them was leaking, causing the spacewalk to be cut short.

    1. Doctor Syntax Silver badge

      Re: Just another day in the office?

      "Have they fixed the second cooling and power umbilical yet?"

      Gaffer tape to the rescue.

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Joke

    I just wonder...

    ... why they install this stuff outside and not inside. Looks like a sadistic way to tell astronauts, "please, go out for a while and fix this..."

  9. handleoclast
    Coat

    The cause is obvious

    The clues are in the article. They did a firmware upgrade. Some time later it failed.

    It was obviously a Netgear MDM. The firmware upgrade installed data slurping (MAC, IP, and similar technical data) and the data overload borked it.

  10. Charles E

    Open the pod bay doors, Hal.

    I've just picked up a fault in the AE-35 unit. It is going to go 100 percent failure within 72 hours.

  11. The_H

    Expenses...

    If it's a 2hr spacewalk, I'm thinking the mileage claim from the workshop to the job site is going to be a little on the high side

  12. hatti

    Make sure the part is for the correct year, make, model and registration of space station otherwise mounting brackets may not align. :(

  13. Johndoe888

    Intel Outside

    Just a guess, could it be LPC clock outputs in the Atom C2000 chips

  14. Trigonoceps occipitalis

    Why?

    Haven't they switched it off then on?

  15. Pedigree-Pete
    Pint

    You'd think it would be like watching paint dry.....

    ...but I watched the Spacewalk on NASA TV and I for 1 enjoyed it. Have one of these team at Gnd Control and up there.. PP

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