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MYSTERY IN SPACE

 
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Gord Green
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PostPosted: Tue Sep 04, 2018 2:21 pm    Post subject: MYSTERY IN SPACE Reply with quote

https://www.yahoo.com/news/hole-international-space-station-caused-drill-not-meteorite-132934282.html

From Yahoo News :

Last week, astronauts aboard the International Space Station woke to an alarm warning them of a pretty serious situation. The space station was losing pressure, which means a leak had formed somewhere on the spacecraft. With a finite amount of breathable air, the race was on to find the location of the leak and do something to fix it.

It wasn’t long before a tiny hole was discovered in the Russian-built Soyuz spacecraft docked to the space station. The tiny opening was thought to be the result of damage from a micrometeorite, which isn’t unheard of, and the crew quickly came up with a plan to repair it.

Now, days later, Russian space agency Roscosmos says the hole wasn’t made by Mother Nature, but by a person with a drill, and tensions are high.

The images of the hole are pretty damning. It doesn’t look much like the result of a fast-moving space rock, and certainly appears to be drilled. There even appears to be marks on the paint-covered metal from where a drill bounced along the surface before finding purchase and slicing its way through.



So, who did it?


SPOILER ALERT!






As ScienceAlert reports, this whodunit has taken a seriously wild turn over the past day or two. No, this isn’t a Clue-like scenario where one of the six members of the current ISS crew is the baddie; Roscosmos believes the hole was drilled in the spacecraft prior to it ever leaving Earth, and they’re searching for the individual in the manufacturing process who is responsible for it.

Multiple unnamed sources have spoken with Russian media outlet RIA Novosti and hinted that an internal investigation at the corporation that builds the spacecraft, Energia, has already yielded results.

According to those sources, the person has been identified and apparently explained that the hole was drilled by accident and not with malicious intent. A fabric seal was placed over the hole to hide the mistake, and it lasted a couple of months before eventually breaking open in space.

No word yet on what kind of punishment, if any, the individual will suffer, but sending a manned spacecraft into the sky with a hole in the side is obviously a pretty serious misstep.

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Custer
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Joined: 22 Aug 2015
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PostPosted: Tue Sep 04, 2018 2:36 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Until we got to the Spoiler part, my money was on a sniper on the moon...

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Gord Green
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PostPosted: Tue Sep 04, 2018 4:16 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Love that cover Custer!

I wonder if this incident may speed up the use of the Boeing and Space-X space taxis ?

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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Tue Sep 04, 2018 5:14 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

Gentlemen, I love your posts!

Gord, your announcement about this intriguing development is the kind of thing that makes writers hyperventilate! I had story ideas ricocheting around in my skull before I was halfway through your first post!

Custer, your jpeg of the wonderful comic cover was like catnip to my imagination! At that point I had to breath into a paper bag to keep from fainting!

What a great idea for murder mystery! Drill a hole in a spacecraft's hull, cover it with material that will eventually deteriorate, and never be suspect of the crime when it happens much later after all the astronauts are dead!

Murder on the Martian Express!

Agatha Christie, eat your hear out, Honey! Very Happy

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orzel-w
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PostPosted: Tue Sep 04, 2018 7:16 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Bud Brewster wrote:
What a great idea for murder mystery! Drill a hole in a spacecraft's hull, cover it with material that will eventually deteriorate, and never be suspect of the crime when it happens much later after all the astronauts are dead!

Plus, far easier to pull off than the method you proposed in the Gravity thread.
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Custer
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Joined: 22 Aug 2015
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PostPosted: Wed Sep 05, 2018 7:49 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

With the thread title, I couldn't resist searching for an appropriate comics cover... and of course, a laser beam, or similar, would be very easy to direct, particularly if there was no atmosphere around.

This was the puncture when an astronaut had to do a "little Dutch boy puts finger in dike" emergency repair, while a proper patch was found? With a capsule or rocket that will be spending a lengthy period in space, maliciously making a hole and filling it with something that would deteriorate over time would be a simple way to sabotage things, certainly, and much harder to detect than any sort of explosive or mechanical device.
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Gord Green
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PostPosted: Wed Sep 05, 2018 6:31 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

https://www.engadget.com/2018/09/05/iss-drill-hole-nasa-roscosmos-sabotage/?yptr=yahoo

AN UPDATE :

Last Thursday, NASA informed the public that there was an air pressure leak aboard the International Space Station. It was extremely small and posed no immediate danger to astronauts. Flight controllers worked with the astronauts to determine that there was what appeared to be a drill hole aboard an attached Soyuz capsule that the astronauts attempted to patch. Now, the Russians are investigating sabotage as a possibility.

The hole was about 2 mm in diameter and is located in an upper section of the Soyuz capsule. This part of the spacecraft does not return to Earth, and thus the issue poses no danger to the astronauts who will be using it at the end of their missions. Astronauts Alexander Gerst plugged the hole with his finger before tape was brought in for a temporary fix. The hole was then patched and the crew and flight control are monitoring to make sure no more air is escaping.

The first assumption for the cause of the hole was a MMOD, or micro meteoroid or orbital debris strike -- a chance accident. However, it then appeared that the issue was actually a hole from a drill, presumably a mistake that was patched up quickly (and shoddily) by whoever made it. Now, Dmitry Rogozin, the chief of Roscomos, Russia's space agency, has said that Russia hasn't ruled out sabotage.

According to AFP, Rogozin suspects this wasn't just an accidental drill puncture. "There were several attempts at drilling," he said, adding that the hand holding the drill was clearly "wavering." While it's likely that whatever happened occurred on the ground, Rogozin hasn't ruled out that someone aboard the ISS did the deed. It could also be a production defect.

It seems incredibly unlikely that an astronaut would take a drill to a spacecraft, but the entire thing is just bizarre from beginning to end. Whether it's a defect, deliberate sabotage or something else entirely, it will be interesting to see how this investigation unfolds. It's as yet unclear whether this will affect the launch of the next Soyuz, scheduled to occur on October 11th.


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Gord Green
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PostPosted: Thu Sep 13, 2018 4:27 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

UPDATE :

MOSCOW (AP) — The Russian space agency's chief has talked to his NASA counterpart about a mysterious leak at the International Space Station, Roscosmos said Thursday.

The agency said that its director Dmitry Rogozin informed NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine about the Russian probe into the leak that was spotted last month in the Russian Soyuz spacecraft docked at the station. The crew of three Americans, two Russians and a German quickly located and sealed the tiny hole that created a slight loss of pressure.

Roscosmos added that Rogozin and Bridenstine agreed Wednesday to refrain from any preliminary statements on the matter until the end of the official investigation.

Rogozin has previously said that the hole could have been drilled during manufacturing or while in orbit, a statement that has raised some consternation.

Without specifically mentioning Rogozin, Russia's Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borisov on Wednesday sternly warned against speculations that the crew could be responsible for making the hole. "It's absolutely unacceptable to cast a shadow on Russian cosmonauts or American astronauts," Borisov said.

Rogozin himself then changed course, saying in a Facebook post that "spreading rumors and speculation about what happened on the International Space Station doesn't help Roscosmos experts' work and undermines the friendly atmosphere in the crew."

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Gord Green
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 04, 2018 1:26 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

The saga over who or what caused the damage has taken a number of strange turns, and Russian space agency Roscosmos just issued a statement that adds yet another wrinkle. A commission investigating the incident has determined that the hole wasn’t drilled by accident, meaning that it was indeed intentional sabotage, but by who?

In a statement yesterday the head of Roscosmos declared that the hole was intentional damage caused by someone during the manufacturing process. It was not, as had been proposed, a defect or the result of some type of accident.

“It concluded that a manufacturing defect had been ruled out which is important to establish the truth,” Dmitry Rogozin, the Roscosmos boss said. “Where it was made will be established by a second commission, which is at work now.”

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Gord Green
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PostPosted: Sat Dec 29, 2018 1:51 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Roscosmos chief Dmitry Rogozin said in September the hole could have been drilled when the capsule was manufactured or in orbit. Rogozin stopped short of blaming crew members, but the statement has caused some friction between Roscosmos and NASA.

Some reports even suggested that Russians believed the hole had been intentionally drilled to allow Nasa astronauts to return back to Earth. Rogozin has since back-pedaled from the statement, blaming the news media for twisting his words.

Prokopyev scoffed at the idea the hole could have been drilled by an astronaut, saying, "You shouldn't think so badly of our crew."

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