Two Astronauts Practice Shuttle Repairs (NASA Tool Time! caulk guns,putty knives and foam brushes)

AP on Yahoo ^ | 7/30/05 | Marcia Dunn - AP

[RandallFlagg]

I'm just copying this from an old post I made from another thread:

All known matter is surrounded by a kind of cloud of electrons. Electrons are electrically neutral. This is why my fingers are able to push down on these keys as I type: Like charges repel each other.

What if, through some collossal blunder of physics, the atoms of my fingers were surrounded by a cloud of positively charged electrons (Called Positrons)? My fingers would then pass through the keyboard, causing a shearing effect that would seperate the matter at the atomic level, and damaging the keyboard and my fingers.

If a controllable beam of positrons were to be emitted in a preset area and stream, it would pass through all known forms of matter. In fact, the only thing that would halt such a shearing effect would be another beam of positrons.

We are already able to make electrons pretty much do what we want (stunguns, Tesla Coils, etc.). How difficult would it be to do the same with positrons?

As a lifesaving tool, it would effortlessly cut through steel, concrete and anything else the user wished. As a weapon, it would bore holes through armor thicker than anything currently known. Anything made of atoms would be influenced by a positron beam.

That's the theory. Putting it in a package the size of a chrome flashlight, however.....

[Proud2BeRight]

Bondo! Fill those holes and smooth it out. Slap on some paint and it's ready for sale.

[my_pointy_head_is_sharp]

I'm pretty sure they were more surprised than we were.

That's not saying much for NASA. After the fuel gauge problem, I was expecting something else to go wrong. The shuttle is OLD. Way past its prime. I'm just glad the astronauts made it up there alive. Now let's hope they make it back alive.

You think the people at Nasa knew before watching the video from the tank camera that the foam would fall off?

It's happened before. The foam is an ongoing problem. They knew there was a strong possibility (or probability) that a chunk of foam would fall off and hit the shuttle. Yet they let the shuttle go up anyway. NASA said it was a "test flight". Why were they gambling with peoples' lives? The astronauts, you may have read, were disappointed (probably an understatement) to hear that the foam problem was still an issue. Did NASA just forget about the foam problem, or did they assure the astronauts that the problem didn't exist anymore? Either way, it was a bad decision to send up an aging shuttle with known problems. I can't imagine the stress of the astronauts on the return flight.

[Pessimist]

"It's about like pizza dough, like licorice-flavored pizza dough"..

What? He did he taste some?

Wonder how many $ this little science experiment cost me?

[RandallFlagg]

MMMMmmmm! Tile repair goo!

[BushCountry]

A complete overhaul of NASA is in order - with new people in decision-making capacities.

I don't agree at all. Space is never going going to be safe! It is a dangerous enterprise, let's face it and live with it. We have turned into a nation of cowards.

Over 20,000 people died making the Panama Canal. 4,900 died taking the beach on Normany. Over 620,000 people died in the Civil war. 112 men died during the construction of Hoover Dam.

Hell, we lose a couple brave souls taking a risk they knew in advance and we halt the space program for years and years... Thoughout history every human accomplishment and endeavor costs lives. The human we must never lose sight for "No greatness occurs without great risk."

[thecabal]

I'm no physicist, but I am an EE in training so YMMV...

Electrons are electrically neutral.

No, electrons have a negative charge. But you are right about like charges repelling.

I would think a stream of positrons interacting with electrons would cause a very energetic reaction as the pairs destroy each other. I don't believe they would just pass through normal matter as you are suggesting.

[tet68]

Once the repaired samples are back on Earth, engineers will analyze them to see how deep and how well the filler material penetrated.

None will be torched, however, to simulate the searing heat of re-entry. The spacewalkers had to skip the one sample intended for laboratory test-firing because they ran out of time.

YOu would have thought that one would have been FIRST on the list!

[I Drive Too Fast]

Ah yes, Duct tape with 1001 uses.

Repairing Space Shuttle Tiles - make that 1002 uses.

[359Henrie]

Not the twin screw seowulf?

[seowulf]

On the other hand, "If you can't be handsome, you might as well be handy."

Quando Omni Flunkus Moritati.