ISS fissures will begin to spread over time

falkor

Active Member
according to Marc Bennetts article in THE TIMES on Friday ..... a burning smell incident occurred on the ISS on Thursday.
But what caught my attention, was the assertion by former Cosmonaut Solovyov (in that article) that superficial fissures had been discovered on the ISS. The ISS was built in 1998 and at that time designed with a 15 year lifespan. Solovyov continued that 'the fissures will begin to spread over time.'
Well , I am sure that many a classic Rover going through an MOT has brought to light a "superficial fissure" and that this very event sparked an MOT failure necessitating a welding job of £100s to lay it to rest. No doubt that welding 250 miles above the Earth, is too hazardous to contemplate, that would definitely bring on a major case of a burning smell, so is that why the ISS was deemed to have only a 15 year lifespan? Solovyov said that 80% of the inflight systems were passed their expiry date, so we've got dodgy inflight systems and superficial fissures on an "ageing space platform" 250 miles up, what could go wrong?

I cant help but think we all have 80% of our inflight systems on our classic cars passed their sell by date, but we have gravity (and the AA) that's the difference.
Back in the 1970s the MET POLICE revered their fleet of P6 Rovers so much so that as the end of the line approached in 1977, they stockpiled so many in warehouses that we ended up with S reg P6 Rovers hurtling around London , not with a 15 year lifespan, more like 15 months as anything with 40,000 on the clock went to the Police Car Auctions , they were the days
 

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Hi, Harvey, any idea on the amount you broke down?

Police ones, probably about 2 or 3 a week over a period of about 6 months, and I should think over the same time frame a couple of hundred P6 models of all types, with the odd P5B thrown in for good measure. Some Police patrol cars were good enough to sell, as were most of the "Q" cars, which didn't have the holes in the roof and the zips in the headlinings, but by far most of them had hard frontal damage, and one that was hit hard up the rear, which caught fire in the yard because the damage prevented us getting the tank out when we got at it with the Oxy.. Happy Days.
 
Police ones, probably about 2 or 3 a week over a period of about 6 months, and I should think over the same time frame a couple of hundred P6 models of all types, with the odd P5B thrown in for good measure. Some Police patrol cars were good enough to sell, as were most of the "Q" cars, which didn't have the holes in the roof and the zips in the headlinings, but by far most of them had hard frontal damage, and one that was hit hard up the rear, which caught fire in the yard because the damage prevented us getting the tank out when we got at it with the Oxy.. Happy Days.

Hi, Thanks, it seems a shame now but it was the realities of life at the time. I did nowhere as near the numbers as you, probably 18 or 20, some for the engines for LR fitment or other projects or for use and spares for my fleet at the time which were cheap daily drivers.

Colin
 
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