Bigelow Aerospace Launch!

[PB666]

Yeah, thats the problem with Multimeters, connections often give buggy signal.

I saw some struts, they are released. The proximal side inflated a bit, so thats not a hold back. it looks like the distal side has not, a little heating cooling may get it going.

It might be that something inside just stuck.

[dino1984]

Force solutions are best! They should hit it with some decent amount of air so it would overcome any obstructions

 

 

[kerbiloid]

But first:

Spoiler

 

[PB666]

28 minutes ago, dino1984 said:

Force solutions are best! They should hit it with some decent amount of air so it would overcome any obstructions

The problem is that if you introduce too much pressure you might get what in plumbing would be called a water hammer. The momentum of the expanding device could exceed tolerances.

The other problem is that if you a hidden retainer that is stuck and 2 or 3 others are not stuck there is flex perpindicular the desired axis of movement, this may prevent the retainer from being released at a later point.

One option is to have the engineer suit up, close the door to the interface module, drop the pressure in the module to 23.5, have him open the door and see if he can find what is sticking, maybe manually kick it lose.

I don't know enough about the pressure doors in the ISS to know if that is possible.

EDIT: maybe someone at Bigelow had a piece of chewing gum they needed a place to put,

Edited May 26, 2016 by PB666

[kerbiloid]

Or fire a cigarette and watch where the smoke flows.

[PB666]

6 minutes ago, kerbiloid said:

Or fire a cigarette and watch where the smoke flows.

I don't think a cigarette would light at the pressure they are working at right now. In any case astronauts probably didn't bring that along, and could not light up in an EVA anyway.

 

[kerbiloid]

It's a pity.
Maybe, they have tablets of Hydroperitum in their medicine box, but unlikely they have photographic fixer for their digital camera.
Next inflatable module should include all this.

[PB666]

23 minutes ago, kerbiloid said:

It's a pity.
Maybe, they have tablets of Hydroperitum in their medicine box, but unlikely they have photographic fixer for their digital camera.
Next inflatable module should include all this.

Next time they shouldn't wait 7 weeks. 

Edited May 26, 2016 by PB666

[Robotengineer]

I hope they don't blow it.

This mission lends itself to so many puns and bad jokes.

[Kerbart]

6 minutes ago, Robotengineer said:

I hope they don't blow it.

Especially since the expectations are rather inflated!

[Kerbart]

So far it's been a fairly flat performance...

(Oh yeah, I can do this aaaaaall day long...)

[tater]

*groan*  

[Frybert]

33 minutes ago, Kerbart said:

So far it's been a fairly flat performance...

(Oh yeah, I can do this aaaaaall day long...)

[insert_name]

Bigelow's ego is going to be deflated 

[PB666]

Well, they are live again. 

[SuperFastJellyfish]

Never would I have imagined that someday I'd be watching a room-sized balloon try to inflate in space while drinking my morning tea.  It's interesting where life takes you. 

[PB666]

Its definitely inflating now, the first fold has swelled up with an ever so slight tilt downward. Thursday its hard to tell. 

Under the fold are stop straps, like tape, ther are ever so slowly pulling off, looks like, allowing the first fold and half to rotate up. 

Edited May 28, 2016 by PB666

[PB666]

Its pressure drops about 5 to 10 times faster after each pump burst, than thursday and they are gaing an inch every few minutes in length.

 

Moving out faster now.

Edited May 28, 2016 by PB666

[Kerbart]

Word on the street is that Bigelow is trying to expand their presence on the ISS.

(bada-bing!)

[PB666]

Well they we went video feed dark because of the orbit, they put operations on hold, and it looks like they are about to resume in 4 minutes or so. 

[tater]

http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html#public

The imperial overlay on the video is triggering me, lol.

Edited May 28, 2016 by tater

[PB666]

Well they are back sort of, the quality of the feed is sporadic. 

Edit: well its over until 16:40 UTC, i believe. 

Summary. 

Thursday the pushed out to about 6 inches, 5 with new pressure and 1 more with latent pressure. The highest pressure was about 23 mm

This morning they opened with about 19 mm, it then rapidly dropped and it moved out to about 10 inches rather quickly, This opened out the first rib-  major fold

With several pumps it moved out to about 17 inches. I went video dark for at least 30 minutes

Once back they pulsed a few times and brought it to 23.  This time we see the second rib separating from the third and is starting to inflate. The bursts get shorter and the equilibration tine is quick. 

 

 

Edited May 28, 2016 by PB666

[tater]

Yeah, looking much better. I think they are just using a surplus of caution, NASA-style.

There was a great post on nasaspaceflight by a guy saying that NASA can make anything boring, lol.

[Kerbart]

You have to admit that the whole event is a bit blown up in their reporting.

[PB666]

Some low res snapshots for prosperity's sake. Its about halfway and a bit.

2 hours ago, tater said:

Yeah, looking much better. I think they are just using a surplus of caution, NASA-style.

There was a great post on nasaspaceflight by a guy saying that NASA can make anything boring, lol.

It looks like the third fold is just starting to pull away from the forth, the tension is dropping and pressure is reflective  ~ 13.5 about half of the peak on thursday. 

Edited May 28, 2016 by PB666