Huston We Have A Problem! - SuitSat is Dead

After making 2 revolutions of the earth it appears that SuitSat has died a cold death. Most are reporting that the batteries froze as the space suit was not temperature controlled.

Unless by some miricale of the RF-Gods, this ones a washout.

Houston We Have a Problem!
James Hamelin, KC0RSW

Refs:
http://www.suitsat.org

 

Please remove this post

 

Must have been using an Icom 2720 and it "burned up"

 

I am laughing so loud that it`s starting to hurt What a waste of time and effort not to mention equipment...

 

Overcharged batteries, air leaks, strange banging noises, modules that will not be added leaving ISS to never be completed as planned ... who would've thought that this would happened?

Say it ain't so!

 

No;

Suitsat is not dead; but it is a failure.

 

I’ve come to accept the multitudinous spelling errors that appear on this site, but really, “Huston, we have a problem”? Doesn’t anyone proofread these things before they hit the front page?

 

Hey guys, why are you being so negative?

Consider this a lesson learned: We now know that we should work on regulating the temperature inside the suit next time we try something like this.

I can almost guarantee that those out there that are criticizing the failure of this experiment and complaining about a waste of tax dollars would be celebrating if the experiment HAD succeded.

So don't gripe about it.  This is just one failure-maybe next time we will succeed.

 

I wouldn't consider it a failure, since one of the objectives was to promote the space program, and students around the world did get excited about this.

 

It probably DID excite some youngsters until they found out suitsat more than anything else was no show..

 

That should have been a no-brainer from the start. The folks who fly high-altitude balloon experiments even know that you have to choose batteries that will stand up to extreme cold. There's no excuse for people with access to a space platform not to have considered this.

That said, it may have simply been something they couldn't do anything about within the constraints of the project. I'm disappointed, but I'm not going to get overly upset about it.

Josh KI4ITI

 

Exactly--

There are plenty of hams with both experience and practical know-how. The Space Cadets need to be reeled in.

 

I think it was a novel idea. It gave us something to get excited about, something that doesn't happen very often any more. Oh, well. So it failed! Who hasn't been huddled in their shack on a freezing winter day trying to put something together that ultimately didn't work? Chalk one up to experience here. Sometimes things fail. I can't get my HT to transmit more than a couple hours when it's 72 degrees and sunny! I would expect far less in space! And to those who gripe about our tax dollars being wasted on this one, consider this: Our tax dollars will be frivolously wasted no matter what. At least they were wasted on us this time and not some million dollar tea party for our senators!

Let's all bow our heads for SuitSat, SK

 

It's not like this was an Apollo 13 or a Challenger. At least lives weren't lost....just a few bits of electronics and an old suit.  How many radios does the average ham buy before they figure out what works best. Remember, science is about trial and error and learning from our mistakes!
R,
Mike W1BMB

 

I, for one, get tired of all the negitivity. Does anyone think that the first airplane built was a success? How about the first automobile? The first brain surgery, maybe? Stop complaining, it was fun and a lesson or lessons have been learned.

Gary n2vww