In case you've not heard enough about them yet, let me tell you: We
didn't finish with the waste trays back at Ames Research Center. They
were still not installed in the cages. So Sunday, knowing that we at NeurOn
had a special interest in habitats, Chris Barreras invited me to join
them in the lab at O&C to take the next step with the RAHF cages: attach
the waste trays. Since a picture is worth a thousand words, let me share
the process of sealing the waste tray in place in pictures. Can you remember
why this process is so crucial?
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Planning is the name of the game! Looking over the task at hand
and the procedures described in the documentation, the team tries
to determine the best way to attch the task. |
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Frank using a practice cage goes through the process based on the
decisions made above while someone from Quality Assurance looks on. |
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Shahn then sets up to record all of the data as the team walks through
the process on the 24 cages. He's very careful to record the number
on the cage, the number on the waste tray, and the weight of the waste
tray. |
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Once the numbers are confirmed, the waste tray is inserted into
the cage by Clint down the runners. A foodbar holder is put in place
for the following test. |
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The cage was then inserted into an air flow control machine. They
called it Delta checking and test to see if the cage leaks. |
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The machine is turned on and the air pressure is increased slowly
until a silver ball in the verticle guage is at a certain level. At
that point, a reading is taken and if it falls within the required
parameters, the cage is considered ready to be sealed. |
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While all of this is going on, Chris Barreras is carefully weighing
and mixing the RTV sealant. We dubbed him the Master Mixer. The sealant
is a redish orange mixture of two agents and is pretty hard to work
with. |
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He loads it into a syringe trying to eliminate all of the air bubbles
and hands it off to Frank. |
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Frank then squeezed out a bead of sealant (sort of like caulking
a bathtub) all the way around the seam. It took several cages to perfect
his form, but pretty soon he was spreading it evenly, no drips, and
even ending with a bit of a flair. |
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Those who have been following this process from the beginning with
Lorenzo back at Ames Research Center know that the sealant needs to
cure for 24 hours, so we loaded them into their garages again. Who
took that picture? I can't have taken it, I'm in it! |
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This is what the waste tray looks like completely installed. Did
you know that if the mission is scrubbed, I'm going to have to help
take these back out and clean them? I have to ask myself now if I
really wanted to become this acquainted with the process after all! |
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The relief of having finished shows as Chris, Shahn and Frank ham
it up showing off half of the installed waste trays. We ran out of
space and had to move the other rack's worth to another lab. |
