Chance Beaty

Adam Biewer
Case Study 1: Mir

1. In your group, make a rough diagram of the Mir base block and the Spektr module and
indicate the volumes of each (for the purposes of the case study, it doesn’t matter that
there were other modules attached to the base block as long as you account for their
contributions to the total air volume).

The Mir space station had a total volume of 350 m​3​ and the Spektr module had a volume of 62
m​3​. Connecting the two modules was a hatch with a diameter of 1 m.

2. Using the analysis of problem 1.22 and the data provided above, develop a formula for
determining the area A of the hull breach in the Spektr module. Express your formula
only in terms of the known data and the thermodynamic constants. Assume that the
temperature during the effusion event remained roughly constant at T=300K.

Utilizing the effusion equation given in the textbook on page 14:

We can integrate both sides, separating variables, and get the result that

From the ideal gas law, we can show that the ratio of pressures and number of molecules at the
start of the event and 14 minutes into the event when the hatch was sealed are proportional.
And since we know the pressures at the beginning (760 mmHg) and at the end (693 mmHg) of
the event, we know the number of particles at the end as 693/760 that of the number of particles
at the beginning. Plugging these numbers into the equation, we can solve for the area of the
hole.

3. Setup a calculation for the hull breach are (in cm​2​). For the data given, what is the
diameter of the hole in the Spektr module?

We find that the hole has an area of 2.62 cm​2​.

This would result in a circular hole with a diameter of 1.83 cm.

4. The event report and subsequent interviews suggest that the crew had difficulty closing
the 1.0m diameter hatch on the Spektr-side of the node by pulling it shut against the
escaping air. Use your spreadsheet to determine the initial force on the hatch.

If we assume that the number of particles colliding with the door is equal to the number that
would be leaving the space station through the hole, then we can find a force by solving for the
change in momentum of the air molecules through elastic collisions with the hatch over a
change in time. The change in momentum would be equal to twice the momentum of the
particles in the x-direction.

We know DN/Dt from the textbook, and the only unknown in the equation is the initial number of
particles. This can be found by solving the Ideal Gas Equation for N.

The velocity of the particles in the x-direction is found by equating the thermal energy to kinetic
energy.

This can also be conveniently substituted into the equation for the initial force to get us an
equation:
The initial force on the hatch from escaping air molecules would be roughly 7,850 N. An
average human is capable of pushing with about 1000 N, and a professional boxer can punch
with about 5000 N. Thus, it would have been incredibly difficult for the hatch to be closed under
these conditions.

5. When a hatch cover in the base module was located and pushed into the hatch, sealing,
it, the Spektr module continued to depressurize. Use your spreadsheet to calculate how
long it took for the module to depressurize to vacuum (assume this time is roughly given
by the characteristic time tau where tau is defined in problem 1.22). What force is
exerted on the hatch cover when the Spektr module is completely depressurized and the
base module has been brought back to STP?

The characteristic time is calculated from the formula in problem 1.22 as:

For the Spektr module, tau is about 1600 s (26.8 minutes).

The force on the hatch due to standard pressure from the Mir module would end up being
derived in much the same way as before, except instead of looking at the change in particles
over time, we would look at the amount of time it would take for particles to travel from one end
of the space station and back again. This can be found by calculating the approximate length of
the Mir station from the area of the hatch, and the total volume of the remaining capsules
available to the crew.

The force on the hatch comes out to be 15,700 N.

6. After the accident, the engineering ground response team estimated that the crew had
longer 18 minutes to address the situation, but not much longer. Using your spreadsheet
model, estimate how long the crew would have survived before suffocating if the hatch
had not been sealed. In aviation and space physiology, the time of useful consciousness
(TUC) is an estimate of the rime a resting, healthy person can remain conscious at
 various altitudes and pressures. Such tables are easily found on the web and you should
use this data as a resource in addressing this question.

The table for time of useful consciousness given by the FAA (2003) has values of 30 minutes for
the TUC at 5500 m. This altitude corresponds to a pressure of roughly 50% that of the starting
pressure of the Mir station. Looking at the graph we made in the spreadsheet of pressure vs
time (in minutes), it would have taken Mir about 100 minutes to reach 50% pressure, which is
about when the 30 minute TUC measure would start to be important. Given this fact, it is likely
that the astronauts would have had around 100 minutes for TUC, as the depressurization would
have started affecting them sooner than at the 100 minute mark.

7. It took 14 minutes to seal the hatch. Had the hull breach been larger, the crew might not
have survived. A post-accident analysis resulted in several recommendations for future
station protocols. One such recommendations, was that all cables passing between
modules should have quick-connect fittings to allow easy disconnections in an
emergency hatch closure. Investigators also discussed the survivability of such events
under different atmospheric concentrations of O​2​. Had the partial pressure of O​2​ been
higher than 20% would the crew have had a longer time to address the problem? What
additional complications would have resulted had this been the case?

Biologically you’d have more energy as more oxygen would lead to an increased amount of
circulation of the blood, and because more oxygen is reaching your lungs the time of survival
would be slightly longer. However, increased levels of oxygen can create unstable ions that can
cause serious damage with a long exposure. Also, by having more oxygen in the air, the
likelihood of a fire would increase, and fires in space are already bad enough.

Reference

Operations of Aircraft at Altitudes Above 25,000 ft MSL and/or Mach Numbers (MMO) Greater
Than .75. Federal Aviation Administration. (January 2, 2003). Retrieved form
https://www.faa.gov/pilots/training/airman_education/media/AC%2061-107A.pdf