The Multimeter of choice for NASA aboard the ISS is the Fluke 87! - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: coldreactor
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: May 26, 2016, 11:56:29 am
content: I was watching the BEAM expansion this morning and noticed they had an interesting setup, two Fluke 87's! I thought I'd share a photo of this with you guys!

author: jolshefsky
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: May 26, 2016, 12:42:42 pm
content: Whenever I see stuff brought to space, I think, "isn't it important to make that lighter?" I can understand their choice of such Flukes (bulletproof reliability) but they are pretty heavy. At least they left the rubberized yellow bits on good old terra firma.

author: botcrusher
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: May 26, 2016, 12:45:45 pm
content: Well, It isn't exactly about to fall anywhere bow is it?

author: dannyf
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 26, 2016, 12:55:27 pm
content: RadioShack hookup wire scotch taped together. Wow, those. Guys do need more funding.Is the fluke radiationhardeneed?

author: rrinker
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 26, 2016, 01:05:10 pm
content: It looks like the tape is simply holding labels on, not actually covering a connection.

author: coldreactor
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: May 26, 2016, 01:15:54 pm
content: Ya, I think it's just labels for the astronauts so they can inventory everything

author: Kjelt
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 26, 2016, 01:22:42 pm
content: Our latest astronaut Andre Kuipers is giving talks/show in theaters and I visited. It was very eyeopening, stuff we take for granted are not in space, like there is no floor or ceiling just 4 walls with equipment everywhere, so there is no orientation you just float. Sleeping, the first week is difficult since you miss the pressure of a bed, you are used of being supported by a bed, there in space you can sleep everywhere and anywhere but to prevent you from drifting away they stick you in a closetFire? Biggest problem you can have, nothing to stop it since it can go anywhere. Water, same problem, washing your face, you can drown in the 0,4cm watersurface on top of your face etc. etc.So yeah tape and that sort of things are very valuable to make sure the stuff you left somewhere yesterday is still there and you do not have to go look for it. In the air filters they find unbelievable (also gross) stuff, he showed some examples and everything that is floating gets stuck in that filter.

author: Nerull
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 28, 2016, 06:26:26 am
content: Quote from: jolshefsky on May 26, 2016, 12:42:42 pmWeight isn't always super important, at least not to the point where they're counting grams. They're not pushing the limits of the rockets they're using for resupply - they have a weight budget but there is no real reason to keep weight to the minimum possible so long as you're under it. For example, the CRS-8 mission delivered 6,914 lb of cargo to the ISS, but could carry up to 7300lb. When the shuttle was still flying and used for crew supply missions, it was massively underloaded - the last shuttle mission to the ISS delivered a new module and was still 10 metric tons under max payload.