What fun! I am so pleased to be able to run a skills course. I am teaching Physics through the medium of Modern Foreign Languages and communication. We have just watched some of Apollo 13.
While the lunar module had enough spare oxygen to accommodate Swigert as well as the intended lunar module crew of Lovell and Haise, carbon dioxide was beginning to build up. Normally lithium hydroxide (LiOH) canisters absorbed the gas from the air and prevented it from reaching dangerous levels, but the canisters on-board the Aquarius were being overwhelmed. The Odyssey had more than enough spare LiOH canisters on-board, but these canisters were square and couldn’t fit into the holes intended for the lunar modules’ round canisters.
Mission control needed a way to put a square peg into a round hole. Fortunately, as with the lunar module activation sequence, somebody was ahead of the game.
Ed Smylie, one of the engineers who developed and tested life support systems for NASA, had recognized that carbon dioxide was going to be a problem as soon as he heard the lunar module was being pressed into service after the explosion.
For two days straight since then, his team had worked on how to jury-rig the Odyssey’s canisters to the Aquarius’s life support system. Now, using materials known to be available on-board the spacecraft–a sock, a plastic bag, the cover of a flight manual, lots of duct tape, and so on–the crew assembled Smylie’s strange contraption and taped it into place. Carbon dioxide levels immediately began to fall into the safe range. Mission control had served up another miracle.
I have 20 students across two rooms. The only means of communication is through Edmodo messenger. One group have a model in front of them, the other are having to build the model from instructions given over the internet.
The frustration on both sides is evident. Caps com has changed hands several times as different people type and give the orders (flight director). I am desperate to go and see what is happening downstairs. I’ve used the phone twice, once to check the students were logged on (a massive delay between switching on and getting logged on). The instructions given weren’t always as clear as caps com thought. The second time was to tell them time was up and to bring up the models to compare.
Just couldn’t wait to see the models, and by all accounts both teams did a brilliant job. I must find another course to fit this into. It is excellent for showing communication, frustration, team work, and all manner of other soft skills.
And the winning team was….
Cassini!
Well done to you all. I had fun, I hope you did too, and I learned so much!
