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THE WONDROUS BATSHIP
a closer look at NASA's International Space Station
The bat-like "ISS" is a truly spectacular space vessel which, at first look, instantly evokes
the science-fiction movies of our childhood. As NASA and ESA (
the European Space Agency) tell us, it has been gradually put together over
the years with parts delivered by
the Space Shuttles and
the Soyuz modules. It reportedly circles around
the Earth in low-orbit at an average speed of 27,700km/h and at an average altitude of 350km or so.
The valiant astronauts - we are told - perform perilous spacewalks to assemble, screw and bolt
the various parts together, be they solar panels, oxygen tanks, scientific equipment or whatnot. Here we have four pictures of what I will 'affectionately' call
the Batship - as released by NASA in recent years:
The most striking feature of
the ISS vessel are, of course, those 16 huge solar panels which - it seems - change color according to their orientation vis-à-vis
the sun (or for whatever other reason which I haven't yet learned). In fact, as any mere mortal unfamiliar with spaceships and lower-orbit travel, I felt initially quite belittled by this marvel of space technology and over-awed by its apparent architectural complexity. One detail, however, captured my unflinching curiosity - and I decided to give it a closer and proper look.
The 8 pairs of solar panels are held by a central 'pylon', an axial metal structure anchored on
the ISS. I was intrigued by their design and wished to learn more about those pylons.
The two below images are artists' impressions published by NASA and by
the Canadian Space Agency website. Presumably, such graphic artists know what they are doing, yet they evidently don't seem to agree on
the design/pattern of those pylons:
THE PYLON DESIGN according to the NASA artist:
THE PYLON DESIGN according to the CANADIAN SPACE AGENCY artist:
Oh well, I thought: artists' impressions are just what they are - only artist impressions. So I decided to look at '
the real things' and search for every available picture showing some good detail of those pylon designs. Below, I have posted 7 pictures from
the NASA 2009 - 2011 archives:
SOLAR PANEL PYLON model 1:
SOLAR PANEL PYLON model 2:
SOLAR PANEL PYLON model 3:
SOLAR PANEL PYLON model 4:
SOLAR PANEL PYLON model 5:
SOLAR PANEL PYLON model 6:
SOLAR PANEL PYLON model 7:
My obvious question would be: do they actually periodically
replace/substitute those huge pylons - for some unfathomable reason?
Perhaps
the Russian and American female-astronauts have an aesthetic feud going on - a bit like your wife and daughter squabbling about
the type of curtain to be hung in
the living room? To be sure, it appears this squabble is an ongoing one: one day it is won by
the Americans - and
the next by
the Russians - back and forth!
To return in serious mode: my overwhelming impression is that these pictures of
the ISS are nothing but CGI constructs. But this feeling of mine is now expounded - for everyone to assess with their best intutition and judgment.