Sound In Space.

[Steven]

Why is it you can hear Alan Bean hammering on a metal core sample but not the astronauts working on the ISS? I understand in each case the astronauts are carrying with them a source of atmosphere for the sound to travel through but I don't believe I've ever 'heard' the astronauts work on the ISS.

 

[MCriscione]

I'd venture a guess that it's a mix of 'there isn't too much hard hammering on the ISS', cause reaction forces would be awful, and the fact that 'modern' space suits are a fair bit less stiff than their predecessors. The Apollo A7L suit arms had a lot more 'hard' components that would transmit vibrations more readily than the Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) suits used in more modern times.

 

[jadebox]

I think you're right. It took some force to hammer those tubes in for core samples. Things tend to be much more subtle on the space station as they were on the shuttle.

Remember when Mike Massimino had to rip that handle off of the instrument on the Hubble. That was a big deal near all that sensitive hardware and I don't think it was anything close to the force used to drive in the core sampler.

https://soundcloud.com/tags/space%20sound

-- Roger

 

[Steven]

I would like to know if there are any recordings of them working on the OUTSIDE in space itself. Do you hear any hand tools being used: drills, tapping sounds, anything?

 

[jadebox]

I would like to know if there are any recordings of them working on the OUTSIDE in space itself. Do you hear any hand tools being used: drills, tapping sounds, anything?

I just looked at some of the Hubble repair mission videos. You can only hear things from the astronaut's microphones when they are talking, so you can't really hear when they are using tools or working.

-- Roger

 

[Steven]

The reason I'm bringing this up is there is (wait for it).......another moon hoax nut who believes one can't hear ANYTHING on the moon yet in low earth orbit silence from the crew working on the ISS during extravehicular activities. I'm looking for an explanation for the silence on the low earth orbit missions, why one doesn't hear anything like we did on the moon. They are using the silence as "proof" the landings never occurred. In other words TWO similar sets of circumstances where in one instance you hear sound, in the other you don't so this is apparently being misconstrued (again) as a misstep on behalf of NASA who didn't 'catch' the mistake the first time. You know how these arguments go.

 

[dhbarr]

Pearls before swine, wrestling with pigs, playing chess with a pigeon: you can't reason someone out of a position they didn't reason themselves into.

Let me be clear: discounting both rhetoric and the scientific method is the literal definition of unreasonable.

Think about rockets instead!

 

[Incongruent]

Reminds me of something:

[YOUTUBE]R13BD8qKeTg[/YOUTUBE]

The related part is near the end but the beginning provides context.

 

[Steven]

I still need the reason why we don't hear anything from anyone in space it self besides verbal sounds.

 

[Incongruent]

I still need the reason why we don't hear anything from anyone in space it self besides verbal sounds.

If you mean from the ISS, I would say because machinery not specifically meant to create sound making loud noises is generally an indication that parts are getting worn down and thus the wearing of material is what would create machinery noises. Where a kilogram of material costs upward of a thousand dollars to bring, wear and tear is not recommended.

I hope I explained well enough to be understandable.

 

[Steven]

I was referring to actual work on the outside being done using tools.

 

[modeltrains]

Comments here are interesting https://youtu.be/qlO7rJKGJ6s

Spacewalk Sights and Sounds Captured By GoPro | Video
Published on Apr 15, 2015
NASA astronaut Terry Virts took a GoPro camera with him on an Extra Vehicular Activity (EVA) outside the International Space Station on February 25th, 2015. The spacewalk was necessary to prepare the Space Station for the installation of two International Docking Adapters.

No Place Like Home A Blog by Nadia Drake
A Behind-the-Scenes Look at That Amazing GoPro Footage From Space
Posted Tue, 04/14/2015
https://phenomena.nationalgeographi...ook-at-that-amazing-gopro-footage-from-space/

After sifting through the spacescapes, we were curious about a few things. For example, what’s the source of the sound in the videos? Sound waves can’t travel in a vacuum, but there’s a persistent humming and clanking accompanying both spacewalks. NASA’s spacewalk teams say they believe that is the sound of the spacesuit’s fan, which circulates air and also drives the water pump and water separator. “The camera was mounted to the mini-workstation which is mounted to the suit. So, the vibrations just carried through the system,” NASA spokesperson Dan Huot relayed.

I can see where the conspiracy theorists could clain some of this is self-contradictory,
https://www.slate.com/blogs/quora/2013/10/14/what_sounds_do_astronauts_hear_during_a_spacewalk.html

 

[Rex R]

Never argue with an idiot...people might not be able to tell the difference. lets see, you need some way to transmit vibrations through the suit and to record those sounds. on the moon you had one hand holding the tool and another holding the 'hammer'. they were using 60s era radio equipment (and probably had the mic trigger level set to record low db sound levels. my guess is that the suit mic.s for the current suits are not as sensitive as the lunar suits.
Rex

 

[Marc_G]

I still need the reason why we don't hear anything from anyone in space it self besides verbal sounds.

I'm with Rex R. The microphones used are in the helmet and are optimized to pick up voices. Everything else is probably squelched out / filtered / shielded. Technology has improved over time.

 

[modeltrains]

And there's probably going to be less of it in the future; https://www.nasa.gov/topics/moonmars/features/hatsman.html

Rather than one boom microphone, the new integrated audio system uses an array of microphones — currently four, but the number could increase — that are located in front of where an astronaut's mouth is while inside the helmet. The integrated audio system features cutting-edge digital signal processing which helps the microphones overcome loss of fidelity on the outbound (speaking) part of the system.

The microphone array and associated signal processing are needed in the integrated audio system to overcome decreased sound quality. Sound quality can be negatively impacted because the microphones of the integrated audio system are positioned on the inside of the helmet — farther from an astronaut's mouth. This makes the microphones more susceptible to interference from noise created inside of the suit as well as noise from vibrations of the spacesuit structure.

The current technology development approach to solving these problems involves processing signals from each element in the array, known as Multi-Channel Noise Reduction. This new filtering approach features technology adapted from video teleconferencing systems. Advanced filters are used for each of the array's channels, and additional noise reduction is used to isolate the sound of speech.

 

[Steven]

Thanks everyone. You really did help me out with this question. Very interesting when one can sit down and actually have a CIVIL conversation with intelligent people who are interested in helping out. You've clearly got more knowledge than I about these issues and it pays to come here and listen to sound, reasonable views and answers. Kudos.

 

[MCriscione]

If you want to troll your personal 'nut' a bit, try throwing this tidbit at him. They weigh more when walking, driving, flying westward than when moving eastward. Check it out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHGKIzCcVa0&t=577s#t=14m24s

Loose weight fast, run east!