Photo: Vast
The deep dark space that surrounds our planet is utterly dead and quiet. Knowing this we Earth-based humans tend to believe that our peers travelling up there are surrounded inside their ships or space stations by the same darkness and quietness. But the reality is far different, as spaceships can be very noisy places, and not for the reasons you might think.
Ever since humans have taken to the skies beyond our atmosphere, their ships and orbital habitats have been equipped with fans. A lot of them, actually, as they're needed to keep within reasonable temperature operating margins a great deal of equipment. It is these fans, especially the ones used in the Environmental Control and Life Support System ventilation systems, that are the loudest.
How loud? Well, consider the fact these fans are noisy enough to interfere with human conversation, they can overcome the noise of some alarms, and they definitely impact astronauts' sleep. In the most extreme of cases, spacecraft fan noise can even lead to hearing loss, especially when exposed to it for long periods of time.
For years now NASA has been trying to come up with a fan design that is quieter than the current systems, but it is only now, when the International Space Station (ISS) is about to be retired and a small army of private habitats are in the works, that the space agency decided it's time to accelerate the pace of research.
Enter the Quiet Space Fan, a piece of hardware that may be deployed on ISS (if the tech gets here by the end of the decade, that is), the Orion spacecraft and subsequent designs and, above all, the many private space stations that are on their way.
The Quiet Space Fan presented in October traces its roots to a system developed all the way back in 2009, when a prototype was built at the Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio. Initially the tech was meant to be used in aircraft turbofan engines, but evolved into something that could make its way into spacecraft.
The 2009 prototype used a special design, flow rate, and pressure rise to deliver up to ten decibels less than similar-sized commercial off-the-shelf fan systems available at the time. The hardware was large enough to be able to provide enough air flow for a van.
Building on that, NASA recently created a larger version of it, which delivers twice the flow rate and pressure rise, and it is capable of delivering airflow for a structure the size of a house.
The specifics of the technology were not detailed, but NASA said further research will be conducted to ensure that high performance standards are maintained and noise levels lowered even further. The plan is to share the technology with the developers of private space stations, whose future occupants would enjoy a much quieter environment.
How loud? Well, consider the fact these fans are noisy enough to interfere with human conversation, they can overcome the noise of some alarms, and they definitely impact astronauts' sleep. In the most extreme of cases, spacecraft fan noise can even lead to hearing loss, especially when exposed to it for long periods of time.
For years now NASA has been trying to come up with a fan design that is quieter than the current systems, but it is only now, when the International Space Station (ISS) is about to be retired and a small army of private habitats are in the works, that the space agency decided it's time to accelerate the pace of research.
Enter the Quiet Space Fan, a piece of hardware that may be deployed on ISS (if the tech gets here by the end of the decade, that is), the Orion spacecraft and subsequent designs and, above all, the many private space stations that are on their way.
The Quiet Space Fan presented in October traces its roots to a system developed all the way back in 2009, when a prototype was built at the Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio. Initially the tech was meant to be used in aircraft turbofan engines, but evolved into something that could make its way into spacecraft.
The 2009 prototype used a special design, flow rate, and pressure rise to deliver up to ten decibels less than similar-sized commercial off-the-shelf fan systems available at the time. The hardware was large enough to be able to provide enough air flow for a van.
Building on that, NASA recently created a larger version of it, which delivers twice the flow rate and pressure rise, and it is capable of delivering airflow for a structure the size of a house.
The specifics of the technology were not detailed, but NASA said further research will be conducted to ensure that high performance standards are maintained and noise levels lowered even further. The plan is to share the technology with the developers of private space stations, whose future occupants would enjoy a much quieter environment.
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