During the carbon dioxide crises, what was meant by "We need to invent a way to put a square peg in a round hole." ?
2006-10-29 08:11:33 · 4 answers · asked by JeSuSfReAk121 2 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
The command module was disabled. They were using the lem to survive. The carbon dioxide scruber in the lem used a round filter, but they only had filters for the command module carbon dioxide scrubber, which were square. Hence, they had to figure a way to fit the square filter into the round housing.
2006-10-29 08:16:56 · answer #1 · answered by tarl_cabot_2k 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Well, there was a difference between the CO2 scrubbing cannisters for the lander and the command module. The lander was the only one that had power and it had CO2 scrubbing cannisters that were round. The ones for the CM were box like (ala square) and also larger than the hole. The engineers had to find a way to make the square canister fit in the round opening.
The last source I give has good pictures.
2006-10-29 16:20:15 · answer #2 · answered by A.Mercer 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
That's a good example of the poor job the gov did standardizing contractors. Both the CM and Lander had the same specs but the contract was awarded to two different contractors with the results you now know.
It hasn't change that much since!
2006-10-29 20:27:27 · answer #3 · answered by Manny L 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
http://www.ghg.net/woodfill/Apollo_13_CO2_filter.htm
2006-10-29 16:37:07 · answer #4 · answered by Jazz 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋