Astronauts and LEDs

The_LED_Museum · Dec 28, 2001

Found this interesting item in my e-mail this mornning, from somebody working with the International Space Station project.

"BTW, A lot of NASA guys love your site. I have heard that some of the Astronauts have chosen their personal equipment to take into orbit based on your evaluations.

The Shuttle Remote Maneuvering System (SRMS) "robotic arm" uses donut shaped arrays with a bunch of LED's for the illuminators and current redesigns are in certification testing to change out the payload bay lights with LED arrays."

I checked the weblogs, and sure enough I get a lot of hits out of various NASA installations, including the Johnson Space Center and other installations. But to think that astronauts are using my writeups to choose which lights they take into space, that is something else!

lightlover · Dec 28, 2001

That is so cool*, it's SPOOKY !!

lightlover

*( @-273.15°C, +3°C for the "warmth" of Sunlight.)

Lonewolf · Dec 28, 2001

Telephony way to go now the whole world will realize your talents.

DArklite · Dec 28, 2001

Congrats Craig!

I think they should sign you on a future mission so you can scrutinize their space station setup first-hand.

sunspot · Dec 28, 2001

Hey Craig. Now you have to buy a vacuum chamber for The Punishment Zone.

Darell · Dec 28, 2001

I find that most of the hits on my sites come from federal prisons. Almost as cool, right?

The_LED_Museum · Dec 29, 2001

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR>Originally posted by phred:
Hey Craig. Now you have to buy a vacuum chamber for The Punishment Zone.

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I wonder where I'd put something like that.
I'm already looking at some major work after the holidays to install the ProMetric in a better location without the use of a grossly oversized shoe horn.

But it's definitely a thought to keep in mind should I find myself in larger quarters at some future time.

**DONOTDELETE** · Dec 29, 2001

A close friend of mine is a NASA Astronaut.

Maybe we can get him to take a CPF torch when he gets a shuttle mission assignment.

**DONOTDELETE** · Dec 29, 2001

Maybe it's the toilet information they are looking for....?

geepondy · Dec 29, 2001

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR>Originally posted by telephony:

I checked the weblogs, and sure enough I get a lot of hits out of various NASA installations, including the Johnson Space Center and other installations. But to think that astronauts are using my writeups to choose which lights they take into space, that is something else!

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Maybe NASA could hire you as an LED lighting expert consultant for these upcoming projects at a deserving high rate of pay. We've all heard the story of the government $50k toilet (is that really true?) so it could be a real possibility.

Gransee · Dec 29, 2001

Awhile back I got the following email (I omitted any indentifing names, etc):

Peter,

I work for [omitted] in [omitted]. I am a senior staff engineer for the [omitted] launch vehicle program and am responsible for the development and implementation of our on-board video systems among other things. So far, we have only had two launches with on-board video cameras but we have a few more in work.

My question has to do with lighting for the video cameras. To date we have used two 20 watt halogen lamps mounted side by side near the camera. This gives us adequate (but not great) lighting so I am looking to improve the light output. The problem with halogen bulbs is that they are very susceptible to vibration and shock. They also are hot in a vacuum. Boeing uses HID lights for their rocket cams and I have considered using them, but I have some concerns about EMI with them (I don't have any data to show that there would be an EMI problem, just a concern). They also require 15 Vdc and our main vehicle batteries put out 28 Vdc.

Which brings me to LED lights. I have been looking at LED lights as an option because it seems like they would be much more rugged under vibration and shock as well as perhaps cooler. Would you be able to answer a few questions for me?

1. Do you know of a chart that compares the performance parameters of Halogen, HID, the Nichia LED, and the Luxeon Lumiled?

2. I am trying to figure out how many LEDs we would need. Is there a rule of thumb on foot candles or lumens per watt or some other way of getting a handle on the requirement? The camera we are using (a Sony XC-999) is rated as 4.5 to 2000 lux (0.4 to 185 foot candles).

By the way, I got your name from the Candle Power Forum. I am not a member, I was just looking on the internet for information. If you can help me I would appreciate it. I could also call you if that was more convenient than email. I am at [omitted].

Thanks,
[omitted]

Being a rocket buff, I was pretty excited about helping him so I left vmail and sent him an email recommending using an array of Luxeon Stars.

Never heard back from him after that.

Peter Gransee

**DONOTDELETE** · Jan 2, 2002

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR>Originally posted by darell:
I find that most of the hits on my sites come from federal prisons. Almost as cool, right?

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

LOL

That's funny!

Eric

Darell · Jan 3, 2002

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR>Originally posted by Red Baron:
LOL

That's funny!
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Yeah, well. Kidding of course, but it is amazing to watch your site traffic sometimes. It'll ebb and flow drastically. One guy finds your site, and it spreads like wildfire for a while...then dies away for a bit. I did seem to have some prison interest in a motorycycle riding suit I had for sale a short while ago

- Darell

Astronauts and LEDs

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