Apollo Discussions > The Reality of Apollo

Apollo 13 questions

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bknight:

--- Quote from: JayUtah on July 20, 2021, 10:26:50 AM ---
--- Quote from: bknight on July 18, 2021, 01:44:10 PM ---If the ground power was configured to 28 vdc would there have been any likely errors to an including the venting of O2 through the bent valve?

--- End quote ---

No.  The thermostat would have functioned as expected and prevented the heater from baking the tank.

Ironically the plethora of voltages used in the spacecraft and launch vehicle and the likelihood of human error in operating GSE connections was what motivated standardizing GSE DC voltage to 60 and validating the entire spacecraft to accept that voltage for direct DC connections.  It's not clear from my reading that the GSE could even have been configured to supply a lesser voltage.

--- End quote ---
Were the changes substantial to the spacecraft?

JayUtah:

--- Quote from: bknight on July 24, 2021, 02:20:35 PM ---Were the changes substantial to the spacecraft?

--- End quote ---

Not really, because as I go back to the original documents I discover my memory isn't correct.  The GSE was still able to supply a variety of voltages, both AC and DC, including the nominal 28 VDC that the tank's original design assumed.  So had they used 28 volts instead of 65 (not 60) volts to accelerate the detanking, they would have been fine.  Not all spacecraft systems were upgraded to 65 volts.  The possibility that a misconfigured GSE power supply could silently damage the spacecraft remained a serious concern, but the problem was addressed by changes both to the spacecraft systems and to the GSE, whichever was more straightforward in each case.

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