Hawking III

Introduction

The Hawking III is the latest OCESS spacecraft to be built. After Spacesim's move to a new room of 440 Albert in 2008-09, a new Habitat was required and constructed. This new craft was christened the Hawking III, following the tradition of former Habitats.

History

Previous Habitats

Main article: Habitat

Previous Habitats were the Hawking, constructed in the early 1990's, and the Hawking II, built after the 2001 move to the 440 Albert Street Administrative Centre. The Hawking was designed to be collapsible, while the Hawking II was a permanent structure.

Missions

The Hawking III's first mission was Genesis 2009 to the moon Iapetus, conducted in the 2008-2009 school year. The mission launched several days late, due to unpreparedness of the Hab, its systems, and other various ground systems. Despite this, the mission accomplished its goals and made evident the remaining issues with the new craft and room.

Its second mission will be in the 2009-2010 school year. The mission destinations are the Jovian moons Io, Ganymede, and Europa.

Design and Features

Structure

The Hawking III was the first Habitat to be constructed professionally, by a group contracted by the OCDSB. It is smaller than previous Habitats, and has a lower ceiling. The walls are made of drywall panels, metal studs, and plywood. The walls are double-layered, with a gap between panels of approximately four inches. The low ceiling and overall small design of the Hab give a cramped feeling and a more realistic impression of space travel.

The Hab consists of seven rooms: the Longhouse, the Kitchen/Interlock, the Control Room (or C&C), the Bathroom, the Hotlab, the Airlock/Decontamination Chamber, and the Engineering Closet. The Longhouse is the bunkroom, and has one wall that is inaccessible from the outside, due to it being up against the wall of the room. The Kitchen/Interlock is the main room of the Habitat, and connects all other rooms. It contains, as its name suggests, a kitchen area (including a wash basin, water supply, cupboards, a fridge, and food preparation equipment), a folding table, and stools. The Hotlab is, as in the previous Habitat, the area in which scientific experiments are performed. It contains a Hotbox with internal and external access for sample analysis. The Engineering Closet is a room housing access points to the Hab's mechanical systems. It is too small to be entered, but it can be accessed from the Interlock, the Control Room, and the external surface of the Habitat. The Airlock/Decontamination Chamber links the Hab to its outside environment. It functions as an airlock for EVAs and as a Decontamination Chamber to cleanse returning EVA astronauts of any potentially hazardous particles. The Control Room, also referred to as C&C, is where the astronauts perform their usual duties. It houses computers with the flight, engineering, environmental, and log softwares, as well as the communications station.