Space Welding
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Space welding. Since then other astronauts have conducted welding experiments using many different welding methods. In space mechanical problems in early satellites were sometimes attributed to cold welding. The russians were the first to explore welding in zero gravity and or in a vacuum.
Despite the advancement of welding technology and its role in extraterrestrial emergencies the best way to prevent problems is to avoid them in the first place. Welding in space can be used to assemble large spacecraft and orbital stations repair spacecraft equipment and produce materials and articles with special properties that cannot be obtained on earth. In 2009 the european space agency published a peer reviewed paper detailing why cold welding is a significant issue that spacecraft designers need to carefully consider.
Boeing s gore weld tool is one of several advanced friction stir welding tools used by nasa to produce the space launch system the largest most powerful rocket booster ever built. In space metals can weld together without heat or melting. As reported by the sydney morning herald the russian cosmonaut valery kubasov was the first person to attempt vacuum welding in space in the 1960s as part of the preparations to build the first world space station salyut 1.