Yes I'm aware. You'll notice my hardly coherent comment makes even less sense if you're not aware of the totality of the circumstances surrounding the pen/pencil story and the ludicrousness of Bear Grylls drinking his own urine. (Comparable to loose graphite shavings in a space station!)
This is a really cool development, but there is a certain slice of the population who have watched Bear Grylls who believe you can simply drink your own urine and it's good for you. Similar to how a certainly slice of the population truly believes the US Govt spent $1B developing a pen, while the Russians simply used a pencil.
The space pen was made completely privately, with completely private investment, by a pen company that saw on opportunity. They privately built a pen that would work in space, gave it to NASA for clout, and then sold to the public. They spent a few millions on it, not billions.
The Soviets bought a hundred of them a few years after. Because "Just use a pencil stupid" is incredibly stupid in fact. Lose graphite particles or scraps are a terrible thing to have in your space craft in zero gravity. They cost about $30 each in today's dollars.
Comments
This feels reminiscent of the American Billion Dollar Space Pen vs Russian Pencil.
Silly Americans, just drink urine! - Bear Grylls, probably.
Urban legend.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Pen#Uses_in_the_U.S._and...
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/fact-or-fiction-n...
Yes I'm aware. You'll notice my hardly coherent comment makes even less sense if you're not aware of the totality of the circumstances surrounding the pen/pencil story and the ludicrousness of Bear Grylls drinking his own urine. (Comparable to loose graphite shavings in a space station!)
This is a really cool development, but there is a certain slice of the population who have watched Bear Grylls who believe you can simply drink your own urine and it's good for you. Similar to how a certainly slice of the population truly believes the US Govt spent $1B developing a pen, while the Russians simply used a pencil.
The space pen was made completely privately, with completely private investment, by a pen company that saw on opportunity. They privately built a pen that would work in space, gave it to NASA for clout, and then sold to the public. They spent a few millions on it, not billions.
The Soviets bought a hundred of them a few years after. Because "Just use a pencil stupid" is incredibly stupid in fact. Lose graphite particles or scraps are a terrible thing to have in your space craft in zero gravity. They cost about $30 each in today's dollars.
Didn't the soviets use at least grease pencils? No graphite in them, just non-conductive wax.
Or a biro? Don't they work by capillary action rather than gravity?
Yes. The only advantage of the "space pen" is that it works upside down. Ballpoint pens work fine in microgravity, but not directly inverted.