Spyderco Forums

With all this talk of a new space corp I wonder if companies will develope a knife for use in space.
****. Russia supposedly devolpoed a pistol for their astronaughts.
Spyderco also mentions "astronaught" as one of the professions the Autononmy 2 would be perfect for.
Hmmmmm.

But what would a space knife look like?
Wouldn't a auto knife or out the front knife be impractical because they could go flying into space/spaceship when opened?
I don't think a gravity knife would work In space for obvious reasons.
Fixed blade doesn't seem practical either.

Would some type of flipper be the best choice?

Coatings for such a knife would also be a interesting subject

you mean this?
:p

ThePeacent wrote: ↑

Thu Jun 28, 2018 8:00 am

you mean this?
:p

Haha.
I saw that a few weeks ago.
It caught my attention at first.
Was that a official Spyderco release?
Or is it some custom themed knife?
The "NASA" part looks dremeled in.

Let's get serious. :)

I don't know about the NASA Knife,
what I know is that there was a special custom order from Emerson knives for a folder to be carried into space, and astronauts did indeed carry and use them there

https://emersonknives.com/uncategorized ... s-space-2/

I also know that the Soyuz capsules carried a serrated sawback machete, like the Spetsnaz ones you see today, and many countries carried swiss Army Knives in their Space missions.

Also, I know that two Leatherman Wave tools were carried into the ISS by an astronaut born in Portland, OR (where Leatherman was born and were their factory is), and that they made it back to Earth after the Challenger's explosion

This might also be interesting to you

http://knifenews.com/knives-in-space/

@ThePeacent

It's amazing to see humankind bringing one of its most basic primitive terrestrial tools into the cosmos

But what I would really like to see is a dedicated knife designed from the ground up for space use.

I might have to add a Emerson space knife to the collection
That $550 Randell space knife looks awesome!
Might have to add that one to my secret buy list

I vote for the plastic delica that way we have a knife as useful as the space Corp.

SF Native wrote: ↑

Thu Jun 28, 2018 9:07 am

I vote for the plastic delica that way we have a knife as useful as the space Corp.

Zing! Lol

Actually tho. Russia and China have had a space corp for awhile now.

Were the ones playing catch up.

Maybe we have some secret satellites in space as well.
But Russia and China very clearly already have a small fleet of satellite hunting satellites in space.

The air forces super secret space plane is thought to possibly be a response to those satellite hunters
So a space force/corp would make sense.

Or maybe we should just sit back and do nothing while Russian and China actively militarize space.

The Space Corps is a good idea. However, dragging out feet about going to Mars is not. We should have already been there and the Space Corps could have been providing protection. A lot of people at NASA wanted to go to Mars in the 1970's and I think we could have been there by 1985, but politics got in the way.

If you're talking about something that would be used in conjunction with an EVA suit, it would need the following characteristics:

-fixed blade
-light weight
-high edge retention and toughness
-Able to withstand temperature extremes without the blade becoming brittle or soft, or the handle material cracking
-No cobalt in the blade steel (cobalt captures neutrons, emits beta and gamma radiation and turns into nickel)
-No Kydex sheaths (it becomes brittle at low arctic temps, and would shatter like glass at space temps)

Moving parts seriously complicate things when you have to deal with microgravity, extreme temperatures and heavy astronaut gloves. Fine dexterity is impossible in an EVA suit.

If it's just something to be used inside a space station or other environments where an EVA suit is unnecessary, pretty much any knife will work just fine.

Doc Dan wrote: ↑

Thu Jun 28, 2018 10:01 am

The Space Corps is a good idea. However, dragging out feet about going to Mars is not. We should have already been there and the Space Corps could have been providing protection. A lot of people at NASA wanted to go to Mars in the 1970's and I think we could have been there by 1985, but politics got in the way.

Providing protection from who??!! As as scientist who’s actually funded by NASA to try to get us to Mars, I hate to burst your bubble that we’re still not ready to go and we definitely were not in the past either. This goofy Space Force idea has nothing to do with interplanetary travel at this point, and also completely blindsided both DOD and NASA (in his true “style”).

What chores and functions might this space knife have to perform?

sal

sal wrote: ↑

Thu Jun 28, 2018 10:23 am

What chores and functions might this space knife have to perform?

-Breaking down cardboard boxes
-The knife trick from Aliens

sal wrote: ↑

Thu Jun 28, 2018 10:23 am

What chores and functions might this space knife have to perform?

sal

We need to talk to the space commander in chief.

sal wrote: ↑

Thu Jun 28, 2018 10:23 am

What chores and functions might this space knife have to perform?

sal

I'm not sure what a astronaughts daily activities are.
But I'm thinking it would have to be light weight.
Full tang might add a lot of extra weight.
Blunt tip would probably be a plus considering some parts of a space craft/suit are very thin.
Black finish would absorb too much heat.
Mirror finish would reflect too muck light.
Not good in space.
Some sort of Gold finish maybe.


Videos of knives actually used in space showed them being used for food prep.
And being designed to be able to pry open doors
But I would assume cutting everyday material used in space would be it's main use.
Cutting nylon straps, ropes, other synthetic light weight tethering materials

Fascinating thread. This discussion reminds me of the Tom Sachs edition of the Endura: https://www.tomsachs.org/item/nasa-knife.

Not sure what specific duties a knife would serve in space, aside from emergency/utility applications such as opening MREs, cutting bandages, etc. The movie "The Martian" with Matt Damon comes to mind, when he used his knife to cut his cosmic-grown potatoes. (I believe he used a Victorinox folding knife in the movie).

On a side note, if I recall correctly, LC200N (a.k.a. Cronidur 30 or later ZiFiNit) was initially used by NASA to make components for space craft construction thanks to its strength and corrosion and rust-resistant properties.

SpyderNut wrote: ↑

Thu Jun 28, 2018 11:01 am

Fascinating thread. This discussion reminds me of the Tom Sachs edition of the Endura: https://www.tomsachs.org/item/nasa-knife.

Not sure what specific duties a knife would serve in space, aside from emergency/utility applications such as opening MREs, cutting bandages, etc. The movie "The Martian" with Matt Damon comes to mind, when he used his knife to cut his cosmic-grown potatoes. (I believe he used a Victorinox folding knife in the movie).

On a side note, if I recall correctly, LC200N (a.k.a. Cronidur 30 or later ZiFiNit) was initially used by NASA to make components for space craft construction thanks to its strength and corrosion and rust-resistant properties.

Retracted, it was indeed a Victorinox.

Delete this please, double post.

The possibility of getting cut while in space for an extended time sounds terrible, actually. Do they actually send astronauts up with sharp knives? I know that (many years ago) I read an article where they mentioned that the stove wouldn't get hot enough to inflict real burns, and the astronauts got pre-school style scissors to limit cuts.

Accutron wrote: ↑

Thu Jun 28, 2018 10:06 am

-No cobalt in the blade steel (cobalt captures neutrons, emits beta and gamma radiation and turns into nickel)

You are confusing Cobalt 59, the natural, by far the most abundant and only stable cobalt isotope, with Cobalt 60, a synthetic radioactive isotope that has the property you mentioned. The cobalt extracted from ore used in knives is safe to use in high radiation environments.