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How 3-D Printing Could Revolutionize Life in Space

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When the first 3-D printer designed to work in weightlessness is sent up to the International Space Station, as early as next week, it will mark one small step toward a giant leap for manufacturing in outer space.

"Imagine if you're going to Mars, and instead of packing along 20,000 spare parts, you pack along a few kilograms of 'ink,'" NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman said in a video recorded in March before starting his stint on the station. "Now you don't even need to know what part is going to break. You can just print out that part. ... I really like that, and it'll be fun to play with that in orbit."

3-D printers already have started a revolution on Earth: The devices deliver precisely aimed squirts of plastic or metal to build up shapes in accordance with a preprogrammed design, to make objects ranging from customized action figures to prosthetic arms. Some machines have price points that are less than $1,000.

But building a 3-D printer to work in space is something else. In the weightlessness of space, all the machinery and the plumbing have to work differently. That's been the focus for a Silicon Valley venture called Made In Space, which built the machine destined for the space station.

"Believe it or not, the actual extruding of the plastic onto itself does work in zero-G," Brad Kohlenberg, the company's business development engineer, told NBC News. "But you could have a problem with the belts and gears that are used to control the positioning of the apparatus. You want to make sure those don't float in zero-G."

Made In Space has received more than $825,000 from NASA, plus a lot of help from the space agency's engineers, to get this demonstration off the ground. "NASA has been wanting to grow the area of in-space manufacturing," NASA project manager Niki Werkheiser said in a video. She said the space station will serve as a test bed for 3-D printing technologies that could be applied to deep-space exploration.

During ground testing, Made In Space's printer has fabricated 3-D-printed tools that could have come in handy for NASA's past "MacGyver" moments including the duct-tape air filter that saved Apollo 13's astronauts in 1970, and the modified toothbrush tool that spacewalkers used when they fixed the space station's power system two years ago.

Kohlenberg said the printer could be employed for future fix-it tasks. "There could be a situation where you don't have just the right tool lying around, and you have to makeshift a solution," he said. Engineers on the ground could come up with the design for a spare part or a new kind of tool, and upload it to the station for manufacturing.

Made In Space's 3-D printer was prepared for its mission with the help of NASA experts, and it's due to go up to the International Space Station on a SpaceX Dragon resupply flight.

The demonstration printer is ready for delivery during SpaceX's next Dragon resupply mission, which is scheduled for launch on Sept. 19. It's capable of producing plastic objects measuring up to 5 by 10 by 5 centimeters (2 by 4 by 2 inches), over the course of 15 minutes to an hour.

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How 3-D Printing Could Revolutionize Life in Space

3 Space Station Astronauts Return to Earth

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Three space station astronauts are back on Earth.

An American and two Russians landed early Thursday in Kazakhstan after 5 months aboard the International Space Station. They returned in a Russian Soyuz capsule that parachuted down through a clear sky. NASA reported that everything went well; the crewmen smiled and chatted as they were helped out of their spacecraft.

NASA astronaut Steven Swanson and Russian crewmen Oleg Artemiev and Alexander Skvortsov flew to the orbiting outpost in March. Their departure leaves three men still up there: an American, Russian and German.

"We had a lot of fun," Swanson said before heading home.

Noted German astronaut Alexander Gerst, who remained in orbit: "Elvis has left the building." He made the comment via Twitter, posting a photo of all six spacemen with the collars of their blue flight suits turned up, Elvis-style. Swanson posed with a ukulele before checking out.

Americans will be hitching rides to the space station via Russian vessels for at least another few years.

Sometime this month, NASA expects to announce which U.S. companies it will fund for this astronaut taxi service. The goal is to launch Americans from U.S. soil again by the end of 2017.

The Russian Space Agency will launch a fresh three-person crew on Sept. 25. That crew will include a Russian woman, a rarity in space travel. Elena Serova will become only the fourth Russian woman to fly in space and the first in nearly two decades.

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3 Space Station Astronauts Return to Earth

On Space Station, Earth's Beauty Is In The Eye Of The High Definition Beholder

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September 9, 2014

Image Caption: A view of Earth from one of the High Definition Earth Viewing cameras aboard the International Space Station. Credit: NASA

Laura Nilesm International Space Station Program Science Office and Public Affairs Office, NASAs Johnson Space Center

A series of new Earth science instruments launching to the International Space Station over the next year is prompting a new era of Earth observation from the orbiting outpost. These new tools that monitor ocean winds and measure clouds and pollution in the atmosphere, among other climate science phenomena, will help NASA deliver important information to climate researchers.

[ Watch the Video: Space Station Live: High Definition Earth Viewing ]

While these new Earth science instruments collect valuable information on our changing planet, one current Earth observation study continuously streams live views of Earth directly to your desktop or mobile internet device. The High Definition Earth Viewing (HDEV) investigation allows anyone with an internet connection to view our world from above. Tune in to the HDEV live stream here.

The HDEV project employs four commercially available cameras to stream the first continuous, high definition video from the space station. During the two-year study period, researchers hope to determine the best types of cameras to use on future missions by subjecting them to the harsh space environment. The cameras are enclosed in a temperature-specific case and mounted outside the Columbus laboratory to monitor how quickly they degrade during exposure to radiation in microgravity.

We know over time that the cameras will begin to degrade, said David Hornyak, engineer and HDEV project manager at NASAs Johnson Space Center in Houston. We will operate the cameras to determine how long it takes and to learn what that degradation characteristic looks like to provide information on the planning and design of future imagery systems. It is expected that the cameras will not just turn off, but they will have some type of image degradation and at some point, that degradation will be bad enough that the image is no longer useful.

With the use of commercially available cameras, the research team also hopes to validate cameras that may be more cost-effective for future missions. If a camera is readily available on Earth and proves to hold up well in space, purchasing this type of camera would likely be cheaper than designing a new product.

By using four different types of cameras, each has a different type of technology to analyze for what works best in space. Once a week, the project team uses an automated software program to compare pixels on night imagery taken by the cameras to assess the deterioration of each camera. The pixels are easier to see and compare in dark images than in those with objects and multiple colors included.

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On Space Station, Earth's Beauty Is In The Eye Of The High Definition Beholder

Space Station to Get 1st Female Russian Crewmember This Month

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A Russian cosmonaut is poised to make a bit of history this when she launches to the International Space Station this month, even if she considers the mission a routine spaceflight.

When cosmonaut Elena Serova launches to the station on Sept. 25 with two other crewmates, she will become the International Space Station's first-ever female Russian crewmember and only the fourth female cosmonaut to reach space. She'll also be the first female Russian cosmonaut to fly in the 17 years since cosmonaut Yelena Kondakova's STS-84 space shuttle mission in May 1997.

But Serova, 38, said she doesn't see her mission any differently than that of a male cosmonaut.

"I wouldn't say I am doing more ... than what my colleagues are doing," she said in translated remarks during a preflight briefing at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston in July. [Women in Space: A Gallery of Firsts]

Serova pointed out that women have gone into space before, and that her focus is on fulfilling her assigned duties as a flight engineer.

"I want to perform my job really well," she said.

In 1963, Russia (then part of the Soviet Union) was the first nation to fly a woman in space, sending Valentina Tereshkova aloft in June of that year on a mission that lasted nearly three days in Earth orbit.

Svetlana Savitskaya was the second Soviet female cosmonaut, making two flights into space in 1982 and 1984 and staying aboard the Salyut 7 space station. She also was the first female to peform a spacewalk.

The United States didn't send its first woman to space until 1983, when Sally Ride blasted off. Dozens of women from the United States and other nations have flown since, but only one other from Russia: Kondakova. She made two trips to the Mir space station, in 1994 (on a Soyuz capsule) and 1997 (on a space shuttle).

Serova has said she's been fascinated by space since childhood, and that she always felt visiting the final frontier was possible. "The door to space was opened to all women by Valentina Tereshkova," she said in a NASA interview.

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Space Station to Get 1st Female Russian Crewmember This Month

Minecraft Space Station Challenge Pack #1 | A Space Adventure… – Minecraft Mod Pack Survival – Video

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Minecraft Space Station Challenge Pack #1 | A Space Adventure... - Minecraft Mod Pack Survival
LET #39;S GET THAT 6000 LIKES for more SSCP [ SSCP ] Its the challenge of space, The final frontier, You look up there every night you sleep, thinking about your house.. Up there! explore...

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Minecraft Space Station Challenge Pack #1 | A Space Adventure... - Minecraft Mod Pack Survival - Video

Future Space Station Crew to Participate in NASA TV Briefing, Media Interviews

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A crewlaunching to the International Space Station in the near future, which includes NASA astronaut Terry Virts, will participate in a news conference and media interviews Thursday, Sept. 18, at the agency's Johnson Space Center in Houston. The news conference will air live on NASA Television at 2 p.m. EDT.

Virts, Samantha Cristoforetti of the European Space Agency, and Anton Shkaplerov of the Russian Federal Space Agency will launch to the space station Nov. 23 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan aboard a Soyuz spacecraft.

Reporters who wish to participate by telephone must call Johnson's newsroom at 281-483-5111 no later than 1:45 p.m. Those following the briefing on social media may ask questions using the hashtag #askNASA.

Video of the crew training will air before the news conference at 1:30 p.m.

After the news conference, interview opportunities with individual crew members will be available for media participating in person, by phone or online. To request credentials to attend in person, or to reserve an interview opportunity, media must contact Johnson's newsroom at 281-483-5111 by 5 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 16.

Virts, Cristoforetti and Shkaplerov will serve as flight engineers for Expedition 42 until March, at which time Virts will assume command of Expedition 43. The trio is scheduled to return to Earth in May 2015.

A colonel in the U.S. Air Force, Virts grew up in Baltimore. He is a graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and Harvard Business School. As an Air Force pilot, Virts flew the F-16 aircraft, and served as an experimental test pilot at Edwards Air Force Base in Edwards, California. He has accumulated 4,300 flight hours in more than 40 different aircraft.

Virts joined NASA in 2000 and served as pilot for space shuttle Endeavour's STS-130 mission to the space station in February 2010. The flight delivered the Tranquility module and the cupola to the station. Tranquility now is the life-support hub of the space station, containing exercise equipment, and water recycling and environmental control systems, while the cupola provides a panoramic view of our planet and affords crews a direct view of station robotic operations. To date, Virts has logged 13 days and 18 hours of spaceflight.

The Expedition 42 crew members will share their flight experiences on Instagram. Those interested can follow along at:

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Future Space Station Crew to Participate in NASA TV Briefing, Media Interviews

Boeing's New Spaceship Makes Strides Ahead of NASA Space Taxi Decision

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The private spaceflight company Boeing has been hard at work designing a capsule that could deliver NASA astronauts to the International Space Station sometime in the next three years. And pretty soon, everyone will find out if all that hard work has paid off.

NASA is expected to announce its pick (or picks) for a contract that will enable a commercial company (or companies) to fly manned missions to the International Space Station by 2017 any day now, and Boeing's astronaut-carrying CST-100 capsule is in the running. People working with the commercial spaceflight company's capsule have been working diligently to make sure that they meet their goals ahead of the commercial crew announcement.

"Obviously, we're very anxious to get to the announcement, but the team has just been outstanding," John Mulholland, Boeing commercial crew program manager, told Space.com. [See images of Boeing's CST-100 space capsule]

Boeing is competing with three other spaceflight companies for the commercial crew contract, technically called the Commercial Crew Transportation Capability contract (CCtCap). Sierra Nevada Corp., SpaceX and Blue Origin are also still in the running for the chance to fly humans to the International Space Station from the United States for the first time since the end of the space shuttle program in 2011. At the moment, NASA astronauts fly to space aboard Russian-built Soyuz space capsules.

The upcoming announcement marks the last in a series of awards put in place by NASA in 2010.

If chosen for the contract, Boeing representatives already have a specific plan for how they are will get astronauts flying from American soil aboard a CST-100 spacecraft. Company representatives are planning to launch a pad abort test in 2016, with an uncrewed flight scheduled for early in 2017. The first crewed flight to the station should take place in mid-2017.

The CST-100 program recently completed a major milestone. The spacecraft made it through its critical design review of integrated systems, paving the way for the final design that could fly to space. The company met all of its CCtCap goals on time and on budget ahead of the announcement, Mulholland said.

Boeing is already crafting test materials for the spacecraft, and if all goes according to plan, in October, representatives with the company will start building pieces of the capsule that could fly to space.

"The challenge of a CDR is to ensure all the pieces and sub-systems are working together," Mulholland said in a statement. "Integration of these systems is key. Now we look forward to bringing the CST-100 to life."

The continued development of the CST-100 as it stands now is dependent on winning one of NASA's commercial crew program contracts, according to Mulholland. Without the money provided by NASA for the commercial crew program, Boeing will most likely not be able to finish the development of the capsule on the time scale planned today.

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Boeing's New Spaceship Makes Strides Ahead of NASA Space Taxi Decision

Space Station Crew Member Discusses Life In Space With German Media – Video

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Space Station Crew Member Discusses Life In Space With German Media
Aboard the International Space Station, Expedition 40 Flight Engineer Alexander Gerst of the European Space Agency discussed life and research on the orbital laboratory with RTL-TV in Cologne,...

By: NASA

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Space Station Crew Member Discusses Life In Space With German Media - Video

Open space is a key feature of future Central Subway station

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There is something that the Chinatown community desires more, and has less of, than housing.

Open space.

While San Francisco stakeholders years ago debated the Central Subway extending the Muni T-Third Street line north on Fourth Street with a Chinatown station as the terminus, community activists coalesced on what would become of the area above it.

Fast-forward to today, construction crews at Washington and Stockton streets in the heart of the neighborhood are erecting walls 85 feet below surface level for the approved, multilevel Central Subway station scheduled to open by 2019. The design plans for a 5,400-square-foot rooftop plaza at the site have yet to be grounded, but are shaping up to be what the Chinatown community wants, said Norman Fong, executive director of the Chinatown Community Development Center.

"I dreamed about that a long time ago with a lot of people in the community, but we figured maybe The City would go for income-generating things like housing," he said. "So I had low expectations. I can't believe that The City listened to the community and the community needs for open space."

The design for the Chinatown station itself was approved with a transit-oriented development to complement it in mind. In determining what to build above the station, The City opened the process to community groups that conducted surveys and various meetings.

"We looked at housing and business, but at the end of the day, what the community wanted -- and they were probably right -- was to have a park and enjoy the sunshine," said John Funghi, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency's Central Subway program director.

San Francisco's Chinatown is the densest neighborhood in the country outside of New York's Chinatown, with only four open-space places -- heavily trafficked Portsmouth Square, the Willie "Woo Woo" Wong and Woh Hei Yuen playgrounds, and St. Mary's Square, which is slated to get a rooftop park extension in exchange for two new office towers on the rise.

The Chinatown station plaza is an opportunity to create a fifth spot, Recreation and Park Commissioner Allan Low said.

"Open space is being elevated, which is really the only way you can create new open space," he said, praising the "creativity and collaboration" on the project thus far.

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Open space is a key feature of future Central Subway station

International Space Station accidentally launches satellites on its own

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NEW YORK, Sept. 6 (UPI) -- On Thursday, the International Space Station decided to launch some satellites on its own. CubeSats are tiny satellites (about the size of a few bricks), weighing less than 1.33 kilograms, and they're supposed to do a range of missions from communicating with sea vessels to monitoring earthquakes.

The station commander, Steve Swanson, was putting blood samples in a freezer when he noticed the CubeSat launcher's doors were open, according to reports. "No crew members or ground controllers saw the deployment. They reviewed all the camera footage and there was no views of it there either," according to NASA Mission Commentator Pat Ryan. Those working at the Johnson Space Center in Houston realized that the CubeSats had somehow been released without anyone initiating a launch.

According to Pat Ryan, the crew had been trying to repair the launcher recently, which explains why their may have been such an error. The space station received the 32 CubeSats in July to take images of Earth. So far, four of the 12 released were released on accident, and the fate of the mission remains unclear.

2014 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI's prior written consent.

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International Space Station accidentally launches satellites on its own


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