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Space station may need emergency spacewalk if software patch fails

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A faulty pump means the space station might have to scrap a scheduled resupply to perform an emergency spacewalk. NASA hopes a temporary fix will allow the resupply to go ahead.

NASA engineers appear to have found a way to restore a balky coolant pump on the International Space Station that may allow a station resupply mission to launch this week, as planned.

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The alternative is to delay the launch to allow two ISS crew members to conduct two or three emergency spacewalks starting this weekend to replace the faulty pump.

Spare pumps are stored on the space station's truss scaffolding the length of a football field. The truss supports the station's solar panels, radiators for station cooling, and other utilities, including two external cooling loops that transfer heat to the radiators.

The cooling-system malfunction on the space station occurred Dec. 11. Controllers noticed unusually low temperatures in ammonia circulating through one of the cooling loops. Left unchecked, the chilled coolant could have frozen water flowing through a heat exchanger inside the station.

That could have damaged the exchanger and leaked ammonia into the station, said Judd Frieling, the lead flight director for Expedition 38, the space station's current increment, during a televised update Tuesday.

Controllers were able to reroute cooling to the second external loop, but the transfer meant the crew had to shut down nonessential equipment in order to reduce the heating load on the second loop.

Engineers traced the problem to a malfunctioning valve designed to adjust the flow of coolant. The coolant's temperature should remain within an optimum range for cooling the station's interior and some of its exterior hardware.

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Space station may need emergency spacewalk if software patch fails

Space station may need emergency spacewalk if software patch fails (+video)

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A faulty pump means the space station might have to scrap a scheduled resupply to perform an emergency spacewalk. NASA hopes a temporary fix will allow the resupply to go ahead.

NASA engineers appear to have found a way to restore a balky coolant pump on the International Space Station that may allow a station resupply mission to launch this week, as planned.

Subscribe Today to the Monitor

Click Here for your FREE 30 DAYS of The Christian Science Monitor Weekly Digital Edition

The alternative is to delay the launch to allow two ISS crew members to conduct two or three emergency spacewalks starting this weekend to replace the faulty pump.

Spare pumps are stored on the space station's truss scaffolding the length of a football field. The truss supports the station's solar panels, radiators for station cooling, and other utilities, including two external cooling loops that transfer heat to the radiators.

The cooling-system malfunction on the space station occurred Dec. 11. Controllers noticed unusually low temperatures in ammonia circulating through one of the cooling loops. Left unchecked, the chilled coolant could have frozen water flowing through a heat exchanger inside the station.

That could have damaged the exchanger and leaked ammonia into the station, said Judd Frieling, the lead flight director for Expedition 38, the space station's current increment, during a televised update Tuesday.

Controllers were able to reroute cooling to the second external loop, but the transfer meant the crew had to shut down nonessential equipment in order to reduce the heating load on the second loop.

Engineers traced the problem to a malfunctioning valve designed to adjust the flow of coolant. The coolant's temperature should remain within an optimum range for cooling the station's interior and some of its exterior hardware.

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Space station may need emergency spacewalk if software patch fails (+video)

NASA Hails Success of Commercial Space Program Private Space Station Resupply Underway, Plans Readied for Astronauts

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NASA Administrator Charles Bolden Wednesday hailed the success of the agency's public-private partnership with American companies to resupply the International Space Station and announced the next phase of contracting with U.S. companies to transport astronauts is set to begin next week.

A little more than two years after the end of the Space Shuttle Program, the United States now has two space transportation systems capable of delivering science experiments and supplies from U.S. soil to the International Space Station. Under an ambitious plan funded by the Obama Administration, the agency is seeking to partner with American companies to send NASA astronauts to the space station as soon as 2017.

Bolden provided remarks at NASA Headquarters in Washington as agency officials announced the successful conclusion of the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program, an initiative that aimed to achieve safe, reliable and cost-effective commercial transportation to and from the space station and low-Earth orbit.

The rockets and spacecraft developed by NASA's partners Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) and Orbital Sciences Corp. under COTS have significantly increased NASA's ability to conduct new scientific investigations aboard the orbiting laboratory. All current and planned U.S. experiments aboard the station will be facilitated in some way by a SpaceX or Orbital Sciences resupply mission.

"America's best days in space exploration are ahead of us thanks to the grit and determination of those in government, and the private sector, who dare to dream big dreams and have the skills to turn them into reality," Bolden said. "We've ended the outsourcing of space station resupply work and brought those jobs back home to America. The commercial space industry will be an engine of 21st century American economic growth and will help us carry out even more ambitious deep space exploration missions."

SpaceX was selected as a NASA partner in 2006 to develop its Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket. SpaceX completed its COTS development with a demonstration mission to the space station in 2012, restoring an American capability to deliver and return cargo for the first time since the retirement of the space shuttle in 2011.

SpaceX has since flown the first two of 12 contracted cargo resupply flights to the space station through a $1.6 billion Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) contract with NASA.

"The COTS program was a great success -- not only for NASA and the commercial space industry, but also the American taxpayer," said Gwynne Shotwell, SpaceX president and COO. "Together, NASA and SpaceX restored cargo transport capabilities to the United States and also laid the foundation for the future transport of American astronauts. SpaceX appreciates NASA's ongoing support and is honored to partner with them in these efforts."

Orbital Sciences was selected as a NASA partner in 2008 and completed development of its Cygnus spacecraft and Antares rocket in October with a successful demonstration mission to the space station. The final review of the mission by NASA this month marked the beginning of closeout activities for the COTS program. Orbital Sciences is poised to launch the first of its eight cargo resupply missions to the space station in December through its $1.9 billion CRS contract with NASA.

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NASA Hails Success of Commercial Space Program Private Space Station Resupply Underway, Plans Readied for Astronauts

Soyuz Spacecraft Arrives and Docks to the International Space Station 11/07/13 – Video

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Soyuz Spacecraft Arrives and Docks to the International Space Station 11/07/13
After launching earlier in the day in their Soyuz spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, Expedition 38/39 Soyuz Commander Mikhail Tyurin of t...

By: Thunder Aerospace

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Soyuz Spacecraft Arrives and Docks to the International Space Station 11/07/13 - Video

Soyuz 37 to International Space Station. NASA Expedition 38/39. [IGEO.TV] – Video

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Soyuz 37 to International Space Station. NASA Expedition 38/39. [IGEO.TV]
A Russian government Soyuz rocket launched the manned Soyuz spacecraft to the International Space Station with members of the next Expedition crew. The capsu...

By: Amazing world

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Soyuz 37 to International Space Station. NASA Expedition 38/39. [IGEO.TV] - Video

No Stuxnet Infection, but Space Station is Vulnerable

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The International Space Station has its own isolated network of computers that run everything from critical life support systems to scientific experiments. Just because its isolated from the veritable electronic ecosystem that is the terrestrial Internet, however, it doesnt mean its safe from being attacked by malware or succumbing to a viral epidemic.

This was the shocking revelation revealed by anti-virus guru Eugene Kaspersky at the Press Club in Canberra, Australia, earlier this month. During his presentation, the outspoken Russian businessman discussed the cyber threats to global security and economy.

PHOTOS: Hackers Playbook: Common Tactics

The Kaspersky Lab founder discussed cyber crime, espionage and infrastructure attacks as the key elements of modern online security risks in descending frequency but ascending risk. He identified attacks on critical infrastructure as of most serious concern, despite there being only 2 or 3 a year. He used the attack on the financial system in Seoul, South Korea, as one recent example, but other examples included attacks on Middle East oil companies and rumors of an attack on a Brazilian nuclear reactor.

Focusing on the Stuxnet virus a malicious piece of code that was allegedly created by U.S. and Israeli programmers to attack Iranian nuclear reactors Kaspersky outlined a few examples as to how the virus has spread beyond its intended target, inadvertently infecting an unnamed Russian nuclear reactor.

Stuxnet is designed to be spread indiscriminately via Microsoft Windows networks and can be manually uploaded to isolated critical systems by infected USB drives, for example. The worm then gets to work targeting specific Siemens industrial control systems that monitor industrial processes. By design, Stuxnet is focused on Irans suspected uranium enrichment infrastructure, but according to Kaspersky, Stuxnet has spread into the wilds of the Internet and started to attack nuclear reactor systems in other nations, including Russia.

NEWS: Virus Attacks Japanese Space Agency Computer

However, he did not say that Stuxnet had infected the International Space Station, as some news outlets incorrectly assumed.

Using the International Space Station as an example of an isolated critical infrastructure, Kaspersky pointed out that despite being in space, it is still vulnerable to attack. In fact, on a number of occasions over the years the orbiting outposts computers have become infected by malware.

Scientists, from time to time, are coming to space with USBs which are infected. Im not kidding, he said. I was talking to Russian space guys and they said yes, from time to time there are virus epidemics in the space station.

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No Stuxnet Infection, but Space Station is Vulnerable

[ISS] Olympic Torch Relay in Space outside the International Space Station – Video

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[ISS] Olympic Torch Relay in Space outside the International Space Station
Russian cosmonauts Oleg Kotov and Sergey Ryazanskiy took part in video and photo opportunities outside International Space Station (ISS) during a Spacewalk t...

By: SpaceVids.tv

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[ISS] Olympic Torch Relay in Space outside the International Space Station - Video

WATCH: Russian Soyuz Spacecraft With Olympic Torch To International Space Station – Video

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WATCH: Russian Soyuz Spacecraft With Olympic Torch To International Space Station
Sochi Olympic torch reaches space station Putin #39;s Sochi Olympics hopes and realities Rocket carrying Olympic torch docks with space station UPDATE 1-Russian ...

By: PulseVideoStar

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WATCH: Russian Soyuz Spacecraft With Olympic Torch To International Space Station - Video


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