Talk about a long-distance phone call.

Dale Hawkins, the operations manager at PinProsPlus, an online pin-making company in Kaysville, Utah, on Friday received what turned out to be anything but a normal business call, according to NBC affiliate KSL.

Hey, this is Jessica Meir, the caller said. Im so glad you picked up. Im not able to leave you a call-back number.

Hawkins told the TV station that he recognized Meirs name from previous email correspondence, but what he didnt realize at first was the Maine native had called from the International Space Station, where she is based for the next six months.

Meir arrived at the International Space Station, some 250 miles above the Earth, aboard the Soyuz MS-15 spacecraft on Sept. 25 with Russian cosmonaut Oleg Skripochka and Emirati astronaut Hazz Al Mansouri. KSL reports that Meir discussed with Hawkins her order for Expedition 61 pins for family and friends to commemorate her first spaceflight. PinProsPlus has for six years created official and customized pins for NASA.

Its not everyday someone calls from outer space, so Hawkins told KSL that he needed to ask Meir something.

Is it what you expected? was the first question that came to Hawkins mind, according to KSL. She kind of got quiet and paused for a moment and said, You know, its more than I ever imagined it would be. And I thought, man thats so cool.

Meir, the valedictorian of Caribou High Schools Class of 1995, was among three women and four men selected from 6,100 applicants in 2013 for NASAs 21st class of astronauts. She is the third Mainer, and first Maine woman, to enter into outer space, the others being Christopher Cassidy, a York High School graduate who has completed six spacewalks and served as the nations chief astronaut from 2013 to 2017, and Charles O. Hobaugh, a Bar Harbor native who has made three spaceflights.

Meir is scheduled to go on the first all-female spacewalk with astronaut Christina Koch on Oct. 21.

Kaysville is north of Salt Lake City.

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This man got a phone call from astronaut Jessica Meir at the International Space Station - Bangor Daily News

Small satellites deploy from the International Space Station, courtesy of a company called Nanoracks. Co-founder Charles Miller is now focusing on even smaller satellites for spaceflight.

Hot off the success of co-founding a company to commercialize the space station, Charles Miller's next frontier is going head-to-head with SpaceXs quest to provide constant cell connectivity in orbit.

Miller is best known for the success of NanoRacks, a one-stop-shopping company for firms looking to make money in microgravity on the International Space Station. Working closely with NASA, NanoRacks runs experiments on the U.S. Harmony module and manages tiny satellites launched into space using a robotic Japanese arm.

While SpaceX plans on spending billions of dollars to launch 12,000 satellites for its Starlink constellation, Miller says he can improve cell service in rural America or continental Africa for much less money and using smaller satellites. Because there are few cell towers in these regions, his company Lynk (recently renamed from UbiquitiLink) aims to recreate cell towers in orbit instead.

The market opportunity, as he sees it, is huge, as there "five billion people with a phone in their pocket" many of whom live in constant disconnectivity because they don't have a cell tower within 22 miles (35 kilometers) of their location.

Lynk has performed two "cell tower" demonstrations using Northrop Grumman Cygnus spacecraft.

Lynk has raised $12 million to date and has already flown two prototypes in space aboard Northrop Grumman Cygnus spacecraft. Its set to launch a third prototype Dec. 4, and plans a fourth in March 2020.

Its secret sauce is repurposing the base station software in the cell tower that talks to your phone, including tricking conventional phones into accepting talking to space-based "cell towers" as far as 375 miles (600 km) away.

As of this month, Lynk is pre-revenue with 33 testing partners, including 24 mobile network operators that serve 1.5 billion subscribers in 60 countries. Some disclosed partners include Cellular One in Arizona, Telefonica's MoviStar service in Argentina and Vodafone Hutchison Australia.

Rapidly growing and with 24 part-time and full-time employees under its wing, Lynk plans to have several thousand satellites in service within the next five years.

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SpaceX Competitor Creating Cell Tower In Space - Forbes

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. A long-awaited NASA mission designed to probe Earth's upper atmosphere has finally taken off after years of delays.

The Ionospheric Connection Explorer (ICON) spacecraft launched tonight (Oct. 10) at 10:00 p.m. EDT (0200 GMT on Oct. 11) aboard a Northrop Grumman Pegasus XL rocket, which was released in midair from its carrier plane, a Stargazer L-1011. The aircraft had taken off about an hour and a half earlier from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station here.

ICON will make its way to Earth orbit on a mission to study the planet's ionosphere, a massive layer of our atmosphere that overlaps with the boundary of space. The spacecraft's measurements will help scientists better understand the link between space weather and terrestrial weather, and how the two interact in the ionosphere, mission team members said.

Video: Watch NASA Air-Launch the ICON Space Weather SatelliteRelated: Earth's Atmosphere: Composition, Climate & Weather

A Northrop Grumman Pegasus XL rocket streaks toward space carrying NASA's Ionosphere Connection Explorer satellite, or ICON, on Oct. 10, 2019. The rocket was launched from mid-air after being dropped by an L-1011 Stargazer carrier plane that took off from the Skid Strip runway at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

(Image credit: NASA TV)

"The ionosphere is continually changing, and it's very dynamic," Nicky Fox, head of NASA's heliophysics division, explained during a prelaunch news briefing on Tuesday (Oct. 8).

"The ionosphere is a remarkable physics lab," Fox said. "It's not only a great place to go and study plasma physics, but it's also a region that has a big space weather impact on us."

Scientists have long been eager for the vending-machine-size satellite to get off the ground to see what it might tell us about this mysterious region. According to Fox, the ionosphere gets its name thanks to radiation from the sun, which bombards the atoms and molecules in this part of the atmosphere, essentially giving them a charge a process called ionization.

It's here where strange and unique phenomena, such as the auroras and geomagnetic storms, are created. It's hard to forecast when these types of events will occur, because the ionosphere is an incredibly difficult region to study.

Related: Aurora Photos: Amazing Northern Lights Display from Solar Storms

An artist's view of NASA's Ionospheric Connection Explorer, or ICON, satellite. NASA has delayed the ICON satellite's planned June 14 launch due to rocket issues.

(Image credit: NASA)

Until about a decade ago, scientists thought the sun caused most of the changes in the ionosphere, but more recent research suggests that is not the case; daily changes in the region are observed even when the sun isn't generating powerful storms. Fox explained that this is because terrestrial weather patterns and extreme events such as hurricanes also cause changes in the ionosphere.

This dynamic region where Earth weather meets space weather is home to the International Space Station and is a critical pathway for communications satellites. Radio waves and Global Positioning System (GPS) signals pass directly through this turbulent layer, and those signals can be distorted by patches of ionized material.

This is an issue because space weather can not only have an impact on communications systems but also electronics and even power grids. To mitigate these effects, scientists are hoping to better understand the sun and its many processes. And ICON can help with that, mission team members said.

Related: NASA's ICON Satellite Mission in Pictures

The $252 million probe is going right into the thick of the ionosphere, heading for a circular orbit 357 miles (575 kilometers) above Earth's surface. Equipped with various instruments that are designed to measure winds and particles, ICON will also measure how dense the atmosphere is and analyze its chemical composition.

Such data were supposed to be rolling in already. ICON was originally scheduled to launch in 2017, but issues with the Pegasus caused multiple lengthy delays. (Bad weather also scuttled an attempt yesterday, Oct. 9.)

ICON finally got aloft tonight. Stargazer L-1011 took off from the Skid Strip runway at Cape Canaveral Air Force station at 8:32 p.m. EDT (0032 GMT) and headed for its planned drop zone about 50 to 100 miles (80 to 160 km) east of Daytona Beach.

The crew released the 57-foot-long (17 meters) rocket at 10:00 p.m. (0200 GMT), on its second approach to the drop zone. (On the first try, mission control briefly lost communication contact with the carrier plane, leading to an abort.) Five seconds after the drop, the three-stage Pegasus ignited and began to climb to orbit.

Don Walter, Northrop Grumman's chief pilot for the L-1011, said the flight is like an attraction at Disney World. "When the rocket launches, the airplane wants to go up, and you get pushed back in your seat," he told Space.com. "Which is a good thing for us. When the rocket lights, we want to be a long way away."

He went on to explain that the experience is also quite noisy. "It sounds like a freight train underneath the plane," he added.

This flight was the 44th launch of a Pegasus rocket on a satellite delivery mission and the seventh out of Cape Canaveral.

While in space, ICON will work in tandem with another NASA mission called GOLD (Global-scale Observations of the Limb and Disk), which launched as a tagalong payload aboard a commercial communications satellite in January 2018. From its orbital perch 22,000 miles (35,400 km) above the Earth, GOLD has been monitoring the ionosphere from above. The two missions will work together to provide a complete picture of the inner workings of the ionosphere.

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NASA Launches Long-Delayed ICON Space Weather Satellite to Study Earth's Ionosphere - Space.com

If you like volcanoes, eastern Russia is the place to be. The Kamchatka peninsula and environs are loaded with active volcanoes that erupt quite often.

South of the peninsula is a long archipelago called the Kuril Islands, dropping as far south as Japan (in fact Russia and Japan dispute the sovereignty of some of the volcanoes in the southern part). All of these islands are the tops of volcanoes, created as the Pacific tectonic plate slips beneath the Okhotsk plate to the west. There are over 100 volcanoes there, and nearly half of them are active.

One, which you'd easily miss on a map, is called Raikoke. It's only a couple of kilometers across, and has a crater in the middle 700 meters across and 200 deep. As volcanoes go it's a fair-to-middlin' one. It erupted a couple of times in the 18th century (one of which destroyed the upper third of the island!) and again in 1924. After that, it lay quiet for nearly a century.

Then, on June 22, 2019, it blew its lid off again. Now mind you, this is not a heavily inhabited region of the world (fewer than 20,000 people live in the whole archipelago), so getting close-up pictures of the event isn't likely.

unless you happen to include a thousand or so kilometers away as "close-up". Maybe not, but if most of that is across the vacuum of space, you still get incredible photos, like this one taken by an astronaut on board the International Space Station:

Whoaaaaaa. That's phenomenal. It was taken a few hours after the eruption, as the ISS passed over that part of the world. You can see the ash cloud rising, punching its way through the troposphere and right up into the stratosphere. The hot gas and ash plume rises due to convection (like a hot air balloon rising), and stops when the density of the air around it is the same as the density inside the plume. At that altitude it won't rise any more, but stuff still keeps coming up from underneath, so the plume flattens and spreads outward, creating the anvil shape you also see with really strong cumulonimbus storm clouds (and for the same reason).

It was also seen by NASA's Earth-observing Terra satellite, this time from nearly straight above it:

You can get a sense of the anvil, and see the prevailing winds taking the ash to the east. Some parts of the plume may have reached heights of about 17 kilometers. The plume has a lot of sulfur dioxide (SO2) in it, which got injected into the stratosphere.

Interestingly, once up there SO2 can be converted by sunlight into a sulfate aerosol, small particles that have a lot of sulfur in them. These are efficient at reflecting sunlight, so can actually cool the planet a wee bit. After huge eruptions the average temperature of the planet can drop a little but not much, not nearly enough to keep up with how much we're warming it. The effect is temporary anyway, since these wash out of the sky in rain. And that's bad too since when dissolved in water it creates weak sulfuric acid acid rain.

I was initially surprised to find out that the overwhelming majority of sulfur dioxide in our air is created by humans. But after thinking about it and putting it in context, this makes sense: For example, humans emit 100 times as much carbon dioxide into the air annually than volcanoes do!

A volcanic eruption is a titanic event, sowing chaos and seemingly dwarfing our own endeavors. But it's short lived, and as powerful as it may be, humans wield far more destructive forces. It's really far past time we learned better how to wield them or sheathe them.

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A volcano blows its top, seen from space - SYFY WIRE

Goodness gracious! Great balls of fire rained from the sky in Chile last week, and officials are still trying to figure out what they were and where they came from.

One thing is certain: The mysterious burning objects were not meteors, according to news reports.

The fiery UFOs descended on Dalcahue City on the Chilean island of Chilo on Sept. 25, CNET reported. . The tumbling objects crash-landed in seven locations, setting off fires that were promptly put out by volunteer firefighters. .

Related: 7 Things Most Often Mistaken for UFOs

Chilo island resident Bernardita Ojeda had one fireball land on her property, where the flames ignited a few bushes, Ojeda told local news station Channel 2.

Geologists from Chile's National Geology and Mining Service soon arrived to examine the seven sites that had been scorched by the falling space stuff. While they conducted their analyses, the story spread through local news, social media and national outlets.

Chilean astronomer and astrophysicist Jos Maza told Chilean news network TVN that the blazing bodies were likely either meteorites or space debris that had detached from rockets or satellites, according to CNET. On Sept. 26, astronomer Jonathan McDowell of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics chimed in on Twitter, saying that the falling objects were probably meteorites and that there were "no obvious space debris candidates that [he could] see."

"But [it] sometimes takes a few days for relevant data to come in," McDowell added.

On Sept. 28, the geologists released their official assessment: None of the seven sites contained traces of meteorite. Since the mysterious objects weren't meteors, logic dictates that they must have been wayward space junk, but officials said they'll be conducting more detailed analyses of soil samples collected from the singed sites to make sure, according to CNET. The geologists will release their results later this month. Only time will tell what exactly fell from the heavens on that unusual September evening.

Originally published on Live Science.

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Falling Fireballs Crashed in Chile Last Week. They Weren't Meteorites, Experts Say. - Space.com

The International Space Station (ISS) is in the midst of a series of evening flights over the British Isles and Western Europe. You can obtain predictions of when and where to look for it by using our interactive online Almanac as explained in the article below. This illustration shows a wide-angle view of the ISS track centred on the west as seen from Cardiff at 8:24pmBST on 30September 2019, when the spacecraft passes close to the bright star Arcturus. AN graphic by Ade Ashford.If you chance upon a moving star rivalling planet Venus in brilliance, burning with a steady light that glides across the night sky from west to east, then you can be confident that youre witnessing the International Space Station (ISS) any object that flashes rapidly, or possesses red and green running lights is an aircraft. The ISS is easily seen from the most light-polluted city, and its current orbit enables it to be well seen from the British Isles and Western Europe over the next few nights.

ISS fact file:The International Space Station orbits Earth every 92.7minutes at an altitude that varies between 411 and 421kilometres, travelling at an average speed of 27,500kilometres per hour (7.6kilometres per second). The spacecraft completes 15 circuits of our planet each day in a path inclined to the equator by 51.6 degrees, meaning that it can appear overhead at all latitudes between 51.6N and 51.6S. For observers in the British Isles, the ISS can therefore be seen overhead at all locations south of a line drawn between Swansea and London, appearing lower in the sky for all places north of this line.The International Space Station on 23 May 2010 as seen from the departing Space Shuttle Atlantis during STS-132. Image credit: NASA/Crew of STS-132/Wikimedia Commons.Using Astronomy Nows Almanac to make ISS viewing predictionsIn our online Almanac, select the closest city to your location from the Country and City pull-down menus before ensuring that the box beside AddISSpasses? has a tick in it. The UK uses British Summer Time (BST) until 27October in 2019, so the DaylightSavingsTime? box should be checked. The table underneath the Moon phase data then shows any visible nighttime passes of the International Space Station over your chosen location during the next few days.

Here is a current example computed for Cardiff:For the given Date in year/month/day format, LocalTime is the instant the ISS first becomes visible and Duration indicates the length of the sighting in minutes. At the given LocalTime, look in the direction indicated by Approach and, assuming no clouds, you should see the ISS as a slow moving star.

Max.elevation is how high the Station will get above your horizon (90 is overhead, while 20 is about the span of an outstretched hand at arms length) and Departure indicates where the ISS will be when it vanishes from sight. Sometimes an appearance or disappearance occurs well up in the sky when the Station emerges into sunlight or slips into Earths shadow, respectively.

In the example above, as seen from the Welsh capital on the evening of Monday, 30September, the ISS first appears 18 above the western (W) horizon at 8:22pm in a viewing window lasting three minutes. It attains a peak altitude of 67, still in the west, before fading into Earths shadow 58 above the eastern (E) horizon around 8:25pm (all times BST).

Important note: the precise timing of an ISS pass is highly location-specific, plus the spacecrafts track is subject to change due to periodic boosts to a higher orbit or to avoid debris, hence predictions made on the day are more accurate.

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View the International Space Station at its best from the UK - Astronomy Now Online

A fire protection products company in the Fort Wayne area has collaborated with a Reston, Virginia-based science and technology company to supply the International Space Station with lithium-ion Battery Fire Containment Bags.

Spencerville-based Brimstone Fire Protection partnered with Leidos on the project for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, according to a prepared statement.

Leidos had NASAs ISS Vehicle Office and Johnson Space Center Battery Group cargo mission contract to develop a safe new packing product for lithium-ion batteries stored on the space station and teamed up with Brimstone for that.

Their new product was brought aboard the space station the last weekend of September.

NASA safety standards previously relied on extensive pre-flight screening of lithium-ion batteries and storage constraints once they were on board the space station.

But, the ISS has seen an influx of new, smaller payload providers, each using their own type of battery packs to power the equipment they are transporting there for experiments, the statement said.

This created a need for a standardized battery packaging product for NASAs Commercial Orbital Transportation Services, it said.

NASA, Leidos and Brimstone started an extensive process early this year of designing, then testing, packaging made specifically for battery storage in space.

A detailed series of frequent, repeated tests on Brimstones Fire Containment Bags, which started early this year, showed when used with an insulating wrap they prevented thermal runaway into other bags touching them.

This meets all the criteria for the envisioned NASA implementation, including size, materials, accessibility, packing density, and cost, the statement said.

Daniel Barineau, a Leidos senior project manager who has supported ISS and Space Shuttle hardware development projects for 30 years, praised Brimstone and its leadership for rapid delivery and frequent consultation, which included offering historical expertise on the development of the battery stowage bags.

I have had the chance to work with many subcontractors and suppliers. In all those years, I have never come across a company that was as responsive, customer focused, and easy to work with as Brimstone, he said.

They have modified their off-the-shelf designs to meet our needs and have shown a willingness to go above and beyond to make our efforts a success under a compressed schedule.

Recreational vehicle manufacturers, suppliers and dealers celebrated the opening of the newly renovated, 18,000-square-foot RV Technical Institute facility in Elkhart last month.

A grand opening for the facility there at 3333 Middlebury St. took place Sept. 23. Visitors had a chance to see its new office space, student lounge, seven classrooms and 10,000-square-foot bay area with RVs for hand-on training as well as component parts lesson areas.

Our dedicated staff have created a visionary, forward-thinking program designed to solve our industry-wide need for trained technicians, Curt Hemmeler, executive director for the institute, said in a statement.

Today marks the first step on that journey as we officially open our doors and invite students into our new facility to become trained technicians, expand on their existing education and launch the program to regional partners across the country.

The RV Industry Associations board approved a comprehensive strategic plan and a multi-million-dollar investment in the institute a couple of years ago to boost RV owner satisfaction and strengthen repeat business.

I believe in our new model for technician training and the impact increased tech training will have on the entire industry, Matt Miller, the institutes chairman, said in the statement.

This initiative will help close the skills gap, draw new talent into the growing RV industry, retain existing RV techs and ultimately create a better experience for our customers, the RV consumer, said Miller, who also is president of the luxury motor coach manufacturer, Newmar Corp.

The institutes strategic plan called for it to address the industrys trained technician shortage and establish metrics to track the RV customer experience with a goal of reducing repair event cycle times. The statement said it has received broad industry support.

We now have a standard, a uniform process for training, testing and certification that will be incorporated at a national level through a vast network of regional partners, Craig Kirby, the associations interim president, said in the statement.

Curt came into the process with a vision that combines both his business acumen and his experience within the education and training world. Curt will also tell you that as someone who got his start in the Air Force as a technician, at heart, he is still a tech himself, Kirby said.

Thinking like a technician allows Curt to view the Institutes mission through this lens, developing a program that includes improving the career path so we can better recruit and retain technicians across the country.

The association established the institute with a $5 million investment, which was matched by Go RVing, a consumer outreach campaign it manages with the RV Dealers Association.

Comcast Corp. is increasing broadband speeds for a most of its Indiana customers, who are on some of its most popular Xfinity Internet packages.

The Philadelphia-based provider of broadband, Cable TV and internet phone services started the upgrades late last month. It said it was increasing its Performance tier to 100 megabits per second from 60 Mbps, Blast! to 200 from 150, Extreme to 300 from 250 and Extreme Pro to 600 from 400.

Close to 85% of the companys Indiana customers are on one of the plans scheduled for the faster speeds and the upgrades will take place whether customers are buying Xfinity Internet as part of a package or on a stand-alone basis, the company said in a statement.

Comcast increased speeds for its Blast! and Extreme Indiana subscribers last year, and during the past two years its Indiana customers have seen speeds increase more than 50% on average, it said.

The increases are designed to keep pace with growing demand for high-capacity, extremely fast connections capable of handling an explosion of smart home devices with features requiring Internet access.

Comcast has doubled its fiber miles and quadrupled its network capacity to bring gigabit speeds to more homes than any other internet service provider during the past four years, it said.

Were not only delivering the broadband speed and capacity that customers need to run more sophisticated home networks, were setting the bar for coverage and control, too, Tim Collins, regional senior vice president for Comcast Indiana, said in the statement.

Modern homes require fast Internet, wall-to-wall Wi-Fi, and a way to manage the connectivity needs of the entire household. With xFi, were giving our Internet customers the tools to manage the growing number of connected devices, apps and technologies in their homes.

Customers who lease a gateway from the company will receive the upgrade without needing to reset their modems for it, the statement said.

The company recommends subscribers with their own modems check online to see if they will need a new one to handle the faster speeds.

Jason West of Digital Watchdog was scheduled to speak at the next meeting of the Networking Information Technology Associations Fort Wayne chapter.

West was to speak on internet protocol-based security trends and best practices to help protect employees and assets during the meeting scheduled for 11:30 a.m. Oct. 4 at Catablu, 6372 W. Jefferson Blvd. in Fort Wayne.

With a video security career of more than 15 years, West has helped design and install those types of systems for a variety of industrial, commercial, education, retail and residential customers.

In addition to creating safe environments, he works to design systems that are easy to use and are capable of providing court admissible evidence quickly.

For the rest of this year and next year, the local chapter of NITA said it plans to meet on the first Friday instead of the first Thursday of each month.

The Fort Wayne Inventors Club has scheduled its next meeting for 7 p.m. Oct. 10 at TekVenture, 1550 Griffin St. in Fort Wayne.

The group, formed to advance invention in the region, requires no dues or fees and asks only that individuals come to its meetings with a curious mind, desire to learn and a willingness to help fellow inventors.

More information about it is available from http://www.fortwayneinventorsclub.org or by contacting Dave Gross, president and CEO of Collision Control Communications.

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Brimstone battery bags on board Space Station - FW Business

A robotic Japanese cargo ship successfully arrived at the International Space Station Saturday (Sept. 28) carrying more than 4 tons of supplies, including new batteries for the outpost's solar power grid.

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's (JAXA) HTV-8 cargo ship pulled up to the space station at 7:12 a.m. EDT (1112 GMT), where it was captured by a robotic arm wielded by NASA astronaut Christina Koch inside the orbiting lab. The station and HTV-8, also known as Kounotori 8 (Kounotori means "white stork" in Japanese), were soaring 262 miles (422 kilometers) over Angola in southern Africa at the time.

"What you all have done is a testament to what we can accomplish when international teams work together towards a common goal," Koch radioed to NASA's Mission Control in Houston and flight controllers at JAXA's Tsukuba Space Center in Japan. "We're honored to have Kounotori on board, and look forward to a successful and productive mission together."

Later today, flight controllers on Earth will use the station's robotic arm to attach HTV-8 to an Earth-facing berth on the station's U.S.-built Harmony module.

Video: How Japan's HTV Cargo Ships WorkRelated: Japan's HTV Space Truck Explained (Infographic)

JAXA launched the HTV-8 spaceraft on a H-IIB rocket from the Tanegashima Space Center in southern Japan on Sept. 24. The spacecraft is packed with food, water, experiment hardware and other supplies for the station's crew.

Chief among HTV-8's cargo are six new lithium-ion batteries to replace aging nickel-hydrogen batteries on two of the outpost's power channels. NASA astronauts will replace the batteries during a series of spacewalks next month, NASA officials have said. During those spacewalks, astronauts will also make repairs to a $2 billion cosmic ray detector, called the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer-2, using tools delivered by HTV-8, according to Spaceflight Now.

Photos: Japan's Robotic Space Cargo Ship Fleet

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's HTV-8 cargo ship arrives at the International Space Station on Sept. 28, 2019 to deliver more than 4 tons of supplies to the orbiting laboratory.

(Image credit: NASA TV)

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's HTV-8 cargo ship arrives at the International Space Station on Sept. 28, 2019 to deliver more than 4 tons of supplies to the orbiting laboratory.

(Image credit: NASA TV)

HTV-8 is also carrying a novel prototype laser communications system, called the Small Optical Link for International Space Station, developed by JAXA and the Sony Computer Science Laboratories to boost data communication speeds with the space station.

"Long-distance laser communication technology enables transformation of our society with real-time broad-band communication around the globe as well as expanding the humanosphere and increased activity in space," Sony CSL President Hiroaki Kitano said in a statement.

Other cargo on HTV-8 include a new Cell Biology Experiment Facility, several small CubeSats and an experiment called Hourglass to test gravity's effects on powder and granular material.

Japan's HTV spacecraft are part of a robotic fleet of spacecraft designed to ferry fresh supplies to the International Space Station. At the end of its mission, HTV-8 will be packed with trash and unneeded items, detached from the station and commanded to burn up in Earth's atmosphere for disposal.

Email Tariq Malik attmalik@space.comor follow him@tariqjmalik. Follow us@SpacedotcomandFacebook.

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Unpiloted Japanese Cargo Ship Delivers Fresh Batteries and More to Space Station - Space.com

Learning how everyday things work in space, such as how to effectively brush teeth or how hair grows, is intriguing, but knowledge of how medical research translates from Earth's surface to above its atmosphere is limited.

A new alliance between the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh and the International Space Station (ISS) U.S. National Laboratory aims to drive the progress of regenerative medicine research in microgravity environments specifically, aboard the ISS.

The questionis What can we do in space that we can't do on Earth that makes a difference?" said William Wagner, director of the McGowan Institute. "That's a pretty exciting question, because it's currently unanswered; we don't know what the key value of microgravity is. I think when we find that, we can attract investment, we're going to begin to identify what the most promising technology is."

The ISS National Laboratory and the McGowan Institute will collaborate with partners from industry as well as other academic research centers and government agencies to drive the progress of regenerative medicine research aboard the ISS. As part of this alliance, Pitt will develop facilities on campus to advance research and meet with potential partners, while working in coordination with the ISS National Laboratory on flight opportunities to the orbiting laboratory. The program will focus on microgravity life sciences research and development, with a line of sight toward products and services for clinical application on Earth.

"What has to happen now is knowing how we can leverage research into a treatment or technology that someone will invest in because it will replace the current way we do things here on Earth," Wagner said. "We are very enthusiastic about this, because we believe the time is right to move from the observational to the more practical, moving things toward commercialization. One of the things we're going to try to do is give industry the best and brightest research in our country, not just at Pitt, but other universities as well, to pitch different concepts and partner with those concepts to help develop them."

An example of this research in action could include exploiting the unique behavior of stem cells in microgravity in order to improve cell-based therapies for a variety of diseases and impairments, such as traumatic brain injury and type I diabetes. Similarly, microgravity could allow 3D printers to create complex tissue structures that are difficult to achieve in the presence of full gravity.

This alliance a core element of the ISS National Laboratory Industrial Biomedicine Program was unveiled at the 8th annual ISS Research and Development Conference held in Atlanta earlier this year.

University leaders are optimistic this alliance will be the next big step in space research and commercialization.

The McGowan Institute has built on its deep history advancing the development of artificial organs to establish a position of internationally recognized leadership in regenerative medicine, said Rob A. Rutenbar, senior vice chancellor for research at Pitt. The ISS National Laboratory will benefit from that deep expertise, as well as our commitment to rapid clinical translation.

The products of the Industrial Biomedicine Program will help build the fundamental business case for the industrialization of crewed platforms in low Earth orbit. In future alliances, the ISS National Laboratory will work with companies and research partners who seek to find solutions to common problems on Earth through space-based experimentation on the ISS National Laboratory.

The ISS National Laboratory is proud to announce this alliance with Pitt and McGowan in order to develop biomedical products in space that could benefit human health on Earth, said ISS National Laboratory Chief Strategy Officer Richard Leach. Part of the role of the ISS National Laboratory is to create and implement innovative strategies to enhance the research capacity of the orbiting laboratory, and we believe alliances like this will pave the way for future collaborations to advance the discoveries of space-based science.

More details about the alliance are available on the ISS National Laboratorys website.

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Exploring Regenerative Medicine in Microgravity Aboard the International Space Station - UPJ Athletics

Dmitri Lovetsky | AP

Dmitri Lovetsky | AP

Astronaut Jessica Meir, a member of the main crew of the expedition to the International Space Station, waves prior the launch of Soyuz MS-15 space ship at the Russian-leased Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, Sept. 25, 2019.

Maine astronaut Jessica Meir has been aboard the International Space Station only a few days, but she is already at work on experiments that could prove key to cancer patients down here on Earth.

Meir on Tuesday tweeted pictures of herself observing protein crystals growing in microgravity during her third microscopy session.

Without gravity, crystals can grow bigger and more pure, she said in the tweet.

A new class of drugs, made from engineered proteins, stimulate the bodys own immune system to fight cancer and other ailments, but typically need to be delivered in large quantities at a hospital, where it may take several hours for a patient to receive a single dose, according to NASA.

This research Meir is engaged in, which isnt possible on Earth, could yield highly concentrated protein crystals that, according to NASA, would allow such drugs to be delivered as a simple injection in a doctors office. Besides potential applications for cancer treatment, NASA says this research may prove beneficial for developing treatments for Alzheimers disease, Parkinsons disease, viral infections and liver disease.

On Sept. 25, Meir became the third Mainer, and first Maine woman, to go into space when the Soyuz MS-15 spacecraft carried her from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan to the International Space Station. Meir is from Caribou.

Have feedback? Want to know more? Send us ideas for follow-up stories.

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Jessica Meir conducting experiments on space station that could aid cancer treatment - Bangor Daily News

Images courtesy of NASA and heavens-above.com

Per a recent update from the Cape Hatteras National Seashore (CHNS), the International Space Station (ISS) will be flying over Cape Hatteras on Thursday night starting at 7:57 p.m. Assuming skies are clear, the ISS will look like a bright star arriving from the West-Northwest before disappearing in the Southeastern sky at 8:02 p.m.

Per the CHNS, there are currently two cosmonauts from Russia and four astronauts from the U.S. and Italy on board the ISS, and they are conducting a variety of science experiments ranging from the 3-D printing of human organs to studying the structure of car tires. Among the U.S. group is North Carolina State graduate Christina Koch who, upon her return to Earth in February of 2020, will set the record for the longest spaceflight for a woman providing NASA with information about how the body reacts in space for future missions to the Moon and Mars.

For more information on the ISSs current location, visit https://heavens-above.com/

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International Space Station flying over Cape Hatteras Thursday Night - Island Free Press

Sustainability in Space: What California Green Building Standards and the Von Braun Space Station Have in Common

As California makes strides in sustainability, the Von Braun Space Station is taking rather large steps for humankind. Exploring the great unknown does not have to mean abandoning our planet it can mean just the opposite. In fact, this space station could be our most monumental step toward a sustainable future.

Pioneered by the Gateway Foundation, the project is named after the father of American space flight, rocket scientist and space architect Wernher von Braun who popularized the rotating space station concept. Picture the setting from 2001: A Space Odyssey but unlike the cold-feeling contemporary interiors from the film, the Von Braun is designed to feel like home a hotel for tourists and a research area for scientists equipped with bedrooms, bars and restaurants brought down to earth (in a sense) by artificial gravity and natural materials.

Senior design architect for this astronomical endeavor is Tim Alatorre. The name of his Sacramento based firm, Domum, means coming home in Latin. After all, coming home is a universal feeling.

Just like many terrestrial projects, our goal on the Von Braun is to help you feel at home, Alatorre says.

By 2025, one hundred fifty passengers will experience a completely sustainable lifestyle in space powerful inspiration for how we can save our home from the impending climate crisis.

Responding to this vital need, The California Green Building Standards Code became law in 2009. The Standards require sustainable construction practices for energy, water and material efficiency among other green initiatives growing with each code cycle.

To refine sustainable design in our ever-changing environments, Alatorre expands upon Californias building philosophy within the realm of space architecture, exploring sustainability for the states homes and businesses and beyond.

Space architecture can take sustainability to the extreme. The Von Brauns furniture will be made in orbit with 3D printers, and those plastics can always be melted back into filament and used again.

At its essence, space architecture explores ways to reuse and recycle. Every kilogram that goes into orbit comes at a significant cost. So sustainability is critical. While architects are confined by certain boundaries on Earth, space architects get even more creative out of necessity. Here, many pour water down the drain and dont bat an eye. In space, every ounce of water gets purified and reused. Toilet water can be purified and then cycled to be flushed again or used as a ballast system to balance the ship or to make fuel to power the rockets.

Sounds like something out of a sci-fi movie at first glance, but think about all the commonplace tools we use today. The GPS and the microchip started out in space and became integral parts of our lives, seemingly at the speed of light.

The possibilities are out of this world, Alatorre says. Our goal is to take lessons learned in space and then bring them back down to Earth.

Even as the space station is being designed, architectural advances are tackling climate change and California is taking a leading role.

Starting in 2020, new residences must be built with on-site energy generation. Past decisions forecast that within a decade, commercial buildings will likely follow suit. The architecture community can lead the way for environmental stewardship.

Alatorre adds, Over the next five years the cost savings of the solar panels on my home will have paid for itself from then on, free power.

Space architects also consider how to create indoor-outdoor connection. The ever-important sense of arrival, as explored for a custom home or commercial structure, applies in this setting as well. How do you arrive? What will the first experience feel like?

Journeying from Earth to the Von Braun, each passengers awareness will be heightened. In the Lunar Gravity Area, two concentric rotating rings will create the gravitational force of the surface of the moon. The outer habitation ring is for tourists to vacation and, in the future, buy real estate.

Two weeks in the Heavens could be paradise, but only if its well designed, Alatorre says. Like a carpet pulled from under you, space architecture replaces your day-to-day with an alternate reality.

On Earth, the sun rises in the morning and sets at night. While on the station, our planet will seem to rotate around the window once every 45 seconds, sunlight will be constant, and the floors will curve.

Window design is essential to how inhabitants experience this phenomenon. Indoor-outdoor connections on Earth may be achieved through large window panes, yet the Von Braun team considers the psychological need for transition in an unfamiliar environment so that travelers feel free to draw the curtains.

Reaching outward and inward, the design seeks to both intrigue those on board and bring them comfort and security. Curved walls and floors will highlight the sensation of alternative gravity, while cork flooring provides a sense of grounding, also avoiding the expense of hauling heavy lumber into space.

A more practical factor is air quality. On Earth, we take air for granted. For the space station, the team is finding answers to crucial questions: How do we get the air here and control it? How much fresh air do humans need to feel healthy? Like water, no air will be wasted.

The Sick Building Syndrome is one the Gateway Foundation wants to avoid in this new territory, following in the footsteps of NASA which has only approved certain materials that have a minimum level of off-gassing. Where theres reduced gravity, floating particles could damage electronics and potentially risk peoples safety.

So to gift Von Braun passengers security and spectacle, this careful consideration of lines and materials balances the feelings of space and earth, of new and old, of there and home.

Project Name:Von Braun Space Station for the Gateway Foundation

Projected Start and Completion Dates:Start construction by 2021. Have station fully occupied by 2025.

Owner(s):The Gateway Foundation

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Sustainability in Space: What California Green Building Standards and the Von Braun Space Station Have in Common - ArchDaily

It's a busy week at the International Space Station (ISS). With nine crewmembers currently on board, the orbiting laboratory will be unusually crowded until Thursday (Oct. 3), when three of those crewmembers are scheduled to return to Earth.

While the ISS is usually staffed by three to six astronauts and cosmonauts, there have been nine crewmembers on board the space laboratory since last Wednesday (Sept. 25), when the Soyuz MS-15 spacecraft arrived with three new crewmembers. This isn't a permanent set-up; part of the reason there are so many humans in space right now has to do with overlap in crew assignments.

Nine is certainly not the highest number of people ever stationed on the space lab. The record for the largest population on the ISS was set in 2009, when there were 13 people on board. The last time there were nine people on board was in 2015, during NASA astronaut Scott Kelly's "Year in Space" mission.

Related: Expedition 60: The Space Station Mission in Photos

The International Space Station's nine-person crew of Expedition 60 poses in "space band" shirts in this photo shared by European Space Agency astronaut Luca Parmitano (upside down) on Sept. 30, 2019. The shirts say "Kryk Chayky" (Cry of the Seagull in Russian). Pictured are (clockwise from top left) NASA astronaut Christina Koch, Parmitano, NASA astronaut Drew Morgan, Russian cosmonauts Alexander Skvortsov and Oleg Skripochka, NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Nick Hague, and cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin, giving a thumbs up as crew commander.

Over the course of the eight days when the space station will be a bit of a tight fit, the newly-arrived trio will get acclimated to their new orbiting home, while three other space flyers will prepare to head back down to Earth.

The new residents are NASA astronaut Jessica Meir and Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Skripochka, who will spend six months in space as members of Expedition 61, plus a special short-term visitor: the first person from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to fly into space, Hazzaa Ali Almansoori. The three launched on board Russia's Soyuz MS-15 spacecraft last Wednesday (Sept. 25) from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan shortly before 7 p.m. local time, and arrived at the space lab about six hours later.

Almansoori's brief visit is part of an intergovernmental contract between the UAE and Roscosmos, according to NASA. Almansoori will return to Earth this Thursday (Oct. 3) on the Soyuz MS-12 spacecraft, accompanied by NASA astronaut Nick Hague and ISS commander Alexey Ovchinin, both of whom will have completed more than 200 days in space.

The nine-person crew currently aboard the International Space Station appear to be all smiles. On Sept. 25, the space station welcomed three new people onboard, and this Thursday (Oct. 3) two long-time residents and one short-term visitor will return to Earth.

(Image credit: NASA)

Also on board the ISS right now are the crew of the Soyuz MS-13 spacecraft: NASA astronaut Drew Morgan, European Space Agency astronaut Luca Parmitano and Russian cosmonaut Alexander Skvortsov. The three spacemen arrived at the ISS on July 20 and will return to Earth sometime in December or January.Three of the men (Parmitano, Ovchinin and Hague) are celebrating birthdays this week. To celebrate, all nine crewmembers donned "space band" shirts for a photo this week.

Ovchinin, who is currently the commander of Expedition 60, will hand over command of the ISS to Parmitano on Wednesday (Oct. 2), marking the official beginning of Expedition 61. You can watch the change of command ceremony live on Space.com beginning at 9:20 a.m. EDT (1320 GMT), courtesy of NASA TV. Later that night, we'll stream live views of the crew farewells (beginning at 12:20 a.m. EDT on Oct. 3), followed by the Soyuz MS-12 undocking and landing early Thursday morning.

Follow Doris Elin Urrutia on Twitter @salazar_elin. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.

Need more space? You can get 5 issues of our partner "All About Space" Magazine for $5 for the latest amazing news from the final frontier!

(Image credit: All About Space magazine)

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Crowded Space Station: There Are 9 People from 4 Different Space Agencies in Orbit Right Now - Space.com

The International Space Station is the largest manmade object in the sky and is home to a crew of 10 astronauts. Image Credit: NASA

Baikonur: Emirati astronaut Hazzaa Al Mansoori can see Earth from the ISS.

But did you know that you can also see the space station while hes onboard as it flies over the UAE?

Hazzaa blasted off to space on Wednesday night at 5.57pm (UAE time), breaking barriers by becoming the first Emirati in space and the first Arab on the ISS.

He will stay on the ISS for eight days to conduct 16 scientific experiments, including the effect of weightlessness on his body, conduct a tour the ISS in Arabic, and host a traditional Emirati night for his space colleagues.

While he orbits the Earth 16 times a day every 90 minutes on the ISS, he will definitely be flying over the Emirates.

But when and how will we know?

Michael Flachbart, who worked for nearly 30 years at the US Space and Rocket Centre (USSRC), the official Nasa Visitor Information Centre for the Marshall Space Flight Centre, and now the space camp head of Compass International in Dubai, showed us when.

Based on calculations and modeling using information from the Spot the Station under Nasa, Flachbart said there are two best sighting opportunities for UAE residents between September 26 and October 3 during Hazzaas stay on the ISS.

Of course the ISS will fly by the UAE two to three times per day but the ISS cannot be seen during the day and when there are bright lights.

The website Spot The Station only shows you sighting opportunities for two weeks. I went to some modeling software and I advanced the time to September 25th to October 2nd and I had to look to see when it was going to fly over the UAE at night time within about an hour or two of sunrise and sunset, Flachbart told Gulf News.

The best dates/times estimated to spot the station over the UAE are September 29 at 7.54pm and October 2 at 7.02pm.

The ISS will not be difficult to spot as it is the third brightest object in the sky, according to Nasa.

You wont need any special glasses or lenses to see it. It is visible to the naked eye.

How will I know its the ISS?

Nasa said the ISS looks like a fast-moving plane but at a higher altitude and definitely travelling thousands of miles an hour faster.

It actually orbits the Earth at around 28,000km/h or 7.66km/second, that is 45 times faster than the worlds fastest roller coaster. And thats like jumping from the Burj Khalifa further down to Safa Park in one second.

Conditions have to be favourable to be able to spot the ISS, according to Compass International and SARA UAE or the Space Education Programme of Compass Curriculum.

The sky and the area where you are need to be dark for the this engineering marvel to be spotted.

And just like stars, you will see the station if there is no haze or cloud cover. Skies have to be clear.

Lastly, because the station does not have lights unlike airplanes with the blinking lights, the best time to spot it is just before sunrise or just after sunset. This way, the ISS will reflect sunlight.

For more information, visit spotthestation.nasa.gov

Source: Michael Flachbart

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UAE in Space: How to spot International Space Station from UAE - Gulf News

The International Space Station is a football-field-sized science laboratory that orbits some 250 miles above Earth. Usually between three to nine people are on board at any time, and while it seems like theyre probably playing with floating water and watching their hair do funny things, theyre actually doing a lot of science.

In any case, theres not a lot of spare time. The space station also takes work to maintain, which is one reason why astronauts conduct space walks. They often head into the void to repair or replace parts, or even set up scientific experiments on the outside of the station. This week were tagging along with some astronauts while they zoom around our planet.

Just a few days ago, NASA astronaut Christina Koch captured this truly epic photo of her best friend and fellow astronaut, Jessica Meir, launching from Earth and heading to the ISS. The perspective in this photo is quite stunning, because we can see the thin blue atmosphere of Earth, the launch trail of the Soyuz capsule as it climbs, and the dividing line of darkness that the ISS orbits within. And while this seems like a long trek, it only takes the Soyuz about five minutes to get into space, and another six hours before it catches up with the ISSwhich is hurtling around Earth at 17,000 mph.

Check out more snapshots below from humanity's remotest outpost.

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Space Photos of the Week: The ISS is Out of This World - WIRED

Indias space agency, ISRO, plans space docking experiment (SPADEX) next year, the agencys Chairman, Kailasavadivoo Sivan, toldBusiness Linetoday. Docking refers to connecting of two flying objects in space, either to transfer men or material from one to the other, or two join two structures to make a bigger one.

Two satellites would be sent to space on board a regular PSLV mission and the two would be made to dock with each other, Sivan said, describing the exercise as a technology demonstration experiment.

Mastering this extremely difficult technology is crucial for the operations of an Indian space station, a lab up in spaceastronauts would need to be ferried from the earth to the space station and back. This can be achieved only if the vehicle carries the astronauts can dock with the space station.

Asked when ISRO planned to build a space station, Sivan said that the project was still some distance away, and would be taken up only after the Gaganyaan mission, which is to take astronauts to space and bring them back to earth safely, through the rigours of re-entry into earths atmosphere. Gaganyaan is expected to happen in December 2021.

Docking is broadly for two different purposesfor sending human beings from a shuttle to a space station, or for assembling large satellites in space. Each of these has different complexities. In the case of docking for human transfers, there is scope for human intervention if something goes wrong; when satellites mate in space to form larger structures, it all has to be done by using devices such as sensors and cameras.

Imagine two objects satellites flying in space at incredible velocities, of the order of 10 km a second. When they are a few kilometres away, they communicate with each other and the one in front slows down in order that the follower comes close. When they are close enough, onboard cameras (or, lasers) switch on and they look at each other. Guided by camera, one latches on to the other and the two become a larger structure. This way, enormous structures can be built in space.

Elsewhere in the world, there are talks of space solar stations, which are giant solar power plants up in space which produce electricity from the sun and beam it down to earth in the form of microwaves.

Docking will be a key capability in future space operations and ISROs first step in that direction SPADEXwill happen next year.

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ISROs space docking experiment to happen next year, says Sivan - BusinessLine

Teachers get trained on how to construct their new veggie boxes. Photo: Danny Rivero WLRN

Teachers in Miami-Dade County gathered this weekend at Fairchild Tropical Botanical Garden to get new materials that could one day help take humans deeper into space. And if all goes well, it could provide a meal for the classroom.

TheGrowing Beyond Earthproject is a partnership between NASA and Fairchild. Currently in its fifth year, middle and high school students have been helping NASA perform real research about which foods can best grow in the International Space Station and someday beyond.

At this point a couple of the crops that the students have selected have actually gone through our entire process and made it to the space station, said Gioia Massa, a space crop scientist for NASA at the Kennedy Space Center.

Last year, astronauts grew and ate varieties of dwarf bok choy and dragoon lettuce, purelybasedon the research students provided.

135 schools in Miami-Dade County have been given free boxes to grow food and test with, all within specific protocols developed by Fairchild and NASA. High schools are also participating in Broward and Palm Beach counties, as well as schools in Ohio, Colorado, Pennsylvania and Puerto Rico.

The data gathered by the students is shared with NASA over Google Sheets, and researchers pour over the results, certifying results at Kennedy Space Center before sending seeds and instructions up to astronauts at the International Space Station.

Were looking for things that grow well in a small space, about two foot square, things that produce a large amount of edible biomass, things that have lots of vitamins that are not found in the processed diet, and also plants that have really strong flavors, said Amy Padolf, the director of education at Fairchild. When youre in zero gravity, its like you have a head cold all the time, so your taste buds get muted.

No one goes to space for the food, laughed Trent Smith, a NASA vegetable project manager. So this definitely helps.

Massa stressed that beyond nutrition and a bit of zest for the palate, theres a psychological aspect of having astronauts grow plants they can eat. Anecdotally, NASA knows that taking care of plants can have a positive impact on crew members. NASA is currently surveying them to try to put harder data on the benefits of being around plants in such an inorganic space, but also looking at possible negative factors.

If your plants got sick or died, how would that make the crew feel? Anyone who has gardened knows how that can impact you, she said. We really want to understand these impacts in the context of being in a space station.

In the classroom, teachers who have participated in the program said it is popular among students.

My students love the fact that theres really only two degrees of separation between them and the International Space Station, said Andrew Kearns, the mathematics chair at Jose Marti Mast 6-12 Academy in Hialeah. The research that theyre doing here is really at the grassroots level of what can feed us in space in a space station, on the moon, on Mars and I really think that they do see that big picture.

The students feel like theyre contributing so something thats bigger than just the school or the classroom. They feel like theyre doing something really big, said Desiree Rodriguez, a teacher at West Miami Middle School.

The work that students are doing in their classrooms in collaboration with Fairchild is really about laying the groundwork for more lunar exploration and ultimately a trip to Mars, said Ralph Fritsche, the space crop production manager for NASA at the Kennedy Space Center.

Over long periods of time, packaged foods that astronauts get starts to lose its nutritional value. That poses a real question about how viable multi-year trips can be, the deeper into space we go.

Its a real risk to crew health and performance, and we have to go in and figure how can I bolster that? said Fritsche. Naturally were trying to extend the prepackaged food, but as a benchmark to be able to help buy down that risk, we want to also add fresh foods to it.

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Veggies in Space: NASA Partners with School Kids to Research Healthier Choices for Meals on the Space Station - WMFE

NASA is now officially accepting proposals for lunar lander designs that can carry humans to the surface of the Moon. The space agency issued a final call to the commercial space industry today, with proposals due November 1st.

Human lunar landers are a critical component of NASAs Artemis program, an initiative to send people back to the Moons surface in less than five years. These landers are meant to live at a new space station that NASA wants to build in orbit around the Moon called the Gateway. Astronauts will supposedly travel to the Gateway in NASAs future rocket the Space Launch System, or SLS and from there, theyll travel in the landers down to the Moon.

Specifically, NASA is looking for landers that consist of two to three main pieces. First, the descent stage hardware that will lower the vehicle down to the surface of the Moon. Second, the ascent stage, which is what astronauts will ride in when they take off from the lunar surface and return back to the Gateway. A third component is known as the transfer stage; this piece is basically a tug that can transport the other two elements from the Gateway to an orbit thats closer to the Moon, making it easier to get everything to and from the surface.

Companies will also need to specify how theyll get their lunar landers to the Gateway. They can use commercial vehicles, such as SpaceXs Falcon Heavy or Blue Origins future New Glenn rocket, or they can use NASAs future SLS rocket, slated to fly in 2021 at the earliest.

From the proposals it receives, NASA eventually plans to select two of those companies to actually go through the process of making the landers and sending them to the Gateway. One companys lander will be tasked with doing the first coveted landing with people on board in 2024, while the second will do another crewed landing in 2025. NASA does not plan on doing any uncrewed test landings with these designs beforehand, though.

A few companies have already given the public a sneak peek of their plans. Lockheed Martin unveiled a lunar lander design thats derived from the companys Orion capsule, which NASA astronauts will ride in on top of NASAs SLS. Jeff Bezos also showed off Blue Origins Blue Moon lunar lander concept in May, which he claims the company has been working on for the last three years.

This finalized call to industry comes a few months after NASA posted two draft documents detailing what kind of landers and contracts it was looking for from the commercial space sector. During those months, companies provided NASA with feedback as it edited its request. NASA claims it removed language and requirements that companies thought might slow down the development schedule. The entire process from drafts to final call has been much speedier than many of NASAs other contract selections, which can take many months to years to be awarded. The expedited schedule has been necessary in order to meet Vice President Mike Pences challenge to NASA from March of this year to send people back to the Moon four years earlier than the agency had planned.

While NASA has been speedy in getting out this call to industry, these lunar lander selections all hinge on what kind of budget the space agency is given next year. In order to get a jump-start on the Artemis program, the Trump administration requested an extra $1.6 billion for NASA for next year in a budget amendment, with $1 billion going toward the development of new lunar landers. However, its not clear whether NASA will actually receive those additional funds. The Senate Appropriations Committee recently passed a funding bill for next year that gives NASA a big boost in its budget, but only provides $744.1 million for developing new lunar technologies for Artemis.

The final budget for 2020 is still being decided, but NASA says that money is key. For this year, what we need is that budget amendment so that we can get the landing systems awarded get those contracts out, Ken Bowersox, the acting head of NASAs human exploration office, testified before the House Science Committee this September. Because thats our long pole for right now for getting to the lunar surface.

Continued here:

NASA is now officially accepting proposals for landers to take people to the Moon - The Verge

BOCA CHICA, Texas Elon Musk has a Starship, and one day he expects it will help SpaceX reach other worlds.

Standing beneath a towering Starship Mk1, a prototype for SpaceX's massive reusable launch system, Musk laid out his plan for interplanetary travel at the company's South Texas test site here on Saturday (Sept. 28) the 11th anniversary of the first successful orbital launch of SpaceX's first rocket, the Falcon 1.

The new version of Starship (and its Super Heavy booster) will be able to carry up to 100 people to the moon, Mars or other destinations in space or around Earth, he said. It will stand 387 feet (118 meters) tall and be completely reusable, with quick turnarounds.

This is the rocket that will launch the billionaire Japanese entrepreneur Yusaku Maezawa and a handful of artists on a trip around the moon in the 2020s. SpaceX unveiled that planned space tourist trip last year (but did not disclose how much Maezawa paid).

"This is, I think, the most inspiring thing I have ever seen," Musk told a crowd of about 200 SpaceX employees, guests and reporters at the company's site near Boca Chica Village, just outside of Brownsville. "Wow, what an incredible job by such a great team to build this incredible vehicle. I'm so proud to work with such a great team."

Musk later thanked Maezawa for his support. The billionaire has contributed an unspecified amount to SpaceX to aid Starship's development.

Related: SpaceX's Starship and Super Heavy Mars Rocket in Pictures

Musk has long said that the main goal of SpaceX, since its founding in 2002, has been to help make humanity a multiplanet species. The company has developed reusable Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets, as well as reusable Dragon cargo capsules and a new Crew Dragon ship for astronauts. It has launchpads in Florida, California and now Boca Chica, where the company broke ground on its test site in 2014.

But Mars, Musk has said, has remained the true objective.

"This is the fastest path to a self-sustaining city on Mars," he said Saturday night, referring to the Starship-Super Heavy architecture.

SpaceX's Starship concept has undergone a kind of rocket evolution in the three years since Musk first unveiled it to the world in September 2016 at the International Astronautical Union meeting in Mexico.

At that meeting, Musk unveiled what he called the the Interplanetary Transport System, or ITS, for Mars colonization. The ITS called for a fully reusable spacecraft (with two fins) and booster that would stand 400 feet (122 m) high when assembled. Its first stage would have 42 next-generation Raptor engines, and the booster would be 40 feet (12 m) wide. The spacecraft would have nine Raptors. (SpaceX's Falcon 9 rockets have nine Merlin engines on their first stage. Falcon Heavy first stages have 27 Merlins.)

Musk updated the design in 2017, calling it the Big Falcon Rocket, or BFR for short. That plan called for a launch system that would stand 348 feet (106 meters) tall and 30 feet (9 m) wide. Its booster would have 31 Raptor engines, while the spacecraft atop it would have six.

Then, in 2018, Musk unveiled yet another design (and the Starship name): a sleek, stainless-steel spacecraft with three tail fins that would stand taller than its 2017 precursor, with a height of 387 feet (118 m). The spacecraft would still be powered by six Raptor engines, with up to 37 Raptors powering the booster (now called Super Heavy).

The switch to 301 stainless steel from a lightweight, but expensive, carbon fiber composite material, was a turning point, Musk said. The steel gets stronger the colder it gets, making it perfect for flights in the cold depths of space. It also has a higher melting point, making it more resilient during the fiery reentry through Earth's atmosphere.

It's also way cheaper, about 2% the cost of carbon fiber, he added.

"Steel was the best design decision on this whole thing," Musk said.

This latest design has held to the present day; SpaceX is still shooting for a 387-foot-tall Starship-Super Heavy stack, with six Raptors on the spacecraft. The number of engines on Super Heavy could vary from flight to flight; Musk said the rocket has space for up to 37 Raptors, and each mission will probably require at least 24.

"Starship will allow us to inhabit other worlds," Musk wrote on Twitter Friday (Sept. 27). "To make life as we know it interplanetary."

With the design nailed down, SpaceX plans to move fast.

"This is going to sound totally nuts but I think we want to try to reach orbit in less than six months," Musk said. "Provided the rate of design improvement and manufacturing improvement continues to be exponential, I think that is accurate to within a few months."

.And people could start flying aboard the vehicle in the next year or so if the test program continues to go well, he added. That appears to be an extremely accelerated program, given that SpaceX has not yet launched astronauts on its Crew Dragon spacecraft for NASA.

While Musk and SpaceX have been lauded by their ambitious push for a Starship capable of deep-space travel, the road has not always been smooth.

As the company ramped up its testing with a smaller rocket, called Starhopper, frequent road closures, launch hazard advisories and other side effects of the program sparked ire among some residents of Boca Chica Village, a nearby beachside community. SpaceX's Starship Mk1, for example, is just dozens of feet from a main travel route, Boca Chica Boulevard, that leads to the village.

Earlier on Saturday, the boulevard was the scene of a rotating gallery of onlookers and SpaceX fans posing for selfies and photos with the Starship Mk1, even as SpaceX put the finishing touches on the 165-foot (50 m) vehicle.

"I can sum up my first impression like this: 'Ooo, Shiny!'" said Roy Paul, 78, of Mebane, North Carolina, who flew to Houston and drove over 7 hours with a niece, nephew and their five children from Beaumont to see the Starship Mk1. He's a dedicated space fan who goes as IonMars on NASASpaceflight.com forums.

This month, SpaceX offered to buy out some Boca Chica Village residents after a short 500-foot (150 m) test sparked a brush fire at the test site, according to Business Insider.

On Saturday, Musk confirmed that SpaceX has sought to buy out some Boca Chica residents. If SpaceX's flight test rate holds, then Starship launches may become more disruptive to the hamlet's residents, he said.

Then there are SpaceX's other customers.

NASA is still waiting for SpaceX to complete the Crew Dragon spacecraft that will fly astronauts to and from the International Space Station. The space agency has picked SpaceX (and another company, Boeing) to provide commercial crew flights to the station.

While SpaceX did launch an unpiloted Crew Dragon test flight to the space station this year, a subsequent abort system test failed, leading to the destruction of the vehicle. SpaceX aims to resume abort system tests later this year ahead of the first crewed test flight.

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine, it seems, is not happy with the years-long delays of Crew Dragon, as well as Boeing's Starliner spacecraft, especially after seeing SpaceX build Starship Mk1 this year ahead of its own test flight.

"I am looking forward to the SpaceX announcement tomorrow," Bridenstine wrote on Twitter Friday. "In the meantime, Commercial Crew is years behind schedule. NASA expects to see the same level of enthusiasm focused on the investments of the taxpayer. It's time to deliver."

On Saturday night, Musk assured that SpaceX is focused on Crew Dragon for NASA, as well as flights for other customers. Only about 5% of SpaceX's resources are devoted to the Starship program, he said.

Meanwhile, the city of Brownsville, remains hopeful that SpaceX's presence and future launches from Boca Chica could be a boon for the community.

The city's mayor, Trey Mendez, a lawyer and native of Brownsville, said that in the five years SpaceX has been at the Boca Chica site, the area has seen some tourists come to gawk at the rockets, but such visits have not had a significant impact on the city's economy.

That could change, Mendez said, if SpaceX sets up regular space launches from Boca Chica. But if the area just stays a test site, then it may not be as big an impact as the city would like.

"Definitely I can say that the community is overall excited with the opportunities that the space industry brings. And we're excited to learn more about SpaceX's plans out here," Mendez told Space.com just hours before Musk's presentation. "I certainly hope that it is something that will have a measurable impact for our city, because I would definitely love to have that."

Space.com Senior Space Writer Mike Wall contributed to this story. This story has been updated to include new comments by Elon Musk from his Starship update.

Email Tariq Malik attmalik@space.comor follow him@tariqjmalik. Follow us@SpacedotcomandFacebook.

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Elon Musk Unveils SpaceX's New Starship Plans for Private Trips to the Moon, Mars and Beyond - Space.com

We have worked with NASA...to develop a small volume blood analysis technology for space...

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (PRWEB) September 30, 2019

rHEALTH LLC, and its affiliate DNA Medicine Institute, Inc., today announced that rHEALTH ONE blood analyzers have been delivered to NASA and its prime contractor Zin Technologies for spaceflight qualification. The technology will undergo a rigorous set of tests as outlined in NASAs International Space Station: Commercial-Off-The-Shelf Certification Process Work Instruction document.

The work instruction outlines the process of proper spaceflight qualification of commercial technologies. The rHEALTH ONE analyzer will be subject to payload verification, safety, and quality tests. The successful certification of the rHEALTH ONE devices will pave the path for a technology demonstration onboard the International Space Station.

This is an exciting milestone for the rHEALTH technology. We have worked with NASA closely to develop a small volume blood analysis technology for space, with dual-use applications in our homes and diverse medical settings. The technology empowers astronauts and individuals to be able to diagnose themselves, anywhere. We welcome the opportunity to put the technology through its paces, under the most demanding conditions, said Dr. Eugene Chan, CEO.

The rHEALTH ONE is a small, cytometry-based blood analyzer that uses tiny blood samples (< 10 L). At 1.5 kg, it weighs less than most laptops and uses minimal power (< 2.5W), drawn from a single USB port. The technologys critical components, including its optical module and sample loading system, have been successfully tested in zero gravity onboard parabolic flights with NASA. The device analyzes cells and the Companys nanoscale test strips in a multiplexed manner to provide results in minutes.

About rHEALTHrHEALTH is a company focused on the development and commercialization of its Diagnose Yourself, AnywhereTM technology. rHEALTHs innovations consists of the rHEALTH diagnostic platform, which enables diverse laboratory test classes in a single small volume blood sample intended as a point-of-care solution, the SKYE Sensor, a wireless wearable providing comprehensive real-time vitals monitoring and CHAS, a user-friendly mobile application. For more information, visit http://www.rhealth.com.

About DNA Medicine InstituteDNA Medicine Institute (DMI) is a biomedical incubator focused on advancing patient care, alleviating human suffering, and treating disease through innovation. Its technology is subject of work funded by NASA, National Institutes of Health, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. DMI leverages substantial expertise in interdisciplinary science and engineering to solve challenging problems. For more information, visit http://www.dnamedinstitute.com.

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rHEALTH ONE Blood Analyzers Delivered to NASA for International Space Station - PR Web