Hewlett Packard Enterprise's unassuming Spaceborne Computer will test supercomputing reliability with NASA's help on the International Space Station.

HAL seemed to have little trouble in "2001: A Space Odyssey," but here's the problem with computers in space: a constant stream of cosmic rays seriously disrupt electronics.

That's why Hewlett Packard Enterprise and NASA are testing how well supercomputing technology works on the International Space Station. A SpaceX rocket scheduled to lift off Monday will carry a machine called the Spaceborne Computer that will see whether software techniques can catch and correct errors induced by the radiation from our sun and galaxy that reaches low Earth orbit. HPE announced the work Friday.

The research ultimately could improve computers here on Earth -- but also get humans to Mars.

"Mars is the next frontier, and we need supercomputing to get there. Mars astronauts won't have near-instant access to high-performance computing (HPC) like those in low-Earth orbit do -- the red planet is 26 light minutes round-trip away," said Mark Fernandez, Americas technology officer at HPE's SGI business unit. Supercomputers can be used for tasks like figuring out what to do if a spacecraft or Mars habitation has a system failure.

The Spaceborne Computer is nothing like the mammoth supercomputers on Earth, which take up rooms the size of basketball courts to tackle complex challenges like simulating the planet's weather or the effects of aging on nuclear weapons. But it uses the same basic technology, including Intel processors and a high-speed interconnect to join the system's independent computing nodes.

In this case, the computer employs a 56Gbps optical interconnect to link its different nodes. That's fast enough data-transfer speed to transfer three episodes of "Game of Thrones" from one machine to another in less than a second.

Space is a tough environment, but it has its perks. One of them is that the machine's water cooling system can poke out into space, keeping the machine from overheating for free. On Earth, cooling data centers is a major expense for companies like Google, Facebook, Amazon and Microsoft that operate thousands upon thousands of machine.

The challenge for the Spaceborne Computer is to get it all working despite cosmic rays. The Earth's magnetic field protects the planet's surface from these electrically charged particles -- protons and other particles that stream in from our sun, elsewhere in the galaxy and sometimes even other galaxies. They carry so much energy they can blast electronics out of whack, corrupting memory and messing up calculations.

Some computers destined for space have special shielding and other protection, but not this one. Instead of hardware changes, the computer employs software layers to for detection, correction and protection, Fernandez said. "Success would be ... correct results for a year," he said.

And that's the kind of reliability that could benefit us even here on Earth.

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Space station to test supercomputer bathed in cosmic rays - CNET

Wearing winter clothes, Andrew Frank entered a minus 20 degrees Celsius freezer at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida earlier this month to help insert hundreds of biological samples into a tiny device destined for a mission in space.

But the unit wouldn't quite fit into the 4-by-4-by-6-inch box required for the mission, so the 16-year-old Boy Scout with Palatine-based Troop 209 and other volunteers improvised with tinier screws and silicon tape to seal the container. After eight hours working off and on in the deep freeze, Frank was shaking from the cold, but the device was cleared for liftoff.

With that, a two-year process to build an experiment capable of testing DNA mutations in space while meeting strict NASA specifications was complete.

The project was chosen from a competition among Chicago-area troops sponsored by Boy Scouts of America and the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space, which runs the U.S. laboratory on the International Space Station. Some of the Scouts will be on hand to watch when the experiment is due to launch aboard a SpaceX rocket from the Florida space center on Monday.

"It's been a huge learning experience," said Frank, the team leader. "I had never done anything like this."

The experiment will test genetic mutations of bacteria in low gravity. Using a procedure called the Ames test, the Scouts will examine how much E. coli cultures change in space and compare that with what happens to them on Earth.

If they find changes in mutations, the Scouts said, it might suggest better ways to fight cancer or grow tissue to heal wounds.

"At the beginning, it's just really cool to do something that's going into outer space," said team mentor Norm McFarland. "By the end, the Scouts were coming up with their own solutions to problems they were finding."

Their device will take photos of each culture repeatedly throughout the flight, checking for a telltale color change from purple to yellow.

To fit a testing device into the restricted space, the Scouts tried out multiple designs, cameras and motors, finally settling on an octagon-shaped carousel that rotates the samples so they can be photographed. Sensors also track time, temperature and humidity.

The device must do all that without using more than the allotted power limit of about 2.5 watts, a small fraction of the power commonly used by lightbulbs.

When astronauts return the experiment to Earth after about a month, the Scouts will check the results, then run the same experiment under the same conditions but in normal gravity.

Some 20 Scouts, age 11 to 18, worked on the project, putting in more than 5,000 hours of meeting time.

The team had guidance from many adults including McFarland, an electrical engineer who retired from Siemens Building Technologies after helping develop numerous patents. Among those who also assisted were a microbiologist and a father who helped fabricate the aluminum parts for the device.

The Scouts themselves designed and soldered a circuit board to help make their experiment work. They even included a position sensor, so if the space station loses power temporarily, the device can reset itself.

Frank and teammate Harmon Bhasin were in Florida before the launch to explain their project at a NASA preflight news conference.

Adult volunteer Kathleen Cassady said she was impressed by how the Scouts grew during the project.

"I thought this would be a good thing to get them interested in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math)," she said, "but I never thought it would also give them the soft skills, to be able to work as a team, provide leadership and problem-solve."

Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune

Members of Palatine Boy Scout Troop 209 built this device to test genetic mutations of bacteria in low gravity. Its scheduled to launch on Monday, Aug. 14, 2017, aboard a SpaceX rocket in Florida.

Members of Palatine Boy Scout Troop 209 built this device to test genetic mutations of bacteria in low gravity. Its scheduled to launch on Monday, Aug. 14, 2017, aboard a SpaceX rocket in Florida. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune)

This isn't the only Scout experiment chosen for the space station. Explorer Post 2400, which includes males and females up to age 20 out of Calumet College of St. Joseph in Whiting, was chosen for the next space launch this fall, to test the effect of low gravity on peptides, which are thought to play a key role in Alzheimer's disease.

One of the faculty leaders on the project, Sandra Chimon Rogers, chairwoman of the college's department of biophysical chemistry and math, said the team developed an infrared spectrometer that fit into the tiny space allowed and cost only about $700, rather than the tens of thousands of dollars such devices often cost.

"It's an amazing opportunity for them, and more students should be aware of it," Rogers said.

In addition, a team of students from Deerfield High School won a separate competition to send their experiment on Monday's launch. They will test different materials for their ability to provide a shield from radiation, which could prove crucial to any long-range space mission, such as an expedition to Mars.

That Go For Launch! competition was sponsored by Higher Orbits, a nonprofit that promotes science and technology, and was judged in part by a former astronaut, Dorothy Metcalf-Lindenburger.

One of the students on the Deerfield team, 16-year-old Chirag Goel, said he was thrilled at the opportunity.

"To look into the night sky and to be a small part of that is humbling," Goel said. "To tell your kids I helped design an experiment to go into space ... what could be cooler than that?"

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Local Boy Scout troop experiment about to take off for outer space ... - Chicago Tribune

Enlarge / Karen Nyberg, of Expedition 37, works with a plant experiment in the Destiny laboratory of the space station.

As it nears the end of its second decade, the International Space Station is starting to hit its stride. The large orbital laboratory offers private companies a chance to test business ideas in microgravity, serves as a testbed for astronaut health, and allows NASA to prove technologies for future missions into deep space.

One of the critical technologies NASA will need if it really does send humans beyond the Earth-Moon system within the next few decades is more powerful computers capable of operating in the deep space environment. Presently, the main command computers that operate the space station use Intel i386 processors. However, thatis fine for the station because all of its critical systems are monitored around the clock by ground-based flight controllers who can work in real time with the crew to fix any problems that arise.

If humans do travel to Mars, they will face increasingly long communications delaysstretching out to more than half an hourbetween Earth and their spacecraft. In that situation, the astronauts are likely to become more reliant on more powerful computers and artificial intelligence to make critical course corrections or decisions within seconds or minutes.

A "smart" spacecraft, however, will require a considerably more powerful and robust computer. So NASA andHewlett-Packard Enterprise (HPE) are taking the first step toward that by launching a "supercomputer" to the International Space Station. It will ride into space as early as Monday aboard SpaceX's next supply mission to the station.

"This goes along with the space station's mission to facilitate exploration beyond low Earth orbit,"Mark Fernandez, HPE's leading payload engineer for the project, told Ars. "If this experiment works, it opens up a universe of possibility for high performance computing in space."

For the year-long experiment, astronauts will install the computer inside a rack in the Destiny module of the space station. It is about the size of two pizza boxes stuck together. And while the device is not exactly a state-of-the-art supercomputerit has a computing speed of about 1 teraflopit is the most powerful computer sent into space. Unlike most computers, it has not been hardened for the radiation environment aboard the space station. The goal is to better understand how the space environment will degrade the performance of an off-the-shelf computer.

During the next year, the spaceborne computer will continuously run through a set of computing benchmarks to determine its performance over time. Meanwhile, on the ground, an identical copy of the computer will run in a lab as a control.

If the test is successful, it will open the door to the use of even more powerful computers aboard the space station and other spacecraft NASA is developing to send humans farther into space. Fernandez said HPE also envisions that scientists could eventually use an on-board supercomputer for data processing of their experiments on the station, rather than clogging the limited bandwidth between space and ground with raw data.

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SpaceX is launching a supercomputer to the International Space Station - Ars Technica

SpaceX is set to embark on its 12th mission to resupply the International Space Station on Monday from Kennedy Space Center.

The launch is scheduled for 12:31 p.m. from the centers historic pad 39A, which was the site of the Apollo 11 Saturn V rocket launch that took humans to the moon in 1969. It also saw the first and last space shuttle missions during the 30-year shuttle program.

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Mondays mission will use a Falcon 9 rocket to launch the Dragon vehicle to the space station loaded with more than 6,000-pounds of supplies and experiments.

The Falcon 9s reusable first stage will attempt a controlled landing at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

The missions are broadcast live on SpaceXs website, and usually also available on NASA TV.

SpaceXs Falcon 9 and Dragon lift off from Launch Pad 39A on Feb. 19, 2017

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The NASA podcast, "Houston, We Have a Podcast," conducted a Facebook Live interview with astronaut Jack Fischer. Here, Fischer is seen upside down, as he changed his pose after every question.

How's it going in space? Awesome, just like every day, said NASA astronaut Jack Fischer, speaking live from the International Space Station redefining the meaning of long-distance conversation.

Fischer joined the first live taping of NASA's "Houston, We Have a Podcast" on Thursday afternoon (Aug. 10). The spaceman spoke with two hosts, Gary Jordan and Dan Huot, and answered questions from the people who tuned in to the Facebook Live event, such as, "Do you get insomnia in space?"

The session appeared to be a natural extension for Fischer, who has a strong following on Twitter, at 88,000 followers. A reason he is such a favorite for so many is his unabashed way of expressing the wonders he sees aboard the ISS. Fischer was formerly an Air Force test pilot, and he said he was "lucky" to be selected from out among such a talented applicant pool to launch to the space station in April 2017 as a flight engineer for Expedition 51. This is Fischer's first trip to space. [Southern Lights Dazzle in Spectacular Time-Lapse Video from Space (Video)]

Expedition 51 Flight Engineer Jack Fischer of NASA is seen inside the International Space Station in his spacesuit during a fit check, in preparation for the 200th spacewalk at the station. It was also Fischer's first spacewalk, and occurred on May 12, 2017.

Although Fischer is living the astronaut experience for the first time, he is not shy about using funny phrases like "boats of yum" for floating space station meals, or "biggest slice of awesome pie I've ever seen" to describe the landmark 200th space station spacewalk that he had the honor of performing.

During the show, it seemed the hosts of the podcast were just as enthusiastic as the astronaut, and got quite animated about their chance to speak to a space station resident.

"Wrap your mind around it we are talking to somebody in space," NASA spokesperson Dan Huot said during the program's introduction. Two weeks ago, Huot witnessed a colleague in Baikonur, Kazakhstan, get a phone call from the space station, and shared during the live session that it is "so incredible [that] we live in this time."

Jordan's first question to Fischer was, "How's today in space?" and the astronaut, brimming with energy, replied, "It's awesome! Like it is every day!" After every question, Fischer floated into different positions, perhaps showing off his new mastery of moving in microgravity. He did add, "Don't ask Peggy [Whitson] how many things I've knocked over."

Fischer also revealed that in order to adjust to his new home in the best way, he studies which mannerisms the space crew have adopted, asking himself questions like, "How is Peggy cutting her food packet?"

Viewers also learned some less humorous, more personal details about Fischer. He said he's excited about the cancer-combating research the space crew is conducting because his own daughter battled the disease. The newbie astronaut also likes sleeping in microgravity ("like sleeping in an air bed") because on Earth he suffered from back pain as a result of his previous work as an Air Force pilot.

Previous episodes of "Houston, We Have a Podcast" are available on the NASA website.

Follow Doris Elin Salazar on Twitter @salazar_elin.Follow us@Spacedotcom,FacebookandGoogle+. Original article onSpace.com.

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Space Station 'Air Bed': Astronaut Jack Fisher Gives Some Wild Answers in Live Interview - Space.com

August 11, 2017 by Francis Reddy From its new vantage point on the International Space Station's Japanese Experiment Module - Exposed Facility, the Cosmic Ray Energetics and Mass (ISS-CREAM) mission, shown in the inset illustration, will study cosmic rays to determine their sources and acceleration mechanisms. Credit: NASA

A new experiment set for an Aug. 14 launch to the International Space Station will provide an unprecedented look at a rain of particles from deep space, called cosmic rays, that constantly showers our planet. The Cosmic Ray Energetics And Mass mission destined for the International Space Station (ISS-CREAM) is designed to measure the highest-energy particles of any detector yet flown in space.

CREAM was originally developed as a part of NASA's Balloon Program, during which it returned measurements from around 120,000 feet in seven flights between 2004 and 2016.

"The CREAM balloon experiment achieved a total sky exposure of 191 days, a record for any balloon-borne astronomical experiment," said Eun-Suk Seo, a professor of physics at the University of Maryland in College Park and the experiment's principal investigator. "Operating on the space station will increase our exposure by over 10 times, taking us well beyond the traditional energy limits of direct measurements."

Sporting new instruments, as well as refurbished versions of detectors originally used on balloon flights over Antarctica, the refrigerator-sized, 1.4-ton (1,300 kilogram) ISS-CREAM experiment will be delivered to the space station as part of the 12th SpaceX commercial resupply service mission. Once there, ISS-CREAM will be moved to the Exposed Facility platform extending from Kibo, the Japanese Experiment Module.

From this orbital perch, ISS-CREAM is expected to study the "cosmic rain" for three yearstime needed to provide unparalleled direct measurements of rare high-energy cosmic rays.

At energies above about 1 billion electron volts, most cosmic rays come to us from beyond our solar system. Various lines of evidence, including observations from NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, support the idea that shock waves from the expanding debris of stars that exploded as supernovas accelerate cosmic rays up to energies of 1,000 trillion electron volts (PeV). That's 10 million times the energy of medical proton beams used to treat cancer. ISS-CREAM data will allow scientists to examine how sources other than supernova remnants contribute to the population of cosmic rays.

Protons are the most common cosmic ray particles, but electrons, helium nuclei and the nuclei of heavier elements make up a small percentage. All are direct samples of matter from interstellar space. But because the particles are electrically charged, they interact with galactic magnetic fields, causing them to wander in their journey to Earth. This scrambles their paths and makes it impossible to trace cosmic ray particles back to their sources.

"An additional challenge is that the flux of particles striking any detector decreases steadily with higher energies," said ISS-CREAM co-investigator Jason Link, a researcher at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. "So to better explore higher energies, we either need a much bigger detector or much more observing time. Operating on the space station provides us with this extra time."

Large ground-based systems study cosmic rays at energies greater than 1 PeV by making Earth's atmosphere the detector. When a cosmic ray strikes the nucleus of a gas molecule in the atmosphere, both explode in a shower of subatomic shrapnel that triggers a wider cascade of particle collisions. Some of these secondary particles reach detectors on the ground, providing information scientists can use to infer the properties of the original cosmic ray.

These secondaries also produce an interfering background that limited the effectiveness of CREAM's balloon operations. Removing that background is another advantage of relocating to orbit.

With decreasing numbers of particles at increasing energies, the cosmic ray spectrum vaguely resembles the profile of a human leg. At PeV energies, this decline abruptly steepens, forming a detail scientists call the "knee." ISS-CREAM is the first space mission capable of measuring the low flux of cosmic rays at energies approaching the knee.

"The origin of the knee and other features remain longstanding mysteries," Seo said. "Many scenarios have been proposed to explain them, but we don't know which is correct."

Astronomers don't think supernova remnants are capable of powering cosmic rays beyond the PeV range, so the knee may be shaped in part by the drop-off of their cosmic rays in this region.

"High-energy cosmic rays carry a great deal of information about our interstellar neighborhood and our galaxy, but we haven't been able to read these messages very clearly," said co-investigator John Mitchell at Goddard. "ISS-CREAM represents one significant step in this direction."

ISS-CREAM detects cosmic ray particles when they slam into the matter making up its instruments. First, a silicon charge detector measures the electrical charge of incoming particles, then layers of carbon provide targets that encourage impacts, producing cascades of particles that stream into electrical and optical detectors below while a calorimeter determines their energy. Two scintillator-based detector systems provide the ability to discern between singly charged electrons and protons. All told, ISS-CREAM can distinguish electrons, protons and atomic nuclei as massive as iron as they crash through the instruments.

ISS-CREAM will join two other cosmic ray experiments already working on the space station. The Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS-02), led by an international collaboration sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, is mapping cosmic rays up to a trillion electron volts, and the Japan-led Calorimetric Electron Telescope (CALET), also located on the Kibo Exposed Facility, is dedicated to studying cosmic ray electrons.

Overall management of ISS-CREAM and integration for its space station application was provided by NASA's Wallops Flight Facility on Virginia's Eastern Shore. ISS-CREAM was developed as part of an international collaboration led by the University of Maryland at College Park, which includes teams from NASA Goddard, Penn State University in University Park, Pennsylvania, and Northern Kentucky University in Highland Heights, as well as collaborating institutions in the Republic of Korea, Mexico and France.

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Working in the harsh conditions of Antarctica, Maryland researchers are creating new ways of detecting cosmic rays, high energy particles that bombard the Earth from beyond our solar system.

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The world's smallest space probe, conceived at Menlo Park's visionary Breakthrough Starshot, has phoned home.

A new experiment set for an Aug. 14 launch to the International Space Station will provide an unprecedented look at a rain of particles from deep space, called cosmic rays, that constantly showers our planet. The Cosmic Ray ...

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New mission going to the space station to explore mysteries of 'cosmic rain' - Phys.Org

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Ready For Launch: Deerfield Student Experiment Headed To Space Station Patch.com It's made up of five Deerfield High School students who won the top division at the inaugural Go For Launch! program last year, and the team is set to witness the launch of its student-designed experiment up to the International Space Station (ISS) on ...

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Ready For Launch: Deerfield Student Experiment Headed To Space Station - Patch.com

After Sept. 13, you'll want to take a closer look at the International Space Station as it passes by in the night sky, because a Chanhassen NASA astronaut will be aboard.

Well, OK. Mark Vande Hei doesn't live in Chanhassen. But his parents Tom and Mary Vande Hei do.

Last Saturday, they proudly hosted a bon voyage party. He heads to the space station on Sept. 13, from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. He'll be in space for five and a half months.

Before guests arrived, Vande Hei, 50, sat down to talk about his upcoming mission.

He flies to Russia on Saturday, Aug. 12, to prepare. Then Sept. 13, he and NASA astronaut Joe Acaba, and cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin of the Russian space agency Roscosmos, will launch to the space station aboard the Soyuz MS-06 spacecraft.

Once there, they'll participate in scientific projects and experiments, and help with the operation and maintenance of the space station. He'll be living in zero gravity, bunking in a cubby about the size of a shower stall, and enjoying the greatest view of Earth from the cupola of the space station.

Vande Hei grew up in Plymouth, and is a Benilde-St. Margaret's School graduate. As a kid, he thought that being an astronaut "was cool," Vande Hei said. "You think of astronauts being super heroes, like Superman."

He graduated from St. John's University and was commissioned in the U.S. Army through ROTC. He was assigned to Italy, and later Iraq, as a combat engineer.

The Army sent him to Stanford University for a master's of science degree. In 1999, he became an assistant professor of physics at the United States Military Academy in West Point. It was there that Vande Hei switched his focus to space operations.

After a tour of duty in Iraq, he became a space operations officer. In 2006, he reported to Johnson Space Center as a capsule communicator in the Mission Control Center Houston. In 2008, NASA started asking for astronaut applicants with military backgrounds. His boss passed him an application.

"I thought that would be amazing, but the competition is so tough."

He credits his wife, Julie, for encouraging him.

"Mark, youve got to do it, otherwise youll never know," he recalled. "Without Julie, I may never have ever gotten off couch."

He passed NASA's thorough physical and a series of interviews and psychological testing, a process that winnows applicants down to 40 or 50 individuals.

Applicants undergo a round of interviews with a panel of up to 12 or 15 engineers, astronauts, flight directors and high-level managers from both Johnson and Kennedy space centers; if you're called back, the next round of interviews takes a week.

"The first interview " Vande Hei shook his head at the memory. "They said, 'Tell us about yourself.' Fifty-nine minutes later, I realized I had talked the whole time." But he made the cut, and paced himself. "I made the second interview more conversational."

Like any competitive situation, he and the other applicants would gather during their free time, comparing notes. "What questions did they askyou? You hear all the horror stories," Vande Hei said. "You don't know what questions they'll ask."

"By convincing myself I wouldnt get the job," Vande Hei said. "I looked at it as having a deluxe tourist pass into areas of NASA no other person would have an opportunity to see. I approached it with curiosity as opposed to 'My whole life rests on this entire hour,' especially if your dream was to become an astronaut."

He sees himself as enormously fortunate. When speaking to school kids, he's a little embarrassed admitting being an astronaut wasn't his No. 1 career goal.

"I didn't know what I wanted to be when I grew up," Vande Hei said. "But I kept saying yes to any opportunities that let me keep learning more."

Vande Hei was assigned to a mission in 2015, and has been in training for it ever since. He spends half his time in Russia and half in the U.S.

Training for his first flight into space has less to do with the physical effects of flight, but learning the instrument panel and controls that get you to the space station. Astronauts train in a space craft mock-up with full-scale models of the interior. Space walks are practiced underwater.

Astronauts conduct all types of science experiments during their time aboard the space station, using themselves as subjects for blood draws, muscle and bone density tests, and other physiological studies.

And they are trained as medics, mechanics, electricians, plumbers, and any other skill set necessary to ensure a well-run and maintained workshop and living quarters in the isolation of space. Vande Hei said they even learn dental procedures in the event an astronaut has a dental emergency.

It's a multi-team effort as all the training drills include the ground control team. "The space station is really flown by the ground crew," Vande Hei said, "and they become more and more important the farther we get from earth." Drills test not only the astronauts but even more crucially, mission control.

Earlier this year, Vande Hei had a raffle at his alma mater Benilde-St. Margaret's. He'll take the two winners' high school ID badges up to the space station with him, giving them bragging rights when he returns them in 2018. He plans on taking family photos with him that he'll shoot selfies with. And, of course, he'll have his wedding ring.

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To infinity and beyond: Chan couple's son heads to space station - SW News Media

Eric Lagatta The Columbus Dispatch @EricLagatta

Not many authors can say that their books have traveled to space.

Two Ohioans whose children's books are bound for the International Space Station as part of an educational reading program will soon join that exclusive club.

The works by Jessica Fries-Gaither of Hilliard and Emily Morgan of West Chester, north of Cincinnati, will be aboard SpaceX Falcon 9,a rocket that is scheduled to launch Sunday from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Once the books arrive at the space station probably within a day of the launch astronauts will record themselves reading the works aloud as part of the Story Time From Space program, which is designed to excite children about science.

Its such a unique opportunity to help put kids onto reading and learning science concepts, said Fries-Gaither, 39, who teaches science to elementary students at the Columbus School for Girls.

Kids are fascinated by space I mean, I think we all are.

"Notable Notebooks: Scientists and their Writings" by Fries-Gaither and "Next Time You See a Sunset" by Morgan both published by the National Science Teachers Association were two of four that the publisher sent last fall to be considered for Story Time From Space, saidClaire Reinburg, director of NSTA Press, which publishes about 30 books each year for both teachers and children.

I love these books, Reinburg said. Theyve really been able to translate some pretty complex ideas about science into language and an engaging storyline that children can learn from.

The two books are among nine science-themed children's works from a variety of publishers that will be included in the latest planned cargo-resupply mission.The payload willbring the total to20 books that the reading program has sent into orbit since Patricia Tribe founded it five years ago.

Tribewas the director of education at Space Center Houston for 13 years before she started Story Time from Space as a way to combine literacy with education in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math). She and her team of six among them an astrophysicist and an astronaut seek books with accurate science and engaging storytelling.

The project of the nonprofit Global Space Education Foundation relies on support from NASA and theCenter for the Advancement of Science in Space, the nonprofit that manages the space station,to coordinate deliveries and record the readings.

The videos of the astronauts reading the books eventually end up online at http://www.storytimefromspace.com, where teachers are encouraged to integrate them into their curriculum. Some of the readings are tied to videotaped experiments.

Ive seen the power of space exploration being used to help space education, and what I feel we really need to work on is supporting educators in teaching STEM, Tribe said. We want childrens books that have accurate science (and) good information but are also really fun childrens books.

Published last August, "Notable Notebooks," written by Fries-Gaither and illustrated by Linda Olliver, tells the stories of several famous scientists whose discoveries were made possible because they meticulously documented observations and experiments in writing.

Although Fries-Gaither has published two books as teachers guides for lesson plans, the children's book is the first that she has written.The concept was a natural extension from her classroom, in which she requires her students to take notes on their projects.

By including both male and female scientists of different backgrounds and ethnicities, Fries-Gaither hoped to invoke curiosity about the world among young readers. The book's selection for the space program will only help expand its reach, potentially to an international audience, she said.

I want students to see themselves in that field, and having this wide global audience is really exciting to think that maybe this book will help spark a kids interest, Fries-Gaither said.Its been very rewarding, and I think its had the impact I hoped it would.

Morgan's book, "Next Time You See a Sunset," speaks to the science behind the everyday occurrence that some children might take for granted.

My hope is that after hearing the astronaut read (the book), that kids watching it will have a new sense of wonder when they watch a sunset from Earth, said Morgan, 43. Youre not just reading about nature, but youre experiencing it as well.

Morgan is a former middle-school teacher who also worked at the Hamilton County Educational Service Center. In 2000, she and Karen Ansberry, an elementary-school teacher, founded Picture-Perfect Science," a nonfiction illustratedseries published by the science teachers association, which helps elementary-school educators teach science concepts to students.

Morgan's career as a published children's author began in 2012 with Next Time You See a Sunset and Next Time You See a Seashell. The booksare now two of eight in the Next Time You See series, which alsohas entries on maple seeds, fireflies, pill bugs, clouds, the moon and spider webs.

Neither Morgan nor Fries-Gaither knew that the association had submitted their books to be considered for Story Time FromSpace. It was quite a surprise and honor when they learned in the spring that they had been selected.

Morganplans to attend the launch this weekend with her 9-year-old son, Jack.

It was kind of a moment of disbelief, Morgan recalled. Thats not even something you dream about because its just so wild.

elagatta@dispatch.com

@EricLagatta

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Two Ohio authors to have children's books read from space station - The Columbus Dispatch

August 9, 2017 by Kristine Rainey NASA Astronaut Jack Fischer works within the Japanese Experiment Module on CASIS PCG 6. CASIS PCG 7 will utilize the orbiting laboratory's microgravity environment to grow larger versions of Leucine-rich repeat kinase 2 (LRRK2), implicated in Parkinson's disease. Credit: NASA

The SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft is targeted for launch August 14 from Kennedy Space Center for its twelfth commercial resupply (CRS-12) mission to the International Space Station.

The flight will deliver investigations and instruments that study cosmic rays, protein crystal growth, stem cell-mediated recellularization and a nanosateliite technology demonstration. The vehicle will also deliver crew supplies and equipment to crew members living aboard the station.

Here are some highlights of research that will be delivered:

Investigation studies cosmic rays

Cosmic rays reach Earth from far outside the solar system with energies well beyond what man-made accelerators can achieve. The Cosmic Ray Energetics and Mass (CREAM) instrument, attached to the Japanese Experiment Module Exposed Facility, measures the charges of cosmic rays ranging from hydrogen to iron nuclei. The data collected from the CREAM instrument will be used to address fundamental science questions such as:

Tested in several long duration balloon flights, the CREAM instrument holds the longest known exposure record for a single balloon-borne experiment at approximately 160 days of exposure. CREAM's three-year mission will help the scientific community build a stronger understanding of the fundamental structure of the universe.

Microgravity-grown protein crystals aid in understanding of Parkinson's disease

The microgravity environment of the space station allows protein crystals to grow larger and in more perfect shapes than earth-grown crystals, allowing them to be better analyzed on Earth. Developed by the Michael J. Fox Foundation, Anatrace and Com-Pac International, the Crystallization of Leucine-rich repeat kinase 2 (LRRK2) under Microgravity Conditions (CASIS PCG 7) investigation will use the orbiting laboratory's microgravity environment to grow larger versions of this important protein, implicated in Parkinson's disease.

Defining the exact shape and morphology of LRRK2 would help scientists to better understand the pathology of Parkinson's and aid in the development of therapies against this target.

Telescope-hosting nanosatellite tests new concept

The Kestrel Eye (NanoRacks-KE IIM) investigation is a microsatellite carrying an optical imaging system payload. This investigation validates the concept of using microsatellites in low-Earth orbit to support critical operations, such as providing lower-cost Earth imagery in time-sensitive situations such as tracking severe weather and detecting natural disasters.

Sponsored by the space station U.S. National Laboratory, the overall mission goal for the investigation is to demonstrate that small satellites are viable platforms for providing critical path support to operations and hosting advanced payloads.

Growth of lung tissue in space could provide information about disease pathology

The Effect of Microgravity on Stem Cell Mediated Recellularization (Lung Tissue) uses the microgravity environment of space to test strategies for growing new lung tissue. Using bioengineering techniques, the Lung Tissue investigation cultures different types of lung cells in controlled conditions aboard the space station. The cells are grown in a specialized framework that supplies them with critical growth factors so that scientists can observe how gravity affects growth and specialization as cells become new lung tissue.

Tissue mimic models such as this also have the potential to be used for assessing drug or chemical toxicity by biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies and could allow for rapid testing of new chemicals and compounds, considerably lowering the overall costs for research and development of new drugs. The ultimate goal of this investigation is to produce bioengineered human lung tissue that can be used as a predictive model of human responses allowing for the study of lung development, lung physiology or disease pathology.

These investigations and others launching aboard CRS-12 will join many other investigations currently happening aboard the space station. Follow @ISS_Research for more information about the science happening on station.

Explore further: Crystals grown aboard space station provide radiation detecting technology

Research into crystal growth in microgravity was one of the earliest investigations conducted aboard the International Space Station and is continued to this day. The unique microgravity environment of space provides an ideal ...

A wide variety of research relies on growing cells in culture on Earth, but handling these cells is challenging. With better techniques, scientists hope to reduce loss of cells from culture media, create cultures in specific ...

Models of human disease are beneficial for medical research, but have limitations in predicting the way a drug will behave within the human body using data from non-human models because of inherent differences between species. ...

Growing significant numbers of human stem cells in a short time could lead to new treatments for stroke and other diseases. Scientists are sending stem cells to the International Space Station to test whether these cells ...

Crew members aboard the International Space Station will begin conducting research this week to improve the way we grow crystals on Earth. The information gained from the experiments could speed up the process for drug development, ...

SpaceX is scheduled to launch its Dragon spacecraft for its eleventh commercial resupply mission to the International Space Station June 1 from NASA's Kennedy Space Center's historic pad 39A. Dragon will lift into orbit atop ...

An asteroid the size of a house will shave past Earth at a distance of some 44,000 kilometres (27,300 miles) in October, inside the Moon's orbit, astronomers said Thursday.

(Phys.org)An international team of astronomers has discovered a Jupiter-mass alien world circling a giant star known as HD 208897. The newly detected exoplanet was found as a result of high-precision radial velocity measurements. ...

NASA's Cassini spacecraft will enter new territory in its final mission phase, the Grand Finale, as it prepares to embark on a set of ultra-close passes through Saturn's upper atmosphere with its final five orbits around ...

A bright Moon will outshine the annual Perseids meteor shower, which will peak Saturday with only a fifth the usual number of shooting stars visible to Earthlings, astronomers say.

Scientists have discovered why heavyweight galaxies living in a dense crowd of galaxies tend to spin more slowly than their lighter neighbours.

New evidence from ancient lunar rocks suggests that an active dynamo once churned within the molten metallic core of the moon, generating a magnetic field that lasted at least 1 billion years longer than previously thought. ...

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Research to advance disease therapies, understand cosmic rays among cargo headed to space station - Phys.Org

After winning a contest sponsored by the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS) for the past two years, Boy Scout Troop 209 AMES has been preparing to send an experiment to Space.

The Scouts created a project that will be brought to the International Space Station to study the rate of mutation of DNA in microgravity. The experiment could impact the future of cancer and tissue growth research.

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Local Boy Scouts Prepare To Send STEM Experiment To International Space Station - Journal & Topics Newspapers Online

Photo: Contributed / Contributed

From left to right, Fairchild Wheeler studentsKiana Laude, Raysa Leguizamon, Uchenna Oguagha, Kiana Laude, and Jucar Lopes.

From left to right, Fairchild Wheeler studentsKiana Laude, Raysa Leguizamon, Uchenna Oguagha, Kiana Laude, and Jucar Lopes.

Fairchild Wheeler Aerospace students get their experiment ready for the space shuttle

Fairchild Wheeler Aerospace students get their experiment ready for the space shuttle

Standing, teacher Luke Fatsy sitting, from left; Uchenna Oguagha Kiana Laude, Raysa Leguizamon, and Jucar Lopes, all of Fairchild Wheeler Interdistrict Magnet School

Standing, teacher Luke Fatsy sitting, from left; Uchenna Oguagha Kiana Laude, Raysa Leguizamon, and Jucar Lopes, all of Fairchild Wheeler Interdistrict Magnet School

Standing, teacher Luke Fatsy sitting, from left; Uchenna Oguagha Kiana Laude, Raysa Leguizamon, and Jucar Lopes, all of Fairchild Wheeler Interdistrict Magnet School

Standing, teacher Luke Fatsy sitting, from left; Uchenna Oguagha Kiana Laude, Raysa Leguizamon, and Jucar Lopes, all of Fairchild Wheeler Interdistrict Magnet School

The International Space Station (ISS).

The International Space Station (ISS).

The International Space Station (ISS).

The International Space Station (ISS).

The International Space Station (ISS).

The International Space Station (ISS).

Bridgeport high school sending experiment to International Space Station

BRIDGEPORT If all goes as planned a mission to the International Space Station with 21 student experiments on board, including one from Fairchild Wheeler will finally take off on Sunday.

Delayed four times already, the Student Spaceflight Experiment Program (SSEP) Mission 11 is set to launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

The Bridgeport experiment comes from four students at the Aerospace/Hydrospace Engineering and Physical Sciences School at the Fairchild Wheeler Interdistrict Magnet Campus in Bridgeport.

The team included Jucar Lopes of Milford, Uchenna Oguagha of Bridgeport, Kiana Laude of Trumbull and Raysa Leguizamon of Bridgeport.

Entitled Microgravity's Effect on Immune System Response of Model Species: An Interaction between Daphnia magna and Pasteuria ramosa, the experiment looks at the effects of microgravity on the human immune system.

The experiment substitutes water fleas for humans and looks at how well they can fight off a foreign invader in this case a bacteria called Pasteuria romosa.

On earth, water fleas can handle that bacteria pretty well. In space, against freeze dried samples of the bacteria? Time will tell.

Once the experiment is completed by astronauts on the space station, the water fleas will be returned to Earth to measure the protein levels in their blood.

The Fairchild experiment was selected from among 1,959 student team proposals, engaging 9,870 grade 5-16 students in microgravity experiment design. Fairchilds is one of two experiments from Connecticut. The other comes from East Hartford.

Others originated in California, Florida, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York New Jersey, North Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and two from Canada.

Before it was sent to SSEP, there was an internal competition among Fairchild seniors all working on capstone research projects exploring solutions to real world problems. Three were submitted for consideration.

Fairchild Wheelers participation in the SSEP was funded in part by the Connecticut Space Grant Consortium. Community partners include the University of Bridgeport and the Discovery Museum and Planetarium.

It is expected the mission will last five weeks.

Because of the launch delays, a backup team of students met on campus in July to pack up and ship the experiment to Florida, said Jay Lipp, principal of the Aerospace school.

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Bridgeport high school sending experiment to International Space Station - CT Post

By Tariq Malik, Space.com Managing Editor | August 8, 2017 08:14am ET

NASA'sNeutron star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER) was installed on the International Space Station in June 2017. This time-lapse video was created using cameras on the orbital lab and shows the orbital outpost's Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator (SPDM), aka Dextre, transporting NICER.

NICER launched to the space station on June 3 aboard a SpaceX Dragon cargo ship. The experiment is designed to studyneutron stars, the densest observable objects in the universe, NASA officials have said. NICER officially began science operations in July.

"No instrument like this has ever been built for the space station," NICER principal investigator Keith Gendreau of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland said in a statement. "As we transition from an instrument development project to a science investigation, it is important to recognize the fantastic engineering and instrument team who built a payload that delivers on all the promises made."

Note: Space.com senior producerSteve Spaletacontributed to this report.

Email Tariq Malik at tmalik@space.com or follow him@tariqjmalik.Follow us@Spacedotcom,FacebookandGoogle+. Original article onSpace.com.

Tariq joined Purch's Space.com team in 2001 as a staff writer, and later editor, covering human spaceflight, exploration and space science. He became Space.com's Managing Editor in 2009. Before joining Space.com, Tariq was a staff reporter for The Los Angeles Times. He is also an Eagle Scout (yes, he has the Space Exploration merit badge) and went to Space Camp four times as a kid and a fifth time as an adult. He has journalism degrees from the University of Southern California and New York University. To see his latest project, you can follow Tariq onGoogle+,Twitterand onFacebook.

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Space Station Robot Installs Neutron Star Explorer: Watch the Time-Lapse Video - Space.com

This summers big solar eclipse, stretching across North America on Aug. 21, is becoming one of the most anticipated moments of the year in the US. Towns and communities that lie in the eclipses path are expecting a massive uptick in tourism as observers jockey for a place under the (blocked-out) sun.

While hotel rooms from South Carolina and westward might be hard to come by at this point, there is no question that one of the best viewing spots will likely be aboard the International Space Station. The image below, taken in 2012 by NASA astronaut Don Pettit, shows a rarely seen reverse angle of a solar eclipse: the moons shadow raking over a sunlit earth.

A NASA representative notes that theres no guarantee that photos from the space station will be so perfectly timed this year. The ISS completes an orbit about every hour and a half, so its perspective on the hours-long phenomenon changes constantly.

Follow this link:

This is what a solar eclipse looks like from space - Quartz

TACOMA, Wash. NASA astronaut Jack Fischer will be in the hot seat on the International Space Station on Friday, Aug. 11. He will be under the scrutiny of dozens of American and Russian middle school children watching from Earth, as he referees a microgravity game of program your robot to grab the most floating objects in the finals of the international Zero Robotics tournament.

Among the faces watching the livestream at the Museum of Flight: 18 schoolchildren from Tacoma and Gig Harbor whose team beat out three regional rivals to face off on the big day against 12 other finalist teams from the United States and Russia.

The local group of seventh- and eighth-grade students are participants in University of Puget Sounds Summer Academic Challenge, a science and math-based enrichment program run by the colleges Access Programs for underrepresented students from Tacoma Public Schools.

Astronaut Scott Kelley plays with the SPHERES on the International Space Station (Photo credit: NASA/ISS)

The annual Zero Robotics game on the space station is led by NASA and MIT Space Systems Laboratory, with Schools Out Washington coordinating the Washington state competition. The game challenges schoolchildren from across the country and overseas to design a robotics program to solve a problem of genuine interest to NASA and MIT.

The Puget Sounders team from University of Puget Sound came first in the state by designing the best program to control NASAs colorful sphere-shaped robots or SPHERES (Synchronized Position Hold, Engage, Reorient, Experimental Satellites). Their program, in a real-life scenario, potentially could pick up spacecraft spare parts or broken satellite items that are floating in space and bring them to the space station.

The 13 finalist student teams will be watching their robots in action, via a livestream feed, in venues from Massachusetts to Alabama to California. The Puget Sounders team will view the tournament at 8:20 a.m. on August 11 from the Space Gallery of the Museum of Flight in Tukwila, just south of Seattle. You can watch it live on University of Puget Sound Access Programs Facebook page.

The kids got five weeks to train and experiment with a graphical simulator, which has on-screen elements that look rather like a puzzle, and that have their movements translated into computer code, said Joseph Coln 10, Puget Sound Access Programs coordinator. They had to come up with a strategy for collecting high-value objects floating in the station that would also give them the scope to defend their own bin of objects or to try to grab competitors objects.

On the big day, each teams computer code will be loaded on to computers on the space station. The team that scores the most points for collecting objects will win. All teams participating in the program receive trophies to recognize their work.

Amy Gerdes, the Access Programs teacher guiding the Puget Sounders, said the Zero Robotics experience in coding and its real-world application help prepare the students for studies and careers in the sciences, math, computer technology, and engineering.

Win or lose, the code will be archived by Zero Robotics and potentially used in the future by space agencies on missions to Mars or for ongoing cleanup of Earths atmosphere, she said. Thats pretty special.

WHAT: The Zero Robotics competition finals, involving 13 student teams (12 in the U.S.; one in Russia) will be held on the International Space Station. There will be four Washington state teams, including the state winner, the Puget Sounders, watching the contest via a livestream feed. The media are invited.

WHEN: Friday, August 11, 8 a.m.11 a.m. Tournament starts at 8:20 a.m.

WHERE: Museum of Flight (Space Gallery), 9404 E. Marginal Way S., Seattle, WA 98108

The Puget Sounders team members: Adrianna Pettway, Aunya Crow, Gabriela Lizarraga, Gabrielle Mullen, Jasmine Chhang, Jasmine Jackson, Jenica Truong, Joseph Irish, Lavina Polk, Micah Long, Miguel Angel Davila, Mikyla Fowler, Monee Dubose, Nicholas Yeun, Quienten Miller, Quinton Pettison, Tyler Budd, and Yahbi Kaposi.

The Zero Robotics Middle School Summer Program provides students with a five-week curriculum introducing them to computer programming, robotics, and space engineering. It is provided through a partnership between the MIT Space Systems Lab, Innovation Learning Center, and Aurora Flight Sciences. It is sponsored by NASA, the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS), and the Northrup Grumman Foundation.

University of Puget Sounds Summer Academic Challengeis run by the colleges Access Programs, which promote academic excellence for middle and high school students, in partnership with Tacoma Public Schools. The Summer Academic Challenge is a tuition-free summer math and science enrichment program that helps underrepresented students prepare for their next academic year. The program is an integral component of University of Puget Sounds commitment to diversity and its strategic goal to increase the enrollment of individuals from underrepresented minoritized groups, to improve structural diversity, and to promote students retention and success.

Schools Out Washingtonsmission is to ensure all young people have safe places to learn and grow when not in school. The nonprofit group is dedicated to building community systems to support quality afterschool, youth development, and summer programs for Washingtons children and youth ages five through young adulthood.

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Found in Space: Zero Robotics Kids compete - The Suburban Times

A Caversham man will be talking to an astronaut while he orbits the earth as part of an international radio challenge.

Jonathan Sawyer, of Waller Court, is one of three young radio amateurs representing the UK at the Youngsters on the Air event.

He joins 80 other young people aged 15 to 25 at the event, held between Saturday, August 5 to Saturday, August 12.

And on Tuesday, August 8 at 7.30pm the 24-year-old will talk with astronaut Paulo Nespoli who is currently aboard the International Space Station (ISS).

Mr Sawyer said: "I am excited to be part of this prestigious youth event and know that the amateur radio contact with the ISS will be something special to remember."

Attendees will also be able to see Mr Nespoli live in the station via Amateur TV.

Mr Sawyer went to the Highdown Sixth Form in Emmer Green , and currently works for Martin Lynch & Sons in Staines, which is one of the biggest suppliers of radio equipment in the UK.

He said: "It's very exciting. This type of event [Youngsters on the Air] is completely unique in the world.

"I know it's been running for the last six years and its great for the UK to be the hosts this year.

"I got a letter through last year inviting me to apply to be a representative for the UK so I went ahead and applied.

"Then this February I got a letter saying I was one of three people who were successful!

"The programme from last year looked pretty exciting so I was really excited to attend this year!"

Other young radio amateurs have come from a diverse range of countries including Croatia, Tunisia, South Africa and Japan. The event is being held at Gilwell Park, near London.

Amateur radio is a popular technical hobby and volunteer public service that was first used in space shuttle missions in 1983 to develop, build and launch satellites.

Amateur Radio on the International Space Station is working with NASA to facilitate the ISS contact and a live web cast of the contact will be streamed by the British Amateur Television Club .

Continued here:

Reading man to chat to astronaut live from the International Space Station - getreading

By Sophia Porter

I stepped into the D.C. Metro station with a handful of people from the International Space Station Conference. Our conversation paused as we approached a mother struggling to balance a two-seat stroller on the escalator, her toddler son trailing behind. A man from my group offered his hand to the toddler and they rode down the escalator together. As I watched the mother ferry her children into the train car, it struck me that the boy would never know he'd been helped down an escalator by a man who had piloted a spacecraft.

Image caption: Sophia Porter meets astronaut Chris Cassidy in the foyer of the Rayburn House Office Building

Image credit: Sophia Porter

Interning in the International Space Station Division at NASA HQ, I frequently find myself wondering how such accomplished people can remain so humble. I shook hands with a man named Robert who turned out to be the billionaire founder of Bigelow Aerospace, and I sat in the back seat of the NASA director of astrophysics' car as we drove to a lab at the University of Maryland. Once, scanning the crowd at a conference, I noticed Buzz Aldrin had quietly taken a seat at the table next to mine.

As an intern, I have spent my time piecing together a report to Congress on the future of the Space Station. Part of my job is to summarize NASA Inspector General audits of the Space Station programa task, my coworkers joked, that was bound to send me running from the field of space exploration.

Certainly, the hundreds of pages of reports were notHarry Potter, but they tossed me neck-deep into the fascinating minutiae of the Station program. And, more than budgets, contracts, and operations, I began to see the grander story that it takes a villagetruly, thousands upon thousands of the sorts of people who sit at Mission Control in silence at 3:26 a.m. while the crew sleep 400 miles overheadto build the parts, design the experiments, and write the reports that keep Station thriving.

There is an unspoken acknowledgment here that space is a powerful motivator.

It's one of only a handful of bipartisan endeavors and one of the best-faring agencies amid heavy proposed federal budget cuts for 2018, and the air is thick with genuine camaraderie. No individual soaks up the limelight because space is not an individual pursuit.

Regardless of what's happening on the ground, on Station, 15 nations including the U.S., Russia, and Japan will forget their differences for the sake of joint exploration. Because of its modest air, the industry has a feeling of inclusivity. Its achievements are worldwide triumphs. Every contribution matters.

What a place to be an intern.

Sophia Porter is a member of the Johns Hopkins University Class of 2019. She is a physics and applied mathematics and statistics double major who is interning this summer for the International Space Station Division of NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C.

Have a story to share as part of the Hub's Summer Gigs series? Email Taylor Jade Powell to contribute.

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Out of this world: Working on the International Space Station project - The Hub at Johns Hopkins

Source:Chuck McPartlin, ISS

The International Space Station is back for some early August Santa Barbara appearances. To get the latest predictions, visit Heavens Above.

On Monday, August 7, the ISS will rise in the NNW at9:54 PM, and pass low over our mountain horizon to disappear in the NNE at9:56 PM, entering Earths shadow just as it reaches the bent W of Cassiopeia.

The first passon Tuesdaywill rise in the N at9:02 PM, and cruise low across the mountains to set in the ENE at9:05 PM. It will pop up briefly again at10:37 PMin the NW, vanishing at10:38 PMafter a short climb.

On Wednesdaywe will get a bright pass that begins at9:45 PMin the NW, passes the bowl of the Big Dipper and crosses the handle of the Little Dipper to fade away just above the North Star, Polaris, at9:47 PM. Notice that Polaris isnt all that bright, but it shows you true North, and its altitude gives you your latitude.

Thursdaywill have a bright pass rising at8:53 PMin the NNW, and vanishing in the ENE at8:57 PM, just as it reaches the chest of Pegasus. It will pop up again at10:29 PMin the WNW, and disappear at10:30 PMin the W, just below the bright orange star Arcturus.

OnFriday, August 11, the ISS will rise at9:37 PMin the WNW, sail brightly past Arcturus, and fade away in the WSW as it reaches Serpens Caput at9:40 PM.

The best and brightest pass of this series will coincide with the monthly Star Party at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, rising at8:44 PMin the NW, going by the bowl of the Big Dipper, along the length of Draco, across the Summer Triangle, and disappearing in the ESE at8:49 PM, just above the dim triangle of Capricornus, the Big Bikini Bottom of autumn.

Sundays pass will rise at9:29 PMin the W, pass low above Jupiter, and fade away in the head of Scorpius in the SW at9:32 PM.

The station will rise in the WNW at8:36 PMon Monday, and pass higher, between Scorpius and Saturn, to disappear in the SSE in Sagittarius at8:42 PM.

No pass will be visibleon Tuesday, and the final pass of this series will happen onWednesday, August 16, appearing at8:28 PMin the W, cruising low through Leo, below Jupiter and Spica, and setting beneath the stinger of Scorpius in the S at8:32 PM.

Hasta nebula!

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International Space Station for August - Santa Barbara Edhat

The GhanaSat-1Ghanas first satellitebegan its orbit recently, with a little help from some friends.

The cubesat, built by a Ghanaian engineering team at All Nations University, was delivered to NASAs International Space Station in June on a SpaceX rocket that took off from pad 39a at Kennedy Space Center, a NASA spokesperson confirmed.

The GhanaSat-1 deployed into orbit from the Center in July, and is now operational, according to project manager Richard Damoah, a Ghanaian professor and assistant research scientist at NASA.

This particular satellite has two missions, Damoah told TechCrunch. It has cameras on board for detailed monitoring of the coastlines of Ghana. Then theres an educational piecewe want to use it to integrate satellite technology into high school curriculum, he said.

GhanaSat-1 will send a signal to a ground station at All Nations Universitys Space Systems and Technology Laboratory. Thats where it was developed by a team of engineers that included Benjamin Bonsu, Ernest Teye Matey, and Joseph Quansah.

While Ghanas president Nana Akufo-Addo applauded the launch and congratulated the team directly, the project did not receive official Ghanaian government support, according to Damoah. Instead, Japans national space agency, JAXA, provided the bulk of the resources and training to develop the satellite.

The GhanaSat-1 deployment marks increased interest and activity in Africa toward space exploration. Nigerias first cubesat launched on the same SpaceX mission. Several nations, such as South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya and Ethiopia have space agencies. Angola announced its intention to launch a satellite over the coming year, said Elsie Kanza, Head of Africa at the World Economic Forum.

She also pointed to Pan-African efforts to coordinate space efforts, such as the African Unions African Space Policy and Strategy initiativeadopted last yearthat prompted AU members states to realize an African Outer space Programme, as one of the flagship programmes.of the AU Agenda.

Damoah believes the GhanaSat-1 deployment could prompt Ghanaian government resources toward a second satellite project coordinated by All Nations University and the countrys Science Space and Technology Center. After this launch, we now have the support of the president and cabinet support, he said. We are looking to develop a GhanaSat-2, with high resolution cameras, that could monitor things such as illegal mining, water use, and deforestation in the country.

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Africa has entered the space race, with Ghana's first satellite now orbiting earth - TechCrunch

A solar instrument panel designed and built by a University of Colorado Boulder lab and considered a key tool to help monitor the planets climate is at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida awaiting a November launch.

The instrument suite is called the Total and Spectral Solar Irradiance Sensor, or TSIS-1. It will launch on a commercial SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket in a Dragon capsule for delivery to the International Space Station.

Once there, it will monitor the total amount of sunlight hitting Earth, as well as how the light is distributed among the ultraviolet, visible and infrared wavelengths.

We need to measure both because both affect Earths climate, said Dong Wu, the TSIS-1 project scientist at NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland.

TSIS-1 was designed and built by CU Boulders Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, or LASP, for NASA Goddard. The contract value to LASP is $90 million and includes the instrument suite and an associated mission ground system.

CU Boulder professor Peter Pilewskie of LASP, lead mission scientist on the project, said TSIS will continue a 39-year record of measuring total solar radiation, the longest continuous climate record from space.

These measurements are vital for understanding the climate system because the sun is the source of virtually all of Earths energy, said Pilewski, also a faculty member in the department of atmospheric and oceanic sciences. How the atmosphere responds to subtle changes in the suns output helps us distinguish between natural and human influences on climate.

Overall satellite measurements of the sun from space have shown that changes in its radiation during periods of both high and low solar activity measure only about 0.1 percent. While scientists believe changes in solar output cannot explain Earths recent warming, a longer data set could reveal greater swings in solar radiation.

One of TSISs two instruments LASPs Spectral Irradiance Monitor will measure how light from the sun is distributed by wavelength and absorbed by different parts of the plants atmosphere and surface.

This is important because measurements of the suns UV radiation are critical to understanding the conditions of Earths protective ozone layer, Pilewski said.

The TSIS instrument suite will be operated remotely from the LASP Space Technology Building in the CU Research Park.

The project involved about 30 scientists and engineers at LASP during its peak, as well as 10 support personnel from Colorado and another 10 people elsewhere, TSIS-1 project manager Brian Boyle said. The mission, slated to run at least five years, also has involved about 15 to 20 CU Boulder undergraduate and graduate students.

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$90 million solar instrument panel created at CU Boulder headed to ... - The Denver Post