Patch.com | See International Space Station Tonight In Western Washington Patch.com See International Space Station Tonight In Western Washington. SEATTLE, WA - The sky will be clear over most of Western Washington tonight - just in time to see the International Space Station pass by on Sunday evening. The space station will pass over ... |
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See International Space Station Tonight In Western Washington - Patch.com
SpaceX's upcoming Falcon 9 rocket launch from Kennedy Space Center will carry a host of science experiments to the International Space Station, aside from the SAGE III instrument to study Earth's atmosphere.
They include:
The Lightning Imagining Sensor, or LIS, will sample lightning over a wider geographic area than any previous instrument. Lightning strikes occur around the globe at a rate of 45 per second, said Michael Freilich, director of NASA's Earth Science Division in a media call Wednesday afternoon. LIS will help measure the amount, rate and energy of those strikes, improve our understanding of their weather effects and offer insight into weather forecasting, climate change, atmospheric chemistry and physics and aircraft and spacecraft safety. LIS was developed by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., and the University of Alabama.
The "Nanobiosym" experiment will try to learn how microgravity affects the growth and mutation of a superbug. Superbugs are germs or bacteria that can rapidly mutate and become resistant to antibiotics, said Anita Goel, scientific director of the project. "By using microgravity in space as an incubator," she said, "we can better predict what these mutations might look like. ... Do these bacteria grow faster and mutate faster in a microgravity environment? And, if so, why?" What they learn could help to develop better drug treatment. Space station crew isn't at risk of exposure, she said, because the entire system will be contained.
"Raven" is a step toward robotic missions far from Earth developing a navigation and rendezvous technology to get humans out of the loop, said Ben Reed, a deputy division director at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. Once installed on the ISS, the Raven module will observe the range, bearing and pose of every visiting vehicle as it approaches, then gimbal or pivot autonomously for rendezvous.
"The next era that we are bridging toward now," Reed said, "is going to be, in our view, dominated by missions where you have satellites being upgraded, being serviced, being refueled, being relocated, being assembled in orbit." Autonomous systems will benefit not only NASA's ambitions for deep-space missions to Mars or an asteroid, he said, but commercial missions, too.
Growing better crystals in space could help develop better treatments for a wide range of ills on Earth, from cancer to asthma, infections to high cholesterol. To that end, Merck Research Laboratories will be growing crystalline monoclonal antibodies on the space station or molecules designed to attach to other molecules in the body to help fight various diseases. Microgravity is an ideal environment for growing crystals that are "larger, more uniform and higher purity than Earth-grown crystals," said Paul Reichart, an associate principal scientist at Merck. Depending on their success, he said, such antibodies might one day be manufactured in space.
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More science heading to the International Space Station - Daily Press - Daily Press
A Danish astronaut recorded the creepy moment "elusive blue jets" burst from a distant cloud in footage which has raised more questions than answers.
The unexplained phenomenon, filmed two years ago from onboard the International Space Station (ISS), appears to be a terrifying thunderstorm unfolding in space.
Despite using the station's most sensitive camera, the strange "activity" recorded over the Bay of Bengal remains a mystery.
It was perplexed scientists so much that the European Space Agency (ESA) are set to launch several experiments this year to "monitor the pulsating blue jets" shooting up out of clouds.
For years, the existence of the gigantic blue discharges has been debated, with the scientific community largely dismissing them - despite contrary reports from astronauts in space.
ESA
ESA astronaut Andreas Mogensen, who captured the footage, said: "It is not every day that you get to capture a new weather phenomenon on film, so I am very pleased with the result but even more so that researchers will be able to investigate these intriguing thunderstorms in more detail soon."
But for now, Mr Mogensen reiterated that "it's something that we know very little about".
The ESA added: "The blue discharges and jets are examples of a little-understood part of our atmosphere.
"Electrical storms reach into the stratosphere and have implications for how our atmosphere protects us from radiation."
ESA
ESA
It's something that we know very little about
Andreas Mogensen
The Danish-led investigation, named the Thor Experiment, into the "astonishing blue jets" confirmed that the beams grew to 25 miles out of the cloud before fading away.
The beams can move at speeds of up to 360,000kph (220,000mph) and without a high speed camera can be easily missed by the human eye.
Further studies into the strange phenomenon are planned for later this year, as part of a project to monitor the "transient luminious events".
ESA
Olivier Chanrion of the Danish National Space Institute in Lyngby: "We wanted to see what happens above a thunderstorm.
"What we see is that at the top of the cloud in what we call the 'turrets', there is incredible activity.
"They were dancing over the top of the cloud, and we called them glimpses.
"But it's only a first step and we need to find out more."
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Space station films 'unexplainable' blue jet beam bursting from 'alien cloud' - Express.co.uk
Something absolutely mind-blowing happened on the International Space Station recently, and fortunately, video captured it all. Researchers on the ISS were able to catch the rare moment when blue lightning filled a storm cloud far below, and you can watch the video below.
Blue flashes are rare to see from the ground, as they typically happen high in the sky above the thunderstorms. Researchers pointed a special camera at the clouds in order to better study them, and they were rewarded with some amazing footage.
The results were provided to the National Space Institute in Denmark, which is making them public. These massive blue flashes of lightning are believed to happen at around 18 kilometers above the ground. One flash spanned 40 kilometers in length.
Heres what NOAA says about lightning.
What is lightning? Lightning is a giant spark of electricity in the atmosphere between clouds, the air, or the ground. In the early stages of development, air acts as an insulator between the positive and negative charges in the cloud and between the cloud and the ground. When the opposite charges builds up enough, this insulating capacity of the air breaks down and there is a rapid discharge of electricity that we know as lightning. The flash of lightning temporarily equalizes the charged regions in the atmosphere until the opposite charges build up again.
Lightning can occur between opposite charges within the thunderstorm cloud (intra-cloud lightning) or between opposite charges in the cloud and on the ground (cloud-to-ground lightning).
Lightning is one of the oldest observed natural phenomena on earth. It can be seen in volcanic eruptions, extremely intense forest fires, surface nuclear detonations, heavy snowstorms, in large hurricanes, and obviously, thunderstorms. What are cloud flashes? A cloud flash is lightning that occurs inside the cloud, travels from one part of a cloud to another, or from the cloud to the air. What is a stepped leader? A stepped leader is a stream of weakly charged particles that flows from the cloud it moves towards the ground, starting and stopping, and sometimes branching, trying to find the path of least resistance. Is it possible to have thunder without lightning? No, it is not possible to have thunder without lightning. Thunder is a direct result of lightning. However, it IS possible that you might see lightning and not hear the thunder because it was too far away. Sometimes this is called heat lightning because it occurs most often in the summer. Is lightning always produced by a thunderstorm? Thunderstorms always have lightning (thunder is caused by lightning, and you cant have a thunderstorm without thunder), but you can have lightning without a thunderstorm. Lightning can also be seen in volcanic eruptions, extremely intense forest fires, surface nuclear detonations, and in heavy snowstorms. What causes thunder? Thunder is caused by lightning. The bright light of the lightning flash caused by the return stroke mentioned above represents a great deal of energy. This energy heats the air in the channel to above 50,000 degrees F in only a few millionths of a second! The air that is now heated to such a high temperature had no time to expand, so it is now at a very high pressure. The high pressure air then expands outward into the surrounding air compressing it and causing a disturbance that propagates in all directions away from the stroke. The disturbance is a shock wave for the first 10 yards, after which it becomes an ordinary sound wave, or thunder. Thunder can seem like it goes on and on because each point along the channel produces a shock wave and sound wave. What is dry lightning? Dry lightning is lightning that occurs without rain nearby. The NOAA Storm Prediction Center routinely forecasts dry lightning because this kind is more likely to cause forest fires. What is a bolt from the blue? A Bolt from the Blue is a cloud-to-ground flash which typically comes out of the back side of the thunderstorm cloud, travels a relatively large distance in clear air away from the storm cloud, and then angles down and strikes the ground. These lightning flashes have been documented to travel more than 25 miles away from the thunderstorm cloud. They can be especially dangerous because they appear to come from clear blue sky.
A helmeted bicyclist experienced a lightning strike to the head under fair weather conditions with a cloudless sky. It was determined that the bolt probably originated in a thunderstorm that was about 16km away and obscured by mountains.
Lightning strikes the ground approximately 25 million times each year in the U.S. According to the NWS, the chance of an individual in the U.S. being killed or injured during a given year is one in 240,000. Assuming an average life-span of 80 years, a persons odds over their lifetime becomes one in 3000. Assuming the average person has ten family members and others with whom they are close, then the chances are one in 300 that a lightning strike will closely affect a person during their lifetime.
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Incredible video captured on the International Space Station stuns the world - BABW News
A group including local iLEAD charter school students from Castaic celebrated an out-of-this-world lesson plan Friday with Californias Secretary of State. Dont miss a thing. Get breakingKHTS Santa Clarita News Alertsdelivered right to your inbox.
A team of four middle school students from iLEAD Pacoima are sending an experiment to the International Space Station as part of the national Student Spaceflight Experiments Program (SSEP) Mission 11 project, the school announced today.
The group included students from Santa Clarita Valley International School (SCVi), iLEAD Lancaster, iLEAD Pacoima, iLEAD Encino and iLEAD Innovation Studios.
Secretary of State Alex Padilla, who grew up Pacoima, spoke at the assembly. Padilla was joined by Assemblyman Dante Acosta, as well as a representative from Senator Scott Wilks office.
It was nice to have so much support from our elected officials for these public charter schools, and iLEAD in particular, Dawn Evenson, executive director of education for iLEAD schools.
Learners ranging in age from 11 to 17 were tasked with developing experiments that compare how something behaves in microgravity which is what astronauts experience on board the International Space Station with how that same object responds in gravity.
The Pacoima team was selected by SSEPs National Step 2 Review Board from a slate of three experiments submitted by iLEAD charter schools across Los Angeles County.
The project helps students understand the effects of microgravity to support space exploration.
In addition, all learners and facilitators from any iLEAD campus whose project passed Step One review were recognized honored, as will learners who participated in the schools mission patch contest.
The Student Spaceflight Experiments Program (or SSEP) is a program of the National Center for Earth and Space Science Education (NCESSE) in the United States, and the Arthur C. Clarke Institute for Space Education internationally.
The program is enabled through a strategic partnership with DreamUp PBC and NanoRacks LLC, which are working with NASA under a Space Act Agreement as part of the utilization of the International Space Station as a National Laboratory.
SSEP is the first pre-college STEM education program that is both a U.S. national initiative and implemented as an on-orbit commercial space venture.
The winning team is examining the effects of microgravity on yeast an idea spawned by one students family pizza business.
Their experiment calls for the astronauts onboard the International Space Station to activate yeast within a tube-like Fluid Mixing Enclosure (FME). After two days, the astronauts will introduce a fixative to stop the experiment. Simultaneously, the iLEAD Learners will be doing the same thing on Earth. When the FME returns from the space station, the students will compare how the yeast behaved in both environments by examining its spore count.
The targeted launch date for Mission 11 is spring/summer 2017.
Amber Raskin, executive director of business development and operations and co-founder of the iLEAD schools alongside Evenson, noted this was the type of educational opportunity they had in mind when the schools were created.
This project, Raskin said, represents exactly the kind of unique, hands-on learning experiences offered throughout the iLEAD programs and public charter schools throughout the state.
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Castaic iLEAD Students Join International Space Station Project - KHTS Radio
February 10, 2017 by Ken Kremer, Universe Today Artists concept of first commercially funded airlock on the space station being developed by NanoRacks that will launch on a commercial resupply mission in 2019. It will be installed on the stations Tranquility module. Credit: NanoRacks
In a significant move towards further expansion of the International Space Station's (ISS) burgeoning research and commercial space economy capabilities, NASA has approved the development of the first privately developed airlock and is targeting blastoff to the orbiting lab complex in two years.
Plans call for the commercial airlock to be launched on a commercial cargo vessel and installed on the U.S. segment of the ISS in 2019.
It enhances the US capability to place equipment and payloads outside and should triple the number of small satellites like CubeSats able to be deployed.
The privately funded commercial airlock is being developed by Nanoracks in partnership with Boeing, which is the prime contractor for the space station.
The airlock will be installed on an open port on the Tranquility module that already is home to the seven windowed domed Cupola observation deck and the commercial BEAM expandable module built by Bigelow Aerospace.
"We want to utilize the space station to expose the commercial sector to new and novel uses of space, ultimately creating a new economy in low-Earth orbit for scientific research, technology development and human and cargo transportation," said Sam Scimemi, director, ISS Division at NASA Headquarters in Washington, in a statement.
"We hope this new airlock will allow a diverse community to experiment and develop opportunities in space for the commercial sector."
The airlock will launch aboard one of NASA's commercial cargo suppliers in 2019. But the agency has not specified which contractor. The candidates include the SpaceX cargo Dragon, an enhanced ATK Cygnus or potentially the yet to fly SNC Dream Chaser.
Boeing will supply the airlock's Passive Common Berthing Mechanism (CBM) hardware to connect it to the Tranquility module.
The airlock will beef up the capability of transferring equipment, payloads and deployable satellites from inside the ISS to outside, significantly increasing the utilization of ISS, says Boeing.
"The International Space Station allows NASA to conduct cutting-edge research and technology demonstrations for the next giant leap in human exploration and supports an emerging space economy in low-Earth orbit. Deployment of CubeSats and other small satellite payloads from the orbiting laboratory by commercial customers and NASA has increased in recent years. To support demand, NASA has accepted a proposal from NanoRacks to develop the first commercially funded airlock on the space station," says NASA.
"The installation of NanoRacks' commercial airlock will help us keep up with demand," said Boeing International Space Station program manager Mark Mulqueen. "This is a big step in facilitating commercial business on the ISS."
Right now the US uses the airlock on the Japanese Experiment Module (JEM) to place payloads on the stations exterior as well as for small satellite deployments. But the demand is outstripping the JEM's availability.
The Nanoracks airlock will be larger and more robust to take up the slack.
NASA has stipulated that the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS), NASA's manager of the U.S. National Laboratory on the space station, will be responsible for coordinating all payload deployments from the commercial airlock NASA and non NASA.
"We are entering a new chapter in the space station program where the private sector is taking on more responsibilities. We see this as only the beginning and are delighted to team with our friends at Boeing," said Jeffrey Manber, CEO of NanoRacks.
Explore further: Image: Small satellite deployed from the Space Station
A satellite is ejected from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) Small Satellite Orbital Deployer on the International Space Station on Dec. 19, 2016. The satellite is actually two small satellites that, once at ...
Expedition 48 Commander Jeff Williams(shown here) and Flight Engineer Kate Rubins of NASAsuccessfully installed the first of two international docking adapters (IDAs) Friday Aug. 19, 2016, during a five hour and 58-minute ...
CubeSats fly free after leaving the NanoRacks CubeSat Deployer on the International Space Station on May 17, 2016. Seen here are two Dove satellites.
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Scheduled for launch in November, ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet is travelling the world preparing for his six-month adventure on the International Space Station. At NASA's Johnson Space Center, in Houston, USA, Thomas is putting ...
It used to be that building and launching a working satellite was an enormously expensive and complex undertaking, feasible only for governmental and military agencies. But the CubeSat revolution of the past decade has placed ...
The Andromeda constellation is one of the 88 modern constellations and should not be confused with our neighboring Andromeda Galaxy. The Andromeda constellation is home to the pictured galaxy known as NGC 7640.
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Many scientists believe the Earth was dry when it first formed, and that the building blocks for life on our planetcarbon, nitrogen and waterappeared only later as a result of collisions with other objects in our solar ...
For years, their existence has been debated: elusive electrical discharges in the upper atmosphere that sport names such as red sprites, blue jets, pixies and elves. Reported by pilots, they are difficult to study as they ...
For astronomers trying to understand which distant planets might have habitable conditions, the role of atmospheric haze has been hazy. To help sort it out, a team of researchers has been looking to Earth specifically ...
On Feb. 9, 2017, NASA's Magnetospheric Multiscale mission, known as MMS, began a three-month long journey into a new orbit. MMS flies in a highly elliptical orbit around Earth and the new orbit will take MMS twice as far ...
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NASA approves first commercial airlock for space station science and SmallSat deployment - Phys.Org
5471496
An astronaut captured the first video from the International Space Station (ISS) ofmysterious electrical discharges dubbed blue jets.
NASA is cooperating with the European Space Agency (ESA) to take pictures and video of the jets from the ISS using special cameras. The strange flashes can be more than half a mile wide and typically occur about 11 to 12 miles above the ground. They appear to be a strange weather phenomenon that hasnt been fully explained.
It is not every day that you get to capture a new weather phenomenon on film, so I am very pleased with the result but even more so that researchers will be able to investigate these intriguing thunderstorms in more detail soon,Andreas Mogensen, an ESA astronaut who filmed the jets from the ISS, said in a press statement.
WATCH: Satellites have previously attemptedto study the blue jets, but their viewing angle was not ideal.The ISS sits in a much lower orbit around Earth than most satellites, making it an ideal place to studythe jets.
NASA suspects that the blue jets are examples of a little-understood part of our atmosphere interacting with electrical storms. The research has implications for how our atmosphere protects Earth from radiation.
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Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.
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NASA Can't Explain Mysterious 'Blue Jet' Spotted Near Space Station [VIDEO] - Daily Caller
Houston-based company NanoRacks is developing a commercial airlock for the International Space Station that NASA says should launch in 2019.
The International Space Station (ISS) will soon feature its first commercially funded airlock, which NASA officials said will allow more small satellites to be deployed from the orbiting lab.
NASA has agreed to let the Houston-based company NanoRacks develop the airlock, which is expected to launch in 2019.
"We want to utilize the space station to expose the commercial sector to new and novel uses of space, ultimately creating a new economy in low-Earth orbit for scientific research, technology development and human and cargo transportation," Sam Scimemi, director of NASA's ISS division, said in a statement. "We hope this new airlock will allow a diverse community to experiment and develop opportunities in space for the commercial sector."
NanoRacks which has already deployed numeroustiny cubesats from the station's Japanese Kibo module signed an independent partnership with aerospace giant Boeing on Monday (Feb. 6) to develop the new airlock.
Artist's illustration of the commercial airlock that will be installed on the International Space Station in 2019, if all goes according to plan.
Payloads deployed into space via the new airlock will be coordinated and vetted through the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS), which manages the U.S. national laboratory on the space station.NASA officials said the new airlock will be installed on a port on ISS' Tranquility module. Another Tranquility port currently hosts the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM), a prototype designed to test how inflatable habitats perform in space.
Besides its current work with NanoRacks, CASIS and Bigelow Aerospace (which built BEAM), NASA issued a request for information last fall asking private enterprises how they can use resources on the space station, such as docking ports.
"As private sector partners play a greater role in this new economy, NASA is able to focus on its deep-space exploration goals, including sending humans beyond the moon and eventually, to Mars," agency officials said in the same statement.
Follow Elizabeth Howell @howellspace, or Space.com @Spacedotcom. We're also on Facebookand Google+. Original article on Space.com.
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International Space Station Will Get a Commercial Airlock in 2019 - Space.com
Weslaco ISD students will have the opportunity on Thursday to speak to a NASA astronaut aboard the International Space Station.
Arminda Mindy Muoz, public information officer for the district, said on Monday that students will be making the earth-to-space call at around 11 a.m. for a 20-minute conversation scheduled to air live on NASA Television and on the agencys website.
According to a school district press release, Expedition 50 Flight Engineer Peggy Whitson will answer students questions from the Weslaco ISD Performing Arts Center at Central Middle School.
More than 800 students in grades 3-5, as well as Weslaco East High Schools Astronomy Club, will be in the audience, the release read. Whitson launched to the space station on Nov. 17 and will live aboard until the spring.
Described as an in-flight education downlink, the talk is considered an integral component of the NASA Office of Educations efforts to improve education in the field of STEM science, technology, engineering and mathematics in the U.S.
Linking students directly to astronauts aboard the space station through the agency Office of Educations STEM on Station activity provides authentic, live experiences in space exploration, space study and the scientific components of space travel, while introducing the possibilities of life in space, the release read.
The NASA TV streaming video, schedule and downlink information can be found at http://www.nasa.gov/nasatv. For videos and lesson plans highlighting the International Space Stations research, visit http://www.nasa.gov/stemonstation.
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Weslaco students to speak with NASA astronaut on space station - Monitor
SpaceX is planning on sending the MRSAbacterium to the International Space Station in the hope of unlocking the secrets of its future development.
The lethal superbug, which is resistant to many forms of antibiotics, will be used forspace-based science experiments in the hope that scientists will get a better idea of how to treat it.
Lead researcher DoctorAnita Goeltold Forbesthat the experiment at the space station could cause themutation rateof MRSA to accelerate, and so scientists will be able to predict how the bug will adapt and change on earth, planning for mutation patterns before they happen.
Those at the station areready to receive the pathogen next week,Digital Trendsreported.
MRSA has sparked widespread infection fears across the UK, andone analyst has suggestedthe testing market for the bug could grow at an annual rate of 11% a year until 2021.
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SpaceX to send lethal MRSA superbug to International Space Station - talkRADIO (press release)
From left, Cheyenne, Fort Collins, Greeley, Boulder, Denver and Colorado Springs. (Shane Kimbrough/NASA)
Astronaut Shane Kimbrough apparently knows his Front Range geography. He snapped the image above from 249 miles high in orbit, capturing Colorados greater metro area, andtweeted it this morning. (Well, morning for us, who knows what time for him. Space time.)
Scroll on for more.
Astronaut photography has become a very popular thing lately. Often enough, they use consumer SLR cameras with long telephoto lenses. Its wild to me that the power of consumer electronics can deliver these images. (If I could get just get to space, my Canon could do this!)
Its kind of like amusician on stage calling out to people from different cities. I see you, Greeley, but I cant hear you.
Next up is my personal favorite space snapshot of the Denver-Boulder area. This one was taken from the ISS on Jan. 31, 2008 on a Nikon D1, a camera you could buy today for about $140.
I like this one because, like the Blue Dot image, it captures most of our little lives in one image. I also like that its blurred and distorted in some parts, giving the impression that it really was taken by some folks just casually flying by in space.
Of course, unmanned cameras have also captured our fine metro from space, too. Check out the time-lapse images we compiled last year from satellite imagery.
Also, this one doesnt include Denver, but man is it a view:
And for more on space shooting technique, in case you end up there:
Andrew Kenney writes about public spaces, Denver phenomena and whatever else. He previously worked for six years as a reporter at The News & Observer in Raleigh, N.C. His most prized possession is his collection of bizarre voicemail. Leave him one at 303-502-2803, or email akenney@denverite.com. View all posts by Andrew Kenney
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February 8, 2017 For Jeff Manber, a new era in spaceflight wont be signaled with a high-decibel rocket launch, but by the silent opening of airlock doors.
Mr. Manber serves as chief executive officer of NanoRacks, which on Monday announced plans to install a $15 million commercial airlock model on the International Space Station (ISS) in 2019.
The Texas-based aerospace company has already deployed almost 150 small satellites, known as CubeSats, from the airlock of the stations Kibo module. By working with Boeing Co. to build the new airlock, it aims to triple its deployment capability.
This addition will expand private firms presence in low-Earth orbit, which NASA hopes will allow it to focus on exploring the solar system. But the CubeSats have already encouraged the shift to commercial spaceflight.
Up until recently, we had what I always called a Socialist-designed space program, Mr. Manber tells The Christian Science Monitor in a phone interview. We had a group of people sitting in a room, telling you what the purpose of the hardware was for, and they would help design it. Now we have a much more commercial [program].
It is fair to say, he adds, that the [International Space Stations] first commercial success has been meeting the needs of governments and companies and universities to deploy satellites.
CubeSatswere first developed in 1999, a year after the first ISS modules were launched. Since then, 510 of these satellites have taken flight. Todays satellites arent just smaller, but cheaper. According to the Motley Fool, prices for CubeSats and other small satellites have dropped from $3 million to as little as $25,000.
Now, the race is on to reduce the cost of getting into orbit. A rocket currently in development by Vector Space Systems will carry a payload into orbit for $1.5 million to $2.5 million. But NanoRacks will see your 10- x 10- x 10-centimeter CubeSat off from the ISS for just $85,000, the companys marketing and communications manager, Abby Dickes, tells the Monitor in an email.
Few saw the rise of this market. For years and years, Mr. Manber remembers, we all thought, in the space community, that the first big commercial use of an orbiting space station would be breakthroughs in life-saving drugs.... However, in the mysterious way that the commercial marketplace works, the first big commercial hit, the first big legitimate demand for an orbiting space station has turned out to be deploying satellites.
Manber emphasized that NanoRacks also does considerable business for biopharma companies who use the companys products to run zero-gravity experiments within the ISS. Robyn Gatens, deputy director of NASAs International Space Station division, tells the Monitor that there is great interest in both internal experiments and satellite deployments.
But the development of small, inexpensive satellites could prove more significant for commercial spaceflight, because its spurring private companies to develop hardware that can be used on future spacecraft.
When the station was built, Manber says, the Japanese put up a small satellite deployer that could deploy a couple of satellites every so often. We saw that, and we recognized there's a market need to have a bigger deployer to take care of organizations and companies.
The first NanoRacks customers satellite deployed from Japans Kibo module in 2012. As the company builds a dedicated airlock for this purpose, Manber is already thinking about its longer-term significance.
That airlock can be taken off and put on a [different] platform, he says. I see a future very soon, within the decade, where we have a couple of space stations in orbit.
This vision lines up with one laid out by NASA associate administrator William Gerstenmaier in 2015, in which the ISS, following its expected retirement in the late 2020s, will be replaced by several single-purpose, small and entrepreneurial stations.
Private rocket operators like SpaceX will also be a part of this future, as may technology used in the public-private Bigelow Expandable Activity Module added to the ISS last year. But the new airlock, built entirely with private funds, marks a major step toward a privatized orbital sector.
But even if NanoRacks helped usher in this new era, it may need to adapt its business model.
Its not clear whether one of its key operations deploying constellations of small satellites for Earth-imaging or testing the components of larger satellites will always provide a reliable source of income.
Manber says that Earth-imaging companies like the low orbit provided by the ISS. But Jonathan McDowell, an astrophysicist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, points out that one of these firms, Planet, recently shifted from space-station deployment to regular rockets, which can bring satellites into higher orbits than the ISSs 400 kilometers, about 249 miles.
Some firms, he explains, would prefer to place their operational satellites at 500 to 600 kilometers, where theyll last longer before re-entering the atmosphere.
They'll still use the space station for when they want to test something out, Dr. McDowell tells the Monitor, but the bulk of their business is going away from the space station. And I wonder if that's going to be true for a lot of other companies in the long run, that the space station orbit is just going to be too low for the operational constellations, where the bulk of the business is going to be in five years.
But on the whole, he sees the new airlock as a logical next step for aerospace firms. All we need to do is get this thing up in the trunk of a Dragon, slap it on the spare port, and then getting the cargos up there, the satellites up there, is a proven path. So I think it's a pretty clear business case for them.
Manber, not surprisingly, agrees. "Every signal is that we're entering a new chapter of extraordinarily robust commercial [activity] in space, and this is what this airlock is all about.
Go here to read the rest:
With new airlock, International Space Station widens door for commerce - Christian Science Monitor
Nearly the full length of Lake Powell on the Colorado River in southern Utah and northern Arizona is visible in thisphotograph shot by an astronaut aboard the International Space Station, on Sept. 6, 2016. The view is toward the southwest. Water flow is from the lower right toward the top. (Source: NASA Earth Observatory)
When I first spotted this stunning image on NASAs Earth Observatory site, it stopped me dead in my tracks.Its a view over Lake Powell onthe Colorado River,the second-largest artificial reservoir in the United States, after Lake Mead further downstream.
Almost the entire lake is visible in this photograph, taken by an astronaut aboard the International Space Station last September. I was really struck by theclarity, the color, and the oblique angle at which it was taken. The photograph almost looks like it was taken from an aircraft not from orbit almost 25o miles above the surface.
Click on the image, and then click againin the lower right corner to enlarge it. You should be able to make out a white structure in one of the blue arms of the reservoir. This is the Bullfrog Marina. Are those little white specks seen in the lake near the marina houseboats? I think so.
Granted, this photo was taken with an 800 millimeter lens as glass goes, thats a monster! Even so. Small. Boats. Seen. From. Space
The same image as the one above, with geographic labels added. Click to enlarge. (Source: NASA Earth Observatory)
Of course, that little marina wasnt the first thing to grab my eye. It was the green plateau fingering into the image from the right. This is the Kaiparowits Plateau. It extends south for more than50 miles from near the town of Escalante, Utah almost to the shores of Lake Powell.There, at its southeastern end, the plateau rises nearly 4000 feet above Lake Powells waters.
Lake Powell itself also grabbed my attention. We can see much of its length here by my reckoning, about 60 miles as the crow flies from where the lake enters the frame at lower right to where it exits at the top.
When the reservoir isat full capacity which it most definitely is not right now it impounds 24,322,000 acre-feet of water. Thats nearly enough water to cover the entire state of Virginia to a depth of foot. After many years of drought, however, the lake is only at about 47 percent of capacity, according to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.
A view of Lake Powell and the surrounding region, acquired on Jan. 31, 2016 by NASAs Aqua satellite. (Source: NASA Worldview)
Looking on the bright side, however, snowpack in the Colorado River Basin above the lake is at 157 percent of average. Lets hope that holds through the winter and into the spring.
Lake Powell is named after John Wesley Powell, the one-armed Civil War herowho in 1869 ledthe first group of white menthrough the canyons of the Colorado. The group braved rapids in Grand Canyon that threatened to smash their small dories to bits. But before he and his team even reached that point in their journey, they coursed through Glen Canyon now filled by Lake Powell.
Heres how Major Powelldescribed what he saw:
Past these towering monuments, past these mounded billows of orange sandstone, past these oak-set glens, past these fern-decked alcoves, past these mural curves, we glide hour after hour, stopping now and then, as our attention is arrested by some new wonder.
Most of that is now submerged under the blue waters visible in the stunningphotographshot by an astronaut orbiting Earth nearly 150 years later.
For more on the journey, and on Lake Powell, check out A Curious Ensemble of Wonderful Features on the Earth Observatory site.
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MOUNT OLIVE TWP. A piece of the NASA space station will be functioning better, thanks to 17-year-old Alfonso Carandang.
Carandang, a junior at Mount Olive High School, is among students involved in a special engineering program at County College of Morris (CCM) who are helping to craft a part of a stowage locker which will be aboard SpaceX-10 on its flight to International Space Station on Wednesday, Feb. 15.
Its absolutely incredible knowing that what we worked on is a technical innovation, Carndang said. I can tell people that my piece went into space.
Carandang is among 21 high school students who attend CCM five afternoons each week as part of the Engineering Design and Advanced Manufacturing (EDAM) program. The program is joint effort with the Morris County School of Technology.
The students participated in the High School Students United with NASA to Create Hardware or HUNCH Program to create parts for the International Space Station.
Carandang is in his first year at the program and said his group is creating the hinges for the locker. The HUNCH program provided the blueprints and students then made the parts.
The students were tasked with fabricating metal sleeves and nuts for the stowage locker. The locker will provide a safe and secure housing for hardware required for plant studies.
The biggest benefit of being a part of this program is that, not only do the students get to apply what they learn in the classroom and see their work come to fruition, they get to be a part of technological history, said Tom Roskop, assistant professor of engineering technologies at CCM, who has been teaching the students and overseeing their work through various stages of machining and finishing.
This is a fantastic opportunity for high school students like us, said Carandang. The exposure we receive through this program at CCM will serve as great preparation for college and beyond.
To celebrate the upcoming delivery of the stowage locker and its planned launch into space, the students were visited at CCM on Tuesday, Jan. 31, by Florence Gold, HUNCH implementation project manager; Stacy Hale, HUNCH founder; and Blake Ratcliff, HUNCH program manager.
We are extremely proud of these students who have shown remarkable ability and who are obviously future science and business leaders of our state and nation, said Morris County Freeholder Hank Lyon, who is the county governing boards liaison to CCM and the Morris County School of Technology.
The EDAM program is designed for students with an interest in engineering, computer applications and manufacturing. Upon completion of the two-year program, students earn 32 credits from CCM and a Certificate of Achievement in Mechanical Computer Aided Drafting and Engineering Technology.
Students may then enroll in CCMs engineering technology program for one additional year to earn their associate in applied science degree, apply to a four-year college or university, or pursue workforce placement.
Carandang said he plans to earn his associates degree and then enroll at N.J. Institute of Technology where he hopes to get a degree in mechanical engineering technology.
Ive wanted to be involved in engineering since I was in elementary school, Carandang said.
Carandang is the son of Allan, a registered nurse, and Amalia. He has two brothers, Paulo, 22, and Daniel, 13. The family moved to Budd Lake in 2002 from the Phillippines.
Roskop said CCM got involved in the HUNCH program after Eric Pederson, CCM lab assistant for engineering programs, attended a conference in 2015 and learned of the program.
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Mount Olive High School student helps with NASA space station project - New Jersey Hills
The International Space Station allows NASA to conduct cutting-edge research and technology demonstrations for the next giant leap in human exploration and supports an emerging space economy in low-Earth orbit.
Deployment of CubeSats and other small satellite payloads from the orbiting laboratory by commercial customers and NASA has increased in recent years. To support demand, NASA has accepted a proposal from NanoRacks to develop the first commercially funded airlock on the space station.
"We want to utilize the space station to expose the commercial sector to new and novel uses of space, ultimately creating a new economy in low-Earth orbit for scientific research, technology development and human and cargo transportation," said Sam Scimemi, director, ISS Division at NASA Headquarters in Washington.
"We hope this new airlock will allow a diverse community to experiment and develop opportunities in space for the commercial sector."
In addition to the large number of CubeSats and small satellites NanoRacks wants to deploy from station, their proposed airlock will also be capable of supporting multiple external payloads.
Signaling a significant step forward in their airlock plans, NanoRacks announced an independent partnership with Boeing on Feb.
6, 2017, to develop the airlock. Once NanoRacks successfully completes the phases outlined in a Space Act Agreement NanoRacks signed with NASA in 2016, the agency has committed to install the airlock for commercial use, research, and technology demonstrations from the International Space Station.
Payloads, including commercial payloads, deployed via the airlock will be coordinated through the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS), NASA's manager of the U.S. National Laboratory on the space station. All non-NASA funded payloads for the U.S. National Lab are subject to the vetting process CASIS has established.
NASA anticipates the airlock will launch on a commercial resupply mission for integration in 2019, and will be located on a port in the space station's Tranquility module.
Attached to a separate port on Tranquility is another commercial investment - the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM). This module is the first human-rated expandable habitat to be tested in space and has potential application for future habitation in low-Earth orbit and deep space.
The NanoRacks Airlock and BEAM are two examples of NASA's larger efforts to maximize use of the space station and advance commercial activity in space. NASA also issued a request for information last fall seeking additional interest on the part of private enterprises to use available unique space station resources, such as docking ports.
As private sector partners play a greater role in this new economy, NASA is able to focus on its deep space exploration goals, including sending humans beyond the moon and eventually, to Mars.
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Progress Underway for First Commercial Airlock on Space Station - Space Daily
Brooke Thornton has devoted eight years to a project that aims to check on the atmospheric health of the Earth. Needless to say, when NASA's Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment III on the International Space Station (SAGE III on ISS) launches, she'll be among the many cheering and working for its success in space.
"After seeing SAGE III mature from concept, to development, to assembly and testing, and preparing for mission ops ... I'm excited to see it launch so we get the science we have worked so hard for," she said.
Thornton, of NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, is the mission operations manager for SAGE III on ISS, which is a key part of NASA's mission to provide crucial, long-term measurements that will help humans understand and care for Earth's atmosphere.
The instrument measures Earth's sunscreen, or ozone, along with other gases and tiny particles in the atmosphere called aerosols. SAGE makes its measurements by looking at the light from the sun or moon as it passes through Earth's atmosphere at the edge, or limb, of the planet.
The result is a thin profile of the atmosphere from the unique vantage point of the space station, which has an orbit ideal for SAGE measurements.
Thornton and her operations team will look after SAGE III once it is attached, via robotic arm, to the station - operating the payload remotely from the ground "to get the best science," she said.
'Humble beginnings' The first SAGE instrument began operations in space on Feb. 18, 1979, following a 1975 proof-of-concept experiment called the Stratospheric Aerosol Measurement (SAM) on the Apollo-Soyuz mission.
SAM, the first experiment of its kind conducted from space, proved the value of a technique called occultation. Through that method, scientists identify components of the air by studying sunlight as it beams through the upper edges of atmosphere and comparing it to light coming straight from the sun, with no atmosphere in between. SAM was followed by SAM II and then the SAGE instruments.
"Since those humble beginnings, scientists and the engineers here at NASA Langley have perfected the technique," said Michael Cisewski, project manager for SAGE III on ISS.
SAGE II was a part of the Earth Radiation Budget Satellite (ERBS) and was deployed by the crew of space shuttle Challenger in 1984. It operated and produced data for more than 21 years.
The first SAGE III was launched in 2001 on a Russian satellite, Meteor-3M while another SAGE III was safely stored away. After several years of storage and preparation for the current mission, the SAGE III payload was shipped from Langley to NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, in November 2015, ready for launch, currently targeted for February from Kennedy on a SpaceX Falcon 9/Dragon Vehicle.
Upon arrival to the space station, the instrument will be robotically installed onto an ExPRESS Logistics Carrier (ELC) platform, ELC-4 to be exact, using the space station's primary robotic arm, Canadarm2.
"The station robot arm removes SAGE III from the Dragon trunk, and then rides along the ISS truss to our mounting location and then installs the payloads," Thornton said. The system is really amazing. The ISS robotics system is completely controlled from the ground, saving precious crew time needed to perform on-board science."
After meticulously checking out all payload systems and initial calibration and validation, SAGE III will begin taking routine science measurements. The data is downloaded daily to the ground for use by the international science community.
While it was led at NASA Langley Research Center, the project has many partners both within NASA and with private companies in the United States and internationally. Three NASA centers - Kennedy, NASA's Johnson Space Center in Texas and NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama - contributed to the project as well as Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corp. in Boulder, Colorado, the European Space Agency and Thales Alenia Space-Italia.
All about the data The SAGE data-collecting missions helped inform political actions on Earth. On Sept. 16, 1987, an international treaty, known as the Montreal Protocol, was signed by most nations of the world. The agreement called for phasing out production of many of the substances that were responsible for ozone depletion. The treaty has been in force since Jan. 1, 1989.
"The SAGE instruments showed the world that we were losing stratospheric ozone globally," said Joseph Zawodny, project scientist.
"The world did an amazing thing by limiting the chlorofluorocarbons through the Montreal Protocol," Thornton said.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a scientific organization under the auspices of the United Nations, announced in 2005 that their observations of the stratosphere showed that the global amount of ozone is stabilizing. The IPCC study indicates that the atmosphere layer is expected to begin to recover in coming decades under the current ban on ozone-depleting substances continues.
Earth-observing instruments like SAGE III that monitor climate and ozone levels are a key part in looking after the health of the Earth and can help spur positive changes. The SAGE flight on ISS now will provide key data letting scientists know if the ozone layer is on track to recover as predicted by current models.
"When you're working on a project with so many moving part like this, it can be difficult to appreciate how important it is or what kind of impact your work will have," Cisewski said. "SAGE III is not just important to Langley or the United States - it's important to the world."
Getting set for space This version of the SAGE instrument is equipped with powerful tools. The instrument uses a telescope, a grating spectrometer and a charge coupled device detector array that, together, act as a sophisticated camera.
"The combination of SAGE instrument capabilities and the solar occultation measurement technique make the instrument essentially self-calibrating," Thornton said. "The SAGE instrument has been called the gold standard for all other instruments that are looking at ozone."
Since the instrument arrived at Kennedy from Langley, engineers have assisted SAGE team members in preparing it for launch.
"We have such an amazing mission ops team that I'll be working with," Thornton said. "It's a very tight group and I think that will improve the quality of the data that we get."
"I am proud of what our team has accomplished," Cisewski said, adding it's like a family. "The team has been really first-class and put in the extra efforts to make SAGE a big success."
Cisewski will be on-site at Kennedy when SAGE launches, and will be watching with pride.
"We're doing our part to go ahead and provide the best data set for people that are trying to make decisions now," he said. "This data is going to be useful 50 years from now."
Those thoughts were echoed by Thornton.
"SAGE instruments have shown the whole story so far of ozone trends," she said. "Now, hopefully this instrument will be able to show the recovery of the ozone."
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NASA Langley Ozone Sensor Set for Launch to Space Station - Space Daily
When you take a glance at the night sky in the coming weeks, think about the "Spud Launchers" the three budding scientists from Buffalo, whose potato experiment will be orbiting up there somewhere inside the International Space Station.
The three Buffalo Public School students Gabriella Melendez, Toriana Cornwell and Shaniylah Welch will travel to Cape Canaveral, Fla., next week to watch the launching of the rocket that finally will carry their science experiment to the space laboratory.
The honor was bestowed upon the girls in 2015, when they were among the winners of a national science competition sponsored by the National Center for Earth and Space Science Education. The education center partners with NASA and NanoRacks, a leader in the commercial space industry, to inspire the next generation of scientists and space explorers.
The three girls who attended Hamlin Park School 74 together will test whether 20 tiny potatoes squeezed into a small, half-inch tube can survive space travel. Upon return to earth six weeks later, their experiment will be returned to them for planting inside a University at Buffalo greenhouse.
It's an area of interest, particularly with NASA cultivating the ability to grow food in space in preparation for longer space missions and hoping maybe one day to plant the crop in a controlled dome on Mars.
The rocket launch was supposed to happen last spring, but the three girls have been waiting patiently Toriana and Shaniylah are now in high school as a number of delays pushedback the mission to this month, said Andrew Franz, the Hamlin Park teacher who served as an adviser for the project.
Their experiment already has been shipped off in preparation for the launch and thanks to donations, the girls who call themselves the "Spud Launchers" will be there to watch. They'll head to Florida and be thereFeb. 13-16 with Franz, school Principal Patrick Cook and Ina Ferguson, liaison for WNY STEM Hub.
WNY STEM Hub, which coordinated the competition locally, is a nonprofit created to steer students toward the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
"It's a huge relief for the girls," Franz said. "We already put our tube with the potatoes in the mail and we won't see them again until March or April."
Originally posted here:
Space Station sendoff finally arrives for Buffalo's young 'Spud Launchers' - Buffalo News
WASHINGTON, Feb. 7, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ --Students from the Weslaco Independent School District in Weslaco, Texas, will speak with a NASA astronaut currently living and working aboard the International Space Station at 12:05 p.m. EST Thursday, Feb. 9. The 20-minute, Earth-to-space call will air live on NASA Television and the agency's website.
Expedition 50 Flight Engineer Peggy Whitson will answer questions from students assembled in Weslaco ISD's Performing Arts Center. More than 800 students in third through fifth grade, as well as the Weslaco East High School Astronomy Club, will be in the audience.
Media interested in covering the event should contact the Weslaco ISD Public Information Department at 956-969-6505. The Performing Arts Center is at 506 East 6th St. in Weslaco.
Whitson launched to the space station on Nov.17, 2016, and is scheduled to return to Earth this spring.
This in-flight education downlink is an integral component of the NASA Office of Education's efforts to improve science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) teaching and learning in the United States. Linking students directly to astronauts aboard the space station through the agency Office of Education's STEM on Station activity provides authentic, live experiences in space exploration, space study and the scientific components of space travel, while introducing the possibilities of life in space.
Get NASA TV streaming video, schedules and downlink information at:
Learn about videos and lesson plans highlighting research on the International Space Station at:
http://www.nasa.gov/stemonstation
To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/texas-students-to-speak-to-nasa-astronaut-on-international-space-station-300403530.html
SOURCE NASA
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A brand-new air lock is set to be installed on the International Space Station in the next few years but this one will be commercially owned. NASA has accepted a proposal from spaceflight company NanoRacks to attach the first ever commercially funded air lock, which enables objects to safely pass from the inside of the station out into the vacuum of space. The new addition will allow NanoRacks to deploy even more satellites and commercial payloads from the ISS in order to meet the growing demand from its customer base.
Established in 2009, NanoRacks is focused on helping others utilize the low-Earth orbit region of space. To that end, the organization helps companies, government agencies, and schools conduct experiments on the International Space Station, as well as deploy small satellites from the ISS. NanoRacks already has a satellite deployer on the space station, but it is reliant on the air lock on the Japanese Kibo module. The deployer is extended out into space via that Japanese robotic arm when the air lock is open.
Our customers were coming to us saying theyd like to fly bigger satellites.
The problem is that the Japanese air lock isnt that big. Its the perfect size for deploying CubeSats, standardized satellites that are about the size of a breadbox, as well as slightly larger payloads that are about the size of a microwave. But NanoRacks customers have been eager to deploy even larger satellites. Our customers were coming to us saying theyd like to fly bigger satellites or payloads, and deploy them off the station, Brock Howe, the head of the air lock project for NanoRacks, tells The Verge. And these were bigger than what we can currently fit thorough the Japanese airlock.
Access to the air lock is also limited, according to Howe. The air lock on the Kibo module is the only method for deploying small satellites from the station, and it is only opened five to 10 times a year. Some of those openings are reserved for NASA and the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency, which operates the air lock, while just a few openings are reserved for NanoRacks. This limited availability has created a backlog in deployments for the company.
So we thought to ourselves: Why dont we look into designing and building our own air lock? And away we went, says Howe. NanoRacks approached NASA with the idea, and the space agency officially accepted the project.
NanoRacks will be working with Boeing to develop the air lock. The plan is for the aluminum dome-shaped unit to launch on a NASA cargo mission sometime in 2019, and then be attached to a port on the stations Tranquility module. Theres already a hatch in place on the end of Tranquility that blocks the inside of the station from the vacuum of space. Astronauts will be able to open this hatch to place satellites or other research payloads inside the air lock. Once the payloads are inside, the air lock will depressurize and all the air will be pumped out. Then the stations Canadian robotic arm will detach the air lock from the ISS and extend it out into space. From here, satellites can be deployed into orbit or research experiments can be tested in the vacuum of space.
This air lock will have five times the volume of the Japanese air lock
This air lock will have five times the volume of the Japanese air lock, so satellites the size of a refrigerator can potentially be deployed this way. It also allows NanoRacks to deploy even more satellites at one time. Instead of doing the microwave-sized satellites one at a time, we can do three or four of those at one time on one airlock cycle, says Howe. So we can do it a lot more efficiently than what can be done right now.
The air lock also poses an opportunity for companies to do technology demonstrations in space. Companies looking to commercialize a space sensor or camera can test how their technologies hold up in lower Earth orbit. Restraints inside the air lock can hold down these technologies as theyre exposed to the vacuum. Its opening a door to space, says Howe. Once those technologies are flight-proven, the companies then have an easier time selling and marketing their hardware.
The NanoRacks air lock is just one of many commercial vehicles that are slowly making their way to the International Space Station. Currently, a private inflatable space habitat called BEAM Bigelow Expandable Activity Module is already attached to the Tranquility module, and astronauts have been periodically going inside it to see how it is holding up in space. Built by Bigelow Aerospace, BEAM has been performing well, and there are hints that the module will soon be used every day by the astronauts on the station. Building off of that success, NASA has said it will allow companies to attach their own habitat modules to the ISS in coming years.
Its all part of NASAs plan to turn the ISS into a commercial-friendly outpost, before eventually turning over the orbiting lab to the private sector in the mid-2020s. We want to utilize the space station to expose the commercial sector to new and novel uses of space, ultimately creating a new economy in low-Earth orbit for scientific research, technology development and human and cargo transportation, Sam Scimemi, director of the ISS Division at NASA headquarters, said in a statement. We hope this new airlock will allow a diverse community to experiment and develop opportunities in space for the commercial sector.
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The first commercial air lock is coming to the International Space ... - The Verge
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A deadly Superbug thats incredibly resistant to current antibiotics will be part of an upcoming SpaceX mission.
Sponsored by NASA and the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS), SpaceX will launch a lethal pathogen into space and deliver it to the International Space Station (ISS) in a near-zero gravity experiment toassess accelerated mutation rates of methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA. Outer space offers an entirely different environment than earth, so the study can see ifmutation patterns will occur in space that have not yet happened on earth. Of particular interest are gene expression and mutation patterns.
MRSA is the cause of infections in hospitalized patients that happen frequently and are very difficult to cure. The ISS microgravity study will be overseen byDr. Anita Goel, who is a world-renowned expert and pioneer in the emerging field of nanobiophysics. This field examines the intersection of physics, nanotechnology, and biomedicine. Her particular area of interest is how open systems such as life and living systems are strongly intertwined with their environment.
Calling the work on the ISS both very practical and fundamental, Dr. Goels research is directed toward better prediction of drug resistance and, as a result, smarter drugs. She is especially looking at what she describes as how the environment can deeply influence the information flow from both the genome and transcriptome.
The ISS study is quite significant in its potential implications for medicine and drug development. Medical practitioners have a hard time treating many infections due to the current need to first observe the pathogens progress,which can be quite elusive, and then treat afterward. The wait-and-see scenario often lets the MRSA get too far ahead. As a result, many of todaysantimicrobial therapies are ineffective, so the ISS study will allow important observation of MRSA patterns of resistance as they occur as well as in their various stages.
Goel and her team will draw upon the very different ISS environment to track MRSAs activity as it moves from gene expression to mutations, with the goal to predict what might or might not happen with the same process back on earth. Drug development and molecular identification may result, which can help in the fight against future MRSA strains.
Dr. Goel, who is chairperson and CEO of Nanobiosym, wonthe first XPRIZE in Healthcare for the Gene-RADAR technology. This is a mobile Tricorder that offers real-time diagnosis of any disease with a genetic fingerprint. It costs about ten times less than comparable diagnostic tests on the market today.
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SpaceX will transport a deadly bacteria to the space station for study - Teslarati