Monthly Archives: January 2021

Astronauts are scheduled to take a spacewalk outside the International Space Station (ISS) today to install a new British-built communications system that will deliver almost instantaneous messages back to Earth.

The British-funded and developed system will speed up scientists' access to data from experiments on board the ISS, from investigations into the effects of radiation on seeds through to biomining research.

The European Space Agency (ESA) project aims to tackle the delays in getting experimental data back to Earth, which can currently take months to receive and sometimes leaves hard drives corrupted or data lost during transit.

The new ColKa (Columbus Ka-band) terminal will be able to rapidly transmit data to a ground station at the Harwell Campus, Oxfordshire, near ESA's European Centre for Space Applications and Telecommunications.

NASA astronauts Victor Glover and Michael Hopkins will venture outside the ISS for six hours on Wednesday to install it.

They will go without food or a significant rest as they work in the harsh vacuum of space.

Their space suits will protect them from temperatures as hot as 120 degrees Celsius in the sunlight and as cold as minus 160 Celsius when the sun is on the other side of the planet.

They will mount the device, which is the size of a large suitcase, to ESA's Columbus module on the ISS.

Amanda Solloway, the UK's science minister, said: "This mission to install pioneering UK-built technology in space exemplifies how government backing is helping our most innovative companies push the boundaries of what we can achieve in space as well as back home on Earth.

"Strengthening the speed at which data can be transmitted from space will bring enormous benefits to scientists and researchers across Europe, helping them progress vital research faster, while opening up numerous commercial opportunities for UK firms as we build back better."

The contract to build ColKa was awarded to British firm MDA UK after the UK Space Agency invested 40m in ESA's space exploration programme in 2012.

Britain committed to another 180m investment in the programme in November 2019, which will collaborate with NASA to build the lunar gateway system and, eventually, bring back the first samples collected on Mars.

David Kenyon, MDA UK's managing director, said: "We are extremely excited that ColKa is being brought into service.

"This system is our first flight system developed through MDA UK, and we now have equipment for another seven flight missions, including four lunar systems, under development in Harwell.

"ColKa will bring tremendous benefit to all our ESA astronauts, scientists and projects," Mr Kenyon added.

Here is the original post:
Spacewalk set to install British instrument on International Space Station - Sky News

Two astronauts will today undertake a spacewalk to install a revolutionary piece of government-funded technology on the International Space Station (ISS), marking the UKs first major industrial contribution to the spacecraft.

Called ColKa for Columbus Ka-band Terminal, the UK Space Agency-funded system will revolutionise scientists ability in the UK and Europe to access the results of their space-based experiments, from investigations into the effects of radiation on seeds to biomining research. The results will help unlock benefits for all of us, from understanding how our bodies and muscles age to furthering our understanding of illnesses like cancer and Parkinsons Disease.

This giant leap forward for research carried out in the Columbus module will allow astronauts and researchers to benefit from a dedicated link back to Earth at home broadband speeds. Currently, results are returned to Earth on a hard drive, which could take months to receive, with data sometimes being lost in transit. The new terminal will enable results to be delivered to scientists just a day or two after the data is recorded - allowing scientists to process information much more quickly and adjust experiments if they see any problems with the data, such as an unclear image.

NASAs Victor Glover and Michael Hopkins will venture outside the space station for 6 hours to mount the UK-built large suitcase-sized device to the European Space Agencys Columbus module on the ISS.

Science Minister Amanda Solloway said:

This mission to install pioneering UK-built technology in space exemplifies how government backing is helping our most innovative companies push the boundaries of what we can achieve in space as well as back home on Earth.

Strengthening the speed at which data can be transmitted from space will bring enormous benefits to scientists and researchers across Europe, helping them progress vital research faster, while opening up numerous commercial opportunities for UK firms as we build back better.

The ColKa antenna during testing. Credit: ESA - M. Cowan

Tethered to the ISS by a retractable steel cable, the astronauts face challenging conditions as they work to install the terminal, orbiting Earth at an altitude of 250 miles.

The astronauts will go without food for hours as they work in the harsh thermal vacuum of space, where the temperature can be as hot as 120 degrees Celsius in the sunlight, down to minus 160C when the Sun is out of sight.

The data will be transmitted to a ground station at Harwell Campus, Oxfordshire, near ESAs European Centre for Space Applications and Telecommunications, and from there it will be transferred to the Columbus Control Centre and user centres across Europe.

Columbus was conceived and designed over 20 years ago, when the internet was in its infancy. The laboratory was launched to the Station in 2008 and uses the Stations network and NASAs infrastructure for communications with the Columbus Control Centre.

David Kenyon, Managing Director at MDA UK based in Harwell, which designed and built ColKa using the RAL Space clean rooms on the Harwell Campus, said:

We are extremely excited that ColKa is being brought into service. This system is our first flight system developed through MDA UK, and we now have equipment for another seven flight missions, including four lunar systems, under development in Harwell. ColKa will bring tremendous benefit to all our ESA astronauts, scientists and projects.

The contract was awarded to MDA UK following the UK Space Agencys investment of 40m in ESAs space exploration programme in 2012. In November 2019 the UK committed 180 million to the European Space Agencys global exploration programme, which, along with the lunar gateway and lunar communications, will include bringing back the first samples from Mars and support the US ambition to have a sustainable presence on the Moon.

To date, UK scientists have been involved in 17 cutting-edge experiments that have taken place on the ISS and 33 others that are currently being developed and readied for future flight. In total, more than 2,700 investigations from researchers in 108 countries have been accomplished aboard the orbiting facility.

The UKs space sector is going from strength to strength, employing around 42,000 people and carrying out world-class science while growing the economy.

View original post here:
Spacewalk to fit ground-breaking British kit to International Space Station - GOV.UK

Two astronauts will walk in space today to upgrade the International Space Stations datacomms. Their efforts will mean that data collected in science experiments conducted aboard the ISS will no longer be sent to Earth via hard drives carried by returning astronauts.

The space walkers are expected to take six hours to install the ColKa (Columbus Ka-band), a fridge-sized terminal funded by the UK Space Agency and built by MDA UK.

The ISS Columbus module, launched in 2008, currently has lousy data comms to ground stations on Earth. Hence the physical transfer of data by hard drives. However, arrival is contingent on the return schedule of the astronaut, which may result in many weeks delay.

With the new set-up, results are delivered to scientists a day or two after the data is recorded. Data transmission is asynchronously bi-directional. ColKa promises speeds of up to 50 Mbit/s in downlink and up to 2 Mbit/s in uplink.

This will allow high data volume downlink, including video streaming. Speed is limited by the ISS-Earth comms infrastructure components. The terminal itself is capable of speeds of up to 400 Mbit/s downlink and 50 Mbit/s uplink.

ColKa will send signals from the Station, which orbits at an altitude of 400km above Earth, even further into space, where they will be picked up by EDRS satellites in geostationary orbit 36,000 km above the surface.From there the data is transmitted data to a ground station at Harwell Campus, Oxfordshire. Then the signals are transferred to the Columbus Control Centre and user centres across Europe.

See the article here:
Astronauts walk in space to upgrade International Space Station datacomms. No more hard drives by courier Blocks and Files - Blocks and Files

File image of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launch (Photo by Paul Hennessy/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - The first private space station crew was introduced Tuesday: Three men who are each paying $55 million to fly on a SpaceX rocket.

Theyll be led by a former NASA astronaut now working for Axiom Space, the Houston company that arranged the trip for next January.

"This is the first private flight to the International Space Station. Its never been done before," said Axioms chief executive and president Mike Suffredini, a former space station program manager for NASA.

While mission commander Michael Lopez-Alegria is well known in space circles, "the other three guys are just people who want to be able to go to space, and were providing that opportunity," Suffredini told The Associated Press.

RELATED:SpaceX completes 1st rocket launch of 2021

The first crew will spend eight days at the space station, and will take one or two days to get there aboard a SpaceX Dragon capsule following liftoff from Cape Canaveral.

Russia has been in the off-the-planet tourism business for years, selling rides to the International Space Station since 2001. Other space companies like Richard Bransons Virgin Galactic and Jeff Bezos Blue Origin plan to take paying customers on up-and-down flights lasting just minutes. These trips much more affordable with seats going for hundreds of thousands versus millions could kick off this year.

Axioms first customers include Larry Connor, a real estate and tech entrepreneur from Dayton, Ohio, Canadian financier Mark Pathy and Israeli businessman Eytan Stibbe, a close friend of Israels first astronaut Ilan Ramon, who was killed in the space shuttle Columbia accident in 2003.

RELATED:'Super Earth': NASA discovers 10B year-old planet unlike any other in deep space

"These guys are all very involved and doing it for kind of for the betterment of their communities and countries, and so we couldnt be happier with this makeup of the first crew because of their drive and their interest," Suffredini said.

Each of these first paying customers intends to perform science research in orbit, he said, along with educational outreach.

Lopez-Alegria, a former space station resident and spacewalking leader, called the group a "collection of pioneers."

Tom Cruise was mentioned last year as a potential crew member; NASA top officials confirmed he was interested in filming a movie at the space station. There was no word Tuesday on whether Cruise will catch the next Axiom flight. Suffredini declined to comment.

Each of the private astronauts had to pass medical tests and will get 15 weeks of training, according to Suffredini. The 70-year-old Connor will become the second-oldest person to fly in space, after John Glenns shuttle flight in 1998 at age 77. Hell also serve under Lopez-Alegria as the capsule pilot.

Axiom plans about two private missions a year to the space station. It also is working to launch its own live-in compartments to the station beginning in 2024. This section would be detached from the station once its retired by NASA and the international partners, and become its own private outpost.

Originally posted here:
3 men paying $55M each to fly to International Space Station from Florida - FOX 35 Orlando

The first fully private, multi-person space station crew has been introduced: three men who are each paying $US55 million ($71 million) to fly on a SpaceX rocket.

They will be led by a former NASA astronaut now working for Axiom Space, the Houston company that arranged the trip for next January.

"This is the first private flight to the International Space Station (ISS). It's never been done before," said Axiom's chief executive and president Mike Suffredini, a former space station program manager for NASA.

Space tourists have taken individual flights to the ISS aboard Russian rockets, but this will be the first flight carrying multiple private astronauts, on a private rocket.

While mission commander Michael Lopez-Alegria is well known in space circles, "the other three guys are just people who want to be able to go to space, and we're providing that opportunity," Mr Suffredini told The Associated Press.

The first crew will spend eight days at the space station and will take one or two days to get there aboard a SpaceX Dragon capsule following lift-off from Cape Canaveral.

Russia had been in the off-the-planet tourism business since 2001, selling rides to the International Space Station aboard Soyuz spacecraft.

That program, brokered by private company Space Adventures, sent seven paying customers on multi-days visits to the ISS but was stopped in 2009 when crew size on the station increased.

The cost of those trips ranged from $US20 million to $US25 million.

NASA announced plans for a resumption of private tourism to the ISS in June 2019, following a 2017 announcement that returning humans to space was a priority of then-president Donald Trump's administration.

Other space companies like Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin plan to take paying customers on up-and-down flights lasting just minutes. These trips much more affordable with seats going for hundreds of thousands versus millions could kick off this year.

Axiom's first customers include Larry Connor, a real estate and tech entrepreneur from Dayton, Ohio, Canadian financier Mark Pathy and Israeli businessman Eytan Stibbe, a close friend of Israel's first astronaut Ilan Ramon, who was killed in the space shuttle Columbia accident in 2003.

"These guys are all very involved and doing it for kind of the betterment of their communities and countries, and so we couldn't be happier with this makeup of the first crew because of their drive and their interest," Mr Suffredini said.

Each of these first paying customers intends to perform science research in orbit, he said, along with educational outreach.

Captain Lopez-Alegria, a former space station resident and spacewalking leader, called the group a "collection of pioneers."

Andy Thomas discusses how NASA's space program and the skills needed to be an astronaut have changed over time.

Tom Cruise was mentioned last year as a potential crew member: NASA top officials confirmed he was interested in filming a movie at the space station.

There has been no word on whether Cruise will catch the next Axiom flight and Mr Suffredini has declined to comment.

Each of the private astronauts had to pass medical tests and will get 15 weeks of training, according to Mr Suffredini.

The 70-year-old Mr Connor will become the second-oldest person to fly in space, after John Glenn's shuttle flight in 1998 at age 77. He willl also serve under Captain Lopez-Alegria as the capsule pilot.

Axiom plans about two private missions a year to the space station. It also is working to launch its own live-in compartments to the station beginning in 2024. This section would be detached from the station once it is retired by NASA and the international partners, and become its own private outpost.

ABC/AP

Read this article:
Space tourists paying $71 million each to be first all-private International Space Station crew - ABC News

Scientists on the International Space Station spotted a bright-blue lightning bolt shooting upward from thunderclouds.

Blue jets can be difficult to spot from the ground, since the electrical discharges erupt from the tops of thunderclouds. But from space, scientists can peer down at this cerulean lightshow from above. On Feb. 26, 2019, instruments aboard the space station captured a blue jet shooting out of a thunderstorm cell near Nauru, a small island in the central Pacific Ocean. The scientists described the event in a new report, published Jan. 20 in the journal Nature.

The scientists first saw five intense flashes of blue light, each lasting about 10 to 20 milliseconds. The blue jet then fanned out from the cloud in a narrow cone shape that stretched into the stratosphere, the atmospheric layer that extends from about 6 to 31 miles (10 to 50 kilometers) above the Earth's surface.

Related: Photos of elves and blue jets: See Earth's weirdest lightning

Blue jets seem to appear when the positively-charged upper region of a cloud interacts with the negatively charged boundary between the cloud and the air above, according to the report. The blue jet appears as a result of this "electric breakdown," where the opposing charges swap places in the cloud and briefly equalize, releasing static electricity. However, the properties of blue jets and the altitude to which they extend above clouds "are not well characterized," the authors noted, so this study adds to our understanding of the dramatic phenomenon.

Four of the flashes preceding the blue jet came with a small pulse of ultraviolet light (UV), the scientists noted. They identified these emissions as so-called "elves," another phenomenon seen in the upper atmosphere.

"Elves" an acronym that stands for Emissions of Light and Very Low Frequency Perturbations due to Electromagnetic Pulse Sources are light emissions that appear as rapidly expanding rings in the ionosphere, a layer of charged particles that extends from roughly 35 miles to 620 miles (60 to 1,000 km) above the planet surface. Elves occur when radio waves push electrons through the ionosphere, causing them to accelerate and collide with other charged particles, releasing energy as light, the authors wrote.

The team observed the flashes, elves and blue jet using the European Space Agency's Atmosphere-Space Interactions Monitor (ASIM), a collection of optical cameras, photometers, X-ray detectors and gamma-ray detectors attached to a module on the space station.

"This paper is an impressive highlight of the many new phenomena ASIM is observing above thunderstorms," Astrid Orr, physical sciences coordinator for human and robotic spaceflight with the European Space Agency (ESA), said in a statement. Experts also suspect that upper atmosphere phenomena, like blue jets, may affect the concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, since the ozone layer sits within the stratosphere where they occur, according to the ESA statement.

Originally published on Live Science.

Continued here:
Upward-shooting 'blue jet' lightning spotted from International Space Station - Livescience.com