Daily Archives: January 11, 2022

A large robotic arm on China's space station has successfully grasped and maneuvered a cargo spacecraft in a crucial test ahead of upcoming module launches.

The 33-foot-long (10 meters) robotic arm on the Tianhe module of China's new Tiangong space station took hold of the Tianzhou 2 supply ship and moved it around 20 degrees, before returning it to the forward port on Tianhe's docking hub.

The 47-minute operation began at 5:12 p.m. EST on Wednesday, Jan. 5 (2212 UTC, 6:12 am Beijing time Jan. 6) to test the procedures and equipment needed for the addition and movement of larger space station modules. The successful trial was vital to the China National Space Administration's plan to complete construction of its space station later this year.

Related: China livestreams New Year's view from new space station

China's next space station modules, named Mengtian and Wentian, are scheduled to launch on separate Long March 5B rockets in the coming months and dock with the orbiting Tianhe. The robotic arm will then need to grasp the modules, each with a mass of more than 44,100 pounds (20,000 kilograms), and maneuver them from the forward port to radial ports.

"This is a technology in which we must achieve a breakthrough in the course of building the entire space station," Shi Jixin, deputy chief designer of the space station at the Fifth Academy under the China Academy of Space Technology (CAST), told CCTV.

Teams on the ground simulated the robotic arm test well in advance of the Wednesday operation. The robotic arm crawled to a berth port near the Tianhe docking hub two days prior to the test. From this position, it grabbed Tianzhou 2 by attaching to an adapter port on the cargo spacecraft.

The robotic arm has played a part in spacewalks outside Tianhe, helping to move suited astronauts around to carry out their tasks. But this was the first time the arm has been used on a large spacecraft.

The addition of two new modules will complete China's T-shaped, three-module Tiangong space station. Mengtian and Wentian are dedicated to hosting a range of science experiments but also include an airlock for extravehicular activities, or spacewalks, and a smaller robotic arm.

Tianzhou 2 launched in May 2021 and was the first visitor to the newly-launched Tianhe module. It carried propellant for Tianhe and delivered supplies, equipment and experiments ahead of the Shenzhou 12 crewed mission, which ran from June to September 2021.

It has remained docked to Tianhe to be used in tests for moving future space station modules. The cargo spacecraft will be deorbited and burn up on reentry once after the tests are complete, carrying with it waste material from Tianhe.

Currently, Tianhe has three spacecraft docked at its ports. In addition to Tianzhou 2, the Shenzhou 13 crew capsule is docked at the nadir port, meaning it is pointing down towards Earth, while Tianzhou 3, which delivered supplies for the three Shenzhou 13 astronauts for their six-month-long mission, is docked at the rear port.

Shenzhou 13 is expected to run until March when astronauts Zhai Zhigang, Wang Yaping and Ye Guangfu will return to Earth.

Tianzhou 4 will then launch ahead of the Shenzhou 14 mission. That six-month-long crewed mission is expected to be aboard for the arrival of Mengtian and Wentian later in the year.

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On China's new space station, a robotic arm test paves way for future construction - Space.com

By NASAJanuary 11, 2022

Pictured from left, are the Soyuz MS-19 crew ship and the Nauka multipurpose laboratory module with the Prichal docking module attached. Credit: NASA

TheExpedition 66crew kicked off Monday promoting space agriculture and observing how the human cell adapts to weightlessness. Two cosmonauts are also gearing up for the first spacewalk of 2022 set to begin next week at theInternational Space Station.

Growing plants in space is critical to keeping crews healthy as NASA and its international partners plan human missions to the Moon, Mars and beyond. Just like humans living in space, microgravity affects plants and scientists want to learn how to successfully grow crops in space to sustain crews with less support from Earth.

Today, NASA Flight EngineerMark Vande Heiharvested the shoots and roots of Arabidopsis plants grown on petri plates inside theVeggiefacility. Fellow NASA Flight EngineerRaja Charicollected the harvested samples and stowed them in a science freezer for later analysis. TheAPEX-07, or Advanced Plant Experiment-07, study is looking at how microgravity affects genetic expression in plants.

ESA (European Space Agency) astronautMatthias Maurerworked throughout Monday on theCytoskeletonspace biology study. That study takes place in theKibo laboratory moduleand uses theLife Science Gloveboxto explore how the internal machinery of the human cell is impacted by long-term space missions.

NASA Flight EngineerKayla Barronalso worked in Kibo and set up the newMochiielectron-scanning microscope to identify trace particles aboard the station. NASA astronautThomas Marshburnfed mice and cleaned their habitats throughout Monday before inspecting and cleaning hatch seals in the stations U.S. segment.

CommanderAnton Shkaplerovand Flight EngineerPyotr Dubrovpartnered together during the morning on a pair of Russian studies looking at how space affects heart activity and arm muscles. The duo later spent the rest of the day setting up Russian Orlan spacesuits for a spacewalk set to begin on Jan. 19. The two cosmonauts will spend about seven hours in the vacuum of space outfitting the stations newest modules,NaukaandPrichal.

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Space Station Crew Starts Week With Space Agriculture, Human Cells and Spacesuits - SciTechDaily

01/10/2022

NASA has recognized Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) as a science education and research program. Two images of ARISS activity are among those singled out by the space agency as some of the Best Space Station Science Pictures of 2021. ARRL Representative to ARISS-International Rosalie White, K1STO, said recognition is significant because it shows that NASA considers what ARISS does to be within the realm of science education and research.

Actually, its an honor for amateur radio, too, that this program is categorized as science education and research, White added. This is a really big deal for ARISS, and we are really proud of the team.

White feels the most important aspect of the recognition is that it shows that NASA believes in ARISSs efforts in the realm of science education and research. They call our radio contacts ISS experiments, just as we call each radio contact an ARISS experiment, she said.

The introduction to the new video, which NASA shared on Twitter, is, It has been a busy year of research aboard the International Space Station. NASAs SpaceX Crew-1, Crew-2, and Crew-3 missions supported hundreds of science experiments aboard the orbiting laboratory.

ARISS team member Armand Budzianowski, SP3QFE, wrote, It is phenomenal that we were honored as creating science. It is a proud moment that ARISS and amateur radio were honored for the field of science and research by NASA!

NASA also shared the photos on its website.

Originally posted here:
ARISS Highlighted among NASA's Best Space Station Science Pictures of 2021 - ARRL

The bizarre story of how a gorilla suit was sent to the International Space Station has reemerged this week.

Its gone viral on Twitter after a screenwriter and filmmaker called Todd Spence shared a hilarious video of the incident this week which has been viewed over 3.8 million times.

Astronaut Mark Kelly once smuggled a full gorilla suit on board the International Space Station. He didnt tell anyone about it. One day, without anyone knowing, he put it on, he wrote.

However, that description isnt actually right at all. Heres what actually happened

The story starts with American astronaut Scott Kelly, who commanded the International Space Station Expeditions 26, 45, and 46.

It was on ISS mission 46, which started on December 11th 2015, that the gorilla suit incident took place.

Near the end of the year-long expedition, Scotts twin brother Mark Kelly sent a care package up to the International Space Station in 2016which contained the gorilla suit.

As a retired astronaut himself, he clearly knew how lonely it could be in space so decided to do something a little humorous.

Video clips from NASA show the astronaut wearing the costume and having a bit of fun with his crew mate Tim Peake.

At the start of the famous video, you see Tim Peake unzipping a white bag.

Tim then disappears and all of a sudden, Scott jumps out of the bag dressed as an incredibly realistic-looking gorilla.

As there is no gravity, he flies around the space station in the gorilla suit and comedically chases Tim Peake around the cabin.

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In February 2016, whilst aboard the ISS, Scott Kelly tweeted the hilarious video.

Needed a little humor to lighten up a #YearInSpace. Go big, or go home. I think Ill do both. #SpaceApe, he wrote.

To this day, it remains one of the funniest and most famous videos of all time, but it continues to confuse those who dont know the story.

In other news, Why was there a gorilla suit on the International Space Station?

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Why was there a gorilla suit on the International Space Station? - HITC - Football, Gaming, Movies, TV, Music

Two of the Raspberry Pi units recently launched for a mission on the International Space Station are now in action, in phase two of the education-focused European Astro Pi Challenge.

We last wrote about the new space-hardened Raspberry Pi units, dubbed Astro Pi, in Septemberand they launched from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in December as part of Expedition 66 on a Dragon Cargo spacecraft atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.

The AstroPi units are part of a project run by the European Space Agency (ESA) for the Earth-focused Mission Zero and Mission Space Lab. The former allows young Python programmers to take humidity readings on board ISS while the latter lets students run various scientific experiments on the space station using its sensors.

SEE: Programming languages: Why this former favourite is sliding down the rankings

The AstroPi boards consist of a Raspberry Pi 4 Model B with 8GB of memory, and include a Raspberry Pi High Quality Camera, one of Google's Coral Machine Learning Accelerators, a color and luminosity sensor, and a passive infrared sensor.

ESA's Expedition 66 member Matthias Maurer, a German materials scientist and engineer, set up the Astro Pi units this month, according to NASA. These new units replace the "Ed and Izzy" Astro Pi pair, which have been on the ISS since 2015 when the first Astro Pi Challenge was launched by British ESA astronaut Tim Peake.

The units have been powered via a Griffin power adapter connected to an ISS AC power inverter, or via USB port on an ISS crew laptop, and operate without a keyboard, monitor or mouse. They're configured to begin processing without crew interaction and are connected to the Joint Station LAN network via ethernet cable, according to NASA.

The new Astro Pi units have yet to be named and that task is being left to youngsters participating in Mission Zero, according to Raspberry Pi. Students are voting which European scientist the units should be named after.

"We're looking forward to seeing the amazing experiments this year's Astro Pi Mission Space Lab teams will perform on the new hardware, and what they'll discover about life on Earth and in space," Raspberry Pi's Olympia Brown said.

The Astro Pi units needed to pass the ESA and NASA "Safety Gate" process, which includes: a vibration test to ensure they can sustain launch conditions; a thermal test to ensure the device's operating temperature doesn't exceed 45 degrees Celsius and a test for sharp edges for crew safety; electromagnetic emissions and susceptibility tests; and power consumption tests.

ESA has selected 502 teams from 800 teams who applied for the second phase of the Mission Space Lab. Selected teams received an ESA Astro Pi hardware kit to help them write programs for their experiments. Teams using machine learning receive a Google Coral machine-learning accelerator, while teams with experiments using infrared photography receive a red optical filter.

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Raspberry Pi: These two new devices just went live on the International Space Station - ZDNet

ASTRONAUTS aboard the ISS have been showing off breathtaking views from space - and set everyone back on Earth a challenge.

Nasa's Mark Vande Hei posted a stunning shot over the Himalayas on Twitter, leaving aerial photographers green with envy.

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Hidden among it is Mount Everest, which the astronaut has asked people to try to spot.

Of course, Everest is the world's highest mountain at 8,849 metres tall.

On the ground, it's probably easy to spot out along the horizon.

But from above it's a lot more difficult to make out.

If you can't make it out yourself, scroll down to see where it is.

"My New Years resolution is to get outside as much as possible," Mark tweeted.

"Well, after I land that is. Can you find Mt. Everest in this photo?"

Mark arrived on the ISS in April 2021.

He is scheduled to return to Earth at the end of March.

When the crew aren't busy working, there are plenty of good opportunities to snap a decent shot - weather permitting of course.

This is because the space station orbits Earth 16 times.

But that also means spotting interesting bits can come and go rather quickly.

So much so, former crewmate Thomas Pesquet noted down times before he was blasted off, so he could plan for the best moment to take his pictures.

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In other news, Apple has become the first company to hit a stock market valuation of$3trillion (2.22trillion).

Popular Twitch creator Sliker has beenbanned from the platformafter sharing nude imagery of fellow streamer Amouranth.

And internet users have been urged tocheck their online accountsagainst one of 2021's worst cyber threats.

We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online Tech & Science team? Email us at tech@the-sun.co.uk

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Can you spot Mt Everest in stunning photo taken from SPACE by ISS astronauts?... - The Sun

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Space germs: University of Idaho students research on bacteria being tested by International Space Station - Idaho Press-Tribune