Category Archives: Transhuman News

A SpaceX rocket is bringing 2.5 tons of cargo to the International Space Station, including legs for NASA's Robonaut 2, but a test of the first stage's landing system could be the biggest prize.

All eyes are on the weather as Space Exploration Technology Corp. (SpaceX) gets set to launch nearly 2.5 tons of cargo to the International Space Station and conduct the first test of a new landing system designed to return the first stage of the company's Falcon 9 rocket to its launch pad.

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The launch is scheduled for 3:25 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time Friday, but unsettled weather over and around the launch site at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida has put the odds of a launch at 40 percent.

The cargo ranges from crew supplies to experiments designed to test a laser-based space communications system, hardware for growing vegetables in space, and a microbiology experiment that researchers hope will yield insights into why long-duration spaceflight reduces the effectiveness of the human immune system.

In addition, the station's seventh crew member, NASA's Robonaut 2, is slated to receive its first pair of legs, "but not like legs any human has ever had," Andy Petro, who heads NASA's space-technology directorate, noted at a prelaunch briefing earlier this week.

The new appendages give the humanoid robot a look blending a Power Ranger's head and torso with legs that look like NASA raided the lair of Spiderman's nemesis, Dr. Octopus. Each leg has seven joints, allowing them to assume shapes that would make an experienced contortionist wince. Instead of feet, the legs sport clamps at the end, which will allow the robot to cling to the station inside or out while leaving hands free for work.

But for sheer technological splash, few of this mission's objectives match the landing system that SpaceX is developing in hopes of driving down the cost of launching payloads to space.While the company's Dragon space capsules are reusable, it still has to build and essentially throw way the first stage of its Falcon 9 rocket.

A major step in reducing launch costs is bringing the first stage under its own power back for refurbishment and reuse, company officials say.

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SpaceX launch to space station: It's what is coming down that's key

April 18, 2014

Image Caption: Rick Mastracchio conducting a Capillary Flow Experiment aboard the International Space Station. Credit: NASA

Melissa Gaskill, International Space Station Program Office, NASA Johnson Space Center

A new medical-testing device is being prepped to enter the battle against infectious disease. This instrument could improve diagnosis of certain diseases in remote areas, thanks in part to knowledge gained from a series of investigations aboard the International Space Station on the behavior of liquids. The device uses the space-tested concept of capillary flow to diagnose infectious diseases such as HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis.

David Kelso, Ph.D., a researcher at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill., had been working for several years to develop a simple, inexpensive device that could be used in resource-limited settings to test for infectious diseases. When designs didnt work as expected in the lab, Kelso brought in Portland State University researcher Mark Weislogel, Ph.D., who is the principal investigator for the Capillary Flow Experiment (CFE) on the space station.

He came by the lab, we ran two or three experiments for him, and he explained to us that the problem had to do with capillary flow, Kelso says. Our mindset was that gravity would pull fluids through the device, but his mindset, due to his work in microgravity, was to use capillary action. His experience and work in zero-G was invaluable; he could look at something and not be constrained to just seeing the effects of gravity but other effects that we were blind to.

Cell samples in the form of blood or other bodily fluids are put into the device, where an enzyme fluid bursts the cells to release DNA or RNA. Another solution washes away the enzyme and the cellular debris, leaving behind the DNA or RNA, which is captured on a bead and used to identify infectious viruses. You only need fewer than a dozen particles, and you can detect the presence of the virus, Kelso explains. Its a phenomenal analytical technique, but it involves four different fluids that have to be moved around.

Thats where capillary forces come into play. The interaction between a liquid and a solid that draws a fluid up a narrow tube, capillary forces continue to operate in microgravity, and the low-gravity environment on the space station enabled researchers to conduct investigations into the special dynamics of this fluid behavior. The CFE series clarified the properties of the boundary between a liquid and the solid surface of its container and the flow of liquids under certain conditions. This knowledge will prove useful in designing fluid-bearing containers such as propellant tanks and water storage and management systems. It also will aid in creating instruments that use bio-fluids including the medical testing device the Northwestern lab is developing.

The capillary flow knowledge is just amazing, Kelso says. Its a way to move fluids without putting any energy into the device. We were using motors and batteries and all these things that consume power to make the device work. Doing it with capillary action uses much less energy. That makes it possible to diagnose infectious diseases in places where there is no power or where power is unreliable. It also reduces the time between sample collection and diagnosis and, therefore, initiation of treatment.

This cartridge and the way fluid moves in it are an important part of measuring viral load level, says Kara Palamountain, president of the Northwestern Global Health Foundation. Capillary flow helped us understand more about our assumptions and explains the movement we see in the cartridge, which we wouldnt have seen otherwise.

See more here:
Space-Tested Fluid Flow Concept Advances Infectious Disease Diagnoses

May 23, 2011: The International Space Station sits at an altitude of approximately 220 miles above the Earth in this photo taken by Expedition 27 crew member Paolo Nespoli from the Soyuz TMA-20 following its undocking.AP/NASA

A fresh load of supplies is finally on its way to the International Space Station.

A SpaceX rocket blasted off Friday with 2 tons of cargo, more than a month late. Storms cleared out at Cape Canaveral just in time for the mid-afternoon launch.

The California company's Dragon supply ship will reach the orbiting lab Sunday Easter morning. That pushes urgent spacewalking repairs to Wednesday.

Two U.S. astronauts will attempt to replace an external backup computer that failed last Friday. The primary computer still works fine, but NASA wants a reliable spare. A double failure would seriously compromise critical space station systems and hinder visits by the Dragon and other vessels.

Read more from the original source:
SpaceX launch to International Space Station threatened by weather

News

April 18, 2014 02:42 PM ET

Computerworld - NASA and Google are working together to send new 3D technology aloft to map the International Space Station.

Google said Thursday that its Project Tango team is collaborating with scientists at NASA's Ames Research Center to integrate the company's new 3D technology into a robotic platform that will work inside the space station. The integrated technology has been dubbed SPHERES, which stands for Synchronized Position Hold, Engage, Reorient, Experimental Satellites.

The technology is scheduled to launch to the orbiting station this summer, although Google a specific date hasn't been set.

"The Spheres program aims to develop zero-gravity autonomous platforms that could act as robotic assistants for astronauts or perform maintenance activities independently on station," according to a Google+ post from the company's ATAP ( Advanced Technology and Projects) group. "The 3D-tracking and mapping capabilities of Project Tango would allow Spheres to reconstruct a 3D-map of the space station and, for the first time in history, enable autonomous navigation of a floating robotic platform 230 miles above the surface of the earth."

Earlier this year, Google announced that its Project Tango group is working to build an Android phone with sensors and chips that enable it to map indoor spaces in 3D.

The project, which includes scientists from universities, research labs and commercial partners, is led by Google's ATAP group.

"Mobile devices today assume the physical world ends at the boundaries of the screen," said Johnny Lee, the Project Tango leader, in a YouTube video. "Our goal is to give mobile devices a human scale understanding of space and motion."

Google's 3D sensing smartphone, which is still in the prototype phase, has customized hardware and software, including a 4-megapixel camera, motion tracking sensors, computer vision processors and integrated depth sensing.

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Google tech to bring 3D mapping smarts to NASA's space station robots