Category Archives: Space Station

By NASA // May 8, 2017

ABOVE VIDEO:This footage was taken by ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet during a spacewalk on the International Space Station on Friday, March 24.

(NASA) This footage was taken by ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet during a spacewalk on the International Space Station on Friday, March 24.

He was joined on the spacewalk by NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough.

The primary task was to prepare the Pressurized Mating Adapter-3 (PMA-3) for installation of the second International Docking Adapter, which will accommodate commercial crew vehicle dockings.

The PMA-3 provides the pressurized interface between the station modules and the docking adapter.

The pair disconnected cables and electrical connections on PMA-3 to prepare for its robotic move, which took place on Sunday, March 26. PMA-3 was be moved from the port side of the Tranquility module to the space-facing side of the Harmony module, where it will become home for the docking adapter, which will be delivered on a future flight of a SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft.

The spacewalkers also installed on the starboard zero truss a new computer relay box equipped with advanced software for the adapter.

The two spacewalkers lubricated the latching end effector on the Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator extension for the Canadarm2 robotic arm, inspected a radiator valve suspected of a small ammonia leak and replaced cameras on the Japanese segment of the outpost.

Radiators are used to shed excess heat that builds up through normal space station operation.

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VIDEO: Action Cam Footage From U.S. Spacewalk On International ... - SpaceCoastDaily.com

Photo by Philip Cosores

For Record Store Day this year, The Flaming Lips releasedOnboard The International Space Station Concert For Peace, a release they described as featuringseven live(ish) tracks from Oczy Mlody reimagined as a fictional/fantastical live Flaming Lips performance on the International Space Station. The release was limited to just 2,700 copies, so its very likely you werent able to get your mitts on one.

Well, heres some consolation: The album is now available to stream on Apple Music and Spotify. Its a trippy listen, a woozy, synth-heavy amalgamation of soft, swooning melodies and mind-melting synthesizer swirls. Streamit below.

Audiences may get a taste of these trippy tracks when Wayne Coyne and co. hithe festival circuit this summer, or mayhaps with an assist from Mac DeMarcowhen they hit the road this fall.

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A French astronaut many miles above the surface of the Earth did something that pretty much none of us will ever do.

French astronaut Thomas Pesquet pulled off quite the feat aboard the International Space Station recently. Even though hes currently orbiting the Earth 249 miles from the surface, and his home country of France, he was able to cast his vote in the countrys contentious election.

Pesquet had to handle more than a few obstacles in order to vote. For one thing, he had to have a colleague act as power of attorney to cast a vote on his behalf, and secondly he had to deal with the problem that when not on the ISS, he resides in journey. Nevertheless, you wouldnt expect an astronaut like Pesquet to be bothered by hurdles like that, and he dutifully performed his civic duty as a French citizen while looking down on the country from high above.

Pesquet is the European Space Agencys youngest astronaut, and he described himself in interviews as passionately interested in politics. He once remarked in an interview with Franceinfo that people should open up and understand that the world is done with others, not against others, that we need more bridges than walls. That suggests he is unlikely to be voting for far-right anti-immigration candidate Marine Le Pen, who is expected to fall to moderate candidate Emmanuel Macron in Sundays election.

Pesquet first arrived at the ISS back in November, and he will spend six months there with astronauts Oleg Novitsky and NASAs Peggy Whitson.

Here is NASAs biography of Pesquet as posted on their website.

Born in Rouen, France, on 27 February 1978, Thomas Pesquet is a black belt in judo and enjoys basketball, jogging, swimming, squash and outdoor sports such as mountain biking, kite surfing, sailing, skiing and mountaineering. He also has extensive experience in scuba diving and skydiving. His other interests include travelling, playing the saxophone and reading.

Education

Thomas graduated from the competitive French classes prparatoires aux grandes coles at the Lyce Pierre Corneille in Rouen, France, in 1998.

In 2001, he received a masters degree from the cole Nationale Suprieure de lAronautique et de lEspace in Toulouse, France, majoring in spacecraft design and control. He spent his final year before graduation at the cole Polytechnique de Montral, Canada, as an exchange student on the Aeronautics and Space Master course.

Thomas graduated from the Air France flight school in 2006. This led to an Air Transport Pilot License-Instrument Rating (ATPL-IR).

Organisations

Thomas is a member of the French Aeronautics and Astronautics Association (3AF) and of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA).

Experience

From April to September 2001, Thomas was a trainee engineer with Thales Alenia Space in Cannes, France, where he developed a satellite system design tool using concurrent engineering techniques.

From October 2001, he worked as a spacecraft dynamics engineer on remote sensing missions for GMV S.A. in Madrid, Spain.

Between 2002 and 2004, Thomas worked at the French space agency, CNES, as a research engineer on space mission autonomy. He also carried out studies on future European ground segment design and European space technology harmonisation. From late 2002, he was a CNES representative at the Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems, working on cross-support between international space agencies.

An avid private pilot in his spare time, Thomas was selected in 2004 for Air Frances flight training programme. He went on to become a commercial pilot for the airline, where he started flying the Airbus A320 in 2006. Having logged more than 2300 flight hours on commercial airliners, he became a type rating instructor on the A320 and a Crew Resource Management instructor.

Thomas was selected as an ESA astronaut in May 2009. He joined ESA in September 2009 and completed basic training in November 2010. After graduation, he worked as a Eurocom, communicating with astronauts during spaceflights from the mission control centre. He was also in charge of future projects at the European Astronaut Centre, including initiating cooperation with new partners such as China.

To be ready for a space mission, he received further technical and operational training in Europe, Russia and the USA: on the Russian Soyuz spacecraft, on the US and Russian spacesuits, and on Space Station systems. He took part in exploration training courses: living and working underground on ESAs CAVES training course in 2011, and underwater on NASAs Seatest-2 mission.

On 17 March 2014, Thomas was assigned to a long-duration mission on the International Space Station.

Spaceflight experience

Thomas was launched to the International Space Station on 17 November 2016 for his six-month Proxima mission as a flight engineer for Expeditions 50 and 51. His is scheduled to return to Earth in May 2017.

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Astronaut does something amazing on the International Space Station - Morning Ticker

Bosses at NASA and the ESA are drawing up plans on how to dispose of the floating research centre when its funding runs out in 2024 with the money used in an attempt to reach Mars

SCIENTISTS are planning to send the International Space Station off in a blaze of glory when they demolish it at some point in the next 10 years.

Funding for the floating research centre runs out in 2024 and NASA are hoping to dismantle it by sending it hurtling towards the Pacific Ocean in what should prove to be a spectacular fireworks display.

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The space centre is made up of massive sections for researchers to work and live in as well as fuel tanks and other components that should generate a massive series of fireballs when they re-enter the Earths atmosphere.

The denser air on Earth will cause huge friction with the objects which should burn up spectacularly as they are sent hurtling towards the sea.

Tim Peake, the British astronaut, could be among the space team that prepares the ISS for its fiery death as he is due to return to the station between 2021 and 2024, reported The Sunday Times.

The plans were revealed by Dr Ellen Stofan, NASAs chief scientist, who helped draw up the idea before leaving the agency in December last year.

She said: The future of the ISS is a big issue for NASA. The funding is there till 2024 but then it must start moving money to human Mars missions.

If we keep it fully funded after 2024 it will compromise the Mars budget and by 2028 it will start failing. It is huge, the size of an [American] football pitch, so the overall plan is to drop it into the Pacific.

Alamy

The 56-year-old will be describing the plans in more detail when she speaks at the Cheltenham science festival in Gloucestershire next month.

Another idea for the ISS is to dismantle some elements of it and bring them back to Earth while leaving the rest in space but this depends on what the Russian government thinks as they own several sections of it.

Alternatively, commercial flights could use the station from 2020 with Richard Branson and Elon Musk among the entrepreneurs trying to make space tourism a reality.

Additionally, Boeing is developing a next generation capsulecalled a Starliner which would be able to take people into low orbit space, including the ISS, from 2020.

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The building of the ISS began in 1998 when the first modules were launched into space and has been valuable in helping scientists understand more about surviving the health hazards of living in space which can include brain swelling, eye damage and skin problems.

One of the contributors to the ISS is the European Space Agency who pays approximately 300m a year into the project.

David Parker, director of human spaceflight and robotic exploration at the ESA, said: Our plan is to free up this money from the mid-2020s to explore beyond low earth orbit . . . that will eventually mean de-orbiting the ISS.

The south Pacific is the target and it will be a huge fireworks display.

To date 227 astronauts have lived on board the ISS and it weighs around 412 tons the largest-ever space structure.

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Tim Peake could be last scientist to leave the International Space Station before it crashes into Pacific in 'huge ... - The Sun

Plans are being drawn up to scrap the vessel and send it hurtling into the ocean in a spectacular firework display

Jonathan Leake, ScienceEditor

Nasa scientists are drawing up plans to dismantle the International Space Station and send it hurtling into the Pacific in the worlds most spectacular demolition job.

Tim Peake, the British astronaut, could be among the team that prepares the ISS for its fiery demise he is due to return to the station between 2021 and 2024 when its funding runs out.

The massive modules, fuel tanks and other components would generate a series of fireballs as they burn up in the atmosphere.

The plans were revealed by Ellen Stofan, Nasas chief scientist, who helped set them in motion before recently leaving the agency.

The future of the ISS is a big issue for Nasa. The funding is there till 2024 but then it

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International Space Station to go down in a blaze of glory - The Times (subscription)

China will begin construction of a permanent manned space station in 2019 after carrying out a successful in-orbit refuelling from its Tianzhou-1 cargo spacecraft, officials leading the project said on Friday.

The Tianzhou-1, China's first cargo spacecraft, launched on April 20 and completed the first of three planned docking attempts with the orbiting Tiangong-2 spacelab two days later, state media reported.

The successful five-day refuelling, directed from technicians on Earth and completed on Thursday, is a key milestone towards China's plans to begin sending crews to a permanent space station by 2022.

"This again announces the ambition and aspiration of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese people, and our resolute confidence in becoming a major space power," the space station project's supervisor Wang Zhaoyao told a news briefing in Beijing.

"After completing experimental stage spaceflight missions, we will enter the development and construction phase. According to our plans we will carry out the assembly and construction of China's manned space station between 2019 and 2022."

President Xi Jinping has prioritised advancing China's space programme to strengthen national security. The Central Military Commission, chaired by Xi, sent a letter congratulating staff of the Tianzhou-1 mission for "realising our unremitting space dream", according to the official Xinhua news agency.

The US Defense Department has highlighted China's increasing space capabilities, saying it was pursuing activities aimed at preventing other nations from using space-based assets in a crisis.

China insists it has only peaceful ambitions in space, but has tested anti-satellite missiles.

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China to begin construction of manned space station in 2019 - Geo News, Pakistan

An image of Centaurus High School's flag and experiment aboard the International Space Station that was transmitted to Earth on Friday by astronaut Jack Fischer. (Courtesy Jack Fischer / NASA)

Astronaut Jack Fischer on Friday emailed a network of those following his progress at the International Space Station to say that he had just performed some work on an experiment sent to the spacecraft from his Lafayette alma mater, Centaurus High School.

Fischer, a 43-year-old Louisville native, said in a short note he thought people would "like to know that an alum worked on an experiment of his high school today that's pretty rare, and a pretty awesome testament for Centaurus."

Fischer launched with a Russian crew member on April 20, and his arrival at the ISS and entry through its hatch was celebrated by a big crowd of students at teachers at Centaurus that day courtesy of a live feed over NASA TV.

The experiment, three years in being brought to fruition, is designed to study the effects of simulated gravity on bacterial lag phase in a micro-gravitational environment.

"Jack got a chance to power it on," said Centaurus engineering teacher Brian Thomas. "I think there was some sort of issue with it last week when they first tried to plug it in. Whatever it was, it was a non-issue. It's working like a charm."

Fischer's bulletin from 250 miles above the Earth was accompanied by a picture of the Centaurus payload, emblazoned with a Centaurus flag. He also sent an audio clip to his heavily invested fan base at his old school.

"Two years ago we had that flag in the Centaurus (attendance) office, and I remember handing Jack the flag," Thomas said. "He stopped by my house last summer, and I got a chance to pass it on to him.

"He said, 'I can only take a few things, but I'm definitely bringing the Centaurus flag.' It's cool to see it up there, and have him and the support for the project."

The first iteration of the experiment was destroyed when the SpaceX CRS-7 unmanned supply mission that was originally to take it to the ISS was lost to an explosion about 2 minutes after its June 28, 2015, launch.

In rebuilding the experiment, Thomas and the students working on the project did some tweaking of its functioning,

"Since we weren't doing it from scratch, it got put together a little faster," Thomas said last month, prior to Fischer's launch "There were new design constraints. ... They were concerned that the spinning of the gears was too loud. They have to deal with that noise 24/7. They gave us a waiver on that the first time, but after the explosion they said, 'You've got time to rebuild this, let's make it quieter.' They gave us a sound meter and we had to get it under a certain sound level."

The rebuilding of the experiment took place during the 2015-16 school year. Thomas explained its purpose.

"Bacteria grows at a certain rate on Earth, and when it's in space, research has shown it grows a little bit faster, because of a number of different reasons. As it eats the bacteria food, we wanted to see if the gravitational forces were a big key player in that, or if there is something else involved. We're basically tricking it, to make it think it's on Earth," Thomas said.

"We're spinning it so that it feels 1-G; we want it to grow as if it were feeling the same gravitational forces on Earth, and compare the growth rate."

While Fischer and crew partner cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin launched April 20 and arrived at the ISS about six hours later, the experiment was part of a 7,600-pound payload that launched in an unmanned cargo spacecraft April 18 and reached the ISS on April 22.

"We're excited," Thomas said Friday. "We're ready to start collecting data."

Charlie Brennan: 303-473-1327, brennanc@dailycamera.com or twitter.com/chasbrennan

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Louisville's Jack Fischer activates Centaurus experiment on space station - Boulder Daily Camera

The engineering company Mouser Electronicspublished video of a satellite launcher being 3-D printed on the International Space Station (ISS) Wednesday.

EngineerAndy Filo designeda device to help astronauts launch tiny satellites weighing less than 100 grams in zero gravity. Scientists can use these satellites tomonitor disasters, cosmic rays and solar coronal events.

WATCH:

Filo developed the device as part of a design challenge to develop useful technology for astronauts.

Mouser brought together engineers, students and makers from around the world in this exciting design challenge. All the designs were excellent, but in the end there was one design that stood above the rest, Glenn Smith, President and CEO of Mouser Electronics, said in a statement. The heart of this challenge was innovation, and Andys femtosatellite-launching device embodies forward-thinking design.

Mouser chose Filos femtosatellite project from 242 entries, and then digitally-transmitted it to the ISS. The worldsfirst off-world commercial manufacturingprinter 3-D printed the design in April.

The ISS 3-D printer manufactured its first objects in space in November 2014. It works by building layers of heated plastic to create objects, effectively making a working machine shop capable of building virtually any tool in space. Engineers on the ground can transmitdesign files for any tool to the printer.

This capability decreases the cost and difficulty of sending tools to the ISS. It can take months or even years to ship specialty tools to the space stationdepending on the launch resupply schedule. Future deep space exploration missions will almost certainly carry similar printers as resupplying tools from Earth may be impossible.

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Watch The First 3D-Printed Satellite Launcher Work On The Space Station [VIDEO] - The Daily Caller

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Bethesda's sci-fi adventure game Prey is out on Friday, May 5, and its launch trailer has been released to celebrate.

The video shows off some of the abilities you'll be able to develop on board your spaceship, Talos I, as well as showcasing the numerous enemies that will be hunting you down as you go. Take a look at the full trailer above.

We also get a brief glimpse at the player-character's brother, Alex Yu. Alex is the boss of Talos I, and developer Arkane said recently that the space station will change depending on your relationship with the character.

Today, we learned what's included in Prey's day one patch. The update includes a load of bug fixes, as well as support for English dialogue no matter which region your game is from.

Addressing concerns that the game might be buggy on some platforms, Arkane has stated that it "doubled" its thoroughness in working on the title's PC version after Dishonored 2--from the same company--suffered from a multitude of problems on the platform. Many players seem to be impressed by the game's Opening Hour demo, though that is only available on consoles.

The PC version's minimum and recommended specs were also revealed recently, and the game's soundtrack is available now.

Prey is a reimagining of the 2006 original, and a replacement for the canceled sequel to that game that was in development at Human Head Studios.

The new title is seen by some as a spiritual successor to the 1994 game System Shock, while we also think it's been inspired by BioShock.

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Prey Launch Trailer Shows Space Station Chaos, Watch It Here - GameSpot

Artists concept of Chinas planned space station. Credit: CMSA

A series of achievements in Chinas space program over the last 12 months have set the stage to start construction of the countrys first space station in 2019, a year later than previously scheduled, officials said Friday.

Since 2016, we have successfully launched the Long March 7 carrier rocket, the Tiangong 2 space lab, the Shenzhou 11 manned spacecraft and the Tianzhou 1 cargo spacecraft, said Wang Zhaoyao, director of the China Manned Space Agency. The four flights achieved success in Chinas manned space program, and laid a solid foundation for the building and long-term operation of a space station.

The Long March 7 rocket is vital for launching supply ships, and eventually crews, to Chinas future space station. It has now flown two times successfully.

The Tiangong 2 orbital module launched in September 2016, welcoming two Chinese astronauts on the Shenzhou 11 spacecraft in October for a one-month expedition, the countrys longest human spaceflight to date.

The heavy-lifting Long March 5 rocket not mentioned by Wang took off on its maiden flight in November. The powerful launcher is needed to place heavy space station modules into orbit.

And the Tianzhou 1 robotic cargo craft launched on a Long March 7 rocket April 20, linked up with Tiangong 2 two days later, and accomplished Chinas first in-space refueling test on Thursday.

The rapid-fire launch campaign has bolstered confidence that the key components needed for Chinas space program will be ready when construction begins, officials said.

A core module, named Tianhe 1, is scheduled for launch in 2019 to begin assembly of the space station. Two support sections will launch by 2022 to complete construction of the space station, which officials said should be operational for at least 20 years.

Three-person crews will live on the space station for three-to-six months, officials said. The finished outpost will have a mass of more than 60 metric tons, about one-seventh that of the International Space Station, and comparable to the mass of NASAs Skylab station in the 1970s.

With crew and cargo transport ships docked, the stations mass will rise to around 90 metric tons, or 200,000 pounds.

From June of last year to yesterday, four planned flight missions of the space lab phase were all completed, Wang said in a press conference Friday. In retrospect, we have taken note of many important achievements and successful experiences that are worth learning.

Chinas latest mission, Tianzhou 1, demonstrated the countrys ability to resupply and refuel the future space station. Weighing more than 28,460 pounds (12,910 kilograms) at liftoff, the robotic cargo craft was the largest and heaviest spacecraft ever launched by China.

Tianzhou 1 will remain docked with the Tiangong 2 space lab until around late June, then spend three months conducting standalone experiments before re-entering Earths atmosphere.

In the next phase, the cargo spacecraft will remain docked with the space lab as they orbit together, Wang said. The cargo spacecraft will also undock and fly alone and try different approaches to improve in-orbit refueling technology. After that, the cargo spacecraft will land under control in a designated area in the South Pacific Ocean, while the space lab will remain in space for further exploration.

The solar-powered Tianzhou 1 spacecraft will detach from Tiangong 2 and attempt a fast rendezvous profile on another approach to the space lab in the coming weeks, according to Wang. The rendezvous trajectory will mimic the path future cargo missions will take, allowing for delivery of supplies and fuel the same day of launch.

The current rendezvous and docking process needs two days for preparation, Wang said. If the technology of autonomous fast rendezvous and docking technology succeeds, we only need six-and-a-half hours for rendezvous and docking between two spacecraft. It will greatly enhance our work efficiency.

Russian Progress supply ships and Soyuz crew ferry craft often dock with the International Space Station around six hours after liftoff.

Chinese officials say the Tianzhou resupply missions will carry up to 14,300 pounds 6.5 metric tons of cargo to the planned orbital complex. The fuel transfer system will deliver up to 4,600 pounds 2.1 metric tons of liquid propellant to the stations propulsion system.

The payload ratio and the amount of propellant refueling are on a par with current international standards for space cargo transportation systems, if not being ahead of them, Wang said.

The Tianzhou cargo carrier is bigger than the International Space Stations current visiting vehicles, capable of ferrying more equipment than Russias Progress, the U.S.-built commercial Cygnus and Dragon, and the Japanese HTV spaceships.

As the last (test) mission before the space station is built, the mission is significant in serving as a link between past and future, Wang said.

Tianzhou means heavenly vessel in Chinese.

The simulated cargo aboard Tianzhou 1 represents the equipment a three-person crew would need for one month in space, officials said. The payloads include crew provisions, water tanks and oxygen and nitrogen vessels designed to replenish the space labs breathable atmosphere.

While no crews will be present during Tianzhou 1s mission, the freighter carries several experiments, including one on non-Newtonian gravity, according to Chinese media reports.

Zhao Guangheng, chief designer of the space labs utilization system, said the non-Newtonian gravitational experiment will verify the performance of a high-precision electrostatic suspension accelerometer.

The accelerometer performance index has reached the international advanced level, which will provide important technical support for our country to carry out research of basic space physics, weak force measurement and gravity gradient measurements, Zhao said Friday.

Other research investigations will study the proliferation and differentiation of human embryonic stem cells into germ cells to gather data on the possibility of human reproduction in space, Chinas state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

The stem cells and embryos of mice are also on-board Tianzhou for an experiment into how animals and humans could regrow lost tissues and organs, Xinhua said. Researchers also sent up an experiment to test out a new medicine for osteoporosis.

Wang told reporters Friday that Tianzhou 1 will also deploy an experimental CubeSat later in its mission and test other technologies.

An advanced navigation, guidance and control device and new domestic-made components will be tested in orbit, Wang said. An active vibration isolation technology will also be tested. Those tests will be carried out one-by-one.

Future Tianzhou spacecraft could carry replacements for large station components, like a solar array wing, service other satellites in orbit, and be repurposed as a deep space tug for missions to the moon, according to Yang Baohua, vice president of the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp., the Chinese spacecrafts lead contractor.

Asked whether Tianzhou supply ships could fly to the International Space Station, Yang replied that Chinas exclusion from the program a policy enshrined in U.S. law means the spacecraft is not technically compatible with the ISS docking mechanisms.

Because of this, the technological standards, such as the interfaces, are yet to be unified, and that is why the docking cannot be fulfilled in the short term, Yang said. However, the aerospace staff in China is willing to work on behalf of the International Space Station, because space exploration, the manned endeavor, should be a cause shared by the entire human race in peace.

Wang Zhaoyao from Chinas human spaceflight agency said the countrys engineers plan to make their spacecraft fit with a variety of possible destinations.

China is enabled by both of its technologies and competence to transport freight to the International Space Station, Wang said. However we need, specifically, to take a step further to solve problems with different interfaces, which has drawn considerable concern from the international community. In the past few years, the country has been engaged in standardizing the interfaces of its spacecraft, especially in regard to manned spaceflights. Its like the diversity of cell phones which cannot be recharged because of unmatched outlets.

Since Chinas first astronaut flight in 2003, crews have performed automated and manual docking maneuvers and conducted a spacewalk.

Wang said the modules for Chinas space station are undergoing preliminary testing, and officials have signed cooperation agreements with the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs to provide experiment opportunities for scientists from all nations, including developing countries.

Zhao, who is responsible for experiments on the space station, said the orbiting research complex will host science and engineering investigations across a range of disciplines.

He identified life science, biotechnology, microgravity fluid dynamics, combustion science, materials science, basic physics, astronomy and astrophysics, space environment monitoring, Earth observation and technological demonstrations as key areas for experiments on the Chinese space station.

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China's space station plan bolstered by year of successes - Spaceflight Now