Category Archives: Space Station

ISS SSTV reception on a portable setup using RTL-SDR
On December 18 the Russian ARISS team members activated the amateur radio Slow Scan TV (SSTV) experiment from the International Space Station (ISS) on 145.800 MHz FM Standing in a car park,.

By: UltraTechie

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ISS SSTV reception on a portable setup using RTL-SDR - Video

Space Tycoon
After crash landing on the moon you need to get back to Earth. To do this your mission is to build your space station, kill your foes, buy gear, weapons and perks to help you. Once you have...

By: SeraphimGolden Wings

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Space Tycoon - Video

NASA #39;Emailed #39; A Wrench To Space
Instead of waiting months for a supply flight to bring the tool they needed, instructions on how to 3-D print one were e-mailed to the International Space Station allowing astronauts to create...

By: GeoBeats News

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NASA 'Emailed' A Wrench To Space - Video

By Sarah LeTrent, CNN

updated 5:29 PM EST, Fri December 19, 2014 |

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

(CNN) -- Bringing supplies to astronauts on the International Space Station can be a little screwy, leaving astronauts waiting for the next costly and risky resupply mission.

This week, thanks to 3-D printing, astronaut and ISS commander Barry "Butch" Wilmore had a wrench he needed manufactured by a printer in just four hours.

The ratcheting socket wrench was the first "uplink tool" printed in space, according to Grant Lowery, marketing and communications manager for Made In Space, which built the printer in partnership with NASA. The tool was designed on the ground, emailed to the space station and then manufactured.

From start to finish, the process took less than a week.

Made in Space's 3-D printer is the first to operate in zero gravity, and printed its first object in orbit -- a part for the printer, ironically -- in November.

"This means that we could go from having a part designed on the ground to printed in orbit within an hour to two from start to finish," Niki Werkheiser, NASA's 3-D print manager, said in a press release when the printer was sent to the ISS in September. "The on-demand capability can revolutionize the constrained supply chain model we are limited to today and will be critical for exploration missions."

The goal for the project is to create in-space manufacturing, especially as missions venture farther from Earth.

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Astronaut prints 3-D wrench in space

WASHINGTON, Dec. 19 (UPI) -- Astronauts on the International Space Station have a new socket wrench. But it didn't come via cargo ship. It was emailed from planet Earth -- beamed up into space and then printed by the ISS crew using their new 3-D printer.

In late September, space's first zero-gravity 3-D printer was delivered to the International Space Station by a SpaceX resupply mission. In November, astronauts finally got around to assembling the machine, designed and manufactured by California-based company Made In Space. Astronauts successfully tested the printer in late November, and now the new technology is being used with a purpose.

NASA predicted that ISS might become a machine shop with arrival of the new printer. And sure enough, the first printed product of note is a ratcheting socket wrench. It's the first time hardware has ever been emailed into space.

"If the printer is successful, it will not only serve as the first demonstration of additive manufacturing in microgravity, but it also will bring NASA and Made In Space a big step closer to evolving in-space manufacturing for future missions to destinations such as an asteroid and Mars," NASA wrote in a September blog post.

What began as a simple CAD file on computers back on Earth, created by engineers and computer scientists at Made In Space, is now a usable plastic wrench aboard the International Space Station.

"On the ISS, this type of technology translates to lower costs for experiments, faster design iteration, and a safer, better experience for the crew members, who can use it to replace broken parts or create new tools on demand," Mike Chen, Made In Space founder, wrote on Medium's Backchannel.

"When we do set up the first human colonies on the moon, Mars and beyond," Chen added, "we won't use rockets to bring along everything we need. We'll build what we need there, when we need it."

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NASA just emailed the space station a new socket wrench

Running repairs: Astronaut Mike Hopkins on a spacewalk last year to replace a faulty water pump outside the International Space Station. Photo: Reuters/NASA

Washington:Now that the International Space Station has a 3D printer, engineers can design new tools on the ground and then beam them up to space.

In September, Made In Space shipped a 3D printer to the astronauts at the space station. In November it printed its first object - a replacement part for itself.

But this is the first time it has printed a specially designed tool on-demand, which is exactly the kind of work its designers hoped it would do.

"The socket wrench we just manufactured is the first object we designed on the ground and sent digitally to space, on the fly," Made In Space co-founder Mike Chen wrote on his blog on Medium. "This is the first time we've ever 'emailed' hardware to space."

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Why is that so great? Chen and his colleagues were responding to a request from astronaut Barry Wilmore, who needed a ratcheting socket spanner. Until now, that kind of request would take months to fulfil - Wilmore would have had to wait for the next mission to the space station to carry the tool up.

Instead, Chen and his team designed the spannerfor printing, then sent the design up to the space station by way of NASA.

"Because it's a lot faster to send digital data [which can travel at the speed of light] to space than it is to send physical objects [which involves waiting months to years for a rocket], it makes more sense to 3D-print things in space, when we can, instead of launching them," Chen wrote. And that means that astronauts can do their work more quickly and for less money.

The tech could also be a lifesaver: During the infamous Apollo 13 mission, astronauts were forced to build new carbon dioxide scrubbers on the fly out of whatever materials they had on hand. With the lunar module's clean oxygen running out, engineers on the ground raced to design a makeshift solution and relay building instructions to the astronauts on board. But what if they had been able to augment the supplies on board with custom-designed pieces that could be printed at will?

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NASA 'emails' spanner to space for the first time

By Sarah LeTrent, CNN

December 19, 2014 -- Updated 2229 GMT (0629 HKT) |

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

(CNN) -- Bringing supplies to astronauts on the International Space Station can be a little screwy, leaving astronauts waiting for the next costly and risky resupply mission.

This week, thanks to 3-D printing, astronaut and ISS commander Barry "Butch" Wilmore had a wrench he needed manufactured by a printer in just four hours.

The ratcheting socket wrench was the first "uplink tool" printed in space, according to Grant Lowery, marketing and communications manager for Made In Space, which built the printer in partnership with NASA. The tool was designed on the ground, emailed to the space station and then manufactured.

From start to finish, the process took less than a week.

Made in Space's 3-D printer is the first to operate in zero gravity, and printed its first object in orbit -- a part for the printer, ironically -- in November.

"This means that we could go from having a part designed on the ground to printed in orbit within an hour to two from start to finish," Niki Werkheiser, NASA's 3-D print manager, said in a press release when the printer was sent to the ISS in September. "The on-demand capability can revolutionize the constrained supply chain model we are limited to today and will be critical for exploration missions."

The goal for the project is to create in-space manufacturing, especially as missions venture farther from Earth.

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NASA prints 3-D wrench in space

Space Station Live: ISS: The Research Possibilities are Endless
NASA Commentator Lori Meggs at the Marshall Space Flight Center speaks with NASA Chief Scientist Ellen Stofan about research on the International Space Station and why the orbiting laboratory...

By: ReelNASA

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Space Station Live: ISS: The Research Possibilities are Endless - Video

Dec 16, 2014 by Ken Kremer, Universe Today A SpaceX Falcon 9 at Cape Canaveral launch pad 40 is slated to launch on Dec. 19, 2014 on the CRS-5 mission. Credit: Ken Kremer kenkremer.com

NASA and SpaceX are now targeting Dec. 19 as the launch date for the next unmanned cargo run to the International Space Station (ISS) under NASA's Commercial Resupply Services contract.

The fifth SpaceX cargo mission was postponed from Dec. 16 to Dec. 19 to "allow SpaceX to take extra time to ensure they do everything possible on the ground to prepare for a successful launch," according to a statement from NASA.

The Dragon spacecraft will launch atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

Both the Falcon 9 rocket and its Dragon spacecraft are in good health, according to NASA.

The mission dubbed SpaceX CRS-5 is slated for liftoff at 1:20 p.m.

An on time liftoff will result in a rendezvous with the ISS on Sunday. The crew would grapple the Dragon with the stations 57 foot long robotic arm at about 6 a.m.

US astronaut and station commander Barry Wilmore will operate the Canadarm2 to capture the SpaceX Dragon when it arrives Sunday morning. ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti will assist Wilmore working at a robotics workstation inside the domed Cupola module during the commercial craft's approach and rendezvous.

The unmanned cargo freighter is loaded with more than 3,700 pounds of scientific experiments, technology demonstrations, crew supplies, spare parts, food, water, clothing and assorted research gear.

The Dragon research experiments will support over 256 science and research investigations for the six person space station crews on Expeditions 42 and 43.

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NASA and SpaceX targeting Dec. 19 for next space station ...

NASA astronaut Scott Kelly and Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko are gearing up for launch March 27 to kick off a record one-year stay aboard the International Space Station, an orbital marathon both men say is crucial for planning future flights beyond Earth orbit and, eventually, to Mars.

While four cosmonauts logged flights longer than one year between 1987 and 1999, the upcoming flight will be a first for the international lab complex and the first to focus on the long-term biological effects of the space environment using state-of-the-art medical and scientific research equipment and procedures.

"If we're ever going to go beyond low-Earth orbit for longer periods of time, spaceflight presents a lot of challenges to the human body with regard to bone loss, muscle loss, vision issues that we've recently realized people are having, the effect on your immune system, the effect of radiation on our bodies," Kelly said Thursday during a news conference in Paris. "Understanding those effects are very important.

"If a mission to Mars is going to take a three-year round trip, we need to know better how our body and our physiology performs over durations longer than what we've previously on the space station investigated, which is six months. Perhaps there's a cliff out there with regards to some of these issues that we experience and perhaps there aren't. But we won't know unless we investigate it."

A veteran of three previous space flights, including a shuttle mission to the Hubble Space Telescope and a 159-day stay aboard the station in 2010-11, Kelly is the twin brother of Mark Kelly, a retired astronaut who flew four shuttle missions and who is married to former congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords.

Kornienko also is a station veteran, logging 176 days aboard the outpost in 2010.

Astronaut Scott Kelly, left, and cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko strike a pose during training for launch next year on a record year-long mission aboard the International Space Station.

NASA

"The last long-time space mission was on the Mir (space) station and it brought major data for investigations and research about how humans will feel during long-term flights into space," he said. "I hope that our mission will be an opportunity for others who will follow in our footsteps and take space exploration further."

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Space station team eager to begin record year-long flight