Category Archives: Space Station

The angel of death awaits.. - Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham Playthrough [Part 5]
Chapter: Space Station Infestation Yay we saved the day! What #39;s this? A new threat?! The third installment in the Lego Batman series once again finds Batman joining forces with other DC Superhero...

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The angel of death awaits.. - Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham Playthrough [Part 5] - Video

KazKazniKa - Space Station
verisimilitude.

By: kazkaznika ivan

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KazKazniKa - Space Station - Video

NASAs Parallel Path to Human Space Exploration
America #39;s human space exploration goals for the 21st Century include destinations both in low-Earth orbit to the International Space Station and deep space missions to an asteroid and even...

By: NASAKennedy

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NASAs Parallel Path to Human Space Exploration - Video

Image Caption: The interactions between clouds and aerosols are illustrated in this image, taken by retired astronaut Chris Hadfield onboard the International Space Station. It shows contrails produced by aircraft (bright streaks) over the ocean. Credit: NASA/Chris Hadfield

Provided by Heather Hanson and Kate Ramsayer, NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center

Turn on any local TV weather forecast and you can get a map of where skies are blue or cloudy. But for scientists trying to figure out how clouds affect the Earths environment, whats happening inside that shifting cloud cover is critical and hard to see.

To investigate the layers and composition of clouds and tiny airborne particles like dust, smoke and other atmospheric aerosols, , scientists at NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland have developed an instrument called the Cloud-Aerosol Transport System, or CATS. The instrument, which launches to the International Space Station in December 2014, will explore new technologies that could also be used in future satellite missions.

From space, streaks of white clouds can be seen moving across Earths surface. Other tiny solid and liquid particles called aerosols are also being transported around the atmosphere, but these are largely invisible to our eyes. Aerosols are both natural and man-made, and include windblown desert dust, sea salt, smoke from fires, sulfurous particles from volcanic eruptions, and particles from fossil fuel combustion.

Currently, scientists get a broad picture of clouds and air quality conditions in the atmosphere and generate air quality forecasts by combining satellite, aircraft, and ground-based data with sophisticated computer models. However, most datasets do not provide information about the layered structure of clouds and aerosols.

CATS will provide data about aerosols at different levels of the atmosphere. The data are expected to improve scientists ability to track different cloud and aerosol types throughout the atmosphere. These datasets will be used to improve strategic and hazard-warning capabilities of events in near real-time, such as tracking plumes from dust storms, volcanic eruptions, and wildfires. The information could also feed into climate models to help understand the effects of clouds and aerosols on Earths energy balance.

Clouds and aerosols reflect and absorb energy from the sun in a complex way. For example, when the suns energy reaches the top of the atmosphere, clouds can reflect incoming sunlight, cooling Earths surface. However, clouds can also absorb heat emitted from Earth and re-radiate it back down, warming the surface. The amount of warming or cooling is heavily dependent on the height, thickness, and structure of clouds in the atmosphere above.

Clouds are one of the largest uncertainties in predicting climate change, said Matt McGill, principal investigator and payload developer for CATS at Goddard. For scientists to create more accurate models of Earths current and future climate, theyll have to include more accurate representations of clouds.

Thats where a new instrument like CATS comes in. CATS is a lidar similar to a radar, but instead of sending out sound, lidars use light. CATS will send a laser pulse through the atmosphere towards a distant object like a cloud droplet or aerosol particle. Once the energy reaches the object, some of the energy is reflected back to the lidar receiver. Scientists can calculate the distance between the instrument and the object, based on the time it takes the energy to return to the receiver, thereby determining the altitudes of cloud and aerosol layers. The intensity of this return pulse also allows scientists to infer other properties, such as the composition of clouds, and the abundance and sizes of aerosols.

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NASA's CATS Eyes Clouds, Smoke And Dust From The Space Station

China continues to ramp up its space activities, which include a new launch complex, more powerful boosters and the construction of a large space station, as well as plans for complex robotic missions to the moon and Mars.

For example, China's "little fly" spacecraft looped around the moon and returned to Earth Nov. 1 (Beijing time) after eight days of flight, parachuting safely down in northern China's Inner Mongolia.

The capsule used seven kinds of thermal protection materials, returning data that will be applied to China's Chang'e 5 robotic lunar sample return mission, which is slated to launch in 2017 from the new Wenchang Satellite Launch Center. [Greatest Moon Missions of All Time]

In the human spaceflight arena, China's manned space agency is readying the Tiangong 2 space lab for liftoff around 2016, which will be followed by the crewed Shenzhou 11 spacecraft and a Tianzhou cargo vessel that will rendezvous with the lab.

Chinese officials expect that the core space station module will be launched around 2018, and the orbiting facility is slated to be completed by about 2022.

All of these plans form a comphrehensive space exploration agenda for the coming years.

Incremental steps

The Lunar Exploration Analysis Group (LEAG), an assembly of experts convened by NASA to assist in planning the scientific exploration of the moon, is eyeing China's growing lunar exploration capacity.

"China has had a well developed, focused plan, and they are using incremental steps to lunar exploration," said Jeffrey Plescia, chairman of LEAG. "Each mission has achieved the primary goal orbiters, landing, rovers leading up to sample return and then on to humans."

The objective of the recent test of the lunar sample return capsule was to demonstrate gear that can return from the moon and land safely.

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China Has Big Plans to Explore the Moon and Mars

Captain Kirk, Iron Man, Sesame Street's Slimey the Worm, and a Tyrannosaurus Rex are set to lift off to space later this week on the first test flight of Orion, NASA's next-generation spacecraft.

This eclectic 'crew' flying aboard NASA's unmanned Orion Exploration Flight Test-1 (EFT-1) areamong the souvenirs and mementos packedfor the four-hour, two-orbit mission. The Orion capsule with its cargo of sensors, instruments, and memorabilia is scheduled to launch Thursday (Dec. 4) at 7:05 a.m. EST (1205 GMT) on board a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Delta 4 Heavy rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

The mementos, which include a Star Trek action figure, a Marvel challenge coin, a Muppet, a dinosaur fossil, and an Apollo lunar spacesuit part, were collected for the flight by Lockheed Martin, NASA's prime contractor for Orion and the company responsible for the EFT-1 mission. [NASA's Orion Spacecraft Test Flight: Full Coverage]

The toys and artifacts packed aboard the Orion continue a long tradition dating back to the early days of U.S. human spaceflight, when astronauts carried small trinkets for their families, friends, and organizations that helped make their mission possible.

The Orion isNASA's first crewed space capsulesince the Apollo command module. It is designed to take astronauts farther into the solar system than ever before. The EFT-1 mission will test systems that are critical to future human missions to an asteroid and ultimately to Mars.

During the flight, the Orion will fly 15 times farther out than the International Space Station before plummeting back to Earth to test its heat shield at speeds nearing what it would experience if it was returning from the moon. After re-entry, the Orion will deploy parachutes and then splash down in the Pacific Ocean, where it will be recovered by the Navy. [How NASA's 1st Orion Test Flight Works in Pictures]

To raise public awareness about EFT-1, Lockheed worked with the Entertainment Industries Council (EIC) to recruit items from science fiction-related celebrities to fly onboard Orion.

"A noted space enthusiast, William Shatner is thrilled to send Kirk back to space and support Orion, while inspiring future generations about space travel," EIC vice president Skylar Jackson told collectSPACE.

Shatner provided his "Captain Kirk in Environmental Suit" collector's edition action figure to symbolize his iconic role on "Star Trek."

Director Jon Favreau offered an "Iron Man" challenge coin to represent engineering, technology and flight.

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NASA to launch Muppet paraphernalia into space

Sheffield Doc/Fest 2014: Live from Space Autopsy
Channel 4 and Arrow Media promised to do Space in a way that no other broadcaster has attempted before. Rather than looking out at the cosmos they wanted to show a warts and all version of...

By: Sheffield Doc/Fest

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Sheffield Doc/Fest 2014: Live from Space Autopsy - Video

Aurora Australis Over Indian Ocean ISS
Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit, NASA-Johnson Space Center. "The Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth." http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov/Videos/CrewEarthObservationsVideos This video was...

By: AIRBOYD

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Aurora Australis Over Indian Ocean ISS - Video

Nova Praxis RPG: Burning Bridges Part 1 (Actual Play)
When the Dicestormers are contracted to infiltrate into a secret space station, they uncover a terrible experiment which could wipe out all of humanity. Nova Praxis is a FATE system roleplaying...

By: TheDiceStormers

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Nova Praxis RPG: Burning Bridges Part 1 (Actual Play) - Video

3D PRINTING IN SPACE
NASA hopes a 3D printer that #39;s been installed on the International Space Station will help astronauts during future expeditions.

By: TOUCHVISION

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3D PRINTING IN SPACE - Video