Category Archives: Space Station

May 6, 2014

Image Caption: Ham video in action. Credit: ESA

[ Watch the Video: Ham Video Premieres On Space Station ]

redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports Your Universe Online

While amateur radio enthusiasts have been able to communicate with astronauts on the International Space Station since its inauguration in 2000, a new digital amateur television (DATV) transmitter installed in the Columbus laboratory will add a visual element to those conversations, the European Space Agency announced on Monday.

For the past 14 years, people on Earth have been able to communicate with the ISS crew using standard radio equipment, the ESA said. The DATV system was developed by Kayser Italia and arrived at the station last August on board Japans space freighter. It was then connected to an existing S-band antenna in the Columbus laboratory.

The video signal works like standard TV broadcasts in that the crew members will not be able to see their audience, but they will be able to hear their questions and comments over the regular amateur radio system. The sessions have to be brief, as the connection requires a direct line of sight. Since the ISS travels at speeds of more than 17,000 mph, it quickly passes through the field of view of Earth-based amateur stations, the agency said.

The crew finished commissioning the set-up for the device on April 12, and NASA astronaut Mike Hopkins was the first member to broadcast over what has been dubbed Ham TV. He took part in a video chat with ground stations in Livorno, Casale Monferrato and Matera, Italy.

The ESA explained that they have contributed five ground antennas and equipment to the Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) organization, which can be easily transported and repositioned as needed in order to receive video from the ISS when it flies overhead. When linked together, the agency said that the station is capable of providing up to 20 minutes of contact at any given time.

According to ARISS, the Ham Video transmitted operates with a Canon XF-305 camera. It has download frequencies of 2.422 GHz and 2.437 GHz, contingency frequencies of 2.369 GHz and 2.395 GHz, and a DVB-S like signal. Other characteristics include a DVB-S like signal (without PMT tables), symbol rates of 1.3 Ms/s, 2.0 Ms/s, FEC of 1/2, video PID of 256, audio PID 257 and RF radiated power (approximately 10 W EIRP).

Link:
Ham Video Makes Its Debut On The International Space Station

Red Dwarf Star

Artist's depiction of the powerful flare that erupted from the red dwarf star EV Lacertae in 2008.

Unlike Earth, Venus lacks a magnetic field to deflect powerful solar outbursts -- as can be seen in this NASA-created image, a still from the video "Dynamic Earth: Exploring Earth's Climate Engine."

This vertigo-inducing, false-color image from NASA's Cassini mission highlights the storms at Saturn's north pole. The angry eye of a hurricane-like storm appears dark red while the fast-moving hexagonal jet stream framing it is a yellowish green. Low-lying clouds circling inside the hexagonal feature appear as muted orange color. A second, smaller vortex pops out in teal at the lower right of the image. The rings of Saturn appear in vivid blue at the top right.

This Hubble photo is of a small portion of a large star-birthing region in the Carina Nebula. Towers of cool hydrogen laced with dust rise from the wall of the nebula.

This computer simulation shows gas from a tidally shredded star falling into a black hole. Some of the gas also is being ejected at high speed into space.

This image of Asia and Australia at night is a composite assembled from data acquired by the Suomi NPP satellite in April and October 2012.

In this composite image, visible-light observations by NASAs Hubble Space Telescope are combined with infrared data from the ground-based Large Binocular Telescope in Arizona to assemble a dramatic view of the well-known Ring Nebula.

A delicate ribbon of gas floats eerily in our galaxy. A contrail from an alien spaceship? A jet from a black-hole? Actually this image, taken by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, is a thin section of a supernova remnant caused by a stellar explosion that occurred more than 1,000 years ago.

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope caught Jupiter's moon Ganymede playing a game of "peek-a-boo." In this crisp image, Ganymede is shown just before it ducks behind the giant planet.

Read more here:
Live ISS HD Stream: Nasa Launches Incredible View Of Earth Below The Space Station

The International Space Station's Dextre robot plucked a high-tech laser communications terminal from the trunk of a Dragon commercial cargo craft Monday, completing two weeks of unpacking the SpaceX supply ship's 4,600 pounds of experiments and provisions.

The Dextre robot is pictured near the Dragon spacecraft. Photo credit: NASA The cargo freighter's supply load included materials stowed inside its pressurized cabin and mounted in a rear trunk, an external logistics platform designed to carry large experimental packages and spare parts for operations outside the space station.

The Dragon spacecraft arrived at the space station April 20, two days after launching on top of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla. The unmanned cargo ship is the third operational vehicle SpaceX has sent to the space station under a $1.6 billion contract with NASA.

The space station's astronauts were charged with removing the gear packed inside the Dragon's internal cargo hold. The job of unloading the capsule's trunk fell to the outpost's Canadian-built robotics system.

The crew last week finished transferring cargo from the Dragon spacecraft's pressurized section, totaling 1,576 pounds of science and research equipment supporting more than 150 experiments, 1,049 pounds of crew supplies, 449 pounds of vehicle hardware, and 271 pounds of spacewalk tools, including a fresh spacesuit.

Among the items were legs for the space station's Robonaut 2 humanoid robot, a research investigation aimed at demonstrating vegetable growth in a habitat aboard the complex, and an experiment funded by the National Institutes of Health seeking to identify the cause of a suppressed immune system during long-duration space missions. Scientists say the research could help treat auto-immune diseases like arthritis and diabetes.

The Dragon's cargo delivery also replenished dwindling food stockpiles on the space station.

For the first time, SpaceX hauled technological experiments inside the Dragon spacecraft's external trunk: the High-Definition Earth Viewing payload and the Optical Payload for Lasercomm Science, or HDEV and OPALS.

The space station's Dextre robot -- a 12-foot-tall, two-armed device with a toolkit for myriad repair and maintenance tasks -- moved the HDEV camera suite to a mounting plate on the European Columbus lab module May 1.

The camera system was activated and started transmitting high-quality views outside the space station May 2. You can watch live video from the HDEV camera system here.

Continued here:
SpaceX supply ship unloaded by robots and astronauts

The International Space Station project from the Little Bits Space Kit.

Image: Little Bits

An amazing journey celebrating space exploration, innovation and discovery.

A new kit lets kids and adults alike perform experiments and build models of real spacecraft, just like the scientists at NASA.

The NASA-approved littleBits Space Kit teaches users how to build a model of a Mars rover, the International Space Station and a variety of scaled-down experiments that scientists use to explore the solar system. The kit comes complete with 12 modules that users can snap together to complete five lesson plans created by the space agency. LittleBits also provides 10 projects modeled after real experiments that NASA scientists and engineers perform every day. You can also watch a video announcing the new space kit.

"The space kit is a collaboration with NASA, in order to make the field of space more accessible, more exciting and more participatory, so that people can understand more about NASA science and experiments," Ayah Bdeir, littleBits founder and CEO, said.

LittleBits' Mars rover which looks somewhat like NASA's Opportunity rover, which is currently on the Red Planet takes about two hours to build and involves some extra materials. Users can control the rover remotely, and it can take readings of light sources around a room, and display them as well.

People who buy the kit can also learn more about waves using a spoon, milk and a few snapped-together modules. By taping a spoon filled with a little milk to the littleBits speaker, users can see waves in the milk that correspond to the song being played.

In another project, users study a different kind of wave: light waves. Budding scientists can explore the light spectrum using a CD, white paper, a bright LED and a couple of other pieces that come in the space kit.

"NASA is thrilled to partner with littleBits and bring the power and technology of space to everyone," Blanche Meeson, chief of higher education for NASA's Science and Exploration Directorate at Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland, said in a statement. "Through littleBits, anyone will have the opportunity to create, learn and explore like NASA scientists and engineers, but from their home or classroom."

More here:
Build a Space Station at Home with NASA-Approved Kit

4 hours ago Ham TV equipment. Credit: Kayser Italia

Astronauts on the International Space Station can now talk with people on Earth with video using simple transmitters. 'Ham TV' has been set up in ESA's Columbus laboratory and already used for talking with ground control.

Amateur radio enthusiasts have been able to poll astronauts circling our planet using standard radio equipment since the Station was inaugurated in 2000. Radio signals easily reach the orbital outpost flying 350 km above us on sets readily available to radio enthusiasts.

The new Ham TV adds a visual dimension, allowing an audience on the ground to see and hear the astronauts.

The hardware, developed by Kayser Italia, was sent to the Station on Japan's space freighter in August last year and connected to an existing S-band antenna on Columbus.

NASA astronaut Mike Hopkins had the honour of being the first to commission the unit and broadcast over Ham TV. He had a video chat with three ground stations in Italy: Livorno, Casale Monferrato and Matera. The crew finished commissioning the set-up on 12 April for general use.

Just like standard television, the video signal is one way. The astronauts cannot see their audience but they will still be able to hear them over the traditional amateur radio on the Station.

Contacts are brief the connection requires direct line of sight and the Station's 28 800 km/h means it quickly passes through the field of view of amateur stations.

This video is not supported by your browser at this time.

ESA has provided five ground antennas and equipment to the Amateur Radio on the International Space Station organisation to receive video from the Station. These stations can be transported easily and positioned to follow the laboratory as it flies overhead. Linked together in this way, the stations can supply up to 20 minutes of contact at a time.

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Ham video premiers on space station

SpaceX Dragon CRS-3 Rendezvous, Grapple Berthing (time lapse)
Time lapse of the NASA TV feed of the rendezvous, capture, and berthing of the SpaceX Dragon CRS-3 spacecraft to the Node 2 module ("Harmony") by the Space Station Remote Manipulator System...

By: Trent Faust

Originally posted here:
SpaceX Dragon CRS-3 Rendezvous, Grapple & Berthing (time lapse) - Video

Space Station Live: Robotic Cargo Transfers from Dragon
Public Affairs Officer Kyle Herring talks to Robotics Officer Troy McCracken about the external cargo being unloaded from the SpaceX Dragon #39;s trunk. The Cana...

By: Waspie_Dwarf

Link:
Space Station Live: Robotic Cargo Transfers from Dragon - Video

lets play space station 13 LLA main liberty station we did it
Winning!

By: TheWarplay

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lets play space station 13 LLA main liberty station we did it - Video

Space Station Live: Commercial Crew Manager Talks Spaceflight Future
Public Affairs Officer Kyle Herring talks to Kathy Lueders, Commercial Crew Program Manager, about the private companies designing future spacecraft to take humans to and from low Earth orbit...

By: ReelNASA

Read more here:
Space Station Live: Commercial Crew Manager Talks Spaceflight Future - Video

Study: Micro-Organisms From Earth Could Colonize On Mars
New research done on the International Space Station has found it might be possible to have bacteria from Earth colonize on Mars. Follow Matt Moreno http://www.twitter.com/TheMattMoreno See...

By: NewsyScience

Read more from the original source:
Study: Micro-Organisms From Earth Could Colonize On Mars - Video