Category Archives: Space Station

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. After a spacewalking astronaut nearly drowned in his helmet in July, NASA has a plan to protect its crew when they venture into the vacuum of space this weekend: snorkels and absorbent towels.

NASA has determined that as many as four urgent spacewalks are necessary to fix a broken cooling line that led to the shutdown of several systems at the International Space Station, the space agency said during a press conference Wednesday afternoon. Station managers decided to send two American astronauts out as soon as possible to replace a pump with a bad valve.

The catch: Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano nearly drowned in July, when more than a gallon of water leaked into his helmet, filling it like a fishbowl. Should water start pooling up again, NASA says it will be ready -- thanks to a hack worthy of TV's "MacGyver."

- Allison Bolinger, NASA's lead U.S. spacewalk officer

Some smart engineers on the ground said, hey, this looks like a snorkel youd use for scuba diving, explained Allison Bolinger, NASA's lead U.S. spacewalk officer. NASA realized that a water-line vent tube could be snipped down and attached with Velcro within the spacesuit, between a water restraint valve and the astronaut, she explained.

The crew members themselves fabricated the snorkels on Sunday.

This is your last resort if water is in your suit you can lean down and use this to breathe, Bolinger said.

The space agency also installed absorptive pads in the back of each helmet, which will soak up any water that shows up like a sponge. The spacewalkers have been trained to tilt their heads back periodically to test the pad, she said; if it sucks up around 6 and a half ounces of water, it will feel squishy -- a sure sign of trouble.

Thats a sign there is a problem in the EMU and its time to come inside, Bolinger said.

The absorptive pads were designed on the ground and shipped up to the space station in a recent cargo craft. But while waiting for their arrival, NASAs engineers looked at other ways to MacGyver towels from material on board the space station: space diapers.

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Snorkels in Space

A faulty pump means the space station might have to scrap a scheduled resupply to perform an emergency spacewalk. NASA hopes a temporary fix will allow the resupply to go ahead.

NASA engineers appear to have found a way to restore a balky coolant pump on the International Space Station that may allow a station resupply mission to launch this week, as planned.

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The alternative is to delay the launch to allow two ISS crew members to conduct two or three emergency spacewalks starting this weekend to replace the faulty pump.

Spare pumps are stored on the space station's truss scaffolding the length of a football field. The truss supports the station's solar panels, radiators for station cooling, and other utilities, including two external cooling loops that transfer heat to the radiators.

The cooling-system malfunction on the space station occurred Dec. 11. Controllers noticed unusually low temperatures in ammonia circulating through one of the cooling loops. Left unchecked, the chilled coolant could have frozen water flowing through a heat exchanger inside the station.

That could have damaged the exchanger and leaked ammonia into the station, said Judd Frieling, the lead flight director for Expedition 38, the space station's current increment, during a televised update Tuesday.

Controllers were able to reroute cooling to the second external loop, but the transfer meant the crew had to shut down nonessential equipment in order to reduce the heating load on the second loop.

Engineers traced the problem to a malfunctioning valve designed to adjust the flow of coolant. The coolant's temperature should remain within an optimum range for cooling the station's interior and some of its exterior hardware.

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Space station may need emergency spacewalk if software patch fails

Soyuz 37 to International Space Station. NASA Expedition 38/39. [IGEO.TV]
A Russian government Soyuz rocket launched the manned Soyuz spacecraft to the International Space Station with members of the next Expedition crew. The capsu...

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Olympic torch travels out of International Space Station
For the first time ever, an Olympic torch leg included a walk in space.

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Olympic torch travels out of International Space Station - Video

Space station crew returns to Earth with Olympic torch
Three astronauts returned to Earth on Monday after a 166-day mission, bringing the Olympic torch back from the International Space Station after a historic s...

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Space station crew returns to Earth with Olympic torch - Video

Two UFOs Seen At Space Station During Olympic Torch Ceremony On Live Cam, Nov 2013
The first UFO in this video is at 35 seconds into the video and moves upward so fast you will probably miss it unless you pause the video off and on till you...

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Two UFOs Seen At Space Station During Olympic Torch Ceremony On Live Cam, Nov 2013 - Video

BBC News Typhoon Haiyan View from International Space Station cameras
Cameras aboard the International Space Station have captured images of Typhoon Haiyan as it hit the Philippines on 9 November. The Philippine President Benig...

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BBC News Typhoon Haiyan View from International Space Station cameras - Video

The International Space Station has its own isolated network of computers that run everything from critical life support systems to scientific experiments. Just because its isolated from the veritable electronic ecosystem that is the terrestrial Internet, however, it doesnt mean its safe from being attacked by malware or succumbing to a viral epidemic.

This was the shocking revelation revealed by anti-virus guru Eugene Kaspersky at the Press Club in Canberra, Australia, earlier this month. During his presentation, the outspoken Russian businessman discussed the cyber threats to global security and economy.

PHOTOS: Hackers Playbook: Common Tactics

The Kaspersky Lab founder discussed cyber crime, espionage and infrastructure attacks as the key elements of modern online security risks in descending frequency but ascending risk. He identified attacks on critical infrastructure as of most serious concern, despite there being only 2 or 3 a year. He used the attack on the financial system in Seoul, South Korea, as one recent example, but other examples included attacks on Middle East oil companies and rumors of an attack on a Brazilian nuclear reactor.

Focusing on the Stuxnet virus a malicious piece of code that was allegedly created by U.S. and Israeli programmers to attack Iranian nuclear reactors Kaspersky outlined a few examples as to how the virus has spread beyond its intended target, inadvertently infecting an unnamed Russian nuclear reactor.

Stuxnet is designed to be spread indiscriminately via Microsoft Windows networks and can be manually uploaded to isolated critical systems by infected USB drives, for example. The worm then gets to work targeting specific Siemens industrial control systems that monitor industrial processes. By design, Stuxnet is focused on Irans suspected uranium enrichment infrastructure, but according to Kaspersky, Stuxnet has spread into the wilds of the Internet and started to attack nuclear reactor systems in other nations, including Russia.

NEWS: Virus Attacks Japanese Space Agency Computer

However, he did not say that Stuxnet had infected the International Space Station, as some news outlets incorrectly assumed.

Using the International Space Station as an example of an isolated critical infrastructure, Kaspersky pointed out that despite being in space, it is still vulnerable to attack. In fact, on a number of occasions over the years the orbiting outposts computers have become infected by malware.

Scientists, from time to time, are coming to space with USBs which are infected. Im not kidding, he said. I was talking to Russian space guys and they said yes, from time to time there are virus epidemics in the space station.

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No Stuxnet Infection, but Space Station is Vulnerable

Olympic Torch And Astronauts Arrive At The International Space Station
Olympic Torch And Astronauts Arrive At The International Space Station Three new astronauts arrived at the International Space Station, carrying the torch th...

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Soyuz 37 Arrives International Space Station. NASA Expedition [IGEO.TV]
Colabora con nosotros: http://igeo.tv/contribuye-al-proyecto/ A Russian government Soyuz rocket launched the manned Soyuz spacecraft to the International Spa...

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Soyuz 37 Arrives International Space Station. NASA Expedition [IGEO.TV] - Video