Category Archives: Space Station

Last Tuesday, a team of engineers sat huddled around their computer screens, monitoring a spacecraft as it maneuvered around a rocky asteroid more than 140 million miles from Earth. They were conducting an important interplanetary dress rehearsal, running the spacecraft through many of the operations it will do in August when it attempts to snag a tiny sample of rocks from the asteroids surface. This dress rehearsal has been in the works for years, and the team had expected to be gathered together for it in a mission center in Colorado.

Instead, most of them kept tabs on the event from home. It was a skeleton crew that was supporting the event in person, compared to what was originally planned, Mike Moreau, deputy project manager for the mission at NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center, tells The Verge. More than three-quarters of the team was doing it from home and monitoring remotely.

Moreau is part of NASAs OSIRIS-REx mission, tasked with grabbing a sample of the asteroid Bennu and bringing it back to Earth for study. The OSIRIS-REx spacecraft launched in 2016, and the team had planned for this particular dress rehearsal for more than a decade. They hadnt counted on a pandemic occurring during one of the most highly anticipated checkpoints of their mission but the show had to go on.

We were all going to be there together in the mission operations area, and we actually had rehearsed that even before this checkpoint rehearsal; we had done a simulation, Dante Lauretta, the principal investigator on NASAs OSIRIS-REx mission at the University of Arizona, tells The Verge. None of that happened. We were all in remote work conditions.

Just like millions of workers all over the world, the engineers who operate spacecraft are grappling with how to do their jobs while working from home. All of NASAs centers have instituted mandatory telework policies, with some exceptions for essential personnel. That includes many people who are tasked with calculating commands for interplanetary space probes and navigating rovers through harsh terrains on other worlds.

For some, the transition was awkward at first since operating a spacecraft often relies on ample amounts of in-person communication. Thats been the case for Carrie Bridge, who works as a liaison between scientists and the engineers who operate NASAs Curiosity rover on Mars. Every day, she talks with scientists all over the country about the kind of science theyd like the rover to accomplish, and then she relays those desires to the engineers who actually navigate the robot. Normally, she just walks over to the engineering team at NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, to coordinate the rovers movements for the day.

My morning consisted of being on the phone with the scientists and then going in and sitting beside the rover planners at the computer, Bridge tells The Verge. And we look at the terrain and look at the targets. I then go and report back to the scientists and say, Okay I think we can drive over here.

Now, that entire routine has been moved online. She says she has about 15 to 20 chat rooms open for all of the engineers and rover planners not to mention telecons with scientists across the country. The level of intensity has gone up because youre kind of always watching things, Bridge says. Im also not exercising anymore, she jokes. I used to walk around, and now Im staring at a computer station for hours on end without moving.

One of the lead rover planners that Bridge communicates with is Matt Gildner, who is also coordinating all the commands for Curiosity from his one-bedroom apartment in Los Angeles. He and his team started testing how to work remotely back in mid-March when the writing was on the wall about the COVID-19 pandemic, he says. He started coordinating everything theyd need to have at home, including audio headsets, monitors, cables, and even 3D glasses. Curiosity sends back 3D images of the Martian terrain, which the rover planners and engineers observe as 3D meshes, allowing them to simulate how the rover will interact with the environment when it moves.

Im at home now, and I have all my headsets on as I talk to multiple audio channels, put on my red-blue glasses and evaluate parts of a drive that were planning for a few minutes as part of our planning day, Gildner tells The Verge. I have a nice desk set up and Ive got all my houseplants around me, dual monitors, and a good keyboard and mouse headset stand. And this is working out just fine.

Someone does need to physically be at mission control at JPL in order to send Curiosity the commands that Gildner and his team develop. That person sends commands out to the Deep Space Network, an array of large radio antennas here on Earth, which then beam commands to interplanetary space probes like the rover.

Other spacecraft operators have figured out a way to send commands to their spacecraft without actually having anyone in a mission control center. The Space Dynamics Laboratory in Utah is responsible for operating two small NASA satellites HARP and CIRiS which are both observing Earth. The team there typically goes into a mission control center to send commands to the spacecraft via a ground station in Virginia. But in a weird twist of fate, operators at the lab came up with a way to actually send the commands from their laptops at home just before everyone went into lockdown.

We were preparing and testing out our working from home techniques right before the pandemic hit, Ryan Martineau, an SDL engineer and spacecraft operator, tells The Verge. We frequently have to operate our spacecraft in the middle of the night, and so we didnt have to have the same two people driving into work every day, we were getting ready to test a secure solution.

Martineau and his colleagues essentially took the software they use at their mission control centers that allows them to connect with the Virginia ground station, and they put it in their local computers. We run a [virtual] Linux machine inside of our Windows laptop that has all the software we need to run the spacecraft, he says. Thanks to this arrangement, Martineau can control the spacecraft around Earth from his home for the foreseeable future. And that means juggling other responsibilities while maintaining the satellites.

I have a three year old and a three month old, Martineau says. There have been a couple of cases where I had to hurry up with a diaper change real quick before I needed to send some commands to the spacecraft.

The presence of children and pets has been a mainstay for many at NASAs workforce at home. One of our dogs [a Great Dane] has this habit of squeaking his toys when he wants attention, Amber Straughn, the associate director for the astrophysics science division at Goddard, writes in an email to The Verge. Hes definitely done that a couple times when Ive been in telecons.

New work companions have also been present for the OSIRIS-REx team as they prepared for their big dress rehearsal last week. Many of the team managers have had to juggle family responsibilities, such as remote learning, as they prepared for the event. For some of the managers it has been really stressful because we obviously wanted to see this go forward, Moreau says. But we were also very concerned about how our people were holding up.

Ultimately, everyone made it to the day of the rehearsal. But with most of the team away from Lockheed Martins mission control center in Colorado, some adjustments needed to be made. Theres no substitute for being in the same building; being on the same floor; being able to walk over to somebodys office and say, Hey, now I was just thinking about this. How does it look on your side? Lauretta says. We couldnt really do any of that.

Lauretta says the team made do with calls, which mostly worked, though there were a few technical difficulties. For some reason my phone kept going on mute, he says. Id be dialed in, and I would be talking and nobody would be hearing me. While that was frustrating, he said everyone was in good spirits. Actually everybody was just happy to be talking to each other on the group chat.

Despite the added challenges, the rehearsal went off without a hitch. During the practice session, OSIRIS-REx got closer to Bennu than its ever been before. It was a key maneuver that paves the way for OSIRIS-REx to get right next to Bennus surface in August and scoop up 60 grams of rocks from a crater called Nightingale. The engineers are thrilled with the result, though there was definitely some sadness over the unexpected circumstances.

I would say it was bittersweet in the sense that it was a great day; everything went according to plan. But we didnt get to celebrate it as a team, says Lauretta, who notes that theyve been waiting for this big test for over a decade. Were hopeful that by August, well all be able to gather together and actually celebrate the actual sample collection event.

For now, its unclear exactly when extreme social distancing will be over, allowing everyone not just spacecraft operators to return to their normal daily routines. But until that time arrives, the people in charge of operating spacecraft are making the most of their new mission control centers at home. For Gildner, its even been a nice distraction from the daily cycle of news surrounding the virus.

Work is a nice escape from everything thats going on, especially when youre working on a spaceflight project, Gildner says You feel like youre doing something that is very worthwhile that humanity appreciates, and right now thats important more than ever, I think.

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How engineers are operating space missions from their homes - The Verge

WASHINGTON A Soyuz rocket successfully launched a new crew to the International Space Station April 9 on a mission that overcame complications from a global pandemic and a change in crew members.

A Soyuz-2.1a rocket lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 4:05 a.m. Eastern and placed the Soyuz MS-16 spacecraft into orbit nine minutes later. The spacecraft, making a four-orbit approach to the ISS, is scheduled to dock with the ISS at approximately 10:15 a.m. Eastern.

On board the Soyuz spacecraft are Russian cosmonauts Anatoly Ivanishin and Ivan Vagner and American astronaut Chris Cassidy. They will remain on the station for six months as the Expedition 63 crew.

This Soyuz mission faced some unusual challenges. In February, Roscosmos announced it was replacing the two Russian cosmonauts who had been assigned to the mission, Nikolai Tikhonov and Andrei Babkin, with their backups, Ivanishin and Vagner. Both Russian and American officials would only say that a medical issue led to their replacement, although Russian media reported that Tikhonov suffered an injury in training.

NASA and Roscosmos downplayed the effect of the crew swap on the mission. In an interview in early March, Kirk Shireman, ISS program manager at NASA, said that Cassidy had been training with Ivanishin and Vagner for a time before the crew swap, and that the Russian cosmonauts had robotics and spacewalk training should a spacewalk be required during the mission.

Of course, it was a surprise, Ivanishin, speaking through an interpreter, said in a prelaunch interview broadcast on NASA TV. But, he added, any backup crew is ready to become prime.

A second issue is the ongoing coronavirus pandemic that has led to travel restrictions and stay-at-home orders in countries around the world. While Soyuz crews normally go into a quarantine a couple weeks before launch, there were additional restrictions before this launch, including reduced staffing at the launch site and a prohibition on guests.

I knew I was going to be in quarantine these two weeks, but whats really different is everybody else around us is in quarantine, too, Cassidy said in a prelaunch interview on NASA TV. Itll be a really, really skeletal crew in the Baikonur Cosmodrome, which will be quite different.

No virus is stronger than the human desire to explore, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine tweeted after the Soyuz spacecraft reached orbit. Im grateful to the entire NASA and Roscosmos teams for their dedication to making this launch a success.

Cassidy, Ivanishin and Vagner will join the current ISS crew of NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Andrew Morgan and Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Skripochka. Those three will return to Earth on the Soyuz MS-15 spacecraft April 17.

Two NASA astronauts are scheduled to fly to the station later this spring on the SpaceX Crew Dragon Demo-2 test flight. Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley could remain on the station until as late as August in order to provide additional crew time for maintenance and science work.

Cassidy is, for now, the last NASA astronaut planned to fly on a Soyuz spacecraft. NASA officials have previously discussed buying one or more additional Soyuz seats as a hedge against further commercial crew delays, but have yet to announce a deal.

NASA has also proposed swapping seats between Soyuz and commercial crew vehicles on a no-cost basis, with Russian cosmonauts flying on Crew Dragon and Boeings CST-100 Starliner in exchange for astronauts flying on Soyuz missions. Such mixed crew missions would ensure there is at least one American and one Russian crew member on the station even if either the Soyuz or commercial crew vehicles are unavailable.

Roscosmos officials, though, told their NASA counterparts at a joint meeting in December that they would not assign cosmonauts to commercial crew missions until those vehicles are flight proven. The four-person crew for the first operational Crew Dragon mission, announced by NASA March 31, features three NASA astronauts and one from the Japanese space agency JAXA.

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Soyuz launches new crew to the International Space Station - SpaceNews

Boeing plans to launch a second unpiloted test flight of its CST-100 Starliner crew ferry ship after software glitches last December prevented a rendezvous and docking with the International Space Station and briefly threatened the spacecraft's survival, company officials said Monday.

A review of the December flight pinpointed the causes of the problems and the steps required to correct them. No new issues were uncovered, but NASA managers said at the that time no decision had been made on whether a reflight might be required.

The Monday announcement said Boeing had "chosen to refly our Orbital Flight Test to demonstrate the quality of the Starliner system."

"Flying another uncrewed flight will allow us to complete all flight test objectives and evaluate the performance of the second Starliner vehicle at no cost to the taxpayer," the company statement said. "We will then proceed to the tremendous responsibility and privilege of flying astronauts to the International Space Station."

A Boeing spokewoman said the capsule originally intended for the first piloted Starliner test flight will be used for the unpiloted reflight. She said Boeing is "working with NASA to determine an agreeable schedule for the second OFT."

While details still need to be worked out, she said in an email, "we anticipate flying the mission in the Fall of 2020." That would appear to rule out a piloted Starliner flight in 2020, but no decisions have been announced on subsequent launch targets.

Boeing and SpaceX are both building piloted astronaut ferry ships for NASA under commercial contracts valued at up to $6.8 billion. The goal is to end the agency's sole reliance on Russian Soyuz spacecraft to carry U.S. crews to and from the International Space Station.

SpaceX carried out a successful unpiloted test flight of its Crew Dragon spacecraft last year and is gearing up for a second test flight, this one with two NASA astronauts on board, in the late May timeframe.

If that flight goes well, a second, operational Crew Dragon mission with four astronauts on board could be ready for takeoff by the end of July.

Boeing had hoped to launch a crew this year as well but during the December OFT mission, a major software error, coupled with communications dropouts, prevented a planned rendezvous and docking with the space station.

Another software oversight could have caused a catastrophic failure during the capsule's re-entry, had it not been caught in time.

Douglas Loverro, director of spaceflight at NASA Headquarters, told reporters in March the incidents had been classified as a "high-visibility close call," a formal designation that kicks off additional government review. At that time, he said it was too soon to say whether a second test flight would be needed.

Boeing told investors earlier that it was taking a $410 million charge against pre-tax earnings in large part to cover the possible cost of another test flight.

"For us, it's not that complicated," Jim Chilton, senior vice president at Boeing Space and Launch, said in March. "Boeing stands ready to repeat an OFT (if required). ... There's not any intent on our part to avoid it. We just want to make sure that whatever we fly next is aligned with NASA's preferences. And of course for all of us, crew safety is number one."

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Boeing intends to reattempt Starliner test flight to space station - CBS News

Stargazers across Michigan will have a few fun things to seek out Sunday night as they turn their eyes to the sky.

With clouds moving in on Monday, this might be your only night to view with nearly full Pink Supermoon. Its the third supermoon of the year, and some say its expected to be the largest yet. It wont be full until Tuesday, but it should look pretty good tonight.

Another treat for night sky lovers is the chance to see the ISS glide overhead for about 4 minutes.

Mostly clear skies tonight will give northern Michigan one last shot at seeing the International Space Station this weekend! National Weather Service meteorologists in Gaylord posted on their Facebook page today. To check viewing times for your city: https://spotthestation.nasa.gov/sightings/index.cfm

Look lower in the southwestern sky about 9:18 p.m.

Need some help finding the ISS? Download a free star-finder app like Sky View Lite on your phone, then hold your phone up to that section of the sky around that time. A little space station icon will show you where it is.

Night sky apps like that are also a great way to get kids involved in spotting constellations and planets.

A little note on this weeks Full Pink Supermoon: it wont actually look pink. Its name comes from the early pink-colored phlox flowers that tend to bloom in the eastern United States around this time in spring.

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Great stargazing night ahead, when to see the International Space Station pass over Michigan - MLive.com

Those looking for a diversion amid coronavirus-induced isolation can find it in the night sky Tuesday and Wednesday.

According to NASA's ISS tracker app, the International Space Station will be visible the next two nights.

It will be visible for 3 minutes Tuesday night, starting at 8:55 p.m., at 11 degrees above the WSW horizon. It will disappear at 10 degrees above the SSW horizon.

Wednesday, the station can be seen starting at 8:08 p.m. at 21 degrees above the WSW horizon. Three minutes later, it will disappear at 11 degrees above the south horizon.

According to NASA, no telescope is needed to see the space station pass overhead. It reflects the light of the sun, making it visible near dawn and dusk. It will look like an airplane or a very bright star moving across the sky.

Because the space station is moving at 17,500 mph, it will move across the sky much faster than an airplane.

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How to see the International Space Station in the Colorado Springs area on Tuesday and Wednesday - Colorado Springs Gazette

A next-generation crew spacecraft that China is preparing for a flight test this spring appears to be capable of docking with the International Space Station (ISS).

An image posted by the Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology (SAST) shows the new spacecrafts docking system, which appears compatible with the International Docking System Standard (IDSS).

NASA, the European Space Agency and Russia's federal space agency, known as Roscosmos, use IDSS-compatible systems or adapters. These are in use on the ISS to facilitate rendezvous and docking with spacecraft.

Related: Photos of China's new spacecraft to take astronauts to the moon

The new spacecraft is designed to boost China's capabilities in sending humans into orbit, reduce costs through partial reusability and allow astronauts to survive the radiation environment and high-speed reentries of deep-space missions.

The as-yet-unnamed spacecraft is 28.9 feet (8.8 meters) long with a mass at liftoff of 23.8 tons (21.6 metric tons). It will be capable of carrying six astronauts, or three astronauts and 1,100 lbs. (500 kilograms) of cargo to Chinas planned space station.

A prototype of the next-gen crewed spacecraft is being prepared for a test flight at the Wenchang Satellite Launch Center. Launch on a Long March 5B rocket is expected in mid- to late April.

The IDSS docking mechanism is androgynous. A first such system was developed and used for the 1975 Apollo-Soyuz Test Project, meaning neither the U.S. nor Soviet spacecraft had "male" or "female" mechanisms.

China has demonstrated rendezvous and docking capabilities with Shenzhou crewed spacecraft and the Tiangong-1 and Tiangong-2 space labs, as well as with the Tianzhou cargo spacecraft.

The rendezvous systems on spacecraft, which facilitate the maneuvering and matching of vectors and velocities for close approaches, may, however, need to be adapted to be compatible.

But even if the new Chinese crewed spacecraft can technically rendezvous and dock with the ISS, it is currently not possible politically.

While China cooperates with ESA and Russia, the United States has effectively excluded China from the ISS project. The US government in 2011 introduced text into legislation, referred to as the "Wolf Amendment," that severely restricts opportunities for NASA and other agencies from bilateral cooperation with entities linked to the Chinese government.

The test flight of the new spacecraft will also test China's Long March 5B launch vehicle. If successful, the new rocket will subsequently be used to launch the 20-metric-ton modules of the Chinese Space Station.

Follow Andrew Jones at @AJ_FI. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom or Facebook.

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China's new crew spacecraft looks like it could dock with the International Space Station - Space.com

Expedition 62 to the International Space Station (ISS) began on Feb. 6, 2020, with the departure of the Soyuz MS-13 spacecraft. The Expedition currently consists of three crewmembers: Cmdr. Oleg Skripochka of the Russian space agency Roscosmos, as well as two NASA astronauts, Jessica Meir and Andrew Morgan.

The ISS will be back up to its usual population of six crewmembers with the arrival of NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy and two Russian cosmonauts, Anatoli Ivanishin and Ivan Vagner. On April 16, Skripochka will hand over command of the ISS to Cassidy, marking the end of Expedition 62 and the start of Expedition 63.

See photos of the Expedition 62 crew in action and photos taken by the crew in space in this Space.com gallery.

Related: The International Space Station: inside and out (infographic)

The official Expedition 62 insignia includes the astronauts' names and an astronaut holding a star alongside another carrying a leaf.

This official crew portrait, taken April 17, 2019, shows (from left): Andrew Morgan of NASA, Oleg Skripochka of Roscosmos and Jessica Meir of NASA.

The three-member Expedition 62 crew Oleg Skripochka, Jessica Meir and Andrew Morgan pose together wearing their mission patch t-shirts at the International Space Station, on Feb. 7, 2020.

Below the International Space Station, California's San Francisco Bay, the Pacific Ocean and Washington State's Columbia River offer a spectacular view on Feb. 9, 2020.

Water floats in an undulating sphere as NASA's Expedition 62 flight engineer Jessica Meir looks on. This Feb. 9, 2020 photo displays the effects of microgravity on water.

NASA astronaut Jessica Meir participates in the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's (JAXA) Cerebral Autoregulation experiment aboard the International Space Station on Feb. 10, 2020. The study investigates how microgravity effects how the regulation of blood flow to the brain changes in microgravity. A goal of the study is "applications to future space travelers and patients back on Earth," according to Meir.

Sunlight hits the International Space Station's solar arrays with a golden shimmer in this image by Jessica Meir on Feb. 10, 2020.

The highest clouds in Earth's atmosphere noctilucent, or "night shining" clouds glow in this image taken from the ISS on Feb. 12, 2020. Noctilucent clouds occur only when the sun shines on clouds from below Earth's horizon.

NASA astronaut Jessica Meir represents her alma mater, Brown University, while gazing at Earth through the Cupola observatory aboard the International Space Station, on Feb. 13, 2020. When she tweeted this photo, Meir said she tried "to spot the Van Wickle gates from space!"

NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Andrew Morgan "sit" on the shoulders of Russian cosmonaut Oleg Skripochka as they pose for another "zero-g" group photo on Feb. 14, 2020.

The last quarter moon looms behind the International Space Station's Canadarm2 robotic arm in this photo by NASA astronaut Jessica Meir. She and her Expedition 62 crewmate Andrew Morgan used Canadarm2 to grapple anarriving Cygnus cargo spacecrafton Feb. 18, 2020.

NASA astronauts Jessica Meir captured this vibrant view of Key West, Florida, from 266 miles (428 kilometers) above the Earth, on Feb. 17, 2020. "Many fond memories in idyllic #KeyWest #Florida, including @NASA_Astronauts flight training with landings @NASKeyWest," Meir tweeted.

In honor of Black History Month, Northrop Grumman named its 13th Cygnus cargo spacecraft after U.S. Air Force Maj. Robert H. Lawrence, Jr., the first African-American ever selected as an astronaut. The Cygnus NG-13 cargo spacecraft arrived at the International Space Station on Feb. 18, 2020, carrying more than 7,500 lbs. (3,400 kilograms) ofscience experiments, supplies and other vital gearfor the station's three-person Expedition 62 crew.

Northrup Grumman's Cygnus NG-13 arrives at the ISS on Feb. 18, 2020. The freighter, full of supplies for the space station, was named after a U.S. Air Force test pilot, Maj. Robert H. Lawrence, Jr., the first African American selected for a national space program.

The Expedition 62 astronaut crew is pictured inside a SpaceX Dragon resupply craft, on March 9, 2020. The crew is wearing portable breathing gear while entering to test the spaceship's atmosphere for particles and irritants that could have come loose while launching to space.

NASA astronaut Andrew Morgan tweeted this photo of an Irish flag floating in one of the windows of the Cupola observatory on St. Patrick's Day (March 17). Full story: Astronauts celebrate St. Patrick's Day 2020 with photos of Ireland from space

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In Photos: The Expedition 62 mission to the International Space Station - Space.com

Five research payloads from the MIT Media Lab's Space Exploration Initiative were recently deployed on the International Space Station for a 30-day research mission. Scientists, designers, and artists will be able to study the effects of prolonged microgravity, on-station radiation, and launch loads on experiments ranging from self-assembling architecture to biological pigments. The payloads launched on the SpaceX CRS-20 via the Dragon cargo ship atop a Falcon 9 rocket on March 6.

This first launch to the ISS represents a key milestone in the schedule of iterative microgravity testing that the Space Exploration Initiative (SEI) undertakes throughout each year, following a successful Karman line launch with Blue Origin and a second parabolic research flight over the past 12 months.

"Sending five concurrent payloads to the International Space Station - this is a huge milestone for the team, and something we've been working towards explicitly for nearly a year," says Ariel Ekblaw, SEI's founder and lead.

The payloads were integrated into the Nanoracks BlackBox, a locker-sized platform with mechanical mounting points and electrical connections for power, data, and communication capabilities. Payloads are fully integrated into BlackBox on the ground; when they reach ISS, the astronauts aboard integrate them into ISS experiment racks, then simply leave them alone - the boxes are completely self-contained and remotely commanded via Nanoracks from the ground. This system allows for larger and more complex research payloads on the ISS, as the astronauts aren't required to come near any potentially hazardous materials and don't need any special expertise to run the experiments.

The capabilities of this platform allow for precisely the kind of cross-disciplinary research that is the hallmark of the Space Exploration Initiative. The five payloads currently on the ISS represent SEI's unique approach to research, prototyping, and design for humanity's future in space.

Sojourner 2020 is payload of artworks, the first-ever international "open call" art payload to the ISS, selected by SEI's arts curator Xin Liu. Sojourner 2020 features a three-layer telescoping structure. Each layer of the structure rotates independently; the top layer remains still in weightlessness, while the middle and bottom layers spin at different speeds to produce centripetal accelerations that mimic lunar gravity and Martian gravity, respectively.

Nine artists contributed works in a variety of different media, including carved stone sculpture, liquid pigment experiments, and sculptures made of transgender hormone replacement meds. Sojourner 2020 highlights the ways in which the arts can contribute to new means of encountering space; by including projects from indigenous peoples and gender minorities, the project additionally emphasizes key values of human dignity, equality, and democratizing access.

Space Miso, a collaboration between Maggie Coblentz at the MIT Media Lab and Joshua Evans at the University of Oxford, aims to map the emergence of a new space "terroir." This research seeks to understand how the environment of space may uniquely alter the flavors of familiar foods, in particular through fermentation processes. This initial experiment sends a sample of miso to the ISS for 30 days and tracks how its microbiome and flavor chemistry may change compared to earthbound control samples.

The latest iteration of Ekblaw's self-assembling TESSERAE tiles tests new paradigms for in-orbit construction of satellites and future space habitats. The tiles (two pentagons, five hexagons) will be selectively released on-station to test autonomous self-assembly and docking over many days of sustained microgravity. These latest prototypes include an extensive suite of sensing and electro-permanent magnet actuation for full diagnostic capability (determining "good" and "bad" bonds between tiles as they join together) and structure reconfigurability.

Radiofungi: Biological Pigments for Radioprotection is a payload from the Mediated Matter Group. The Radiofungi team is researching the synthesis of biological pigments, including melanins and carotenoids, to explore the potential new strategies for radiation protection. Such pigments can be fabricated for a variety of applications, creating a new class of materials and coatings that can protect life on Earth, in deep space, and beyond. This payload examines the growth and behavior of five pigment-producing microorganisms during a one-month stint on the ISS.

BioX1 is a test of reagents to enable space-based genomics for human health and life detection, designed by a research team from MIT's Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, testing an experiment apparatus for DNA analysis that may become the basis for a future Mars rover experiment.

The experiment will analyze sequencing tools that assist in the Search for Extraterrestrial Genomes program, a NASA-funded life detection instrument that would detect nucleic acid-based life via single molecule sequencing.

The Nanoracks team supporting the MIT payloads is able to downlink data directly from the networked payload on the International Space Station, and then share directly to the researchers. The team is hard at work analyzing telemetry, sensor data, pictures, and videos to track each payload's current status.

These results will be paired with a full holistic report on each payload upon return of the hardware to Earth. After the 30-day mission, the BlackBox will be packed up as return cargo in the Dragon capsule, splash down in the Pacific Ocean, and then Nanoracks will acquire BlackBox to return to MIT.

Several of these projects directly address research supported by the NASA-guided Translational Research Institute for Space Health. All represent collaborations across disciplines - engineering, architecture, materials science, chemistry, art, technology, design, and more. This kind of cross-pollination and teamwork are core to SEI's mission.

For Ekblaw, that ethos doesn't extend only to research; it's about bringing people together, building communities of people with different interests and expertise with shared goals and common experiences. It's why she flew any of the researchers who were able to make the trip down to Cape Canaveral to watch the launch together, and why she hosted a dinner for the researchers, the artists, and the Nanoracks team.

"Our Space Exploration Initiative deployments are often MIT-wide endeavors - it's an honor to have the opportunity to support research and collaborations that span departments," says Ekblaw. "We are standing on the shoulders of giants, and are actively expanding our regular cadence of SEI launch opportunities, throughout the year, to an even broader community. This means building bridges across the space industry - with academia, business, and government - to profoundly democratize access to space."

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Five MIT payloads deployed on the International Space Station - Space Daily

Despite the worsening coronavirus pandemic in the US, NASA is still looking ahead to its long-term goal of sending humans back to the lunar surface and is now asking SpaceX to start doing cargo runs to the Moon in the near future. NASA awarded the aerospace company with a new contract this afternoon, tasking SpaceX with sending cargo and supplies to a space station that NASA wants to build in the Moons orbit.

The new partnership is a big piece of NASAs Artemis program, an initiative to land the first woman on the lunar surface by 2024. As part of the program, NASA has proposed building a space station in orbit around the Moon called the Gateway, where astronauts can work and train before heading down to the lunar soil. Just like the International Space Station, the Gateway is going to need supplies and science experiments from time to time, and now SpaceX is the first company charged with making that happen.

SpaceX has been supplying cargo to the International Space Station for almost a decade now, packing supplies inside the companys Dragon capsule and launching them on top of a Falcon 9 rocket. To get supplies to the future Gateway, SpaceX is going to use some upgraded vehicles. The company is developing a new cargo vehicle called the Dragon XL, a cylindrical white spacecraft that can carry more than 5 metric tons of cargo to Gateway in lunar orbit, according to SpaceX. The supersized Dragon will launch on top of SpaceXs Falcon Heavy rocket, the much more powerful variant of the Falcon 9 that consists of three rocket cores strapped together.

Thanks to a fixed-price contract, SpaceX is on the hook to send multiple supply missions to the Gateway once the station is up and running. During each trip, the Dragon XL will stay docked to the Gateway for six to 12 months a time. The capsule will carry things like sample collection materials and other items the crew may need on the Gateway and during their expeditions on the lunar surface, according to NASA.

Returning to the Moon and supporting future space exploration requires affordable delivery of significant amounts of cargo, Gwynne Shotwell, SpaceXs president and COO, said in a statement. Through our partnership with NASA, SpaceX has been delivering scientific research and critical supplies to the International Space Station since 2012, and we are honored to continue the work beyond Earths orbit and carry Artemis cargo to Gateway.

SpaceX likely wont be the only company tasked with sending supplies to the Gateway. Ultimately, NASA has the option to add multiple cargo suppliers and has allotted up to $7 billion to spend on cargo contracts for Artemis. Each contract guarantees that NASA will order at least two cargo missions per provider and NASA can request missions for up to 12 years.

While the contract is a big step for SpaceX and NASA, a lot of questions remain about the future of the Artemis program. For one, its unclear when the Gateway will actually be built. For the last few years, NASA officials have argued that building the Gateway is a crucial part of the Artemis program as it will help the space agency establish a sustainable presence around the Moon, rather than just send astronauts to the lunar surface to leave flags and footprints. But the administration challenged NASA to land its first Artemis astronauts by 2024, and with that deadline quickly approaching, the space agency may not have enough time to build the Gateway if it wants to get humans back to the Moon in the next four years. In fact, NASAs newly appointed associate administrator for human exploration said that the Gateway is no longer critical for getting humans back to the Moon by 2024, according to Space News. That doesnt mean it wont get built, but it may not happen until after the first lunar landing deadline.

Meanwhile, its becoming increasingly unlikely that NASA will be able to meet its 2024 deadline at all, as the coronavirus pandemic has forced the agency to suspend production on some key programs. Notably, NASA shut down development of its next big rocket, the Space Launch System, which the agency plans to use to fly the first Artemis astronauts to the Moon.

As for SpaceX, the company is still operating during the pandemic as the company has been deemed mission essential by the state of California, due to its work with the Department of Defense. So its possible the company could still get a jump-start on the development of this new capsule. But its unclear when the Gateway will be ready to receive its first shipment.

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NASA tasks SpaceX with sending cargo and supplies to future lunar space station - The Verge

Healthcare workers battling the coronavirus pandemic just got an off-Earth shout-out on National Doctors' Day.

NASA astronaut Drew Morgan, a medical doctor who's one of the three people currently living aboard the International Space Station (ISS), tweeted his appreciation today (March 30) to the brave doctors, nurses, medical technicians and other people on the front lines of the war against the novel coronavirus and the disease it causes, COVID-19.

"As a medical doctor looking back on our planet on #NationalDoctorsDay, I think of the healthcare professionals & volunteers that are risking their lives in this crisis. We're at our best when we help each other. I'm in awe of your selfless service. Thank you from @Space_Station," Morgan said via Twitter today. This was the text accompanying a photo of himself and a floating stethoscope in the station's cupola, with Earth in the background.

Updates: The coronavirus pandemic's impacts on space exploration

Healthcare workers are indeed risking their lives to treat COVID-19 patients. For example, medical professionals make up almost 14% of Spain's confirmed coronavirus cases, according to the New York Times. And COVID-19 is raging through the healthcare workforce in New York City, which has been hit particularly hard by the outbreak. A "doctor at a major New York City hospital described it as 'a petri dish,' where more than 200 workers had fallen sick," the Times' Michael Schwirtz wrote in a story today.

As of today, there are more than 740,000 confirmed coronavirus cases worldwide and more than 35,000 COVID-19 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Morgan's two companions aboard the ISS are fellow NASA astronaut Jessica Meir and cosmonaut Oleg Skripochka, commander of the current Expedition 62. The trio will soon be joined by three colleagues: NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy and cosmonauts Anatoly Ivanishin and Ivan Vagner are scheduled to launch toward the orbiting lab aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft on April 9.

National Doctors' Day is celebrated in the United States every year on March 30 (though some countries use a different date). The first such observance was held in Georgia in 1933, according to the website doctorsday.org.

"On March 30, 1958, a Resolution Commemorating Doctors' Day was adopted by the United States House of Representatives," the website reads. "In 1990, legislation was introduced in the House and Senate to establish a national Doctors' Day. Following overwhelming approval by the United States Senate and the House of Representatives, on Oct. 30, 1990, President George Bush signed S.J. RES. #366 (which became Public Law 101-473) designating March 30 as 'National Doctors' Day.'"

Mike Wall is the author of "Out There" (Grand Central Publishing, 2018; illustrated by Karl Tate), a book about the search for alien life. Follow him on Twitter @michaeldwall. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom or Facebook.

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'I'm in awe': NASA astronaut salutes coronavirus-fighting doctors and nurses from orbit - Space.com