Category Archives: Space Station

The International Space Station will again be visible over Greater Manchester for the next two weeks.

And this time round, most of the spacecrafts passes will occur at the end of each day from 7.30pm to 9.30pm.

From tonight until Saturday, April 4 you will have 14 chances to spot the glowing ISS as it moves across the sky approximately 29 times faster than a commercial jet.

The space station is currently occupied by an international crew of three people who live and work there while travelling at five miles per second.

The crews living and working space is larger than a six-bedroom house and contains a gym and a 360-degree view bay window.

The International Space Station orbits the Earth every 90 minutes travelling through 16 sunrises and sunsets in the space of 24 hours.

To see it this year, head outside during the times listed below.

The ISS looks like a fast flying plane or a very bright star moving across the sky - but it doesnt have flashing lights or change direction.

Planes usually fly at approximately 600 miles per hour whereas the space station flies at 17,500 miles per hour.

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When you can see the International Space Station flying over Greater Manchester over the next week - Manchester Evening News

For some light relief, take the kids into the garden tonight ( Wed 25 March ) to view the International Space Station over Nottingham should be a clear night too!

The space station looks like an aeroplane or a very bright star moving across the sky, except it doesnt have flashing lights or change direction. It will also be moving considerably faster than a typical aeroplane (aeroplanes generally fly at about 600 miles per hour; the space station flies at 17,500 miles per hour)

Wed Mar 25, 7:38 PM

5 min

62

12 above WSW

21 above E

Time is when the sighting opportunity will begin in your local time zone. All sightings will occur within a few hours before or after sunrise or sunset. This is the optimum viewing period as the sun reflects off the space station and contrasts against the darker sky.

Visible is the maximum time period the space station is visible before crossing back below the horizon.

Max Height is measured in degrees (also known as elevation). It represents the height of the space station from the horizon in the night sky. The horizon is at zero degrees, and directly overhead is ninety degrees. If you hold your fist at arms length and place your fist resting on the horizon, the top will be about 10 degrees.

Appears is the location in the sky where the station will be visible first. This value, like maximum height, also is measured in degrees from the horizon. The letters represent compass directions N is north, WNW is west by northwest, and so on.

Disappears represents where in the night sky the International Space Station will leave your field of view.

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How to see the International Space Station over Nottingham tonight - West Bridgford Wire

Science fiction has always been a medium for futuristic imagination and while different colored aliens and intergalactic travel are yet to be discovered, there is an array of technologies that are no longer figments of the imagination thanks to the world of science fiction. Some of the creative inventions that have appeared in family-favorite movies like "Back to the Future" and "Total Recall," are now at the forefront of modern technology. Here are a few of our favorite technologies that went from science fiction to reality.

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From: "Star Trek: The Original Series"

It's something that almost everyone has in their pockets. Mobile phones have become a necessity in modern life with a plethora of remarkable features. The first mobile phone was invented in 1973, the Motorola DynaTAC. It was a bulky thing that weighed 2.4 lbs. (1.1 kilograms) and had a talk time of about 35 minutes. It also cost thousands of dollars.

The Motorola DynaTAC was invented by Martin Cooper, who led a team that created the phone in just 90 days. A long-standing rumor was that Cooper got his inspiration from an episode of Star Trek where Captain Kirk used his hand-held communications device. However, Cooper stated in a 2015 interview that the original inspiration was from a comic strip called Dick Tracy, in which the character used a "wrist two-way radio."

From: "Star Trek: The Original Series"

While exploring space, characters such as Captain Kirk and Spock would come across alien life who spoke a different language. To understand the galactic foreigners, the Star Trek characters used a device that immediately translated the alien's unusual language. Star Trek's universal communicator was first seen on screen as Spock tampered with it in order to communicate with a non-biological entity (Series 2 Episode 9, Metamorphosis).

Although the idea in Star Trek was to communicate with intelligent alien life, a device capable of breaking down language barriers would revolutionize real-time communication. Now, products such as Sourcenext's Pocketalk and Skype's new voice translation service are capable of providing instantaneous translation between languages. Flawless real-time communication is far off, but the technological advancements over the last decade mean this feat is within reach.

From: "Star Trek: The Original Series"

The idea behind "beaming" someone up was that a person could be broken down into an energy form (dematerialization) and then converted back into matter at their destination (rematerialization). Transporting people this way on Star Trek's USS Enterprise had been around since the very beginning of the series, debuting in the pilot episode.

Scientists haven't figured out how to teleport humans yet, but they can teleport balls of energy known as photons. In this case, teleportation is based on a phenomenon known as quantum entanglement. This refers to a condition in quantum mechanics where two entangled particles may be very far from one another, yet remain connected so that actions performed on one affect the other, regardless of distance. The information exchange between the two photons occurs at least 10,000 times faster than the speed of light.

Related: Chinese Scientists Just Set the Record for the Farthest Quantum Teleportation

From: "Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope"

Not long into the first Star Wars movie, Obi-Wan Kenobi receives a holographic message. By definition, a hologram is a 3D image created from the interference of light beams from a laser onto a 2D surface, and can only be seen in one angle.

In 2018, researchers from Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, created a real hologram. Their technique, called volumetric display, works like an Etch-A-Sketch toy, but uses particles at high speeds. With lasers, researchers can trap particles and move them into a designated shape while another set of lasers emit red, green and blue light onto the particle and create an image. But so far, this can only happen on extremely small scales.

Related: Cool! 'Star Wars'-Like Tech Warps Light into 360-Degree 3D Images

From: "Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back"

Imagine getting your hand chopped off by your own father and falling to the bottom of a floating building to then have your long-lost sister come and pick you up. It's unlikely in reality, but not in the Star Wars movies. After losing his hand, Luke Skywalker receives a bionic version that has all the functions of a normal hand. This scenario is now more feasible than the previous one.

Researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, Georgia, have been developing a way for amputees to control each of their prosthetic fingers using an ultrasonic sensor. In the movie, Skywalker's prosthesis uses electromyogram sensors attached to his muscles. The sensors can be switched into different modes and are controlled by the flexing or contracting of his muscles. The prosthesis created by the Georgia Tech researchers, however, uses machine learning and ultrasound signals to detect fine finger-by-finger movement.

From: "Blade Runner"

Director Ridley Scott presents a landscape shot of futuristic Los Angeles in the movie "Blade Runner." While scanning the skyscrapers, a huge, digital, almost-cinematic billboard appears on one of the buildings. This pre-internet concept sparked the imagination of Andrew Phipps Newman, the CEO of DOOH.com. DOOH which stands for Digital Out Of Home is a company dedicated to providing live, dynamic advertisements through the use of digital billboards. The company is now at the forefront of advertising as it offers a more enticing form; one that will make people stop and stare.

Digital billboards have come a long way since DOOH was founded in 2013. They have taken advantage of crowded cities, such as London and New York, to utilize this unique advertising tactic. Perhaps the more recent "Blade Runner 2049" will bring us even more new technologies.

From: "Blade Runner"

The "Blade Runner" story heavily revolves around the idea of synthetic humans, which require artificial intelligence (AI). Some people might be worried about the potential fallout of giving computers intelligence, which has had disastrous consequences in many science-fiction works. But AI has some very useful applications in reality. For instance, astronomers have trained machines to find exoplanets using computer-based learning techniques. While sifting through copious amounts of data collected by missions such as NASA's Kepler and TESS missions, AI can identify the telltale signs of an exoplanet lurking in the data.

Related: Why You Shouldn't Expect to See 'Blade Runner' Replicants Anytime Soon

From: "2001: A Space Odyssey"

Orbiting Earth in "2001: A Space Odyssey" is Space Station V, a large establishment located in low-Earth orbit where astronauts can bounce around in microgravity. Does this sound familiar?

The Space Station V provided inspiration for the International Space Station (ISS), which has been orbiting the Earth since 1998 and currently accommodates up to six astronauts at a time. Although Space Station V appears much more luxurious, the ISS has accomplished much more science. The ISS has been fundamental to microgravity research since the start of its construction in 1998.

The Space Station V wasn't just an out-of-this-world holiday experience, it was also employed as a pit-stop before traveling to the Moon and other long-duration space destinations. The proposed Deep Space Gateway would be a station orbiting the moon that would serve a similar purpose.

Related: The 25 Greatest Spaceships of Science Fiction

From: "2001: A Space Odyssey"

Tablets are wonderful handheld computers that can be controlled at the press of a finger. These handy devices are used by people across the globe, and even further upwards on the ISS. Apple claims to have invented the tablet with the release of its iPad. However, Samsung made an extremely interesting case in court that Apple was wrong: Stanley Kubrick and Sir Arthur C. Clarke did, by including the device in 2001: A Space Odyssey, released in 1968.

In the film, Dr. David Bowman and Dr. Frank Poole watch news updates from their flat-screen computers, which they called "newspads." Samsung claimed that these "newspads" were the original tablet, featured in a film over 40 years before the first iPad arrived in 2010. This argument was not successful though, as the judge ruled that Samsung could not utilize this particular piece of evidence.

From: "Back to the Future Part II"

The Back to the Future trilogy is a highly enjoyable trio of time-traveling adventures, but it is Part II that presents the creators' vision of 2015. The film predicted a far more outlandish 2015 than what actually happened just five years ago, but it got one thing correct: hoverboards, just like the one Marty McFly "borrows" to make a quick escape.

Although they aren't as widespread as the film perceives, hoverboards now exist. The first real one was created in 2015 by Arx Pax, a company based in California. The company invented the Magnetic Field Architecture (MFA) used to provide the levitation of a hoverboard. The board generates a magnetic field, which in turn creates an eddy current, which then creates another opposing magnetic field. These magnetic fields repel each other against a copper "hoverpark" that provides lift.

From: "Total Recall"

In the 1990 film, set in 2084, Total Recall's main protagonist Douglas Quaid (played by Arnold Schwarzenegger) finds himself in the middle of a sci-fi showdown on Mars. In one scene Quaid is on the run from the bad guys and jumps into a driverless car. In the front is "Johnny Cab," which is the car's on-board computer system. All Johnny needs is an address to take the car to its intended destination.

Although the driverless car wasn't seen in action before the protagonist yells profanities and takes over the driving, the idea of having a car that takes you to your destination using its onboard satellite navigation has become increasingly popular. The company at the forefront of driverless cars is Waymo, as they want to eradicate the human error and inattention that results in dangerous and fatal accidents.

In 2017, NASA stated its intentions to help in the production of driverless cars, as they would improve the technologies of robotic vehicles on extraterrestrial surfaces such as the Moon or Mars.

Additional resources:

This article was adapted from a previous version published in All About Space magazine, a Future Ltd. publication. Email Lee Cavendish at lee.cavendish@futurenet.com. Follow us on Twitter@Spacedotcomand onFacebook.

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Welcome to the future: 11 ideas that went from science fiction to reality - Space.com

Multiple missions and launches have now been put on hold.

Space companies and organizations have continued to announce a swathe of delays and closures, as the coronavirus pandemic continues to have a lasting impact on the space industry.

Already last week, several rocket launches and space missions had been affected by the pandemic. A European mission to Mars was postponed for two years in part due to the pandemic, for example, while launches from a spaceport in French Guiana had ceased

Now the COVID-19 pandemic has led to more recent shutdowns in the UK and US, limiting the ability of employees to work on key missions and in some instances, shutting down entire companies for the foreseeable future.

NASA

NASA is continuing to limit how many of its employees work on site, moving most of its workforce to remote working. After two NASA employees contracted the virus, the agency has moved many of its centres to mandatory telework.

This has put the construction of the James Webb Space Telescope on hold, raising fresh doubts about its launch. The much-delayed telescope had been expected to finally launch in 2021.

And key questions remain over whether the agency will be able to launch humans on SpaceXs Crew Dragon spacecraft in May, its Perseverance rover to Mars in July, and even its planned Artemis mission to the Moon.

However, other NASA operations are continuing, including its operation of the International Space Station (ISS). NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy and Russian cosmonauts Anatoli Ivanishin and Ivan Vagner remain on schedule to launch to the ISS on April 9.

Astronauts are continuing to live and work on the ISS.

Bigelow Aerospace

According to media reports, Nevada-based company Bigelow Aerospace laid off its entire workforce on Monday, March 23. SpaceNews quoted one source as saying that the coronavirus pandemic was just one of a perfect storm of problems.

Bigelow installed a module on the ISS in 2016, called the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM). The impressive module launched in a compact form and inflated to its full size once attached, a technology that could be useful for future missions to Mars and elsewhere.

However, reports suggested the layoffs could be permanent rather than temporary, leaving the future of BEAM and other developments at Bigelow including plans for an orbiting space hotel in partnership with the United Launch Alliance (ULA) up in the air.

ESA

The European Space Agency (ESA) announced yesterday, Tuesday, March 24 that it was putting four of its ongoing missions on hold due to the coronavirus pandemic.

In a statement, they said that the Earth-observing Cluster spacecraft, the Mars-orbiting Trace Gas Orbiter and Mars Express, and the Sun-orbiting Solar Orbiter, were all being put into standby mode and would cease scientific operations for the time being.

Our priority is the health of our workforce, and we will therefore reduce activity on some of our scientific missions, especially on interplanetary spacecraft, which currently require the highest number of personnel on site, ESA's Director of Operations Rolf Densing said in a statement.

These have stable orbits and long mission durations, so turning off their science instruments and placing them into a largely unattended safe configuration for a certain period will have a negligible impact on their overall mission performance.

Other missions that required more essential human involvement, such as the BepiColombo spacecraft that is currently on its way to orbiting the planet Mercury, would continue to be more directly supported.

BepiColombo is scheduled to arrive at Mercury in 2025.

Rocket Lab

The U.S. company Rocket Lab, which launches its Electron rocket from New Zealand, has postponed its next launch on Monday, March 30 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

In a statement, the company said it had paused launch preparations for the time being, in response to instructions from the New Zealand government for businesses to close and for people to stay at home.

We are working with the government, health officials, and our customers to determine when launch operations can resume, Rocket Lab said. The launch vehicle and ground systems will remain in a state of readiness for launch as the evolving situation allows it.

Virgin Orbit

The California-based company Virgin Orbit, which hopes to begin launching rockets from a carrier aircraft in the near-future, said it was sending its employees home for a week, in line with the states recommendations for all 40 million residents to work from home.

The company noted it had been deemed an essential service, however, and would resume operations next week. We will continue our essential work with fierce determination and perseverance, the company said in a statement.

But they noted that this would likely affect their plans to start launching soon. Unavoidably, this will have some impact on our launch date, and on the launches that immediately follow, they said.

Virgin Orbit hopes to complete its first launch this year.

SpaceX

Elon Musks California-based company is continuing to operate, following somewhat controversial comments from the founder and CEO that downplayed the pandemic.

SpaceX launched its sixth Starlink mission last week, taking its total number of satellites in orbit up to about 360, and is continuing preparations to launch humans for the first time on the Crew Dragon mission with NASA in May.

However, the company's next launch, a mission for the US Air Force on Monday, March 30, has now been put on indefinite hold because of the coronavirus pandemic.

And reports yesterday said that two workers at SpaceX had tested positive for coronavirus, with the company sending some of its employees home. SpaceX has so far been deemed a critical infrastructure business, and thus is allowed to remain open despite the pandemic.

OneWeb

Despite launching 34 more satellites in its planned space internet mega constellation on Sunday, March 22, the U.K.-based and Softbank-backed company OneWeb is facing growing problems

A report in Bloomberg last week claimed the company was considering bankruptcy owing to financial difficulties, prior to launching its satellites. In a subsequent statement, the company confirmed it had laid off employees and would likely experience launch delays owing to the coronavirus.

Like others, we are impacted by the global health and economic crisis and we need to dynamically adjust our workforce, the company said, reported TechCrunch.

"Therefore, we made the difficult decision to eliminate some roles and responsibilities as we work to focus on core operations. We are sorry to have had to take this step and were doing everything we can to support those affected.

OneWeb launched 34 satellites on Saturday, March 21, on a Russian Soyuz rocket.

Small satellites

Small satellite industry body ACCESS.SPACE warned yesterday, Tuesday, March 24 that several companies in Europe faced difficulties due to the ongoing pandemic.

The body said that cash flow constraints, delays in research projects, and difficulties in networking posed a number of challenges for the operations of various NewSpace companies.

It recommended governments taking extraordinary measures to counteract the crisis and anticipate long term consequences, such as financial support for companies, protect workers against income losses, and introduce support measures to allow companies to operate remotely.

Read more:
The Coronavirus Is Starting To Have A Serious Impact On The Space Industry - Forbes

With billions of people around the world suddenly adjusting to social distancing measures as part of the battle to slow the spread of COVID-19, some professionals who are used to confinement have some tips. From astronauts to submariners, here are some practical ways to boost your well-being and stave off cabin fever during those weeks stuck at home.

'Have a schedule'

Scott Kelly, a retired NASA astronaut, spent nearly a year aboard the International Space Station. He told AFP that mindset was crucial.

"People need to have the right expectation, we don't know when this is gonna be over," he said.

"We could be in this for the long haul so your mindset needs to be: I'm living a similar thing to living in space for a year, I need to have a schedule, I need to get up at a regular time, to go to sleep at a regular time."

He also said exercise was key for both physical and mental well-being while confined.

"You need to schedule time for exercise. If you cannot get out if you don't have a garden, raise the window shade, open the window and stick your head outside, make that part of daily routine."

Find your mission

For Vincent Larnaudie-Eiffel, a former commander of a nuclear submarine, working well in confinement means finding and investing in your own personal "mission".

Just like on board the sub, "stuck in our apartments, we all share a mission and that is to protect others, medical workers and successfully navigate this ordeal."

He said it was important to establish a daily routine and stick to it.

"You can't give in... you need to do something with this suspended time."

For Larnaudie-Eiffel and his crewmates, this involved building models or growing plants under artificial light during their spare time.

"It's also important that everyone has their own space," he told AFP. "In a submarine it might be a cramped bed-space. It's the same in a cramped apartment."

'Try new things'

Sailor Isabelle Autissier was the first woman to circumnavigate the globe alone. This involved a lot of time to herself.

But she said she never felt lonely because "I chose to be alone."

For people stuck at home she recommends using the time "to try new things, reading, listening to different music, write your journal, take photos, start drawing."

Above all it's important that people don't look too far ahead.

When she was at sea, facing an indeterminate amount of time alone "the first thing is not to count the days," said Autissier.

"You can't constantly be thinking I'll get there in three months, in a month, in 10 minutes."

Morale dips are normal'

Cyprien Verseux, an astrobiologist at Germany's University of Bremen, once spent over a year in a small pod with five other volunteers simulating conditions in a future mission to Mars.

"It's normal for your morale and productivity to dip," he said. "That's not a sign of weakness. Don't add guilt to your problems."

When in confinement for the experiment, Verseux wasn't allowed outside and was forbidden from communicating in real time with the outside world.

"Even if we don't all react the same to confinement we can adopt good practice that makes these periods more manageable," he said.

He recommends choosing one or two activities and practicing hard.

"Also do your sport, light weights, do yoga, zumba... even if there's a lack of space there are solutions to stay in shape," he said.

Stay in touch

In 2009 astronaut Frank de Winne became the first European to command the International Space Station.

He said it was vital to maintain human contact, even if only electronically.

"Means of communication are there, you have to make the effort and use them," he said.

The Belgian, now in quarantine on Earth, makes sure to video call his elderly mother at the same time each day.

"That allows her to see me. It also creates a bit of structure for her because she knows that I'm going to call her," he said.

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In space, at sea: tips on isolation from the pros - The Jakarta Post - Jakarta Post

- 'Have a schedule' -

Scott Kelly, a retired NASA astronaut, spent nearly a year aboard the International Space Station. He told AFP that mindset was crucial.

"People need to have the right expectation, we don't know when this is gonna be over," he said.

"We could be in this for the long haul so your mindset needs to be: I'm living a similar thing to living in space for a year, I need to have a schedule, I need to get up at a regular time, to go to sleep at a regular time."

He also said exercise was key for both physical and mental well-being while confined.

"You need to schedule time for exercise. If you cannot get out if you don't have a garden, raise the window shade, open the window and stick your head outside, make that part of daily routine."

- Find your mission -

For Vincent Larnaudie-Eiffel, a former commander of a nuclear submarine, working well in confinement means finding and investing in your own personal "mission".

Just like on board the sub, "stuck in our apartments, we all share a mission and that is to protect others, medical workers and successfully navigate this ordeal."

He said it was important to establish a daily routine and stick to it.

"You can't give in... you need to do something with this suspended time."

For Larnaudie-Eiffel and his crewmates, this involved building models or growing plants under artificial light during their spare time.

"It's also important that everyone has their own space," he told AFP. "In a submarine it might be a cramped bed-space. It's the same in a cramped apartment."

- 'Try new things' -

Sailor Isabelle Autissier was the first woman to circumnavigate the globe alone. This involved a lot of time to herself.

But she said she never felt lonely because "I chose to be alone."

For people stuck at home she recommends using the time "to try new things, reading, listening to different music, write your journal, take photos, start drawing."

Above all it's important that people don't look too far ahead.

When she was at sea, facing an indeterminate amount of time alone "the first thing is not to count the days," said Autissier.

"You can't constantly be thinking I'll get there in three months, in a month, in 10 minutes."

- 'Morale dips are normal' -

Cyprien Verseux, an astrobiologist at Germany's University of Bremen, once spent over a year in a small pod with five other volunteers simulating conditions in a future mission to Mars.

"It's normal for your morale and productivity to dip," he said. "That's not a sign of weakness. Don't add guilt to your problems."

When in confinement for the experiment, Verseux wasn't allowed outside and was forbidden from communicating in real time with the outside world.

"Even if we don't all react the same to confinement we can adopt good practice that makes these periods more manageable," he said.

He recommends choosing one or two activities and practising hard.

"Also do your sport, light weights, do yoga, zumba... even if there's a lack of space there are solutions to stay in shape," he said.

- Stay in touch -

In 2009 astronaut Frank de Winne became the first European to command the International Space Station.

He said it was vital to maintain human contact, even if only electronically.

"Means of communication are there, you have to make the effort and use them," he said.

The Belgian, now in quarantine on Earth, makes sure to video call his elderly mother at the same time each day.

"That allows her to see me. It also creates a bit of structure for her because she knows that I'm going to call her," he said.

This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.

View original post here:
In space, at sea: Professionals thriving in confinement have some Covid-19 work-from-home tips - Livemint

A Houston-based organization affiliated with NASA has teamed up with a video game company to advance virtual simulation in space medicine.

The Translational Research Institute for Space Health, known as TRISH, in partnership with NASA in a consortium led by Baylor College of Medicine, California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge has advanced a new approach for space medicine using video game technology by collaborating with video game company, Level Ex.

"We discovered Level Ex through a process of landscaping the many virtual simulation companies that were out there," says Andrew Peterman Director of Information System at TRISH. "We especially noted those that were on the cutting edge of the technology."

Based in Houston, TRISH aims to collaborate with the best and the brightest to revolutionize space health, providing grants to companies with innovative concepts. With Level Ex, they found a new approach to decode earthly medical technologies in space.

Level Ex, a Chicago-based company created in 2015 was founded to provide training games for doctors to use to practice surgeries and procedures. The games are interactive, with the virtual patient reacting to the actions of the player. The training simulations consist of in-depth and physics-driven medical simulations that are verified by doctors in their advisory board.

"We're hoping to completely change the ways that doctors stay up to speed," says Level Ex founder-and-CEO Sam Glassberg.

With their ongoing collaboration with TRISH, they have a challenge that's out of this world. In space, astronauts have limited space for medical tools and run on a limited crew. This makes providing basic medical training to all astronauts especially important.

Especially since the body begins to react to the new environmental conditions of space missions. The effects can be small or lead to new changes or challenges for astronauts who take on long-range missions. Astronauts may see their bodies slowly start to lose bone and muscle mass. Their fluid begins to shift toward their head, leading to increased risks of hypertension and thrombosis.

All of these are challenges NASA is working to address with the help of gaming technology from Level Ex that innovates the technology with higher-level capability and training. Combining video game technology and medical simulation applications to incorporate and explore the interplay of environmental conditions found in space.

"What we really liked about Level Ex is that they have an amazing team both on the clinical and technical side, says Peterman. "They are a group of former big-name game developers who along with clinical experts have married technology and medicine with their platform producing full in engine physics-driven real simulations rather than video playback."

The astronauts will train using simulations that allow them to practice a procedure in zero gravity conditions and even simulate the gravity conditions of Mars. The game will also allow astronauts to get their own on-screen avatar with their medical information thus allowing fellow astronauts to gain more practice and experience with fewer variables in space.

The advanced medical simulation platform has potential for commercial uses on earth, improving the range of the technology to simulate new, rare, and complex scenarios across a range of medical specialties, allowing doctors to practice a range of difficult scenarios without putting patient lives at risk.

Peterman says that the partnership is expected to continue into the future for immediate applications along with other innovations in astronaut healthcare, including autonomous frameworks to provide medical knowledge in outer space.

Link:
Houston-based research organization taps video game makers to advance space medicine - InnovationMap

UAE students have been invited to take part in a challenge that allows them to programme robots to save the International Space Station from disastrous situations.

The Kibo Robot Programming Challenge (Kibo-RPC) is being held by Japans space agency, Jaxa, in collaboration with Nasa.

The UAE Space Agency and Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre made the challenge available to all students in the country too.

The competition requires students to come up with breakthrough programming for Jaxas free-flying camera robot, Int-ball, and Nasas free-flying robotic system, Astrobee, so they can solve emergencies that may arise on the ISS.

For this specific competition, the emergency scenario given to students is a meteor having crashed into the ISS, causing a life-threatening air leakage on the outpost.

Pupils will work in teams to create their own programme which allows Int-ball to support Astrobee as a camera drone in order to stop the leakage. They will use Jaxas online simulation environment to develop the programmes.

Participants will have the chance to learn cutting-edge methodologies and to hone their skills in science, technology, engineering and mathematics through this programme, the competition guidebook read.

The KiboRPC will also expand international exchange by encouraging students to interact with other participants from around the world.

The competition aims to promote the study of Stem subjects among young people.

Engineering teaches us that a simulation can only approximate the real world. Thus, participants are expected to learn techniques for creating simulation programmes that perform well in the real world despite uncertainties and within margins of error, the guidebook said.

Students will learn the necessity of controlling and correcting positions and orientation of a free-flying robot and how to perform assigned tasks in the onboard environment through simulation trials.

The Astrobee and Int-ball are functioning robots used on the ISS. UAE astronaut, Maj Hazza Al Mansouri, gave a presentation using the Int-ball onboard the station during his space mission last year.

Competition applications must be submitted by April 19.

The preliminary round will be hosted by UAEs Space Agency in June. The winning teams will go on to the final round hosted at Jaxas Tsukuba Space Centre, with real-time connections to the ISS.

The final, expected to take place in September, will also be broadcasted worldwide.

More information on the competition is available online at UAE Space Agencys website.

Updated: March 21, 2020 08:52 PM

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UAE students invited to programme heroic space robots - The National

After decades of fighting to be taken seriously, meteorologists say space weather is beginning to get the attention it deserves.

The Trump administration continued the Space Weather Operations, Research and Mitigation (SWORM) working group established by the Obama Administration. SWORM is an interagency panel focused on coordination of federal work aimed at building resilience to the effects of space weather. In addition, space weather legislation is pending in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives.

Everyone agrees this issue is important and it has to be addressed, Bill Murtagh, NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center program coordinator, said at the American Meteorological Society (AMS) conference in Boston earlier this year.

For years, space weather experts in government, industry and academia have been pointing out how vulnerable the electric power grid and Global Positioning System satellites are to solar storms.

The U.S. government has finally figured out that the potential for catastrophic economic impacts from a large space weather event is cause for concern, David Klumpar, director of Montana State Universitys Space Science and Engineering Lab, said by email.

Meanwhile, NASA is preparing to send people beyond low Earth orbit for the first time in 50 years, exposing astronauts to higher levels of the suns radiation. Sun activity is likely to rise in the 2020s as the current solar minimum makes way for solar maximum. And the Defense Department is creating a U.S. Space Force.

As solar maximum comes again and the Space Force stands up, we will start having a lot more specific requirements, Maj. Janelle Jenniges, Air Force Space Weather Integration chief, said at the AMS conference.

Even with the renewed attention, experts say, it will take years for the U.S. government to improve the coordination of space weather activities and to fill the gaps in its space weather observing systems.

The National Academies plans to hold a workshop in mid-2020 in the Washington area to examine the U.S. space weather infrastructure and proposals for improving it.

We want to take a holistic approach rather than an ad hoc opportunistic approach, Elsayed Talaat, director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrations Office of Projects, Planning and Analysis, said at AMS.

As those discussions take place, key U.S. and European space weather satellites are approaching the end of their lives. NASAs Advanced Composition Explorer, sent to Earth-Sun Lagrange Point 1 in 1997 to monitor solar wind and energetic particles, is expected to run out of propellant around 2024. NASAs remaining Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory satellite, launched in 2006 to orbit the sun and provide imagery of coronal mass ejections and other phenomena, will detect solar activity days before it reaches Earth for about two more years. The solar panels on NASA-European Space Agency Solar and Heliophysics Observatory (SOHO) are set to stop working by 2025. SOHO has monitored coronal mass ejections from Lagrange Point 1 since 1995.

The job of replacing aging space weather satellites and launching new ones is shared by federal agencies. NASA and the National Science Foundation contribute to space weather research and modeling. NOAA issues space weather forecasts. The Defense Department creates additional classified and unclassified space weather analysis and forecasts.

U.S. Sens. Gary Peters (D-Mich.) and Cory Gardner (R-Colo.) introduced the Space Weather Research and Forecasting Act in 2019 to clarify the roles and responsibilities of each agency with respect to space weather. The bill also calls on NOAA to develop a replacement for SOHO and directs the Department of Homeland Security to identify critical infrastructure that could be disrupted by space weather. The Senate passed similar legislation in 2017.

In the House, Rep. Ed Perlmutter (D-Colo.) introduced a bill, Promoting Research and Observations of Space Weather to Improve the Forecasting of Tomorrow, to delineate federal agency roles and encourage greater information sharing among federal, academic or commercial space weather forecasters. The House Science, Space and Technology Committee approved the legislation in January.

Space weather can cause significant damage to our infrastructure and our economy, Perlmutter told SpaceNews by email. We need to make sure we are all working together to have the best research which informs the best modeling and forecasting possible.

Although the Senate and House bills are not identical, their intent is very much the same, said a congressional aide who asked not to be identified. Our goal over the coming months is to get together on the same text of the bill. Then, we have a good shot at getting it passed in both the House and the Senate.

Meanwhile, federal agencies are developing and launching new space weather sensors.

The Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center awarded contracts to Applied Technology Associates of Albuquerque New Mexico, and Teledyne Brown Engineering of Huntsville, Alabama, to build prototype Energetic Charge Particle sensors. In 2015, then-Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James issued a memo calling for future Air Force satellites to include an energetic charged particle sensor. The sensors are designed to improve Air Force space weather models and pinpoint which anomalies are caused by the actions of an adversary versus space weather.

NOAA is developing Space Weather Follow On (SWFO), a satellite destined for Earth-Sun Lagrange Point 1 to house the Naval Research Laboratorys Compact Coronagraph and suite of instruments to measure solar wind. Scheduled for launch in 2024, SWFO is designed to carry on the work of SOHO and NOAAs Deep Space Climate Observatory launched in 2015.

NOAA also plans to send a second Compact Coronagraph into orbit in 2025 on Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite-U.

The joint European Space Agency-NASA Solar Orbiter launched Feb. 9 to observe the suns poles, outer atmosphere and solar wind.

In 2024, NASA plans to send Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP) to Lagrange Point 1 to study particles and radiation streaming from the sun toward Earth. In addition to providing real-time solar wind data, IMAP is designed to host SWFO.

NASA plans to mount another space weather instrument, the Atmospheric Waves Experiment, on the exterior of the International Space Station in 2022 to observe the light in Earths atmosphere called airglow and determine how this combination of forces drives space weather in the atmosphere, Nicola Fox, NASAs Heliophysics Division director, said at AMS.

In 2022, NASA is set to launch the Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere mission to observe and track solar wind leaving the sun as well as coronal mass ejections. The PUNCH mission includes four small satellites.

Three act together to make a widefield imager and the fourth makes a narrow-field imager, Fox said. We are already talking to NOAA about how that can help with real-time aspects of space weather.

Tandem Reconnection and Cusp Electrodynamics Reconnaissance Satellites, a mission designed to ride into orbit as a secondary payload on PUNCH, is focused on gathering information on particles and fields in the region near the North Pole where magnetic field lines curve down toward Earth.

We are making tremendous progress, Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for NASAs Science Mission Directorate, said at AMS. The most important thing is to take the measurements and start driving them toward predictive power in the space weather domain.

This article originally appeared in the March 16, 2020 issue of SpaceNews magazine.

Original post:
US government aims for better coordination in space weather campaign - SpaceNews

When Meir and Morgan set off for their six- and nine-month stays, respectively, novel coronavirus wasn't a threat. Now, it's a pandemic.

NASA already has a protocol in place for returning astronauts that includes a post-landing medical check by flight doctors. The doctors and other NASA teams help the astronauts re-acclimate to Earth's gravity, getting them up and walking soon after landing. In the weeks after, they're monitored to make sure they're healthy.

This time, the protocols will be more extensive.

"NASA will closely adhere to the CDC's recommendations on infection control for the coronavirus as Andrew Morgan and Jessica Meir return to Earth and begin their post-flight medical testing and re-adaptation period," said Courtney Beasley, communications specialist at NASA's Johnson Space Center.

"This includes cleaning of surfaces, social distancing, emphasizing hand hygiene, encouraging NASA team members who are sick to stay home and limiting contact with the crew members."

Upcoming launches

A new crew of astronauts will also launch to the space station on April 9, joining Meir, Morgan and Russian cosmonaut Oleg Skripochka. The crew includes NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy and cosmonauts Anatoly Ivanishin and Ivan Vagner.

NASA has a long history of quarantining astronauts before they go to space to prevent illnesses, like cold and flu, from happening off planet. It was a concern even in the early days of the agency's astronaut program.

"The health and welfare of the crew is always paramount," Beasley said. "All of our crew must stay in quarantine for two weeks before they launch. This ensures that they aren't sick or incubating an illness when they get to the space station and is called 'health stabilization.' "

Ahead of quarantine, the astronauts are following The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommendations regarding coronavirus.

NASA and the Russian Space Agency, Roscosmos, are currently planning to maintain the standard quarantine period of two weeks for the crew, Beasley said.

"During quarantine, the astronauts live in their crew quarters -- NASA has crew quarters for this purpose at Kennedy and Johnson Space Centers, and Roscosmos has them in Baikonur," she said. "They don't have direct contact with anyone who has not been pre-cleared by NASA flight surgeons. The time is spent preparing for flight, studying and resting, as well as working out and making video calls to friends and family members."

NASA is also eyeing a May launch date for the manned SpaceX Demo-2 flight test from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. This will be the first launch of American astronauts aboard an American rocket and spacecraft, rather than the Russian Soyuz they use now, since the final space shuttle mission in July 2011, according to the agency.

NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken are expected to be on the flight test in SpaceX's Crew Dragon spacecraft. It is the final flight test of the system before SpaceX is certified to carry out operational crew flights to and from the space station for NASA, the agency said.

The agency is monitoring CDC guidance with regards to mission planning, they said. The launch date could be postponed.

On Friday, NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine announced that the agency's Michoud Assembly Facility in Louisiana and Stennis Space Center in Mississippi are moving to mandatory telework after a case was confirmed on the Stennis team and rising numbers of cases in the community around Michoud.

"NASA will temporarily suspend production and testing of Space Launch System and Orion hardware," Bridenstine said. "We realize there will be impacts to NASA missions, but as our teams work to analyze the full picture and reduce risks we understand that our top priority is the health and safety of the NASA workforce."

Those impacts are not yet clear. The Space Launch System and Orion capsule are the agency's next generation of rocket and spacecraft capable of delivering astronauts to the moon.

Science on the space station

And as for science experiments and other items on SpaceX resupply missions to and from the space station, no launches have been rescheduled or canceled tyet, according to Patrick O'Neill, senior manager of marketing and communications for the International Space Station US National Laboratory.

Hundreds of science experiments are currently unfolding on the station, with more planned for the rest of the year.

Payloads typically go through safety certification processes to prevent any harmful microorganisms from finding their way to the space station, O'Neill said.

It's the same when payloads are returned to Earth.

"This has proven to be an extremely effective process, and we have every confidence that it will continue to be so into the future," he said.

Impacts to NASA

Many at NASA bureaus across the country are working from home, especially after an employee at the Ames Research Center in California tested positive for the virus.

Bridenstine acknowledged that coronavirus "will continue to test our agency's ability to bend but not break under stress," he said in a statement on Wednesday.

"We have accomplished so many incredible feats as an agency," Bridenstine said.

"We put Americans on the Moon, landed on Mars (seven times!), launched hundreds of crewed and robotic missions into space, created life-changing technologies, transformed aviation and sustained human presence on a laboratory that flies 250 miles above Earth for nearly 20 years -- just to name a few things that once were thought to be impossible.

"I am convinced that we are uniquely equipped for this time of heightened need to collaborate and communicate," he said. Teams across the agency are well-practiced in responding to mission contingencies and reacting to unforeseen challenges."

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Here's how NASA protects astronauts and the International Space Station from coronavirus - CNN