International Space Station (Updates)

6,181 · July 31, 2015

MDA may be eyeing Iridium sat constellation to host sensors

We roughly covered this satellite constellation a few pages ago, but it looks like the initial MDA price tag was too high and they may opt to get "sensor" space on Iridium's new sat constellation, due to go up....

The U.S. Missile Defense Agency has said the follow-on program to its missile tracking Space Tracking and Surveillance System (above) is likely to be one part for a multi-mission Defense Department satellite. Credit: MDA.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Missile Defense Agency, which for years has failed to win funding for an operational constellation of missile tracking satellites, now envisions a partnership with the U.S. Air Force on a system that would also perform space surveillance, a top service priority, an MDA official said.

Richard Ritter, the MDA’s program executive for C4ISR — command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance — also confirmed that the agency has awarded a contract to a satellite operator to host sensors that would help determine whether a missile has been successfully intercepted and destroyed. He declined to identify the operator — industry sources suspect it is Iridium Communications, which plans to begin launching a next-generation constellation of 72 low-orbiting satellites in 2016 — but said the MDA expects to spend about $100 million on the Spacebased Kill Assessment Project.

Ritter said the firm-fixed price contract was awarded on a sole-source basis and includes 20 to 22 hosted sensors.

More data at the link....

http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2015/07/italian-veteran-paolo-nespoli-return-the-iss/

Cheers.....

6,181 · July 31, 2015

NASA: Tracking CubeSats is easy, but many stay in orbit too long

http://spaceflightnow.com/2015/07/30/nasa-tracking-cubesats-is-easy-but-many-stay-in-orbit-too-long/

Two shoebox-sized Planet Labs satellites deploy from a dispenser aboard the International Space Station in this image from August 2014. Credit: NASA

U.S. military radars have little trouble tracking the flux of CubeSats filling orbital traffic lanes, diminishing worries that new commercial CubeSat constellations could generate collision hazards in space, according to a report issued by NASA last week.

But 46 of the 231 CubeSats successfully launched from 2000 through the end of 2014 — about one in five — will remain in orbit more than a quarter-century. Space debris experts and most big international satellite operators have agreed to re-position spacecraft in low Earth orbit at low enough altitudes to naturally re-enter the atmosphere within 25 years at the end of their lives.

I still have a problem with this, case in point, if a cube sat only has a 3 to 5 year lifetime, it hangs around and may get in the way, for a long time (25 year) if in higher orbits.

U.S. Air Force officials say the military tracks approximately 23,000 objects in space, most of which are derelict rocket stages, decommissioned spacecraft, or smaller fragments. CubeSats are a small fraction of the objects orbiting Earth, but unlike older pieces of space junk, the pace of deployment of future CubeSats is expected to increase.

CubeSats launched inside pressurized cargo vessels and released outside the International Space Station are of little concern to space debris experts. The space station orbits at an altitude of about 260 miles, or 420 kilometers, where aerodynamic drag from the outer wisps of Earth’s atmosphere often brings CubeSats down within months.

For CubeSats sent to higher altitudes, the orbital lifetime is much longer, and most are not equipped with rocket thrusters to move out of the way of other satellites or lower their orbits at end-of-life.

The altitude cutoff for a 25-year lifetime is between 600 and 700 kilometers (373 to 435 miles), according to NASA’s orbital debris report.

When Planet Labs engineers believe they settled on a suitable design for a full-up Earth-imaging constellation — they are rapidly finishing new CubeSat iterations every few months — the company will turn toward launching more of its satellites into sun-synchronous orbits, a type of orbit more suitable for Earth observation than the space station.

“Ideally, we want to launch our operational fleet into a very low sun-synchronous orbit, around 450 to 500 kilometers (280 to 310 miles),” Boshuizen said. “At 650 kilometers (404 miles), you’re compliant with the 25-to-30 year de-orbit rule. From 700 kilometers (435 miles) and up, you’re not compliant anymore, so we certainly would never launch any higher than that.”

Planet Labs has another reason for wanting to go lower: Its satellites get sharper views of Earth from lower orbits.

“At 500 kilometers (310 miles), you’re more like 4-to-7 years until de-orbit, so that’s our way of playing it very safe,” Boshuizen said. “Of course, resolution is linearly proportional with altitude, so the images at 30 percent sharper at 500 kilometers than 650 kilometers.”

The problem that I see, is cube sats being put on rides at the last minute, in the wrong orbit...In this case, they should be putting a de-orbit mechanism on the unit, as they are presently available. Once the small sat launchers come on line, the orbits can be selected.....

/s WOW.....Someone launched a cubesat so high, it went to this planet....

Roscosmos to Set Up National Manned Spaceflight Center

Ex-cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev is tapped to be the head of Russia's future national center for manned flights to space, Russian media reported on Wednesday.

"I don't want to rush things and I can say something about this new structure only after I am appointed," Sergei Krikalev, the current deputy head of the Central Engineering Research Institute TsNIIMash, told Izvestiya newspaper.

The new Center, to be comprised of the Cosmonaut Training Center, Roscosmos' Manned Spaceflight Center, Energia Space Rocket Corporation and TsNIIMash, will be modeled after the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center in Houston, which is NASA's Manned Spacecraft Center, where human spaceflight training, research, and flight control are conducted.

Yury Lonchakov may be replaced as the head of the Cosmonaut Training Center as part of the ongoing reorganization.

The information was not confirmed by the official Roscosmos spokesman Igor Burenkov, who said that matter had not even been discussed yet.

http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Roscosmos_to_Set_Up_National_Manned_Spaceflight_Center_999.html

Solar weather reports key to safe space travel

Researchers in England are looking ahead to a world where solar and space weather forecasting is nearly as important as weather patterns and predictions on Earth's surface.

Better predicting how the sun's electromagnetic behavior influences space weather will become more important, scientists say, as activities like space tourism, asteroid mining and manned space travel become more common.

In the United States, scientists at the Space Weather Prediction Center, run by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, do their best to forecast solar winds and storms. NASA and the International Space Station rely heavily on these reports to keep their instruments and astronauts safe from dangerous radiation.

But scientists at Northumbria University suggest more predictive, less reactive solar forecasting is necessary for the future of safe space travel. Researchers there recently used a powerful telescope to observe the outer layer of the sun's surface to better understand how solar winds there influence space weather.

The team, led by Northumbria research fellow Richard Morton, was able to observe and describe the behavior of a type of magnetic wave known as Alfven waves. As detailed in a new study published in Nature, researchers found the waves to run in both directions along the sun's magnetic field. When they collide, their energy can be transferred to accelerating solar winds.

Scientists had previously predicted these waves, but never before observed them directly.

"The solar wind is unlike anything experienced on Earth," Morton said in a press release. "It is an extremely fast moving stream of million-degree gas that carries away up to a billion kilograms of the Sun's atmosphere per second."

"Exactly what allows the winds to reach such speeds and provides the force to remove such large amount of solar material has puzzled scientists for a while now," Morton added. "We hope that our observations will help with the prediction and monitoring of the Sun's weather. Then, maybe one day, people will tune in to the morning's space weather report to see whether they should take that trip to Mars."

http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Solar_weather_reports_key_to_safe_space_travel_999.html

example data that is tracked...from Solar ham (NOAA data)

http://www.solarham.net/

Cheers.....

6,181 · August 1, 2015

NEEMO Undersea Crew Tests Tools and Techniques For Future Spacewalks

NASA astronaut Serena Aunon

This photograph of NASA astronaut Serena Aunon (@AstroSerena) moving tools and equipment underwater was taken during the NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations (NEEMO) 20 mission, which began on July 20, 2015.

NEEMO 20 is a 14-day mission by an international crew to the Aquarius Reef Base, located 62 feet (19 meters) below the surface of the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Florida. NEEMO 20 is focusing on evaluating tools and techniques being tested for future spacewalks on a variety of surfaces and gravity levels ranging from asteroids to the moons of Mars and the Martian surface.

The mission tests time delays in communications due to the distance of potential mission destinations. The crew also will assess hardware sponsored by the European Space Agency (ESA) that allows crew members to read the next step in a procedure without taking their hands or eyes away from the task using a tablet, a smartphone and a head-mounted interface.

ESA astronaut Luca Parmitano is commanding the NEEMO 20 mission aboard the Aquarius laboratory. Parmitano flew in space during Expeditions 36 and 37 aboard the International Space Station in 2013, where he spent 166 days living and working in the extreme environment of microgravity. He conducted two spacewalks on his first spaceflight. Parmitano is joined by NASA astronaut Aunon, NASA EVA Management Office engineer David Coan and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Norishige Kanai.

http://spaceref.com/neemo-1/neemo-undersea-crew-tests-tools-and-techniques-for-future-spacewalks.html

NASA ISS On Orbit Status for 30 July, 2015

NASA astronaut Kjell Lindgren wears protective breathing apparatus that would be used in the unlikely event of a fire or hazardous chemical leak inside the pressurized air volume of the International Space Station. Familiarization of safety and emergency equipment is standard practice for all newly arrived crew members. Credit: NASA.

NASA astronauts Scott Kelly and Kjell Lindgren are wrapping up U.S. spacesuit maintenance today. Cosmonauts Gennady Padalka and Mikhail Kornienko are also moving along with their preparations for an Aug. 10 spacewalk.

All three cosmonauts, including Flight Engineer Oleg Kononenko, also worked on Russian biomedical experiments. The trio explored such things as stress caused by living in space as well as the causes and countermeasures of bone loss in microgravity.

Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui worked on setting up and running a session with the Capillary Flow Experiment-2 fluid physics study. He also assisted Kelly and Lindgren with spacesuit maintenance.

Meanwhile, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) is getting ready for its fifth resupply mission to the International Space Station. JAXA will launch the H-II Transfer Vehicle-5 (HTV-5) no earlier than Aug. 16 delivering new science gear to the space station.

High Beta Operations: Today the solar beta angle is +69.2 and increasing in magnitude. The beta angle is expected to peak at +69.6 on GMT 213 (8/1/15). Tonight ground specialist will be configuring power channel batteries in a high beta configuration to prevent overcharging.

Three-Day Look Ahead:

Friday, 07/31: Sound Level Measurements, Microbiome

Saturday, 08/01: Crew off duty, housekeeping

Sunday, 08/02: Crew off duty, HRF sample collection

QUICK ISS Status - Environmental Control Group:

Component - Status
Elektron - Off
Vozdukh - Manual
[СКВ] 1 - SM Air Conditioner System ("SKV1") - Off
[СКВ] 2 - SM Air Conditioner System ("SKV2") - Off
Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly (CDRA) Lab - Standby
Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly (CDRA) Node 3 - Operate
Major Constituent Analyzer (MCA) Lab - Shutdown
Major Constituent Analyzer (MCA) Node 3 - Operate
Oxygen Generation Assembly (OGA) - Process
Urine Processing Assembly (UPA) - Standby
Trace Contaminant Control System (TCCS) Lab - Off
Trace Contaminant Control System (TCCS) Node 3 - Full Up

In this NEEMO video, a scrolling lens, modified holo lens and "play book" communications for long comm delays...

http://spaceref.com/international-space-station/nasa-international-space-station-on-orbit-status-30-july-2015.html

NASA ISS Space to Ground Weekly Report - 31 July 2015

Upcoming spacewalk simulation, Russian modules inspection, porthole cleaning and microbe check

http://spaceref.com/international-space-station/nasa-iss-space-to-ground-weekly-report---31-july-2015.html

Cheers.....

6,181 · August 2, 2015

In another week, an EVA has been scheduled for an inspection of the Russian modules. In addition to the inspection, viewing ports will be cleaned and a check for contaminants (organisms). Organisms were found a while back but analysis was inconclusive due to methods of testing. One would wonder how organisms could be on the outer hull of the ISS. Some organisms are extremely tough and may even be able to hitch a ride on a cargo run. ESA carries out experiments with organisms outside the hull, and here is an example in this article....

Space Kombucha in the search for life and its origin

You might know it as a drink for hipsters or as an ancient brew drunk for centuries in Eurasia, but the culture that ferments sugary tea into Kombucha is going around the world. Bolted to the outside of the International Space Station are the same bacteria and yeasts that are used in making Kombucha.

Tests on Earth have shown that these multicellular biofilms are tough and will most probably survive an unprotected trip through space. But there is only one way to tell for sure and that is why the Kombucha-making organisms and other biological specimens are now circling Earth exposed to space.

Previous 'Expose' studies run by ESA have shown that a surprising number of organisms can survive the harsh conditions of space, including tardigrades - also known as water bears - and lichens.

Last year ESA sent a new set of samples inside the Expose-R2 container on an 18-month trip in space to test how organisms and their molecular structure react to the combination of unfiltered solar light, cosmic radiation, vacuum and temperature changes found in space.

The Expose-R2 facility is flying 758 samples grouped into four experiments, with the Kombucha cultures part of the Biomex experiment. Searching for signs of life

Kombucha cultures protect themselves against adverse conditions by making a cellulose-based structure to resist high temperatures and radiation. The biofilm is thick enough to see with the naked eye, even though it is created by microorganisms.

Searching for signs of biofilms in our Solar System is easier than looking for the microscopic life that creates them and could still reveal microbial life beyond our planet. On the ground, Kombucha cultures are particularly robust when mixed with simulated Moon dust. The cellulose absorbs minerals from the lunar soil, protecting the culture even more.

In addition, microbial cellulose is a promising nanomaterial for the space industry and studying it in open space has practical value for new technologies.

Organic chemicals evolving into life
Without exception, life as we know it on Earth is composed of molecules with carbon atoms. Among the hundreds of test samples on Expose-R2, many are of these organic molecules. Exposed to the Sun's high-energy ultraviolet radiation, many organic chemicals break down to form new ones.

Our ozone protects us from the worst the Sun sends our way, but planets without atmospheres, asteroids and now Expose-R2 experience the full blast. It is possible that organic chemicals mix under Sun's radiation to form new compounds.

Studies on Earth have shown that amino acids - the building blocks for proteins - survive aspects of spaceflight better when mixed with meteorite dust. Several meteorites found on Earth contain an assortment of amino acids, obviously of extraterrestrial origin. It seems likely that amino acids can be found hidden in comets and asteroids such as Rosetta's comet 67P.

Ground-based studies can only go so far, however, and the real test is an unprotected trip in space. Researchers are eagerly awaiting the results of Expose-R2 but have to be patient: the samples will not be returned to Earth for analysis until next year. A sip of Kombucha might be in order while they wait.

http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Space_Kombucha_in_the_search_for_life_and_its_origin_999.html

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Friday Blue Moon for some.....

Photographer Jenny Carter of Plano, Texas spied the Blue Moon full moon of July 2015 hiding behind some clouds while skywatching on July 31, 2015.

The Blue Moon full moon of 2015 rises behind the Tower of America in San Antonio, Texas in this view from skywatcher by Shenandoah Sanchez on July 31, 2015.

NASA astronaut Scott Kelly on the International Space Station posted this photo of the Blue Moon full moon of July 31, 2015 on Twitter.

http://www.space.com/30127-blue-moon-photos-2015-by-stargazers.html

Cheers....

6,181 · August 2, 2015

Just a bit of a break from science...and a bit of space entertainment......

Flute playing on the ISS

ISS mini tour with guitar ending...

1st Song Premiere From Space and Earth at the same time....

We had been talking about space mining a few posts back...check out this short scifi video...surprising...

Cheers....

13,808 · August 2, 2015

Sorry...I didn't see this posted anywhere and thought it looked neat.

Edited August 2, 2015 by jjkusaf

6,181 · August 2, 2015

Sorry...I didn't see this posted anywhere and thought it looked need.

WOW...That shot could be an "astronomy of the day shot"....I'm an idiot when it comes to twitter (don't have an account) but I got the shot to show...

Credit to above tweet....

Found this while fumbling around...Scott Kelly July 25th, 2015

Thanx much.....Cheers

6,181 · August 2, 2015

A few posts back, in the NASA ISS On Orbit Status report for 30th of July, 2015, mention was made of an approach to a high beta angle and a need to compensate station attitude to prevent battery overcharge. This is managed by ground control and is complicated due to many variables. A beta angle that gets high can cause battery overcharge and station module overheating due to prolonged exposure to the sun. Why?....A quick, sort of, setup for an explanation...

1) The Earth orbits the Sun and the distance varies from approximately 91 to 93 million miles. This distance has a negligible effect on heating. The tilt of the Earth is a big factor which is why the northern hemisphere has summer at the further distance of 93 million miles (more exposure to the sun). The Earth has a tilted axis of approximately 23 degree's (-23 to 23 in orbital reference to the sun, the season).

2) The ISS is positioned at 51.6 degree's from the equator. The reason for this choice, is to assist Russian launches. It is due to the latitude of the launch sites. The US could launch at 29 degree's and have boosters fall in the Atlantic. The Russian's are at a higher latitude and need lee way to prevent booster drops on China, as an example. No magic here...launch site latitude determines choice. This orbit also allows 75% coverage of land mass, hence 95% of populated areas.

3) The Earth rotates eastward , the ISS orbits west to east, sort of a boost. Approximately 92 minutes for an orbit and 15.5 orbits per day.

4) The ISS is in continual freefall and can loose 150 meters (480 ft) in one day, which requires a reboost every couple of months to increase velocity as well as altitude.

5) If one where to draw a line from the center of the Earth to the Sun, this is the reference line. The beta angle is from that line to the angle of the ISS orbit. With the varying exposed tilt of the Earth and the minimum orbital value of 51.6 degree's, the combined could reach 75 degrees....the highest beta angle.

6) The ISS requires shade time for cooling, the period that the batteries supply all power to the station. The SAWs (panels) can be trimmed to prevent overcharging due to too long a period in the sun, but heat displacement becomes a problem....and this is when modes of flight have to be changed, dependent on beta angles.

7) If one where to look at the ISS, head on to the Columbus/Jaxa modules and look down to the Russian segment, this is the X axis, +X at Columbus/Jaxa and -ve at Russian modules. The Y axis is the truss assembly, +ve on the port side (left), -ve on the starboard side. The Z axis is +ve down facing to Earth.

8) Modes of flight are usually with X toward travel, can change to Y towards travel as beta angles increase and the last is "barbeque" mode, a constant roll to displace heat when at extreme beta angles....usually 69 degrees is when mode shifts become critical and temps are monitored as well as charge rate.

9) Now the problem...conservation of fuel.....The ISS only has the Russian modules with attached Progress/Soyuz for thruster control and the station has to be configured for thruster use to prevent SAW damage and contamination.

10) On the Z1 truss (middle) is a unit called CMG's, controlled moment gyroscopes, there are 4 of them, 3 can maintain attitude if required.These units are capable of independent movements, double gimble arrangement, and can actually move the station 90 degrees on it's own if required, which will not be done, but was tested for capability and does work. The problem is gyro loading from fighting attitude changes. If the loading gets too high, the gyros can not compensate and thrusters are used to correct to a base line, where the CMG's take over.

11) The loads vary on the station due to solar wind, altitude drops (atmospheric resistance), "sail area" that the ISS presents to these variables and station weight will change mass moments as well.

This all creates an intricate balance of attitude control by the CNG's, thruster use , and beta angle problems...but it all comes down to station cooling and then battery charge time monitoring, all while keeping the proper attitude with the least amount of fuel use.

On the International Space Station Live site, not all data is available, but standard data, when online, is shown on various console programs, real time, to give one an idea of what is happening...

http://isslive.com/displays/index.html Flight Director

http://isslive.com/displays/adcoDisplay1.html Attitude control

http://isslive.com/displays/spartanDisplay1.html Station power

Once you are on the site, press the console displays and have fun...also for tracking, to know if in sunlight or not...use this site

http://www.isstracker.com/ Tracker position

I will do a post, later, on the attitude control system. Hope this was not too boring, but kind of explains why beta angles are so important.

Note...You will notice that the Alpha joints rotate opposite to help cancel torque and the beta gimbals are for SAW tracking...

Cheers.....

6,181 · August 2, 2015

ISS Attitude Control

The attitude control of the ISS (directional travel orientation) is controlled by 2 methods. Passive, by use of CMG's and actively by the docked Russian Progress vehicles. The Russian module Zvezda, is also capable of using it's thrusters and can be refueled by a Progress, but is seldom used. Generally, the station panels (SAWs) have to be moved to prevent thrust damage and contamination.

Control Moment Gyroscopes, CMG's

A control momentum gyroscope (CMG) is an attitude control device generally used in spacecraft attitude control systems. A CMG consists of a spinning rotor and one or more motorized gimbals that tilt the rotor’s angular momentum. As the rotor tilts, the changing angular momentum causes a gyroscopic torque that rotates the spacecraft.

Dual-gimbal[edit]

Such a CMG includes two gimbals per rotor. As an actuator it is more versatile than a single-gimbal CMG because it is capable of pointing the rotor's momentum vector in any direction. However, the torque caused by one gimbal's motion often must be reacted by the other gimbal on its way to the spacecraft, requiring more power for a given torque than a single-gimbal CMG. If the goal is simply to store momentum in a mass-efficient way, as in the case of the International Space Station, dual-gimbal CMGs are a good design choice. Instead, if a spacecraft requires large output torque per available input power, single-gimbal CMGs are a better choice.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Control_moment_gyroscope

Boeing technicians remove the cover from a Control Moment Gyroscope (CMG) in the Space Station Processing Facility at KSC. The CMG will be attached to the Integrated Truss Structure (ITS) Z1. Gyroscopes are used for stabilization of the International Space Station (ISS). The CMG and Z1, part of the construction of the ISS, will be carried on STS-92, the third U.S. flight planned for on-orbit construction of the ISS. STS-92 is scheduled for liftoff on June 17, 1999, aboard the Space Shuttle Atlantis (construction of the ISS)

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:ISS_gyroscope.jpg

Each CMG weighs approximately 600 pounds. A CMG consists of a large flat 220
lb. stainless steel flywheel that rotates at a constant speed (6,600 rpm) and develops an
angular momentum of 3,600 ft-lb-sec (4,880 Newton-meter-sec) about its spin axis. This
rotating wheel is mounted in a two-degree-of-freedom gimbal system that can point the
spin axis (momentum vector) of the wheel in any direction. Control motors change the
orientation of the spinning rotors to produce torque on the ISS to balance the effects of
gravity and aerodynamics, maintaining the station at an equilibrium attitude without using
propellant.

http://www.boeing.com/assets/pdf/defense-space/space/spacestation/systems/docs/ISS Motion Control System.pdf

Nominally we use devices called CMGs (Control Moment Gyroscopes). There are four of them, located within the Z1 Truss on top of Node 1 (Unity).

http://www.quora.com/How-does-ISS-control-its-orientation-relative-to-the-Earth

CMG replacement, NASA photo

Two CMG's have failed, one in 2002 and the other in 2004. The new CMG's have been modified after failure analysis of the problems.

As a result of the earlier failures, the two CMGs launched to the ISS this week have the following upgrades:

Better use of real time data: Gyro telemetry settings have been adjusted so more information is received on gyro parameters. The system is more vigilant for vibration and electrical transients that can occur when station attitude control is shifted from the Russian thrusters to the gyros. The initial failure occurred during such a transition and such electrical and vibration transients have been seen at other times, including when the second gyro began to fail.

Bearing load reduction: The flywheel's center shaft, an axle-type structure, contacts a spin bearing on each end. "We found that the spin bearing likes to be preloaded to maintain contact with the bearing," Gurrisi says. "And we found there were deficiencies in how we applied and maintained that preload," he said. The initial gyro failure caused substantial internal damage to the bearings and surrounding area, which "looked like it had been in the great train wreck," Gurrisi said.

Lubrication: The primary lubrication was changed from an oil to a grease that more readily sticks to the parts in contact.

Maneuver rates: Attitude control maneuvers using the gyros were normally conducted at 3 deg. per sec. Now sometimes those maneuvers are conducted at about 2 deg. per sec. to reduce wear and tear on the CMG.

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/shuttle/sts129/091121cmg/

The CMG's take approximately 12 hours to wind down when shut off. The early versions used a special oil, now discontinued, made by Kendal Motor Oils and only required 10 grams for a lifetime seal (10 year), since the disks travel very fast and actually plane on the oil. The material in the bearing preload have been changed as well. Bearing preload is critical to prevent bearing load distortion.

At 6,600 rpm the flywheel is normally spinning so fast it takes hours to slow and stop when shut down. When the first gyro failed, it shook the entire station that weighed 300,000 lb. at that time. The CMG container located in the Z-1 truss above the U.S. lab also emitted a long audible groan as the parts destroyed themselves. The flywheel that normally took about 12 hr. to decelerate this time took less than an hour as it ground up the parts around it.

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/shuttle/sts129/091121cmg/

CMG Statistics:
Primary integrator: Boeing
Manufacturer: L3 Communications, Space and Navigation Division, Budd Lake, N.J.
Weight: 600 pounds
Purpose: Control the attitude of the International Space Station without use of
propellant.
Dimensions: 45 inches wide, 48 inches high and 54 inches in length
Structure: Each CMG contains a 220-pound stainless steel flywheel that spins at 6,600
rpm.
Removal and Installation: Only six bolts and four power connectors need to be
detached to remove the Control Moment Gyro from the ISS Z1 Truss.

Point of note...The gyro's can get saturated, which is when the system reaches a point that no compensation is left for a further disturbance. At this point, the station will be re oriented by thrusters, giving the CMG's a new base line to operate with.

Cheers....

Edit /s ...........Don't touch this button by the gyro control panel

/s.....Or this will be displayed.....

4,811 · August 3, 2015

Nice, I always wondered about the Stability Control Systems aboard the ISS and how they maintain Attitude. Now we know ... those gyros are NOT to be trifled with. And when they die, it ain't quiet and peaceful-like.

Thanks, DD. :yes:

6,181 · August 3, 2015

Nice, I always wondered about the Stability Control Systems aboard the ISS and how they maintain Attitude. Now we know ... those gyros are NOT to be trifled with. And when they die, it ain't quiet and peaceful-like.

Thanks, DD.

Pssssst...............I didn't mention the 4 hamster wheels (space rated).......the little guys are camera shy.............Cheers.....

6,181 · August 3, 2015

NASA ISS On Orbit Status report for 31 July, 2015

Day 126 Once in a #BlueMoon. When in space 4 a yr everything is possible Goodnight from @space_station! Credit: Scott Kelly/NASA.

Environmental Health System (EHS) Colorimetric Water Quality Monitoring Kit (CWQMK) Analysis: Kelly performed iodine analysis of water samples collected from the Potable Water Dispenser (PWD). This is a regularly scheduled test to verify water quality.

Environmental Health System (EHS) Sound Level Meter (SLM) Operations: Yui set up the SLM and took sound level readings to measure the acoustic environment in habitable areas of the ISS. The data was downlinked to the ground for analysis.

Three-Day Look Ahead:
Saturday, 08/01: Crew off duty, housekeeping
Sunday, 08/02: Crew off duty, HRF Sampling, VEG-01 watering
Monday, 08/03: EMU 3011 checkout/cooling loop maintenance/conductivity test, HTV HCP setup, IMAX 1DC camera sensor cleaning

QUICK ISS Status - Environmental Control Group:

Component - Status
Elektron - Off
Vozdukh - Manual
[СКВ] 1 - SM Air Conditioner System ("SKV1") - On
[СКВ] 2 - SM Air Conditioner System ("SKV2") - Off
Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly (CDRA) Lab - Standby
Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly (CDRA) Node 3 - Operate
Major Constituent Analyzer (MCA) Lab - Shutdown
Major Constituent Analyzer (MCA) Node 3 - Operate
Oxygen Generation Assembly (OGA) - Process
Urine Processing Assembly (UPA) - Process
Trace Contaminant Control System (TCCS) Lab - Off
Trace Contaminant Control System (TCCS) Node 3 - Full Up

Extra data at the link....

http://spaceref.com/international-space-station/nasa-international-space-station-on-orbit-status-31-july-2015.html

NASA FISO Telecon: Orbital Disposal of Launch Vehicle Upper Stages

Category: Aeronautics and Astronautics

Event Format: Teleconference

Date: Wednesday, August 5, 2015

Location: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, 8800 Greenbelt Road, Greenbelt, MD US

Our next Future In-Space Operations (FISO) telecon colloquium will be Wednesday, August 5, and will host John Reed (ULA Launch), who will speak on "Orbital Disposal of Launch Vehicle Upper Stages."

As always, the colloquium will be at 3pm ET. And please note that there is a new dial-in number for the colloquium as NASA has migrated to a new service: TEL: 844 467 4685 PC: 442398

http://spaceref.com/calendar/calendar.html?pid=8813

Japanese firm to mature whisky in space

Japanese whisky will be sent into space next month to test how time in a zero-gravity environment affects its flavour, one of the country's biggest drinks makers said Friday.

Samples of whisky produced by Suntory will be stored in the Japanese laboratory facility of the International Space Station for at least a year, with some flasks staying longer.

Researchers for the company believe that storing the beverage in an environment with only slight temperature changes and limited liquid movement could lead to a mellower flavour.

Suntory will send whisky aged for 10, 18 and 21 years as well as a number of other alcoholic substances.

Once they are returned to Earth, blenders will assess their flavours while researchers subject the liquids to scientific analysis, the company said.

http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Japanese_firm_to_mature_whisky_in_space_999.html

/s 6 cases up......2 sent back..........robotic arms high 5ing each other.....plants shot out the sat launcher.....log book writing that veers off page.. :woot:

Random Space Twitter.....

Today's Random Twitter Exchange From Outer Space

By Keith Cowing on August 1, 2015 9:05 PM. 12 Comments

Today's Random Twitter Exchange From Outer Space

By Keith Cowing on August 1, 2015 9:05 PM.

12 Comments

Hey @StationCDRKelly, loving the photos. Do you ever look out the window and just freak out?

— President Obama (@POTUS)
August 1, 2015

I don't freak out about anything, Mr. President. Except getting a Twitter question from you. https://t.co/AT0nvUXkq4

— Scott Kelly (@StationCDRKelly)
August 1, 2015

http://nasawatch.com/archives/2015/08/todays-random-t.html

That is a tweet that would catch you off guard......

Volcanoes Dot Snowy Russian Landscape in New Photo from Space

An aerial photograph of the Kamchatka Peninsula in far eastern Russia captured by an astronaut from the International Space Station. The three largest volcanoes in the center of the image include, from left to right, Ushkovsky, Bezymianny and Klyuchevskoy
Credit: NASA-Johnson Space Center

The ashy peak of a volcano stands out amid a snowy scene, hinting at a recent eruption, in newly released images from NASA.

The Kamchatka Peninsula, in eastern Russia, is one of the most active volcanic regions on Earth, and the ash-covered Klyuchevskoy volcano erupts most frequently. The volcano formed 6,000 years ago and hasn't slowed down since, according to NASA.

The image, which shows a thin plume of ash and steam flowing out of the Klyuchevskoy volcano, was captured by an astronaut aboard the International Space Station in early May. Klyuchevskoy is flanked by other snow-covered volcanoes, including Ushkovsky, Bezymianny and Tolbachik, according to NASA.

http://www.space.com/30121-snow-covered-russia-volcanoes-photo.html

Space Station Lunar Transit

The International Space Station, with a crew of six onboard, is seen in silhouette as it transits the moon at roughly five miles per second, Sunday, Aug. 2, 2015, Woodford, VA.

http://spaceref.com/onorbit/space-station-lunar-transit.html

Student Satellite Wins Green Light for Station Deployment

AAUSat-5 ESA

Following more than a year of intense effort channelled into a 10 cm box, the first of ESA's student satellites to be released from the International Space Station has been accepted for launch.

A standard CubeSat measuring 10 x 10 x 10 cm, AAUSat-5 has been designed and built by 30 students from the University of Aalborg in Denmark, backed by ESA's Education Office.

It will be carried to the Station in August, where it will be despatched into space in conjunction with the mission of Danish ESA astronaut Andreas Mogensen.

"The team will have their small CubeSat deployed into orbit from the International Space Station, the most gigantic space structure ever built," commented Piero Galeone of the ESA Education Office's Fly Your Satellite! venture.

http://spaceref.com/nasa-hack-space/student-satellite-wins-green-light-for-station-deployment.html

It's great to see students having this chance, NASA does it a lot as well.....

Canada Finds its Way To Providing GPS 3 Search and Rescue Repeaters

Officials say the satellite project will significantly cut down on the time it takes for search and rescue operations to locate a distress signal. Credit: Department of National Defecne

VICTORIA, British Columbia — After delays because of concerns over funding, the Canadian government has decided to proceed with a project to provide search and rescue repeaters for the U.S. Air Force’s next-generation GPS satellites.

The repeaters provided by Canada’s Medium Earth Orbit Search and Rescue (MEOSAR) satellite project will significantly cut down on the time it takes to locate a distress signal, Canadian military officers say.

Canada’s Department of National Defence will begin negotiations with the U.S. Air Force to install the 24 search and rescue repeaters on the U.S. Air Force’s GPS 3 satellites, the Canadian government announced July 24.

http://spacenews.com/canada-finds-its-way-to-providing-gps-3-search-and-rescue-repeaters/

This is something really needed....good to see...

Cheers......

6,181 · August 5, 2015

NASA International Space Station On-Orbit Status 3 August 2015

NASA International Space Station On-Orbit Status 3 August 2015.

IMAX Camera Change-out and Cleaning: Lindgren swapped the IMAX C500 Digital Cinema camera body with an on-orbit spare, delivered on SpaceX-6. He then cleaned debris from the 1DC Digital Single-Lens Reflex (DSLR) camera sensor. Both cameras were reassembled to operational configuration for resumption of imagery collection. The ISS provides an unparalleled perspective of how both natural and human forces shape planet Earth. IMAX Documentary Film (IMAX) aims to produce a three dimensional movie called A Perfect Planet, which uses ISS-based video and images to illustrate these impacts for audiences of all ages. IMAX also showcases NASA's exploration efforts and highlights the ISS as a platform for scientific research and a stepping stone to deep space exploration.

Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) 3011 Return To Service (RTS): The crew performed loop scrubs of EMUs 3005 and 3011 and collected cooling loop water samples. A series of checkout activities for EMU 3011 to verify performance of the new Fan/Pump/Separator (FPS) that was installed last week was also completed. Initial startup of the new FPS was nominal with no issues. The crew also completed visual water leakage inspections, a structural gas leakage test at the maximum operating suit pressure, and a long-duration leak check. EMU 3011 Return to Service activities are scheduled to continue tomorrow.

HII Transfer Vehicle (HTV)-5 Preparations: Yui assembled HTV Hardware Comm and Panel (HCP) in the Japanese Experiment Module Pressurized Module (JPM). He also routed HCP power/data cables from the JPM to the Cupola and set HCP in the vicinity of Cupola Remote Work Station (RWS).

Three-Day Look Ahead:

Tuesday, 08/04: EMU Return To Service, OBT CHeCS drill, Ocular Health, CARDOX
Wednesday, 08/05: HTV rendezvous OBT, Ocular Health, N1 stowage reconfig
Thursday, 08/06: SPRINT ultrasound, N1 stowage reconfig

QUICK ISS Status - Environmental Control Group:

Component - Status
Elektron - Off
Vozdukh - Manual
[СКВ] 1 - SM Air Conditioner System ("SKV1") - On
[СКВ] 2 - SM Air Conditioner System ("SKV2") - Off
Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly (CDRA) Lab - Standby
Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly (CDRA) Node 3 - Operate
Major Constituent Analyzer (MCA) Lab - Shutdown
Major Constituent Analyzer (MCA) Node 3 - Operate
Oxygen Generation Assembly (OGA) - Process
Urine Processing Assembly (UPA) - Process
Trace Contaminant Control System (TCCS) Lab - Off
Trace Contaminant Control System (TCCS) Node 3 - Full Up

More data at the link...
http://spaceref.com/international-space-station/nasa-international-space-station-on-orbit-status-3-august-2015.html

MDA to Extend Support of the Canadian robotics on the International Space Station

MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd. (“MDA” or the “Company”) (TSX:MDA), a global communications and information company, today announced that it has signed a contract amendment with the Canadian Space Agency for CA$33.8 million extending funding for ongoing support of the Mobile Servicing System on the International Space Station (ISS) through to October 31, 2017.

The Mobile Servicing System comprises Canadarm2, the Special Purpose Dextrous Manipulator known as “Dextre,” and the Mobile Base System. These three robotic systems perform a variety of operations ranging from resupply, maintenance, and servicing tasks on the space station that are critical to the on-going operations of the ISS.

http://spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=46525

NSBRI seeks proposals to support space exploration mission crews

The National Space Biomedical Research Institute (NSBRI) is soliciting for ground-based and analog definition research proposals to develop safe and effective countermeasures and technologies that will reduce the significant biomedical risks associated with human space travel.

These discoveries will not only enable safe and productive human spaceflight, but will also have the potential to improve life on Earth. The Human Exploration Research Opportunities (HERO) announcement entitled "Research and Technology Development to Support Crew Health and Performance in Space Exploration Missions" was released jointly with NASA's Human Research Program on July 31, 2015.

NSBRI is soliciting for research proposals of one year in duration to strengthen the project portfolios of its Human Factors and Performance, Musculoskeletal Alterations, Neurobehavioral and Psychosocial Factors, Radiation Effects, and Smart Medical Systems and Technology research teams.

http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/NSBRI_Soliciting_For_Research_Proposals_to_Support_Crew_Health_and_Performance_During_Space_Exploration_Missions_999.html

Apollo Moon Rocket Engines Recovered by Amazon CEO Preserved for Display

Two and a half years after an expedition led by the CEO of Amazon.com raised them off the ocean floor, the historic rocket engine parts that launched NASA astronauts on at least three missions to the moon are now preserved for museum display.

The conservation team at the Cosmosphere International SciEd Center and Space Museum (formerly known as the Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center) in Hutchinson, Kansas completed researching and stabilizing the 25,000 pounds (11,340 kg) of Saturn V F-1 engine parts in June.

The mangled and twisted Apollo artifacts were recovered by a privately-financed effort organized by Amazon.com's Jeff Bezos more than four decades after the engines were used in the launches of the first, second and fifth manned moon landings.

Apollo Saturn V F-1 engine thrust chamber on the ocean floor, as seen where it sat for more than 40 years before being recovered in 2013.
Credit: Bezos Expeditions

Bezos Expeditions surprised the world in March 2012 by announcing success in its up-to-then secret search to find the F-1 engines where they sunk some 14,000 feet (4,300 meters) below the Atlantic Ocean surface. Almost exactly a year later, Bezos again made international headlines by revealing that the same team had raised parts for several engines off the seafloor.

The components from the 19-foot-tall (5.8 m) engines were delivered to the Cosmosphere's SpaceWorks conservation facility, where the museum had earlier restored the Apollo 13 command module "Odyssey" and the ocean-recovered sunken Mercury capsule "Liberty Bell 7."

Apollo F-1 engine parts recovered from the ocean floor by Bezos Expeditions as they appeared at the start of their conservation at the Cosmosphere in 2013. Two and a half years later, the historic artifacts are ready for museum display. (Space.com )

After accelerating the Saturn V to more than 6,000 mph (9,600 km/h) and pushing the rocket to more than 40 miles high (64 km), the engines then dropped back to Earth for a violent splashdown. Their impact with the ocean ripped the F-1 engines apart like tin cans.

Dizzying Up And Down Rocket Flight Captured By On-Board Cam | Video

The Mapheus-05 sounding rocket was sent 161 miles (259 km) into the atmosphere and recorded video up and down...

Video at this link...
http://www.space.com/30137-dizzying-up-and-down-rocket-flight-captured-by-on-board-cam-video.html

Kazakh Cosmonaut to be Sent to ISS Instead of Sarah Brightman

Aydin Aimbetov.

Russia's Federal Space Agency Roscosmos said Friday it had approved the main and the substitute crews of the Expedition 45/46 scheduled to be sent to the International Space Station on board the Soyuz TMA-18M spacecraft on September 2.

The main crew comprises Russian cosmonaut Sergei Volkov, European Space Agency flight engineer Andreas Mogensen, who will become the first Danish astronaut, and Kazakh cosmonaut Aydin Aimbetov.

http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Kazakh_Cosmonaut_to_be_Sent_to_ISS_Instead_of_Sarah_Brightman_999.html

KOUNOTORI5 (HTV5)/H-IIB F5 Countdown

After international coordination, the dates for capturing the KOUNOTORI5, a cargo transporter to the International Space Station (ISS), and its berthing have been respectively set as August 20 (Thu.) and 21 (Fri.) The KOUNOTORI5 is scheduled to be launched on August 16 (Sun.) from the Tahegashima Space Center. It was also decided that Astronaut Kimiya Yui will manipulate the ISS robotic arm to capture the KOUNOTORI2

http://global.jaxa.jp/projects/rockets/htv/

ISS and Earth Observation fleet monitor super typhoon Soudelor

Eyes in the sky are continuing to track super typhoon Soudelor, providing vital Earth Observation data to forecasters tasked with relaying information to those that may be affected by the dangerous Category 5 storm. Numerous weather satellites – and even the RapidScat instrument on the International Space Station (ISS) – are being employed to monitor the super typhoon.

Currently in the Pacific Ocean, Super typhoon Soudelor’s has now reached Category Five typhoon status on the Saffir-Simpson Wind Scale.

The ISS has also been following the typhoon as the Station passes overhead during its orbits around the planet.

Soudelor was observed by cameras on the outside of the orbital outpost.

Also hosted on the outside of the Station is the RapidScat instrument.

Flown to the ISS inside the Trunk of the CRS-4/SpX-4 Dragon, ISS-RapidScat is studying the Earth’s ocean surface wind speed and direction, returning a lost capability when the SeaWinds scatterometer aboard NASA’s then 10-year-old QuikScat satellite experienced an age-related antenna failure.

http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2015/08/iss-fleet-monitor-super-typhoon-soudelor/

Cheers......

6,181 · August 5, 2015

Misc bits and bytes......

Senate Approves U.S. Commercial Space Launch Competitiveness Act

The U.S. Senate, today, unanimously approved S. 1297, the U.S. Commercial Space Launch Competitiveness Act, introduced by Commerce Committee Space, Science, and Competitiveness Subcommittee chairman Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), full committee ranking member Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), Space, Science, and Competitiveness Subcommittee ranking member Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.), and subcommittee members Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), and Cory Gardner (R-Colo.). The legislation, which the full Commerce Committee approved by voice vote with an amendment on May 20, 2015, extends the operational use of the International Space Station (ISS) until 2024, a regulatory moratorium on commercial space activity through FY 2020, and ensures stability for the continued development and growth of the U.S. commercial space sector and other space initiatives.

"Today, the United States Senate carried President Reagan’s torch forward by passing the Commercial Space Launch Competitiveness Act,” said Cruz. “This bipartisan legislation makes a commitment to supporting the continued development of a strong commercial space sector and recognizes that Texas has a major stake in space exploration. My legislation also provides NASA and the International Space Station with nearly a decade of mission certainty by extending the operation and utilization of the International Space Station until 2024. This certainty signifies that the men and women at Johnson Space Center will continue to play a vital role in the future of manned spaceflight.”

US ISS support made for 2024.....stability for commercial ventures.....

http://spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=46528

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ESA support for ISS through 2020 done via Orion construction.......

Orion service module still seen as schedule driver

Artist’s concept of the Orion spacecraft with the European service module’s distinctive X-wing solar panels. Credit: NASA

Quote;

The pace of the European Space Agency’s development of a power and propulsion module for NASA’s Orion crew capsule will likely determine when an unpiloted test flight of the spaceship and its heavy-lift rocket will take off, NASA officials said last week.

The first flight of NASA’s Space Launch System is currently penciled in some time between July and September 2018, according to Bill Hill, NASA’s deputy associate administrator for exploration systems development.

The ESA-funded development of the Orion service module counts as Europe’s contribution to the International Space Station’s annual operating costs from 2017 through 2020. ESA discontinued flights of its cargo delivery craft, the Automated Transfer Vehicle, in 2014.

http://spaceflightnow.com/2015/08/03/orion-service-module-seen-as-schedule-driver/

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Blue moon time lapse video from ISS

Video at the link......shows where the blue comes from.....
http://www.space.com/30132-what-a-blue-moon-looks-like-in-space-time-lapse-video.html

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Brigadier General Wayne Monteith Takes Over as New 45th Space Wing Commander

Lt. Gen. John W. “Jay” Raymond, commander, 14th Air Force (Air Forces Strategic) and Joint Functional Component Command for Space, presents Brig. Gen. Wayne Monteith, 45th Space Wing commander during a change of command ceremony, Aug. 4, 2015, at Patrick Air Force Base, Florida. Changes of command are a military tradition representing the transfer of responsibilities from the presiding officials to the upcoming official. Photo and Caption Credit: U.S. Air Force/Matthew Jurgens (Released)

This morning (Aug. 4, 2015) Air Force Brigadier General Wayne Monteith officially took on his new role as commander of the 45th Space Wing during a Change of Command ceremony at Patrick Air Force Base, Fla. In doing so Monteith is now Director of the Eastern Range for Air Force Space Command, a 15-million-square-mile area which supports an average of 1-2 launches per month aboard a variety of vehicles, including United Launch Alliance’s (ULA) Delta-IV and Atlas-V rockets, as well as SpaceX’s Falcon-9 and Navy and other emerging launch vehicles, such as Small Class Vehicles which will start flying late next year from Kennedy Space Center’s new Launch Complex 39C.

http://www.americaspace.com/

Cheers....

6,181 · August 6, 2015

NASA International Space Station On-Orbit Status 4 August 2015

Flight Engineers Kjell Lindgren of NASA and Japanese astronaut Kimiya performed vision tests and blood pressure measurements as part of ongoing Ocular health checkouts. Lindgren also reviewed procedures for the Cardio Ox study that looks for any cardiovascular health risks associated with long duration spaceflight.

Yui also continued preparing communications gear for controlling the Japanese HTV cargo vehicle in advance of Japan's fifth cargo mission to the International Space Station. One-Year crew member Scott Kelly also continued work to return one U.S. spacesuit to service, performing a series of checkouts and analysis for the ground.

Cosmonauts Gennady Padalka and Mikhail Kornienko spent some time looking at their Russian Orlan spacesuits before Monday's upcoming spacewalk. Their fellow cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko checked Russian life support gear, updated inventory systems and participated in biomedical research.

Three-Day Look Ahead:
Wednesday, 08/05: HTV rendezvous OBT, Ocular Health, N1 Galley Rack Prep
Thursday, 08/06: SPRINT ultrasound, N1 Galley Rack Prep
Friday, 08/07: Ocular Health, SPHERES SLOSH, IMAX video

QUICK ISS Status - Environmental Control Group:

Component - Status
Elektron - Off
Vozdukh Manual
[СКВ] 1 - SM Air Conditioner System ("SKV1") - On
[СКВ] 2 - SM Air Conditioner System ("SKV2") - Off
Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly (CDRA) Lab - Standby
Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly (CDRA) Node 3 - Operate
Major Constituent Analyzer (MCA) Lab - Shutdown
Major Constituent Analyzer (MCA) Node 3 - Operate
Oxygen Generation Assembly (OGA) - Process
Urine Processing Assembly (UPA) - Process
Trace Contaminant Control System (TCCS) Lab - Off
Trace Contaminant Control System (TCCS) Node 3 - Full Up

More data at the link....

http://spaceref.com/international-space-station/nasa-international-space-station-on-orbit-status-4-august-2015.html

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NASA, Blaming Commercial Crew Cuts, Extends Soyuz Contract

Expedition 44 Flight Engineer Kjell Lindgren of NASA has his Russian Sokol suit pressure checked in preparation for his July 22 launch to ISS aboard the Soyuz TMA-17M spacecraft. Credit: GCTC/NASA/Irina Peshkova

WASHINGTON — NASA formally notified Congress Aug. 5 that it is issuing a $490 million extension of an existing contract to purchase Soyuz seats from the Russian space agency, saying that it was forced to do so because of cuts in the agency’s commercial crew program.

“I am writing to inform you that NASA, once again, has modified its current contract with the Russian government to meet America’s requirements for crew transportation services,” NASA Administrator Charles Bolden wrote in the letter to the House and Senate committees that oversee NASA. “Under this contract modification, the cost of these services to the U.S. taxpayers will be approximately $490 million.”

The agency’s plan to procure additional Soyuz seats is not a surprise. In February, NASA announced its intent to extend its contract with Roscosmos to purchase six Soyuz seats for flights in 2018. NASA said at the time it needed to make a decision now on the 2018 Soyuz seats, even though it anticipated having commercial crew vehicles in service by then, because of the three-year lead time for Soyuz flights.

NASA had not previously disclosed the $490 million price of the 2018 contract extension, which works out to $81.7 million per seat. That amount is seven percent higher than the $458 million NASA paid Roscosmos for the same number of Soyuz seats in 2017.

That contract extension, Bolden argued in the letter, would have been unnecessary had Congress funded the program at the levels requested by NASA since 2010. “Unfortunately, for five years now, the Congress, while incrementally increasing annual funding, has not adequately funded the Commercial Crew Program to return human spaceflight launches to American soil this year, as planned,” he wrote.

That debate about commercial crew funding has continued to the agency’s 2016 budget request. While NASA asked for $1.243 billion for the program, an appropriations bill passed by the House in June provides $1 billion to the program, while a bill awaiting consideration by the full Senate gives the program $900 million.

Bolden, as he and other NASA officials have done in recent months, warned in the letter that a shortfall of funding in 2016 would result in development delays for the two companies NASA has under contract, Boeing and SpaceX. Specifically, he wrote the funding levels proposed in the House and Senate bills “would likely result in funds running out for both contractors during the spring/summer of [fiscal year] 2016.” That, he warned, would require renegotiations those contracts, “likely resulting in further schedule slippage and increased cost.”

http://spacenews.com/nasa-blaming-commercial-crew-cuts-extends-soyuz-contract/

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NASA space station program manager stepping down

Mike Suffredini, manager of NASA’s International Space Station program, is stepping down after 10 years overseeing the lab’s final assembly and transition to post-shuttle operations, the agency said Wednesday. Kirk Shireman, deputy director of the Johnson Space Center and Suffredini’s former deputy, will take over as program manager.

Suffredini, whose matter-of-fact, detailed explanations of complex technical issues made him a favorite of space reporters, was responsible for getting the hugely-expensive space station completed in the wake of the 2003 Columbia disaster.

Along with overseeing a series of complex shuttle assembly missions, he also worked with the Russian federal space agency Roscosmos to secure seats on Soyuz spacecraft to ensure U.S. and partner astronauts could reach the station after the shuttle’s retirement in 2011.

He also helped implement U.S. commercial cargo flights to the lab complex and was a proponent of NASA’s push to build U.S. commercial crew ferry ships to end the agency’s sole reliance on Russian Soyuz spacecraft for transportation to and from the space station.

Shireman served as the deputy manager of the space station program from 2006 to 2013 when he was named deputy director of the Johnson Space Center. He also chaired the space station Mission Management Team and held a variety of positions in the space shuttle program.

“Kirk brings considerable space station experience to this new leadership role,” Gerstenmaier said. “As program manager, Kirk will work directly with international partners to ensure safe and reliable operation of the orbiting laboratory and foster continued scientific research that benefits humanity and helps prepare the agency for its journey to Mars.”

http://spaceflightnow.com/2015/08/05/nasa-space-station-program-manager-stepping-down/

http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/prnewswire-space-news.html?doc=201508051816PR_NEWS_USPR_____DC73691&showRelease=1&dir=0&categories=AEROSPACE-AND-SPACE-EXPLORATION&andorquestion=OR&&passDir=0,1,2,3,4,5,6,15,17,34

http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2015/08/suffredini-leaves-nasa-490m-heads-roscosmos/

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Tiny Cubesat Will Hunt for Water Ice on the Moon

Artist's concept of the Lunar IceCube spacecraft searching for water from lunar orbit.

A spacecraft the size of a cereal box will soon be hunting for water on the moon.

NASA has given the go-ahead to a mission called Lunar IceCube, a public-private partnership that will send a tiny cubesat to do water-ice prospecting from an elliptical orbit around the moon. The spacecraft's observations could aid future robotic and human exploration of Earth's nearest neighbor, mission team members have said.

"Lunar IceCube is a key pathfinder experiment for future small-scale planetary missions," mission team member Avi Mandell, of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, said in a statement.

Lunar IceCube will probably end up launching with a number of other deep-space cubesats on the first flight of NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) megarocket, which is currently scheduled for 2018.

http://www.space.com/30161-moon-water-cubesat-lunar-icecube.html

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Guarding Space: Russia Creates a New Branch of the Armed Forces

The Aerospace Force is responsible for centralized control over the combat air forces, air defense forces, and anti-missile defense network as well as the launch and control of the spacecraft of Russia's orbit group and control over aerospace.

Russia has created a new branch of its armed forces by merging the nation's air force, air defense, anti-missile and space forces into the Aerospace Forces; their first combat duty started on August 1. Russia has added a new branch to its armed forces - the Aerospace Force.

The newly created branch has merged the country's air force, air defense, anti-missile and space forces under one command, according to Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu.

"The creation of the Aerospace Forces by merging the air force and aerospace defense force is the optimal way of improving the system of the nation's aerospace defense," Shoigu said at a teleconference on Monday.

The Aerospace Force is responsible for centralized control over the combat air forces, air defense forces, and anti-missile defense network as well as the launch and control of the spacecraft of Russia's orbit group and control over aerospace.

http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Guarding_Space_Russia_Creates_a_New_Branch_of_the_Armed_Forces_999.html

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Planetary Ring Riddle Solved

Saturn's rings UNIVERSITY OF LEICESTER

In a breakthrough study scientists have solved an age-old scientific riddle by discovering that planetary rings, such as those orbiting Saturn, have a universally similar particle distribution.

The study, which is published in the academic journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), also suggests that Saturn's rings are essentially in a steady state that does not depend on their history.

Professor Nikolai Brilliantov from the University of Leicester's Department of Mathematics explained: "Saturn's rings are relatively well studied and it is known that they consist of ice particles ranging in size from centimetres to about ten metres. With a high probability these particles are remains of some catastrophic event in a far past, and it is not surprising that there exists debris of all sizes, varying from very small to very large ones.

"What is surprising is that the relative abundance of particles of different sizes follows, with a high accuracy, a beautiful mathematical law 'of inverse cubes'. That is, the abundance of 2 metre-size particles is 8 times smaller than the abundance of 1 metre-size particles, the abundance of 3 metre-size particles is 27 times smaller and so on. This holds true up to the size of about 10 metres, then follows an abrupt drop in the abundance of particles. The reason for this drastic drop, as well as the nature of the amazing inverse cubes law, has remained a riddle until now.

"We have finally resolved the riddle of particle size distribution. In particular, our study shows that the observed distribution is not peculiar for Saturn's rings, but has a universal character. In other words, it is generic for all planetary rings which have particles to have a similar nature."

Most of the planets in the Solar System have smaller bodies, or satellites, that orbit a planet. Some of them, such as Saturn, Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune, additionally possess planetary rings - a collection of still smaller bodies of different sizes that also orbit a planet. It is likely that planetary rings also exist beyond the Solar System.

http://spaceref.com/saturn/planetary-ring-riddle-solved.html

Cheers...

8,882 · August 6, 2015

So it may be an elementary question but why does Saturns debris field appear as bands that cluster around the planet and not distributed i,e, like Earths space debris?

6,181 · August 6, 2015

So it may be an elementary question but why does Saturns debris field appear as bands that cluster around the planet and not distributed i,e, like Earths space debris?

That is actually a good and difficult question.....Short answer....Not sure why the debris formed into rings. Educated guess's have it due to the massive gravitation at the equator (of the gas giants) during planet formation and unformed debris further away from the Sun and the large number of moons, greater than 62. Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune also have rings, but very thin and small ones whereas the "rocky planets" have none.

Nasa

One thing we know for sure. Saturn's rings are made of ice and rock. These pieces vary in size. Some are as small as a grain of sand. Others are as large as a house. But scientists aren't sure when or how Saturn's rings formed. They think the rings might have something to do with Saturn's many moons.

https://www.nasa.gov/audience/forstudents/k-4/stories/nasa-knows/ring-a-round-the-saturn.html

Universe Today

The simplest answer as to why Saturn has rings and what they are made of is that the planet has accumulated a great deal of dust, particles, and ice at varying distances from its surface. These items are most likely trapped by gravity. The rings appear because of the wavelengths of light reflected by these rings of debris.

Some scientists speculate that Saturn may be too big. Its gravitational pull is so strong that it has been able to snatch debris from space. Some of which is as large as an entire building. That pull is why it has at least 62 moons. Those moons contribute dust to the rings as well as absorb dust from the rings.

A common theory as to how all of the material initially accumulated in Saturn’s rings is a series of asteroid impacts. Not with the planet, but with the moons around it. After the impact the remnants of the asteroids and the debris from the moons could not escape the gravitational pull of the planet.

One other theory holds that the rings of Saturn formed as other moons broke apart in ancient times. Additionally, this theory states that some of the material could be from earlier, during the formation of the solar system, and Saturn could not accrete the material while it was forming and it has been in orbit ever since.

http://www.universetoday.com/84129/why-does-saturn-have-rings/

Space.com

Yet even today, just how and when each of the rings each formed remains unknown.

http://www.space.com/7165-enduring-mystery-saturn-rings.html

Scienceline

Thank you for your question. In fact Saturn is not the only planet in our solar system that has rings, in fact all the giant gas planets have them: Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune. However, these other ring systems are extremely thin and almost impossible to see. Planets like the Earth, Mars or Venus are made of rocky material and have no rings.

The solar system formed from a cloud of cold gas that collapsed due to gravity. A big glob of stuff formed in the center and eventually became the Sun. Meanwhile, some of the cloud material orbited around the proto-Sun and flattened into a disk. In the disk, some matter came together to form small planetoids that slowly grew. The matter that was closer to the center was also warmer so only the more dense stuff such as metals and rocks combined together to form planets; the warm gas was moving too fast to get caught. Farther away, everything was cooler so gases like hydrogen and helium could also get sucked up by the new planets. So the planets closer to the Sun (Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars) are small and rocky while the ones farther away (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune) are big gas giants.

Because it was cooler farther away from the Sun it seems that it was easier for the big gas giants to also form moons (in fact there is quite a controversy regarding how the Earth and Mars got their satellites). As it turns out, these moons probably help keep trapped material that the planet has caught in rings instead of flying away or crashing into the planet. In addition, the rings seem to be partly made of frozen gases which don't exist closer to the Sun. So the bottom line is that the farther away gas giants are much more likely to be able to form and keep rings than the inner rocky planets.

http://scienceline.ucsb.edu/getkey.php?key=1085

Hope that helps....Cheers

6,181 · August 7, 2015

NASA International Space Station On-Orbit Status 5 August 2015

Japan's HTV-5. NASA

Two cosmonauts are getting ready for a six-hour spacewalk coming up Monday morning. Six days later Japan will launch its fifth resupply mission to the International Space Station. Both events will be covered live on NASA Television.

Russian spacewalkers Gennady Padalka and Mikhail Kornienko looked over their timeline and procedures, installed gear on their spacesuits and closed hatches to a space freighter docked to a module they will stage their spacewalk from. The duo will exit the Pirs docking compartment to replace external experiments and photograph the condition of the Russian station modules.

NASA astronaut Kjell Lindgren joined Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui for a session today to practice maneuvers they will use to capture Japan's HTV-5 resupply ship in two weeks. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency is scheduled to launch the HTV-5 Aug. 16 for a four-day trip before being captured by Yui and Lindgren with the Canadarm2 and berthed to the Harmony module.

Three-Day Look Ahead:
Thursday, 08/06: SPRINT ultrasound, N1 Galley Rack Prep, FPS Tool Stow
Friday, 08/07: Ocular Health, SPHERES SLOSH, IMAX video
Saturday, 08/08: Crew off duty, housekeeping

QUICK ISS Status - Environmental Control Group:

Component - Status
Elektron - Off
Vozdukh - Manual
[СКВ] 1 - SM Air Conditioner System ("SKV1") - On
[СКВ] 2 - SM Air Conditioner System ("SKV2") - Off
Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly (CDRA) Lab - Standby
Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly (CDRA) Node 3 - Operate
Major Constituent Analyzer (MCA) Lab - Shutdown
Major Constituent Analyzer (MCA) Node 3 - Operate
Oxygen Generation Assembly (OGA) - Process
Urine Processing Assembly (UPA) - Process
Trace Contaminant Control System (TCCS) Lab - Off
Trace Contaminant Control System (TCCS) Node 3 - Full Up

For more info.....

http://spaceref.com/international-space-station/nasa-international-space-station-on-orbit-status-5-august-2015.html

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Chronological EVA list, 187 and counting.....

ISS construction requires extensive international cooperation and preparation activities. Technologies in the fields of extravehicular activities (EVAs) and robotics play major roles during the construction and maintenance of ISS. More than 600 tasks and 1260 hours of EVAs are estimated to complete ISS assembly.

Regardless of his or her nationality, an EVA crew member uses US's Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) to conduct EVA at the USA segment. Russia's Orlan space suit is used to conduct EVA at the Russian segment.

List at the link.....

http://iss.jaxa.jp/iss/assemble/doc04_e.html

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NASA, Space Station Partners Announce Crew Members for Missions in 2017

WASHINGTON, Aug. 6, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA and itsInternational Space Station (ISS) partners have announced the crew members for missions to the orbiting laboratory in 2017. The selection includes first-time space flyers NASA astronauts Mark Vande Hei and Jack Fischer.

The crew comprising Expedition 51 will be:

Peggy Whitson, NASA

Oleg Novitskiy, Roscosmos

Thomas Pesquet, ESA

Mark Vande Hei, NASA

Alexander Misurkin, Roscosmos

Nikolai Tikhonov, Roscosmos

The crew comprising Expedition 52 will be:

Mark Vande Hei, NASA

Alexander Misurkin, Roscosmos

Nikolai Tikhonov, Roscosmos

Jack Fischer, NASA

Paolo Nespoli, ESA

Fyodor Yurchikin, Roscosmos

The space station is a convergence of science, technology and human innovation that enables us to demonstrate new technologies and make research breakthroughs not possible on Earth. It has been continuously occupied since November 2000 and, since then, has been visited by more than 200 people and a variety of international and commercial spacecraft. The space station remains the springboard to NASA's next giant leap in exploration, including future missions to an asteroid and Mars.

http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/prnewswire-space-news.html?doc=201508061613PR_NEWS_USPR_____DC74590&showRelease=1&dir=0&categories=AEROSPACE-AND-SPACE-EXPLORATION&andorquestion=OR&&passDir=0,1,2,3,4,5,6,15,17,34

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Russian Greenhouse Studies ‘Lettuce’ Know About Plant Growth in Space

Some of the most important tasks in space biology include the creation of reliable and effectively functioning life support systems, and providing sustaining food sources for crew members. For long-term interplanetary spaceflights and planetary bases, the human life support system and food production has to be based on regenerating the living environment from life support products through physical/chemical and biological processes. Greenhouses will most likely be designed for the cultivation of vegetables, primarily greens and herbs. However, in order to implement these plans, plants must grow, develop, and reproduce in spaceflight with cultivation productivity similar to Earth. To address this need, a series of 17 Rasteniya experiments were conducted from 2002-2011 using the Lada greenhouse on the Russian segment of the International Space Station.

Multigenerational studies were carried out to culture genetically tagged dwarf pea plants in the Lada space greenhouse. For the first time in space research, four consecutive generations of genetically tagged pea line seeds were obtained in spaceflight. The growth and development characteristics of various lines of pea plants did not change in a significant way compared to ground control samples. Using molecular methods with random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) primers with 10 markers and analyzing chromosomal aberrations, it was demonstrated that plants having undergone four complete development cycles in spaceflight did not manifest genetic polymorphism. That makes it possible to assert that there is no impact of spaceflight factors on the genetic apparatus of plants in the first to the fourth “space” generations.

To prepare a chain of higher plants for future life support systems of space crews, experiments were carried out to cultivate the leafy vegetable plant mizuna (Brassica rapa var. nipposinica). Results showed that the significant increase in the parameter of total contamination of International Space Station (ISS) air did not result in a decrease in productivity of the leafy vegetable plant; however, the plants responded with a change in gene expression.

A space experiment to grow super dwarf wheat during a complete vegetation cycle showed that the rate ofplant development over 90 days did not differ from data from ground control experiments. When the space-produced seeds were planted on the ground, plants that grew were no different from the control sample.

Scientists have also studied the interaction of plants with the soil. The processes by which plant roots receive water, gases and nutrients are different in space than they are on Earth. On Earth, gravity and surface tension combine to move water through soil, allowing air to move through the pore spaces in the soil to the plant’s roots. In space, soil is replaced with an artificial growth medium, made up of small grains or other porous material. In microgravity, liquid moves through capillary action, where the liquid is attracted to the adjacent surface of a solid material. The surface tension of the liquid pulls additional liquid along as each new surface is wetted. If the plant is over-watered and all of the surface area and open spaces within the growth medium are filled with liquid, then gas (air) can’t move, and the plant’s roots are deprived of air and oxygen. When properly wetted, as water is used by the roots, surface tension pulls additional liquid along without filling the pore spaces, and therefore without preventing oxygen from diffusing through the open spaces to the roots. Studies in the Lada greenhouse have addressed the importance of root zone media in these extreme artificial conditions. Scientists have studied a variety of root zone substrates—growth media, material particle sizes, and packing structure—and learned which combinations work best.

More data at the link....

https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/news/russian_greenhouse

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Robotic maker system will build biggest composite rocket parts ever made

The 21-foot robot arm moves on a track in the Composites Technology Center in NASA's National Center for Advanced Manufacturing at Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. The robot head is dispensing hair-thin carbon fiber tape in precise patterns to make a large composite panel. Image courtesy NASA/MSFC/Fred Deaton.

A titan now resides at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. This titan is no Greek god, but one of the largest composites manufacturing robots created in America, and it will help NASA build the biggest, lightweight composite parts ever made for space vehicles.

"Marshall has been investing in composites for a long time," said Preston Jones, deputy director of Marshall's Engineering Directorate. "This addition to Marshall's Composites Technology Center provides modern technology to develop low-cost and high-speed manufacturing processes for making large composite rocket structures. We will build and test these structures to determine if they are a good fit for space vehicles that will carry humans on exploration missions to Mars and other places."

It takes a myriad of different materials to build a space vehicle like NASA's new Space Launch System, a heavy-lift rocket designed to take explorers on deep space missions. The lighter the rocket, the more payload--crew, science instruments, food, equipment, and habitats--the rocket can carry to space.

"The robot will build structures larger than 8 meters, or 26 feet, in diameter, some of the largest composite structures ever constructed for space vehicles, "said Justin Jackson, the Marshall materials engineer who installed and checked out the robot and who helped build and test one of the largest composite rocket fuel tanks ever made.

http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Robotic_Manufacturing_System_Will_Build_Biggest_Composite_Rocket_Parts_Ever_Made_999.html

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Europe's Latest Weather Satellite Delivers its First Image

Europe's Latest Weather Satellite Delivers its First Image.

The European Space Agency (ESA) was responsible for the initial operations after launch (the so-called launch and early orbit phase) of MSG-4 and handed over the satellite to EUMETSAT on 26 July.

The first image is a joint achievement by ESA, EUMETSAT, and the European space industry. For its mandatory programmes, EUMETSAT relies on ESA for the development of new satellites and procuring the recurrent satellites like MSG-4. This cooperation model has made Europe a world leader in satellite meteorology by making best use of the two agencies' expertise.

http://spaceref.com/onorbit/europes-latest-weather-satellite-delivers-its-first-image.html

Launched........

The last weather satellite in Europe's highly successful Meteosat Second Generation series lifted off on an Ariane 5 launcher at 21:42 GMT (23:42 CEST) on 15 July from Europe's Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana.

The two-satellite MSG system provides up-to-date weather coverage over Europe and Africa every 15 minutes and 'rapid scan' imagery over Europe every five minutes.

http://spaceref.biz/agencies/europes-msg-4-weather-satellite-delivered-into-orbit.html

This is the video of the launch. It's a mix of live and animated with the live onboard camera showing stage separation and shroud deployment.

/s Notice the "huge industrial Gumby"

Cheers.......

6,181 · August 8, 2015

NASA International Space Station On-Orbit Status 6 August 2015

The International Space Station crew worked a variety of biomedical experiments in the midst of preparations for Monday's spacewalk. Meanwhile on the ground, a new Soyuz crew is getting ready for its launch next month to the orbital laboratory.

The orbiting crew took part in studies observing how the human body adapts to weightlessness during long duration missions in space. Scientists are looking at how astronauts interact with touch-based technologies and repair sensitive equipment for the Fine Motor Skills experiment. The crew also participated in ultrasound scans for the Sprint study to help doctors explore new experiment techniques for improving crew productivity.

A pair of cosmonauts are getting the station's Russian segment and their tools ready for Monday's six-hour spacewalk. They will replace external experiments and photograph the exterior condition of the Russian modules.

Back on Earth, three new Soyuz crew members are conducting mission simulations before their departure to the Baikonur Cosmodrome launch site on Aug. 18. Soyuz Commander Sergei Volkov and Flight Engineers Andres Mogensen and Aidyn AImbetov will launch aboard the Soyuz TMA-18M spacecraft Sept. 2.

Plant Circumnutation and Its dependence on the Gravity Response (Plant Rotation): Yui removed Plant Rotation Sample 3 from the Cell Biology Experiment Facility (CBEF) Incubator Unit 1-Gravity (1G) centrifuge. During this experiment run, rice plants underwent microgravity rotation first, then a 1G rotation. Many species of climbing plants grow upward in a spiraling shape, a process known as circumnutation. Plant organs, such as stems, leaves, and roots also grow in a spiraling, helical shape. This spiraling process can take many forms, including very tight loops and broad curves. The Plant Rotation experiment verifies the hypothesis that this type of plant growth requires gravity.

Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) 3011 Fan Pump Separator (FPS) Remove & Replace (R&R)Tool Stow: Lindgren stowed tools and hardware that were used during last week's EMU 3011 FPS R&R. He organized the tools so they are ready for future R&R activities.

Node 1 (N1) Galley Rack Prep: Reorganization of N1 stowage in preparation for the Galley Rack arrival on HTV-5 continues. Today the crew trashed obsolete items and co-located crew provisions pantry items.

Oxygen Generation System (OGS) Rack Avionics Air Assembly (AAA) Inlet Flow Measurement: This morning Lindgren used the Velocicalc to measure the air flow rate into the OGS Rack AAA Inlet. The purpose of this measurement was to ensure that sufficient airflow exists in the rack to allow deferral of the AAA inlet muffler filter block and flow straightener cleaning to allow higher priority maintenance tasks to be performed in the coming weeks. Based on the Velocicalc data the air flow rate is lower than expected, ground teams are currently discussing the data.

Three-Day Look Ahead:
Friday, 08/07: Ocular Health, SPHERES SLOSH, IMAX video
Saturday, 08/08: Crew off duty, housekeeping, Earth Rim
Sunday, 08/09: Crew off duty

QUICK ISS Status - Environmental Control Group:

Component - Status
Elektron - Off
Vozdukh - Manual
[СКВ] 1 - SM Air Conditioner System ("SKV1") - On
[СКВ] 2 - SM Air Conditioner System ("SKV2") - Off
Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly (CDRA) Lab - Standby
Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly (CDRA) Node 3 - Operate
Major Constituent Analyzer (MCA) Lab - Shutdown
Major Constituent Analyzer (MCA) Node 3 - Operate
Oxygen Generation Assembly (OGA) - Process
Urine Processing Assembly (UPA) - Process
Trace Contaminant Control System (TCCS) Lab - Off
Trace Contaminant Control System (TCCS) Node 3 - Full Up

Spacewalk Preview...informative...a good watch...

Veggie video...

http://spaceref.com/international-space-station/nasa-international-space-station-on-orbit-status-6-august-2015.html

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NASA Space Station Live: Expedition 44 Midterm Report

Expedition 39 flight engineer Steve Swanson (wearing sunglasses) is photographed near the Veggie facility in ExPRESS (Expedite the Processing of Experiments to Space Station) Rack 3 (ER3) during Veg-01 experiment initialization. Credit: NASA.

NASA Commentator Dan Huot talks with Jorge Sotomayor, the Expedition 44 lead increment scientist, about some of the highlights of recent science research on the International Space Station, including the upcoming first-ever crew consumption of lettuce grown on orbit in the Veggie compact greenhouse, mobility testing of the Robonaut robotic crew member, and the deployment of a flock of Earth-observing satellites.

http://spaceref.com/international-space-station/nasa-space-station-live-expedition-44-midterm-report.html

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Veteran Russian Cosmonauts Set for Spacewalk on NASA TV

WASHINGTON, Aug. 7, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA Television will broadcast live coverage of a six-hour spacewalk by two Russian crew members aboard the International Space Station beginning at 9:45 a.m. EDT Monday, Aug. 10.

The spacewalk will be the 188th in support of space station assembly and maintenance, and the 10th spacewalk for Padalka, who has spent more time in space than any other human. It will be the second spacewalk for Kornienko, who is in the fifth month of a one-year mission on the complex.

Padalka will be designated extravehicular crew member 1 (EV1) and Kornienko will be extravehicular crew member 2 (EV2). Both will wear Russian Orlan spacesuits bearing blue stripes.

For NASA TV streaming video, schedule and downlink information, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/nasatv

For more information about the International Space Station and its crew, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/station

http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/prnewswire-space-news.html?doc=201508071146PR_NEWS_USPR_____DC75079&showRelease=1&dir=0&categories=AEROSPACE-AND-SPACE-EXPLORATION&andorquestion=OR&&passDir=0,1,2,3,4,5,6,15,17,34

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Spaceflight may increase susceptibility to inflammatory bowel disease

Here's the summary of a new research report appearing in the August 2015 issue of The FASEB Journal: Prolonged spaceflight may give you a nasty case of diarrhea. Specifically, when mice were subjected to simulated spaceflight conditions, the balance of bacteria and the function of immune cells in the gut changed, leading to increased bowel inflammation.

"Our study provides useful insights on the cross-regulation of the mucosal immune system, epithelial barrier and commensal bacteria not only in humans in spaceflight or analog, but also in humans on earth that undergo various stresses," said Qing Ge, Ph.D., study author from the Department of Immunology at Peking University Health Science Center in Peking, Beijing.

To make their discovery, Ge and colleagues used four groups of mice. The first and third groups were suspended for 14 days by the tail at a 15 degree head-down tilt with their hindlimbs suspended. Access to food and water was ensured using both water bottles and gel packs and food distributed around the floor of the cage. Animals demonstrated no adverse effects or pronounced weight loss.

The second and fourth groups were normal. Starting from day seven, the third and the fourth groups were fed with three percent dextran sulfate sodium dissolved in drinking water to induce inflammatory bowel disease whereas the first and the second groups received plain water.

Compared to the second ground control group, the first group with hindlimb suspension revealed altered composition of intestinal bacteria, decreased regulatory T cells, increased neutrophils, and imbalance of pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines in the colon tissues.

The third group with hindlimb suspension had more severe pathology of inflammatory bowel disease when compared to the fourth control group. This includes more weight loss, more severe rectal bleeding and tissue damage and increased death rate in the hindlimb suspended mice after colitis induction.

"We already know that a trip to Mars and back may well have serious, possibly permanent, effects on the bodies of the astronauts," said Gerald Weissmann, M.D., Editor-in-Chief of The FASEB Journal. "Now we learn that the hidden passengers on that mission--the bacteria their gut--will be affected as well. This lends further credence to the fact that life on Earth, including the microbiome, evolved under gravity and needs it to thrive."

http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Spaceflight_may_increase_susceptibility_to_inflammatory_bowel_disease_999.html

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Meals Ready to Eat: Expedition 44 Crew Members Sample Leafy Greens Grown on Space Station

Fresh food grown in the microgravity environment of space officially is on the menu for the first time for NASA astronauts on the International Space Station. Expedition 44 crew members, including NASA's one-year astronaut Scott Kelly, are ready to sample the fruits of their labor after harvesting a crop of "Outredgeous" red romaine lettuce Monday, Aug. 10, from the Veggie plant growth system on the nation’s orbiting laboratory.

The astronauts will clean the leafy greens with citric acid-based, food safe sanitizing wipes before consuming them. They will eat half of the space bounty, setting aside the other half to be packaged and frozen on the station until it can be returned to Earth for scientific analysis.

NASA's plant experiment, called Veg-01, is being used to study the in-orbit function and performance of the plant growth facility and its rooting "pillows," which contain the seeds.

https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/news/meals_ready_to_eat

Cheers.......

6,181 · August 8, 2015

More than Space Salad: Zero-G Botany is Rewriting Textbooks

Gravity is a constant for all organisms on Earth. It acts on every aspect of our physiology, behavior and development – no matter what you are, you evolved in an environment where gravity roots us firmly to the ground.

But what happens if you’re removed from that familiar environment and placed into a situation outside your evolutionary experience? That’s exactly the question we ask every day of the plants we grow in our laboratory. They start out here in our earthbound lab, but they’re on their way to outer space. What could be a more novel environment for a plant than the zero-gravity conditions of spaceflight?

One of the first things we found was that certain root growth strategies that everyone had assumed need gravity actually don’t require it at all.

To seek out water and nutrients, plants need their roots to grow away from where they are planted. On Earth, gravity is the most important “cue” for the direction to grow, but plants also use touch (think of the root tip as a sensitive fingertip) to help navigate around obstacles.

Back in 1880, Charles Darwin showed that when you grow plants along a slanted surface, the roots don’t grow straight away from the seed, but rather take a jog to one side. This root growth strategy is called “skewing.“ Darwin hypothesized that a combination of gravity and the root touching its way across the surface was behind it - and for 130 years, that’s what everyone else thought too.

But in 2010, we saw that the roots of the plants we grew on the ISS marched across the surface of their Petri plate in a perfect example of root skewing – no gravity required. It was quite a surprise. So what’s really behind root-skewing on orbit, since it’s obviously not gravity?

Plants on the ISS do have a potentially second source of information from which they could get a directional cue: light. We hypothesized that in the absence of gravity to point roots “away” from the direction of the leaves, light plays a bigger role in root guidance.

What we found was that yes, light is important, but not just any light will do – there has to be a gradient of light intensity for it to act as a useful guide. Think of it in terms of a good smell: you can navigate to the kitchen with your eyes closed when cookies are just coming out of the oven, but if the whole house is flooded equally with the scent of chocolate chip cookies, you couldn’t find your way.

In the absence of gravity, plants can’t use the “tools” they’re used to for navigation, so they had to craft together another solution. They can do that by regulating the way they express their genes. That way they can make more or less of specific proteins that are helpful or not in zero gravity. Various plant parts came up with their own gene regulation strategies.

We found a number of genes involved in making and remodeling cell walls are expressed differently in space-grown plants. Other genes involved with light-sensing – normally expressed in leaves on Earth – are expressed in roots on the ISS. In leaves, many genes associated with plant hormone signaling are repressed, and genes associated with insect defense are more active. These same trends are also seen in the relative abundance of proteins involved in signaling, cell wall metabolism and defense.

These patterns of genes and proteins tell a story – in microgravity, plants respond by loosening their cell walls, along with creating new ways to sense their environment.

More data at the link....

http://www.space.com/30199-more-than-space-salad-zero-g-botany-is-rewriting-textbooks.html

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Cygnus set for December Atlas V ride ahead of Antares return

Orbital ATK’s Cygnus spacecraft is set to return to International Space Station (ISS) resupply duties in December, hitching a ride on an Atlas V, prior to resuming operations with the modified Antares rocket in 2016. Cygnus has been out of action since the CRS-3/OrB-3 failure that occurred in October 2014 – with the full investigation results yet to be released to the public.

The return of Cygnus resupply missions will prove to be a welcome boost for the ISS, following an unprecedented loss of three Visiting Vehicle missions in close succession, including the OrB-3 Cygnus that was lost shortly after launch.

The loss of the CRS-3/OrB-3 Cygnus was followed by the failure of the Russian Progress M-27Mspacecraft and the destruction of the CRS-7 Dragon when SpaceX’s Falcon 9 v1.1 failed during ascent.

The return of Cygnus is expected to take place in December, with the current launch date showing on Flight Planning documentation (L2) as December 3, with Cygnus arriving at the ISS for berthing on December 6 for a 60 day mission.

Spacecraft could use sat-nav for directions to the moon

Sat-nav, where’s the nearest service station? (Image: NASA/SIPA/REX Shutterstock)

At the next space station, turn left. Efforts to repurpose GPS and other navigation satellites to help spacecraft reach the moon are under way, and could bring about an increase in lunar-bound traffic.

You can’t just point your rocket at the moon and be sure of getting there in one piece – you need to navigate. “It’s not possible to predict the trajectory accurately,” says Vincenzo Capuano of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland. “That’s why you need to know where the spacecraft is.”

Currently, spacecraft communicate with tracking stations on Earth, such as NASA’s Deep Space Network, to monitor their positions. But these large radio antenna facilities are expensive to run, and there are a limited number dotted around the planet. If we’re ever going to send spacecraft to the moon on a regular basis, we’ll need a more autonomous system.

Enter GPS. Some spacecraft in low Earth orbit, around the level of the International Space Station, already use GPS to navigate, but missions to the moon fly well above the GPS satellites. That’s a problem, since the transmitters point down, towards Earth.

Now Capuano and his colleagues have figured out that spacecraft on their way to the moon could use signals from GPS satellites on the distant side of Earth to navigate. The signal is much weaker, but they’ve calculated that combining signals from US GPS satellites with those from Galileo, a European navigation system currently under construction, would be enough for a lunar trip. “You would save a lot of money because you don’t need a lot of people working in the ground stations,” says Capuano.

The team is also developing more powerful GPS receivers to pick up this weaker signal, which could in turn have benefits on Earth – standard smartphone receivers struggle to get a location inside buildings or other built-up areas, so new devices could mean better navigation.

https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn28010-spacecraft-could-use-sat-nav-for-directions-to-the-moon/

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Perseid meteor shower

Multi-photo composite showing Perseid meteors shooting from their radiant point in the constellation Perseus. This year’s Perseid shower will peak on August 12-13 (Wednesday night-Thursday morning) with a meteor a minute visible from a dark sky. Credit: NASA

Every year in mid-August, Earth plows headlong into the debris left behind by Comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle. Slamming into our atmosphere at 130,000 mph, the crumbles flash to light as the Perseid meteor shower. One of the world’s most beloved cosmic spectacles, this year’s show promises to be a real crowd pleaser.

Not only will the Moon be absent, but the shower maximum happens around 3 a.m. CDT (8 UT) August 13 — early morning hours across North America when the Perseid radiant is highest. How many meteors will you see? Somewhere in the neighborhood of 50-100 meteors per hour. As always, the darker and less light polluted your observing site, the more zips and zaps you’ll see.

http://www.universetoday.com/121599/kick-back-look-up-were-in-for-a-great-perseid-meteor-shower/#more-121599

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New Study Sheds Light on Origin of Most Common Meteorites

For decades astronomers debated the source of the most common type of meteorites that fall on Earth called H ordinary chondrites. A new study by researchers at the Planetary Science Institute sheds some light on the origin of these meteorites in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.

"H-chondrites make up 33 percent of all the meteorites that fall on Earth, yet their origin has been the source of debate for the last few decades. We have now added an important piece to this puzzle that will contribute to resolve this debate," said Juan Sanchez, an associate research scientist at PSI who is the lead author of a paper published in The Astrophysical Journal.

H ordinary chondrites have been traditionally linked to (6) Hebe, a large asteroid located in the inner part of the main asteroid belt. This study, however, shows that some of these meteorites might have originated in a more distant region of the main belt.

The team of astronomers, which included PSI researchers Vishnu Reddy and Lucille Le Corre, studied minerals on the surface of a near-Earth asteroid named (214869) 2007 PA8 using the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF) on Mauna Kea, Hawai'i during its close approach to Earth during November 2012. These observations showed that H ordinary chondrite meteorites came from an asteroid similar to 2007 PA8.

2007 PA8, like all near-Earth asteroids, comes from the main asteroid belt. However, its orbit places the origin of this object in the outer regions of the main belt.

"The fact that a near-Earth asteroid with this orbit has a composition similar to H-chondrites suggests that some of these meteorites might not be related to (6) Hebe, nor originated in the inner part of the main belt," Sanchez said.

"Moreover, it allows us to link H-chondrites to some specific asteroid families in the outer part of the main belt. Our study shows that the Koronis family is the most likely source region for 2007 PA8, and possibly the source for some of the H-chondrites that fall on Earth," he said.

The research is funded by a grant to PSI from NASA's Near Earth Object Observations program.

http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/New_Study_Sheds_Light_on_Origin_of_Most_Common_Meteorites_999.html

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US Military Awards New Contracts for XS-1 Space Plane

This artist's concept art depicts one possible Boeing design for the U.S. Military's XS-1 Experimental Spaceplane concept. (Boeing)

Two companies have each gotten another $6.5 million to continue developing their concepts for the United States military's XS-1 robotic space plane.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) awarded Boeing and Northrop Grumman the additional funds for work under "Phase 1B" of the XS-1 space planeprogram. The two companies, along with Masten Space Systems, had received money in summer 2014 for initial "Phase 1" design work. (Boeing and Northrop Grumman got about $4 million then, while Masten received $3 million.)

The additional $6.5 million will allow Boeing to "continue the development of the XS-1 demonstration concept, substantiating identified core component technologies, mitigating risk, developing a Technology Maturation Plan (TMP), and performing several demonstration tasks," Boeing's contract modification states. Completion of these tasks is expected by August 2016. [DARPA Unveils New Experimental Spaceplane Design (Animation)]

DARPA wants the reusable XS-1 — short for Experimental Spaceplane-1 — to make it easier and cheaper to get satellites to orbit. Eventually, the unmanned vehicle should be able to fly 10 times in a 10-day span and launch 3,000- to 5,000-lb. (1,361 to 2,268 kilograms) payloads for less than $5 million per mission, agency officials have said.

"Northrop Grumman is focusing on the core DARPA hard parts of XS-1 — 10 launches in 10 days and bringing payloads to LEO [low-Earth orbit]," Doug Young, vice president of Space Systems Resiliency at Northrop Grumman, said in a statement provided to Space.com.

The XS-1 will likely feature a reusable first stage and one or more expendable upper stages. The first stage will fly to suborbital space and then return to Earth, while the upper stage(s) will deploy the space plane's payloads.

The first XS-1 orbital mission could take place as early as 2018, DARPA officials have said.

Corrected Sunspot History Suggests Climate Change Not Due to Natural Solar Trends

Drawing of the Sun made by Galileo Galilei on 23 June 1613

The Sunspot Number, the longest scientific experiment still ongoing, is a crucial tool used to study the solar dynamo, space weather and climate change.

It has now been recalibrated and shows a consistent history of solar activity over the past few centuries. The new record has no significant long-term upward trend in solar activity since 1700, as was previously indicated. This suggests that rising global temperatures since the industrial revolution cannot be attributed to increased solar activity. The analysis, its results and its implications for climate research were made public today at a press briefing at the International Astronomical Union (IAU) XXIX General Assembly, currently taking place in Honolulu, Hawai`i, USA.

The sunspot number is the only direct record of the evolution of the solar cycle over multiple centuries and is the longest scientific experiment still ongoing.

The apparent upward trend of solar activity between the 18th century and the late 20th century has now been identified as a major calibration error in the Group Sunspot Number. Now that this error has been corrected, solar activity appears to have remained relatively stable since the 1700s [3].

The IAU is the international astronomical organisation that brings together more than 10 000 professional astronomers from almost 100 countries. Its mission is to promote and safeguard the science of astronomy in all its aspects through international cooperation. The IAU also serves as the internationally recognised authority for assigning designations to celestial bodies and the surface features on them. Founded in 1919, the IAU is the world's largest professional body for astronomers.

For the full story and references, please check out the link....

http://spaceref.com/space-weather-2/corrected-sunspot-history-suggests-climate-change-not-due-to-natural-solar-trends.html

Cheers.....

8,882 · August 8, 2015

Interesting stuff and I was surprised just how small at 1cm that particular chunk was.So given how close that asteroid in the image appears how does the ISS protect itself from this yearly shower of debris or is it litteraly hunker down and hope it misses?

6,181 · August 8, 2015

Interesting stuff and I was surprised just how small at 1cm that particular chunk was.So given how close that asteroid in the image appears how does the ISS protect itself from this yearly shower of debris or is it litteraly hunker down and hope it misses?

Everyday, the Earth gets hit by about 100 tons of meteoroids, of various sizes. The ISS is in continual freefall and must use reboosts to increase orbital altitude and velocity, to stay in orbit. NASA maintains a "box" around the station of 30 x 30 miles, 1 mile deep and monitors for any transgression by anything picked up by observation equipment. It takes about a day for a major change...snail pace...therefore, depending on threat assessment, the station can go into "safe mode", emergency equipment is placed throughout the station and the crew can use the Soyuz vehicles for emergency egress. Construction of the ISS included MMOD protection in various forms (prior posts). The station has been hit several times, such as a cupola window and the solar SAW's. It basically comes down to a statistical probability, and with space being large, we run with the odd's and reduce as much external activity as possible during peak "shower" times (The shuttle would not fly during peak times)......Meaning you are right...hunker down.....Cheers.......

6,181 · August 10, 2015

NASA ISS Space to Ground Weekly Report - 7 August 2015

http://spaceref.com/international-space-station/nasa-iss-space-to-ground-weekly-report---7-august-2015.html

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Perseids: Bright Meteor Shower in August

Editor's note: The 2015 Perseid meteor shower runs from July 13 to Aug. 26, with the peak observing time predicted for the overnight hours of Aug. 12 and Aug. 13. According to scientists at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, this year's Perseids display could spawn up to 100 meteors per hour under the most optimum observing conditions (clear dark skies well away from any intereference from city lights). If you snap an amazing photo of the Perseids, let us know! Send images and comments in to Space.com at: spacephotos@space.com.

The Perseids meteor shower happens every August. The Earth plows into debris left behind from Comet Swift-Tuttle, which last passed close to Earth in 1992.

While the comet poses no threat to the planet for the foreseeable future, it is a very large object. Its nucleus of 6 miles (9.7 kilometers) in diameter is about the same size as the one that crashed into Earth about 66 million years ago and killed the dinosaurs.

Characteristics of the Perseids

Meteor showers are named after the constellation from which the meteors appear to emanate. From Earth's perspective, the Perseids appear to come approximately from the direction of the Northern Hemisphere constellation Perseus. The constellation's position in the sky is:

Right ascension: 3 hours

Declination: 45 degrees

Visible between latitudes 90 and -35 degrees

A typical Perseid meteoroid (which is what they're called while in space) moves at 133,200 mph (214,365 kph) when it hits Earth's atmosphere (and then they are called meteors). Most of the Perseids are tiny, about the size of a sand grain. Peak activity is about 60 meteors per hour, according to NASA. Almost none hit the ground, but if one does, it's called a meteorite.

Peak temperatures for Perseids are more than 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit (1,650 Celsius) as each fragment travels through the atmosphere and both compresses and heats the air in front of it. Most of the fragments are visible when they are about 60 miles (97 kilometers) from the ground.

The meteors are bright, and showers take place during August, which is an easy time for amateur astronomers to stay outside in the Northern Hemisphere, as it is summertime. The Perseids are also one of the most well-known showers, NASA noted. "The Perseids are typically fast and bright meteors that frequently leave trails," the agency wrote.

The photographer has combined 23 individual stills to convey the excitement and dynamism of this natural firework display.
Credit: David Kingham | The National Maritime Museum | Royal Observatory Greenwich’s Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2013

http://www.space.com/23066-perseids.html

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Meteor Showers and Shooting Stars: Formation, Facts and Discovery

Meteor showers occur when dust or particles from asteroids or comets enter Earth's atmosphere at very high speed. When they hit the atmosphere, meteors rub against air particles and create friction, heating the meteors. The heat vaporizes most meteors, creating what we call shooting stars.

Most meteors become visible at around 60 miles (96.5 kilometers) up. Some large meteors splatter, causing a brighter flash called a fireball, which can often be seen during the day and heard up to 30 miles (48 km) away.On average, meteors can speed through the atmosphere at about 30,000 mph (48,280 kph) and reach temperatures of about 3,000 F (1,648 C).

Most meteors are very small, some as tiny as a grain of sand, so they disintegrate in the air. Larger ones that reach the Earth's surface are called meteorites and are rare.

Whether an object breaks apart depends on its composition, speed and angle of entry. A faster meteor at an oblique angle suffers greater stress. Meteors made of iron withstand the stress better than those of stone. Even an iron meteor will usually break up as the atmosphere becomes denser, around 5 to 7 miles up.

Impact with Earth

When meteorites do hit the ground, their speed roughly half what it was upon entry, they blast out craters 12 to 20 times their size. Craters on Earth form much as they would on the moon or any rocky planet. Smaller objects create bowl-shaped craters. Larger impacts cause a rebound that creates a central peak; slipping along the rim forms terraces. The largest impacts form basins in which multiple rebounds form several inner peaks.

Large meteors can explode above the surface, causing widespread damage from the blast and ensuing fire. This happened in 1908 over Siberia, in what’s called the Tunguska event. On June 30, 1908, across hundreds of miles, witnesses saw a ball of fire streak through the sky, suggesting the meteor entered the atmosphere at an oblique angle. It exploded, sending out hot winds and loud noises and shook the ground enough to break windows in nearby villages. Small particles blown into the atmosphere lit the night sky for several days. No meteorite was ever found, and for years many scientists thought the devastation was caused by a comet. Now, the prevailing theory holds that a meteor exploded just above the surface.

A similar event occurred over Chelyabinsk, Russia, when a 17-meter rock exploded 12 to 15 miles above the Earth's surface on Feb. 15, 2013, damaging buildings and injuring more than 1,000 people. According to a statement by Peter Brown of the University of Western Ontario in Canada, "The energy of the resulting explosion exceeded 470 kilotons of TNT" — 30 to 40 times more powerful than the atomic bomb dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima during World War II.

Although the Russian event brought into focus the possible danger Earth could suffer from space rocks, most meteors don't cause nearly as much damage.

History

In ancient times, objects in the night sky conjured superstition and were associated with gods and religion. But misunderstandings about meteors lasted longer than they did about most other celestial objects.

Meteorites (the pieces that make it to Earth) were long ago thought to be cast down as gifts from angels. Others thought the gods were displaying their anger. As late as the 17th century, many believed they fell from thunderstorms (they were nicknamed "thunderstones"). Many scientists were skeptical that stones could fall from the clouds or the heavens, and often they simply didn't believe the accounts of people who claimed to have seen such things.

In 1807, a fireball exploded over Connecticut, and several meteorites rained down. By then the first handful of asteroids had been discovered, and a new theory emerged suggesting meteorites were broken bits off asteroids or other planets. (A theory that still holds.)

The largest meteorite recovered in the United States fell in a wheat field in southern Nebraska in 1948. Witnesses saw a giant fireball in the afternoon that some said was brighter than the sun. The meteorite was found buried 10 feet deep in the ground. It weighed 2,360 pounds.

The most famous meteorite crater in the United States is misnamed Meteor Crater. It's in Arizona, and it's huge. The rim rises 150 feet from the surrounding plain, and the hole is 600 feet deep and nearly a mile wide. It was the first crater that was proven to be caused by a meteorite impact, which occurred between 20,000 and 50,000 years ago.

http://www.space.com/15353-meteor-showers-facts-shooting-stars-skywatching-sdcmp.html

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Pointless News Reel

Op-ed | China, Talk and Cooperation in Space

Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry. Credit: U.S. Department of State

At the end of June, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi, in the course of the U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue, agreed to establish “regular bilateral government consultations on civil space cooperation.” Neither the purpose of these consultations nor the topics they will cover was immediately clear.

NASA leads civil space activities in the United States. But, as space policy expert Marcia Smith points out, the agency and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy are statutorily prohibited from expending any funds to “develop, design, plan, promulgate, implement, or execute a bilateral policy, program, order, or contract of any kind to participate, collaborate, or coordinate bilaterally in any way with China or any Chinese-owned company.” In short, the State Department just agreed to discuss civil space activities that the relevant U.S. agencies are legally prohibited from pursuing.

http://spacenews.com/op-ed-china-talk-and-cooperation-in-space/

Cheers.......

6,181 · August 10, 2015

Misc Space Goodies....

---------------------------------------------

NASA to Share the Universe with Tumblr Users

WASHINGTON, Aug. 7, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA is launching an official Tumblr profile that will give Tumblr users a regular dose of space in a blog-like format through text, photos, videos and more.

Tumblr is a social media platform that allows users to connect and follow other content creators in a collaborative micro-blog format. People are able to discover, share and create content that expresses their personality, hobbies and interests. The NASA Tumblr profile will share information, images and video about the agency's missions of exploration and discovery.

To follow NASA's new Tumblr account, visit:

http://nasa.tumblr.com

http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/prnewswire-space-news.html?doc=201508071639PR_NEWS_USPR_____DC75227&showRelease=1&dir=0&categories=AEROSPACE-AND-SPACE-EXPLORATION&andorquestion=OR&&passDir=0,1,2,3,4,5,6,15,17,34

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Jupiter's Great Red Spot: A Swirling Mystery

Trapped between two jet streams, the Great Red Spot is an anticyclone swirling around a center of high atmospheric pressure that makes it rotate in the opposite sense of hurricanes on Earth. Image courtesy NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute.

The largest and most powerful hurricanes ever recorded on Earth spanned over 1,000 miles across with winds gusting up to around 200 mph. That's wide enough to stretch across nearly all U.S. states east of Texas. But even that kind of storm is dwarfed by the Great Red Spot, a gigantic storm in Jupiter. There, gigantic means twice as wide as Earth.

With tumultuous winds peaking at about 400 mph, the Great Red Spot has been swirling wildly over Jupiter's skies for the past 150 years-maybe even much longer than that. While people saw a big spot in Jupiter as early as they started stargazing through telescopes in the 1600s, it is still unclear whether they were looking at a different storm. Today, scientists know the Great Red Spot is there and it's been there for a while, but they still struggle to learn what causes its swirl of reddish hues.

Understanding the Great Red Spot is not easy, and it's mostly Jupiter's fault. A planet a thousand times as big as Earth, Jupiter consists mostly of gas. A liquid ocean of hydrogen surrounds its core, and the atmosphere consists mostly of hydrogen and helium. That translates into no solid ground like we have on Earth to weaken storms.

Studies predict Jupiter's upper atmosphere has clouds consisting of ammonia, ammonium hydrosulfide, and water. Still, scientists don't know exactly how or even whether these chemicals react to give colors like those in the Great Red Spot. Plus, these compounds make up only a small part of the atmosphere. "We're talking about something that only makes up a really tiny portion of the atmosphere," Simon said. "That's what makes it so hard to figure out exactly what makes the colors that we see."

Like Simon, other scientists at Goddard work to shed light on the Great Red Spot's mystery. Goddard scientists Mark Loeffler and Reggie Hudson have been performing laboratory studies to investigate whether cosmic rays, one type of radiation that strikes Jupiter's clouds, can chemically alter ammonium hydrosulfide to produce new compounds that could explain the spot's color.

Ammonium hydrosulfide is unstable under Earth's atmospheric conditions, so Loeffler makes his own batch by heating hydrogen sulfide and ammonia together. He then blasts them with charged particles, similar to the cosmic rays impacting Jupiter's clouds. "Our first step is to try to identify what forms when ammonium hydrosulfide is irradiated," Loeffler said. "We have recently finished identifying these new products, and now we are trying to correlate what we have learned with the colors in Jupiter. "

Other experts agree with the leading theory that deep under Jupiter's clouds, a colorless ammonium hydrosulfide layer could be reacting with cosmic rays or UV radiation from the sun. But Simon said many chemicals turn red under different situations. "That's the problem," she said. "Is it turning the right color red?" Under the right conditions, ammonium hydrosulfide might be.

With the Great Red Spot and other reddish parts of Jupiter, coloring may result from multiple factors, as opposed to just ammonium hydrosulfide.

http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Jupiters_Great_Red_Spot_A_Swirling_Mystery_999.html

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Gravitational Constant Appears Universally Constant

Pulsar (NRAO)

Gravity, one of the four fundamental forces of nature, appears reassuringly constant across the Universe, according to a decades-long study of a distant pulsar.

This research helps to answer a long-standing question in cosmology: Is the force of gravity the same everywhere and at all times? The answer, so far, appears to be yes.

Astronomers using the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Green Bank Telescope (GBT) in West Virginia and its Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico conducted a 21-year study to precisely measure the steady "tick-tick-tick" of a pulsar known as PSR J1713+0747. This painstaking research produced the best constraint ever of the gravitational constant measured outside of our Solar System.

Pulsars are the rapidly spinning, superdense remains of massive stars that detonated as supernovas. They are detected from Earth by the beams of radio waves that emanate from their magnetic poles and sweep across space as the pulsar rotates. Since they are phenomenally dense and massive, yet comparatively small a mere 2025 kilometers across some pulsars are able to maintain their rate of spin with a consistency that rivals the best atomic clocks on Earth. This makes pulsars exceptional cosmic laboratories to study the fundamental nature of space, time, and gravity.

This particular pulsar is approximately 3,750 light-years from Earth. It orbits a companion white dwarf star and is one of the brightest, most stable pulsars known. Previous studies show that it takes about 68 days for the pulsar to orbit its white dwarf companion, meaning they share an uncommonly wide orbit. This separation is essential for the study of gravity because the effect of gravitational radiation the steady conversion of orbital velocity to gravitational waves as predicted by Einstein is incredibly small and would have negligible impact on the orbit of the pulsar. A more pronounced orbital change would confound the accuracy of the pulsar timing experiment.

"The uncanny consistency of this stellar remnant offers intriguing evidence that the fundamental force of gravity the big 'G' of physics remains rock-solid throughout space," said Weiwei Zhu, an astronomer formerly with the University of British Columbia in Canada and lead author on a study accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal. "This is an observation that has important implications in cosmology and some of the fundamental forces of physics."

"Gravity is the force that binds stars, planets, and galaxies together," said Scott Ransom, a co-author and astronomer with the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Charlottesville, Va. "Though it appears on Earth to be constant and universal, there are some theories in cosmology that suggest gravity may change over time or may be different in different corners of the Universe."

The data taken throughout this experiment are consistent with an unchanging gravitational constant in a distant star system. Earlier related research in our own Solar System, which was based on precise laser ranging studies of the Earth-Moon distance, found the same consistency over time.

"These results new and old allow us to rule out with good confidence that there could be 'special' times or locations with different gravitational behavior," added Ingrid Stairs, a co-author from the University of British Columbia in Canada. "Theories of gravity that are different from general relativity often make such predictions, and we have put new restrictions on the parameters that describe these theories."

Zhu concluded: "The gravitational constant is a fundamental constant of physics, so it is important to test this basic assumption using objects at different places, times, and gravitational conditions. The fact that we see gravity perform the same in our Solar System as it does in a distant star system helps to confirm that the gravitational constant truly is universal."

This work was part of the North American Nanohertz Observatory for Gravitational Waves (NANOGrav), a Physics Frontiers Center funded by the NSF.

The GBT is located in the National Radio Quiet Zone, which protects the incredibly sensitive telescope from unwanted radio interference, enabling it to study pulsars and other astronomical objects.

The National Radio Astronomy Observatory is a facility of the National Science Foundation, operated under cooperative agreement by Associated Universities, Inc.

http://spaceref.com/astronomy/gravitational-constant-appears-universally-constant.html

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Neutrinos from inside Earth and deep space illuminate the cosmos

Massive particle detectors in Italy and the South Pole are closing in on ghostly visitors, both from deep beneath Earth’s crust and far out in space. These barely there particles, called neutrinos, provide us with a glimpse of these distant and inaccessible locales.

Neutrinos are nearly massless, neutrally charged particles produced during radioactive decay. They very rarely interact with other particles, meaning that trillions pass through your body every second, completely unnoticed.

That hasn’t stopped physicists trying to spot them. The Borexino detector in Gran Sasso, Italy, is a giant metal sphere full of liquid scintillator, which flashes when a neutrino interacts. It has been gathering data since the end of 2007, but recently the team announced that they’ve confirmed the existence of neutrinos coming from Earth’s crust and mantle, or geo-neutrinos.

Geo-neutrinos, which are actually an antimatter version of regular neutrinos, had been seen before by both Borexino and the KamLAND detector near Hida, Japan, but only faintly. Borexino now has 2056 days of data and sees geo-neutrinos with 5.9 sigma significance, meaning there’s about a 1 in 275 million chance that it’s wrong and passing the particle physicists’ convention of 5 sigma for a firm detection.

The extra information has also allowed the team to better measure the ratios of radioactive uranium and thorium within Earth responsible for producing the particles, and for the first time distinguish between geo-neutrinos from the crust and those from the deeper mantle. “Now we have more evidence that some of these radioactive elements are also in the mantle,” says Borexino lead Gianpaolo Bellini of the Italian National Institute for Nuclear Physics.

Down and up

While Borexino looks down, the IceCube detector at the South Pole is looking up, for astrophysical neutrinos thought to come from outside our galaxy, like gamma-ray bursts and burping black holes. The IceCube team first saw two of these high-energy neutrinos in 2013 and nicknamed them Bert and Ernie, after the Sesame Street characters.

Since then, they have seen many more, and continued the trend with names like Big Bird. Their latest neutrino was reported last week with an energy of more than 2000 trillion electronvolts – the highest ever seen, and around 150 times more energetic than collisions at the Large Hadron Collider.

Determining just how high these energies can go will help link the neutrinos to astrophysical sources seen by other experiments, like NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray space telescope, and learn more about them to illuminate mysteries like dark matter.

IceCube is now getting so much data that the team has given up naming individual detections, says detector leadFrancis Halzen of the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

“We are in the happy situation that there are not enough Muppets,” he says. “We’ve run out of Muppets.”

https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn28023-neutrinos-from-inside-earth-and-deep-space-illuminate-the-cosmos/

Cheers......

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