International Space Station (Updates)

[Draggendrop Veteran]

Its easy enough to assure deorbit a cubesat. The package can include either a ~30 meter tether or balloon which automatically deploys after X period of time. Both increase drag enough to deorbit the satellite.

In fact, that is what was so shocking about the cubesat article...extremely easy to rectify the issue with ready made deorbit packages available from many sources. You would think that in this day and age, with the growing attention to space debris mitigation, that sat builders would install such devices "without" having to be mandated by legislative authority...do we need to issue dunce caps to offenders... 

Almost getting to this point...../s.....

 

 

Soyuz TMA-17M photo's, prelaunch....

 

 

Two spaceflight rookies and a veteran Russian cosmonaut blasted off from Kazakhstan and flew to the International Space station on Wednesday, riding a Soyuz spaceship from a predawn departure from Earth to a high-altitude linkup with the orbiting research lab.

The kerosene-fueled Soyuz rocket lifted off at 2102 GMT (5:02 p.m. EDT) Wednesday, or 3:02 a.m. local time at Baikonur. Ten minutes later, the third stage of the booster released the Soyuz TMA-17M spaceship in orbit with Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko at the controls, flanked by Japanese flight engineer Kimiya Yui and NASA astronaut Kjell Lindgren.

One of the Soyuz ferry craft

[Draggendrop Veteran]

Great news for the ISS....Russia extends participation.......excellent.......

 

 

 

The Russian government has agreed to prolong life of the International Space Station (ISS) until 2024, the head of Russia's space agency Roscosmos Igor Komarov said.

"The government has approved our joint proposal [of partner countries] on the extension of ISS life until 2024," Komarov said early on Thursday, adding that political disagreements between the partner states have not affected the ISS program.

 

 

 

The ISS program is a joint project among five participating space agencies: the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Russia's Roscosmos, the European Space Agency (ESA), Japan's Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA).

The station is divided into two sections - the Russian Orbital Segment (ROS) and the United States Orbital Segment (USOS).

The ISS is the ninth space station to be inhabited by crews. It has been continuously occupied for over 14 years since the arrival of Expedition 1 in November 2000.

Russian Soyuz rockets are currently the only provider of human transport to the ISS.

http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Russia_Extends_Life_of_International_Space_Station_Until_2024_999.html

 

 

Black box for re-entry burn ups ?.......

 

 

 

The Aerospace Corp. did not set out to establish an organization focused on designing and building miniature satellites. During the late 1990s and early 2000s, engineers who began building spacecraft weighing a few kilograms or even less worked in multiple departments. That changed in 2007 when the company established its Mechanics Research Department.

[FloatingFatMan]

Most cubesats have no on-board propulsion. Many cubesat owners are obliged to take such launch opportunities as are available to them, even though their spacecraft, as secondary payloads, must accept whatever orbit is required for the rocket

[Draggendrop Veteran]

The solution is simple.  No de-orbit capability, no launch.

 

If the current situation is allowed to carry on, pretty soon it's going to become even more dangerous to be in orbit thanks to all the junk floating around.

Yes, I agree for cubesats and some form of similar plan for larger units......measures are available and should be enforced.....Cheers

 

Just found a concept drawing for NASA's Space Station Freedom...which is the ISS....

 

/s..Just before the TMA-17M solar panel unfurled....

 

/s...Speaking of cubesat mess....

 

/s Could not resist doing the SpaceX touch to the TMA-17M launch photo....

 

could not sleep...goofy post....later....

[Draggendrop Veteran]

NASA ISS On Orbit Status for 23 July 2015

 

 

 

NASA astronaut Kjell Lindgren, Oleg Kononenko of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) and Kimiya Yui of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) joined their Expedition 44 crewmates when the hatches between the Soyuz TMA-17M spacecraft and the International Space Station officially opened at 12:56 a.m. EDT.

Expedition 44 Commander Gennady Padalka of Roscosmos, as well as Flight Engineers Scott Kelly of NASA and Mikhail Kornienko of Roscosmos welcomed the new crew members aboard their orbital home.

The crew will support several hundred experiments in biology, biotechnology, physical science and Earth science -- research that impacts life on Earth.

Kjell Lindgren and Kimiya Yiu are now the 217th and 218th people to board the International Space Station. This is the first visit for both Lindgren and Yiu, and the third for Kononenko.

All six Expedition 44 crew members gathered inside the Zvezda service module for a crew greeting ceremony with new crewmates (front row from left) Kimiya Yui, Oleg Kononenko and Kjell Lindgren. In the back from left are Mikhail Kornienko, Gennady Padalka and Scott Kelly. Credit: NASA TV.

 

Hatch opening.....

 

 

 

Three-Day Look Ahead:

Thursday, 07/25: Crew off duty following 43S Docking
Friday, 07/24: Lab RPCM R&R, JAXA PCG install, Emergency Roles & Responsibilities review
Saturday, 07/25: Crew off duty, housekeeping
QUICK ISS Status - Environmental Control Group:

Component - Status
Elektron - Off
Vozdukh - Manual
[???] 1 - SM Air Conditioner System ("SKV1") - On
[???] 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) - Standby
Urine Processing Assembly (UPA) - Standby
Trace Contaminant Control System (TCCS) Lab - Off
Trace Contaminant Control System (TCCS) Node 3 - Full Up

For more data, please see link....

http://spaceref.com/international-space-station/nasa-international-space-station-on-orbit-status-23-july-2015.html

 

[Draggendrop Veteran]

Remember, few posts ago, we talked about the DMSP "kinetic event"....

 

 

 

 

Investigators have traced the cause of an in-space disintegration of a U.S. Air Force weather satellite in February to a battery fault and identified six other spacecraft in orbit prone to the same failure.

Engineers originally suspected the polar-orbiting satellite

[Draggendrop Veteran]

Press release from Space Frontier Foundation....24 July, 2015

 

Private Space Stations

 

 

 

Private space stations will be constructed within the next 10 years, and escalating tensions between China, Russia and the United States will not result in a new space race, according to a new survey of the space industry conducted by the Space Frontier Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to opening the space frontier to permanent human settlement through free enterprise.

Over two-thirds of survey respondents said they expect construction on private space stations to either be well under way or completed within the next decade. However, 44% of respondents indicated it would take more than 15 years for humans to reach Mars.

"The private space industry is really heating up right now with increased levels of competition spurring a new push for innovation," said Jeff Feige, chairman of the board of the Space Frontier Foundation. "It doesn

[Draggendrop Veteran]

Interesting find...Cryocooler problem solved for JWST

 

After much tinkering, Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems has at last finished the cryogenic cooler that will keep JWST's Mid-Infrared Instrument at its frosty-cool operating temperature of minus 270 Celsius. Credit: NASA artist's concept

 

 

 

WASHINGTON

[DocM]

By the time it flies it'll cost several times its budget and much of its tech will be outdated. Some large Earth bound telescopes at high altitudes will have similar capabilities.

[BetaguyGZT]

By the time it flies it'll cost several times its budget and much of its tech will be outdated. Some large Earth bound telescopes at high altitudes will have similar capabilities.

And within 10 years.

Sad, really, that an instrument with such promise has been so bogged down in the bottomless quagmire of politics and bureaucracy that is the hallmark of NASA and the U.S. Government in general. Now it'll just be another F-35 -- not needed in the grand scheme of things.

[Draggendrop Veteran]

If they can get this thing launched on time, I think it is going to surprise a lot of people.....hard to beat a "cold background" shot, away from terrestrial rf spectrum.....The only thing that bothers me is the complexity of the set-up routine....too many things could go wrong....... 

[Draggendrop Veteran]

NASA ISS On Orbit Status report for 24 July, 2015

http://spaceref.com/international-space-station/nasa-international-space-station-on-orbit-status-24-july-2015.html

The International Space Station is at full strength now with six crew members from Japan, Russia and the United States. The newly-expanded orbital team got together today to review their roles and responsibilities in the event of an emergency in space.

New station residents Oleg Kononenko, Kjell Lindgren and Kimiya Yui will be familiarizing themselves with their new home in space over the next few days. While they adapt to their new workplace the trio will also be getting up to speed with daily science research and orbital maintenance tasks.

 

Chip Measurement System (CMS): Kelly cleaned battery corrosion from one of the Draeger CMS. Corrosion was found by the crew in the battery compartment during a scheduled Emergency On-Board Training (OBT) on July 9. The CMS battery compartment will be air dried for a day followed by new batteries being installed tomorrow.

Treadmill 2 (T2) False Fire Annunciation: T2 annunciated a false fire today by the smoke detector located in the rack behind T2. All ISS safing responded correctly. CSA-CP readings were taken in the atmosphere as well as the fire port. All values were zero and it was declared a false fire. One of the crewmembers had just started to run on T2 when the event occurred.

 

Three-Day Look Ahead:

Saturday, 07/25: Crew off duty, housekeeping
Sunday, 07/26: Crew off duty
Monday, 07/27: EVA FPS process review/conference/tool gather, Microbiome, VEG-01 watering
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") - On
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 - Warm Up

/s Test post with new system....Cheers.... 

[Draggendrop Veteran]

NASA ISS Weekly report for 24 July, 2015

// link won't paste...here is text link to copy

http://spaceref.com/international-space-station/nasa-iss-space-to-ground-weekly-report---24-july-2015.html

//Like having a new car...I am afraid of all the buttons...hope this posts OK...Cheers

 

 

[Draggendrop Veteran]

NASA ISS On Orbit Status for 27 July, 2015

http://spaceref.com/international-space-station/nasa-international-space-station-on-orbit-status-27-july-2015.html

The International Space Station moved out of the way of a piece of satellite debris late Saturday night. There were no impacts to crew safety or operations. The maneuver may replace one of three reboosts planned for the orbital laboratory ahead of the Sept. 2 launch of the Expedition 45/Visiting Taxi Crew.

Commander Gennady Padalka and One-Year crew member Mikhail Kornienko are getting ready for an Aug. 10 spacewalk. They will work outside for six hours replacing experiments and equipment and photographing the condition of the station's Russian segment.

 Pre-determined Debris Avoidance Maneuver (PDAM): On Saturday, the ISS performed a PDAM using 58 Progress R&D thrusters. This was the result of a late notification conjunction. Delta-V was 0.50 meters/second (m/s); burn duration was 4 minutes, 12 seconds. This PDAM will likely replace a reboost that was scheduled for August 6 as the first of three reboosts to set up 4-orbit rendezvous conditions for 44S launch and 42S landing this September.

 Extravehicular Activity (EVA) Fan Pump Separator (FPS) Remove and Replace (R&R) Procedure Review: Due to the loss of Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) 3017 on SpaceX (SpX)-7, the EVA community was directed to return EMU 3011 to operational status. The EMU was originally taken out of service due to corroded bearings in the FPS which was removed and not replaced. Today the crew reviewed FPS R&R procedures followed by a conference with ground teams to address questions in preparation for tomorrow's planned gas trap and Water Line Vent Tube Assembly (WLVTA) R&Rs. Lindgren also gathered tools for configuration/staging of tools and hardware prior to starting the maintenance activities tomorrow.

 

Three-Day Look Ahead:

Tuesday, 07/28: OBT ISS emergency hardware familiarization, EMU gas trap R&R, EMU WLVTA R&R, Plant Rotation sample
Wednesday, 07/29: FPS install, JEM stowage consolidation, CFE prep
Thursday, 07/30: CFE ops, EMU flush, 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) - Standby
Trace Contaminant Control System (TCCS) Lab - Off
Trace Contaminant Control System (TCCS) Node 3 - Full Up

Fluid behavior video on ISS...NOTE..Turn down audio....real bad music for this video...someone missed this........Cheers

// I warned you about the music......

[Draggendrop Veteran]

NASA Awards a Human Health and Performance Contract

http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/prnewswire-space-news.html?doc=201507281403PR_NEWS_USPR_____DC66849&showRelease=1&dir=0&categories=AEROSPACE-AND-SPACE-EXPLORATION&andorquestion=OR&&passDir=0,1,2,3,4,5,6,15,17,34

WASHINGTON, July 28, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA has selected Wyle Laboratories Inc., of El Segundo, California, to provide biomedical, medical and health services in support of all human spaceflight programs at the agency's Johnson Space Center in Houston. The work supports ongoing research aboard the International Space Station and helps enable the journey to Mars.

 

The Human Health and Performance contract begins Oct. 1 and has a maximum potential value of $1.44 billion, including a five-year base period followed by one three-year option and one two-year option.

This contract directly supports NASA's Human Health and Performance Directorate atJohnson, which is charged with ensuring crew health, safety and performance; providing occupational health services at Johnson and NASA's White Sands Test Facility in Las Cruces, New Mexico; and conducting research and developing technologies to help mitigate risks to the health, safety and performance of future spaceflight crews.

Wyle will provide support services in the areas of fundamental and applied biomedical research; operational space medicine; occupational health and medicine; management of clinical, biomedical, space food and environmental laboratories; behavioral sciences; human factors engineering; spacecraft environment monitoring and management; biomedical engineering; biomedical flight hardware requirements, design, fabrication, testing and operation; and payload and hardware integration with the International Space Station and other spaceflight platforms.

This is a very important step to take for long duration missions. A few concerns have been noted over a long period of time with continual habitation on space stations. Tests have and continue to be ongoing, but long duration mission solutions for human health must be addressed for operations in a weightless environment. 

Some of the more important issues are...

1) Fluid shift in the body...

We have visual impairment, and...with the body being 70% fluids, a puffiness of the face and upper extremities occurs.

2) Epidermis Thinning...

ESA's Samantha Cristoforetti was scanned before her 199-day mission on the International Space Station (ISS). When she returned, scientists scanned her skin cells again and found an increase in collagen production.

When ESA's Cristoforetti landed back on Earth on June 11, she became the new record-holder for the single longest spaceflight by a woman (199 days). The Italian astronaut's skin cells were scanned before and after her time on the ISS and scientists were surprised by what they found, according to Reuters.

"So far we've got interesting results from three astronauts. It seems that there is a strong production of collagen; so suddenly these astronauts have more collagen. It means there is some sort of anti-ageing effect, at least in the dermis - the lower part of the skin. And we found that the epidermis, in particular the part of the living cells, that this epidermis is shrinking, so the skin gets thinner," Koenig said.

"So far we have no explanation yet, and we are waiting for the other astronauts to figure out what's going on and maybe to try to figure out how we can protect, how we can help so that this epidermis is not shrinking," he added.

While waiting for more post-orbit scans, Koenig and his colleagues plan to investigate what causes the thinning of the astronauts' skin and what can be done to prevent it.

"We've seen the epidermis get thinner by nearly 20 percent. And so far we have no explanation. But this happened within six months; the question is if you go to Mars they need one or two years and we don't know yet - for sure it's not so good if the epidermis gets thinner and thinner," Koenig said.

http://www.hngn.com/articles/111173/20150722/international-space-station-astronauts-skin-gets-thinner-study.htm

3) Bone Density Loss....One study found 13 astronauts had an average bone density loss of 14% and 3 astronauts had a loss of 30%, comparable to an elderly woman with osteoporosis...

http://mashable.com/2014/02/23/nasa-astronaut-bones/

4) Kidney stones...

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/benefits/bone_loss.html

5) Nausea and vomiting, motion sickness...

“In space, everything that gives you your position sense is radically altered,” said Dr. Michael Barratt, a physician turned astronaut. Barratt said as many as 60 to 70 percent of astronauts suffer space motion sickness.

“You can feel a very rapid fluid rush to your head which at first is not very pleasant. You feel like you’re suddenly hanging upside down,” he said. Barratt has never vomited on board the space station, but he has suffered queasiness that’s subsided over the course of a few days with the help of anti-nausea medication.

6) Organ movement...

“The liver is higher than when you’re on the ground,” he said. “And your diaphragm is higher. Literally, we’ve had to redefine anatomy for zero-G.”

The anatomical changes are a result of zero gravity. The liver hangs off a piece of tissue called the mesentery, but without gravity, the liver and that piece of tissue are no longer being pulled down.

It’s not only the location of organs that can shift — the shape of organs can also change. The heart and eyeballs are two examples of organs that look different in space.

7) The heart weakens and becomes rounder...

 

Many NASA astronauts are trained to perform heart scans using an ultrasound machine. In the past, those scans have shown that the heart becomes rounder and weaker in space.

“Like the other muscles in the body, the heart doesn’t have to pump as hard in space,” said Dr. Steve Gilmore, a NASA flight surgeon.

That’s because gravity isn’t pulling blood down and because astronauts have 20 percent less fluid in their bodies when they’re in space.

On Earth, blood pools in our legs, but in space blood is distributed more evenly throughout the body. The kidneys sense this extra blood in the upper body and interpret it as over-hydration and work hard to remove that fluid as urine.

Blood volume and distribution normalize within a few days of landing. But doctors aren’t sure whether the changes to the heart’s shape and function are permanent or whether there any long-term health effects.

8) Sleep patterns and fatigue from long duration weightlessness.

These are the major issues to be addressed....not to be taken lightly for long duration missions.....

 http://mashable.com/2014/02/23/nasa-astronaut-bones/

http://interactives.dallasnews.com/2015/spacebody/

https://blogs.nasa.gov/ISS_Science_Blog/

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/benefits/bone_loss.html

[Draggendrop Veteran]

The above post covered some major issues with long duration exposure to a weightless environment. Other issues that have been noted are possible hair loss (mice cabinet research on ISS), Cuts and abrasions taking longer to heal, and possible cellular mutations in the body...hence the twins testing.....

By comparing astronaut Scott Kelly to his identical twin, retired astronaut Mark Kelly, scientists hope to learn how space will affect Scott’s body.

Mark lives in Arizona and sends his urine and blood samples to NASA for testing. On the International Space Station, Scott collects and tests his own samples.

“It’s like having a carbon copy of Scott on Earth,” said Gilmore, Scott’s doctor at NASA. “It’s unprecedented and it’s really neat.”

 

Astronaut Scott Kelly (right) and his brother, former Astronaut Mark Kelly. (Photo by Robert Markowitz/N.A.S.A/SIPA)

// The following is only my opinion and I question if the above human health issues can be addressed in a timely manner. On long duration missions, the astronauts should have a feeling of a normal environment, maintain strength and not be subject to the anomalies of weightlessness for any longer than an EVA or "planetary excursion"

// With the above in mind, I question WHY are we not putting thought into "artificial gravity rings" for long duration missions. This would provide a partial gravity environment for the astronauts and not subject them to extreme conditions all the time.

// With these long duration missions being a reasonable amount of time in the future, I believe we need to address the construction of "gravity rings" for these ships, and to fabricate these in space, whether it be an orbital building hanger or a lunar camp. The field of 3D printing is racing along, and I feel that we should be able to ship raw materials to a printer installation in space to produce the materials to comprise the structure of an "artificial gravity ring assembly" for a mission ship.

//Sample idea's of a ship with gravity ring(s)..

Ship from the movie, The Martian

Ship from the video, The wanderers....multi ring unit that rotates (front section)

A 3D printing area for beams and panels could be made in space or on the lunar surface and then assembled in a space dry dock, which would get a lot of use as these form of missions become more common place. Here is a rough example of a space dry dock from the Star trek Enterprise TV Series...

/s Note Canadarm #37 and #38......joking......

//It would appear to me that the "gravity rings" will become the norm in the future and since 3D printing will be well on it's way in the next decade, a serious look should be taken towards this type of manufacturing and assembly process.

Just an opinion...don't shoot the messenger.....Cheers...

[Draggendrop Veteran]

Misc data post....

Radiation Protection Vest being investigated

Radiation shielding technology by StemRad Ltd. is being jointly investigated with Lockheed Martin for possible use to protect astronauts.

StemRad's 360 Gamma product is a vest worn by first responders and emergency rescue workers for protection against gamma radiation by providing protection of the wearer's bone marrow stem cells.

Lockheed Martin said the collaboration with StemRad, an Israeli company with U.S. operations, is part of its effort to forge international partnerships for human exploration of deep space.

"We're going to take our extensive knowledge of human spaceflight, apply our nano-materials engineering expertise, and working closely with StemRad evaluate the viability for this type of radiation shielding in deep-space," said Randy Sweet, Lockheed Martin business development director for the civil space line of business.

"The Lockheed Martin team believes this could result in an innovative solution to enhance crew safety on the journey to Mars."

Lockheed Martin is the prime contractor for building Orion, NASA's next-generation spacecraft for transport to destinations beyond low Earth orbit.

The joint project will be supported by grants from Space Florida, the aerospace economic development agency of Florida and Israel's executive agency of the Office of the Chief Scientist of the Ministry of Economy.

"We are excited to be collaborating with Lockheed Martin on this important project," said Dr. Oren Milstein, co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer of StemRad. "Our team possesses advanced capabilities in the areas of radiation biology and innovative shielding strategies, and we will now be applying those skills to the unique challenges in human space exploration."

 http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Radiation_protection_vest_being_investigated_for_use_in_space_999.html

Blue Moon ?

http://spaceref.com/moon/sciencecasts-summer-blue-moon.html

Cheers.....

[DocM]

StemRad's method is to minimize the mass of a shielding garment by only protecting areas with significant bone marrow reserves. Normally only about 2% of bone marrow survives a serious radiation event,  which opens one up for opportunistic infections, brings on anemia etc., but they can up that percentage significantly. This speeds recovery dramatically and minimizes the other effects, but isn't fully protective.

Another approach DoD has been working on combines an antibiotic with proteins produced using recombinant DNA techniques to mitigate the bowel lining death which occurs in acute radiation syndrome. In animal trials it has reduced the death rate by ~80% from otherwise lethal doses.

[Draggendrop Veteran]

StemRad's method is to minimize the mass of a shielding garment by only protecting areas with significant bone marrow reserves. Normally only about 2% of bone marrow survives a serious radiation event,  which opens one up for opportunistic infections, brings on anemia etc., but they can up that percentage significantly. This speeds recovery dramatically and minimizes the other effects, but isn't fully protective.

Another approach DoD has been working on combines an antibiotic with proteins produced using recombinant DNA techniques to mitigate the bowel lining death which occurs in acute radiation syndrome. In animal trials it has reduced the death rate by ~80% from otherwise lethal doses.

Excellent. I believe radiation exposure can be minimized on ship and in a habitat as we have discussed before. If there was a way to wear the shielding garments in the spacesuits and use the DoD antibiotic supplements, me may have  sound protective mechanisms in place for most space missions. I did not know about the antibiotic approach....very interesting....Cheers....   

[DocM]

The tested antibiotic agents varied, but were usually gram negagive. The proteins were  rBPI21 and other subtypes, a portion of the bactericidal/permeability increasing protein (BPI). 

Patent application

http://www.google.com/patents/CA2832092A1?cl=en

"BPI and its congeners as radiation mitigators and radiation protectors"

 

 

[Draggendrop Veteran]

NASA ISS On Orbit Status for 28 July, 2015

Barcelona, Spain from @StationCDRKelly. Credit: NASA.
 

Two cosmonauts are getting ready for the first spacewalk from the International Space Station since March. Two NASA astronauts are also working to bring a U.S. spacesuit back to service.

The three newest Expedition 44 crew members joined Commander Gennady Padalka during their afternoon for a familiarization session with emergency equipment inside the orbital lab. Having arrived just last week, new flight engineers Oleg Kononenko, Kjell Lindgren and Kimiya Yui are still getting used to their new home in space.

Padalka and One-Year crew member Mikhail Kornienko checked out Russian spacesuit gear ahead of an Aug. 10 spacewalk. The duo will replace external experiments and photograph the exterior condition of the space station's Russian segment.

Lindgren and One-Year crew member Scott Kelly worked on a U.S. spacesuit replacing internal parts to return the unit to service. Kelly also continued more research for the Twins study comparing him to his Earth-bound twin brother and ex-astronaut Mark Kelly.

 

Human Research Program (HRP) Operations: Yui and Lindgren performed their Flight Day 7 (FD7) saliva collection, both in support of Microbiome, and Yui collected for Salivary Markers. Throughout the day Kelly collected urine samples for Biochemical Profile and Twins Study. He also completed his FD120 Cognition session and along with Kornienko, performed the final Reaction Self-Test for the 43 Soyuz sleep shift.

- The Biochemical Profile experiment tests blood and urine samples obtained from astronauts before, during, and after spaceflight.

- Twins Study is an integrated compilation of ten different studies led by multiple PI's at multiple centers. The studies take advantage of a very unique opportunity to look at the effects of space travel on identical twins, one of whom experiences space travel for one year; the other mains earth-bound for that same year.

 On-board Training (OBT) ISS Emergency Hardware Familiarization: Padalka and the 43S crew reviewed where emergency hardware is located on the ISS. Items covered include US Portable Breathing Apparatus (PBAs), US and Russian fire extinguishers, emergency masks, fire/ammonia cartridges and ammonia measurement kits. The crew then practiced emergency mask don/purge technique as well as demonstrated their ability to communicate with ground teams from the Soyuz while wearing emergency masks.

 

Three-Day Look Ahead:

Wednesday, 07/29: FPS install, JEM stowage consolidation part 1, CFE prep
Thursday, 07/30: CFE ops, EMU flush, N1 stowage reconfig
Friday, 07/31: N1 stowage reconfig, Microbiome
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) - Standby
Trace Contaminant Control System (TCCS) Lab - Off
Trace Contaminant Control System (TCCS) Node 3 - Full Up

More info at the link....
http://spaceref.com/international-space-station/nasa-international-space-station-on-orbit-status-28-july-2015.html

https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacestation/2015/07/29/more-spacewalk-preps-and-advanced-space-research-for-crew/

Russia Develops High End Nav System (GPS)
 

According to a press release from Russian Space Systems, the company has embarked on a new project: the creation of the National High-Precision Satellite Positioning system.

Work is getting underway to create National High-Precision Satellite Positioning system (NSHP), according to the press release by the Russian Space Systems company,which is part of the Russian United Rocket and Space Corporation,the RIA Novosti news agency reported.The project's main goal is to form a high-precision navigation field within Russia.

The NSHP can unite more than 600 GLONASS reference stations, which were the basis for the construction of separate regional high-precision positioning networks, as well as navigation systems of major state and commercial owners. GLONASS is an acronym for the Global Navigation Satellite System, which is operated by the Russian Aerospace Defense Forces and provides an alternative to Global Positioning System, also known as GPS.

Referring to the NSHP, Russian Space Systems said in its press release that "the project will provide decimeter and centimeter accuracy when determining the coordinates of objects in real-time mode".

"The NSVP will provide users with a set of guaranteed positioning services that will be available twenty-four hours a day and seven days a week. The obtained results can be recalculated in line with various systems of coordinates. The NSHP's unique characteristics make it possible to resolve a spate of complex technical problems pertaining to construction, transport and maintenance of infrastructure, land and other fields," the press release said.

According to Russian Space Systems, an increase in the navigation coverage zone will be achieved via the construction of new and optimization of existing navigation networks.

Already signaling their interest in using the NSHP potential are Russia's Novosibirsk, Krasnoyarsk, Yaroslavl, Vologda, Kursk, Omsk and Tyumen Regions, as well as the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District and Russia's Republic of Tatarstan have already signaled their interest in using the NSHP network.

Officials from Russia's Siberian Federal District have in turn confirmed their readiness to coordinate and consolidate resources for the joint implementation of the NSHP segment in their district under the auspices of the Plenipotentiary Representative of the Russian President.

 http://www.gpsdaily.com/reports/Russia_develops_national_high_end_navigation_system_999.html

Cheers.....

[Draggendrop Veteran]

Bits and Bytes......

Next cargo vessel to ISS...

Aug. 16H-2B • HTV 5

Launch window: 1301 GMT (9:01 a.m. EDT)
Launch site: Tanegashima Space Center, Japan

A Japanese H-2B rocket will launch the fifth H-2 Transfer Vehicle. The HTV serves as an unmanned cargo vehicle to deliver equipment and supplies to the International Space Station. Delayed from July 1, 2014. Delayed from Feb. 1. Moved forward from Aug. 17. [June 13]

 http://spaceflightnow.com/launch-schedule/

Russia commits to 2024 for ISS, still waiting for ESA and JAXA....

From left to right, Russia's Zvezda Service Module and Zarya FGB attached to the U.S. Unity module in 2000. Credit: NASA

PARIS — Russia has formally notified its International Space Station partners that it will continue in the partnership at least to 2024, ending several months of doubts that were fueled by the current poor state of Russia’s relations with the West.

The 22-nation European Space Agency confirmed that the Russia space agency, Roscosmos, had notified ESA and the other partners of its commitment to 2024, a decision that followed similar guarantees by NASA – the station’s general contractor – and the Canadian Space Agency.

That leaves ESA and the Japanese space agency, JAXA, as the only two current partners yet to make a decision. ESA has yet to commit even to 2020 but expects to do so at a meeting of its member governments in late 2016.

 

ESA’s work on the service module for NASA’s Orion crew-transport capsule is being done as a continuation of a barter arrangement with the U.S. space agency. Instead of paying NASA cash for its 8.3 percent share of the station’s common resources, ESA has provided in-kind contributions, consisting up to now of cargo deliveries to the station using its Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV).

The ATV was retired after five flights. While Orion is not intended as primarily a space station taxi, the two agencies agreed to allow ESA’s work on the service module – which leverages ATV technology – to offset Europe’s common station costs.

Like NASA and Russia, ESA and JAXA both have their own research laboratories attached to the space station.

It remains unclear when the station will need to be retired. Early assessments are that it could remain operational, without a sharp increase in maintenance charges, to 2028 and perhaps longer.

 http://spacenews.com/russia-formally-commits-to-station-through-2024/

Plutonium-238 assessment for future missions...

Ohio's two U.S. senators want NASA to spell it out: How many nuclear batteries do you need, how much plutonium (above) is needed to fuel them, and what happens if you don't get it? (U.S. Department of Energy)

 

WASHINGTON — Ohio’s U.S. Senate delegation ordered up an extensive report on the federal infrastructure required to produce both the nuclear batteries that power NASA missions to dark and distant corners of the solar system, and the plutonium isotope that fuels those batteries.

Under the Efficient Space Exploration Act, filed July 22 by U.S. Sens. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and Robert Portman (R-Ohio), NASA and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy would take the lead on a study to determine the space agency’s exact requirements for radioisotope power systems, the plutonium-238 that fuels them, and the risks to planned missions if those needs are not met.

 

Planetary probes and landers operating where sunlight is scarce, either due to distance from the sun or shadows, trade solar panels for nuclear batteries known as radioisotope power systems. These units convert waste heat from the radioactive decay of small plutonium-238 pellets into electricity.

The Ohio delegation’s interest in nuclear-powered space missions is two-fold. NASA’s Advanced Stirling Radioisotope Generator (ASRG) program, or what is left of it, is based at Glenn. Also, Sunpower of Athens, Ohio ­— a specialty manufacturing company acquired in 2013 by Paoli, Pennsylvania-based Ametek ­— is providing Glenn with test models of the Advanced Stirling Converters that would power the ASRG.

 

 

NASA spokesman Joshua Buck did not immediately reply to a request for comment about the exact number and value of Sunpower’s various Advanced Stirling Converter contracts. Jeffrey Hatfield, a Sunpower vice president and site manager quoted in a joint Brown-Portman press release about the new space nuclear power bill, did not return a call July 28.

Stirling motors, which date back to the industrial revolution and use an external heat source to drive a piston, are more efficient than the solid-state thermoelectric converters used in the current generation nuclear battery, the Multi-Mission Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator (MMRTG). An ASRG could produce about 140 watts of power using slightly less than a kilogram of plutonium-238 — about a fourth of the fuel the heavier MMRTG needs for the same output.

The Curiosity rover that landed on Mars in 2012 uses a single MMRTG, as will the Mars 2020 sample-collecting rover NASA plans to send to the red planet that year. Mars 2020 will be based heavily on Curiosity’s design and has first dibs on whatever plutonium-238 it needs.

As for future missions, there is enough plutonium-238 in the U.S. stockpile for two more MMRTGs, now that managers of NASA’s Europa Clipper mission, slated for launch in the mid 2020s, have decided to use solar power.

In February, Alice Caponiti, DOE’s director of space and defense power systems, said once NASA-funded repairs to DOE’s Los Alamos facility are completed, the Energy Department will start producing 1.5 kilograms of plutonium-238 a year to supplement a civil-space stockpile of about 35 kilograms.

Only 17 kilograms of the civil stockpile — additional plutonium-238 is reserved for the military — meet DOE’s minimum energy requirements for space missions, according to Caponiti.

 http://spacenews.com/ohio-senators-call-for-plutonium-power-report-with-new-bill/

The development of the ASRG (Advanced Stirling Radioisotope Generators) will be able to use 1/4 of the amount of Pu-238 used in conventional RTG's (Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generators) and therefore increase use of a limited supply. RTG's use the Seebeck effect to create power from a heat source (the Pu-238). The ASRG's use the Stirling heat engine principle which takes any form of heat (here, Pu-238) and usually(there are many forms) uses a closed cycle to move a shaft to convert rotary motion to electrical via a generator to supply craft power.

RTG basics...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radioisotope_thermoelectric_generator

Stirling basics
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stirling_engine

Plutonium-238

The decay heat of Pu-238 (0.56 W/g) enables its use as an electricity source in the radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs) of some cardiac pacemakers, space satellites, navigation beacons, etc. Plutonium has powered some 30 US space vehicles and enabled the Voyager spacecraft to send back pictures of distant planets. These spacecraft have operated for 20 years and may continue for another 20. The Cassini spacecraft carries three generators with 33 kg of plutonium oxide providing 870 watts power as it orbits around Saturn. The later and more efficient Multi-Mission RTG (MMRTG) uses eight 290-watt RTG units with total 4.8 kg of plutonium oxide producing 2 kW thermal, which can be used to generate some 110 watts of electric power, 2.7 kWh/day. It is being used in the large mobile Mars Science Laboratory, the rover Curiosity, which at 890 kg is about five times the mass of previous Mars rovers.

Plutonium-238 is made by irradiating neptunium-237, recovered from research reactor fuel or special targets, in research reactors. Both the reprocessing to obtain Np-137 and subsequent irradiation were carried out at Savannah River in USA. Pu-238 was then recovered by further reprocessing at the H Canyon plant there. The last of Savannah River’s neptunium inventory was transferred to Idaho National Laboratory (INL) in 2008.

Currently, supplies of high-purity Pu-238 are scarce. Since the early 1990s after production ceased at Savannah River, the USA has been buying all its supply for spacecraft from Russia – some 16.5 kg, produced at Mayak – but Russia is no longer producing it. The USA plans to recommence production at up to 2.0 kg per year, with NASA funding. While the Advanced Test Reactor at Idaho has already produced a little, the DOE has designated Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) as the lead laboratory for the project, in partnership with Los Alamos and Idaho, which supplies the neptunium and will do some of the irradiation. It will use the High Flux Isotope Reactor, irradiating neptunium-237 targets for 72 days. The plutonium is then chemically separated and purified to produce an oxide powder. ORNL expects full production from 2019, ramping up to 1.5 kg/yr. It  is now producing this with the targets being processed at Idaho.

Apparently some 15 kg/GWyr could be produced in liquid fluoride thorium reactors (LFTR).

Early heart pacemakers used Pu-238 as the power source, and after 30 years some were still running well.

http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/Nuclear-Fuel-Cycle/Fuel-Recycling/Plutonium/

// Thorium reactors...one of these days, a face palm, and statement "What were we thinking all this time"...

Cheers....

[Draggendrop Veteran]

In a recent post, mention was given to the centralizing and assembly of Russia's new GPS system. China is embarking on a similar mission....

 

Two Chinese satellites lifted off Saturday on top of a Long March 3B rocket and rode into orbit nearly 14,000 miles above Earth to expand the country’s space-based navigation network.

The Long March 3B rocket lit its hydrazine-burning first stage and four strap-on boosters at 1229 GMT (8:29 a.m. EDT) Saturday and soared away from the Xichang launch center in southwestern China’s Sichuan province, according to the state-run Xinhua news agency.

Liftoff occurred at 8:29 p.m. Beijing time, or around sunset at the mountainous Xichang launch base.

A Yuanzheng upper stage injected the two Beidou satellites into a near-circular orbit about 22,000 kilometers, or 13,700 miles, above Earth more than three hours after liftoff. They are orbiting at an inclination of 55 degrees, according to tracking data released by the U.S. military.

 A Long March 3B rocket lifted off from the Xichang space center at 1229 GMT (8:29 a.m. EDT) Saturday with two Beidou navigation satellites. Credit: Xinhua

With the orbit achieved Saturday, the nearly one-ton Beidou satellites will not have to travel far to reach their intended operating posts at 13,300 miles altitude.

The satellites launched Saturday are the second and third units to reach orbit in a new 35-satellite constellation China is developing to provide global navigation coverage by 2020.

Saturday’s launch put the first two of at least 27 satellites into medium Earth orbit, and a Long March mission in March placed the first of three Beidou spacecraft expected to go into an inclined orbit approximately 22,300 miles up. Five Beidou satellites will be stationed in low-inclination geosynchronous orbits 22,300 miles above the equator.

When complete, the Beidou system will join the U.S. Air Force’s Global Positioning System, Russia’s Glonass satellite network, and Europe’s Galileo fleet — which is still being deployed — as the world’s four navigation services with global reach.

The Beidou fleet’s expansion to worldwide service comes after it achieved initial operating capability with regional reach over the Asia-Pacific in December 2012.

 Artist’s concept of a Beidou navigation satellite. Credit: China Satellite Navigation Office

Beidou managers say the constellation will provide positioning services with an accuracy of 10 meters, or about 33 feet, speed estimates within less than one foot per second, and time measurements within 10 nanoseconds.

Highlighting the Beidou network’s civilian applications, Chinese officials say the satellite fleet will aid in air, car and marine transportation, disaster relief, hydrological monitoring, and weather forecasting.

The Chinese military will also be a prime user of Beidou navigation data.

The third-generation Beidou satellites now launching feature advanced signal structure, inter-satellite links, and more accurate on-board clocks.

At least one more Beidou launch is scheduled later this year.

Saturday’s blastoff marked the third Chinese space launch of 2015, and the 37th mission worldwide to reach orbit this year.

 http://spaceflightnow.com/2015/07/25/two-navigation-satellites-launched-by-china/

Small Asteroid Tracking Difficult due to Yarkovsky Effect...

Rotating asteroids have a tough time sticking to their orbits. Their surfaces heat up during the day and cool down at night, giving off radiation that can act as a sort of mini-thruster.

This force, called the Yarkovsky effect, can cause rotating asteroids to drift widely over time, making it hard for scientists to predict their long-term risk to Earth. To learn more about the Yarkovsky effect, NASA is sending a spacecraft called OSIRIS-REx to the near-Earth asteroid Bennu. OSIRIS-REx will observe how Bennu's shape, brightness, and surface features influence the strength of the Yarkovsky effect, helping scientists to better predict Bennu's orbit over time and pin down its long-term risk.

 http://spaceref.com/asteroids/nasa---how-sunlight-pushes-asteroids.html

 

[Draggendrop Veteran]

Speaking of small rocks....an expensive one just flew by the earth.......

When an asteroid packed with about $5 trillion worth of platinum zoomed past Earth this month scientists were ready, capturing the space rock on radar as it sailed safely by our planet.

The asteroid 2011 UW158 missed Earth by about 1.5 million miles (2.4 million kilometers) — a little more than six times the distance between the planet and the moon — during its flyby on July 19. There was never a chance of a collision during the flyby, researchers said. But it was close enough for NASA scientists to create a video of the asteroid from radar observations.

The near-Earth asteroid is an intriguing candidate for mining, said representatives of the company Planetary Resources, which is hoping to begin these activities in the coming decades. (On July 16, Planetary Resources' Arkyd 3 Reflight spacecraft was deployed from the International Space Station to test software, control systems and avionics that could be used for asteroid hunting.) 

These three separate radar images of asteroid 2011 UW158 show how the asteroid was tumbling as it flew by Earth on July 19, 2015. 
Credit: Courtesy of the NAIC - Arecibo Observatory, a facility of the NSF

 Previous studies by Planetary Resources estimated that 2011 UW158 contains about $5.4 trillion worth of platinum, an element that is rare on Earth.

 

The group's initial focus is on space rocks that are laden with water. Mining these types of asteroids, which are known as carbonaceous chondrites, could open up the solar system to exploration by providing a relatively cheap and easily accessible source of spacecraft propellant, advocates say. (Water can be split into hydrogen and oxygen, the chief components of rocket fuel.)

"The problem is, sending [Earth's] water into space is extraordinarily expensive, and even if the launch was free, it takes an incredible amount of energy to shift that stuff around," Planetary Resources president and chief engineer Chris Lewicki said during a Sunday webcast about the "trillion-dollar asteroid" hosted by the Slooh Community Observatory, which provides live broadcasts of celestial events.2011 UW158 is about 2,000 feet long and 1,000 feet wide (600 meters by 300 meters), according to observations made by the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico. Arecibo imaged the asteroid in detail for the first time on July 14, allowing astronomers to discover that the rock has a very odd shape — kind of like an unshelled walnut — and is spinning very fast, completing one revolution every 37 minutes.

Unlike most asteroids, which are more like loose collections of pebbles and ice, 2011 UW158 may be a solid body.

 http://www.space.com/30074-trillion-dollar-asteroid-2011-uw158-earth-flyby.html

 

NASA's MMA spacecraft setting up......(Studies solar wind / CME magnetic field interactions with Earth's magnetic field)

MMS investigates how the Sun's and Earth's magnetic fields connect and disconnect, explosively transferring energy from one to the other in a process that is important at the Sun, other planets, and everywhere in the universe, known as magnetic reconnection. Reconnection limits the performance of fusion reactors and is the final governor of geospace weather that affects modern technological systems such as telecommunications networks, GPS navigation, and electrical power grids. Four identically instrumented spacecraft measure plasmas, fields, and particles in a near-equatorial orbit that will frequently encounter reconnection in action.

Science Goals: MMS reveals, for the first time, the small-scale three-dimensional structure and dynamics of the elusively thin and fast-moving electron diffusion region. It does this in both of the key reconnection regions near Earth, where the most energetic events originate.

 http://spaceref.com/missions-and-programs/nasa/nasas-mms-spacecraft-transition-to-tetrahedral-flying-formation.html

“Its pyramid formation and extremely fast time resolution will offer the first ever three-dimensional observations down to the smallest scales of reconnection,” said Tom Moore, MMS Project Scientist at Goddard. 

 

The orbital team also made sure that the MMS mission structure is flexible – at different separation distances, the mission can see processes at those all-important different scales. When magnetic reconnection occurs, the magnetic and electric fields in the area change extremely quickly. That leads to telltale behavior of flowing charged particles—which are naturally moved by magnetic and electric fields—that instruments on MMS are designed to measure. So, by looking at the behavior of different charged particles, like electrons and ions, the scientists can "see" what's happening during magnetic reconnection.

 

Because ions are so much heavier than electrons – at least 1,800 times heavier – they are not as susceptible to being pushed or pulled by magnetic and electric fields. This means that an ion can travel much farther than an electron before it is drawn in by a magnetic or electric field. This difference means that studying magnetic reconnection happens at two scales – the larger ion scale, and the smaller electron scale. The scaling of the MMS formation will allow scientists to study both.

 

After its journey through the front of Earth’s magnetosphere, MMS will enter Phase 2, during which its orbit will steadily be enlarged, until it swings all the way out to 99,000 miles away from Earth. There it will move through an area of the magnetosphere behind Earth called the magnetotail – another area where magnetic reconnection is known to happen.

 That means the team must think about not just how each spacecraft orbits Earth, but how it lies in formation with respect to the others – a job that will continue over the lifetime of the mission. When MMS was moved into its first tetrahedral formation in July 2015, the spacecraft were flying about 100 miles apart. The European Space Agency/NASA Cluster mission of four spacecraft had periods in which the spacecraft were that close, but MMS will move even closer. Over the course of the mission's first phase, that spacing will drop in steps – first down to 40 miles, then 15, and then to just a little over six miles.

These distances will mark an orbital engineering triumph: so many spacecraft have never before flown so close together for an extended period of time. To accomplish this feat MMS makes use of another record-breaking engineering achievement. The spacecraft house the highest working GPS receivers ever flown. GPS—the familiar system you might use to drive to a new place—uses several satellites in orbit about 12,000 miles above Earth to triangulate one’s location. GPS has been used to track spacecraft in lower orbits, but MMS is the first mission to use GPS from above. For comparison, MMS’ flies at maximum height of about 48,000 miles—about four times the height of GPS satellites. As such, it carries extra sensitive GPS sensors in order to receive its signals from the satellites flying on the other side of Earth.

All this attention to orbit planning is of course for a single goal: to gather the best science observations possible.

“Moving MMS into its tetrahedron formation is a really huge milestone,” said Moore. “We are all incredibly excited to be getting on with the science analysis after years of anticipation!”

 http://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/mms-formation-will-give-unique-look-at-magnetic-reconnection

http://mms.gsfc.nasa.gov/

Cheers....

[Draggendrop Veteran]

NASA ISS On Orbit Status for 29 July, 2015

Caspian Sea.

Human Research Program (HRP) Operations: Today's HRP operations included the Flight Day (FD) 6 Cognition, FD7 Microbiome and FD10 Salivary Markers for Yui; Habitability Observation #6 for Kelly; and the Microbiome questionnaire for Lindgren. The Biochemical Profile experiment tests blood and urine samples obtained from astronauts before, during, and after spaceflight. Specific proteins and chemicals in the samples are used as biomarkers, or indicators of health. Post-flight analysis yields a database of samples and test results, which scientists can use to study the effects of spaceflight on the body.

The Microbiome experiment investigates the impact of space travel on both the human immune system and an individual's microbiome (the collection of microbes that live in and on the human body at any given time).
Individualized Real-Time Neurocognitive Assessment Toolkit for Space Flight Fatigue (Cognition) is a battery of tests that measure how spaceflight-related physical changes, such as microgravity and lack of sleep, can affect cognitive performance.
Salivary Markers samples will be used to measure markers of latent viral reactivation (a global indicator of immune impairment and infection risk) in conjunction with salivary antimicrobial proteins and immune cell functional assays. This research study will help identify if there are any risks of an adverse health event in crewmembers due to an impaired immune system.
Habitability assesses the relationship between crew members and their environment in order to better prepare for future long-duration spaceflights to destinations, such as Near Earth Asteroids (NEA) and Mars. The ultimate goal is to understand how much habitable volume is required for vehicle internal design and layout, and if mission duration impacts the volume needed.
Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) 3011 Return To Service (RTS): Following yesterday's gas trap and Water Line Vent Tube Assembly (WLVTA) Remove & Replace (R&R), today Kelly and Lindgren successfully R&Rd the Fan Pump Separator. As part of the R&R, they cleaned and inspected the Primary Life Support System (PLSS).

 

 

Three-Day Look Ahead:

Thursday, 07/30: CFE ops, EMU flush, N1 Galley Rack Prep
Friday, 07/31: N1 stowage reconfig, Microbiome
Saturday, 08/01: 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) - Standby
Trace Contaminant Control System (TCCS) Lab - Off
Trace Contaminant Control System (TCCS) Node 3 - Full Up

 http://spaceref.com/international-space-station/nasa-international-space-station-on-orbit-status-29-july-2015.html

Baking Asteroids....Yummm.......

ingredients

A Missouri University of Science and Technology researcher is cooking up something new in the lab - baking meteorites to learn how to produce water and other easily evaporated compounds from asteroids.

Dr. Leslie Gertsch, an associate professor of geological engineering at Missouri S and T, hopes to find a sustainable way for near-Earth objects (NEOs) like asteroids and comets to produce consumable materials in space instead of pushing them up from the Earth's surface.

To investigate the possibility of this industrialization for space travel, Gertsch heats real and artificial meteorites in a vacuum chamber to simulate the conditions of space. When gases are released from the samples, they are collected and analyzed.

"This is one of the processes called in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) - collecting resources from NEOs, or the moon or Mars, and making useful things like spacecraft fuels and propellants," says Gertsch. "Some NEOs contain up to 22 percent water locked within minerals. Our job is to predict how much water we can actually get out of them in space."

Gertsch's project, titled "Laboratory Demonstration and Test of Solar Thermal Asteroid ISRU," is one of 11 university-led proposals funded by NASA as $500,000 Early Stage Innovation Research Grants.

The funding is provided for the study of innovative early-stage technologies that address high-priority needs of America's space program. She collaborates on the project with NASA Kennedy Space Center, NASA Glenn Research Center, Colorado School of Mines, the University of Hawaii and Integrated Concurrent Systems Associates Inc.

"This is an interdisciplinary project. Our researchers have backgrounds in planetary geology, meteoritics, mineral processing, chemical engineering, mechanical engineering, mining engineering and astrophysics, among others," says Gertsch. "ISRU like this will reduce payload needs and boost planetary exploration. This work could change the way we view space travel."

NASA's Early Stage Innovation grants are part of the agency's Space Technology Research Grants Program. This program is designed to accelerate the development of technology that supports NASA's future science and exploration needs as well as those of other government agencies and the commercial space sector.

 http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Missouri_researcher_bakes_asteroids_to_find_water_999.html