Новости МКС

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Intl. Space Station‏Подлинная учетная запись @Space_Station 3 мин. назад

#Dragon installed to station's Harmony module at 9:07am ET for month of cargo swaps. https://go.nasa.gov/2vDrItD 

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https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacestation/2017/08/16/dragon-installed-to-station-for-month-of-cargo-swaps/

Dragon Installed to Station for Month of Cargo Swaps
Posted on August 16, 2017 at 9:10 am by Mark Garcia.

The SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft was berthed to the Harmony module of the International Space Station at 9:07 a.m. EDT. The hatch between the newly arrived spacecraft and the Harmony module of the space station is scheduled to be opened as soon as later today.

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Four spaceships are parked at the space station including the SpaceX Dragon cargo craft, the Progress 67 resupply ship and two Soyuz crew ships.

CRS-12 is scheduled to deliver more than 6,400 pounds of supplies and payloads to the station, including a sweet treat for the astronauts: ice cream. The small cups of chocolate, vanilla and birthday cake-flavored ice cream are arriving in freezers that will be reloaded with research samples for return to Earth when the Dragon spacecraft departs the station mid-September.

For more information about the SpaceX CRS-12 mission, visit www.nasa.gov/spacex. Join the conversation on Twitter by following @Space_Station.

This entry was posted in Expedition 52 and tagged dragon, European Space Agency, International Space Station, NASA, Roscosmos, science, spacex on August 16, 2017 by Mark Garcia.

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ISS Updates‏ @ISS101 8 мин назад

Cosmonaut Duo set for busy Spacewalk to Deploy Satellites, Collect Samples & Install Experiments - http://spaceflight101.com/iss/russian-eva-43-preview/ ...

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http://spaceflight101.com/iss/russian-eva-43-preview/

Cosmonaut Duo set for busy Spacewalk to Deploy Satellites, Collect Samples & Install Experiments
August 16, 2017

Two Russian Cosmonauts are set to venture outside the International Space Station on Thursday on a planned spacewalk of six hours and five minutes dedicated to a variety of tasks on the exterior of the Russian Segment. Veteran spacewalkers Fyodor Yurchikhin and Sergey Ryazansky will test a new version of Russia's Orlan space suit, deploy five small satellites, install external experiments on the Russian segment and obtain microbial samples fr om the outer hull of ISS.

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Spacewalkers Yurchikhin & Ryazansky during an EVA Rehearsal inside the Airlock – Photo: Roscosmos

>> Live Spacewalk Coverage

Thursday's Russian Stage EVA is the seventh spacewalk taking place outside the International Space Station in 2017, coming after six U.S.-based spacewalks completed over the course of the year so far. Russian EVA-43 is the first Russian-Segment spacewalk since February 2016 when Yuri Malenchenko and Sergei Volkov retrieved and installed various external experiments on the Russian Segment.


Photo: NASA/ESA

Thursday's EVA will be carried out by two experienced spacewalkers and the only two Russian crew members of ISS after Roscosmos reduced its permanent Station crew to only two members as a cost-saving measure and to respond to current workload requirements on the Russian Segment.

Fyodor Yurchikhin is a veteran of eight previous spacewalks, having performed his first EVA in 2007 and raking up a total EVA time of 51 hours and 53 minutes, ranking seventh on the all-time record list with prospects of moving into fourth if Thursday's EVA runs the planned duration. Sergey Ryazansky conducted three previous EVAs for a total of 20 hours and 5 minutes including the highly publicized November 2013 spacewalk that took the Olympic Torch into the vacuum of space before being flown back to Earth to light the Olympic Flame for the 2014 Winter Games held in Sochi


Russian EVA-43 Worksites & Hardware – Image: Roscosmos/TsUP

Yurchikhin will be the lead spacewalker on Thursday wearing Orlan-MKS No. 4 with blue stripes while Ryazansky, designated EV-2, will wear Orlan-MK No. 6, also with blue stripes. The duo is scheduled to open the external hatch of the Pirs airlock at 14:41 UTC after several hours of EVA preparations that include suiting up and sealing off the Pirs module and PKhO Transfer Compartment that acts as a backup airlock for Russian spacewalks.

Thursday's EVA will begin with the release of five small satellites flown up to the Space Station by several recent Progress missions, set for a collective release during the spacewalk. Unlike the U.S. CubeSat deployment infrastructure with sophisticated deployers and the Kibo Robotic Arm, Russia's method of releasing satellites from ISS is rather low-key and involves a spacewalking crew member literally throwing the small satellites away to ensure a positive separation from ISS with a direction chosen to rule out any re-contact with the satellite on subsequent orbits.

The EVA procedure calls for Sergey Ryazansky egressing the airlock and setting up on the EVA ladder in front of Pirs. His first task will be the collection of photos and video of the "Restavratsiya" (Restoration) Experiment that was performed on the previous Russian EVA by applying a thermal protection foil to a plate which was then left exposed to the space environment to study how the material fares over time. Ryazansky will demate the plates and hand them to Yurchikhin for transfer into ISS and eventual return to the ground.


Photo: Tomsk Polytechnic University

Next will be the release of the five satellites, also to be completed by Ryazansky while Yurchikhin remains in Pirs to hand out the satellites with a total of 40 minutes budgeted for the satellite deployment, to be captured by a GoPro 360 camera.

The five satellites to be released during Thursday's EVA are:
TOMSK-TPU-120 is a 3U CubeSat from Tomsk Polytechnic University launched in March 2016 to test new satellite materials, featuring an all 3D-printed structure plus a handle to assist with the manual deployment. The 5-Kilogram satellite hosts an amateur radio payload and was first activated in May 2016 while still on board ISS to commemorate the 120th anniversary of Tomsk Polytechnic University.


Fyodor Yurchikhin with Tanyusha SWSU №1 – Photo: Roscosmos/Fyodor Yurchikhin

TNS-0 №2 is the second Tekhnologicesky Nanosputnik orbited under a program of Russia's government-industry complex in cooperation with the Scientific Institute of Space Device Engineering. The first TNS satellite was released from ISS in March 2005 and No.2 will feature a number of upgrades, measuring 20 by 65cm in size and weighing 5.1 Kilograms. Its primary purpose is testing out new small satellite systems for power generation, attitude control and communications using the Globalstar satellite network and a UHF transceiver.

Radioscaf RS-6 and RS-7, also known as Tanyusha SWSU №1 & №2, are two small satellites developed by Southwestern State University, Kursk. Both weigh in at around 4.8 Kilograms and use 3D printed structures, complying with the 3U CubeSat form factor but adding handles and fixed antennas as they do not need to fit into a CubeSat deployer. The two satellites feature communications systems that will be joined in a peer-to-peer type data network that could be used for the self-organization of large satellite constellations with a high degree of autonomy for adding new satellites to the network and removing failed ones. The network will support retransmission and parallel transmission to a ground monitoring station.


Yurchikhin & Ryazansky Testing out the Sfera Deployer – Photo: Roscosmos

RS-6 and 7 also carry SWSU-developed vacuum gauges to measure the density of neutral and charged particles in Earth's upper atmosphere as a function of altitude. The amateur radio community can engage in the missions by receiving voice greetings from the satellites in four different languages.

Sfera-53 №2 (ТС530-Зеркало) is a follow-on to the first Sfera-53 released from ISS in August 2012. It is a passive spherical satellite measuring 53 centimeters in diameter and weighing 13 Kilograms for use in the calibration of ground-tracking equipment (either optical or radar) and to measure atmospheric density as a function of altitude by tracking the satellite's orbital decay. Sfera-53 remained in orbit for around three months.

When all satellites are deployed, the EVA clock should be reading PET+63 minutes at which point Yurchikhin will also be out of the airlock and the two spacewalkers will translate aft to the large diameter of the Zvezda Service Module. There, they will collect photos of the SKK No.9 exposure experiment before starting the installation of the "Impakt" experiment package.


Zvezda Thrusters during Expedition 18 – Image: Energia/NSC

Impakt, to be installed on Plane I of Zvezda, will expose a number of material and coating samples to the space environment to study how different materials degrade in this challenging environment while also being exposed to exhaust from the Space Station's thrusters, aiming to examine the scope of contamination and corrosion caused by thruster exhaust and propellant residue.

The two spacewalkers will put in place a hand rail and retrieve their GoPro camera before departing Zvezda and moving inboard – going through the standard procedure of wiping down their gloves and suits before throwing the towels overboard to remove potentially harmful contamination due to thruster residue and unburnt propellants accumulating around the aft section of Zvezda. Both EV crew members will stop by the airlock to retrieve equipment for the second half of the EVA before moving up to the Poisk module.


Image: NASA

At Poisk, the crew members will get stated with the "Test" Experiment involving a series of samplers to collect surface samples from the outer protection layer of ISS and the windows. The Test Experiment aims to study how different materials behave in the challenging space environment over a long period of time characterized by harsh thermal variations, high doses of radiation and atomic oxygen causing corrosion. Test also looks at the distribution of thruster residue and potential microbial activity on the outside of the space station which has proven to be an interesting area of research based on the previous ten Test samples that have been returned so far.

The Test Samplers consist of pairs of collection devices for the acquisition of swab samples and containers to protect the samplers. Yurchikhin and Ryazansky will take samples from the BL-1 and 2 hatch areas on Poisk and also collect photos of another SKK experiment.


Image: NASA

Also at Poisk, the crew will change the positioning of the BKDO Plume Impingement and Deposit Monitoring Unit to view a different sector in its ongoing study of of the plumes created by the thrusters of visiting vehicles and the Space Station itself to learn more about the impingement characteristics of the thruster plumes and processes causing the deposition of combustion products on the external hull of the space station.

Yurchikhin and Ryazansky will install an adapter on sensor p6005 and put in place hand rails between p6016 and 1505 before moving back down to the Pirs module wh ere they will collect another pair of test samples and put in place exposure devices. Finally, the spacewalkers will go through a tool inventory and move back into the Pirs module to end the EVA in orderly fashion with repressurization.

The entire EVA will be used as a technology demonstration of the new Orlan-MKS space suit that offers greater capabilities and is geared to providing greater safety and comfort to spacewalking crew members.


Photo: Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center

Orlan-MKS has been designed to be more robust than its predecessor while being much easier to use and operate, cutting time from the typical preparations flow for each spacewalk carried out on ISS. The suit has been built for up to 20 uses over a service life of six to seven years, capable of supporting extended spacewalks of up to nine hours. Changes to the older suits include the introduction of an automated thermal control system, a suit management computer that controls the temperature & monitors the suit's life support functions, and a new, more durable material in the suit's protective outer layers.

The more robust pressurization layer has an internal capability of withstanding failure, allowing a backup layer to be eliminated which makes the suit lighter and more flexible.

Fyodor Yurchikhin will evaluate the performance of Orlan-MKS for its first in-space test that follows extensive testing performed on the ground over the last five years.

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U.S. Commercial Cargo Craft Arrives at the International Space Station

NASA

Опубликовано: 16 авг. 2017 г.

(11:04)

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https://blogs.nasa.gov/stationreport/2017/08/15/iss-daily-summary-report-8152017/

ISS Daily Summary Report – 8/15/2017
Posted on August 15, 2017 at 4:00 pm by HQ.

Intracranial Pressure & Visual Impairment (IPVI):

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The crew took front and profile view pictures to check for facial edema, then completed a conference with ground experts. The IPVI investigation studies changes to crewmembers' eyes and optic nerves by analyzing arterial blood pressure and blood flow to the brain before and after spaceflight. The IPVI investigation uses non-invasive methods as compared to current invasive methods (e.g., spinal tap) to measure intracranial pressure.

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MagVector:

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The crew performed closeout and cleanup activities for the 7-day MagVector Run 11. The European Space Agency (ESA) MagVector investigation studies how the Earth's magnetic field interacts with an electrical conductor. Using extremely sensitive magnetic sensors placed around and above a conductor, researchers can gain insight into ways that the magnetic field influences how conductors work. This research not only helps improve future International Space Station experiments and electrical experiments, but it could offer insights into how magnetic fields influence electrical conductors in general – the backbone of our technology.

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Japanese Experiment Module (JEM) Camera Robot:

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The crew set up the JEM Camera Robot and the ground took video and photos of several scenes in the JEM module. This device is a free-flying camera robot that provides real time video downlink and photographs. It is expected to reduce the crew time requirements to support video recording of activities, especially at the blind spot of existing JEM internal cameras.

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Multi-Omics-Mouse:

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The crew refilled water containers in Mouse Habitat Cage Units for the JAXA Multi-Omics-Mouse investigation. Several studies have reported space flight effects on the human immune system but the relationship between microbiota and immune dysfunction during flight remains unclear. In Multi-Omics-Mouse, food with and without fructooligosaccharides (FOS) will be used as prebiotics, which could improve the gut environment and immune function. After the flight, researchers will analyze the gut environment (microbiota and metabolites) and immune system of the mice by multi-omics analysis, and evaluate the effect of FOS during flight.

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Kubik:

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The crew unstowed and set up the Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI) Kubik 5 facility in the Columbus module. They then performed a functional check and preheating of Kubik 5 to prepare for support of upcoming ASI Biomission investigations that will utilize the Kubik facility. Kubik is a small controlled-temperature incubator or cooler used to study biological samples in a microgravity environment. It is equipped with removable inserts designed for self-contained, automatic experiments using seeds, cells, and small animals.

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At Home in Space:

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The crew completed an At Home in Space questionnaire. This Canadian Space Agency experiment assesses culture, values, and psychosocial adaptation of astronauts to a space environment shared by multinational crews on long-duration missions. It is hypothesized that astronauts develop a shared space culture that is an adaptive strategy for handling cultural differences and they deal with the isolated confined environment of the spacecraft by creating a home in space. At Home in Space uses a questionnaire to investigate individual and culturally related differences, family functioning, values, coping with stress, and post-experience growth.

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Dragon Robotics On-Board Trainer:

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In preparation for tomorrow's SpX-12 capture and berthing, the crew completed 3 Capture Point Hold runs which allows the crew to practice free drift timing. They also practiced malfunction response, nominal rate approaches and 2 meter approaches.

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Remote Power Controller Module (RPCM) P12B_B Status:

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Following successful closure of RPCM P12B_B RPC10 late Sunday evening, the RPC tripped this morning. This RPC powers the S-Band transponder for String 2. The trip signature continues to indicate a Field Effect Transistor (FET) Hybrid failure. Ground teams will continue to attempt to reclose the RPC. This is an external RPCM that can be Removed and Replaced (R&Rd) by the Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator (SPDM).

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РОСКОСМОС‏Подлинная учетная запись @roscosmos 4 ч. назад

#ВКД43: командир экспедиции МКС-52 Фёдор Юрчихин и бортинженер МКС-52 Сергей Рязанский готовятся к плановому выходу в открытый космос

Video

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РОСКОСМОС‏Подлинная учетная запись @roscosmos 4 ч. назад

#ВКД43: завершена подготовка скафандров и навесного оборудования, проведены тренировки по операциям, предстоящим выполнить за пределами МКС

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Сергей Рязанский‏Подлинная учетная запись @SergeyISS 11 мин. назад

#КомсомольскНаАмуре – город в Хабаровском крае России // Komsomolsk-on-Amur is a city in Khabarovsk Krai, #Russia

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Royce Renfrew‏ @Tungsten_Flight 2 ч. назад

Hatches are coming open on the Dragon that was captured this morning. Crew moves attachment hardware out of the way to get inside.

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ISS Updates‏ @ISS101 34 мин. назад

#Dragon hatch opening is in work by the ISS crew at this time and they plan to transfer all powered Polar freezers before the end of the day

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Royce Renfrew‏ @Tungsten_Flight 30 мин. назад

It's like Christmas! @Space_Station @SpaceX @NASA_Johnson

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Intl. Space Station‏Подлинная учетная запись @Space_Station 12 мин. назад

#Dragon hatches open! Check out the variety of science experiments the crew will be offloading real soon. https://nasa.tumblr.com/post/164171150404/new-research-heading-to-earths-orbiting ...

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https://spaceflightnow.com/2017/08/16/station-crew-captures-dragon-supply-ship-gets-early-start-on-unpacking/

Station crew captures Dragon supply ship, gets early start on unpacking
August 16, 2017 Stephen Clark

Two days after departing from a launch pad on Florida's Space Coast, a SpaceX Dragon cargo capsule arrived at the International Space Station on Wednesday with more than 6,400 pounds of experiments and supplies after concluding an automated laser-guided approach.

Astronaut Jack Fischer aboard the space station used the lab's Canadian-built robotic arm to snare the robotic cargo craft at 6:52 a.m. EDT (1052 GMT) Wednesday as they sailed about 250 miles (400 kilometers) over the Pacific Ocean north of New Zealand.

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SpaceX's Dragon cargo craft on final approach to the space station Monday. Credit: Sergey Ryazanskiy/Roscosmos

Around two hours later, ground controllers finished the installation of Dragon on the station's Harmony module, commanding 16 bolts to close and create a firm seal between the two vehicles.

The station crew opened hatches between the Harmony module and Dragon's pressurized compartment later Wednesday, a day earlier than planned.

Flying under contract to NASA, the SpaceX supply ship ferried mostly research hardware, but also carried computer equipment, clothing, fresh food, ice cream and other treats for the crew.

"We've loaded Dragon with 6,400 pounds of cargo, and I'm happy to say 75 percent of that total mass is headed toward our research community, and our continued expansion of the research envelope on-board the International Space Station," said Dan Hartman, NASA's deputy space station program manager, before the mission launched. "So with the internal and external payloads going up, it sets a new bar for the amount of research that we were able to get on this flight."

The cargo mission marked SpaceX's 11th successful operational supply delivery in 12 tries.

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The gumdrop-shaped Dragon cargo freighter, powered by two extendable solar array panels, lifted off Monday on top of a Falcon 9 rocket from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.


Astronauts opened hatches between the space station and Dragon later Wednesday. Credit: NASA

The station's six-person crew will unload the payloads inside, overseeing a multitude of biological experiments before the ship's departure and return to Earth next month.

Twenty mice heading into space Monday will be examined after their return to the ground to aid researchers studying how spaceflight affects vision and movement.

"We're looking at two different biomedical issues," said Michael Delp, principal investigator for the rodent research experiment from Florida State University. "The first is visual impairment that occurs in some of the astronauts. To date, it only occurs in male astronauts, so we're looking at a couple of different aspects of how visual impairment may occur."

The mice will come back to Earth inside the Dragon capsule alive, and SpaceX will hand over their transporters to scientists upon return to port in Southern California.

Researchers will examine the blood vessels inside animals' eyes and the blood-brain barrier that regulates fluid movement inside the skull.

"The second thing that we'll be doing is really looking at the brain circulation, and how that affects blood pressure within the skull," Delp said.

Part of the rodent research team will look at how an extended stay in the space station's weightless environment affects movement.

"In microgravity, you have a fairly severe physical inactivity, and that can affect a number of the organ systems, such as muscle and bone loss," Delp said.

One focus of the study will be on how much cartilage in joints degrade after spending time in microgravity. Mice have an accelerated metabolism and undergo changes faster than humans, so a month on the space station is roughly equivalent to a three-year expedition by an astronaut, according to Delp.

The space station cargo mission will also help biologists investigating Parkinson's disease, a chronic neurological disorder that affects a million people in the United States, and about five million worldwide.

"Although there are medications that ammeliorate the symptoms, we don't have any therapies that reverse or slow down the progression of the disease," said Marco Baptista, director of research and grants at the Michael J. Fox Foundation, which funded the station-bound experiment.

Scientists are sending a protein that causes Parkinson's to the station to measure how it grows without the influence of gravity. The protein, named LRRK2, could be targeted with drugs and therapies in Parkinson's patients if doctors understand it better.

"The next breakthrough we need is the solving of the crystal structure of LRRK2," Baptista said. "This is important for two reasons. First, it will allow us a better understanding of the biology of LRRK2 and secondly may help industry optimizing LRRK2 kinase inhibitors or develop novel ways to target LRRK2."

Growing the protein in microgravity "will lead to bigger crystals, more regular crystallization and crystals with higher intrinsic order," said Sebastian Mathea, the lead scientist on the LRRK2 experiment from the University of Oxford.

"With those crystals, we hopefully will be able to collect data that allow us to solve the three-dimensional structure of LRRK2, which hopefully will push forward the understanding of the onset of Parkinson's," Mathea said.

Another science team awaits results from an experiment probing how microgravity affects the growth of new lung tissue, specifically bio-engineered material tailored to repair damaged organs or reduce the chance of organ rejection in transplant patients.

Scientists have trouble managing the expansion of bio-engineered lung tissue on Earth. The tissue has trouble moving through structures designed to help shape it, and stem cells used to produce the tissue are slow to replicate, according to Joan Nichols, professor of internal medicine and infectious diseases and associate director of the Galveston National Laboratory at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston.

Nichols said microgravity offers a more benign environment, aiding in cell dispersal to help form more uniform tissues.

"We're getting two things out of this," she said. "We're getting a better plan and a better strategy for how to manage production of tissues using microgravity environment, and we're getting a model that's going to tell us what would happen in terms of lung repair on long-term spaceflight."

Another experiment stowed inside the capsule's pressurized section will investigate the origins of Parkinson's disease in a bid to find a therapy that could slow or halt its development, and another will study the affects of spaceflight on the development of bioengineered lung tissue, potentially helping scientists lessen the chance of organ rejection in transplant patients.

A supercomputer developed by Hewlett Packard Enterprise will spend at least a year on the space station, helping engineers gauge the ruggedness of commercial computer components in the harsh conditions of space.

Most computers sent into space are physically hardened to withstand radiation, cosmic rays, and other rigors of spaceflight. Hewlett Packard said its "spaceborne computer" experiment was hardened with software, reducing the time, money and weight of the supercomputer.

The experimental computer passed at least 146 safety tests and certifications to win NASA approval for the trip to the space station. If it works, Hewlett Packard officials said it could help future space missions, including a human expedition to Mars, have the latest computer technology.

While astronauts get to work in experiments inside the station's lab facilities, the Canadian and Japanese robotic arms will remove a cosmic ray detector carried inside the Dragon's external payload bay for mounting on a facility outside the station's Japanese Kibo module.

Derived from an instrument carried aloft on high-altitude balloons, the Cosmic Ray Energetics and Mass, or CREAM, payload will spend at least three years sampling particles sent speeding through the universe by cataclysmic supernova explosions, and perhaps other exotic phenomena like dark matter.

Scientists think the subatomic particles could hold the key to unlocking mysteries about the universe.

Four small satellites inside the Dragon capsule will be transferred inside the space station for deployment later this year.

The biggest of the bunch, named Kestrel Eye 2M, is a pathfinder for a potential constellation of Earth-imaging spacecraft for the U.S. military. About the size of a dorm room refrigerator, the Kestrel Eye 2M satellite was developed by the Army's Space and Missile Defense Command over the last five years.

While satellites the size of Kestrel Eye lack the fine imaging capability of large commercial and military spy satellites, they cost significantly less and could be spread around the planet in fleets of dozens or more.

Battlefield troops could connect with one of the satellites as it soars a few hundred miles overhead, ask it to take a picture of a nearby target, then receive the image, all within a few minutes.

"The concept is to have warfighters to task and receie data directly from the satellite during the same overhead pass," said Wheeler "Chip" Hardy, the Army's Kestrel Eye program manager. "The objective Kestrel Eye imagery data can be downlinked directly to provide rapid situational awareness to our Army brigade combat teams in theater without the need for continental United States relays."

From the space station's altitude around 250 miles (400 kilometers) up, Kestrel Eye 2M's optical camera will be able to spot objects on Earth's surface about the size of a car.

The Army has not approved development of further Kestrel Eye satellites. The demo craft set to launch Monday will be employed in military exercises with Pacific Command over the next few years, and Pentagon officials will evaluate its usefulness before deciding whether to press on with the program.

Three CubeSats will also be ferried to the space station for release from a ground-commanded deployer in the coming months.

The ASTERIA mission, developed by a team at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, seeks to test miniature telescope components that could be used in future small satellites to observe stars and search for exoplanets. ASTERIA is about the size of a big shoebox and weighs around 26 pounds (12 kilograms).

Astronomers and engineers want to know if a CubeSat like ASTERIA can hold pointing to the precision necessary for stellar observations, and designers will also measure the performance of the focal plane inside an on-board telescope.

The Dellingr project spearheaded by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland aims to prove out a new type of microsatellite design that is more reliable than conventional CubeSats.

Around the same size as ASTERIA, the Dellingr CubeSat, named for the mythological Norse god for the dawn, took around three years to design, build and test. Officials said the effort was not always easy, and managers had to define a balance between affordability and reliability.

Engineers tried using commercially-available components and software, but testing revealed many of the parts were inadequate for the level of reliability sought for Dellingr, which carries a sensor suite to study the sun's influence on Earth's atmosphere.

"It's a new way of doing things," said Chuck Clagett, Dellingr project manager at Goddard. "We were applying old ways to doing things to an emerging capability and it didn't work very well."

But officials said the extra testing paid off, and Dellingr is now ready to fly after helping reduce the risk of unforeseen problems on future missions  NASA has approved work on a follow-up CubeSat incorporating Dellingr's design and lessons to make measurements of Earth's ionosphere.

Another CubeSat named OSIRIS-3U from Penn State University launching Monday will study space weather.

Working in coordination with the Arecibo Observatory, a giant radar antenna in Puerto Rico, OSIRIS-3U will fly into a region ionosphere heated to simulate the conditions caused by solar storms.

OSIRIS-3U will collect data on the electron density, temperature, and content in the region of space stimulated by radar emissions, according to a fact sheet released by NASA.

The Dragon spacecraft is scheduled to depart the space station Sept. 17, bringing home more than a ton of research specimens and other gear for a parachute-assisted splashdown in the Pacific Ocean southwest of Los Angeles.

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http://tass.ru/kosmos/4486789

Российские космонавты впервые за полтора года выйдут в открытый космос

Космос  17 августа, 0:18 UTC+3

Федор Юрчихин и Сергей Рязанский проведут за пределами МКС 6 часов 5 минут

МОСКВА, 17 августа. /ТАСС/. Российские космонавты Федор Юрчихин и Сергей Рязанский в четверг впервые за полтора года выйдут в открытый космос для проведения работ на внешней поверхности российского сегмента Международной космической станции (МКС), сообщили ТАСС в головном научном институте российской ракетно-космической отрасли - ЦНИИмаш, в ведении которого находится Центр управления полетами.

"Открытие выходного люка стыковочного отсека "Пирс" планируется в 17:45 мск. Расчетная продолжительность составит 6 часов 5 минут", - рассказали в ЦНИИмаш.

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Уникальность выхода заключается в том, что Юрчихин будет работать в скафандре нового поколения "Орлан-МКС" (разработка НПП "Звезда" ), оснащенном автоматизированной системой терморегулирования и новой гермооболочкой. Во время выхода космонавт проведет испытания скафандра. Его коллега космонавт Рязанский будет работать в скафандре предыдущего поколения, но с замененными рукавами и штанинами. Оба космонавта будут в скафандрах с синими "лампасами" - полосами вдоль скафандра, поэтому Юрчихин повяжет на рукава своего скафандра красные ленты, чтобы по видеоизображению его можно было отличить от коллеги.

Обычно космонавты выходят в космос в скафандрах разных цветов - "командирском" с красными "лампасами" и скафандре с синими полосами. Ситуация, когда оба космонавта работают в скафандрах одинакового цвета, возникает не впервые. В этот раз она связана с тем, что первый скафандр нового поколения "Орлан-МКС" с "командирскими" полосами был потерян 1 декабря 2016 года во время аварии ракеты-носителя "Союз" с грузовым кораблем "Прогресс МС-04".

План работ

После открытия выходного люка и установки специального кольца, мешающего люку произвольно захлопнуться, космонавты приступят к демонтажу для последующего возвращения на Землю адаптера с планшетами, расположенными на внешней поверхности МКС в рамках эксперимента "Реставрация". Эксперимент заключался в том, что в условиях открытого космоса в феврале 2016 года были опробованы технологии ремонта космических конструкций с помощью специальной ленты, а затем образцы конструкций оставлены снаружи станции для исследования воздействия факторов космического полета.

Закончив с этим экспериментом, космонавты вручную произведут последовательный запуск наноспутников "ТС530-Зеркало", "Томск-ТПУ-120", двух наноспутников "Танюша-ЮЗГУ" и "ТНС-0 №2".

После этого космонавты установят на поверхности МКС аппаратуру для определения химического состава и распределения в пространстве выбросов из сопел двигателей служебного модуля "Звезда", с помощью которых производится коррекция высоты орбиты станции. Вслед за этим они проведут монтаж подкосов и поручней-переходов на внешней поверхности станции, установят адаптер с датчиками на Малом исследовательском модуле "Поиск", возьмут мазки для поиска микробных загрязнений поверхности станции, а также повернут на 90 градусов блок контроля давления и осаждений загрязнений на модуле "Поиск".

Предыдущий российский выход в открытый космос состоялся 3 февраля 2016 года. В то же время американские астронавты выходили в космос в 2016 году трижды, в 2017 году - пять раз.

Следующий за сегодняшним российский выход в космос планировался ранее на конец 2017 года. В настоящее время он перенесен на февраль следующего года. Основная задача выхода - установка на внешней поверхности МКС аппаратуры ретрансляции данных на Землю через спутниковую систему "Луч".

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Дракон: как это было. История глазами очевидца...

[ Randy Bresnik‏Подлинная учетная запись @AstroKomrade 38 мин. назад

After chasing us for two days, our @SpaceX #Dragon spacecraft caught us, arriving a few hundred meters directly below for final approach.



29 мин. назад

Time to enjoy the view at the 30-meter hold point while mission controls @NASA_Johnson & @SpaceX perform final checks of all systems.



26 мин. назад

Game Time! @Astro2fish and @astro_paolo prepare for the final approach of @SpaceX #Dragon spacecraft.



12 мин. назад

.@Astro2Fish did a stellar job capturing @SpaceX #Dragon, bringing 6,400 lbs of #science and cargo. Learn more: http://go.nasa.gov/2vfWqZq 

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Randy Bresnik‏Подлинная учетная запись @AstroKomrade 3 мин. назад

Dragon sunrise! Beautiful scene as the @csa_asc robot arm moves the @SpaceX #Dragon towards the @Space_Station underside berthing port.

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Randy Bresnik‏Подлинная учетная запись @AstroKomrade 1 мин. назад

I call this one "Dragon's Breath". Thanks to everyone on the @SpaceX #Dragon team, from coast to coast, for such a beautiful spacecraft.

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https://www.energia.ru/ru/news/news-2017/news_08-17.html

Российские космонавты запустят наноспутники во время выхода в открытый космос
17.08.2017

17 августа российские космонавты Фёдор Юрчихин и Сергей Рязанский во время выхода в открытый космос запустят пять наноспутников. В их числе - три «студенческих», созданных в честь 60-летия запуска первого искусственного спутника Земли и начала космической эры.

Спойлер

Спутник «Томск-ТПУ-120» создан в Томском политехническом университете совместно с Корпорацией «Энергия» (входит в ГК «РОСКОСМОС») и Институтом физики прочности и материаловедения СО РАН. Это первый российский наноспутник класса CubеSat, корпус которого напечатан на 3D-принтере.

Спутник будет находиться на орбите около полутора лет, передавая на Землю голосовые сообщения и телеметрию. Принимать информацию со спутника на Земле можно на радиолюбительской частоте 437.025 МГц.

В рамках космического эксперимента «Радиоскаф» будет запущена также автономная интеллектуальная группировка малых космических аппаратов: «Танюша-ЮЗГУ-1» с позывным «RS6S» и «Танюша-ЮЗГУ-2» с позывным «RS7S».

Проект «Танюша» реализуется Корпорацией «Энергия» совместно с Юго-Западным государственным университетом (г. Курск).

В открытом космосе будет проведен комплекс экспериментов: по взаимодействию группировки спутников между собой, передаче данных, измерению плотности вакуума с использованием уникального вакуумметра, разработанного в ЮЗГУ.

В честь 60-летия запуска первого спутника, а также 160-летия со дня рождения Константина Эдуардовича Циолковского «Танюши» будут транслировать голосовое приветствие на четырёх языках: русском, английском, испанском, китайском. Принимать его можно тоже на радиолюбительской частоте - 437.05 МГц.

Кроме того, на орбиту будет запущен технологический наноспутник ТНС-0 № 2, созданный на основе разработанной специалистами АО «Российские космические системы» (РКС, входит в ГК «РОСКОСМОС») по заказу РКК «Энергия» унифицированной платформы для космических аппаратов нанокласса.

Во время работы спутника на орбите будут проведены испытания его ключевых служебных систем, датчиковой аппаратуры, вычислительного комплекса и экспериментальной навигационной системы. Собранные данные будут использованы для модернизации платформы при создании на ее базе перспективных аппаратов для работы на орбите Земли и в дальнем космосе.
Планируется, что ТНС-0 № 2 будет работать на орбите от трех до пяти месяцев. Управление спутником будет осуществляться в ЦУПе РКС.

Спутник «Сфера», который также будет запущен на орбиту российскими космонавтами 17 августа, создан в РКК «Энергия». Он представляет собой цельнометаллическую сферу. Такая форма удобна тем, что торможение искусственного спутника Земли атмосферой не зависит от его ориентации в пространстве.

Движение «Сферы» после запуска будет определяться с помощью наземных измерительных средств. На основе данных о его движении в рамках технического эксперимента «Вектор-Т», выполняемого на РС МКС, предполагается уточнить параметры модели атмосферы Земли и провести проверку алгоритмов, используемых при расчёте плотности атмосферы и прогнозе движения космических аппаратов на низких околоземных орбитах. Спутник будет находиться на орбите несколько месяцев.

Спойлер

РКК «Энергия» – ведущее предприятие ракетно-космической отрасли промышленности, головная организация по пилотируемым космическим системам. Корпорация ведет работы по созданию автоматических космических и ракетных систем (средств выведения и межорбитальной транспортировки), высокотехнологичных систем различного назначения для использования в некосмических сферах. С августа 2014 года Корпорацию возглавляет Владимир СОЛНЦЕВ.

ГК «РОСКОСМОС» – государственная корпорация, созданная в августе 2015 года для проведения комплексной реформы ракетно-космической отрасли России. Госкорпорация «РОСКОСМОС» обеспечивает реализацию госполитики в области космической деятельности и ее нормативно-правовое регулирование, а также размещает заказы на разработку, производство и поставку космической техники и объектов космической инфраструктуры. В функции государственной корпорации также входит развитие международного сотрудничества в космической сфере и создание условий для использования результатов космической деятельности в социально-экономическом развитии России.

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Спойлер

"Радиоскаф" – долгосрочная программа научно-прикладных исследований и экспериментов на российском сегменте МКС, разработана в ракетно-космической корпорации "Энергия" им. С.П. Королева. Руководитель - дважды герой Советского Союза, летчик-космонавт Александров Александр Павлович, главный специалист – Самбуров Сергей Николаевич. Это международная космическая научно-образовательная программа ориентирована на молодежь и студентов технических специальностей высших и специальных учебных заведений и широкий круг радиолюбителей
Целью работ данного направления является проведение научных экспериментов и тематических уроков из космоса в интересах образования, а также популяризация космических исследований и пропаганда достижений российской космонавтики, создание условий для привлечения молодежи к самостоятельной научно-исследовательской деятельности под руководством ведущих специалистов предприятий и организаций.

«Вектор-Т» – эксперимент, целью которого является исследование системы высокоточного прогнозирования движения МКС. В его обширной программе в том числе - уточнение характеристик земной атмосферы.

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