Новости МКС

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https://blogs.nasa.gov/stationreport/2018/03/28/iss-daily-summary-report-3282018/

ISS Daily Summary Report – 3/28/2018

Posted Mar 28, 2018 at 4:00 pm

68 Progress (68P) Undock:

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68P successfully undocked from the Docking Compartment 1 (DC-1) port this morning at 8:50 AM CDT. This Progress vehicle will conduct Non-ISS free-flight experiments from April 3 to April 24. A series of burns scheduled for Thursday March 29 and April 2 will place the vehicle into the required orbit. The deorbit burn is scheduled for Wednesday, April 25th at 11:15 PM CDT followed by atmospheric entry and destruction.

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Extravehicular Activity (EVA) Preparations:

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Today the crew completed final preparations for US EVA #49 – Node 3 External Wireless Communications (EWC) installation, planned for tomorrow. The crew completed Pre-EVA health exams, final EVA Tool configuration, Equipment Lock prep, EVA procedure review, and conferences with ground specialists. Estimated airlock hatch opening is 7:10 AM CDT tomorrow.

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Veg-03:

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This morning the crew completed an audit of Veg-03 hardware in preparation for the plant harvest planned for April 6th. The crew also watered the Veg-03 plants and continued with the photo-documentation of plant growth for the investigation. Veg-03 supports the proof-of concept for the Veggie plant growth chamber and the planting pillows. Future long duration space missions will require a fresh food supply grown in space to supplement crew diets.

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Commercial Off the Shelf (COTS) Ultra High Frequency (UHF) Communication Unit (CUCU):

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In preparation for SpX-14 arrival, currently planned for April 4, the crew powered up and checked out the CUCU and Dragon Crew Command Panel (CCP). CUCU provides a command and telemetry communications link between ISS and Dragon during free flight operations in the vicinity of ISS.

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Emergency Roles & Responsibilities Review:

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With the arrival of 54S, all crewmembers participated in an Emergency Roles & Responsibilities Review. Items of discussion included crew accountability, access to escape vehicles, and ISS Commander responsibilities. Due to the complex nature of emergencies in space, it is imperative each crewmember is fully familiar with the various emergency procedures and strategies in place.

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https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacestation/2018/03/29/experienced-spacewalkers-wrap-up-station-maintenance-excursion/

Experienced Spacewalkers Wrap Up Station Maintenance Excursion

Mark Garcia
Posted Mar 29, 2018 at 3:54 pm


There have been 209 spacewalks at the International Space Station since December 1998.

Expedition 55 Flight Engineers Drew Feustel and Ricky Arnold of NASA completed the fourth spacewalk this year at 3:43 p.m. EDT, lasting 6 hours, 10 minutes. The two astronauts installed wireless communications antennas on the Tranquility module, replaced a camera system on the port truss and removed suspect hoses from a cooling system.

Spacewalkers have now spent a total of 54 days and 10 hours working outside the station in support of assembly and maintenance of the orbiting laboratory.

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Expedition 55 EVA Preview Briefing

NASA Video

Опубликовано: 29 мар. 2018 г.

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https://spaceflightnow.com/2018/03/29/eva-49-coverage/

Spacewalkers accomplish all objectives in six-hour excursion
March 29, 2018 | William Harwood

EDITOR'S NOTE: Upd ated at 4 p.m. EDT (2000 GMT) after the conclusion of the spacewalk.

STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS & USED WITH PERMISSION


Astronaut Drew Feustel, seen here wearing a spacesuit with red stripes, works outside the International Space Station Thursday. Credit: Oleg Artemyev/Roscosmos

Two newly arrived space station astronauts, both veteran spacewalkers, ventured outside the lab complex Thursday and installed additional wireless communications gear, replaced a balky camera and its pan-and-tilt mechanism and removed two suspect hoses in the station's ammonia coolant system.

Floating in the Quest airlock module, Drew Feustel and Ricky Arnold switched their suits to battery power at 9:33 a.m. EDT (GMT-5), officially kicking off a planned 6.5-hour excursion.

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The astronauts got off to a late start, delayed about an hour and 20 minutes because of troubleshooting required after Feustel's suit failed three leak checks. His helmet, gloves and carbon dioxide absorbent canister were removed, the sealing surfaces wiped down and the gear was reinstalled. The suit passed the fourth leak test and the crew pressed ahead without incident.

The required troubleshooting reminded onlookers that working in a vacuum with 500-degree temperature swings while moving through space at more than 17,000 mph will never be routine, despite 208 earlier injury-free station excursions.

"It's probably the most dangerous thing we do in terms of on-orbit operations," Kenny Todd, space station operations and integration manager, told reporters earlier this week. "Yes, we've done a lot of EVAs, yes, we've had a lot of success with EVAs. But that comes with a lot of hard work and a lot of preparation and attention to detail. I don't want us to ever, ever forget the lessons we've learned along the way."

The first item on the agenda Thursday was for Feustel to install wireless antennas, attached to handrails, on the front of the lab complex to permit external payloads to relay data to the ground and for use by approaching commercial crew ferry ships being built by Boeing and SpaceX.

"If you've ever done any home networking, you know that while your living room might get good wi-fi signal maybe your front porch, the signal drops off," said Flight Director Anthony Bareha.

"Well, the International Space Station has a front porch, it's called the JEM Exposed Facility, we do science on it. We want to make sure we've got good wi-fi coverage out on that facility so some of those upcoming payloads that require that wi-fi to get their science to the ground have that resource available to them."

While Feustel worked on the antenna installation, Arnold, anchored to the end of the station's robot arm, focused on removing two flexible jumper hoses in the station's ammonia cooling system that are believed to be the source of a small leak.

The hoses were isolated earlier, clearing the way for their removal. They will be replaced during a future outing.

"Back last year, we were chasing a bit of an ammonia leak on the port side," said Todd. "It looks like there's a se t of flex hose jumpers that we have it narrowed down to. Based on the reconfigurations that were done back last year and seeing that the leak stopped, we feel pretty comfortable in saying the issue is with these jumpers."

By the time that work was complete, flight controllers monitoring the crew's carbon dioxide removal systems, opted to shorten the spacewalk by a half hour, telling the astronauts to press ahead with replacement of a standard definition camera and its pan-and-tilt unit but not to take time re-installing a high-def camera.

As it turned out, it did not take as long as expected to attach the new standard-def camera and the astronauts were able to re-install the HD camera as originally planned. Feustel even had time to loosen some bolts on spare ammonia pump module to make it easier to relocate during a future spacewalk.

The astronauts returned to the airlock and began repressurization at 3:43 p.m. to close out a six-hour 10-minute EVA, the 209th since station assembly began in 1998, the fourth so far this year, the seventh for Feustel and the third for Arnold. Total station spacewalk time now stands at 1,306 hours and nine minutes, or 54.4 days.

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http://spaceflight101.com/us-eva-49-successfully-completed-outside-iss/

ISS Spacewalkers Work through Complete EVA Task List Despite Late Start & Early End
 March 29, 2018

Photo: Oleg Artemyev

Two experienced NASA astronauts overcame adversity outside the International Space Station on Thursday in a challenging spacewalk that started late and had to be cut short. Faced with technical issues, Drew Feustel and Ricky Arnold were confined to their space suits for over ten hours, of which they spent six hours and ten minutes working outside the orbiting laboratory.

Despite the late start and early end of the EVA, the veteran spacewalkers managed to check all objectives off their EVA task list, notably the installation of external WiFi antennas to expand the Station's wireless network for an upcoming ecosystem instrument, the removal of a pair of potentially leaky ammonia hoses for further inspection on the ground, and the replacement of a degraded camera group on the Space Station's truss. The duo also completed some get-ahead work for a pair of upcoming excursions planned around May/June.

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EVA-49 Preparations – Photo: Anton Shkaplerov

The 209th spacewalk in support of ISS Assembly, Maintenance and Upgrades was brought forward fr om a prospect date in May to take advantage of a brief gap in operations at the end of March – inserting the excursion between the arrival of the Expedition 55/56 crew and the upcoming SpaceX Dragon mission.

With a slight lull in science activities leading up to Dragon's arrival, ISS managers took the opportunity to advance one of three EVAs planned for May/June to decompress schedules down the road – especially since two experienced spacewalkers were just headed up to ISS and fresh out of ground-based EVA procedures training.

Between them, Feustel and Arnold had nearly 55 hours of EVA experience when embarking on Thursday's spacewalk, including prior work outside the Space Station.


Photo: Anton Shkaplerov

Drew Feustel, a veteran of Space Shuttle missions STS-125 and 134, accumulated 42 and a half hours of EVA time on three EVAs repairing and upgrading the Hubble Space Telescope in 2009 and three excursions outside ISS in 2014. Educator Astronaut Ricky Arnold completed two spacewalks in 2009 as part of the STS-119 mission that delivered the final Truss Segment and Solar Array Wing to the growing International Space Station.

Gearing up to take a pre-Easter stroll in the vacuum of space, Feustel and Arnold pressed into final EVA preparations after getting up on Thursday, assisted by NASA Astronaut Scott Tingle and JAXA's Norishige Kanai who helped them in their suits. Ricky Arnold, wearing Extravehicular Mobility Unit #3003, enjoyed nominal suit checks but EMU #3006, worn by Drew Feustel, began acting up via a leak signature during initial checkouts.

After failing three consecutive leak checks, Feustel removed his gloves and helmet to allow their seals to be thoroughly cleaned before the suit was assembled and pressurized again – this time with nominal results and no leak indication.


Photo: Anton Shkaplerov

Down by around one and a half hours on their timeline, the crew resumed the methodical pre-breathe process required before every EVA, then heading into final suit reconfigurations and moving into the Crew Lock Portion of Quest for depressurization. U.S. EVA-49 started at 13:33 UTC when the two spacewalkers switched their suits to battery power and exited the airlock.

Having gone through their mandatory setup of safety tethers, the two EV crew members parted ways as Drew Feustel was headed to the Node 3 end cone where he was to expand the Station's external WiFi system while Ricky Arnold translated port, retrieved a foot restraint and installed it on the robotic arm to take a ride over to his work site.

The installation of the External Wireless Communications (EWC) antennas on the Node 3 end cone was the primary task of Thursday's EVA in a bid to expand the reach of the external WiFi network in order to guarantee strong signals are available for instruments installed on the Kibo Exposed Facility – located just forward of the Node 3 end cone.


Node 3 Antenna Installation – Photo: NASA TV

This capability will be used by the ECOSTRESS ecosystem remote sensing instrument arriving on ISS this summer and Mission Managers wanted to get the installation done as early as possible to allow for testing of the antennas before the high-profile payload arrives.

ECOSTRESS, the "ECOsystem Spaceborne Thermal Radiometer Experiment on Space Station," is a 465-Kilogram Hyperspectral Infrared Imager developed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, capable of collecting high-resolution images at five thermal infrared wavelengths to measure plant temperature, evapo-transpiration fr om plant leaves and evaporation fr om the ground. This unique ability will provide novel data for an assessment of plant response to water stress on a large scale for a comprehensive study of how ecosystems change with climate.


Node 3 EWC Antennas – Image: NASA TV


image: https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/154268.jpg

ECOSTRESS during final testing – Photo: NASA/JPL

The $30 million ECOSTRESS instrument is booked for launch on the Dragon SpX-15 mission this summer and will take up residence at Exposed Facility Unit 10 on the outboard face of Kibo's porch.

It will receive power, cooling & low-rate data connectivity for commanding/telemetry transmission through the Kibo Exposed Facility, but the transmission of high-speed science data will occur through the Station's external WiFi system at a nominal data rate between 2.3 to 4.5 Mbit/s. Installing two External Wireless Communications (EWC) antennas on Node 3 will ensure proper signal strength around the port hemisphere of the U.S. Segment and alleviate any signal strength concerns for external payloads on Kibo.

Drew Feustel made quick work bolting down a pair of In-Orbit Replaceable Hand Rails on the nadir and zenith sides of the end cone, each integrated with one EWC Antenna. He then routed a power/data cable from the zenith to the nadir antenna and a power/data interface in the unoccupied Common Berthing Mechanism on Node 3 Port, underneath the former PMA-3 cover that currently provides long-term protection of the empty CBM.


RBVM Architecture – Image: NASA

Taking a position on the free-flying end of the 17.6-meter long Canadarm2, Ricky Arnold was set for a ride over to the Port Heat Rejection System Radiator (HRSR) under the control of Tingle and Kanai who transitioned to the Cupola Robotics Workstation after sending the EV crew outside. His task at the Radiator Beam was the removal of two Ammonia Flex Hose Jumpers running between the radiator and one of six Radiator Beam Valve Modules (RBVMs).

In 2016, ammonia accumulator data from Loop B of the ISS External Thermal Control System indicated a slowly decreasing coolant quantity within the loop – pointing to a small leak somewh ere around the port radiator. The Robotic External Leak Locator was deployed in February 2017 and successfully narrowed the source of the leak to the P1-2-0113 RBVM. To get human eyes on the situation, French Astronaut Thomas Pesquet was dispatched to the area in March 2017 and video collected by him helped engineering teams pin-point the most likely source of the leak.


RBVM Jumpers – Photo: ESA

With the flex hose jumpers identified as the likely culprit, Mission Control re-routed ammonia flow and vented the lines. The return of these jumpers is desired to allow for detailed inspections on the ground to reveal the precise leak location and its mechanism. This knowledge will help design future thermal regulation systems for spacecraft heading deeper into space wh ere their maintenance will be a greater challenge than on ISS.

To remove the 1″ and 3/4″ jumpers, Arnold used a pair of EVA scissors to cut lanyards from a pair of electrical connectors before demating the two heater line connectors that used to supply power to the ammonia lines to prevent the coolant from freezing. Next was the release of a pair of clamps holding down the jumpers and demating four fluid Quick Disconnects – all of which cooperated without the often-seen trouble when manipulating this particular type of fluid connection.


EVTCG Replacement – Photo: NASA TV

While Arnold was busy with the ammonia hoses, Feustel tackled a pair of tasks over at the S0 central truss segment wh ere he inspected a Pump Flow Control Subassembly that will be relocated on EVA-50 coming up in May or June. He then retrieved an unused ammonia jumper that had been stashed inside the S0 truss since 2007 and moved it over to External Stowage Platform 1 to pre-stage it for the upcoming spacewalk.

With the two hoses secured on his tool bag, Arnold was maneuvered over to the zenith-face of the P1 Truss Segment for the EVA's third major objective: the replacement of a degraded External TV Camera Group (ETVCG) which had lost its ability to pan and tilt.

By this point in the spacewalk, approaching the three-hour mark, Mission Control noted that consumables for the two spacewalkers were limited through their suits' CO2 scrubbing capability and would only allow the excursion to last five hours and 50 minutes.


Image: NASA TV


Photo: NASA TV

Exercising caution since the PET+5:50 mark was considered a hard cutoff, Mission Control revised the CP8 camera replacement task – foregoing the transfer of the HD Camera assembly between the failed Camera, Light, Pan/Tilt Assembly (CLPA) and the spare. Instead, Ricky Arnold removed the camera group as a whole by releasing two secondary and one primary structural bolt followed by sliding the assembly out of its soft-dock.

The removed camera group was handed over to Drew Feustel who then provided Arnold with the spare he had picked up from the airlock. Installation of the CLPA was the reverse process for Arnold – placing it in the magnetic soft-dock and driving the secondary and primary bolts, automatically connecting power/data interfaces in the back of the camera assembly.

In the meantime, Feustel moved the failed CLPA to the airlock as it can only be out in the open for one hour without heater power.


Photo: NASA TV

Reaching the four-hour mark into the EVA, Mission Control decided there was enough time after all and instructed Feustel to remove the HD Camera from the failed camera group and head back to Camera Port 8 to hand it off to EV-2.

Installation of the HD Camera was fairly straightforward as it only required Arnold to slide its housing into a receptacle on the standard definition camera, lock up a lever and connect a pair of power lines between the camera light and the HD unit (data from the HD camera is routed inside ISS through the External Wireless system).

Mission Control Houston confirmed to the crew that the activation of the CP8 camera was successful at the PET+5-hour mark, illustrated by sharp HD views of Ricky Arnold as he was backed away from the worksite by the robotic operators. EV-2's final order of business was the clean-up of the robotic arm – a half-hour task that provided Drew Feustel with a time window for additional get ahead work.


Photo: NASA TV

At External Stowage Platform-2, Feustel employed a Pistol Grip Tool to break torque on four Bolts on a spare Ammonia Pump Module – essentially loosening the bolts from their launch torque and driving them to a lower torque setting. This removes the possibility of surprises with stuck bolts on a future Pump Module replacement EVA.

Closing out the EVA in orderly fashion, Feustel and Arnold cleaned up the airlock that had become somewhat cluttered with tool bags over the course of the day's activities. The end of the spacewalk was marked at 19:43 UTC after an elapsed time of six hours and ten minutes.

Thursday's excursion brought Drew Feustel's record to seven career EVAs for a total of 48 hours and 28 minutes, placing him 12th on the all-time list. Ricky Arnold accumulated 18 hours and 44 minutes on three EVAs. Both of them have good chances of adding to their totals via spacewalks coming up in May/June, though NASA has not yet announced who will perform EVA-50/51.

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https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacestation/2018/03/30/astronauts-focus-on-next-cargo-mission-and-harvest-crops/

Astronauts Focus on Next Cargo Mission and Harvest Crops

Mark Garcia
Posted Mar 30, 2018 at 2:41 pm


NASA astronaut Ricky Arnold takes an out of this world "space-selfie" during a brief opportunity while conducting a spacewalk with fellow NASA astronaut Drew Feustel (out of frame) on March 29, 2018.

The Expedition 55 crew is cleaning up today after a spacewalk and getting ready for next week's cargo delivery aboard the SpaceX Dragon space freighter. The four astronauts and two cosmonauts are also researching life science and reviewing emergency hardware today.

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NASA astronauts Drew Feustel and Ricky Arnold are checking their spacesuits and cleaning up the Quest airlock today after completing a six-hour, 10-minute spacewalk on Thursday. The duo also participated in a routine post-spacewalk health evaluation which consists of checking temperature, blood pressure and respiratory rate.

The next big event at the International Space Station is Wednesday's planned rendezvous with Dragon carrying over 5,800 pounds of new science experiments, crew supplies and other station hardware. The commercial cargo craft will launch atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket Monday at 4:30 p.m. EDT from Cape Canaveral, Fla.

Japanese astronaut Norishige Kanai will be inside the cupola operating the Canadarm2 robotic arm when he grapples Dragon around 7 a.m. Wednesday. Flight Engineer Scott Tingle will assist Kanai and monitor the cargo ship's arrival until it reaches its capture point about 10 meters away from the station. Both astronauts were on a computer today practicing the procedures they will use in the moments before they capture Dragon next week.

The orbital lab residents watered and harvested small crops of leafy vegetables for consumption today. A pair of crew members also documented what a headache in space feels like and how it affects their performance. The entire crew also spent almost two hours today familiarizing themselves with the locations of safety gear and practiced emergency communication with Russian mission controllers.

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https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacex/2018/03/30/nasa-tv-to-air-events-supporting-next-space-station-resupply-mission/

NASA TV to Air Events Supporting Next Space Station Resupply Mission

Bob Granath
Posted Mar 30, 2018 at 3:47 pm

NASA and SpaceX are preparing for the company's 14th resupply mission to the International Space Station scheduled for liftoff at 4:30 p.m. EDT, Monday, April 2.

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Packed with almost 5,800 pounds of research material, crew supplies and hardware, the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft will launch on a Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

The official weather forecast from the U.S. Air Force's 45th weather squadron at Patrick Air Force Base calls for an 80 percent chance for favorable conditions for launch. The primary launch weather concerns are flight through precipitation and cumulus clouds with the showers.

You may follow the prelaunch briefings and the countdown taking place at NASA's Kennedy Space Center on NASA Television at: https://www.nasa.gov/nasalive

Sunday, April 1
2:30 p.m. EDT – What's on Board science briefing
4 p.m. EDT – Prelaunch news conference with representatives from NASA's International Space Station Program, SpaceX and the U.S. Air Force's 45th Space Wing.

...

For the latest schedule of prelaunch briefings, events and NASA TV coverage, visit:
https://www.nasa.gov/content/spacex-crs-14-briefings-and-events/

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Oleg Artemyev‏Подлинная учетная запись @OlegMKS 9 ч. назад

Рикки и Дрю отлично отработали, Выход длился 6 часов и 10 минут. Из моего "наблюдательного пункта" хорошо было видно только @Astro_Feustel. Да, это именно его ноги были на предыдущей фотографии, многие угадали

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Oleg Artemyev‏Подлинная учетная запись @OlegMKS 9 ч. назад

А еще я хочу показать, как проходит сопровождение Выхода внутри станции. Как видите, в работе задействован весь экипаж, а не только два астронавта, которые работают в скафандрах. Так выглядело рабочее место @Astro_Kanai и @Astro_Maker, где происходит управление манипулятором.

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A.J. (Drew) Feustel‏Подлинная учетная запись @Astro_Feustel 4 ч. назад

Out for a 6 hour spacewalk yesterday with @astro_ricky. It was the 100th spacewalk from @Space_Station crewmembers!

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Ricky Arnold‏Подлинная учетная запись @astro_ricky 3 ч. назад

My view of @Astro_Feustel and all of you.

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Expedtion 55 U.S. EVA #49 - 1 of 4

NASA Video

Опубликовано: 30 мар. 2018 г.

 (2:02:00)

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Expedtion 55 U.S. EVA #49 - 2 of 4

NASA Video

Опубликовано: 30 мар. 2018 г.

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Примечание - это третья часть видеонарезки EVA-49, но обозначена как часть 4.

Expedtion 55 U.S. EVA #49 - 4 of 4

NASA Video

Опубликовано: 30 мар. 2018 г.

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Space to Ground: Upgrading the Outpost: 03/30/2018

NASA Johnson

Опубликовано: 30 мар. 2018 г.

 (2:33)

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Alpha Space: Small Business Makes Big Strides

NASA Johnson

Опубликовано: 30 мар. 2018 г.

The path to discovery and exploration is paved with determination, innovation, and most of all, big ideas. The International Space Station is home to many of those ideas and creating new ways for small businesses, entrepreneurs and researchers to test their science and technology in space every day.Formed in 2015 in response to the need for a commercial payload that would be available to private companies aboard the space station, Alpha Space is a woman- and minority-owned small business responsible for developing the Materials International Space Station Experiment Flight Facility (MISSE-FF).

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JUMPSTARTING THE CUBESAT REVOLUTION WITH RELIABLE LAUNCH FROM THE ISS

Число пользователей МКС, заинтересованных в развертывании smallsat, продолжает расти и включает в себя новые космические фирмы, такие как Spire, исследовательские университеты, такие как Morehead State, и правительственные агентства, такие как Министерство обороны США. Это согласуется с тенденциями выше и ниже НОО, поскольку малые спутники для наблюдения за условиями на Земле являются самым быстрорастущим сегментом глобальной спутниковой индустрии в размере 260,5 млрд. долл.Кроме того, оценка рынка SpaceWorks' 2017 ожидает, что запуск микроспутника будет расти на 10 процентов в год в течение следующих шести лет.
Признавая необходимость увеличения мощности запусков CubeSat с МКС и возможности запуска больших полезных нагрузок, NanoRacks планирует разместить первый коммерчески принадлежащий шлюз на МКС в 2019 году. В настоящее время японское агентство аэрокосмических исследований (JAXA) эксплуатирует единственный шлюз на станции для переноса полезных нагрузок с внутренней поверхности МКС на внешнюю. Шлюз относительно небольшой и открывается только десять раз в год, причем пять из этих отверстий выделяются ДЖАКСА.
Новый коммерческий шлюзовой модуль NanoRacks будет иметь в пять раз больше мощности, чем воздушный шлюз, управляемый JAXA, и будет вмещать более крупные спутники (до 150 килограммов). Он также сможет развернуть несколько smallsats сразу, что-то не возможно с текущим шлюзом. После установки нового шлюза члены экипажа МКС смогут собирать полезные нагрузки на орбите с помощью деталей, отправляемых на МКС в мешках для транспортировки грузов.

A NASA mock-up of the
NanoRacks Airlock Module
successfully passed astronaut
extravehicular activity training testing at Johnson Space Center's Neutral Buoyancy Lab in Houston, Texas

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https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/small_spacecraft/feature/Orbital_Testing_Begins_for_Advanced_Small_Spacecraft_Communications

March 29, 2018

Orbital Testing Begins for Advanced Small Spacecraft Communications


Credits: Orbital ATK
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NASA Small Spacecraft Technology Program's Integrated Solar and Reflectarray Antenna, or ISARA, and Optical Communications and Sensor Demonstration, or OCSD, spacecraft recently completed systems checkout and have moved into the operational phase to demonstrate a number of technology firsts.

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The Optical Communications and Sensor Demonstration (OCSD) small spacecraft mission will enable multiple small spacecraft to operate cooperatively during science or exploration missions, to approach another spacecraft or object for in-space observation or servicing, or to connect small spacecraft together to form larger systems or networks in space.
Credits: NanoRacks

The ISARA mission is the first in-space demonstration of a reflectarray antenna, as well as that of an integrated antenna and solar array. ISARA is also the first demonstration of the radio frequency Ka-band from a reflectarray antenna. A relatively new type of antenna, the reflectarray consists of flat panels with an array of printed circuit board patches arranged to focus the radio signal in a similar manner as a parabolic dish.


The Integrated Solar and Reflectarray Antenna (ISARA) spacecraft undergoing pre-launch integration.
Credits: NanoRacks

ISARA initiated demonstration of its radio frequency communications technology by successfully generating a signal tone through its reflectarray antenna to the ground station at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. This demonstration enables high-bandwidth radio downlink of data from a CubeSat-scale spacecraft. The ISARA team will continue to characterize the reflectarray antenna to include measurements related to signal strength and solar array power attainment.


ISARA's reflectarray antenna deployed in orbit in preparation for high-speed radio communications demonstration.
Credits: NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory

OCSD consists of a pair of spacecraft each equipped with lower power laser communication systems. Each spacecraft also has a limited water-based propulsion system. OCSD will demonstrate the first-ever high-speed laser communication from a CubeSat to a ground station. OCSD will also demonstrate an optical communications uplink to a CubeSat for the first time.

Demonstration of OCSD's optical communications payload requires nighttime operations and clear weather, due to the limited power of the laser. During the initial part of this technology demonstration phase, the mission team is working to align each spacecraft's laser with a ground station in preparation for the final demonstration of high-speed downlink optical communications. An optical telescope on Mount Wilson in Southern California will be used for the final demonstration.

An additional demonstration will involve proximity operations by maneuvering the pair of OCSD spacecraft to within 650 feet of each other. OCSD's proximity operations demonstration requires that the two spacecraft decrease their distance to three miles to enable the laser rangefinders mounted on each spacecraft to locate each other. Currently 100 miles apart, the OCSD spacecraft have fired their water-based propulsion systems to initiate maneuvers to close their distance. Over the coming days, the two spacecraft will approach to a final distance of 650 feet to begin proximity maneuvers.

The technology demonstrations for both ISARA and OCSD will continue into the summer until completion.

Managed by NASA's Ames Research Center in California's Silicon Valley, the ISARA and OCSD missions are funded by the Small Spacecraft Technology Program within the agency's Space Technology Mission Directorate. The ISARA payload is being developed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, and will be demonstrated on a CubeSat developed by The Aerospace Corporation in El Segundo, California. JPL partnered with Pumpkin Inc. in San Francisco, California, to develop the solar array. The OCSD satellites are developed and operated by The Aerospace Corporation of El Segundo, California.

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Last Updated: March 29, 2018
Editor: Loura Hall

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https://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/schedule.html

Upcoming Events (All Times Eastern)

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• 2:30 p.m., Sunday, April 1 - CRS-14 "What's On Board" Briefing (all channels)
• 4 p.m., Sunday, April 1 - CRS-14 Prelaunch News Conference (all channels)
  

18:30 и 20:00 UTC

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