Новости МКС

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https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacestation/2019/05/09/crew-relaxes-as-two-robotic-arms-prepare-for-payload-handoffs/

Crew Relaxes as Two Robotic Arms Prepare for Payload Handoffs

Mark Garcia
Posted May 9, 2019 at 8:00 am


The three crewmates who rode the Soyuz MS-12 spacecraft to the International Space Station gather inside the Rassvet module after conducting a periodic routine emergency drill. From left are, Soyuz Commander Alexey Ovchinin of Roscosmos and NASA Flight Engineers Nick Hague and Christina Koch.

The Expedition 59 crew has a light duty day today with some science work on the schedule. Meanwhile, robotics controllers are preparing to swap external payloads in the unpressurized trunk of the SpaceX Dragon cargo craft.

NASA Flight Engineer Christina Koch checked samples today as she continued exploring why pathogens become more virulent in space. Later, she set up hardware for the Kidney Cells experiment that seeks innovative treatments for humans on Earth and in space.

Astronaut Nick Hague of NASA retrieved sample trays from a materials exposure experiment brought back inside the Kibo lab module. Fellow NASA astronaut Anne McClain checked on mice being observed for changes to their immune systems in microgravity.

Two new experiments are ready for robotic extraction from the SpaceX Dragon and installation on the International Space Station starting Thursday night and into the weekend. An older experiment will be removed from the station and placed back in Dragon.

The remotely controlled Canadarm2 robotic arm will first extract the Orbiting Carbon Observatory-3 (OCO-3) from Dragon's trunk. Japan's robotic arm will then take hold of the OCO-3 and install the global carbon detection device on Kibo's external pallet. The Canadarm2 will then extract and install the Space Test Program-Houston 6 hardware for space physics research on the station's truss structure.

Finally, the Japanese robotic arm will hand off the Cloud-Aerosol Transport System (CATS) to the Canadarm2 for installation in Dragon's trunk. CATS will burn up over Earth's atmosphere when Dragon's trunk separates during its reentry at the end of May. A SpaceX Dragon resupply ship delivered CATS in January of 2015 for robotic installation outside Kibo. CATS successfully demonstrated low cost atmospheric monitoring techniques from the station.

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Christina H Koch‏Подлинная учетная запись @Astro_Christina 7 мая

Room for 6? No problem. From left to right: Progress, Soyuz, Cygnus, & Dragon, plus another Soyuz & Progress out of view! Is this a full house on @Space_Station? Nope. @Commercial_Crew recently commissioned a new parking spot: the forward-facing docking port, for a total of 7!

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Christina H Koch‏Подлинная учетная запись @Astro_Christina 7 мая

Let the cargo ops begin! When new vehicles arrive at @Space_Station, we get to work stowing the new gear. For every high-tech laboratory facility, there's a storage area of equipment & supplies to support it. Constant turnover with upgrades & the latest state of the art science!

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Christina H Koch‏Подлинная учетная запись @Astro_Christina 2 ч. назад

Dual glovebox ops, not wasting any space for science! In one we're discovering how microbes adapt to microgravity, in the other how the immune system responds to spaceflight. Bringing new understanding to Earth for application in pathogen defense, vaccines, & cancer treatments.

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https://ria.ru/20190510/1553396866.html

Россия задала НАСА вопросы по поводу запаха спирта на МКС
03:18

МОСКВА, 10 мая – РИА Новости. Россия направила в НАСА замечания и вопросы в связи с выбросом изопропилового спирта в атмосферу МКС после пристыковки к ней в марте корабля Dragon-2, сообщил в интервью РИА Новости начальник Центра подготовки космонавтов, Герой России Павел Власов.

После прибытия на МКС корабля Dragon-2 экипаж станции почувствовал 3 марта необычный запах. Анализаторы воздуха выявили в атмосфере МКС повышенное содержание изопропилового спирта, концентрация которого составляла около шести миллиграммов на кубический метр.

По указанию с Земли экипаж включил системы очистки воздуха, в результате чего концентрацию удалось снизить примерно до двух миллиграммов на кубический метр. До стыковки корабля Dragon-2 она составляла десятую долю миллиграмма на кубический метр. После отстыковки корабля концентрация снизилась.

"Да, насколько я знаю, из-за этого корабля произошел выброс в атмосферу МКС паров изопропилового спирта.<...> Все замечания выданы, вопросы заданы", - сказал Власов.

По его словам, все вопросы по работе частных американских космических кораблей российская сторона задает не непосредственно компании SpaceX, а через посредника в лице НАСА. Такая политика взаимодействия понимания у России не вызывает, однако, отметил Власов, американские партнеры понимают, что при работе на МКС им придется отвечать на вопросы международных партнеров.

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https://blogs.nasa.gov/stationreport/2019/05/09/iss-daily-summary-report-5092019/

ISS Daily Summary Report – 5/09/2019

Repository:

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The crew set up the urine collection hardware in preparation for a repository session to be performed on Saturday and Sunday. Repository supports scientific discovery that contributes to our fundamental knowledge in the area of human physiological changes and adaptation to a microgravity environment and provides unique opportunities to study longitudinal changes in human physiology spanning many missions.

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Micro-14:

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The crew took samples fr om one 12-well BioCell plate inside the Life Science Glovebox work volume. The Micro-14 (Characterizing the Effects of Spaceflight on the Candida albicans Adaptation Responses) life science research mission will investigate and evaluate the responses of the C. albicans, a type of yeast, to microgravity conditions and, in particular, to assess changes at the physiological, cellular, and molecular level and to characterize virulence factors.

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Japanese Experiment Module Airlock (JEMAL)/Materials ISS Experiment Flight Facility (MISSE) Materials ISS Experiment Transfer Tray (MTT) Remove and BCDU JEM ORU Transfer Interface (JOTI) Reconfiguration:

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The JEMAL was pressurized and the slide table was extended into the JEM to give the crew access. They then removed the MTT and stowed three MSCs (MISSE Sample Carriers) for return. The JOTI was then reconfigured to support an upcoming BCDU (Battery Charge/Discharge Unit) transfer through the JEMAL. The primary MISSE-FF (Materials ISS Experiment Flight Facility) platform provides the ability to test materials, coatings, and components or other larger experiments in the harsh environment of space, which is virtually impossible to do collectively on Earth. Testing in low-Earth orbit (LEO) allows the integrated testing of how materials react to exposure to ultraviolet radiation (UV), atomic oxygen (AO), ionizing radiation, ultrahigh vacuum (UHV), charged particles, thermal cycles, electromagnetic radiation, and micro-meteoroids in the LEO environment.

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Space Technology and Advanced Research Systems (STaARS) Bioscience-3:

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The crew removed the remaining three Experiment Containers from the STaARS facility and placed them in -80 deg C cold stowage. The investigation contributes to a greater understanding of cardiovascular disease (CVD) through the study of transcriptomics of vascular cells. Upon return from spaceflight, crewmembers often display alterations in their cardiovascular systems, similar to those suffering from CVD. The goal of this work is to elucidate the mechanism of vascular cell damage in the space environment by exposing vascular cells to spaceflight.

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Team Task Switching (TTS):

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Crewmembers performed the TTS surveys. The objective of the TTS investigation is to gain knowledge about whether crewmembers have difficulty in switching tasks, and apply the results to both the reduction of any negative consequences and improvement of individual and team motivation and effectiveness.

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Payload Executive Processor (PEP) R14 Health and Status Software Patch:

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The PEP R14 Health and Status software patch was loaded to both Payload Multiplexer Demutliplexers (MDMs). This patch expands the buffer size to accommodate data collection from multiple payloads simultaneously and is in support of Orbiting Carbon Observatory 3 (OCO-3) activation during SpX-17. This buffer lim it was a constraint for payloads operations, limiting the total number of payloads reporting health and status through the MDM. The patch increases the buffer size to 30,000 words from 17,487 words.

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Extravehicular Activity (EVA) Maintenance:

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The crew charged 6 helmet light batteries and 2 Rechargeable EVA Battery Assemblies (REBAs). They also performed Metal Oxide (METOX) cartridge regeneration.

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Dragon Cargo Transfer Status:

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The crew has completed approximately 25.5 hours of cargo transfer. Approximately 2 hours of transfer remain to be performed.

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https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacestation/2019/05/10/human-research-as-canadian-japanese-robot-arms-swap-experiments/

Human Research as Canadian, Japanese Robot Arms Swap Experiments

Mark Garcia
Posted May 10, 2019 at 10:08


Four Expedition 59 astronauts pose for a playful portrait inside the Harmony module. Clockwise from left are astronaut David Saint-Jacques of the Canadian Space Agency and NASA astronauts Christina Koch, Anne McClain and Nick Hague.

The Expedition 59 crew focused intensely on human research today to improve the health of people on Earth and in space. The residents aboard the International Space Station are busy exploring how the human body and other organisms adapt to space helping NASA prepare to go to the moon by 2024.

Astronauts Christina Koch and Anne McClain split Friday checking on the Kidney Cells experiment seeking innovative treatments for kidney stones, osteoporosis and toxic chemical exposures. Counteracting the space-exacerbated symptoms is critical to the success of a long-term spaceflight to the moon and Mars.

McClain started her day with Commander Oleg Kononenko and Flight Engineers Nick Hague and Alexey Ovchinin researching space-caused head and eye pressure. The quartet tested a specialized suit, the Lower Body Negative Pressure suit, that reverses the upward flow of blood and other fluids toward an astronaut's head. The crewmates also participated in ultrasound scans of their eyes and veins for the long-running Fluid Shifts study.

In addition, a pair of Canadian and Japanese robotic arms on the station are coordinating to swap external payloads over the weekend. Two Earth and space research facilities inside the SpaceX Dragon's trunk are being removed for installation on the station. An older atmospheric experiment that has completed its mission will be placed back in Dragon's trunk.

The Canadarm2 robotic arm removed the Orbiting Carbon Observatory-3 (OCO-3) from the Dragon's unpressurized trunk. It handed off the OCO-3, a global carbon detection device, to Japan's smaller robotic arm for installation on the Kibo lab module's external pallet. Next, the Canadarm2 will extract and install the Space Test Program-Houston 6 hardware for space physics research on the station's truss structure.

Finally, Japan's robotic arm attached to Kibo will hand off the Cloud-Aerosol Transport System (CATS) to the Canadarm2 for installation in Dragon's trunk. Before Dragon splashes down in the Pacific at the end of May, its trunk with CATS inside will separate during reentry and burn up over Earth's atmosphere.

A SpaceX Dragon resupply ship delivered CATS in January of 2015 for robotic installation on Kibo's external pallet. CATS successfully demonstrated low cost atmospheric monitoring techniques from the station.

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Space to Ground: Reservations for Seven: 05/10/2019

NASA Johnson

Опубликовано: 10 мая 2019 г.

(2:26)

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https://ria.ru/20190510/1553406864.html

НАСА подтвердило данные о повышении концентрации спирта на МКС
19:43

ВАШИНГТОН, 10 мая – РИА Новости. НАСА подтвердило информацию о повышении уровня изопропилового спирта в атмосфере Международной космической станции (МКС) в марте, во время испытательного полета на станцию новейшего корабля Dragon-2 Crew Dragon), сообщил РИА Новости представитель НАСА Даниэл Хуот.

"В ходе этой миссии было несколько сообщений. Повышенная концентрация изопропилового спирта в атмосфере космической станции, хотя является интересным (событием), не была значительным явлением и не представляло риска для экипажа", - сообщил РИА новости представитель американского космического ведомства.

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Ранее начальник Центра подготовки космонавтов Павел Власов рассказал РИА Новости, что после прибытия на МКС корабля Dragon-2 3 марта экипаж станции почувствовал необычный запах. Анализаторы воздуха выявили повышенное содержание изопропилового спирта в атмосфере МКС. Его концентрация составляла около 6 миллиграммов на кубический метр. По указанию наземных специалистов экипаж включил системы очистки воздуха, в результате чего концентрация снизилась примерно до 2 миллиграммов на кубический метр. До стыковки корабля Dragon-2 она составляла десятую долю миллиграмма на кубический метр. После отстыковки корабля концентрация снизилась.

Власов сообщил, что в связи с инцидентом Россия направила в НАСА замечания.

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https://ria.ru/20190510/1553407301.html

НАСА пообещало обеспечить безопасность МКС в случае повышения уровня спирта
20:07

ВАШИНГТОН, 10 мая - РИА Новости. Наземные службы готовы обеспечить безопасность систем МКС в случае "значительного повышения" уровня изопропилового спирта в атмосфере станции, заявил РИА Новости представитель НАСА Дэниел Хуот.

"У специалистов на Земле имеется протокол, который позволит защитить системы станции в случае, если уровень (концентрации) изопропилового спирта значительно поднимется", - сказал представитель НАСА. Он подтвердил, что в марте в ходе пребывания на МКС корабля Crew Dragon был зафиксирован рост концентрации в атмосфере станции изопропилового спирта.

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Ранее начальник Центра подготовки космонавтов Павел Власов рассказал РИА Новости, что после прибытия на МКС корабля Dragon-2 3 марта экипаж станции почувствовал необычный запах. Анализаторы воздуха выявили повышенное содержание изопропилового спирта в атмосфере МКС. Его концентрация составляла около 6 миллиграммов на кубический метр. По указанию наземных специалистов экипаж включил системы очистки воздуха, в результате чего концентрация снизилась примерно до 2 миллиграммов на кубический метр. До стыковки корабля Dragon-2 она составляла десятую долю миллиграмма на кубический метр. После отстыковки корабля концентрация снизилась.

Власов сообщил, что в связи с инцидентом Россия направила в НАСА замечания.

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Intl. Space Station‏Подлинная учетная запись @Space_Station 10 мин. назад

The waxing crescent moon is photographed from the station just above Earth's limb and the bluish hue of the atmosphere at the beginning of an orbital sunrise.
https://flic.kr/s/aHsmACtudT 

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https://ria.ru/20190510/1553407728.html

Специалисты ищут причины роста концентрации изопропилового спирта на МКС
20:23

ВАШИНГТОН, 10 мая – РИА Новости. Специалисты изучают все источники изопропилового спирта, чтобы определить причину роста его концентрации в атмосфере Международной космической станции (МКС) во время мартовского испытательного полета корабля Dragon–2 (Crew Dragon) на станцию, сообщил РИА Новости представитель НАСА Дэниел Хуот.

"Команды (специалистов) продолжают изучать все источники изопропилового спирта на борту (МКС и Dragon-2), чтобы определить, что именно произошло", - сказал представитель ведомства.

Отвечая на вопрос о том, координируется ли НАСА с российскими партнерами в связи с инцидентом, он отметил, что "НАСА всегда делится со всеми партнерами по МКС надлежащей информацией, когда возникают вопросы о здоровье экипажа и влиянии на системы станции". Собеседник агентства также сообщил, что компания SpaceX, которой принадлежит Crew Dragon, "принимает участие во всем, что касается их аппарата".

Спойлер

Ранее начальник Центра подготовки космонавтов Павел Власов рассказал РИА Новости, что после прибытия на МКС корабля Dragon-2 3 марта экипаж станции почувствовал необычный запах. Анализаторы воздуха выявили повышенное содержание изопропилового спирта в атмосфере МКС. Его концентрация составляла около 6 миллиграммов на кубический метр. По указанию наземных специалистов экипаж включил системы очистки воздуха, в результате чего концентрация снизилась примерно до 2 миллиграммов на кубический метр. До стыковки корабля Dragon-2 она составляла десятую долю миллиграмма на кубический метр. После отстыковки корабля концентрация снизилась.

Власов сообщил, что в связи с инцидентом Россия направила в НАСА замечания.

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https://www.nasa.gov/feature/how-mission-control-used-robotics-to-successfully-restore-full-power-for-the-space-station

May 10, 2019

How Mission Control Used Robotics to Successfully Restore Full Power for the Space Station

Robotics ground controllers in NASA's Mission Control Center at the agency's Johnson Space Center in Houston successfully replaced a failed Main Bus Switching Unit (MBSU) on the International Space Station with a spare using robotic operations on Thursday, May 2. The operation to replace the failed unit was conducted using the station's Canadarm2 and Dextre, both part of Canada's contribution to the International Space Station.

Using complex robotic work to perform critical maintenance allows astronauts to spend more time working on scientific experiments and helps develop better technologies and procedures for future human and robotic exploration beyond low-Earth orbit.

"Developing new robotic systems is extremely important to get our astronauts back to the Moon by 2024," Robotics Operations Systems Officer Mike Ferullo said. "The techniques and methods that we are developing with Dextre and Canadarm2 are directly applicable to future missions, and the construction and repair of any Moon-based mission will be done with robotics wherever possible. It's an extremely exciting time to be involved in space robotics.

Dextre is a versatile robot used to perform routine maintenance on the station. Equipped with lights, video equipment, a tool platform, and four tool holders, Dextre's dual-arm design and precise handling capabilities reduces the need for spacewalks to conduct maintenance outside the orbiting laboratory.

The Canadarm2 serves as the station's robotic arm. It's used to move supplies, equipment, Dextre and even astronauts. The robotic arm is also used to capture visiting spacecraft and attach them to the station.

The completion of the robotics work was the second time an MBSU was swapped out without the need for a spacewalk.

"Previous replacements allowed us to review different arm configurations and the force with which we pulled the unit out," Ferullo said. "Every operation we do gives us a better understanding about how to move forward with future repairs and the support of payloads."

The failure on April 29 of the station's MBSU-3, one of four power distributors on the station's backbone truss structure, reduced the station's power supply by nearly 25 percent. Following the failure, the station crew installed a series of jumpers in the station's Unity connecting module (Node 1) to reroute power to experiments and hardware and ensure limited impact to continued station operations.

"Installing the power jumpers allowed the recovery of several critical pieces of equipment," Power and Thermal Flight Controller Jay Boucher said. "Even though the jumpers helped continue station operations, replacing the failed unit would be required to regain the redundant power supply required for the US robotic arm to capture SpaceX's Dragon cargo spacecraft that was scheduled to launch."

Dragon launched successfully on May 4 and was captured and installed on the Earth-facing side of the station two days later to deliver more than 5,500 pounds of research, crew supplies, and hardware to the International Space Station.   

Last Updated: May 10, 2019
Editor: Mark Garcia

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https://spaceflightnow.com/2019/05/10/x-ray-communications-experiment-delivered-to-space-station/

X-ray communications experiment delivered to space station
May 10, 2019 | Stephen Clark


NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory-3 (OCO-3) instrument and the U.S. military's Space Test Program-Houston 6 (STP-H6) payload, which carries the X-ray communications experiment, inside the trunk of SpaceX's Dragon cargo craft before launch. Credit: NASA

A novel communications experiment developed by NASA and the Naval Research Laboratory has arrived at the International Space Station to prove data can be transmitted in space using X-ray signals, a breakthrough that could have uses in deep space exploration and military technology on Earth.

The X-ray communications experiment, known as XCOM, is one of several scientific and tech demo payloads inside a U.S. military instrument named STP-H6, which arrived at the space station Monday in the trunk of a SpaceX Dragon cargo capsule.

The space station's robotic arm will pull the STP-H6 payload out of the Dragon's trunk this weekend for attachment to a mounting post on the station's truss backbone. The STP-H6 instrument package rode inside Dragon's trunk with NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory-3 experiment, or OCO-3, which will measure carbon dioxide concentrations in Earth's atmosphere.

The OCO-3 instrument was robotically removed fr om the Dragon's unpressurized trunk Thursday night using the station's Canadian-built robotic arm, which was expected to hand off the experiment to a Japanese robot arm for placement on a mounting post outside the Japanese Kibo lab module.

The Canadarm 2 will next transfer the STP-H6 payload to pallet on the port side of the station's truss backbone. The final robotic transfer activity will move the failed Cloud-Aerosol Transport System, an atmospheric experiment launched to the station in 2015, to the Dragon's trunk for disposal.

The CATS instrument will burn up inside the Dragon spacecraft's trunk during re-entry at the end of the mission June 3.

Once installed on the station, ground controllers will begin activating the STP-H6 payload's experiments. Besides the XCOM investigation, other objectives of the STP-H6 mission include the demonstration of an infrared airglow camera to better observe the boundary between Earth's atmosphere and space, a supercomputing experiment to evaluate new technology for image and video processing in orbit, the test of a new high-accuracy star tracker, an attitude determination and control experiment, and a spacecraft plasma diagnostic suite.

The XCOM experiment consists of a transmitter, or source, to emit X-ray signals toward a receiver on the other side of the station. The receiver is actually a NASA astrophysics instrument named NICER, short for the Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer.

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A view of the NICER instrument, with its 56 individual X-ray mirror modules, outside the International Space Station. Credit: NASA

NICER has been on the space station since 2017 measuring X-ray light coming fr om neutron stars, the super-dense stellar skeletons left behind after lower-mass stars exploded in violent supernovas at the ends of their lives.

The NICER experiment has the ability to log the precise time an X-ray photon falls on its silicon detectors. The time tags allowed scientists to use beams from rapidly-spinning neutron stars, called pulsars, as a tool for in-space navigation for the first time.

The regular pulses of X-ray light from a certain type of neutron star, called a millisecond pulsar, was used to derive a position estimate with NICER in late 2017.

"When we built NICER, we made use an X-ray source that we had developed at Goddard to test it, an X-ray source that we could modulate with arbitrary waveforms," said Keith Gendreau, an astrophysicist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, and principal investigator for the NICER and XCOM experiments. "We could make simulated pulsars and make sure that NICER would actually work properly to do the X-ray timing that it was supposed to do for the science and technology applications.

"So this X-ray source we made, we called it a modulated X-ray source, or MXS," Gendreau said. "As soon as you see that you can do any type of X-ray light curve you want, it was very clear that we could use it to transmit data. So that's another application that we can do."

Now NICER is a critical piece of the X-ray communications experiment, which uses an X-ray source originally developed to test the NICER instrument on the ground.

The X-ray source originally developed for the NICER instrument is also being used in a new type of CT scan machine that will give patients a tenth of the radiation dose of an existing CT scan.

"This (X-ray) source was developed to calibration of X-ray astrophysical instruments, and it's got applications now in communications and medicine, and other areas," Gendreau said in a recent interview with Spaceflight Now. "The core technology was developed by NASA."

The XCOM experiment's sponsor is the U.S. military's Space Test Program. The Defense Department foresees X-ray communications as a more secure way to transmit data around the world, while NASA scientists believe it could be useful in deep space data transmissions.

"They had an interest in this type of experiment, and we knew how to make it," Gendreau said of the Defense Department's involvement. "So everybody worked together to get it to this level."

Scientists at Goddard and the Naval Research Laboratory are in charge of the XCOM experiment.

"We're sending it up into space to actually do an in-flight demonstration of data communication in X-rays," Gendreau said.

"There are a lot of reasons why you might want to do this," he said. "X-rays at the very highest energies are penetrating, so they can go through materials. One concept is that it's a way that you could possibly communicate with a hypersonic vehicle, like a re-entering spacecraft or something like that, like in Apollo 13 wh ere they had that (radio) blackout because of the plasma.

"X-rays are above that plasma frequency and could provide a communications link," Gendreau said.

More satellites are are beginning to use optical communication to replace conventional radio links. Optical communication, using lasers, provides faster data transmission speeds than radio communication, but it requires more precise pointing between a transmitter.

"You go from radio to laser communication, and the communication beam that's produced is made much, much smaller," Gendreau said. "If you can imagine going even smaller than laser communication, that would be in the direction of X-rays.

"X-rays are much smaller, about 1/1000th of the wavelength of the systems used in optical communication — laser communication — so the beam can be extremely tight," he said.


NASA's first-ever demonstration of X-ray communication will occur on the International Space Station. This image shows the locations of the Modulated X-ray Source and the Neutron star Interior Composition Explorer, or NICER, which are critical to the demonstration.
Credits: NASA

"There are some national security applications for that type of system," Gendreau said. "You could imagine point-to-point communication links between geostationary spacecraft and low Earth orbit spacecraft, wh ere the footprint of the beam is very, very small. And if anyone were to intercept it, your signal would go away. So you could really make a secure point-to-point communication link.

"On longer distances, like, say, going from the outer planets to Earth, having a very small footprint means that you're not spending all of your power in your transmitter spreading your signal over the inner solar system," he said. "You're going to direct it more to the instrument you care about."

Scientists have sought an in-space demonstration of X-ray communications for decades, but the XCOM experiment on the space station will be the first.

NICER will pause its scientific observations for several X-ray communication tests, each lasting a few hours, over the next few months, Gendreau said.

"The point of this first experiment is to kind of prove out X-ray communication, the general concept, and to elevate the (technology readiness) level of the X-ray source," Gendreau said.

Just like laser communication provides a conduit to relay more data per second between terminals than radio waves, X-ray communication will offer another jump in bandwidth. But it comes with tighter constraints due to the narrow beam width of an X-ray communication source.

"Laser communication has a very tight beam, and the big challenges they have is pointing a laser communication transmitter accurately enough," Gendreau said. "It gets challenging. You're pointing at your receiver, and the spacecraft is moving, so you adjust some gimbals to change your transmitter direction, but it's got mass, and that's kind of causing the spacecraft to move. It gets very complicated to point a laser communication system.

"One of the long-term challenges for X-ray communication is it's going to be even harder to point an X-ray communication system because the beam is much, much finer," he said. "Engineers are going to do what they always do, and make something 10 times better than it needs to be. It's just engineering to overcome these difficulties."

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Expedition 59 Education Inflight - Cosmosphere May 10, 2019

NASA Video

Опубликовано: 10 мая 2019 г.

SPACE STATION ASTRONAUT TALKS TO STUDENTS IN HIS NATIVE KANSAS

Aboard the International Space Station, Expedition 59 Flight Engineer Nick Hague of NASA, a Kansas native, discussed life and work on the orbital outpost during an educational in-flight event May 10 with students gathered at the Cosmosphere in Hutchinson, Kansas. Hague is in the midst of a planned six-and-a-half-month mission on the orbiting laboratory.

(38:25)

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Moonset from the International Space Station

Canadian Space Agency

Опубликовано: 10 мая 2019 г.

CSA astronaut David Saint-Jacques filmed this moonset from the International Space Station during his space mission. On board the Station, there are 16 moonsets per day. (Credit: Canadian Space Agency)

(0:30)

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NASA Earth‏Подлинная учетная запись @NASAEarth 1 ч. назад

An international handshake in space! This morning Canadarm2 unloaded @NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory-3 handing it off to the Kibo robotic arm which placed #OCO3 among a fleet of Earth observation instruments in the Japanese Experiment Module aboard the @Space_Station.

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https://www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/oco-3-ready-to-extend-nasas-study-of-carbon

May 9, 2019

OCO-3 Ready to Extend NASA's Study of Carbon


After the Candadarm2 grappled the Dragon spacecraft and berthed it on the space station's Harmony module, OCO-3 was extracted and installed on the exterior of the Japanese Experiment Module-Exposed Facility.
Credits: NASA

Updated at 12:35 a.m. PDT (3:35 a.m. EDT) on May 10

NASA's OCO-3 was removed from the Dragon spacecraft and robotically installed on the exterior of the space station's Japanese Experiment Module-Exposed Facility as of approximately 9 p.m. PDT on May 9 (12 a.m. EDT on May 10). Over the next two days, a functional checkout will be performed and the OCO-3's Pointing Mirror Assembly (PMA) will be deployed. The PMA and context cameras will then perform an initial survey of OCO-3's surroundings to make sure nothing unexpected is interfering with its view of Earth.
...
When the Orbiting Carbon Observatory 3, OCO-3, heads to the International Space Station, it will bring a new view — literally — to studies of Earth's carbon cycle.

From its perch on the space station, OCO-3 will observe near-global measurements of carbon dioxide on land and sea, from just after sunrise to just before sunset. That makes it far more versatile and powerful than its predecessor, OCO-2.

"OCO-2 revisits areas on Earth at roughly the same time of day due to its sun-synchronous orbit," said Matt Bennett, OCO-3's project systems engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. "OCO-3 will expand the time period of that coverage and observe the presence of carbon dioxide at varying times of day."

Since the space station orbits Earth every 90 minutes, OCO-3 will complete 16 passes a day.

"The point of the mission is to continue the legacy of OCO-2 but from the perspective of the International Space Station," Bennett said.

The OCO-3 space instrument is the immediate successor to OCO-2, which has been studying carbon dioxide distribution and detecting emission hotspots and volcanoes since 2014.

Mirrors, Motors and Mapping Mode

Спойлер

OCO-3's new capabilities depend heavily on an innovative swiveling mirror assembly, which Bennett described as a "very agile pointing mechanism."

"When OCO-2 points toward an observation target, the entire spacecraft has to rotate," Bennett said. "Since OCO-3 is a 'passenger' on the space station, we had to add the pointing mirror assembly to point independently of the station."

The pointing assembly uses two pairs of mirrors to rotate in two complementary directions — one parallel to Earth's surface, the other perpendicular. This setup allows OCO-3 to point to just about anywhere within view of the space station but also allows it to capture "snapshot maps" — detailed mini-maps of carbon dioxide — over areas of interest.


OCO-3 sits on the large vibration table (known as the "shaker") in the Environmental Test Lab at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Full image and caption

This snapshot mapping mode can measure emissions from sources ranging from relatively small areas surrounding power plants to large urban areas up 1,000 square miles (2,590 square kilometers) in just two minutes. That means OCO-3 can measure the entire Los Angeles Basin in just a single pass — a task that would take OCO-2 several days.

Measuring large urban areas is particularly important to scientists since about 70% of total fossil-fuel emissions come from large cities.

"These targeted measurements will help us disentangle which sources of carbon dioxide are in nature and which are anthropogenic, or human-caused," Bennett said.

While measuring carbon dioxide, OCO-3 can simultaneously measure how well plants are performing photosynthesis by measuring how much their chlorophyll "fluoresces" — or emits a specific wavelength of light — while illuminated by the Sun. This will help carbon-cycle scientists observe how well vegetation is absorbing carbon dioxide on the ground and how the surrounding atmosphere is responding.

"We will get to see how different sources of carbon dioxide, and sinks — areas that collect carbon, such as forests and oceans — vary by day, by season and annually," Bennett said.

Since OCO-2 is still gathering data, the two missions will cross-calibrate by measuring carbon in some of the same areas on Earth, which improves verification of data.

JPL's director for Earth Science and Technology, Diane Evans, said combined observations from both OCO missions will provide more comprehensive information about the state of carbon on our planet.

"They will add to the growing body of research from multiple Earth-observing missions," Evans said. "And combining these data with data sets from other instruments on the space station like ECOSTRESS and GEDI will make it possible to answer key questions about the interactions of the carbon and water cycles."

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...

Esprit Smith
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California
818-354-4269
Esprit.Smith@jpl.nasa.gov

Written by Jane Platt

2019-078

Last Updated: May 10, 2019
Editor: Tony Greicius

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Jonathan McDowell‏Подлинная учетная запись @planet4589 1 ч. назад

Since NASA reports OCO-3 now on the Kibo Exposed Facility, looks like this is probably the second Dragon trunk payload, STP-H6, being transferred

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Berth of a Dragon [ Timelapse ]

Seán Doran

Опубликовано: 10 мая 2019 г.

NASA / ESRSU / Seán Doran

'The Second Waltz' by Dmitri Shostakovich

(3:42)