Новости МКС

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https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacestation/2019/10/29/spacesuits-human-research-robotics-training-ahead-of-cargo-missions/

Spacesuits, Human Research, Robotics Training Ahead of Cargo Missions

Mark Garcia
Posted Oct 29, 2019 at 1:53 pm


NASA astronaut Jessica Meir works to swap out a failed computer hard drive that supports experiments inside the Combustion Integrated Rack aboard the International Space Station's U.S. Destiny laboratory module.

The six-member Expedition 61 crew juggled spacesuit maintenance and human research activities aboard the International Space Station today. The orbital residents are also getting ready to send off and receive resupply ships.

Two U.S. spacesuits are being serviced ahead of a series of spacewalks planned to repair a cosmic particle detector, also known as the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS). Commander Luca Parmitano of ESA (European Space Agency) and NASA astronaut Andrew Morgan are tentatively scheduled to venture outside the station in November and upgrade the AMS thermal control system.

Parmitano also tested a device that measures an astronaut's mass using Newton's Second Law of Motion. The device applies a known force to an attached astronaut and the resulting acceleration is used to accurately calculate an astronaut's mass.

NASA Flight Engineers Jessica Meir and Christina Koch shared maintenance duties on a human organ printer, the BioFabrication Facility. Scientists are testing the 3D biological printing facility for its ability to print more cohesive organ structures in microgravity than on Earth.

Koch and Meir will also be on Canadarm2 robotics duty on Friday and Monday to support a pair of cargo missions. Koch, with Meir backing her up, will command the robotic release of Japan's HTV-8 resupply ship Friday at 1:20 p.m. EDT. The HTV-8 is wrapping up a 34-day mission attached to the Harmony module.

They will switch roles on Monday when Meir takes charge of the Canadarm2 robotic arm and captures Northrop Grumman's Cygnus cargo craft at 4:10 a.m. EST. Koch will back her up in the cupola while Morgan monitors the Cygnus' approach and rendezvous. Cygnus will launch Saturday at 9:59 a.m. atop the Antares rocket from Virginia.

[Старый]

Это больше круглое чёрное перед ней - отказавший жёсткий диск?   

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ISS National Lab Research Overview, Northrop Grumman CRS-12

 ISS National Lab

28 окт. 2019 г.

More than 20 separate payloads sponsored by the International Space Station (ISS) U.S. National Laboratory will launch to the orbiting laboratory on Northrop Grumman's 12th commercial resupply services mission. This will mark the largest number of ISS National Lab-sponsored payloads on a Northrop Grumman resupply mission to date. The payloads launching on the Cygnus vehicle include investigations from a wide variety of private-sector companies seeking to leverage the unique environment of the ISS National Lab to enhance products and therapies on Earth. The launch is slated for no earlier than November 2 at 9:59 a.m. EST from Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/AlIns0X3quM (3:06)

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Expedition 61 Inflight Event with Eastern Aroostook School Unit 39 - October 29, 2019

 NASA Video

29 окт. 2019 г.

ASTRONAUT JESSICA MEIR DISCUSSES LIFE IN SPACE WITH STUDENTS IN HER MAINE HOMETOWN

Aboard the International Space Station, Expedition 61 Flight Engineer Jessica Meir discussed life and work on the outpost during an in-flight educational event Oct. 29 with students from the Eastern Aroostook Regional School in Caribou, Maine. Meir, who is a native of Caribou, is in the midst of a long-duration mission on the orbiting laboratory and participated in the first all-woman spacewalk with fellow NASA astronaut Christina Koch on Friday, Oct. 18.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/fdBuwAAUHiU (23:42)

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https://blogs.nasa.gov/stationreport/2019/10/29/iss-daily-summary-report-10292019/

ISS Daily Summary Report – 10/29/2019

Astrobee:

The crew reviewed the Astrobee OBT (On-board Training) in preparation for tomorrow's hardware checkout and calibration session. Astrobee is a series of three free-flying, cube-shaped robots. The robots are designed to help scientists and engineers develop and test technologies for use in microgravity to assist astronauts with routine chores, and give ground controllers additional eyes and ears on the ISS. The autonomous robots, powered by fans and vision-based navigation, perform crew-monitoring, sampling, logistics management, and accommodate up to three investigations.

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BFF (BioFabrication Facility):

The crew performed a series of activities for the BFF, including a glovebox removal and installation, and a corrective procedure to disconnect a faulty sensor from the BFF printed circuit board. This will help prepare the facility to support future science activities. The Techshot. Inc. BioFabrication Facility (BFF) is dedicated to manufacturing human organs and tissues in space, primarily for use by patients on Earth. Besides printing tissue, the BFF also can help maintain the health of deep space exploration crews by producing food and personalized pharmaceuticals on demand.

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ISS HAM:

The crew participated in an ISS HAM event with Farmwell Station Middle School Space Dreamers, which is located in the suburbs of Ashburn, Virginia. Questions included the possibility of growing plants in space, if faster-than-light travel is something crew believes can be created, and the effects of space radiation on the ISS astronauts. ISS Ham Radio provides opportunities to engage and educate students, teachers, parents and other members of the community in science, technology, engineering and math by providing a means to communicate between astronauts and the ground HAM radio units.

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SLAMMD (Space Linear Acceleration Mass Measurement Device):

The crew performed a post-rack transfer checkout of the SLAMMD unit. They also set up the Calibration Arm, attached the Calibration Mass, and then performed a control run and mass measurement. SLAMMD is able to calculate a crewmember or object's mass without the presence of gravity, and is intended to be used for future support of Cargo Transfer Bag (CTB) mass determination. It follows Newton's Second Law of Motion (force equals mass times acceleration), which means that when two springs generate a known force on an object, the resulting acceleration can be used to calculate the crewmember's mass. The device is accurate to 0.5 pounds (0.225 kg) over a range of 90 to 240 pounds (41 to 109 kg).

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Veg-04B:

The crew performed a routine plant check. This includes the assessment of individual plant pillows, the addition of water as necessary, photography of the Mizuna plants, and mass measurement of any broken leaves. The research of Veg-04B focuses on the impact of light quality and fertilizer on leafy crop growth for a 56-day grow-out, microbial food safety, nutritional value, taste acceptability by the crew, and the overall behavioral health benefits of having plants and fresh food in space. A healthy, nutritious diet is essential for long-duration exploration missions, which means that the typical pre-packaged astronaut diet needs to be supplemented by fresh foods during flight; the Veggie Vegetable Production System (Veggie) has begun testing aboard the space station to help meet this need, and validation tests have demonstrated that leafy greens can be grown in spaceflight.

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Systems:

Extravehicular Activity (EVA) Mobility Unit (EMU):

In preparation for the upcoming series of Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) EVAs, the crew completed an EMU resizing activity that will set-up the EMU suits 3004 and 3008 for Luca Parmitano and Drew Morgan. Jessica Meir and Christina Koch completed the previous Battery Charging Discharging Unit (BCDU) Remove and Replace EVA.

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Urine Processing Assembly (UPA) Distillation Assembly (DA):

Engineers on the ground have observed that the Urine Processing Assembly (UPA) Distillation Assembly (DA) compressor and hoses are showing trends of increased degradation. As part of preventative maintenance, today the ISS crew replaced the UPA DA and hoses with new ones, which will help improve the overall UPA processing operations.

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Cygnus Launch Preparations:

With the NG-12 launch rapidly approaching on November 2, the ISS crew spent some time today preparing for the arrival of the Cygnus vehicle including continuing with the Cygnus rendezvous robotic training.

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https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacestation/2019/10/30/crop-harvest-on-station-after-robotics-human-research-today/

Crop Harvest on Station After Robotics, Human Research Today

Mark Garcia
Posted Oct 30, 2019 at 1:00 pm


NASA astronaut Jessica Meir waters plant pillows where Mizuna mustard greens are raised as part of the Veg-04B experiment.

The Expedition 61 crew harvested a space-grown crop today aboard the International Space Station. The orbital lab residents also tested robotics systems before exploring blood pressure and time perception in microgravity.

Space agriculture aboard the orbiting laboratory has been ongoing for several years to learn how to provide fresh food to space crews. NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Andrew Morgan continued that research by cutting Mizuna leaves today for a taste test and stowing the leftovers in a science freezer for scientific analysis.

Morgan also took turns with Commander Luca Parmitano of ESA (European Space Agency) wearing virtual reality goggles and clicking a trackball for a time perception study. The investigation observes subjective time changes astronauts experience during space missions and back on Earth after missions.

The Astrobee free-flying robotic assistant had a test-run today as Parmitano calibrated the autonomous device's systems. The ESA astronaut checked Astrobee's abilities to navigate, dock and visually monitor activities inside the space station's Kibo laboratory module.

The Cygnus resupply ship will launch Saturday at 9:59 a.m. EDT atop the Antares rocket from Virginia. Meir and NASA Flight Engineer Christina Koch are practicing robotic techniques to capture Cygnus when it arrives two days later. Meir, with Koch backing her up in the cupola, will command the Canadarm2 robotic arm to reach out and capture Cygnus Monday at 4:10 a.m. EST.

Cosmonauts Alexander Skvortsov and Oleg Skripochka spent Wednesday morning exploring how blood pressure responds to the lack of gravity. The duo split up in the afternoon as Skvortsov checked Russian communication and spacecraft systems. Skripochka worked on life support systems and explored how orbiting Earth affects the station's magnetic field.

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https://tass.ru/kosmos/7064694

31 ОКТ, 01:14
Источник: грузовой корабль "Прогресс МС-12" будет отстыкован от МКС и затоплен 29 ноября
Корабль затопят в несудоходном районе Тихого океана

МОСКВА, 31 октября. /ТАСС/. Российский грузовой корабль "Прогресс МС-12", находящийся в составе Международной космической станции (МКС) с 31 июля этого года, будет отстыкован от станции 29 ноября и в этот же день затоплен в несудоходном районе Тихого океана. Об этом сообщил в четверг ТАСС источник в ракетно-космической отрасли.

"Отстыковка грузового корабля "Прогресс МС-12" от МКС запланирована на 29 ноября в 13:23 мск", - сказал собеседник агентства.

По его словам, в тот же день корабль будет сведен с орбиты и затоплен в несудоходном районе Тихого океана. Источник не уточнил время затопления "Прогресса".

Ракета "Союз-2.1а" с кораблем "Прогресс МС-12" была запущена со стартовой площадки номер 31 космодрома Байконур 31 июля 2019 года. "Прогресс" пристыковался к МКС в тот же день, долетев до станции по сверхкороткой схеме, полет длился рекордно малое время - 3 часа 19 минут. При сверхкороткой схеме полета космический аппарат совершает два витка вокруг Земли.

Запуск следующего грузового корабля - "Прогресс МС-13" - перенесен с 6 на 1 декабря, сообщили ранее ТАСС в пресс-службе Роскосмоса. Он будет запущен на ракете-носителе "Союз-2.1а" с космодрома Байконур.

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https://www.nasa.gov/wallops/2019/feature/seven-student-made-cubesats-set-to-fly-aboard-antares-nov-2-from-wallops

Oct. 31, 2019

Seven Student-Made CubeSats Set To Fly Aboard Antares Nov. 2 fr om Wallops


Montana State University student with RadSat-u CubeSat.

On Saturday, seven small research satellites, or CubeSats, developed by students fr om eight universities across the nation will fly on Northrop Grumman's Antares rocket from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Wallops, Virginia, targeting a launch at 9:59 a.m. EDT.

All seven CubeSats were selected through NASA's CubeSat Launch Initiative (CSLI) and are a part of the 25th Educational Launch of Nanosatellites (ELaNa) mission. CSLI enables the launch of CubeSat projects designed, built and operated by students, teachers and faculty, as well as NASA Centers and nonprofit organizations. ELaNa missions provide launch and deployment opportunities and ride-shares to space for CubeSats selected through CSLI. Students are heavily involved in all aspects of the mission from developing, assembling, and testing payloads to working with NASA and the launch vehicle integration teams. The ELaNa CubeSats are held to rigorous standards similar to those adhered to by the primary spacecraft.

Five of the CubeSats were developed through NASA's Undergraduate Student Instrument Project or USIP.

"Through USIP, NASA offers real-world experiences, with the goal of developing students' competencies in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM), skills critical to building a STEM-literate workforce and achieving the nation's exploration goals," said Joyce Winterton, Wallops senior advisor for education and leadership development.

In 2016, NASA's Science Mission Directorate and the Office of Education's National Space Grant Program awarded $8 million through the USIP to 47 student teams from 33 states to conduct hands-on research with 23 of the projects being CubeSats.


The USIP student teams proposed science or technology experiments that are relevant to NASA missions, and the platform to fly their payload. The platforms include sounding rockets, scientific and hand-held balloons, aircraft, suborbital reusable and commercial launch vehicles, and CubeSats launched as a secondary payload on an orbital vehicle.

Students from all eight universities will be on site to view the launch and witness their CubeSats embark on the journey to the International Space Station wh ere they will be deployed in early 2020.

The 5 USIP CubeSats flying on Antares are:

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• RadSat-u
  

           Montana State University – Bozeman

RadSat-u is a technology demonstration mission of a radiation tolerant computer system that is resilient to faults caused by ionizing radiation.  The computer technology employs a novel fault-mitigation strategy that uses redundant processing cores and real-time reconfiguration of the hardware to quickly recover from radiation-induced failures.  The mission will test the addition of an error correction and synchronization strategy for the data memory of the computer. This mission will also verify that both the processor and memory system can operate reliably in the presence of ionizing radiation. RadSat-u is funded by the NASA Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research and University Student Instrument Project.

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• Phoenix
  

           Arizona State University – Tempe

Phoenix is a technology demonstration mission to determine the effectiveness of nanosat platforms to conduct scientific investigations of urban environments. The Urban Heat Island Effect is a phenomenon in which the structure of the city causes a rise in surface temperature. It will use a thermal-IR imaging payload to study spatial and temporal changes in the heat properties of Phoenix, Arizona, as well as other U.S. cities. The imager is an off-the-shelf FLIR Tau 2 longwave infrared thermal camera. Phoenix is funded by the NASA University Student Instrument Project.

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• SOCRATES
  

           Signal of Opportunity CubeSat Ranging and Timing ExperimentS

           University of Minnesota – Minneapolis

SOCRATES is a technology demonstration mission to look at gamma ray photons from deep space. The Gamma Ray Incidence Detector (GRID) sensor being developed is a gamma-ray (and hard X-ray) detector optimized for making accurate positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) measurements. In operation, it will use signals of opportunity (e.g., naturally occurring gamma-ray emissions for sources such as Gamma-Ray Bursts or GRBs) as navigation and timing beacons akin to GPS satellites. It will advance the technology readiness level (TRL) of the sensor from 5 to 7. SOCRATES is funded by the NASA University Student Instrument Project.

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• HuskySat-1
  

           University of Washington – Seattle

HuskySat-1 is a technology demonstration mission to test a pulsed plasma electric propulsion system and a high-frequency K-band communication system. It will fly a newly developed Amateur Radio Linear Transceiver and a purchased UHF/VHF antenna system, but is otherwise an entirely student-designed and built 3U CubeSat, including a camera board developed by local Raisbeck Aviation High School. The project fosters interdisciplinary student participation in space systems research to inspire and train future space scientists. HuskySat-1 is funded by the NASA University Student Instrument Project.

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• SwampSat II
  

           University of Florida – Gainesville

SwampSat II is a technology demonstration mission to test a boom and antenna spooling and deployment mechanism to support a matched very low frequency (VLF, 3-30 kHz) antenna receiver pair. It will experimentally quantify VLF electromagnetic wave propagation through the lower ionosphere in order to clarify the role of VLF whistler-mode waves in controlling the energetic particle populations of the Earth's radiation belts. SwampSat II is funded by NASA's Undergraduate Student Instrument Project.

The additional two CubeSats flying through CSLI are:

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• Argus-02
  

            St. Louis University – Missouri

Argus is a scientific investigation to improve modeling of the effects of radiation on space electronics. The payload is an array of radiation-effects modeling experiments wh ere on-orbit event rates will be compared against ground predictions to help calibrate new predictive models developed at the Institute for Space and Defense Electronics. Argus leverages commercial off-the-shelf CubeSat systems and extremely simple payload requirements to enable a short-turnaround mission.

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• HARP—Hyper Angular Rainbow Polarimeter
  

            University of Maryland, Baltimore County – Baltimore

            Utah State University – Logan

 HARP is a scientific investigation mission designed to measure the microphysical properties of atmospheric aerosols, cloud water and ice particles. It is a precursor for a new generation of imaging polarimeters to be used for the detailed measurements of aerosol and cloud properties in larger missions. The wide field-of-view (FOV) imager splits three spatially identical images into three independent polarizer and detector arrays. This technique achieves simultaneous imagery of the three polarization states and is the key innovation to achieve a high polarimetric accuracy with no moving parts. HARP is funded by the NASA Earth Science Technology Office.

NASA's Wallops Flight Facility manages the USIP missions.

Header Image Caption: Montana State University student with RadSat-u CubeSat.

Tune in Saturday, Nov. 2, beginning at 9:30 a.m. EDT to watch the livestream of the  launch:

https://www.nasa.gov/nasalive

Last Updated: Oct. 31, 2019
Editor: Patrick Black

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https://blogs.nasa.gov/stationreport/2019/10/30/iss-daily-summary-report-10302019/

ISS Daily Summary Report – 10/30/2019

AMS-02 (Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer) Extravehicular Activity (EVA) Preparation:

The crew continued preparation for the AMS repair Extravehicular Activities (EVAs) with procedure reviews and other activities. Multiple AMS-02 repair EVAs are being planned, to recover a series of cooling pumps within the AMS-02 experiment. The first of the EVAs are currently planned to start in 2 weeks. AMS-02 is a state-of-the-art particle physics detector that uses the unique environment of space to advance knowledge of the universe and lead to the understanding of the universe's origin by searching for antimatter, dark matter and measuring cosmic rays.

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Astrobee:

The crew participated in a crew conference, unpacked and inspected the appropriate hardware and performed a series of checkouts and calibration operations. The operations went well and the ground team reported we now have two functional Astrobee satellites on board ISS. Astrobee is a series of three free-flying, cube-shaped robots. The robots are designed to help scientists and engineers develop and test technologies for use in microgravity to assist astronauts with routine chores, and give ground controllers additional eyes and ears on the ISS. The autonomous robots, powered by fans and vision-based navigation, could eventually perform crew-monitoring, sampling, logistics management, and accommodate up to three investigations.

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Biomolecule Extraction and Sequencing Technology (BEST) Sample Transfer:

The crew performed the routine cell maintenance activities for the on-going BEST experiment-2. These activities involve cell transfer, cell culture media exchange, etc.  The BEST investigation studies the use of sequencing for identification of unknown microbial organisms living on the ISS, and how humans, plants and microbes adapt to living on the ISS.

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Space Acceleration Measurement System-II (SAMS-II) Fan Replacement:

The crew replaced a fan which was reported to be making a grinding noise while operating. This fan has been in service since 2001 and is well past its designed lifetime. SAMS-II is an ongoing study of the small forces (vibrations and accelerations) on the ISS resulting from the operation of hardware, crew activities, dockings and maneuvering. Results generalize the types of vibrations affecting vibration-sensitive experiments and structural life of ISS. Investigators and Structural Analysts seek to better understand the vibration environment on the ISS using SAMS-II data and assessing station loads and dynamics.

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Time Perception:

Using an head-mounted Oculus Rift display/headphones, a finger trackball, and support computer, the crew performed the Time Perception experiment sessions. In this experiment, a program on the laptop induces visual and audio stimuli to measure a subject's response to spatial and time perception in a microgravity environment. The accurate perception of objects in the environment is a prerequisite for spatial orientation and reliable performance of motor tasks. Time is fundamental to motion perception, sound localization, speech, and fine motor coordination.

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Veg-04B Harvest and Taste Test:

The crew performed the first in a series of harvests for the Mizuna plants growing in the two Veggie facilities. Approximately half of the leaves in each of the 11 total plants will be harvested, with 50% of the harvest kept for science analysis and 50% available for crew consumption. The part of the Mizuna plants not harvested will continue to grow and support two additional future harvests. The research of Veg-04B focuses on the impact of light quality and fertilizer on leafy crop growth for a 56-day grow-out, microbial food safety, nutritional value, taste acceptability by the crew, and the overall behavioral health benefits of having plants and fresh food in space. A healthy, nutritious diet is essential for long-duration exploration missions, which means that the typical pre-packaged astronaut diet needs to be supplemented by fresh foods during flight; the Veggie Vegetable Production System (Veggie) has begun testing aboard the space station to help meet this need, and validation tests have demonstrated that leafy greens can be grown in spaceflight.

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Systems:

HTV8 Cargo Operations:

In preparation for the HTV8 Unberth, scheduled for November 1, the ISS crew continued to pack the HTV vehicle with Cargo Transfer Bags (CTBs).

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Mobile Servicing System (MSS):

Today, the Robotics Ground Controllers powered up the MSS, in the hot backup configuration, in preparation for the crew offset grapples practice. The crew took turns flying the Space Station Remote Manipulator System (SSRMS) into the grapple envelope of the Permanent Multipurpose Module (PMM) Flight Releasable Grapple Fixture (FRGF) for training/familiarization in preparation for Northrop Grumman (NG)-12 capture, currently planned for Monday, November 4th. They performed this several times and then performed a final run during which the Robotics Ground Controllers safed the SSRMS to simulate a failure. The crew practiced contingency recovery procedure by switching from the Cupola Robotic Workstation (RWS) to the Lab RWS and backing the SSRMS away. After the Offset Grapples Practice session, the Robotics Ground Controllers de-configured MSS from hot backup and moved SSRMS to HTV8 pre-grapple position, in preparation of HTV8 unberth and release scheduled Friday morning, November 1st.

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https://www.nasa.gov/feature/nasa-counts-down-to-twenty-years-of-continuous-human-presence-on-international-space-station

Oct. 31, 2019

NASA Counts Down to Twenty Years of Continuous Human Presence on International Space Station

On Oct. 31, 2000, veteran NASA astronaut William "Shep" Shepherd left Earth on a journey to the International Space Station with the distinction of becoming its first commander, beginning almost two decades of continuous human presence in low-Earth orbit.


The Expedition One crew members aboard the International Space Station.
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At the time, the space station was a small orbiting complex of just three modules, not the sprawling research complex that today is as large as a five-bedroom home with a gym, two bathrooms and a 360-degree bay window looking at Earth below.

Before Shepherd, who lifted off fr om the Baikonur Cosmodrome on the Soyuz TM-31 spacecraft, and cosmonauts Yuri Gidzenko and Sergei Krikalev of Roscosmos opened the hatches to their new home two days later, only six visiting crewmembers had been inside after connecting the first two modules, one a U.S.-funded, Russian built and launched power and control module called Zarya, and the other the first U.S. connecting node named Unity.


The STS-88 crew members pose for the traditional inflight crew portrait.
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For Shepherd and the two cosmonauts who made up Expedition 1, entrance into the early station marked the beginning of an unprecedented era of peaceful cooperation in space, paving the way for hundreds of residents and visitors fr om countries around the world who conduct science in the name of benefitting humankind and furthering space exploration for NASA's Artemis program to land the first woman and next man on the Moon in preparation to go on to Mars.

Highlights of space station statistics include:

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• The primary pieces of the space station were delivered on 42 assembly flights: 37 on the U.S. space shuttles and five on Russian Proton/Soyuz rockets. Elements were constructed independent of one another around the globe and assembled for the first time in space.
  
• The space station took 11 years to fully construct. Its current configuration measures 357 feet end to end with a mass of nearly 1 million pounds. Elements of space station are continually added and reconfigured.
  
• There have been 221 spacewalks for space station assembly, maintenance and upgrades.
  
• It took a collaborative effort by 15 nations to construct the space station in orbit, and that collaboration continues today. The principal space agencies are the United States' NASA, Russia's Roscomos, ESA (European Space Agency), Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA).
  
• 239 individuals from 19 countries have visited or enjoyed extended stays on the space station
  
• Peggy Whitson holds the record for cumulative days in space by a NASA astronaut at 665 days. She also holds the record for longest duration by a woman astronaut at 289 days. Christina Koch is set to break that record December, 2019.
  
• Scott Kelly holds the record for longest single spaceflight by a NASA astronaut at 342 days wh ere he participated in the One-Year Mission with Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko.
  
• More than 2,700 investigations have been conducted on the space station from 108 different countries.
  

Astronaut Scott Tingle is pictured during a robotics maintenance spacewalk.
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Around 250 scientific investigations are conducted on the station at any given time, and an expedition astronaut's usual stay aboard the orbiting laboratory is six-months. The space station serves as a test bed for innovative technologies like recycling waste plastic and carbon dioxide filtration that are critical for long-duration missions on the lunar surface in the Artemis program.

Crew member safety also is important for lunar missions, so data collected from bone scans and eye exams helps inform what happens to the human body in space.

State-of-the-art facilities on board station help NASA increase understanding of what it will take to expand human exploration beyond low-Earth orbit, and microgravity research into protein crystal growth and fiber-optic cables offers scalable commercial opportunities and benefits for humanity.


Astronaut Anne McClain installs of the Thermal Amine Scrubber in the Destiny module.
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The space station has expanded these efforts to open for more commercial activities with the goal of building a self-sustaining commercial economy in low-Earth orbit wh ere NASA can be one of many commercial and international customers.

The 19th anniversary of Shepherd's launch to the station kicks off NASA's year of recognition that will continue through the 20th anniversary of his Expedition 1 launch, and the beginning of a continuous human presence on the International Space Station that continues today. Throughout the year, NASA will make new content available, such as archival footage, feature videos, STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) products, special events, and unique logos for the general public. The content will recognize not only the anniversary, but also demonstrate how the research conducted and lessons learned on the space station will serve as a launching pad for future lunar and Mars exploration under the banner of NASA's Artemis program and the continued international and commercial cooperation that will continue to return benefits for all humankind.


The Soyuz rocket lifts off with the Expedition One crew on Oct.31, 2000.
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ISS 20th Logo Patch

Last Updated: Oct. 31, 2019
Editor: Mark Garcia

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https://twitter.com/Space_Station

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https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/news/ams-spacewalks-attempt-to-revive-scientific-experiment/

Oct. 31, 2019

A series of spacewalks four years in the making will attempt to revive a scientific experiment

Many scientists theorize stars, planets and the molecules that comprise them are only less than five percent of the mass-energy content of the universe. The rest is dark matter, invisible matter that cannot be directly detected but can be inferred. The Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer - 02 (AMS-02) has been looking for evidence of this mysterious substance from the vantage point of the International Space Station since 2011. Designed for a three-year mission of sifting through cosmic ray particles, AMS records the number of particles that pass through all its detectors (over 140 billion particles to date), the type of particle and characteristics such as mass, velocity, charge and their direction of travel. The goal is for scientists to track down their sources to help understand dark matter and the origins of the universe.


This picture, photographed during the spacewalk conducted on July 12, 2011, shows the International Space Station with space shuttle Atlantis docked at right. In the center foreground is the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer experiment installed during the STS-134 mission.
Credits: NASA

AMS has provided hundreds of researchers around the globe with data that can help piece together the puzzle of what the universe is made of and how it began. "None of the AMS results were predicted," said Nobel Laureate and AMS principal investigator Samuel Ting in a presentation from 2018. He said results so far have provided unique information to physicists and have included the potential detection of rare antimatter that may have traveled from the far reaches of the cosmos. While there have not been definite dark matter findings, AMS has collected a significant amount of data on cosmic rays, how the rays travel through space and what produces them.


Tests being conducted in the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory (NBL) pool as part of the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) Repair training and planning. Fasteners are being removed as part of the Debris shield Removal Task.
Credits: NASA

As with many items that are exposed to the harsh environment of space, it now needs an upgrade to continue its data collection. Over the course of the next few months, a complex series of spacewalkswill go into action. The launch of a Northrop Grumman Cygnus spacecraft (NG-12) scheduled for launch on Nov. 2 will carry the final supplies needed for the spacewalks. Those supplies include the last tools needed to perform the upgrades.


Tests being conducted in the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory (NBL) pool as part of the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) Repair training. Activity being performed here is the removal of the fasteners for the Cover Removal Task on the Vertical Support Beam.
Credits: NASA

At more than eight years on the station, AMS-02 has far outlived its expected three-year lifespan. AMS began showing signs of age in 2014. It has four redundant cooling pumps intended to keep the silicon tracker, one of several detectors on AMS, at a constant temperature while in space. With temperatures that fluctuate by hundreds of degrees while orbiting Earth, a functioning thermal control system is required to support the tracker, and data from the tracker is needed in combination with the data from the other instruments to support the AMS research.

While only one of these pumps is required to operate at a time, multiple pumps began to fail. In March 2014, one of the cooling pumps stopped working, and another was found to have degraded. In March 2017, researchers switched to the last fully functional pump to keep the science alive. The AMS team realized they would need to take action to keep the scientific instrument going. "A group of us started working on planning the spacewalks to extend the life of AMS and have been now for four years," said spacewalk task lead Brian Mader.

Fixing something that was never meant to be fixed

AMS was meant to live out its three-year life in space without maintenance and then wind down, having served its purpose. Since AMS was never planned to be serviced, there are no foot restraints nor handrails installed to help astronauts move around the areas to access the cooling system during a spacewalk. It also was not designed with typical spacewalk tools in mind because, at over 300,000 data channels, it was considered too complex to service. "When you put somebody in a big suit with pressurized gloves with limited dexterity, it changes the game entirely. You have to design tools and procedures completely differently," Mader said

In addition to the overall complexity of the instrument, astronauts have never before cut and reconnected fluid lines, like those that are part of the thermal control system, during a spacewalk. Scientists and engineers from around the world have been tackling these challenges over the past four years to prepare for the upcoming spacewalks. Now their procedures, tools and training are about to be put to the test.

The plan is to bypass the old thermal control system, attach a new one off the side of AMS and plug it into the existing system. "It sounds easy, especially if you're on the ground and have lots of different tools that you need, but it's not an area that was set up for spacewalking in any manner," said AMS spacewalk repair project manager Tara Jochim.

The work to prepare for the spacewalk has involved making, testing and launching more than 20 new tools to the space station. Many are specialized for specific steps of the spacewalk, such as removing the debris shield from AMS or working on the cooling lines. The tools include plumbing instruments to cut into the cooling lines, new screwdriver bits and devices to capture the fasteners the astronauts remove from AMS.

"The basic concept on removing the fasteners is actually something that they used on the Hubble Space Telescope spacewalks," said Flight Operations Directorate Spacewalk Lead John Mularski. "You use a tool to grab underneath the fastener before you fully remove it." The Hubble Space Telescope also required a series of spacewalks to extend the life of the telescope.

These tools have gone through years of iterations and tests here on Earth by scientists, engineers and astronauts. Considerable ingenuity was required to develop the perfect tools for the AMS spacewalks' very specific needs. Repeated designing, prototyping, experimenting and validating was required to create all of the space ready tools. ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Luca Parmitano and NASA astronaut Drew Morgan will perform all of the AMS repair spacewalks, and did many practice runs in the Neutral Buoyancy Lab (NBL) pool at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.


Expedition 60 crew members Luca Parmitano and Andrew Morgan perform a Hardware Review at the NBL.
Credits: NASA

Several other members of the astronaut corps also helped perform other tests for tools to be used on the spacewalks. NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen assisted with tool development by carrying out trials in both the NBL and the Active Response Gravity Offload System (ARGOS), a facility that simulates reduced gravity environments out of the water.

More to offer

Ting and the researchers using AMS data are hopeful that these spacewalks will enable many more years of data collection for this specialized instrument. "A lot of experiments can measure these cosmic ray particles at low energies. AMS takes it to a much higher energy level and to an unprecedented accuracy," said AMS Project Manager Ken Bollweg. "In order to continue to improve the accuracy, they have to take data for a longer time."


Nobel Laureate Samuel Ting, principal investigator for the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, discusses the investigation during a Johnson Space Center All Hands meeting.
Credits: NASA

This extension of AMS's life may also allow scientists to get a more complete picture of radiation in space by collecting data over a complete solar cycle—a period of about 11 years during which the Sun's magnetic field changes, exposing the solar system to different levels of radiation. Collecting information over that entire time could provide more information about the potential radiation exposure for astronauts headed to Mars.

In addition to revitalizing an important piece of scientific equipment, the process of creating the tools and procedures for these spacewalks is preparing teams for the types of spacewalks that may be required on Moon and Mars missions. "These are the kind of skills that are going to feed into going to a planetary surface," Jochim said. "Cutting stainless steel tubing and then connecting new tubes on a thermal system during a spacewalk with the user-friendly mechanisms we have developed, all the while keeping it safe for the crew member, are the types of activities that will help create our processes for tomorrow's spacewalkers."

AMS is a joint effort between NASA and the Department of Energy's Office of Science and is led by Principal Investigator Samuel Ting, a Nobel laureate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The AMS team includes some 600 physicists from 56 institutions in 16 countries from Europe, North America and Asia. The contributions from the various participants were integrated when the AMS was built at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) outside of Geneva, Switzerland.
...

Erin Winick

International Space Station Program Science Office
Johnson Space Center

Last Updated: Oct. 31, 2019
Editor: Michael Johnson

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https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacestation/2019/10/31/station-crew-readies-for-japan-u-s-cargo-missions/

Station Crew Readies for Japan, U.S. Cargo Missions

Mark Garcia
Posted Oct 31, 2019 at 1:10 pm


The Northrop Grumman Antares rocket that will launch the Cygnus cargo craft to the space station is seen at its Virginia launch pad.

A Japanese cargo craft is preparing to end its mission at the International Space Station, as a U.S. resupply ship stands ready to launch to the orbiting lab. The Expedition 61 crew is gearing up for the space traffic while also staying fresh on station emergency procedures.

Japan's HTV-8 cargo craft, also called Kounotori, will complete its 34-day mission attached to the station's Harmony module on Friday. NASA astronauts Christina Koch and Jessica Meir are sharpening their Canadarm2 robotic arm skills today as they train to release the Kounotori packed with trash and obsolete gear at 1:20 p.m. EDT. It will fall to Earth over the Pacific Ocean and burn up harmlessly in the atmosphere on Saturday.

The 12th U.S.-made Cygnus resupply ship sits atop an Antares rocket and will blast off Saturday fr om Virginia at 9:59 a.m. EDT. The space delivery vehicle from Northrop Grumman will arrive Monday, when Meir with Koch as her backup will capture it at 4:10 a.m. EST with the Canadarm2. Robotic controllers on the ground will take over and remotely guide Cygnus and attach it to the Unity module wh ere it will stay for 70 days.

NASA TV will cover all the mission activities live.

Three station crewmates brushed up on their emergency response skills today in the unlikely event they would need to evacuate the station in their Soyuz crew ship. Koch with Commander Luca Parmitano and Flight Engineer Alexander Skvortsov practiced quickly entering their Soyuz and simulated emergency undocking and descent procedures.

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Опубликована брошюра миссии (НАСА)

Northrop Grumman CRS-12 Overview - 894.6 KB, 4 стр, 2019-10-30 19:31:41 UTC

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https://ria.ru/20191101/1560464121.html

На российском сегменте МКС поменяют американскую систему связи
03:41 01.11.2019 (обновлено: 04:32 01.11.2019)

МОСКВА, 1 ноя – РИА Новости. Российский сегмент Международной космической станции, зависящий от американских средств связи, со следующего года будет обеспечен отечественным широкополосным каналом связи с Землей, рассказал в интервью РИА Новости первый заместитель генерального директора компании "Гонец" (единый оператор госкорпорации "Роскосмос" по системам связи, вещания и ретрансляции) Олег Химочко.

"Все необходимое оборудование на МКС доставлено, смонтировано, проведены автономные испытания. Сейчас в соответствии с программой идет отработка функционирования ретрансляционного канала. Надеемся, в следующем году начнется штатное применение канала", - сказал Химочко.

Он пояснил, что на сегодняшний день российский сегмент МКС обеспечен широкополосным каналом связи с Землей через американскую систему спутников-ретрансляторов TDRSS. Связь предоставляется на платной основе.

Российский канал будет обеспечивать скорость 105 Мегабит в секунду. "Это хорошая скорость и, в первую очередь, канал будет использоваться для передачи служебной, целевой и научной информации. Будут ли смотреть космонавты фильмы и какие, об этом лучше спросить в Центре управления полетом", - сказал Химочко.

Круглосуточную связь с Землей обеспечит российская система спутников-ретрансляторов "Луч", состоящая из трех космических аппаратов.

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ISS National Lab Research Overview - AstroRad Vest

 ISS National Lab

31 окт. 2019 г.

Lockheed Martin Corporation, in collaboration with StemRad will test the performance of the AstroRad radiation shielding vest on crew members onboard the ISS. The AstroRad Vest, launching on Northrop Grumman CRS-12, selectively protects organs most sensitive to radiation exposure—with a focus on protecting stem cell concentrations within those organs. Knowledge gained fr om this investigation could aid in the development of shielding technologies for patients on Earth receiving radiation treatments and personnel who work in areas wh ere radiation exposure is a risk.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/fuRwd4N_FgE (1:43)

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https://tass.ru/kosmos/7069521

1 НОЯ, 08:49
На орбите МКС проведут эксперимент по изготовлению свежей выпечки
Для этого астронавты используют электропечь, способную работать в невесомости

НЬЮ-ЙОРК, 1 ноября. /Корр. ТАСС Игорь Борисенко/. Новую электропечь, способную работать в условиях невесомости, испытают в ближайшем будущем американские астронавты на борту Международной космической станции (МКС). Как сообщило в четверг информационное агентство Associated Press (AP), печь Zero G Oven будет доставлена на МКС на борту грузового корабля Sygnus.

Она должна дополнить имеющиеся у экипажа средства разогрева пищи и позволит провести эксперимент по изготовлению свежей выпечки в космосе, что важно с учетом планов проведения долговременных полетов на Марс. По данным агентства AP, новая печь, вероятно, будет сначала использована для приготовления печенья с шоколадом, тесто для которого уже было доставлено на МКС летом нынешнего года и хранится в замороженном виде в пластиковых пакетах.

Температура в электропечи может быть доведена до 177 градусов Цельсия, что в два раза больше, чем у тех средств разогрева пищи, которые сейчас имеются на МКС. На приготовление одного печенья, по расчетам, уйдет от 15 до 20 минут, сообщила агентству AP представитель компании-разработчика Nanorack Мэри Мэрфи. После того, как печенье достанут из печи и дадут остыть на специально сконструированной решетке, по всему отсеку МКС будет распространяться запах сдобы. Три печенья, приготовленных в условиях невесомости, будут направлены на Землю для анализа.

"Когда вы находитесь в космосе, вам, наверное, захотелось бы ощутить запах готовящегося печенья", - привело агентство AP мнение одного из разработчиков печи Джорданы Фихтенбаум. - Такая печь - это как сердце для дома, она сделает жизнь на орбите более комфортной, приятной и позволит разнообразить вкусовые ощущения".

На МКС сейчас работают россияне Александр Скворцов и Олег Скрипочка, американцы Эндрю Морган, Кристина Кук и Джессика Меир, а также представитель Европейского космического агентства итальянец Лука Пармитано.

[свернуть]

[Старый]

А проблему крошек в невесомости они уже решили? 

[Чебурашка]

Что-то в этом году Хэллоувин как-то вяло прошёл на МКС.

[Старый]

Чебурашка написал:
Что-то в этом году Хэллоувин как-то вяло прошёл на МКС.

РПЦ не рекомендовала православным участвовать.