Orbiter.ch Space News: Space Station Highlights: Week of February 18, 2019

mardi 26 février 2019

Space Station Highlights: Week of February 18, 2019

ISS - Expedition 58 Mission patch.

Feb. 26, 2019

The Expedition 58 crew members living and working aboard the International Space Station spent last week conducting science, cleaning and preparing spacesuits for upcoming spacewalks, and recording footage of life aboard the space station for the ISS Experience.

Back on Earth, three Expedition 59 crew members are preparing for their March 14 launch to the orbiting laboratory aboard the Soyuz MS-12 crew ship. Commander Alexey Ovchinin and Flight Engineers Nick Hague and Christina Koch are in Star City, Russia for final training before heading to the Baikonur Cosmodrome launch site in Kazakhstan on Feb. 26.

Here are some details about the science conducted last week:

Cameras prepared to capture Typhoon footage

The Cyclone Intensity Measurements from the ISS (Tropical Cyclone) investigation captures images of tropical cyclones and hurricanes that are rated at category three or higher on the Saffir-Simpson scale. A pseudo-stereoscopic method is used to determine the altitudes of the cloud tops near the eye of a cyclone by precisely tracking the positions of cloud features with respect to the Earth and how those positions change over time as an observer, the space station in this case, passes over the storm. The images demonstrate that this technique can be used to measure the cloud altitudes to sufficient precision so that, when combined with other remote-sensing data, an accurate determination of the intensity of hurricane or cyclone can be made.

Image above: Typhoon Oma off the coast of Queensland, Australia. Image Credit: NASA.

Last week, a crewmember set up the Tropical Cyclone camera in the station’s Cupola to capture imagery of Typhoon Oma off the coast of Queensland, Australia.

Refueling techniques tested on station exterior

Across the public and private sectors, more satellites are launching each year. These largely autonomous tools are critical to national security, communications and GPS systems, and serve to monitor planetary conditions and the universe around us. When satellites run out of fuel, they are no longer able to maintain their orbit or stay pointed in the right direction. When they run out of coolant, optical instruments stop functioning correctly. The shell left behind may experience orbital decay or become orbital debris, and a new satellite may need to be launched to take its place, adding a costly expense. When fuel runs low unexpectedly, a satellite’s shutdown may also cause a loss of data and science.

Cryogenic fluid can serve as a coolant to keep optical equipment in satellites operational or as a powerful propellant to steer satellites. The Robotic Refueling Mission 3 (RRM3) tests new methods for transferring and storing cryogenic fluids like liquid methane in space.

Image above: Oleg Kononenko of Russia’s Roscosmos set up the SallyRide EarthKAM for upcoming operations. This investigation allows students to remotely control a digital camera mounted on the space station and use it to take photographs of coastlines, mountain ranges and other features and phenomena. Image Credit: NASA.

Last week, NASA astronaut Anne McClain and David Saint-Jacques of the Canadian Space Agency installed the RRM3 hardware inside Japan’s Kibo lab module airlock. The gear will be deployed outside Kibo then transferred to an external logistics carrier. Once there, the Dextre “robotic hand” will begin operations demonstrating fluid transfers with a set of specialized tools.

Investigation works to map universe

Stars, planets and the molecules that make them are only about five percent of the total mass in the universe — the rest is either dark matter or dark energy, but no one has ever seen this material or been able to study it. What’s more, the Big Bang theory holds that the universe should be made of equal parts matter and antimatter, but scientists have never detected naturally occurring antimatter. The Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer - 02 (AMS-02) looks for evidence of these mysterious substances, along with very high-energy radiation coming from distant stars that could potentially harm crew members traveling to Mars.

Image above: The Matryeshka-R BUBBLE investigation studies the field of charged particles and neutrons in a wide energy band inside the Russian segment of the space station and on its external surface. The dosimeter held by Canadian Space Agency astronaut David Saint-Jacques is used to measure radiation conditions. Image Credit: NASA.

Last week, McClain replaced a laptop hard drive used in the experiment.

Other work was performed on these investigations:

- The Space Automated Bioproduct Laboratory (SABL) supports a wide variety of investigations such as microorganisms, small animals, animal cells, tissue cultures and small plants: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Facility.html?#id=1148

- The Lighting Effects investigation studies the impact of the change from fluorescent light bulbs to solid-state light-emitting diodes (LEDs) with adjustable intensity and color and aims to determine if the new lights can improve crew circadian rhythms, sleep and cognitive performance: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=2013

- SODI-DSC studies diffusion in six different liquids over time in the absence of convection induced by the gravity field: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=701

- The Sally Ride EarthKAM program allows students to remotely control a digital camera mounted on the space station and use it to take photographs of coastlines, mountain ranges and other features and phenomena. The images are posted online where the public and participating classrooms can view Earth from the station’s unique vantage point: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=87

- The Electrostatic Levitation Furnace (ELF) is an experimental facility designed to levitate, melt and solidify materials by container-less processing techniques using the electrostatic levitation method: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=1738

Space to Ground: Personal Space: 02/22/2019