ISS - Expedition 58 Mission patch.
February 15, 2019
The Expedition 58 crew is helping scientists today understand how astronauts perceive time and orient themselves when living in space. The orbital residents are also working on CubeSat and free-flying robotics hardware aboard the International Space Station.
Astronauts Anne McClain and David Saint-Jacques wore virtual reality gear for the Time Perception experiment sponsored by the European Space Agency. The study takes place in the Columbus lab module and is researching the hypothesis that time and depth perception are altered in microgravity.
Image above: The forward end of the International Space Station is pictured showing portions of five modules. Image Credit: NASA.
McClain of NASA started the day inside the Kibo lab module, opened the airlock and removed the CubeSat deployer. She disassembled and stowed the hardware in Kibo’s logistics module after it ejected a series of CubeSats into Earth orbit in January.
Astrobee is a new experimental program that uses three small free-flying assistants and is due to begin operations soon. Saint-Jacques installed the Astrobee docking station in the Unity module where the cube-shaped robotic helpers will be able to attach themselves in the future. The autonomous free-flyers may be able to help astronauts with simple duties and enhance monitoring abilities on the orbital lab.
Image above: Flying over Senegal, seen by EarthCam on ISS, speed: 27'599 Km/h, altitude: 409,65 Km, image captured by Roland Berga (on Earth in Switzerland) from International Space Station (ISS) using ISS-HD Live application with EarthCam's from ISS on February 14, 2019 at 18:55 UTC. Image Credits: Orbiter.ch Aerospace/Roland Berga.
Commander Oleg Kononenko spent Friday morning exploring how crew activities and the Earth’s magnetic field impact the structure of the space station. The experienced cosmonaut moved into the afternoon replacing dust filters before researching space navigation techniques.
Related links:
Expedition 58: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/expedition58/index.html
Time Perception: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=7504
Columbus lab module: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/structure/elements/europe-columbus-laboratory
Kibo lab module: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/structure/elements/japan-kibo-laboratory
Astrobee: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Facility.html?#id=1891
Unity module: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/structure/elements/unity
Crew activities and the Earth’s magnetic: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=487
Space Station Research and Technology: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/index.html
International Space Station (ISS): https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.html
Images (mentioned), Text, Credits: NASA/Mark Garcia/Orbiter.ch Aerospace/Roland Berga.
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