Orbiter.ch Space News: Space Station Science Highlights: Week of May 11, 2020

vendredi 15 mai 2020

Space Station Science Highlights: Week of May 11, 2020

ISS - Expedition 63 Mission patch.

May 15, 2020

Research activities conducted aboard the International Space Station the week of May 11 included studies of fire safety in space and plant-water dynamics and several ongoing astrophysics investigations.

Now in its 20th year of continuous human presence, the space station provides a platform for long-duration research in microgravity and for learning to live and work in space. Experience gained on the orbiting lab supports Artemis, NASA’s program to go forward to the Moon and on to Mars.

Here are details on some of the microgravity investigations currently taking place:

Burning a safe distance away

Image above: The Cygnus space freighter in the grips of the Canadarm2 robotic arm moments before its release from the International Space Station, ending an 83-day stay. After departure, Cygnus deployed small satellites and hosted a fire safety investigation, Saffire-IV. Image Credit: NASA.

After the Cygnus cargo craft departed the space station on Monday, May 11, its Slingshot mechanism deployed several small satellites. Cygnus also provided a safe environment for a study of fire in microgravity, hosting operations of the Spacecraft Fire Safety Experiment – IV (Saffire-IV) after its departure. Understanding how fires spread in space is vital for developing flame-resistant materials and fire prevention measures, but it is difficult to perform flame growth and prevention experiments aboard an occupied spacecraft. Saffire-IV examines fire growth in different materials and environmental conditions and demonstrates fire detection, monitoring and post-fire cleanup capabilities.

Untended astrophysics and quantum mechanics investigations

Thanks to increasing automation and careful planning, more and more investigations aboard the space station require little or no crew involvement. Examples of such investigations currently operating include the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer - 02 (AMS-02), Cold Atom Laboratory (CAL) and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s Monitor of All-sky X-ray Image (MAXI).

Image above: ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Luca Parmitano attached to the Canadarm2 robotic arm with a new thermal pump system for the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS). This was the third of four spacewalks to upgrade the cosmic particle detector attached to the outside of the space station. Image Credit: NASA.

Scientists theorize that stars, planets and the molecules they contain represent less than five percent of the mass-energy content of the universe. The rest is dark energy and dark matter, which cannot be directly detected. AMS-02 looks for evidence of this mysterious substance by recording cosmic rays, highly energetic particles that bombard Earth from space. Originally planned as a three-year mission, AMS operated for more than 8 years before astronauts repaired and upgraded it, a process that took four spacewalks. Scientists now expect to collect data from AMS for many more years, including through a complete solar cycle. Its repairs notwithstanding, AMS typically operates autonomously, requiring only a power source from the space station.

Earlier this year, astronauts also performed major upgrades for CAL. This instrument produces clouds of atoms chilled to near absolute zero, much colder than the average temperature of deep space. This low temperature slows down atoms significantly so scientists can study fundamental behaviors and quantum characteristics that are difficult or impossible to probe at higher temperatures. CAL hardware is powered continuously, with operations conducted for 8 hours per day during crew sleep. It requires crew involvement only for installation, operation updates and, eventually, decommissioning.

Another automated instrument, MAXI, continuously surveys X-ray sources and variabilities as the space station orbits Earth. Operating since 2009, so far MAXI has discovered new black hole candidates, reported more than 20 binary X-ray pulsar outbursts, detected X-ray flares from 12 stars and observed for the first time the instant that a massive black hole swallowed a star. The investigation also released a catalog for high Galactic-latitude sky sources and revealed the existence of a hypernova remnant estimated to be 3 million years old, likely the first in our galaxy.

Monitoring plants from space

Image above: The ECOsystem Spaceborne Thermal Radiometer Experiment on Space Station (ECOSTRESS), shown here installed onto the Japanese Experiment Module - Exposed Facility (JEM-EF), provides high-resolution thermal infrared measurements of the surface of Earth. Image Credit: NASA.

The ECOsystem Spaceborne Thermal Radiometer Experiment on Space Station (ECOSTRESS) records high space-time resolution thermal infrared measurements of the surface of Earth at varying times during daylight. These measurements could help answer several key questions about water stress in plants and how selected regions of the planet may respond to future changes in climate. ECOSTRESS collects data whenever the space station passes over a target, with start and stop times programmed weekly from the ground, without need for crew involvement. Data are compressed and stored in memory then downlinked as bandwidth is available.

Other investigations on which the crew performed work:

- Astrobee tests three self-contained, free-flying robots designed to assist astronauts with routine chores, give ground controllers additional eyes and ears and perform crew monitoring, sampling and logistics management.
https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Facility.html?#id=1891

- AstroPi includes two augmented Raspberry Pi computers equipped with cameras and hardware that measures the environment inside the space station, detects how the station moves through space and picks up the Earth’s magnetic field. The ESA (European Space Agency) AstroPi Challenge offers students and other young people the opportunity to conduct scientific investigations in space by writing computer programs or code for the computers.
https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=7534

- ISS Ham gives students an opportunity to talk directly with crew members via ham radio when the space station passes over their schools. This interaction engages and educates students, teachers, parents and other members of the community in science, technology, engineering and math.
https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=337

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