Orbiter.ch Space News: Space Station Science Highlights: Week of January 18, 2021

vendredi 22 janvier 2021

Space Station Science Highlights: Week of January 18, 2021

ISS - Expedition 64 Mission patch.

Jan. 22, 2021

Crew members aboard the International Space Station conducted a number of scientific experiments during the week of Jan. 18, including testing technologies for space debris removal and inflight white blood cell counts and studies of fire safety. NASA astronauts Victor Glover and Michael Hopkins continued preparations for a pair of spacewalks currently scheduled for Jan. 27 and Feb. 1. Tasks on the first spacewalk include setting up Bartolomeo, an ESA (European Space Agency) platform for hosting science payloads on the exterior of the space station.

Animation above: NASA astronauts Victor Glover and Shannon Walker conducting various tasks aboard the space station. Animation Credits: NASA.

Seven crew members currently inhabit the station, including four from NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, providing increased crew time for science on the orbiting lab. The space station has been continuously inhabited by humans for 20 years and has supported many scientific breakthroughs during that time. The station provides a platform for long-duration research in microgravity and for learning to live and work in space, experience that 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:

Grabbing like a gecko

Image above: NASA astronaut Shannon Walker sets up the Astrobee robots for a run of the REGGAE investigation, which uses these free-flyers to test a technology for potential capture and active removal of space debris in low-Earth orbit. Image Credit: NASA.

The crew installed targets for the Reduced Gravity Gecko Adhesion Docking Experiments (REGGAE) investigation onto Astrobee satellites and performed a functional checkout during the week. Developed by the German Aerospace Center (DLR), REGGAE tests a technology for potential capture and active removal of space debris in low-Earth orbit using materials that mimic the microscopic structures in the feet of geckos, spiders, and some insects that allow them to adhere to almost any surface. These materials are attached to one of the free-flying Astrobees and target materials on another. The first then attempts to capture the target materials. This method could make it possible to use small and cost-efficient CubeSats to capture space debris – human-made objects that remain in orbit but no longer serve a useful purpose. Space debris poses a risk to the use of low-Earth orbit and its removal is essential to continued safe operation of satellites and spacecraft.

Counting blood cells

Medical providers use white blood cell counts to monitor a number of heath conditions, including viral and bacterial infections, impacts of radiation exposure, and inflammatory diseases. HemoCue tests the ability of a commercially available device to provide quick and accurate blood cell counts in microgravity. On future exploration missions, this capability could allow crews to identify certain medical conditions, diagnose illnesses, monitor conditions such as infections or radiation exposure, track treatment response, and assess the severity of an illness. The crew prepared and processed samples using the analyzer during the week, producing 12 successful runs.

Fire safety studies

Image above: Image from a run of the BRE investigation, which examines the flammability of solid and liquid materials in order to improve fire safety in spacecraft. Image Credits: NASA's Glenn Research Center.

Two investigations conducted this week aim at improving fire safety in space: BRE and FLARE. BRE, part of the set of Advanced Combustion via Microgravity Experiments (ACME), simulates the flammability of solid and liquid materials by burning gaseous fuels under conditions corresponding to those materials. ACME’s goals include advancing fuel efficiency and reducing pollutant production in practical combustion on Earth in addition to improving spacecraft fire prevention. During the week, crew members reconfigured the Combustion Integrated Rack (CIR) for continued BRE-2 runs.

A fire safety investigation from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), FLARE burns various solid fuels under different conditions inside a flow tunnel. In microgravity, flames can spread more quickly across materials under certain conditions than they do on Earth. Current materials flammability screening tests for crewed space missions do not consider the effect of gravity, but this investigation could provide a new way to predict flammability in microgravity, significantly improving fire safety on future missions. Crew members conducted operations for this investigation during the week.

Other investigations on which the crew performed work:

- Time Perception, an ESA (European Space Agency) experiment, quantifies the subjective changes in time perception that humans experience during and after long-duration spaceflight.
https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=7504

- For The ISS Experience, crew members capture footage used to create an immersive virtual reality series documenting life and research aboard the space station. The first episode of Space Explorers: The ISS Experience premiered in fall 2020 on multiple platforms.
https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=7877

- The Veg-03 investigation cultivates various plants using pillows – low-mass modules that require little energy and maintenance – as part of efforts to understand how plants respond to microgravity so crews can eventually grow them for food on long-duration missions.
https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=1159

- Bacterial Adhesion and Corrosion tests an antimicrobial coating on materials used to represent typical surfaces on the space station, which could provide insight into better ways to control and remove resistant biofilms for long-duration spaceflight.
https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=7956

- 3D Microbial Monitoring uses DNA sequencing and other analyses to construct a three dimensional map of bacteria and bacterial products throughout the station to help identify risks to human health and environmental systems.
https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=8345

- Standard Measures ensures consistent collection of specific data from crew members throughout the space station program in order to characterize the adaptive responses to and risks of living in space.
https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=7711

- Food Acceptability looks at how the appeal of food changes during long-duration missions. Whether crew members like and actually eat foods directly affects caloric intake and associated nutritional benefits.
https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=7562

- APM measures and quantifies the concentration of both small and large particles in cabin air as part of efforts to maintain air quality in the occupied environment on station, vital for the crew’s health.
https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=7936

Image above: NASA astronaut Shannon Walker, left, and JAXA astronaut Soichi Noguchi completing an ISS HAM radio connection with Hisagi junior high in Japan. Image Credit: JAXA.

- ISS Ham gives groups of students an opportunity to ask questions of crew members as the space station passes over their school, camp, museum, or other facility.
https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=337

Space to Ground: Spacewalk Preparations: 01/22/2021

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