AMS days: experiments present latest results

CERN - European Organization for Nuclear Research logo.

April 16, 2015

The Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) collaboration will present today the latest results in its quest to understand the origin of cosmic rays and dark matter. These intriguing results will be shared and discussed during the “AMS days” starting today at CERN with many of the world’s leading theoretical physicists and principal investigators of some of the major experiments exploring the field of cosmic-ray physics. The main objective of this scientific exchange is to understand the interrelation between AMS results and those of other major cosmic-ray experiments and current theories.

“I am very pleased that so many of the world's leading scientists are interested in AMS results and are coming to CERN for this meeting,” said AMS spokesperson Samuel Ting.

Image above: The Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer looks for dark matter, antimatter and missing matter from a module on the International Space Station (Image: NASA).

In particular, AMS is presenting unexpected new results on the antiproton/proton ratio in the cosmic rays, and on the proton and helium fluxes. Pre-existing models of ordinary cosmic rays cannot explain the AMS results. These new observations may provide important information on the understanding of cosmic-ray production and propagation. It is possible that the results may be explained by new astrophysical sources or new acceleration and propagation mechanisms, and the latest AMS results are also consistent with dark matter collisions.

Note:

CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, is one of the world’s largest and most respected centres for scientific research. Its business is fundamental physics, finding out what the Universe is made of and how it works. At CERN, the world’s largest and most complex scientific instruments are used to study the basic constituents of matter — the fundamental particles. By studying what happens when these particles collide, physicists learn about the laws of Nature.

The instruments used at CERN are particle accelerators and detectors. Accelerators boost beams of particles to high energies before they are made to collide with each other or with stationary targets. Detectors observe and record the results of these collisions.

Founded in 1954, the CERN Laboratory sits astride the Franco–Swiss border near Geneva. It was one of Europe’s first joint ventures and now has 22 Member States.

Related link:

The Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS): http://home.web.cern.ch/about/experiments/ams

Read more:

"Physics community to discuss latest results of the AMS experiment" – CERN press release: http://press.web.cern.ch/press-releases/2015/04/physics-community-discuss-latest-results-ams-experiment

Don't miss:

- "Human Space Exploration" by NASA's William H. Gerstenmaier, as part of the AMS days at CERN. Webcast at 6:15pm today (15 April 2015): http://webcast.web.cern.ch/webcast/play.php?event=381134

- "The Odyssey of Voyager" by Prof. Edward C. Stone, as part of the AMS days at CERN. Webcast at 6:30pm tomorrow (16 April 2015): http://webcast.web.cern.ch/webcast/play.php?event=381134

For more information about the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), visit: http://home.web.cern.ch/

Image (mentioned), Text, Credits: CERN/Cian O'Luanaigh.

Greetings, Orbiter.ch

Video: SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket still misses landing

SpaceX - Falcon 9/ Dragon CRS-6 Mission patch.

April 16, 2015

The first stage of the launch vehicle was scheduled to land on Tuesday to Earth for reuse. This is the third failure in as many attempts for the US company owned by billionaire Elon Musk.

SpaceX Falcon 9 crash on Tuesday April 14, 2015

The last mission entrusted to SpaceX is a partial success. Or partial failure. US private space company managed to take off its Falcon 9 rocket to resupply the International Space Station on Tuesday 14th April. The astronauts have received particular the first espresso machine sent into space. But the first stage of the launcher scheduled to return to Earth intact, has once again failed in his mission.

Incredible footage shows SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket crash landing

Three failures in as many attempts

As shown in the pictures from SpaceX, the launch vehicle attempted to land on an offshore platform off the coast of Jacksonville, Florida (USA). The rocket has slowed his fall with the approach of the site, and is well managed to ask. But his angle of approach, distorted by the side wind, caused a drop, causing an explosion and disintegration of the craft. This is the third time in as many attempts, the pitcher fails to return to Earth.

Image above: The 300-foot-long ship (Drone Barge) used for the landing attempt returned to port Jan. 12 in Jacksonville, Florida, showing no obvious signs of damage. Containers housing support equipment on the barge’s deck were blackened and crumpled from the blast of the second crash of the reusable rocket Falcon 9.

SpaceX for the success of this landing is crucial to the profitability of the company owned by billionaire Elon Musk. For recovering intact launcher would reuse for the next launch. Enough to drastically reduce the cost of space travel in the future.

For more information about SpaceX and Falcon 9 reusable rocket, visit: http://www.spacex.com/

Image, Video, Text, Credits: SpaceX/APTN/Orbiter.ch Aerospace.

Greetings, Orbiter.ch

GOCE helps tap into sustainable energy resources

ESA - GOCE Mission logo.

16 April 2015

Going far above and beyond its original mission objectives, results from the GOCE gravity satellite are now being used to produce maps for geothermal energy development.

Geothermal energy is heat from under Earth’s surface. From hot springs to magma, this energy provides a clean, sustainable resource that can be used to generate electricity, heat buildings, grow plants in greenhouses and many other applications.

Bouguer gravity anomaly

These energy sites exist underground, but often in remote areas, making them difficult, expensive and time-consuming to explore and measure. While the potential of geothermal energy worldwide remains vast, more effort is needed to develop and harness it.

To help facilitate their exploitation, scientists from ESA and the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) have used gravity measurements from the GOCE mission to produce an online tool that indicates areas likely to possess geothermal potential, narrowing the search for prospectors.

The tool’s maps show certain characteristics that may help in the search for geothermal reservoirs, including areas with thin crusts, subduction zones and young magmatic activity.

“These maps can help make a strong business case for geothermal development where none existed before,” said Henning Wuester, Director of IRENA’s Knowledge, Policy and Finance Centre.

Free air gravity anomaly

“In doing so, the tool provides a shortcut for lengthy and costly explorations and unlocks the potential of geothermal energy as a reliable and clean contribution to the world’s energy mix.”

After a potential site location has been selected using the online tool, ground surveys and seismic measurements are still needed to determine the exact points for energy extraction, but the new resource is a step towards developing a comprehensive geothermal prospecting technique.

The maps outline two specific global gravity anomalies: ‘Bouguer’ and ‘free air’.

The free air gravity map provides information on geological structures, while the Bouguer gravity anomaly map combines GOCE data with information of global topography to show differences in crustal thickness. Together, the maps depict characteristics unique to geothermal reservoirs.

The two maps are complementary and form a basis to discriminate and classify different terrains at a country-wide scale.

GOCE

GOCE’s mission ended in October 2013 when it ran out of fuel and subsequently reentered Earth’s atmosphere. But its wealth of data continues to be exploited to improve our understanding of ocean circulation, sea level, ice dynamics and Earth’s interior.

“This is the first time that global gravity data from GOCE have been used as a tool for geothermal energy site exploration,” said Volker Liebig, Director of ESA’s Earth Observation Programmes.

“ESA will continue its collaboration with IRENA to further improve space-based gravity data as a resource for sustainable energy development.”

Related links:

GOCE: http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Observing_the_Earth/GOCE

Global Atlas geothermal map: http://irena.masdar.ac.ae/?map=1046

More on the global gravity maps: http://www.lithoflex.org/IRENA/

IRENA: http://www.irena.org/

Images, Text, Credits: ESA/IRENA/AOES Medialab.

Best regards, Orbiter.ch

Icy Tendrils Reaching into Saturn Ring Traced to Their Source

NASA - Cassini Mission International logo.

April 15, 2015

Images above: This collage, consisting of two Cassini images of long, sinuous, tendril-like features from Saturn's moon Enceladus and two corresponding computer simulations of the same, illustrates how well the structures, and the sizes of the particles composing them, can be modeled by tracing the trajectories of tiny, icy grains ejected from Enceladus' south polar geysers. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute.

Long, sinuous, tendril-like structures seen in the vicinity of Saturn's icy moon Enceladus originate directly from geysers erupting from its surface, according to scientists studying images from NASA's Cassini spacecraft.

This result is published online today in a study in the Astronomical Journal, along with additional insights into the nature of the structures.

"We've been able to show that each unique tendril structure can be reproduced by particular sets of geysers on the moon's surface," said Colin Mitchell, a Cassini imaging team associate at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colorado, and lead author of the paper. Mitchell and colleagues used computer simulations to follow the trajectories of

ice grains ejected from individual geysers. The geysers, which were discovered by Cassini in 2005, are jets of tiny water ice particles, water vapor and simple organic compounds.

Under certain lighting conditions, Cassini's wide-view images showing icy material erupting from Enceladus reveal faint, finger-like features, dubbed "tendrils" by the imaging team. The tendrils reach into Saturn's E ring -- the ring in which Enceladus orbits -- extending tens of thousands of miles (or kilometers) away from the moon. Since the tendrils were discovered, scientists have thought they were the result of the moon's geysering activity and the means by which Enceladus supplies material to the E ring. But the ghostly features had never before been traced directly to geysers on the surface.

Graphic above: This graphic plots the source locations of the geysers scientists have located on Enceladus' south polar terrain. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute.

Because the team was able to show that tendril structures of different shapes correspond to different sizes of geyser particles, the team was able to zero in on the sizes of the particles forming them. They found the tendrils are composed of particles with diameters no smaller than about a hundred thousandth of an inch, a size consistent with the measurements of E-ring particles made by other Cassini instruments.

As the researchers examined images from different times and positions around Saturn, they also found that the detailed appearance of the tendrils changes over time. "It became clear to us that some features disappeared from one image to the next," said John Weiss, an imaging team associate at Saint Martin's University in Lacey, Washington, and an author on the paper.

The authors suspect that changes in the tendrils' appearance likely result from the cycle of tidal stresses -- squeezing and stretching of the moon as it orbits Saturn -- and its control of the widths of fractures from which the geysers erupt. The stronger the tidal stresses raised by Saturn at any point on the fractures, the wider the fracture opening and the greater the eruption of material. The authors will investigate in future work whether this theory explains the tendrils' changing appearance.

Cassini spacecraft. Image Credit: NASA

There is even more that can be extracted from the images, the scientists say. "As the supply lanes for Saturn's E ring, the tendrils give us a way to ascertain how much mass is leaving Enceladus and making its way into Saturn orbit," said Carolyn Porco, team leader for the imaging experiment and a coauthor on the paper. "So, another important step is to determine how much mass is involved, and thus estimate how much longer the moon's sub-surface ocean may last." An estimate of the lifetime of the ocean is important in understanding the evolution of Enceladus over long timescales.

Because of its significance to the investigation of possible extraterrestrial habitable zones, Enceladus is a major target of investigation for the final years of the Cassini mission. Many observations, including imaging of the plume and tendril features, and thermal observations of the surface of its south polar geyser basin, are planned during the next couple of years.

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, ESA (European Space Agency) and the Italian Space Agency. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, manages the mission for the agency's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. The Cassini imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo.

New images released today can be found at: http://www.ciclops.org/view_event/205

More information about Cassini, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/cassini and http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov and http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Cassini-Huygens

Images (mentioned), Text, Credits: NASA/JPL/Preston Dyches/Space Science Institute/Steve Mullins.

Greetings, Orbiter.ch

First Signs of Self-interacting Dark Matter?

ESO - European Southern Observatory logo.

15 April 2015

Dark matter may not be completely dark after all

Hubble image of the galaxy cluster Abell 3827

For the first time dark matter may have been observed interacting with other dark matter in a way other than through the force of gravity. Observations of colliding galaxies made with ESO’s Very Large Telescope and the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have picked up the first intriguing hints about the nature of this mysterious component of the Universe.

Using the MUSE instrument on ESO’s VLT in Chile, along with images from Hubble in orbit, a team of astronomers studied the simultaneous collision of four galaxies in the galaxy cluster Abell 3827. The team could trace out where the mass lies within the system and compare the distribution of the dark matter with the positions of the luminous galaxies.

Although dark matter cannot be seen, the team could deduce its location using a technique called gravitational lensing. The collision happened to take place directly in front of a much more distant, unrelated source. The mass of dark matter around the colliding galaxies severely distorted spacetime, deviating the path of light rays coming from the distant background galaxy — and distorting its image into characteristic arc shapes.

Hubble image of galaxy cluster Abell 3827 showing dark matter distribution

Our current understanding is that all galaxies exist inside clumps of dark matter. Without the constraining effect of dark matter’s gravity, galaxies like the Milky Way would fling themselves apart as they rotate. In order to prevent this, 85 percent of the Universe’s mass [1] must exist as dark matter, and yet its true nature remains a mystery.

In this study, the researchers observed the four colliding galaxies and found that one dark matter clump appeared to be lagging behind the galaxy it surrounds. The dark matter is currently 5000 light-years (50 000 million million kilometres) behind the galaxy — it would take NASA’s Voyager spacecraft 90 million years to travel that far.

A lag between dark matter and its associated galaxy is predicted during collisions if dark matter interacts with itself, even very slightly, through forces other than gravity [2]. Dark matter has never before been observed interacting in any way other than through the force of gravity.

Lead author Richard Massey at Durham University, explains: “We used to think that dark matter just sits around, minding its own business, except for its gravitational pull. But if dark matter were being slowed down during this collision, it could be the first evidence for rich physics in the dark sector — the hidden Universe all around us.”

Hubble view of the galaxy cluster Abell 3827

The researchers note that more investigation will be needed into other effects that could also produce a lag. Similar observations of more galaxies, and computer simulations of galaxy collisions will need to be made.

Team member Liliya Williams of the University of Minnesota adds: “We know that dark matter exists because of the way that it interacts gravitationally, helping to shape the Universe, but we still know embarrassingly little about what dark matter actually is. Our observation suggests that dark matter might interact with  forces other than gravity, meaning we could rule out some key theories about what dark matter might be.”

This result follows on from a recent result from the team which observed 72 collisions between galaxy clusters [3] and found that dark matter interacts very little with itself. The new work however concerns the motion of individual galaxies, rather than clusters of galaxies. Researchers say that the collision between these galaxies could have lasted longer than the collisions observed in the previous study — allowing the effects of even a tiny frictional force to build up over time and create a measurable lag [4].

Taken together, the two results bracket the behaviour of dark matter for the first time. Dark matter interacts more than this, but less than that. Massey added: “We are finally homing in on dark matter from above and below — squeezing our knowledge from two directions.”

Notes:

[1]  Astronomers have found that the total mass/energy content of the Universe is split in the proportions 68% dark energy, 27% dark matter and 5% “normal” matter. So the 85% figure relates to the fraction of “matter” that is dark.

[2] Computer simulations show that the extra friction from the collision would make the dark matter slow down. The nature of that interaction is unknown; it could be caused by well-known effects or some exotic unknown force. All that can be said at this point is that it is not gravity.

All four galaxies might have been separated from their dark matter. But we happen to have a very good measurement from only one galaxy, because it is by chance aligned so well with the background, gravitationally lensed object. With the other three galaxies, the lensed images are further away, so the constraints on the location of their dark matter too loose to draw statistically significant conclusions.

[3] Galaxy clusters contain up to a thousand individual galaxies.

[4] The main uncertainty in the result is the timespan for the collision: the friction that slowed the dark matter could have been a very weak force acting over about a billion years, or a relatively stronger force acting for “only” 100 million years.

More information:

This research was presented in a paper entitled “The behaviour of dark matter associated with 4 bright cluster galaxies located in the 10 kpc core of Abell 3827” to appear in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society on 15 April 2015.

The team is composed of R. Massey (Institute for Computational Cosmology, Durham University, Durham, UK), L. Williams (School of Physics & Astronomy, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA), R. Smit (Institute for Computational Cosmology, UK), M. Swinbank (Institute for Computational Cosmology, UK), T. D. Kitching (Mullard Space Science Laboratory, University College London, Dorking, Surrey, UK), D. Harvey (Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Observatoire de Sauverny, Versoix, Switzerland), H. Israel (Institute for Computational Cosmology, UK), M. Jauzac (Institute for Computational Cosmology, UK; Astrophysics and Cosmology Research Unit, School of Mathematical Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa), D. Clowe (Department of Physics and Astronomy, Ohio University, Athens, Ohio, USA), A. Edge (Department of Physics, Durham University, Durham, UK), M. Hilton (Astrophysics and Cosmology Research Unit, South Africa), E. Jullo (Laboratoire d’Astrophysique de Marseille, Université d’Aix-Marseille, Marseille, France), A. Leonard (University College London, London, UK), J. Liesenborgs (Hasselt University, Diepenbeek, Belgium), J. Merten (Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA; California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA), I. Mohammed (Physik-Institüt, University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland), D. Nagai (Department of Physics, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, USA), J. Richard (Observatoire de Lyon, Université Lyon, Saint Genis Laval, France), A. Robertson (Institute for Computational Cosmology, UK), P. Saha (Physik-Institüt, Switzerland), R. Santana (Department of Physics and Astronomy, Ohio University, Athens, Ohio, USA), J. Stott (Department of Physics, Durham, UK) and E. Tittley (Royal Observatory, Edinburgh, UK).

ESO is the foremost intergovernmental astronomy organisation in Europe and the world’s most productive ground-based astronomical observatory by far. It is supported by 16 countries: Austria, Belgium, Brazil, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Finland, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, along with the host state of Chile. ESO carries out an ambitious programme focused on the design, construction and operation of powerful ground-based observing facilities enabling astronomers to make important scientific discoveries. ESO also plays a leading role in promoting and organising cooperation in astronomical research. ESO operates three unique world-class observing sites in Chile: La Silla, Paranal and Chajnantor. At Paranal, ESO operates the Very Large Telescope, the world’s most advanced visible-light astronomical observatory and two survey telescopes. VISTA works in the infrared and is the world’s largest survey telescope and the VLT Survey Telescope is the largest telescope designed to exclusively survey the skies in visible light. ESO is a major partner in ALMA, the largest astronomical project in existence. And on Cerro Armazones, close to Paranal, ESO is building the 39-metre European Extremely Large Telescope, the E-ELT, which will become “the world’s biggest eye on the sky”.

Links:

Research paper: http://www.eso.org/public/archives/releases/sciencepapers/eso1514/eso1514a.pdf

Photos of the VLT: http://www.eso.org/public/images/archive/category/paranal/

Related links:

MUSE instrument: http://www.eso.org/public/teles-instr/vlt/vlt-instr/muse/

ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT): http://www.eso.org/vlt

Hubble Space Telescope: http://www.spacetelescope.org/

Images, Text, Credits: ESO/R. Massey/ESA/NASA/Video: NASA, ESA. Music: Johan B. Monell (www.johanmonell.com).

Greetings, Orbiter.ch

Design begins for ESA's Asteroid Impact Mission

ESA - European Space Agency patch.

15 April 2015

European industry has begun work on dual concept studies to design an innovative Asteroid Impact Mission for ESA. The mission is tasked to encounter and chart a distant asteroid, and then witness it being struck by another spacecraft, returning data to help guide planetary defence strategies.

Last month saw the formal start of the Asteroid Impact Mission (AIM) preliminary design phase. Two separate industrial consortia have begun work on design concepts for the mission’s satellite platform, payload accommodation and operations systems.

AIM in orbit

“Running dual industrial contracts in parallel is a tried and tested way of encouraging as much innovation as possible,” explains Karim Mellab, AIM spacecraft manager.

“A decision will be made between the two sets of results in about 15 months, following the intermediate system requirements review.”

The chosen concept will then be presented to ESA’s Council of Ministers in November 2016 for approval.

Asteroid Impact Mission

If approved, the mission concept would then become an actual ESA mission and work can begin to translate computer-aided design drawings into bent metal and cast composite.

The two contracts cover the AIM spacecraft plus ground operations concepts. The payload instruments will be sourced from scientific institutions across ESA Member States.

“The payload is typically considered the part that does the scientific discovery,” explains Andres Galvez, AIM payload engineer.

“For AIM, however, every resource will be squeezed to the last drop including the payload, which will be put to a dual use and also support spacecraft operations, to make the most of every kilogram we take with us to the target asteroids.

AIM and Didymos binary

“This approach will also be part of an innovative set of technology demonstrations, including deep-space laser communications, for future missions.”

AIM may also host an asteroid lander, currently under study by the DLR German Aerospace Center, and two or more CubeSats, which are the subject of a separate announcement of opportunity.

“AIM is proposed to be ESA’s first mission to a small body since Rosetta,” adds Karim. “So it is an undeniably ambitious endeavour, but at the same time it needs to cost around an order of magnitude cheaper than Rosetta.”

Part of that reduced price-tag comes down to the fact that AIM will be a much shorter-lived mission than the decade-spanning Rosetta, taking only a year to cruise to its target, the binary asteroid system of Didymos and its moon.

Target: Didymoon

AIM, with a maximum mass of 800 kg at launch and about the size of a large office desk, will also be much more compact than the lorry-sized Rosetta.

The rest of the savings need to be identified in this first phase of the activity, such as applying onboard autonomy to reduce the number of personnel needed to run the mission. For instance, the spacecraft might use a telecommunication carrier beacon as a streamlined means of communicating its health status.

Contact teams

The first contract has been awarded to a consortium led by German company OHB, with Politecnico di Milano performing mission analysis, Italian company Telespazio working on the ground segment and operations and Portuguese company Spin.Works focused on the guidance and navigation aspects.

The second contract has gone to a consortium led by QinetiQ Space Belgium, with GMV in Spain taking on responsibility for guidance and navigation.

Mapping Didymoon

“Guidance and navigation is a crucial part of the mission design,” comments Karim. “First, the spacecraft needs to find its way across 480 million km of space to its target asteroid. Then it needs to perform visual reckoning to manoeuvre around the Didymos system, employing a limited quantity of propellant.”

Whichever design is chosen, the mission needs to be launched in October 2020 to make the launch window to catch the asteroid and its moon.

Joint endeavour

AIM must be in position before late 2022 when NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test, or DART, is planned to crash into the asteroid’s moon for detailed before-and-after impact monitoring.  These observations will help determine how far the DART kinetic impactor has moved the asteroid moon.

The two missions together are components of an international collaboration on an asteroid-deflection demonstration mission called the Asteroid Impact & Deflection Assessment (AIDA).

Asteroid collision

“AIDA is an exciting and economical concept for a mission to demonstrate multiple technologies and techniques that would provide high-value asteroid science and benefit planetary defense planning,” says Lindley Johnson, NASA’s Near-Earth Object Program Executive.

”We are delighted that ESA has completed their AIM Pre-Phase-A study, and decided to officially move on to Phase-A concept definition. Our own DART mission is scheduled to initiate its Phase-A study in a few months.”

The combined mission concepts of AIM and DART would make the joint AIDA mission the world’s first attempt to demonstrate that international space agencies working together could protect the Earth from an asteroid impact.

Related links:

ESA’s planetary defence test set for 2020: http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Engineering_Technology/ESA_s_planetary_defence_test_set_for_2020

Asteroid Impact & Deflection Assessment mission: http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Engineering_Technology/Asteroid_Impact_Mission/Asteroid_Impact_Deflection_Assessment_mission

AIDA science community: https://www-n.oca.eu/michel/AIDA/

OHB: https://www.ohb-system.de/

Politecnico di Milano: http://www.polimi.it/

Telespazio: http://www.telespazio.it/

Spin.Works: http://www.spinworks.pt/

QinetiQ Space: http://www.qinetiq.be/

GMV: http://www.gmv.com/

NASA Near-Earth Object Program: http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/

Images, Text, Credits: ESA/Science Office.

Best regards, Orbiter.ch

Research for One-Year Space Station Mission Among NASA Cargo Launched Aboard SpaceX Resupply Flight

SpaceX - Falcon 9/Dragon CRS-6 patch.

April 14, 2015

Liftoff! Dragon on its Way to Station

Research that will help prepare NASA astronauts and robotic explorers for future missions to Mars is among the two tons of cargo now on its way to the International Space Station aboard SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft. Dragon launched on a Falcon 9 rocket at 4:10 p.m. EDT Tuesday, April 14 from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. At 7 a.m. EDT on Friday, April 17, the Dragon spacecraft will catch up to the orbiting laboratory, where the Expedition 43 crew will capture it with the station's robotic arm.

Liftoff of SpaceX CRS-6

“Five years ago this week, President Obama toured the same SpaceX launch pad used today to send supplies, research and technology development to the ISS,” said NASA Administrator Charles Bolden. “Back then, SpaceX hadn’t even made its first orbital flight. Today, it’s making regular flights to the space station and is one of two American companies, along with The Boeing Company, that will return the ability to launch NASA astronauts to the ISS from U.S. soil and land then back in the United States. That’s a lot of progress in the last five years, with even more to come in the next five.”

The mission is the company's sixth cargo delivery flight to the station through NASA’s Commercial Resupply Services contract. Dragon's cargo will support approximately 40 of the more than 250 science and research investigations that will be performed during Expeditions 43 and 44, including numerous human research investigations for NASA astronaut Scott Kelly's one-year mission in space.

Images above: The series of images shows the journey the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft from its launch at 4:10 p.m. EDT on Tuesday from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, to solar array deployment. Image Credit: NASA TV.

Science payloads will support experiments in biology, biotechnology, physical science and Earth science -- research that improves life on Earth and drives progress for future space exploration. Investigations include:

- A study of potential methods for counteracting cell damage that occurs in a microgravity environment

The Cell Shape and Expression research program will provide for the first time a reliable experimental model able to highlight the relationships between microgravity, cell shape and gene expression, which may also inform pharmacological ways to counteract microgravity-induced cell damages.

- Research to improve understanding of bone cells, which could lead to treatments for osteoporosis and muscle wasting conditions

Osteo-4 studies the effects of microgravity on the function of osteocytes, which are the most common cells in bone. These cells reside within the mineralized bone and can sense mechanical forces, or the lack of them, but researchers do not know how. Osteo-4 allows scientists to analyze changes in the physical appearance and genetic expression of mouse bone cells in microgravity.

- Continued studies into astronaut vision changes

Dragon also will deliver hardware to support an ongoing one-year crew study known as Fluid Shifts. More than half of American astronauts experience vision changes and alterations to parts of their eyes during and after long-duration spaceflight. The Fluid Shifts investigation measures how much fluid shifts from the lower body to the upper body, in or out of cells and blood vessels, and determines the impact these shifts have on fluid pressure in the head and changes in vision and eye structures.

- Tests on a new material that could one day be used as a synthetic muscle for robotics explorers of the future

Robots can perform tasks too repetitive, difficult or dangerous for humans. Robots built with synthetic muscle would have more human-like capabilities, but the material would have to withstand the rigors of space. This investigation tests the radiation resistance of an electroactivepolymer called Synthetic Muscle, developed by RasLabs, which can contract and expand like real muscles.

The spacecraft also will deliver hardware needed for the installation of two International Docking Adapters scheduled for delivery on future SpaceX missions. Once installed, these adapters will enable commercial crew spacecraft to dock to the space station.

 SpaceX CRS-6 Dragon Spacecraft Separation

ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti will use the space station's robotic arm to grapple Dragon to the station at 7 a.m. Friday, April 17. Expedition 43 Commander Terry Virts of NASA will assist.

After about five weeks, Dragon will depart the space station for a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean west of Baja California. The capsule will return more than 3,000 pounds of science, hardware, crew supplies and spacewalk tools.

The International Space Station is a convergence of science, technology and human innovation that enables us to demonstrate new technologies and make research breakthroughs not possible on Earth. It has been continuously occupied since November 2000 and, since then, has been visited by more than 200 people and a variety of international and commercial spacecraft. The ISS remains the springboard to NASA's next giant leap in exploration, including future missions to an asteroid and Mars.

SpaceX Dragon space Cargo. Image Credits: NASA/SpaceX

The Dragon spacecraft is on its own in orbit and operating with its arrays deployed as planned. Next stop, the International Space Station where Flight Engineer and European Space Agency Astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti and Expedition 43 Commander Terry Virts will use the station’s 57.7-foot robotic arm to reach out and capture it as they operate from the station’s cupola. Arrival is set for Friday at 7 a.m. EDT.

For more information about International Space Station science and research, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.html

For more information about the SpaceX resupply mission, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/spacex

Images (mentioned), Videos, Text, Credits: NASA/Stephanie Schierholz/Johnson Space Center/Dan Huot/SpaceX.

Greetings, Orbiter.ch