A space window to electrifying science

ISS - International Space Station patch.

26 March 2018

Lightning triggers powerful electrical bursts in Earth’s atmosphere almost every second. The inner workings of these magnificent forces of nature are still unknown, but a rare observation by an ESA astronaut gave a boost to the science community. A European detector will take on the challenge of hunting for thunderstorms from space next week.

Red sprites and blue jets

As he flew over India at 28 800 km/h on the International Space Station in 2015, astronaut Andreas Mogensen directed a high-resolution camera towards a gigantic thunderstorm. He caught a blue jet repeatedly shooting up into space towards the upper layers of the atmosphere – as high as 40 km.

The spectacular footage was the first of its kind. His discovery of a pulsating jet gave a new perspective on the electrical activity at the top of tropical thunderstorms. Scientists began to learn what types of cloud trigger such phenomena, and how they may affect the chemistry of the atmosphere.

Thunderstruck Earth

The solid scientific results gathered a lot of attention and confirmed the Space Station as a great vantage point 400 km above the clouds. Apart from covering all the main thunderstorm regions, it is the space platform that brings instruments closest to the electric events.

Back to space

A sophisticated monitor designed to look for electrical discharges born in stormy weather conditions will be on its way to the Station next week. The Atmosphere-Space Interactions Monitor, or ASIM, is a collection of optical cameras, light meters and an X- and gamma-ray detector.

It is the first time such a sensitive instrument will fly into space to observe the inner anatomy of lightning.

“The science we hope to do by combining data from all the instruments is explosive. Simultaneous observations will bring a whole new insight,” says Torsten Neubert, science team coordinator at the Technical University of Denmark.

Thunderstorm seen from Space Station

The biggest challenge is how to measure the phenomena in their entirety. The timescales are short – a tiny fraction of a second – and the size is big – several kilometres wide.

“Up in the atmosphere, the thin air slows down and enlarges the discharges. That gives our instruments a better chance to observe them in all their glory,” explains Torsten.

Gigantic electrical discharges in Earth’s upper atmosphere are also fascinating displays of the processes taking place inside thunderstorm clouds. Mounted on the outside of Europe’s Columbus laboratory, the observatory will open a new window onto lightning.

Global view

Lightning affects the concentration of atmospheric gases that are important for the climate. New data will improve our understanding of the effect of thunderstorms on the atmosphere and contribute to more accurate climate models.

Atmosphere-Space Interactions Monitor

The measurements will be coupled with those coming from meteorological satellites and ground observations from all over the world. More than 100 dedicated experts from eight countries have participated in the project so far.

ASIM is already sitting inside the SpaceX Dragon capsule and ready for launch next Monday from Cape Canaveral in Florida, USA.

Related links:

International Space Station Benefits for Humanity: http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Human_Spaceflight/International_Space_Station_Benefits_for_Humanity

European space laboratory Columbus: http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Human_Spaceflight/Columbus

Terma (DK): http://www.terma.com/

ASIM website: http://www.asim.dk/

DTU Space: http://www.space.dtu.dk/english/Research/Projects/Project-descriptions/ASIM

Images, Video, Text, Credits: ESA/NASA/OTD/LIS, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center/Terma/DTU.

Best regards, Orbiter.ch

Expedition 55 at Full Staff After New Trio Boards Station

ROSCOSMOS - Soyuz MS-08 Mission patch.

March 24, 2018

Image above: The newest Expedition 55 crew members (front row from left) Drew Feustel, Oleg Artemyev and Ricky Arnold gather in the Zvezda service module and speak to family and colleagues back on Earth. Behind them are (from left) Norishige Kanai, Commander Anton Shkaplerov and Scott Tingle. Image Credit: NASA TV.

Three new Expedition 55 crew members were welcomed aboard the International Space Station today. The hatches between the two spacecraft opened at 5:48 p.m. EDT (21:48 UTC), marking the arrival of Expedition 55 Flight Engineers Drew Feustel and Ricky Arnold of NASA and cosmonaut Oleg Artemyev of Roscosmos.

Soyuz MS-08 hatch opening

The trio joined Scott Tingle of NASA, Commander Anton Shkaplerov of Roscosmos and Norishige Kanai of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency aboard the orbiting laboratory.

Momentarily, crew will speak to their family and friends from Baiknour in a welcoming ceremony that will air live on NASA TV and the agency’s website.

Related article:

Three New Expedition 55 Crew Members Dock to the Station
http://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.ch/2018/03/three-new-expedition-55-crew-members.html

Related links:

NASA TV: https://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html

Expedition 55: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/future.html

International Space Station (ISS): https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.html

Image (mentioned), Video, Text, Credits: NASA/Mark Garcia/NASATV/SciNews.

Best regards, Orbiter.ch

Three New Expedition 55 Crew Members Dock to the Station

ROSCOSMOS - Soyuz MS-08 Mission patch.

March 23, 2018

Image above: Space station cameras sight the Soyuz MS-08 spacecraft just meters away from docking to the Poisk module. Image Credit: NASA TV.

The Soyuz MS-08 spacecraft docked to Poisk module of the International Space Station at 3:40 p.m. EDT while both spacecraft were flying over Serbia.

Docking of Soyuz MS-08 to the International Space Station

Following their two-day trip, NASA astronauts Drew Feustel and Ricky Arnold and cosmonaut Oleg Artemyev of Roscosmos docked to the International Space Station. Their arrival restores the station’s crew complement to six as they wait to join Scott Tingle of NASA, Expedition 55 Commander Anton Shkaplerov of Roscosmos and Norishige Kanai of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).

The hatches between the two spacecraft will open following standard pressurization and leak checks. Watch the hatch opening and welcome ceremony on NASA TV and the agency’s website beginning at 5 p.m. EDT.

Related links:

NASA TV: https://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html

Expedition 55: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/future.html

International Space Station (ISS): https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.html

Image (mentioned), Video, Text, Credits: NASA/Mark Garcia/NASA TV/SciNews.

Best regards, Orbiter.ch

Hubble’s Exquisite View of a Stellar Nursery

NASA - Hubble Space Telescope patch.

March 23, 2018

The exquisite sharpness of this 2005 image from NASA/ESA's Hubble Space Telescope has plucked out an underlying population of infant stars embedded in the nebula NGC 346 that are still forming from gravitationally collapsing gas clouds. They have not yet ignited their hydrogen fuel to sustain nuclear fusion. The smallest of these infant stars is only half the mass of our Sun.

Hubble Space Telescope (HST)

For more information about Hubble, visit:

http://hubblesite.org/
http://www.nasa.gov/hubble
http://www.spacetelescope.org/

Image, Animation, Text, Credits: NASA/Karl Hille/ESA and A. Nota (STScI/ESA).

Greetings, Orbiter.ch

Mars Curiosity Celebrates Sol 2,000 (days)

NASA - Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) patch.

March 23, 2018

Image above: This mosaic taken by NASA's Mars Curiosity rover looks uphill at Mount Sharp, which Curiosity has been climbing since 2014. Highlighted in white is an area with clay-bearing rocks that scientists are eager to explore; it could shed additional light on the role of water in creating Mount Sharp. The mosaic was assembled from dozens of images taken by Curiosity's Mast Camera (Mastcam). It was taken on Sol 1931 back in January. Image Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS.

NASA's Mars Curiosity rover just hit a new milestone: its two-thousandth Martian day, or sol, on the Red Planet. An image mosaic taken by the rover in January offers a preview of what comes next.

Looming over the image is Mount Sharp, the mound Curiosity has been climbing since September 2014. In the center of the image is the rover's next big, scientific target: an area scientists have studied from orbit and have determined contains clay minerals.

The formation of clay minerals requires water. Scientists have already determined that the lower layers of Mount Sharp formed within lakes that once spanned Gale Crater’s floor. The area ahead could offer additional insight into the presence of water, how long it may have persisted, and whether the ancient environment may have been suitable for life.

Image above: This self-portrait of NASA's Curiosity Mars rover shows the vehicle on Vera Rubin Ridge, which it's been investigating for the past several months. Poking up just behind Curiosity's mast is Mount Sharp, photobombing the robot's selfie. Image credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS.

Curiosity's science team is eager to analyze rock samples pulled from the clay-bearing rocks seen in the center of the image. The rover recently started testing its drill again on Mars for the first time since December 2016. A new process for drilling rock samples and delivering them to the rover's onboard laboratories is still being refined in preparation for scientific targets like the area with clay minerals.

Curiosity landed in August 2012 and has traveled 11.6 miles (18.7 kilometers) in that time. In 2013, the mission found evidence of an ancient freshwater-lake environment that offered all the basic chemical ingredients for microbial life. Since reaching Mount Sharp in 2014, Curiosity has examined environments where both water and wind have left their marks. Having studied more than 600 vertical feet of rock with signs of lakes and groundwater, Curiosity's international science team concluded that habitable conditions lasted for at least millions of years.

JPL, a division of Caltech in Pasadena, California, manages the Mars Science Laboratory Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, and built the project's Curiosity rover.

More information about Curiosity is available at:

https://mars.nasa.gov/msl/ and

https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/index.html

Images (mentioned). Text, Credits: NASA/Tony Greicius/JPL/Andrew Good.

Greetings, Orbiter.ch

Rooting for Answers: Simulating G-Force to Test Plant Gravity Perception in Mustard Seedlings

ISS - Veggie Mission patch.

March 21, 2018

When plants on Earth search for nutrients and water, what drives their direction? Very simply, gravitational force helps them find the easiest path to the substances they need to grow and thrive. What happens if gravity is no longer part of the equation?

Botanists from Ohio Weslyan University leverage the microgravity environment of the International Space Station to study root growth behaviors and sensory systems in an investigation known as Gravity Perception Systems (Plant Gravity Perception). The researchers look for adaptability to microgravity and measure overall sensitivity to simulated gravity for two strains of mustard seedlings, including Arabidopsis thaliana Wild Type and a starchless genetic variant. Within the wild type, starch acts like a weight, falling within the root tips and driving them toward the Earth.

Image above: Seeds are aligned along a membrane within the cassette and germinated before their exposure to simulated gravity within the EMCS. Image Credit: NASA.

As the lead investigator for Plant Gravity Perception, botanist Chris Wolverton describes the investigation’s central question: “We want to know - what’s the least amount of gravity plants can detect to cause the falling of heavy [starchy] bodies in their cells?”

The study exposes both strains to incremental amounts of gravity ranging from four one thousandths or 0.004G – all the way up to one G. By comparison, gravitational force experienced on Earth is a constant one G.

Why include two types of seedlings? While exact thresholds for starchy strains are poorly understood, response mechanisms for starchless genetic variants are even more of a mystery.

Plant Gravity Perception uses acceleration from the European Modular Cultivation System (EMCS) to simulate gravity. Seedlings are first placed in seed cassettes, then aligned along radial blades of a centrifugal rotor. This lets investigators control the intensity of gravity experienced at any point along the rotational arms, testing hundreds of fractional degrees of gravity at a single time through controlled spins.

Image above: Arabidopsis growth within EMCS seed cassettes. Image Credit: Chris Wolverton.

Much like the popular rides at carnivals that spin riders and cause them to “stick” to the walls, this investigation steadily increases g-force exposure to test the outer boundaries of seedlings’ perceptual abilities. As the arms of the centrifuge spin, scientists hope to pinpoint exactly where growth response begins.

Most interesting of all may be the starchless plants’ responses. Even for those without starch, the mutant form of the seedlings may still retain the same sensory perception system as their cousins. These plants may still sense gravity but respond only at higher thresholds, be unable to move at all, or use entirely different cues to determine growth direction. When the centrifuge’s acceleration is turned off, scientists can also measure seedling response to microgravity and establish a baseline.

As photosynthetic organisms, plants are also very sensitive to light cues for growth. Using directed lights, Plant Gravity Perception is providing additional growth cues at varying points to test relationship between light perception and gravity perception. Back at home, botanists can watch the footage to assess responses.

Image above: Seed cassettes used for loading samples in the EMCS are developed and tested by NASA AMES. Image Credit: Chris Wolverton.

Even though the orbiting laboratory is regularly resupplied, crew members must consume fresh deliveries quickly. To supplement a large supply of shelf stable foods, space station investigations such as Veg-03 enable astronauts to act as gardeners and supplement their diets with the hopes of adding nutritional variety and reducing resupply payload weight dedicated to food stores.

While seedlings from Plant Gravity Perception will not wind up on astronauts’ plates, their studied growth furthers our knowledge of perceptual thresholds and makes selecting appropriate garden greens likely to thrive in space easier for future long duration spaceflight, including exploration missions beyond low-Earth orbit.

For Earth, Wolverton notes that gravity perception in roots “influences how efficient a plant is, how responsive it is to drought conditions, to flooding, to fertilizer.”

Rooting for Answers: Simulating G-Force in Plants

He adds, “If we understood better how [gravity is] perceived… that opens up a whole source of trait breeding and genetic variation that we can look to.” This would allow agriculturalists to select root growth appropriate for different fertilization levels, soil composition and environmental extremes.

Related links:

Plant Gravity Perception: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=2019

European Modular Cultivation System (EMCS): https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Facility.html?#id=336

Veg-03: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=1159

Spot the Station: https://spotthestation.nasa.gov/

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), Video (NASA), Text, Credits: NASA/Michael Johnson/JSC/Morgan McAllister.

Greetings, Orbiter.ch

New NASA Model Finds Landslide Threats in Near Real-Time During Heavy Rains

NASA & JAXA - Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) patch.

March 22, 2018

For the first time, scientists can look at landslide threats anywhere around the world in near real-time, thanks to satellite data and a new model developed by NASA.

The model, developed at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, estimates potential landslide activity triggered by rainfall. Rainfall is the most widespread trigger of landslides around the world. If conditions beneath Earth's surface are already unstable, heavy rains act as the last straw that causes mud, rocks or debris — or all combined — to move rapidly down mountains and hillsides.

New NASA Model Finds Landslide Threats in Near Real-Time During Heavy Rains

Video above: A new model has been developed to look at how potential landslide activity is changing around the world. A global Landslide Hazard Assessment model for Situational Awareness (LHASA) has been developed to provide an indication of where and when landslides may be likely around the world every 30 minutes. Video Credits: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/ Joy Ng.

The model is designed to increase our understanding of where and when landslide hazards are present and improve estimates of long-term patterns. A global analysis of landslides over the past 15 years using the new open source Landslide Hazard Assessment for Situational Awareness model was published in a study released online on March 22 in the journal Earth's Future.

"Landslides can cause widespread destruction and fatalities, but we really don’t have a complete sense of where and when landslides may be happening to inform disaster response and mitigation," said Dalia Kirschbaum, a landslide expert at Goddard and co-author of the study. "This model helps pinpoint the time, location and severity of potential landslide hazards in near real-time all over the globe. Nothing has been done like this before."

Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM). Image Credits: NASA/JAXA

The model estimates potential landslide activity by first identifying areas with heavy, persistent and recent precipitation. Rainfall estimates are provided by a multi-satellite product developed by NASA using the NASA and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission, which provides precipitation estimates around the world every 30 minutes. The model considers when GPM data exceeds a critical rainfall threshold looking back at the last seven days.

In places where precipitation is unusually high, the model then uses a susceptibility map to determine if the area is prone to landslides. This global susceptibility map is developed using five features that play an important role in landslide activity: if roads have been built nearby, if trees have been removed or burned, if a major tectonic fault is nearby, if the local bedrock is weak and if the hillsides are steep.

If the susceptibility map shows the area with heavy rainfall is vulnerable, the model produces a "nowcast" identifying the area as having a high or moderate likelihood of landslide activity. The model produces new nowcasts every 30 minutes.

Animation above: This animation shows the potential landslide activity by month averaged over the last 15 years as evaluated by NASA's Landslide Hazard Assessment model for Situational Awareness model. Here, you can see landslide trends across the world. Animation Credits: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center / Scientific Visualization Studio.

The study shows long-term trends when the model's output was compared to landslide databases dating back to 2007. The team’s analysis showed a global "landslide season" with a peak in the number of landslides in July and August, most likely associated with the Asian monsoon and tropical cyclone seasons in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

"The model has been able to help us understand immediate potential landslide hazards in a matter of minutes," said Thomas Stanley, landslide expert with the Universities Space Research Association at Goddard and co-author of the study. "It also can be used to retroactively look at how potential landslide activity varies on the global scale seasonally, annually or even on decadal scales in a way that hasn't been possible before."

Related links:

Information on the Landslide Hazard Assessment for Situational Awareness (LHASA) model: https://pmm.nasa.gov/applications/global-landslide-model

Open source LHASA model: https://github.com/vightel/ojo-bot/tree/master/python

Cooperative Open Online Landslide Repository (COOLR), citizen science project to report landslides: https://science.gsfc.nasa.gov/600/citizen-science/landslides/index.html

Global Precipitation Measurement mission: https://www.nasa.gov/gpm

GPM (Global Precipitation Measurement): http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/GPM/main/index.html

Image (mentioned), Animation (mentioned), Video (mentioned), Text, Credits: NASA/Sara Blumberg/Goddard Space Flight Center, by Kasha Patel.

Greetings, Orbiter.ch