Monthly Archives: April 2013

Freighter docks with space station despite antenna glitch

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Moscow, April 27 (IANS/RIA Novosti) The Progress M-19M space freighter docked with the International Space Station (ISS) despite having failed to deploy one of its navigation antennas, Mission Control said.

It docked with the ISS Zvezda module in automatic mode.

The faulty antenna will not be dismantled by cosmonauts in space because there are several pyrobolts (explosive bolts) inside, Russia's Federal Space Agency director Vladimir Popovkin said.

The antenna has served its purpose and is no longer needed, he added.

The freighter was launched Wednesday from the Baikonur space centre in Kazakhstan.

Russia's Federal Space Agency reported a failure to deploy an antenna of the Kurs navigation system responsible for guiding the spacecraft to the docking module on the ISS shortly after the freighter reached the desired orbit. Repeated attempts to deploy the antenna also failed.

The Progress has delivered over 2.5 tonnes of cargo to the ISS, including supplies for the crew's work and fuel for the space station, as well as food, water and oxygen for the crew, along with parcels from their families.

--IANS/RIA Novosti

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Freighter docks with space station despite antenna glitch

Russia's Damaged Progress Cargo Resupply Ship Docks With Space Station

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April 26, 2013

Image Caption: An earlier Progress cargo ship prior to docking with the International Space Station. Credit: NASA

Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com Your Universe Online

Despite all odds, Russias Progress 51 cargo spacecraft docked with the International Space Station (ISS) on Friday at 8:25 a.m. EDT. A hard mate was established when docking hooks were deployed nine minutes later at 8:34 a.m.

Progress launched towards the orbiting space lab on Wednesday carrying 2.5 tons of cargo, including 1,764 pounds of propellant, 48 pounds of oxygen, 57 pounds of air, 926 pounds of water and 3,483 pounds of spare parts. However, after launch, the spacecrafts navigation antenna failed to properly deploy, casting doubt on whether Progress would even be able to make it to the Station.

Rendezvous and docking procedures with ISS are automated, but once the spacecraft is within 492 feet of the Station, Russias Mission Control Center just outside of Moscow and the Station crew monitor the approach and docking closely. Progress typically uses an automated, radar-based system called Kurs to dock with the station, but the station crew can also use the TORU system, which is a backup remote control docking system in the Stations Zvezda Service Module.

Astronauts aboard the space station had to use a soft docking to capture the cargo ship and see whether the undeployed antenna would interfere with hard docking. NASA confirmed the cargo craft completed a hard mate when the docking hooks were deployed this morning.

Flight Engineers Pavel Vinogradov and Roman Romanenko monitored the docking, standing by at the Russian (TORU) telerobotically operated rendezvous system in case manual control was needed to bring Progress in. Russian Mission Control said in the end, the cosmonauts did not have to provide manual docking.

After docking, Crew members then conducted leak checks at the docking interface and opened the hatch to the cargo craft. The Expedition 35 team will soon begin the long process of inventorying and unloading its 3.1 tons of food, fuel and equipment. Once ISS crew members finally unload Progress 51, they will be reloading it with trash and station discards. Once the ship is filled with discarded waste, it will make a scheduled deployment and return to Earth, burning up in the atmosphere upon reentry.

The Russian spacecraft is expected to undock from the ISS on June 11 to make way for the ESAs Albert Einstein Automated Transfer Vehicle 4 on June 15.

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Russia's Damaged Progress Cargo Resupply Ship Docks With Space Station

An Inside Look at the Water/Urine Recycling System on the Space Station

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by Nancy Atkinson on April 26, 2013

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International Space Station Commander Chris Hadfield lifts the lid on the Water Recovery System, the first liquid recycling system to be flown in space that cleans almost all the water (greywater, urine, sweat) produced by crew members so that it can be used again. As previous space station resident Don Pettit has said, Yesterdays coffee becomes todays coffee.

Previously, Russias space station Mir recycled cosmonauts sweat, but this system on the ISS can recycle about 93 percent of the liquids it receives. The ISSs water recycler uses a distiller that looks like a keg. On Earth, distilling is a simple process of boiling water and cooling the steam back into pure water. But without gravity, the contaminants in water never separate from the steam no matter how much heat is used. So, the keg-sized distiller spins to produce an artificial gravity field while boiling the water. The contaminants in the urine or greywater press against the sides of the drum while the steam gathers in the middle and is pumped to a filter.

NASAs Water Recovery System. Credit: NASA

Tagged as: the international space station, urine recycling, water recycling

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An Inside Look at the Water/Urine Recycling System on the Space Station

Russian cargo spacecraft docks with space station despite glitch

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NASA TV

A Russian Progress 51 robotic spacecraft successfully docked to the International Space Station on Friday morning.

By Miriam Kramer Space.com

An unmanned cargo-carrying spacecraft successfully docked with the International Space Station Friday morning, despite a glitch in the capsule's navigation system.

After its launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Wednesday, the RussianProgress 51 spacecraftfailed to deploy one of the two antennas used for the Kurs automated docking system. Russian ground controllers were able to reposition the antenna, allowing the automated docking to go ahead as planned.

Russian cosmonauts Pavel Vinogradov and Roman Romanenko kept an eye on Progress as it moved into position.

"We have contact," one of the cosmonauts said after docking, "We have capture."

Although the cosmonauts were prepared to take over docking procedures, the automated system worked and the spacecraft fully docked to the station at 8:34 a.m. EDT while flying 251 miles (404 kilometers) over the border between China and Kazakhstan.

NASA TV

The Russian Progress 51 nears the International Space Station after a glitch involving a navigational antenna.

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Russian cargo spacecraft docks with space station despite glitch

Russian Cargo Spacecraft Successfully Docks to Space Station

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An unmanned cargo-carrying spacecraft successfully docked with the International Space Station Friday morning (April 26), despite a glitch in the capsule's navigation system.

After its launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Wednesday, the RussianProgress 51 spacecraft failed to deploy one of the two antennas used for the Kurs automated docking system. Russian ground controllers were able to reposition the antenna, allowing the automated docking to go ahead as planned.

Russian cosmonauts Pavel Vinogradov and Roman Romanenko kept an eye on Progress as it moved into position.

"We have contact," one of the cosmonauts said after docking, "We have capture."

Although the cosmonauts were prepared to take over docking procedures, the automated system worked and the spacecraft fully docked to the station at 8:34 a.m. EDT (1234 GMT) while flying 251 miles (404 kilometers) over the border between China and Kazakhstan.

The approach to the space station was slower than usual because controllers on the ground and astronauts on the International Space Station were carefully monitoring Progress's position, NASA officials said.

At first the Progress was "soft-docked" and not secured in place with hooks in latches, giving the station crew and flight controllers a chance to make sure its stuck antenna posed no risk to the station's exterior. When they saw it was safe, the Progress was slowly drawn into the port and secured.

Progress delivered 1,764 pounds (800 kg) of propellant, 57 pounds (26 kg) of air, 48 pounds (21 kg) of oxygen, 926 pounds (420 kg) of water and 3,348 pounds (1519 kg) of experiment hardware, spare parts and other supplies to the residents of the space station, NASA officials said.

Vinogradov and Romanenko are flight engineers on the station's Expedition 25 crew, along with NASA astronauts Tom Marshburn and Chris Cassidy, and Russian cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin. The crew is led by commanderChris Hadfieldof the Canadian Space Agency.

Romanenko, Marshburn and Hadfield are expected to leave the space station in May after six months onboard. Once they leave, Vinogradov will take over for Hadfield as the commander of the Expedition 36 mission.

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Russian Cargo Spacecraft Successfully Docks to Space Station

NASA's Asteroid Mission Takes Shape as Congress Remains Skeptical

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NASA's proposed mission to snag an asteroid and bring it into lunar orbit to be visited by astronauts is beginning to take shape even as arguments over its rationale continue. NASA is asking for $100 million for the mission for FY2014.

According to NasaSpaceFlight.com, the asteroid mission is divided into three parts. They are detection and characterization, rendezvous, capture, and redirection, and finally the expedition to the asteroid by NASA astronauts. The shape of the mission was set forth in a recent presentation to the human exploration and operations committee of the NASA Advisory Council (NAC) by William Gerstenmaier, Associate Administrator for Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate.

Detection and characterization

First NASA has to find an asteroid that meets all of its criteria, according to NASASpaceFlight.com. It has to be the right size (about seven meters in diameter according to the original Keck Institute study), the right mass, and the right spin characteristics. The asteroid also has to be already headed toward cislunar space to make it easier to redirect it into lunar orbit. The Keck Institute study suggests that the asteroid be a carbonaceous C-type asteroid containing a mix of volatiles, organic materials, rock, and metal.

Rendezvous, capture, and redirection

Next, a robotic spacecraft, using a 40-kilowatt solar electric propulsion engine, would be sent forth to capture the asteroid and redirect it into a retrograde orbit around the moon, according to NASASpaceFlight.com. The spacecraft would have an inflatable bag or sleeve that would capture the asteroid and a hydrazine system that would help to despin it. Using the continuous thrust possible for an SEP engine, the spacecraft would then deliver it to a lunar orbit that NASA estimates will be stable for a hundred years.

Human mission

Once the asteroid is safely in lunar orbit, a crew of NASA astronauts, flying in an Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle launched by the heavy lift Space Launch System, would visit the asteroid in a 20-day mission, NASASpaceFlight.com. The astronauts would use a boom of some sort to connect the Orion with the robotic spacecraft, which would remain attached to the asteroid, and use them to translate from the Orion to the asteroid with several space walks. The astronauts would explore the small asteroid and take samples that would be returned to Earth for study.

NASA: asteroid mission all that can be afforded

According to the Orlando Sentinel, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden ran into some skepticism during a House hearing on the space agency's exploration plans. Why not, the question was posed, go to the moon instead? Bolden replied that considering the meager budgets NASA has been getting, the asteroid mission is all that can be afforded.

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NASA's Asteroid Mission Takes Shape as Congress Remains Skeptical

NASA Kicks Off 20th Great Moonbuggy Race

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April 26, 2013

Image Credit: NASA / MSFC / Pay Downward

Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com Your Universe Online

NASAs annual Great Moonbuggy Race kicked off today in Huntsville, Alabama, marking 20 years since the competition began.

The annual Great Moonbuggy Race involves high school- and college-aged students who build lightweight, human-powered moonbuggies that address many of the same design challenges NASA and industry engineers overcame during the Apollo missions. In the late 1960s, NASA engineers designed the Apollo-era Lunar Roving Vehicles to allow astronauts to range across the harsh lunar surface.

The 20-year-old competition is organized by the Academic Affairs Office at NASAs Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville and is sponsored by the Human Exploration & Operations Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. During the race, students must overcome a moonbuggy course, comprised of a winding half-mile of gravel embankments, sand pits and obstacles that mimic the harsh surface of the moon.

Essentially, the moonbuggies built by the students look like a very complicated four-wheeled bicycle. However, buggies need a well thought out suspension system in order to get through the course efficiently.

Some buggies show up with no suspension at all, says race authority Dennis Gallagher. Im not sure why theyd make that particular choice. I guess theyre interested in reliving the bone-crushing antique wagon or automobile experience circa 1905?

NASA says only the strongest buggies survive its simulated lunar course. Over the years, it has seen teams walk away dragging pieces of their buggies with them, including broken chains, snapped frames and buckled wheels.

This competition provides a tremendous amount of real-world experience you just cant replicate in a classroom, said NASA engineer Mike Selby, who was a student racer for the University of Alabama in Huntsville in 1995 and 1996. Whether students serve as buggy drivers, wrench jockeys, welders, team secretaries or fundraisers, its an experience none will ever forget and one that demonstrates career paths and aptitudes that can change their lives forever.

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NASA Kicks Off 20th Great Moonbuggy Race

NASA, Partners Solicit Creative Materials Manufacturing Solutions

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NASA, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the U.S. State Department and Nike have issued a challenge to identify 10 game-changing innovations that could enable fabric systems to enhance global economic growth, drives human prosperity and replenishes the planet's resources.

The challenge is open through July 15 and seeks creative innovations in the materials from which fabrics are made, with a focus on positive social and environmental impact in space and on Earth. Ten innovators will be selected to present their fabrics solutions at the LAUNCH: System Challenge 2013 forum, which NASA will host Sept. 26-28 at the agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.

Fabrics, and the materials from which they are made, are important for designing new spacecraft and spacesuits that will protect astronauts as they venture to destinations farther than they have been before. Innovations presented at the LAUNCH: System Challenge 2013 forum may lead to new, stronger, lighter and more affordable fabrics that will benefit NASA as it sends humans deeper into our solar system.

Spacecraft traveling to destinations beyond low-Earth orbit, such as an asteroid or Mars, will need stronger materials to protect astronauts from galactic radiation. Likewise, when astronauts are outside their spacecraft exploring an asteroid or the Martian surface, they will need new, stronger, more durable and more flexible spacesuits.

NASA and the LAUNCH Council, which is made up of thought leaders representing a diverse and collaborative body of entrepreneurs, scientists, engineers, government, media and business, will participate in the forum and help guide these innovations forward. The selected LAUNCH innovators will receive networking and mentoring opportunities from influential business and government leaders, as well as portfolio presentations.

Previous LAUNCH forums have focused on water, health, energy and waste management. These forums resulted in innovations, including technology that enables irrigation using brackish, saline and polluted water; a biodegradable needle that can deliver vaccines or medicine under the skin using a pressure device; a tiny holographic microscope attached to a cell phone that can detect parasites and bacteria in blood and water in remote locations; a handheld lab-in-a-box that diagnoses a variety of diseases in a matter of minutes; a modular, flexible smart-grid distribution technology to provide access to power for those in need; and a simple, affordable fuel cell that converts biomass directly to electricity.

NASA invests in technologies to create a better future, and those investments pay off here on Earth, creating new jobs and improving lives. LAUNCH was created to identify, showcase and support innovative approaches to global sustainability challenges. LAUNCH searches for visionaries whose ideas, technologies or programs show great promise for making tangible impacts on society in the developed and developing worlds.

For more information about LAUNCH: System Challenge 2013 and how to enter the challenge, visit: http://www.launch.org/challenges/systems-2013

For information about NASA and agency programs, visit: http://www.nasa.gov

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NASA, Partners Solicit Creative Materials Manufacturing Solutions