Monthly Archives: March 2015

NASA Space Station Commander Discusses Life in Space with Hometown Baltimore Maryland – Video

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NASA Space Station Commander Discusses Life in Space with Hometown Baltimore Maryland
Aboard the International Space Station, Expedition 43 Commander Terry Virts of NASA, a native of Baltimore, discussed his day-to-day regiment in orbit and his research activities during an...

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NASA Space Station Commander Discusses Life in Space with Hometown Baltimore Maryland - Video

Sarah Brightman – Mission To The International Space Station London Press Conference Sizzle Reel – Video

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Sarah Brightman - Mission To The International Space Station London Press Conference Sizzle Reel
Sarah #39;s Mission To The International Space Station - Press Conference - London, UK. In case you did not have the opportunity to see Sarah #39;s Mission To The International Space Station press...

By: Sarah Brightman

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Sarah Brightman - Mission To The International Space Station London Press Conference Sizzle Reel - Video

Mile long UFO Hiding In Clouds Below Space Station, March 18, 2015, UFO sighting News. – Video

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Mile long UFO Hiding In Clouds Below Space Station, March 18, 2015, UFO sighting News.
Date of sighting: March 18, 2015 Location of sighting: Earths orbit, below space station Source: http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/60049111 I was watching the NASA live cam and caught this cigar...

By: Scott Waring

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Mile long UFO Hiding In Clouds Below Space Station, March 18, 2015, UFO sighting News. - Video

Breathe deep: How the ISS keeps astronauts alive

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Astronaut Andr Kuipers experimenting with a bubble of air inside a blob of water aboard the ISS. European Space Agency

Of all the issues with making space habitable for humans, the most important is something you can't even see -- something you rarely even think about: breathing. A constant supply of fresh, breathable air is absolutely vital. For the International Space Station, in orbit since 1998, this is especially important since shipping oxygen into space is an expensive and cumbersome option.

Here on Earth, the air we breathe contains a mixture of 78.09 percent nitrogen, 20.95 percent oxygen, 0.93 percent argon, 0.039 percent carbon dioxide, and traces of other gases. Each breath we take into our lungs takes the oxygen from the air, distributing it through the lungs' spongy material into capillaries, where it's diffused into the bloodstream.

Meanwhile, blood on its way back towards the lungs releases its waste carbon dioxide, which we exhale with each breath; and exhalation contains, on average, 16 percent oxygen and 5 percent carbon dioxide. On Earth, this works because plant life require carbon dioxide for photosynthesis, releasing oxygen as its own waste. It's a perfect symbiotic relationship.

Rice (left) and arabidopsis (right), grown in both gravity and microgravity conditions. Professor Takayuki Hoson/Osaka City University

There are plants on the International Space Station, but they're not for the production of oxygen and the eradication of carbon dioxide. There simply isn't enough room on the station for a viable floral air recycling plant, for one. The plants are on the space station so that researchers can figure out how well plants grow in zero-G. For example, lack of gravity means that water doesn't wick well into the soil -- meaning, in turn, that root systems can suffocate.

So relying on plants to produce air in space aboard the International Space Station is clearly not a viable solution.

Luckily, we have had a perfect technology for the development of air production and recycling. It's not always practical for submarines to surface in order to ventilate; which means that technologies for the generation of breathable air have been around for decades -- and in an airtight, sealed container to boot. The system used by the ISS is very similar to the system used aboard submarines.

European Space Agency

It consists of two components: the Water Reclamation System and the Oxygen Generation System; the latter can't operate without the former. The WRS reclaims water aboard the ISS -- the astronauts' urine, humidity condensation on the walls and windows, and Extra Vehicular Activity waste. All this fluid is then purified to very stringent standards so that it can be reused aboard the ISS. To be clear, this recycled water can't make up the entire amount of water the ISS requires, but it does reduce the amount of water that needs to be shipped from Earth.

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Breathe deep: How the ISS keeps astronauts alive

Dawn Extended Mission: Pallas – Orbiter Space Flight Simulator 2010 – Video

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Dawn Extended Mission: Pallas - Orbiter Space Flight Simulator 2010
Dawn was originally scheduled to depart Vesta on August 26, 2012. However, a problem with one of the spacecraft #39;s reaction wheels forced Dawn to delay its departure until September 5, 2012....

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Dawn Extended Mission: Pallas - Orbiter Space Flight Simulator 2010 - Video

Webb Conversations: James Webb Space Telescope Coming Together

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This is the third installment in a four-part series of conversations with Paul Geithner Deputy Project Manager - Technical for Webb telescope at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland about different aspects of the Webb.

The James Webb Space Telescope will gaze into the universe in infrared light and look farther back in time than previous telescopes, allowing scientists to look through cosmic dust to see stars forming. Paul discusses how the Webb telescope is coming together.

Q: The James Webb Space Telescope continues to come together, but what needs to happen between now and launch?

Paul: We plan to launch in 2018. There are still a lot of tests to be conducted, and many components will be traveling to different places between now and then as part of this testing and assembly process.

Q: What progress is planned for 2015?

Paul: The Webb telescope is being built-up and tested now, after many years of technology development and design. Now through the end of 2015, the actual telescope structure gets populated with mirror segments, and the instrument module, or the "heart" of the telescope, gets some work done on it, gets shaken on a big vibration table that simulates the rigors of launch, and goes into the vacuum chamber again for another roughly 4-month duration cold vacuum test.

In the meantime, the sunshield and spacecraft bus are being fabricated and assembled and tested, as are many large pieces of test equipment.

More specifically, the Webb telescope program's next big steps in 2015 include 1) change out of some key components of the Integrated Science Instrument Module (ISIM) prior to further testing, 2) start of assembly of the actual flight telescope, and 3) continued construction of the spacecraft bus and sunshield. The most prominent key components being changed-out on the instrument module are the near-infrared detectors in the three near-infrared instruments. Right now, the near-infrared instruments have been removed from the module and are having their detectors changed-out at Goddard.

The flight telescope structure will arrive at Goddard this summer and the flight mirrors will be installed on it the rest of 2015. Meanwhile, the spacecraft bus and sunshield continue to be put together at Northrop-Grumman in California. 4) Another significant set of activities in 2015 is testing of test equipment at Johnson Space Center in preparation for testing of the integrated telescope and instrument module in 2017.

Also a highlight at Goddard recently has been rehearsing telescope assembly using the prototype "Pathfinder" telescope, in prep for actual flight telescope assembly in 2015. The Pathfinder shipped to Johnson at the beginning of February and will be used in precursor tests leading up to OTIS (Optical Telescope Element plus ISIM) testing.

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Webb Conversations: James Webb Space Telescope Coming Together

MENS TENNIS | Red Notches Victory In Wednesday Match

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By SCOTT CHIUSANO

The mens tennis team kept its strong spring season going with a dominant 6-1 win over St. Johns on Wednesday afternoon. The victory marked the Reds third straight, with four wins in the last five matches. Cornell will face off against Buffalo this weekend in its final non-league match of the season, before kicking off the Ivy League season against Columbia on March 28.

Though the Red lost only one match of the day against the Red Storm on Wednesday, five of the singles matches went three sets. Senior Sam Fleck said that although the Red did not play as well as it had hoped, there were some important takeaways.

We actually didnt play too well in our match against St. Johns, he said. A positive that we will take is that we won a lot of very close matches.

Fleck won his No. 1 singles match in three tightly contested sets and then went on to win his No. 2 doubles match alongside sophomore Colin Sinclair. Sophomore Chris Vrabel was the only Red player to win his singles match in two sets.

There will be a lot of close matches in the Ivies this year, so it was definitely good preparation to play in tight situations under pressure, Fleck said. Hopefully we will use this experience in future matches.

According to Fleck, the Red looks to continue its recent successes as it heads into a home matchup with Buffalo on Sunday. Buffalo has taken on Ivy League competition four times so far this season and has failed to come away with a victory.

We are definitely confident coming into the match, as we have built up a lot of positive momentum over the past few weeks, Fleck said. However, we will certainly not be complacent as we have lost to this team before.

In fact, the Red has compiled an impressive 24-1 series lead over the Bulls, but Fleck just happened to be around for the lone loss. The defeat came on Jan. 19, 2014, with a Cornell team struggling to overcome injuries and falling by a close score of 4-3.

Fleck acknowledged that despite Buffalos struggles this season and the Reds overwhelming history of victories against them, the team is by no means complacent. They are still a good team thats perfectly capable of beating us if we dont show up, Fleck said.

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MENS TENNIS | Red Notches Victory In Wednesday Match