Reusable rockets, frequent launches and spectacular high-definition rocket videos aren't just the province of SpaceX any more. Rocket Lab showed off its New Zealand launch and rocket-processing facilities in a new video tour, while offering a preview of upcoming launches at the Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.

The video features Amanda Stiles, Rocket Lab's director of mission management and integration, who calls the Mahia Peninsula launch facility "the best spot in the world for launching more frequently than anywhere else on the planet."

Rocket Lab's 10th launch, scheduled for Nov. 25, is expected to heft seven satellites into orbit including a small Japanese craft designed to create artificial meteor showers. The rocket will be equipped with sensors, navigation gear and a reaction-control system to provide more data for making future equipment more reusable. The company's long-term goal is to snag launch vehicle Electron's boosters mid-air from a helicopter to increase the pace of launching missions. The retrieved rocket stages would be carefully and swiftly retrofitted for reflight.

Related: In Photos: Rocket Lab and Its Electron Booster

The Rocket Lab Electron booster carrying an Astro Digital satellite stands atop its Mahia Peninsula launch site in New Zealand for an Oct. 14, 2019 launch.

(Image credit: Rocket Lab)

The Mahia launch pad, on the east coast of New Zealand's North Island, can support up to 120 launches per year. From there, rockets can reach a variety of orbits around the Earth from a near-polar (sun-synchronous) orbit to 39 degrees. (By comparison, the International Space Station's orbital inclination is about 51 degrees.)

Launching, however, is just the goal of a long preparatory phase. Stiles brings viewers through the last few steps before a launch, which includes setting up payloads in a clean room, testing the rocket's 3D-printed Rutherford engine, and assembling all the different components inside a vehicle hangar.

Perhaps the most moving part of the tour is when Stiles shows the care with which technicians put together payloads inside of the clean room, which is "the last time human hands will touch the satellites before the fairing opens up and they [the satellites] are deployed in space."

Decked out in a protective cap and coat, Stiles shows how technicians carefully mount the payloads to a "kick stage" that can boost the satellite into an independent orbit from the rocket. Customers can watch the entire integration process without getting dressed up, as Rocket Lab kindly provided a window on one side of the lab for for viewing from a comfortable area.

In the hours before liftoff, the Electron rocket rolls out of the vehicle hangar horizontally, and then is tilted to the vertical position using a special lifter. Fueling operations begin at T-minus 3 hours, filling the rocket with highly refined kerosene and liquid oxygen.

"The focus tends to be on Electron at the moment of liftoff, but if you look closely, you'll see some clever ground systems at work too," Stiles said. Forty-five seconds before launch, a water-deluge system dumps hundreds of gallons (or liters) on to the pad to dampen the noise created by the rocket roar. As Electron rises from the ground, a big cloud of steam is generated when heat from the engine flames meets the water.

Roughly 2 miles (3 kilometers) away from the pad is the launch control center, where operators sit at consoles and check the rocket's progress during launch. The team also gets a front-row view of the rocket launch, since there is a nearby window allowing them to see their hard work come to fruition. "After a lot of months of hard work, it's a great way to celebrate," Stiles said.

Rocket Lab is targeting a launch from the new facility at Wallops in early 2020. This new complex on the coast of Virginia will be specialized for U.S. government customers, giving them "more frequency and flexibility" than shipping their payloads to New Zealand, Stiles added.

Follow Elizabeth Howell on Twitter @howellspace. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.

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Tour Rocket Lab's Stunning New Zealand Launch Site in This Video - Space.com

Illustration depicting a Type I X-ray burst. The explosion first blows off the hydrogen layer, which expands and ultimately dissipates. Then rising radiation builds to the point where it blows off the helium layer, which overtakes the expanding hydrogen. Some of the X-rays emitted in the blast scatter off of the accretion disk. The fireball then quickly cools, and the helium settles back onto the surface. Credit: NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center/Chris Smith (USRA)

NASAs Neutron star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER) telescope on the International Space Station detected a sudden spike of X-rays at about 10:04 p.m. EDT on August 20, 2019. The burst was caused by a massive thermonuclear flash on the surface of a pulsar, the crushed remains of a star that long ago exploded as a supernova.

The X-ray burst, the brightest seen by NICER so far, came from an object named SAX J1808.4-3658, or J1808 for short. The observations reveal many phenomena that have never been seen together in a single burst. In addition, the subsiding fireball briefly brightened again for reasons astronomers cannot yet explain.

Once the helium layer is a few meters deep, the conditions allow helium nuclei to fuse into carbon. Then the helium erupts explosively and unleashes a thermonuclear fireball across the entire pulsar surface. Zaven Arzoumanian, Deputy Principal Investigator for NICER

This burst was outstanding, said lead researcher Peter Bult, an astrophysicist at NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, and the University of Maryland, College Park. We see a two-step change in brightness, which we think is caused by the ejection of separate layers from the pulsar surface, and other features that will help us decode the physics of these powerful events.

The explosion, which astronomers classify as a Type I X-ray burst, released as much energy in 20 seconds as the Sun does in nearly 10 days. The detail NICER captured on this record-setting eruption will help astronomers fine-tune their understanding of the physical processes driving the thermonuclear flare-ups of it and other bursting pulsars.

A pulsar is a kind of neutron star, the compact core left behind when a massive star runs out of fuel, collapses under its own weight, and explodes. Pulsars can spin rapidly and host X-ray-emitting hot spots at their magnetic poles. As the object spins, it sweeps the hot spots across our line of sight, producing regular pulses of high-energy radiation.

J1808 is located about 11,000 light-years away in the constellation Sagittarius. It spins at a dizzying 401 rotations each second, and is one member of a binary system. Its companion is a brown dwarf, an object larger than a giant planet yet too small to be a star. A steady stream of hydrogen gas flows from the companion toward the neutron star, and it accumulates in a vast storage structure called an accretion disk.

This burst was outstanding! Peter Bult, an astrophysicist at NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center

Gas in accretion disks doesnt move inward easily. But every few years, the disks around pulsars like J1808 become so dense that a large amount of the gas becomes ionized, or stripped of its electrons. This makes it more difficult for light to move through the disk. The trapped energy starts a runaway process of heating and ionization that traps yet more energy. The gas becomes more resistant to flow and starts spiraling inward, ultimately falling onto the pulsar.

Hydrogen raining onto the surface forms a hot, ever-deepening global sea. At the base of this layer, temperatures and pressures increase until hydrogen nuclei fuse to form helium nuclei, which produces energy a process at work in the core of our Sun.

The helium settles out and builds up a layer of its own, said Goddards Zaven Arzoumanian, the deputy principal investigator for NICER and a co-author of the paper. Once the helium layer is a few meters deep, the conditions allow helium nuclei to fuse into carbon. Then the helium erupts explosively and unleashes a thermonuclear fireball across the entire pulsar surface.

Astronomers employ a concept called the Eddington limit named for English astrophysicist SirArthur Eddington to describe the maximum radiation intensity a star can have before that radiation causes the star to expand. This point depends strongly on the composition of the material lying above the emission source.

Our study exploits this longstanding concept in a new way, said co-author Deepto Chakrabarty, a professor of physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge. We are apparently seeing the Eddington limit for two different compositions in the same X-ray burst. This is a very powerful and direct way of following the nuclear burning reactions that underlie the event.

As the burst started, NICER data show that its X-ray brightness leveled off for almost a second before increasing again at a slower pace. The researchers interpret this stall as the moment when the energy of the blast built up enough to blow the pulsars hydrogen layer into space.

The fireball continued to build for another two seconds and then reached its peak, blowing off the more massive helium layer. The helium expanded faster, overtook the hydrogen layer before it could dissipate, and then slowed, stopped and settled back down onto the pulsars surface. Following this phase, the pulsar briefly brightened again by roughly 20 percent for reasons the team does not yet understand.

During J1808s recent round of activity, NICER detected another, much fainter X-ray burst that displayed none of the key features observed in the Aug. 20 event.

In addition to detecting the expansion of different layers, NICER observations of the blast reveal X-rays reflecting off of the accretion disk and record the flickering of burst oscillations X-ray signals that rise and fall at the pulsars spin frequency but that occur at different surface locations than the hot spots responsible for its normal X-ray pulses.

A paper describing the findings has been published by The Astrophysical Journal Letters.

NICER is an Astrophysics Mission of Opportunity within NASAs Explorer program, which provides frequent flight opportunities for world-class scientific investigations from space utilizing innovative, streamlined, and efficient management approaches within the heliophysics and astrophysics science areas. NASAs Space Technology Mission Directorate supports the SEXTANT component of the mission, demonstrating pulsar-based spacecraft navigation.

Reference: A NICER Thermonuclear Burst from the Millisecond X-Ray Pulsar SAX J1808.43658 by Peter Bult, Gaurava K. Jaisawal, Tolga Gver, Tod E. Strohmayer, Diego Altamirano, Zaven Arzoumanian, David R. Ballantyne, Deepto Chakrabarty, Jrme Chenevez, Keith C. Gendreau, Sebastien Guillot and Renee M. Ludlam, 23 October 2019, The Astrophysical Journal Letters.DOI: 10.3847/2041-8213/ab4ae1

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Record-Setting X-Ray Burst From Massive Thermonuclear Blast Detected From Space Station - SciTechDaily

Astronauts Drew Morgan and Christina Koch floated back outside the International Space Station Friday and completed work to replace six aging batteries with three more powerful units in one of the lab's eight solar power circuits. Three more spacewalks are planned over the next two weeks to replace another six batteries in an adjacent circuit.

The spacewalk began amid news from Moscow that legendary cosmonaut Alexei Leonov, the first human to walk in space in 1965 and commander of the Soyuz spacecraft that docked with a NASA Apollo capsule in 1975, had died after a long illness. He was 85.

"With our colleagues safely back inside having completed their spacewalk today, we would like to acknowledge that this is a bittersweet day for all of us on the International Space Station," Jessica Meir said after Morgan and Koch returned to the Quest airlock to wrap up a 6-hour 45-minute spacewalk.

"Although we mourn his passing, it is somewhat fitting that Leonov left us on the day of a spacewalk. His 12-minute excursion outside the Voskhod 2 spacecraft more than a half century ago began a chapter in human spaceflight that brought us to the moon and which will bring the world to distant ports of exploration in the cosmos in the years ahead."

The two-time Hero of the Soviet Union was a widely respected elder statesman in the international space community, honored by spacewalking cosmonauts during an excursion outside the space station earlier this year. A memorial service is planned for Oct. 15, according to his assistant.

Morgan and Koch switched their spacesuits to battery power at 7:38 a.m. EDT to officially kick off the 220th space station assembly and maintenance EVA since construction began in 1998. The outing came 35 years to the day after Kathy Sullivan became the first American woman to walk in space during a flight aboard the shuttle Challenger.

After making their way to the far left end of the station's power truss, half a football field away from the lab's pressurized living compartments, Koch and Morgan resumed work they started Oct. 6 when they removed three older nickel-hydrogen batteries and installed two of the more efficient li-ion units.

Because one new battery replaces two of the older models, the astronauts also are installing and wiring in six adapter plates where older batteries were removed.

The space station is equipped with eight huge solar array wings arranged in pairs, four on each end of the power truss. Each pair of wings is equipped with an integrated electronics assembly, or IEA, that originally were loaded with 12 nickel-hydrogen batteries each to provide electricity when the lab complex flies through Earth's shadow.

Each IEA services two of the station's eight electrical channels.

To keep the station operating at peak efficiency through the 2020s, NASA is in the process of replacing all 48 of the original batteries with 24 of the more powerful lithium-ion models. Two sets of six were installed in 2017 and 2018 for the left and right inboard arrays and the third set is being installed this month on the far left side of the truss.

A final set of six will be delivered to the space station next year for the far right side solar arrays.

During their first spacewalk last Sunday, Morgan and Koch removed three of the six nickel-hydrogen batteries that fed power channel 2B and installed two li-ion replacements. By the end of their second EVA, the astronauts had removed the remaining three nickel-hydrogen units and installed channel 2B's third and final li-ion battery, along with the required adapter plates.

With their primary tasks complete, the spacewalkers carried out a few "get-ahead" tasks that will save time during the next spacewalk in the series, this one by Morgan and Meir, next Wednesday. The three remaining excursions will be devoted to servicing power channel 4B and carrying out additional get-ahead tasks as time permits.

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NASA spacewalk: Astronauts at International Space Station continue battery replacement work in 2nd of 5 planned spacewalks - CBS News

Space food is notoriously lackluster, but new technology is slowly revolutionizing the way astronauts eat. Whereas the first astronauts in space squeezed their meals from toothpaste-like tubes, today's astronauts chow down on ice cream and fresh fruit, and season their meals with liquid salt and pepper.

But there are still limits to the types of food that can withstand microgravity. Anything that can produce crumbs, for instance, is considered dangerous, since food particles can clog a spacecraft's electrical systems or air filters. Food also needs to last for an extended period of time, in case resupply missions go awry.

So tech companies are experimenting with ways to grow food onboard a spacecraft.

In late September, the Israeli food-tech startup Aleph Farms oversaw the growth of meat in space for the first time, with the help of a 3D printer. The experiment isn't entirely new Aleph Farms has been cooking up lab-grown steaks since December 2018 but it does suggest that meat could be grown in all kinds of harsh environments.

Cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko on board of the International Space Station during the first experiment with 3D bioprinter in December 2018. 3D Bioprinting Solutions

To make their lab-grown meat, Aleph Farms starts by extracting cells from a cow through a small biopsy. The cells are then placed in a "broth" of nutrients that simulates the environment inside a cow's body. From there, they grow into a thin piece of steak.

Those who've tasted the product say it leaves something to be desired, but it's meant to mimic the texture and flavor of traditional beef.

"We're the only company that has the capacity to make fully-textured meat that includes muscle fibers and blood vessels all the components that provide the necessary structure and connections for the tissue," Aleph's CEO and co-founder, Didier Toubia, told Business Insider last year.

But to grow the meat in space, Aleph Farms had to alter their process slightly.

First, they placed the cow cells and nutrient broth in closed vials. Next, they loaded the vials onto the Soyuz MS-15 spacecraft in Kazakhstan. On September 25, the spacecraft took off for the Russian segment of the International Space Station, orbiting about 250 miles away from Earth.

Cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko on board the International Space Station during the first experiment with the 3D bioprinter in December 2018. 3D Bioprinting Solutions

When the vials arrived at the station, Russian astronauts known as cosmonauts inserted them into a magnetic printer from the Russian company 3D Bioprinting Solutions. The printer then replicated those cells to produce muscle tissue (the "meat"). The samples returned to Earth on October 3, without being consumed by the cosmonauts.

"This experiment was strictly proof of concept," Grigoriy Shalunov, a project manager at 3D Bioprinting Solutions, told Business Insider. In the future, he said, the company hopes to provide a protein source for deep space missions and initial colonies on the moon and Mars.

The experiment isn't the first time food has been artificially grown in space. In 2015, astronauts grew romaine lettuce on the International Space Station. NASA is now developing a "space garden" that can produce lettuce, strawberries, carrots, and potatoes on the Gateway, a proposed space station that could orbit the moon.

The ability to print meat in microgravity isn't just good news for astronauts. It also suggests that companies could print meat in extreme environments on Earth particularly in places where water or land is scarce.

Read more: This is what it's like to eat food grown in a 'space garden'

Aleph Farms' slaughter-free steaks. Afik Gabay

Normally, it takes up to 5,200 gallons of water to produce a single 2.2-pound steak (the large slabs typically sold at the grocery store). But growing cultured meat uses about 10 times less water and land than traditional livestock agriculture. Lab-grown meat is also quicker to produce Aleph Farms calls its product a "minute steak," because it takes just a couple of minutes to cook.

The need to produce more food while conserving natural resources is more pressing than ever. A recent report from the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change found that our food industry including the land and resources required to raise livestock produces 37% of global greenhouse-gas emissions.

In a statement to Business Insider, Aleph Farms said its space experiment was a direct response to these challenges.

"It is time Americans and Russians, Arabs and Israelis rise above conflicts, team up, and unite behind science to address the climate crisis and food security needs," the company said. "We all share the same planet."

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Astronauts just printed meat in space for the first time and it could change the way we grow food on Earth - Business Insider

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Most people like eating meat, but the ecological impacts of raising livestock to feed seven billion humans is not insignificant. So, companies around the world are trying to come up with alternative ways of producing meat and meat-like materials. Thats all happened on Earth, but what about meat-loving astronauts? For the first time, weve made synthetic meat in space aboard the International Space Station.

Currently, your options for artificial meat are limited to plant-based materials from brands like Impossible and Beyond. The next step might be to generate real meat with the aid of bioprinting. Israeli startup Aleph Farms has partnered with several 3D printing companies to conduct an experiment on the International Space Station (ISS). The company says this is the first time anyone has produced synthetic mean in space. We have no way to verify that claim, but it sounds extremely plausible.

Aleph Farms process for producing artificial beef relies on mimicking the natural muscle-tissue regeneration process in cows. If youve ever eaten a bad steak, you know its not just the animal cells that matter its also the way theyre organized. Aleph Farms says its process results in a more realistic piece of slaughter-free meat. Getting that meaty texture right has been a challenge for lab-grown meat, and doing this work in space could help inform how we do it on Earth.

The experiment took place in the Russian lab on the ISS using a printer developed by Russia-based 3D Bioprinting Solutions. The animal cells were mixed with growth factors to create the bio-ink for the printer. The printer lays down layer after layer of cells, which grow into a small piece of muscle tissue. The company says bioprinting meat in space has the potential to be much faster than it is on Earth. Without gravity, the biomaterial can grow in all directions without and support structure. On Earth, you need a lattice and can only print from one side at a time. You can see a tiny 3D printed blob of meat above.

Were still a long way from making 3D printed meat financially viable on Earth, but the costs of space travel are already astronomical. It might actually make sense for astronauts on extended missions to produce some of their meat in 3D printers rather than having everything pre-packaged. Aleph Farms still aims to begin expanding its beef printing techniques here on Earth, allowing it to make and sell meat that requires less water and farmland.

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Astronauts 3D-Print Beef on the International Space Station - ExtremeTech

Hurricane Edouard (ISS041-E-14067) over the Atlantic Ocean, taken from the ISS on September 16, 2014 at 13:51:49 GMT (8:51:39 am Central Daylight Time). At that time, Edouard was a category 2 (moderately strong) hurricane.

Tropical cyclones, called hurricanes or typhoons depending on the part of the world where they occur, are the most devastating natural phenomenon on Earth, causing more loss of life and property than any other natural phenomena. But a new investigation on The International Space Station is studying these powerful storms from space.

There was no need to install new instruments or develop novel sensor technologies. Instead, a camera on The International Space Station simply aimed at the storm can measure cloud tops in the eyewall of a tropical cyclone. The Cyclone Intensity Measurements from the ISS (CyMISS) gathers imagery from a camera mounted in the Cupola, which is a dome-shaped observation module with seven windows and is an excellent spot for viewing Earth.

The eyewall of a cyclone is the region of extreme winds and torrential rainfall that lies just outside the cloud-free eye at the center of the storm. The camera on the ISS measures cloud-top altitude near the eye with pseudo-stereoscopy on sequences of photographic images. The intensity of a strong tropical cyclone is related to the altitude of these clouds. So making these measurements helps assess storm intensity and can also improve the accuracy of weather modeling and storm track prediction.

A montage of twelve images, each covering an area of 62 x 62 miles centered on the cloud-free eye of Edouard, taken from the ISS over the course of an 82-second interval. The bright eyewall clouds lie just outside the eye and whirl around it at speeds of up to 110 mph (up to 230 mph in the most intense hurricanes). The tops of these clouds lay 30 50,000 ft. above sea level.

Advance warning of a tropical cyclones intensity is crucial for protecting lives and property in the face of a storm. But real-time information on hazardous weather such as tropical cyclones is not available for much of the world. Small ground-based systems such as hurricane-hunting aircraft are capable of gathering storm data, but these hurricane-hunting aircraft only cover a small portion of the planet affected by such storms. These flights are expensive and dangerous (five aircraft and their crews have been lost in past years).

Using the ISS to gather measurements on storm and weather systems from space is safer, less expensive, and potentially more effective than ground observation. These instruments on the ISS provide real-time data to researchers, meteorologists and disaster response authorities. This means that studying these powerful storms from space will continue to be a major step toward alerting populations and governments around the world when a dangerous storm is approaching.

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Viewing Tropical Cyclones From The International Space Station - Forbes

Talk about a long-distance phone call.

Dale Hawkins, the operations manager at PinProsPlus, an online pin-making company in Kaysville, Utah, on Friday received what turned out to be anything but a normal business call, according to NBC affiliate KSL.

Hey, this is Jessica Meir, the caller said. Im so glad you picked up. Im not able to leave you a call-back number.

Hawkins told the TV station that he recognized Meirs name from previous email correspondence, but what he didnt realize at first was the Maine native had called from the International Space Station, where she is based for the next six months.

Meir arrived at the International Space Station, some 250 miles above the Earth, aboard the Soyuz MS-15 spacecraft on Sept. 25 with Russian cosmonaut Oleg Skripochka and Emirati astronaut Hazz Al Mansouri. KSL reports that Meir discussed with Hawkins her order for Expedition 61 pins for family and friends to commemorate her first spaceflight. PinProsPlus has for six years created official and customized pins for NASA.

Its not everyday someone calls from outer space, so Hawkins told KSL that he needed to ask Meir something.

Is it what you expected? was the first question that came to Hawkins mind, according to KSL. She kind of got quiet and paused for a moment and said, You know, its more than I ever imagined it would be. And I thought, man thats so cool.

Meir, the valedictorian of Caribou High Schools Class of 1995, was among three women and four men selected from 6,100 applicants in 2013 for NASAs 21st class of astronauts. She is the third Mainer, and first Maine woman, to enter into outer space, the others being Christopher Cassidy, a York High School graduate who has completed six spacewalks and served as the nations chief astronaut from 2013 to 2017, and Charles O. Hobaugh, a Bar Harbor native who has made three spaceflights.

Meir is scheduled to go on the first all-female spacewalk with astronaut Christina Koch on Oct. 21.

Kaysville is north of Salt Lake City.

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This man got a phone call from astronaut Jessica Meir at the International Space Station - Bangor Daily News

Small satellites deploy from the International Space Station, courtesy of a company called Nanoracks. Co-founder Charles Miller is now focusing on even smaller satellites for spaceflight.

Hot off the success of co-founding a company to commercialize the space station, Charles Miller's next frontier is going head-to-head with SpaceXs quest to provide constant cell connectivity in orbit.

Miller is best known for the success of NanoRacks, a one-stop-shopping company for firms looking to make money in microgravity on the International Space Station. Working closely with NASA, NanoRacks runs experiments on the U.S. Harmony module and manages tiny satellites launched into space using a robotic Japanese arm.

While SpaceX plans on spending billions of dollars to launch 12,000 satellites for its Starlink constellation, Miller says he can improve cell service in rural America or continental Africa for much less money and using smaller satellites. Because there are few cell towers in these regions, his company Lynk (recently renamed from UbiquitiLink) aims to recreate cell towers in orbit instead.

The market opportunity, as he sees it, is huge, as there "five billion people with a phone in their pocket" many of whom live in constant disconnectivity because they don't have a cell tower within 22 miles (35 kilometers) of their location.

Lynk has performed two "cell tower" demonstrations using Northrop Grumman Cygnus spacecraft.

Lynk has raised $12 million to date and has already flown two prototypes in space aboard Northrop Grumman Cygnus spacecraft. Its set to launch a third prototype Dec. 4, and plans a fourth in March 2020.

Its secret sauce is repurposing the base station software in the cell tower that talks to your phone, including tricking conventional phones into accepting talking to space-based "cell towers" as far as 375 miles (600 km) away.

As of this month, Lynk is pre-revenue with 33 testing partners, including 24 mobile network operators that serve 1.5 billion subscribers in 60 countries. Some disclosed partners include Cellular One in Arizona, Telefonica's MoviStar service in Argentina and Vodafone Hutchison Australia.

Rapidly growing and with 24 part-time and full-time employees under its wing, Lynk plans to have several thousand satellites in service within the next five years.

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SpaceX Competitor Creating Cell Tower In Space - Forbes

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. A long-awaited NASA mission designed to probe Earth's upper atmosphere has finally taken off after years of delays.

The Ionospheric Connection Explorer (ICON) spacecraft launched tonight (Oct. 10) at 10:00 p.m. EDT (0200 GMT on Oct. 11) aboard a Northrop Grumman Pegasus XL rocket, which was released in midair from its carrier plane, a Stargazer L-1011. The aircraft had taken off about an hour and a half earlier from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station here.

ICON will make its way to Earth orbit on a mission to study the planet's ionosphere, a massive layer of our atmosphere that overlaps with the boundary of space. The spacecraft's measurements will help scientists better understand the link between space weather and terrestrial weather, and how the two interact in the ionosphere, mission team members said.

Video: Watch NASA Air-Launch the ICON Space Weather SatelliteRelated: Earth's Atmosphere: Composition, Climate & Weather

A Northrop Grumman Pegasus XL rocket streaks toward space carrying NASA's Ionosphere Connection Explorer satellite, or ICON, on Oct. 10, 2019. The rocket was launched from mid-air after being dropped by an L-1011 Stargazer carrier plane that took off from the Skid Strip runway at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

(Image credit: NASA TV)

"The ionosphere is continually changing, and it's very dynamic," Nicky Fox, head of NASA's heliophysics division, explained during a prelaunch news briefing on Tuesday (Oct. 8).

"The ionosphere is a remarkable physics lab," Fox said. "It's not only a great place to go and study plasma physics, but it's also a region that has a big space weather impact on us."

Scientists have long been eager for the vending-machine-size satellite to get off the ground to see what it might tell us about this mysterious region. According to Fox, the ionosphere gets its name thanks to radiation from the sun, which bombards the atoms and molecules in this part of the atmosphere, essentially giving them a charge a process called ionization.

It's here where strange and unique phenomena, such as the auroras and geomagnetic storms, are created. It's hard to forecast when these types of events will occur, because the ionosphere is an incredibly difficult region to study.

Related: Aurora Photos: Amazing Northern Lights Display from Solar Storms

An artist's view of NASA's Ionospheric Connection Explorer, or ICON, satellite. NASA has delayed the ICON satellite's planned June 14 launch due to rocket issues.

(Image credit: NASA)

Until about a decade ago, scientists thought the sun caused most of the changes in the ionosphere, but more recent research suggests that is not the case; daily changes in the region are observed even when the sun isn't generating powerful storms. Fox explained that this is because terrestrial weather patterns and extreme events such as hurricanes also cause changes in the ionosphere.

This dynamic region where Earth weather meets space weather is home to the International Space Station and is a critical pathway for communications satellites. Radio waves and Global Positioning System (GPS) signals pass directly through this turbulent layer, and those signals can be distorted by patches of ionized material.

This is an issue because space weather can not only have an impact on communications systems but also electronics and even power grids. To mitigate these effects, scientists are hoping to better understand the sun and its many processes. And ICON can help with that, mission team members said.

Related: NASA's ICON Satellite Mission in Pictures

The $252 million probe is going right into the thick of the ionosphere, heading for a circular orbit 357 miles (575 kilometers) above Earth's surface. Equipped with various instruments that are designed to measure winds and particles, ICON will also measure how dense the atmosphere is and analyze its chemical composition.

Such data were supposed to be rolling in already. ICON was originally scheduled to launch in 2017, but issues with the Pegasus caused multiple lengthy delays. (Bad weather also scuttled an attempt yesterday, Oct. 9.)

ICON finally got aloft tonight. Stargazer L-1011 took off from the Skid Strip runway at Cape Canaveral Air Force station at 8:32 p.m. EDT (0032 GMT) and headed for its planned drop zone about 50 to 100 miles (80 to 160 km) east of Daytona Beach.

The crew released the 57-foot-long (17 meters) rocket at 10:00 p.m. (0200 GMT), on its second approach to the drop zone. (On the first try, mission control briefly lost communication contact with the carrier plane, leading to an abort.) Five seconds after the drop, the three-stage Pegasus ignited and began to climb to orbit.

Don Walter, Northrop Grumman's chief pilot for the L-1011, said the flight is like an attraction at Disney World. "When the rocket launches, the airplane wants to go up, and you get pushed back in your seat," he told Space.com. "Which is a good thing for us. When the rocket lights, we want to be a long way away."

He went on to explain that the experience is also quite noisy. "It sounds like a freight train underneath the plane," he added.

This flight was the 44th launch of a Pegasus rocket on a satellite delivery mission and the seventh out of Cape Canaveral.

While in space, ICON will work in tandem with another NASA mission called GOLD (Global-scale Observations of the Limb and Disk), which launched as a tagalong payload aboard a commercial communications satellite in January 2018. From its orbital perch 22,000 miles (35,400 km) above the Earth, GOLD has been monitoring the ionosphere from above. The two missions will work together to provide a complete picture of the inner workings of the ionosphere.

Follow Amy Thompson on Twitter @astrogingersnap. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom or Facebook.

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NASA Launches Long-Delayed ICON Space Weather Satellite to Study Earth's Ionosphere - Space.com

If you like volcanoes, eastern Russia is the place to be. The Kamchatka peninsula and environs are loaded with active volcanoes that erupt quite often.

South of the peninsula is a long archipelago called the Kuril Islands, dropping as far south as Japan (in fact Russia and Japan dispute the sovereignty of some of the volcanoes in the southern part). All of these islands are the tops of volcanoes, created as the Pacific tectonic plate slips beneath the Okhotsk plate to the west. There are over 100 volcanoes there, and nearly half of them are active.

One, which you'd easily miss on a map, is called Raikoke. It's only a couple of kilometers across, and has a crater in the middle 700 meters across and 200 deep. As volcanoes go it's a fair-to-middlin' one. It erupted a couple of times in the 18th century (one of which destroyed the upper third of the island!) and again in 1924. After that, it lay quiet for nearly a century.

Then, on June 22, 2019, it blew its lid off again. Now mind you, this is not a heavily inhabited region of the world (fewer than 20,000 people live in the whole archipelago), so getting close-up pictures of the event isn't likely.

unless you happen to include a thousand or so kilometers away as "close-up". Maybe not, but if most of that is across the vacuum of space, you still get incredible photos, like this one taken by an astronaut on board the International Space Station:

Whoaaaaaa. That's phenomenal. It was taken a few hours after the eruption, as the ISS passed over that part of the world. You can see the ash cloud rising, punching its way through the troposphere and right up into the stratosphere. The hot gas and ash plume rises due to convection (like a hot air balloon rising), and stops when the density of the air around it is the same as the density inside the plume. At that altitude it won't rise any more, but stuff still keeps coming up from underneath, so the plume flattens and spreads outward, creating the anvil shape you also see with really strong cumulonimbus storm clouds (and for the same reason).

It was also seen by NASA's Earth-observing Terra satellite, this time from nearly straight above it:

You can get a sense of the anvil, and see the prevailing winds taking the ash to the east. Some parts of the plume may have reached heights of about 17 kilometers. The plume has a lot of sulfur dioxide (SO2) in it, which got injected into the stratosphere.

Interestingly, once up there SO2 can be converted by sunlight into a sulfate aerosol, small particles that have a lot of sulfur in them. These are efficient at reflecting sunlight, so can actually cool the planet a wee bit. After huge eruptions the average temperature of the planet can drop a little but not much, not nearly enough to keep up with how much we're warming it. The effect is temporary anyway, since these wash out of the sky in rain. And that's bad too since when dissolved in water it creates weak sulfuric acid acid rain.

I was initially surprised to find out that the overwhelming majority of sulfur dioxide in our air is created by humans. But after thinking about it and putting it in context, this makes sense: For example, humans emit 100 times as much carbon dioxide into the air annually than volcanoes do!

A volcanic eruption is a titanic event, sowing chaos and seemingly dwarfing our own endeavors. But it's short lived, and as powerful as it may be, humans wield far more destructive forces. It's really far past time we learned better how to wield them or sheathe them.

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A volcano blows its top, seen from space - SYFY WIRE

Goodness gracious! Great balls of fire rained from the sky in Chile last week, and officials are still trying to figure out what they were and where they came from.

One thing is certain: The mysterious burning objects were not meteors, according to news reports.

The fiery UFOs descended on Dalcahue City on the Chilean island of Chilo on Sept. 25, CNET reported. . The tumbling objects crash-landed in seven locations, setting off fires that were promptly put out by volunteer firefighters. .

Related: 7 Things Most Often Mistaken for UFOs

Chilo island resident Bernardita Ojeda had one fireball land on her property, where the flames ignited a few bushes, Ojeda told local news station Channel 2.

Geologists from Chile's National Geology and Mining Service soon arrived to examine the seven sites that had been scorched by the falling space stuff. While they conducted their analyses, the story spread through local news, social media and national outlets.

Chilean astronomer and astrophysicist Jos Maza told Chilean news network TVN that the blazing bodies were likely either meteorites or space debris that had detached from rockets or satellites, according to CNET. On Sept. 26, astronomer Jonathan McDowell of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics chimed in on Twitter, saying that the falling objects were probably meteorites and that there were "no obvious space debris candidates that [he could] see."

"But [it] sometimes takes a few days for relevant data to come in," McDowell added.

On Sept. 28, the geologists released their official assessment: None of the seven sites contained traces of meteorite. Since the mysterious objects weren't meteors, logic dictates that they must have been wayward space junk, but officials said they'll be conducting more detailed analyses of soil samples collected from the singed sites to make sure, according to CNET. The geologists will release their results later this month. Only time will tell what exactly fell from the heavens on that unusual September evening.

Originally published on Live Science.

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Falling Fireballs Crashed in Chile Last Week. They Weren't Meteorites, Experts Say. - Space.com

The International Space Station (ISS) is in the midst of a series of evening flights over the British Isles and Western Europe. You can obtain predictions of when and where to look for it by using our interactive online Almanac as explained in the article below. This illustration shows a wide-angle view of the ISS track centred on the west as seen from Cardiff at 8:24pmBST on 30September 2019, when the spacecraft passes close to the bright star Arcturus. AN graphic by Ade Ashford.If you chance upon a moving star rivalling planet Venus in brilliance, burning with a steady light that glides across the night sky from west to east, then you can be confident that youre witnessing the International Space Station (ISS) any object that flashes rapidly, or possesses red and green running lights is an aircraft. The ISS is easily seen from the most light-polluted city, and its current orbit enables it to be well seen from the British Isles and Western Europe over the next few nights.

ISS fact file:The International Space Station orbits Earth every 92.7minutes at an altitude that varies between 411 and 421kilometres, travelling at an average speed of 27,500kilometres per hour (7.6kilometres per second). The spacecraft completes 15 circuits of our planet each day in a path inclined to the equator by 51.6 degrees, meaning that it can appear overhead at all latitudes between 51.6N and 51.6S. For observers in the British Isles, the ISS can therefore be seen overhead at all locations south of a line drawn between Swansea and London, appearing lower in the sky for all places north of this line.The International Space Station on 23 May 2010 as seen from the departing Space Shuttle Atlantis during STS-132. Image credit: NASA/Crew of STS-132/Wikimedia Commons.Using Astronomy Nows Almanac to make ISS viewing predictionsIn our online Almanac, select the closest city to your location from the Country and City pull-down menus before ensuring that the box beside AddISSpasses? has a tick in it. The UK uses British Summer Time (BST) until 27October in 2019, so the DaylightSavingsTime? box should be checked. The table underneath the Moon phase data then shows any visible nighttime passes of the International Space Station over your chosen location during the next few days.

Here is a current example computed for Cardiff:For the given Date in year/month/day format, LocalTime is the instant the ISS first becomes visible and Duration indicates the length of the sighting in minutes. At the given LocalTime, look in the direction indicated by Approach and, assuming no clouds, you should see the ISS as a slow moving star.

Max.elevation is how high the Station will get above your horizon (90 is overhead, while 20 is about the span of an outstretched hand at arms length) and Departure indicates where the ISS will be when it vanishes from sight. Sometimes an appearance or disappearance occurs well up in the sky when the Station emerges into sunlight or slips into Earths shadow, respectively.

In the example above, as seen from the Welsh capital on the evening of Monday, 30September, the ISS first appears 18 above the western (W) horizon at 8:22pm in a viewing window lasting three minutes. It attains a peak altitude of 67, still in the west, before fading into Earths shadow 58 above the eastern (E) horizon around 8:25pm (all times BST).

Important note: the precise timing of an ISS pass is highly location-specific, plus the spacecrafts track is subject to change due to periodic boosts to a higher orbit or to avoid debris, hence predictions made on the day are more accurate.

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View the International Space Station at its best from the UK - Astronomy Now Online

A fire protection products company in the Fort Wayne area has collaborated with a Reston, Virginia-based science and technology company to supply the International Space Station with lithium-ion Battery Fire Containment Bags.

Spencerville-based Brimstone Fire Protection partnered with Leidos on the project for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, according to a prepared statement.

Leidos had NASAs ISS Vehicle Office and Johnson Space Center Battery Group cargo mission contract to develop a safe new packing product for lithium-ion batteries stored on the space station and teamed up with Brimstone for that.

Their new product was brought aboard the space station the last weekend of September.

NASA safety standards previously relied on extensive pre-flight screening of lithium-ion batteries and storage constraints once they were on board the space station.

But, the ISS has seen an influx of new, smaller payload providers, each using their own type of battery packs to power the equipment they are transporting there for experiments, the statement said.

This created a need for a standardized battery packaging product for NASAs Commercial Orbital Transportation Services, it said.

NASA, Leidos and Brimstone started an extensive process early this year of designing, then testing, packaging made specifically for battery storage in space.

A detailed series of frequent, repeated tests on Brimstones Fire Containment Bags, which started early this year, showed when used with an insulating wrap they prevented thermal runaway into other bags touching them.

This meets all the criteria for the envisioned NASA implementation, including size, materials, accessibility, packing density, and cost, the statement said.

Daniel Barineau, a Leidos senior project manager who has supported ISS and Space Shuttle hardware development projects for 30 years, praised Brimstone and its leadership for rapid delivery and frequent consultation, which included offering historical expertise on the development of the battery stowage bags.

I have had the chance to work with many subcontractors and suppliers. In all those years, I have never come across a company that was as responsive, customer focused, and easy to work with as Brimstone, he said.

They have modified their off-the-shelf designs to meet our needs and have shown a willingness to go above and beyond to make our efforts a success under a compressed schedule.

Recreational vehicle manufacturers, suppliers and dealers celebrated the opening of the newly renovated, 18,000-square-foot RV Technical Institute facility in Elkhart last month.

A grand opening for the facility there at 3333 Middlebury St. took place Sept. 23. Visitors had a chance to see its new office space, student lounge, seven classrooms and 10,000-square-foot bay area with RVs for hand-on training as well as component parts lesson areas.

Our dedicated staff have created a visionary, forward-thinking program designed to solve our industry-wide need for trained technicians, Curt Hemmeler, executive director for the institute, said in a statement.

Today marks the first step on that journey as we officially open our doors and invite students into our new facility to become trained technicians, expand on their existing education and launch the program to regional partners across the country.

The RV Industry Associations board approved a comprehensive strategic plan and a multi-million-dollar investment in the institute a couple of years ago to boost RV owner satisfaction and strengthen repeat business.

I believe in our new model for technician training and the impact increased tech training will have on the entire industry, Matt Miller, the institutes chairman, said in the statement.

This initiative will help close the skills gap, draw new talent into the growing RV industry, retain existing RV techs and ultimately create a better experience for our customers, the RV consumer, said Miller, who also is president of the luxury motor coach manufacturer, Newmar Corp.

The institutes strategic plan called for it to address the industrys trained technician shortage and establish metrics to track the RV customer experience with a goal of reducing repair event cycle times. The statement said it has received broad industry support.

We now have a standard, a uniform process for training, testing and certification that will be incorporated at a national level through a vast network of regional partners, Craig Kirby, the associations interim president, said in the statement.

Curt came into the process with a vision that combines both his business acumen and his experience within the education and training world. Curt will also tell you that as someone who got his start in the Air Force as a technician, at heart, he is still a tech himself, Kirby said.

Thinking like a technician allows Curt to view the Institutes mission through this lens, developing a program that includes improving the career path so we can better recruit and retain technicians across the country.

The association established the institute with a $5 million investment, which was matched by Go RVing, a consumer outreach campaign it manages with the RV Dealers Association.

Comcast Corp. is increasing broadband speeds for a most of its Indiana customers, who are on some of its most popular Xfinity Internet packages.

The Philadelphia-based provider of broadband, Cable TV and internet phone services started the upgrades late last month. It said it was increasing its Performance tier to 100 megabits per second from 60 Mbps, Blast! to 200 from 150, Extreme to 300 from 250 and Extreme Pro to 600 from 400.

Close to 85% of the companys Indiana customers are on one of the plans scheduled for the faster speeds and the upgrades will take place whether customers are buying Xfinity Internet as part of a package or on a stand-alone basis, the company said in a statement.

Comcast increased speeds for its Blast! and Extreme Indiana subscribers last year, and during the past two years its Indiana customers have seen speeds increase more than 50% on average, it said.

The increases are designed to keep pace with growing demand for high-capacity, extremely fast connections capable of handling an explosion of smart home devices with features requiring Internet access.

Comcast has doubled its fiber miles and quadrupled its network capacity to bring gigabit speeds to more homes than any other internet service provider during the past four years, it said.

Were not only delivering the broadband speed and capacity that customers need to run more sophisticated home networks, were setting the bar for coverage and control, too, Tim Collins, regional senior vice president for Comcast Indiana, said in the statement.

Modern homes require fast Internet, wall-to-wall Wi-Fi, and a way to manage the connectivity needs of the entire household. With xFi, were giving our Internet customers the tools to manage the growing number of connected devices, apps and technologies in their homes.

Customers who lease a gateway from the company will receive the upgrade without needing to reset their modems for it, the statement said.

The company recommends subscribers with their own modems check online to see if they will need a new one to handle the faster speeds.

Jason West of Digital Watchdog was scheduled to speak at the next meeting of the Networking Information Technology Associations Fort Wayne chapter.

West was to speak on internet protocol-based security trends and best practices to help protect employees and assets during the meeting scheduled for 11:30 a.m. Oct. 4 at Catablu, 6372 W. Jefferson Blvd. in Fort Wayne.

With a video security career of more than 15 years, West has helped design and install those types of systems for a variety of industrial, commercial, education, retail and residential customers.

In addition to creating safe environments, he works to design systems that are easy to use and are capable of providing court admissible evidence quickly.

For the rest of this year and next year, the local chapter of NITA said it plans to meet on the first Friday instead of the first Thursday of each month.

The Fort Wayne Inventors Club has scheduled its next meeting for 7 p.m. Oct. 10 at TekVenture, 1550 Griffin St. in Fort Wayne.

The group, formed to advance invention in the region, requires no dues or fees and asks only that individuals come to its meetings with a curious mind, desire to learn and a willingness to help fellow inventors.

More information about it is available from http://www.fortwayneinventorsclub.org or by contacting Dave Gross, president and CEO of Collision Control Communications.

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Brimstone battery bags on board Space Station - FW Business

A robotic Japanese cargo ship successfully arrived at the International Space Station Saturday (Sept. 28) carrying more than 4 tons of supplies, including new batteries for the outpost's solar power grid.

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's (JAXA) HTV-8 cargo ship pulled up to the space station at 7:12 a.m. EDT (1112 GMT), where it was captured by a robotic arm wielded by NASA astronaut Christina Koch inside the orbiting lab. The station and HTV-8, also known as Kounotori 8 (Kounotori means "white stork" in Japanese), were soaring 262 miles (422 kilometers) over Angola in southern Africa at the time.

"What you all have done is a testament to what we can accomplish when international teams work together towards a common goal," Koch radioed to NASA's Mission Control in Houston and flight controllers at JAXA's Tsukuba Space Center in Japan. "We're honored to have Kounotori on board, and look forward to a successful and productive mission together."

Later today, flight controllers on Earth will use the station's robotic arm to attach HTV-8 to an Earth-facing berth on the station's U.S.-built Harmony module.

Video: How Japan's HTV Cargo Ships WorkRelated: Japan's HTV Space Truck Explained (Infographic)

JAXA launched the HTV-8 spaceraft on a H-IIB rocket from the Tanegashima Space Center in southern Japan on Sept. 24. The spacecraft is packed with food, water, experiment hardware and other supplies for the station's crew.

Chief among HTV-8's cargo are six new lithium-ion batteries to replace aging nickel-hydrogen batteries on two of the outpost's power channels. NASA astronauts will replace the batteries during a series of spacewalks next month, NASA officials have said. During those spacewalks, astronauts will also make repairs to a $2 billion cosmic ray detector, called the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer-2, using tools delivered by HTV-8, according to Spaceflight Now.

Photos: Japan's Robotic Space Cargo Ship Fleet

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's HTV-8 cargo ship arrives at the International Space Station on Sept. 28, 2019 to deliver more than 4 tons of supplies to the orbiting laboratory.

(Image credit: NASA TV)

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's HTV-8 cargo ship arrives at the International Space Station on Sept. 28, 2019 to deliver more than 4 tons of supplies to the orbiting laboratory.

(Image credit: NASA TV)

HTV-8 is also carrying a novel prototype laser communications system, called the Small Optical Link for International Space Station, developed by JAXA and the Sony Computer Science Laboratories to boost data communication speeds with the space station.

"Long-distance laser communication technology enables transformation of our society with real-time broad-band communication around the globe as well as expanding the humanosphere and increased activity in space," Sony CSL President Hiroaki Kitano said in a statement.

Other cargo on HTV-8 include a new Cell Biology Experiment Facility, several small CubeSats and an experiment called Hourglass to test gravity's effects on powder and granular material.

Japan's HTV spacecraft are part of a robotic fleet of spacecraft designed to ferry fresh supplies to the International Space Station. At the end of its mission, HTV-8 will be packed with trash and unneeded items, detached from the station and commanded to burn up in Earth's atmosphere for disposal.

Email Tariq Malik attmalik@space.comor follow him@tariqjmalik. Follow us@SpacedotcomandFacebook.

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Unpiloted Japanese Cargo Ship Delivers Fresh Batteries and More to Space Station - Space.com

Learning how everyday things work in space, such as how to effectively brush teeth or how hair grows, is intriguing, but knowledge of how medical research translates from Earth's surface to above its atmosphere is limited.

A new alliance between the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh and the International Space Station (ISS) U.S. National Laboratory aims to drive the progress of regenerative medicine research in microgravity environments specifically, aboard the ISS.

The questionis What can we do in space that we can't do on Earth that makes a difference?" said William Wagner, director of the McGowan Institute. "That's a pretty exciting question, because it's currently unanswered; we don't know what the key value of microgravity is. I think when we find that, we can attract investment, we're going to begin to identify what the most promising technology is."

The ISS National Laboratory and the McGowan Institute will collaborate with partners from industry as well as other academic research centers and government agencies to drive the progress of regenerative medicine research aboard the ISS. As part of this alliance, Pitt will develop facilities on campus to advance research and meet with potential partners, while working in coordination with the ISS National Laboratory on flight opportunities to the orbiting laboratory. The program will focus on microgravity life sciences research and development, with a line of sight toward products and services for clinical application on Earth.

"What has to happen now is knowing how we can leverage research into a treatment or technology that someone will invest in because it will replace the current way we do things here on Earth," Wagner said. "We are very enthusiastic about this, because we believe the time is right to move from the observational to the more practical, moving things toward commercialization. One of the things we're going to try to do is give industry the best and brightest research in our country, not just at Pitt, but other universities as well, to pitch different concepts and partner with those concepts to help develop them."

An example of this research in action could include exploiting the unique behavior of stem cells in microgravity in order to improve cell-based therapies for a variety of diseases and impairments, such as traumatic brain injury and type I diabetes. Similarly, microgravity could allow 3D printers to create complex tissue structures that are difficult to achieve in the presence of full gravity.

This alliance a core element of the ISS National Laboratory Industrial Biomedicine Program was unveiled at the 8th annual ISS Research and Development Conference held in Atlanta earlier this year.

University leaders are optimistic this alliance will be the next big step in space research and commercialization.

The McGowan Institute has built on its deep history advancing the development of artificial organs to establish a position of internationally recognized leadership in regenerative medicine, said Rob A. Rutenbar, senior vice chancellor for research at Pitt. The ISS National Laboratory will benefit from that deep expertise, as well as our commitment to rapid clinical translation.

The products of the Industrial Biomedicine Program will help build the fundamental business case for the industrialization of crewed platforms in low Earth orbit. In future alliances, the ISS National Laboratory will work with companies and research partners who seek to find solutions to common problems on Earth through space-based experimentation on the ISS National Laboratory.

The ISS National Laboratory is proud to announce this alliance with Pitt and McGowan in order to develop biomedical products in space that could benefit human health on Earth, said ISS National Laboratory Chief Strategy Officer Richard Leach. Part of the role of the ISS National Laboratory is to create and implement innovative strategies to enhance the research capacity of the orbiting laboratory, and we believe alliances like this will pave the way for future collaborations to advance the discoveries of space-based science.

More details about the alliance are available on the ISS National Laboratorys website.

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Exploring Regenerative Medicine in Microgravity Aboard the International Space Station - UPJ Athletics

Dmitri Lovetsky | AP

Dmitri Lovetsky | AP

Astronaut Jessica Meir, a member of the main crew of the expedition to the International Space Station, waves prior the launch of Soyuz MS-15 space ship at the Russian-leased Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, Sept. 25, 2019.

Maine astronaut Jessica Meir has been aboard the International Space Station only a few days, but she is already at work on experiments that could prove key to cancer patients down here on Earth.

Meir on Tuesday tweeted pictures of herself observing protein crystals growing in microgravity during her third microscopy session.

Without gravity, crystals can grow bigger and more pure, she said in the tweet.

A new class of drugs, made from engineered proteins, stimulate the bodys own immune system to fight cancer and other ailments, but typically need to be delivered in large quantities at a hospital, where it may take several hours for a patient to receive a single dose, according to NASA.

This research Meir is engaged in, which isnt possible on Earth, could yield highly concentrated protein crystals that, according to NASA, would allow such drugs to be delivered as a simple injection in a doctors office. Besides potential applications for cancer treatment, NASA says this research may prove beneficial for developing treatments for Alzheimers disease, Parkinsons disease, viral infections and liver disease.

On Sept. 25, Meir became the third Mainer, and first Maine woman, to go into space when the Soyuz MS-15 spacecraft carried her from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan to the International Space Station. Meir is from Caribou.

Have feedback? Want to know more? Send us ideas for follow-up stories.

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Jessica Meir conducting experiments on space station that could aid cancer treatment - Bangor Daily News

Images courtesy of NASA and heavens-above.com

Per a recent update from the Cape Hatteras National Seashore (CHNS), the International Space Station (ISS) will be flying over Cape Hatteras on Thursday night starting at 7:57 p.m. Assuming skies are clear, the ISS will look like a bright star arriving from the West-Northwest before disappearing in the Southeastern sky at 8:02 p.m.

Per the CHNS, there are currently two cosmonauts from Russia and four astronauts from the U.S. and Italy on board the ISS, and they are conducting a variety of science experiments ranging from the 3-D printing of human organs to studying the structure of car tires. Among the U.S. group is North Carolina State graduate Christina Koch who, upon her return to Earth in February of 2020, will set the record for the longest spaceflight for a woman providing NASA with information about how the body reacts in space for future missions to the Moon and Mars.

For more information on the ISSs current location, visit https://heavens-above.com/

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International Space Station flying over Cape Hatteras Thursday Night - Island Free Press

Sustainability in Space: What California Green Building Standards and the Von Braun Space Station Have in Common

As California makes strides in sustainability, the Von Braun Space Station is taking rather large steps for humankind. Exploring the great unknown does not have to mean abandoning our planet it can mean just the opposite. In fact, this space station could be our most monumental step toward a sustainable future.

Pioneered by the Gateway Foundation, the project is named after the father of American space flight, rocket scientist and space architect Wernher von Braun who popularized the rotating space station concept. Picture the setting from 2001: A Space Odyssey but unlike the cold-feeling contemporary interiors from the film, the Von Braun is designed to feel like home a hotel for tourists and a research area for scientists equipped with bedrooms, bars and restaurants brought down to earth (in a sense) by artificial gravity and natural materials.

Senior design architect for this astronomical endeavor is Tim Alatorre. The name of his Sacramento based firm, Domum, means coming home in Latin. After all, coming home is a universal feeling.

Just like many terrestrial projects, our goal on the Von Braun is to help you feel at home, Alatorre says.

By 2025, one hundred fifty passengers will experience a completely sustainable lifestyle in space powerful inspiration for how we can save our home from the impending climate crisis.

Responding to this vital need, The California Green Building Standards Code became law in 2009. The Standards require sustainable construction practices for energy, water and material efficiency among other green initiatives growing with each code cycle.

To refine sustainable design in our ever-changing environments, Alatorre expands upon Californias building philosophy within the realm of space architecture, exploring sustainability for the states homes and businesses and beyond.

Space architecture can take sustainability to the extreme. The Von Brauns furniture will be made in orbit with 3D printers, and those plastics can always be melted back into filament and used again.

At its essence, space architecture explores ways to reuse and recycle. Every kilogram that goes into orbit comes at a significant cost. So sustainability is critical. While architects are confined by certain boundaries on Earth, space architects get even more creative out of necessity. Here, many pour water down the drain and dont bat an eye. In space, every ounce of water gets purified and reused. Toilet water can be purified and then cycled to be flushed again or used as a ballast system to balance the ship or to make fuel to power the rockets.

Sounds like something out of a sci-fi movie at first glance, but think about all the commonplace tools we use today. The GPS and the microchip started out in space and became integral parts of our lives, seemingly at the speed of light.

The possibilities are out of this world, Alatorre says. Our goal is to take lessons learned in space and then bring them back down to Earth.

Even as the space station is being designed, architectural advances are tackling climate change and California is taking a leading role.

Starting in 2020, new residences must be built with on-site energy generation. Past decisions forecast that within a decade, commercial buildings will likely follow suit. The architecture community can lead the way for environmental stewardship.

Alatorre adds, Over the next five years the cost savings of the solar panels on my home will have paid for itself from then on, free power.

Space architects also consider how to create indoor-outdoor connection. The ever-important sense of arrival, as explored for a custom home or commercial structure, applies in this setting as well. How do you arrive? What will the first experience feel like?

Journeying from Earth to the Von Braun, each passengers awareness will be heightened. In the Lunar Gravity Area, two concentric rotating rings will create the gravitational force of the surface of the moon. The outer habitation ring is for tourists to vacation and, in the future, buy real estate.

Two weeks in the Heavens could be paradise, but only if its well designed, Alatorre says. Like a carpet pulled from under you, space architecture replaces your day-to-day with an alternate reality.

On Earth, the sun rises in the morning and sets at night. While on the station, our planet will seem to rotate around the window once every 45 seconds, sunlight will be constant, and the floors will curve.

Window design is essential to how inhabitants experience this phenomenon. Indoor-outdoor connections on Earth may be achieved through large window panes, yet the Von Braun team considers the psychological need for transition in an unfamiliar environment so that travelers feel free to draw the curtains.

Reaching outward and inward, the design seeks to both intrigue those on board and bring them comfort and security. Curved walls and floors will highlight the sensation of alternative gravity, while cork flooring provides a sense of grounding, also avoiding the expense of hauling heavy lumber into space.

A more practical factor is air quality. On Earth, we take air for granted. For the space station, the team is finding answers to crucial questions: How do we get the air here and control it? How much fresh air do humans need to feel healthy? Like water, no air will be wasted.

The Sick Building Syndrome is one the Gateway Foundation wants to avoid in this new territory, following in the footsteps of NASA which has only approved certain materials that have a minimum level of off-gassing. Where theres reduced gravity, floating particles could damage electronics and potentially risk peoples safety.

So to gift Von Braun passengers security and spectacle, this careful consideration of lines and materials balances the feelings of space and earth, of new and old, of there and home.

Project Name:Von Braun Space Station for the Gateway Foundation

Projected Start and Completion Dates:Start construction by 2021. Have station fully occupied by 2025.

Owner(s):The Gateway Foundation

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Sustainability in Space: What California Green Building Standards and the Von Braun Space Station Have in Common - ArchDaily

It's a busy week at the International Space Station (ISS). With nine crewmembers currently on board, the orbiting laboratory will be unusually crowded until Thursday (Oct. 3), when three of those crewmembers are scheduled to return to Earth.

While the ISS is usually staffed by three to six astronauts and cosmonauts, there have been nine crewmembers on board the space laboratory since last Wednesday (Sept. 25), when the Soyuz MS-15 spacecraft arrived with three new crewmembers. This isn't a permanent set-up; part of the reason there are so many humans in space right now has to do with overlap in crew assignments.

Nine is certainly not the highest number of people ever stationed on the space lab. The record for the largest population on the ISS was set in 2009, when there were 13 people on board. The last time there were nine people on board was in 2015, during NASA astronaut Scott Kelly's "Year in Space" mission.

Related: Expedition 60: The Space Station Mission in Photos

The International Space Station's nine-person crew of Expedition 60 poses in "space band" shirts in this photo shared by European Space Agency astronaut Luca Parmitano (upside down) on Sept. 30, 2019. The shirts say "Kryk Chayky" (Cry of the Seagull in Russian). Pictured are (clockwise from top left) NASA astronaut Christina Koch, Parmitano, NASA astronaut Drew Morgan, Russian cosmonauts Alexander Skvortsov and Oleg Skripochka, NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Nick Hague, and cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin, giving a thumbs up as crew commander.

Over the course of the eight days when the space station will be a bit of a tight fit, the newly-arrived trio will get acclimated to their new orbiting home, while three other space flyers will prepare to head back down to Earth.

The new residents are NASA astronaut Jessica Meir and Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Skripochka, who will spend six months in space as members of Expedition 61, plus a special short-term visitor: the first person from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to fly into space, Hazzaa Ali Almansoori. The three launched on board Russia's Soyuz MS-15 spacecraft last Wednesday (Sept. 25) from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan shortly before 7 p.m. local time, and arrived at the space lab about six hours later.

Almansoori's brief visit is part of an intergovernmental contract between the UAE and Roscosmos, according to NASA. Almansoori will return to Earth this Thursday (Oct. 3) on the Soyuz MS-12 spacecraft, accompanied by NASA astronaut Nick Hague and ISS commander Alexey Ovchinin, both of whom will have completed more than 200 days in space.

The nine-person crew currently aboard the International Space Station appear to be all smiles. On Sept. 25, the space station welcomed three new people onboard, and this Thursday (Oct. 3) two long-time residents and one short-term visitor will return to Earth.

(Image credit: NASA)

Also on board the ISS right now are the crew of the Soyuz MS-13 spacecraft: NASA astronaut Drew Morgan, European Space Agency astronaut Luca Parmitano and Russian cosmonaut Alexander Skvortsov. The three spacemen arrived at the ISS on July 20 and will return to Earth sometime in December or January.Three of the men (Parmitano, Ovchinin and Hague) are celebrating birthdays this week. To celebrate, all nine crewmembers donned "space band" shirts for a photo this week.

Ovchinin, who is currently the commander of Expedition 60, will hand over command of the ISS to Parmitano on Wednesday (Oct. 2), marking the official beginning of Expedition 61. You can watch the change of command ceremony live on Space.com beginning at 9:20 a.m. EDT (1320 GMT), courtesy of NASA TV. Later that night, we'll stream live views of the crew farewells (beginning at 12:20 a.m. EDT on Oct. 3), followed by the Soyuz MS-12 undocking and landing early Thursday morning.

Follow Doris Elin Urrutia on Twitter @salazar_elin. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.

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Crowded Space Station: There Are 9 People from 4 Different Space Agencies in Orbit Right Now - Space.com

The International Space Station is the largest manmade object in the sky and is home to a crew of 10 astronauts. Image Credit: NASA

Baikonur: Emirati astronaut Hazzaa Al Mansoori can see Earth from the ISS.

But did you know that you can also see the space station while hes onboard as it flies over the UAE?

Hazzaa blasted off to space on Wednesday night at 5.57pm (UAE time), breaking barriers by becoming the first Emirati in space and the first Arab on the ISS.

He will stay on the ISS for eight days to conduct 16 scientific experiments, including the effect of weightlessness on his body, conduct a tour the ISS in Arabic, and host a traditional Emirati night for his space colleagues.

While he orbits the Earth 16 times a day every 90 minutes on the ISS, he will definitely be flying over the Emirates.

But when and how will we know?

Michael Flachbart, who worked for nearly 30 years at the US Space and Rocket Centre (USSRC), the official Nasa Visitor Information Centre for the Marshall Space Flight Centre, and now the space camp head of Compass International in Dubai, showed us when.

Based on calculations and modeling using information from the Spot the Station under Nasa, Flachbart said there are two best sighting opportunities for UAE residents between September 26 and October 3 during Hazzaas stay on the ISS.

Of course the ISS will fly by the UAE two to three times per day but the ISS cannot be seen during the day and when there are bright lights.

The website Spot The Station only shows you sighting opportunities for two weeks. I went to some modeling software and I advanced the time to September 25th to October 2nd and I had to look to see when it was going to fly over the UAE at night time within about an hour or two of sunrise and sunset, Flachbart told Gulf News.

The best dates/times estimated to spot the station over the UAE are September 29 at 7.54pm and October 2 at 7.02pm.

The ISS will not be difficult to spot as it is the third brightest object in the sky, according to Nasa.

You wont need any special glasses or lenses to see it. It is visible to the naked eye.

How will I know its the ISS?

Nasa said the ISS looks like a fast-moving plane but at a higher altitude and definitely travelling thousands of miles an hour faster.

It actually orbits the Earth at around 28,000km/h or 7.66km/second, that is 45 times faster than the worlds fastest roller coaster. And thats like jumping from the Burj Khalifa further down to Safa Park in one second.

Conditions have to be favourable to be able to spot the ISS, according to Compass International and SARA UAE or the Space Education Programme of Compass Curriculum.

The sky and the area where you are need to be dark for the this engineering marvel to be spotted.

And just like stars, you will see the station if there is no haze or cloud cover. Skies have to be clear.

Lastly, because the station does not have lights unlike airplanes with the blinking lights, the best time to spot it is just before sunrise or just after sunset. This way, the ISS will reflect sunlight.

For more information, visit spotthestation.nasa.gov

Source: Michael Flachbart

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UAE in Space: How to spot International Space Station from UAE - Gulf News