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While felines in space may be what youre thinking, the Cloud-Aerosol Transport System (CATS) is a much more helpful accompaniment planned for theInternational Space Station. CATS will study the distribution of aerosols, the tiny particles that make up haze, dust, air pollutants, and smoke.

When IcelandsEyjafjallajkull volcanoerupted nearly four years ago, for example, officials grounded flights in Europe because particles contained within its massive plume could damage aircraft engines, resulting in potentially deadly consequences for passengers. NASA couldnt dispatch aircraft-borne instruments for the very same reasons European officials had grounded commercial aircraft. When the next volcano erupts, NASA will have a new tool in orbit that can monitor the spread of particles in Earths atmosphere from its space-based perch.

ThisEarth remote sensinginstrument is scheduled to launch to the space station in September 2014 as a demonstration project. Its sensors will help researchers determine for the first time what state-of-the-art, three-wavelength laser technology can do from space to measure tiny airborne particlesalso known as aerosolsin Earths atmosphere.

Developed by NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center scientist Matt McGill, and his team, CATS will be able to see the character as well as vertical and horizontal distribution of aerosols in a whole new light. When CATS begins operations from its docking port on the Japanese Experiment Module-Exposed Facility (JEM-EF), the refrigerator-sized sensor will continue measuring atmospheric aerosols using the same two-laser wavelengths as NASAs Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations (CALIPSO) mission the 1064 and 532 nanometer wavelengths.

Third Wavelength Added

What makes CATS stand out is the addition of a third laser wavelength at 355 nanometers. This will deliver more detailed information and could help scientists differentiate between the types of particles in the atmosphere. CATS is also equipped with extremely sensitive detectors capable of counting individual photons, delivering better resolution and finer-scale details.

"You get better data quality because you make fewer assumptions, and you get, presumably, a more accurate determination of what kind of particles youre seeing in the atmosphere," said McGill.

While CALIPSO can deliver 20 pulses of laser per second, using, as McGill described it, a whopping 110 milliJoules of energy in each of those pulses, CATS will fire 5,000 laser pulses per second, with only about 1 milliJoule for each pulse. The greatly simplified CATS power and thermal requirements are a huge plus for space-borne applications.

Earth Science from the Space Station

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Testing CATS in Space: Laser Technology to Debut on Space Station

A Russian Soyuz rocket boosted an unmanned Progress supply ship into orbitWednesday, kicking off a six-hour rendezvous with the International Space Station.

With a sky-lighting burst of flame, the Progress M-22M/P-54 spacecraft climbed away from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at11:23 a.m. EST(GMT-5,10:23 p.m.local time) at roughly the moment Earth's rotation carried the launch complex into the plane of the space station's orbit.

The space station passed 260 miles above Kazakhstan within a few minutes of liftoff, giving the lab's crew a glimpse of the rocket's fiery climb go space.

"We got a pretty good view of the first stage," flight engineer Rick Mastracchio told NASA flight controllers in Houston. "After (stage) separation, we pretty much lost it, but it was a good show for a few seconds."

The climb to space went smoothly and the Progress supply ship slipped into its planned preliminary orbit, with a high point of around 150 miles and a low point of roughly 120 miles, about nine minutes after liftoff. A few moments later, the spacecraft's solar panels and antennas deployed as expected.

"We have confirmation of separation of the Progress vehicle (from the Soyuz booster) and also deployment of the solar arrays and the appendages associated with the automated rendezvous and docking system," commentator Kyle Herring reported from NASA's mission control in Houston.

If all goes well, the cargo ship will carry out an automated four-orbit rendezvous with the space station, gliding to a docking at the Earth-facing Pirs module at6:25 p.m.As usual, Russian cosmonauts aboard the lab complex planned to be standing by in the Zvezda command module to remotely take over manual control of the approaching Progress if necessary.

The spacecraft is loaded with 2.8 tons of equipment and supplies for the station's six-man crew, including 2,897 pounds of spare parts, experiment hardware and general supplies, 1,764 pounds of propellant, 926 pounds of water and 110 pounds of oxygen.

The next space station resupply mission will be carried out by a commercially developed SpaceX Dragon supply ship launched from Cape Canaveral, Fla. Liftoff is expected in mid March.

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Russian Soyuz rocket launched to International Space Station

Russia launched a Progress resupply freighter Wednesday on a six-hour journey to the International Space Station, delivering nearly 3 tons of fuel and supplies to the orbiting scientific research laboratory after a smooth automated rendezvous.

The Soyuz rocket lifted off at 1623 GMT (11:23 a.m. EST; 10:22 p.m. local time) from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Photo credit: NASA TV/Spaceflight Now The unpiloted Progress M-22M spacecraft lifted off on top of a Soyuz rocket at 1623:33 GMT (11:23:33 a.m. EST) in temperatures below 0 degrees Fahrenheit at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, kicking off an expedited six-hour rendezvous with the space station.

The launch was timed for the precise moment necessary to reach the station in such a short time. The outpost was at an altitude of 260 miles over the western border of Kazakhstan near Volgograd, Russia.

Rick Mastracchio, one of the space station's six occupants, reported seeing the Soyuz rocket's fiery exhaust trail as the complex flew over Baikonur.

A series of rocket burns with the Progress craft's own thrusters fine-tuned the ship's path toward the complex, with the on-board automated rendezvous sequence commencing about two hours before docking.

The fast track rendezvous is now the standard approach for all Russian vehicles, including the Progress and crewed Soyuz capsules, replacing a longer two-day flight profile to the 450-ton complex.

Docking with the space station's Pirs module occurred at 2222 GMT (5:22 p.m. EST) as the vehicles flew over the Atlantic Ocean east of Florida.

The Soyuz rocket delivered the Progress to orbit about nine minutes after liftoff after launching into a clear night sky over the historic Baikonur launch base. The kerosene-fueled rocket shed its four strap-on boosters about two minutes into the flight, with its core engine and upper stage continuing to fire to propel the Progress M-22M spaceship into orbit with an altitude between 120 miles and 150 miles.

Moments after separating from the launcher's third stage, the Progress extended its two power-generating solar panels stretching 35 feet tip-to-tip, along with communications antennas and its navigation radar to guide the ship to docking with the Russian segment's Pirs module.

The Progress M-22M logistics ship is loaded with 1,446 pounds of propellant to be pumped into the Russian Zvezda service module, plus 110 pounds of oxygen and 926 pounds of water to bolster the space station's reserves.

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Progress spacecraft blasts off on quick trip to space station