Daily Archives: April 22, 2014

NASA Previews Spacewalk to Replace Failed Space Station Backup Computer – Video

Posted: April 22, 2014 at 9:48 am


NASA Previews Spacewalk to Replace Failed Space Station Backup Computer
In a briefing Friday, managers for NASA #39;s International Space Station program previewed a spacewalk to replace a failed backup computer relay system on the s...

By: NASA

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SpaceX rocket lifts off to space station – Video

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SpaceX rocket lifts off to space station
SpaceX successfully launched its third commercial resupply mission to the International Space Station. The Dragon capsule is carrying over two tons of cargo ...

By: Computerworld

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SpaceX launches supplies to space station – Video

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SpaceX launches supplies to space station
The SpaceX company returned to orbit on Friday, launching fresh supplies to the International Space Station after more than a month #39;s delay and setting the s...

By: Top World News

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U.S. SpaceX Dragon Ship Arrives at the International Space Station with Important cargo – Video

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U.S. SpaceX Dragon Ship Arrives at the International Space Station with Important cargo
The SpaceX Dragon cargo craft arrived at the International Space Station April 20, delivering almost 5000 pounds of scientific experiments and supplies for ...

By: NASA

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Shuttle blasts off with new ‘porch’ for space station – Video

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Shuttle blasts off with new #39;porch #39; for space station
Read more: . The space shuttle Endeavour blasted into space successfully at 2203 GMT on Wednesday, after five previous attempts had been called off over the ...

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Space station astronauts get a 'Dragon' for Easter (+video)

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After a two day trip, a SpaceX cargo mission carrying resupply items includinga robotic astronaut's legs, microbes gathered by cheerleaders, and lettuce seedlings arrived at the International Space Station on Sunday.

On Sunday, the crew aboard the International Space Station received a unique Easter gift: a cargo ship carrying about 2.5 tons of resupply items, includinga pair of robotic legs, microbes gathered by cheerleaders, and lettuce seedlings. The supplies will support more than 150 scientific investigations planned for Expeditions 39 and 40.

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The SpaceX cargo ship, dubbed 'Dragon' is expected to spend four weeks attached to ISS, after which it is scheduled to return back to Earth with 1.8 tons of experiment samples and hardware.

A Falcon 9 rocket carrying the Dragon capsule lifted off Friday from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. After a two-day trip, Dragon was finally wrangled using a 57-foot robotic arm, at 7:14 a.m. as it flew within about 32 feet of the orbiting complex. "At the time of capture, the orbital laboratory was flying around260 statute miles over Egypt, west of the Nile River," NASA said in a statement.

According to the Associated Press, as the capsule was secured into place, NASA's Mission Control said, "Gentlemen, the Easter Dragon is knocking at the door."

Commander Koichi Wakata from the ISS tweeted, "Congratulations to the entire ops team for the successful launch, rendezvous and capture operation. The vehicle, the spacecraft was very solid and very stable. And the Canadarm2 was really solid, and it made it easier for us to capture."

The recent SpaceX-3 mission was delayed due to a helium leak on the Falcon 9's first stage.

Prior to that "despite the loss Friday of a backup computer command relay box called a multiplexer/demultiplexer (MDM) that resides in the stations S0 truss," NASA had decided to go ahead with the launch of what will be SpaceX's third commercial cargo re-supply mission to the ISS. In the next few days, two of the crewmembers aboard the space station will replace the faulty MDM with a spare one from inside the station.

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Hauptman-Woodward Medical Research Institute among NASA Cargo Launching to Space Station

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When the SpaceX-3 cargo resupply mission launched to the International Space StationApril 18, an experiment designed by the Hauptman-Woodward Medical Research Institute ofBuffalo, N.Y., was among the cargo headed to space.

The experiment, located inside the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft, arrived at the orbiting outpost yesterday morning at10:06 a.m. EDT.

The experiment, Exploiting On-orbit Crystal properties for Structural Studies of Medically and Economically Important Targets (On-Orbit Crystals), uses the microgravity environment of space to grow protein crystals of four different proteins. The proteins in this investigation are linked to breast cancer, skin cancer, prion disease and oxidative stress, the latter of which is implicated in many forms of cancer and neurological disorders.

SpaceX-3 is NASA's third contracted resupply mission to the space station by U.S. company SpaceX ofHawthorne, Calif.SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft launched atop the company's Falcon rocket from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station inFloridaat4:58 p.m. EDT.

SpaceX developed its Dragon capsule, the only cargo spacecraft currently servicing the space station with the capability to return cargo back to Earth, with NASA and now successfully has completed three missions to the orbiting outpost. Expedition 39 crew members captured the SpaceX-3 Dragon using the station's robotic arm at7 a.m. Wednesday, April 16. The capsule is scheduled to remain attached to the station unitMay 18. It then will return to Earth and splash down in the Pacific Ocean, off the coastCalifornia. It will return samples from scientific investigations currently underway aboard the space station.

The International Space Station is a convergence of science, technology and human innovation that demonstrates new technologies and makes research breakthroughs not possible on Earth. The space station has had continuous human occupation sinceNovember 2000. In that time it has been visited by more than 200 people and a variety of international and commercial spacecraft. The space station remains the springboard to NASA's next great leap in exploration, including future missions to an asteroid and Mars.

For more information about the SpaceX-3 mission and the International Space Station, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/station

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Merck among NASA Cargo Launching to Space Station

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When the SpaceX-3 cargo resupply mission launched to the International Space StationApril 14, an experiment designed by Merck Research Laboratories ofKenilworth, N.J., was among the cargo headed to space.

The experiment, located inside the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft, arrived at the orbiting outpost yesterday morning at10:06 a.m. EDT.

The experiment, Microgravity Growth of Antibody Crystals in the Hand Held High Density Protein Crystal Growth Hardware (HDPCG), focuses on the crystallization of a human monoclonal antibody, a specialized type of protein made by immune cells that can bind to target cells or other proteins to perform a specific task. The monoclonal antibody in this investigation is under investigation for the treatment of human diseases, and crystallizing it may help the pharmaceutical industry determine its physical structure, which could lead to new drugs.

SpaceX-3 is NASA's third contracted resupply mission to the space station by U.S. company SpaceX ofHawthorne, Calif.SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft launched atop the company's Falcon rocket from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station inFloridaat4:58 p.m. EDT.

SpaceX developed its Dragon capsule, the only cargo spacecraft currently servicing the space station with the capability to return cargo back to Earth, with NASA and now successfully has completed three missions to the orbiting outpost. Expedition 39 crew members captured the SpaceX-3 Dragon using the station's robotic arm at7 a.m. Wednesday, April 16. The capsule is scheduled to remain attached to the station unitMay 18. It then will return to Earth and splash down in the Pacific Ocean, off the coastCalifornia. It will return samples from scientific investigations currently underway aboard the space station.

The International Space Station is a convergence of science, technology and human innovation that demonstrates new technologies and makes research breakthroughs not possible on Earth. The space station has had continuous human occupation sinceNovember 2000. In that time it has been visited by more than 200 people and a variety of international and commercial spacecraft. The space station remains the springboard to NASA's next great leap in exploration, including future missions to an asteroid and Mars.

For more information about the SpaceX-3 mission and the International Space Station, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/station

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Vermont Will Be The First State To Require Mandatory GMO Labeling

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By Laurel Maloy, contributing author, Food Online

Vermont House Bill H. 0112, legislature relating to the labeling of food produced with genetic engineering, is close to becoming law

Consumers across the nation, as well as 50 bill sponsors, are awaiting final passage of House Bill H. 0112. The bill passed the Vermont House last year, but has been waiting for the Vermont Senate to make changes. The bill is now on its way back to the House and, if approved, will head to the governors desk. Governor Peter Shumlin has indicated that he will most likely sign it. If all goes according to plan, the new law will take effect on Jul 1, 2016.

Vermont House Bill H. 0112:

Ronnie Cummins, National Director of the Organic Consumers Association said, Todays victory has been 20 years in the making! He elaborated by reminding everyone that since the early 1990s, when GMOs were first introduced, U.S. consumers have fought for GMO labeling.

Unlike neighbors Maine and Connecticuts bills, Vermonts has no contingency clause. Vermonts bill will not be contingent upon its neighbors passing similar legislation. However, this victory may be short lived. U.S. Rep. Mike Pompeo (R-KS) introduced a bill in the U.S. House of Representatives last week. If passed, the Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act would not only prohibit mandatory GMO labeling, but would also forbid states from drafting their own statutes.

In recent years, several states have attempted to pass GMO labeling legislation but failed due to the interference of large, well-funded industry groups. In California and Washington State, the Coalition for Safe and Affordable Food reportedly spent some $60 million fighting GMO labeling initiatives. Its membership roster reads like the Whos Who of U.S. and global food processing. Its members include such industry power hitters as: Biotechnology Industry Organization, the American Soybean Association, the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives, and the National Grain & Feed Association. All of its 35 listed members have an economic interest in defeating GMO labeling initiatives and have the money and influence to keep it from happening.

The question consumers must be asking themselves is, why? If GMOs are truly safe, why are these groups so determined to defeat legislation that simply identifies those products containing GMOs? Recently, some large-scale retailers have demonstrated their support for the consumer, and are encouraging others to follow suit. It seems that even the industry big-wigs cannot come to a consensus on the safety of genetically-modified food products.

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Neanderthals Lived in Small, Isolated Populations, Gene Analysis Shows

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Modern humanity's ancient cousins, the Neanderthals, lived in small groups that were isolated from one another, suggests an investigation into their DNA. The analysis also finds that Neanderthals lacked some human genes that are linked to our behavior. (Related: "Why Am I Neanderthal?")

In recent years, experts in ancient DNA have mapped out the genes of Neanderthals, a species of human that vanished some 30,000 years ago. These gene maps have revealed that many modern people share a small part of their ancestry, and a small percentage of their genes, with those early humans.

Now moving beyond ancestry, researchers are comparing these ancient gene maps to those of modern humans. The comparisons may point to genes that make us uniquely human and uncover links to the origins of genetic ailments.

Compared to Neanderthals, humanity appears to have evolved more when it comes to genes related to behavior, suggests a team headed by Svante Pbo, a pioneer in ancient genetics at Germany's Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. Their study was published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

They note in particular that genes linked to hyperactivity and aggressive behavior in modern humans appear to be absent in Neanderthals. Also missing is DNA associated with syndromes such as autism.

"The paper describes some very interesting evolutionary dynamics," said paleoanthropologist John Hawks of the University of Wisconsin at Madison.

The Neanderthal genes suggest that sometime after one million to 500,000 years ago, Neanderthal numbers decreased and the population stayed small, Pbo's group determined. A small population size would have been bad news for Neanderthals, Hawks said, because it would have meant that "natural selection had less power to weed out bad mutations."

Ancient Answers

Pbo and colleagues looked at the genes of two ancient Neanderthals, one from Spain and one from Croatia. They compared the DNA of those individuals to that of a third Neanderthal who had lived in Siberia and whose DNA had been analyzed in an earlier study, and to the DNA of several modern humans.

"We find that [Neanderthals] had even less [genetic] variation than present-day humans," Pbo said by email. Genetic diversity among Neanderthals was about one-fourth as much as is seen among modern Africans, he said, and one-third that of modern Europeans or Asians.

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