Daily Archives: December 12, 2014

Let #39;s Play Space Farmers 015 [HD] - Let #39;s Play with OmegaRainbow and MorgwenLP
[015] Final Episode: Scrumpy Gas! Subscribe: http://goo.gl/gI36P Space Farmers Playlist: http://goo.gl/69tHX4 MorgwenLP: https://www.youtube.com/MorgwenLP Tweet, like and subscribe...

By: Omega Rainbow

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Let's Play Space Farmers 015 [HD] - Let's Play with OmegaRainbow and MorgwenLP - Video

Lego Batman 3: Space Station Infestation
via YouTube Capture.

By: CreeperBoy86

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Lego Batman 3: Space Station Infestation - Video

European Space Station Crew Member Discusses Life in Space with Italian Media
Aboard the International Space Station, Expedition 42 Flight Engineer Samantha Cristoforetti of the European Space Agency discussed the progress of her mission on the orbital laboratory during...

By: NASA

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European Space Station Crew Member Discusses Life in Space with Italian Media - Video

NASA and its International Space Station partners will hold a news conference in Paris at 10 a.m. EST Thursday, Dec. 18, to discuss the upcoming one-year expedition on the International Space Station. NASA Television and the agency's website will carry the briefing live.

NASA astronaut Scott Kelly will launch to the space station in March 2015 to begin a yearlong stay aboard the orbiting laboratory -- the longest single space mission ever undertaken by an American. He will be joined by Mikhail Kornienko of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) on this one-year mission.

Thursdays briefing will take place at the headquarters of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in Paris and will include participants from NASA, its international partner space agencies, and UNESCO. During the briefing, questions will be taken from media in attendance and on the phone from participating partner locations.

The briefing participants will be: -- Scott Kelly, NASA astronaut and one-year mission crew member -- Mikhail Kornienko, Roscosmos cosmonaut and one-year mission crew member -- Andreas Mogensen, European Space Agency astronaut and visiting crew flight engineer -- Soichi Noguchi, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency chief astronaut -- Jeremy Hansen, Canadian Space Agency astronaut

For those attending in person, the deadline to request credentials is Tuesday, Dec. 16. For more information about media accreditation, contact Nicola Firth (Nicola.Firth@esa.int). Reporters attending at partner locations should contact those centers' newsrooms for specific deadlines.

U.S. media may participate at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston or by phone. Reporters must contact the Johnson newsroom at 281-483-5111no later than noon CST Wednesday, Dec. 17, to request approval. Approved media will be notified that afternoon and those participating by phone will need to call the Johnson newsroom at least 15 minutes before the start of the Thursday briefing. Media will not be able to connect once the briefing begins.

The public also may ask questions via social media by using the hashtag #askNASA.

For NASA TV streaming video, downlink and scheduling information, visit:

NASA TV Live

For NASA TV satellite coordinates, visit:

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Space Station Partners Hold Paris News Conference to Discuss Yearlong Mission

The European Space Agency's (ESA) Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) Georges Lemaitre captured the International Space Station (ISS) in a new light in August, as it fired up a set of experimental sensors that may form the basis of the next generation of automated docking systems. Such tech will be vital for the increasingly-ambitious missions planned by NASA and its partners to explore the Red Planet and beyond.

Using the contemporary system, ESA's ATVs have successfully completed five automated dockings, with each attempt safely affixing the resupply vessels to the Russian Zvesda module of the ISS. With the tested system, an ATV is required to set up a communications link with the station to allow the resupply vessel to undertake precision maneuvers relative to the station using advanced GPS technology.

During this phase, the station repositions its solar panels edge-on with the ATV, in order to minimize interference with the GPS signal. At a distance of 249 m (817 ft) from the station, the spacecraft uses videometer and telegoniometer data in addition to a set of "eye-like sensors" to automatically dock with the outpost at a gentle 7 cm/s.

August's docking of the Georges Lemaitre represented the first field test of a system that could replace the current navigational sensors. The experimental Laser Infrared Imaging Sensors (LIRIS) switched on while the ATV was positioned 7 km (4.3 mi) below the station. By utilizing the device so far from the station, ESA could test the experimental equipment's long-range target acquisition capabilities. As the ATV approached the ISS, it tracked and imaged the station using its lidar component an apparatus that is like a radar that uses light instead of radio waves and operates by pulsing laser beams over a mirror in order to collect high-resolution 3D data.

Using this technique, the sensors can track the station in both sunlight and darkness, with a high degree of accuracy. Furthermore, lidar has the ability to register the amount of light reflected from the surface of the object it scans, gaining an insight into the composition of the reflecting material in the process. As LIRIS does not require a direct link to, or hardware installed aboard its target, the system is potentially capable of tracking and docking with an inert object, such as another spacecraft beyond low-Earth orbit.

Data collected during the experiment was stored on hard-disk in the ATV's cargo hold and has since been returned to Earth aboard Soyuz TMA-12M, the capsule that ferried astronauts Steve Swanson and cosmonauts Alexander Skvortsov and Oleg Artemyev back to the planet's surface in September.

Following a preliminary assessment of the data returned by LIRIS, it is clear that the sensors succeeded in tracking the station perfectly while creating a detailed 3D map of it. The system also managed to maintain the track during several 30-minute intervals of darkness, displaying high levels of reliability both at distance, and close up with the station. The potential applications of the technology, especially its ability to enable docking with an inert object, could allow spacecraft to de-orbit space junk or even dock around a distant planet.

Source: ESA

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ESA ATV tests new docking technology

Leading UK space organisations have joined forces with British ESA Astronaut Tim Peake and Raspberry Pi to offer students a chance to devise and code their own apps or experiment to run in space. Two Raspberry Pi computers are planned to be flown to the International Space Station (ISS) as part of Tims 6 month mission and both will be connected to a new Astro Pi board, loaded with a host of sensors and gadgets.

Launched today (10 Dec 2014) at an event held by the UK Space Agency, the Astro Pi competition will be officially opened at the BETT conference (21-24 January) and will be open to all primary and secondary school aged children who are resident in the United Kingdom. The competition will be supported by a comprehensive suite of teaching resources that are being developed by ESERO-UK and Raspberry Pi.

During his mission, Tim Peake plans to deploy the Astro Pi computers in a number of different locations on board the ISS. He will then load up the winning code whilst in orbit, set them running, collect the data generated and then download this to Earth where it will be distributed to the winning teams.

Speaking at the Astro Pi launch event, Dr David Parker, Chief Executive of the UK Space Agency, also revealed that the UK Space Agency has been given a 2 million programme, as part of the Chancellors Autumn Statement, to support further outreach activities around Tims mission, particularly to help inspire interest in STEM subjects.

Business Secretary Vince Cable said:

So much technology relies on big data but not enough people are being trained in this field. This challenge helps the next generation to have fun whilst learning the skills that industry need.

Creating tomorrows engineers is part of our industrial strategy that gives a long term commitment to world-class skills.

Tim Peake added:

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Send Your Computer Code Into Space with British ESA Astronaut Tim Peake