Monthly Archives: March 2017

Challenger invites you to navigate thru the thrill of launching to space in the first Space Station 5K Race! Run with your family & friends to celebrate the Spring Equinox in Bangor on Saturday, March 25th. Find out if you qualify to meet an astronauts running time requirement for space! This fun event will raise funds to help the Challenger Learning Center of Maine fulfill its mission to inspire STEM learning and career aspirations for Maine students.

Race Schedule:

Saturday Morning, March 25, 2017

8:00-9:30: Race bib/packet pick-up & race-day registration accepted

10:00: 5k Race begins

11:00ish: Awards

Race Course:

The race will be held at the Challenger Learning Center of Maine.

Address: 30 Venture Way, Bangor, ME 04401

The Race will start and end at the Challenger Learning Center of Maines parking lot. Runners will proceed up a small hill on Venture way, turn onto Texas Ave and loop back after reaching the MPBN parking lot. This loop will be completed twice.

Read the rest here:
Challenger Learning Presents The First 5k Space Station Race - WABI

03/21/2017

The deadline is April 15 for schools and formal or informal educational institutions and organizations individually or working in concert to submit proposals to host Amateur Radio contacts next year with ISS crew members. Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) anticipates that contacts will take place between January 1 and June 30, 2018. Crew scheduling and ISS orbits will determine the exact contact dates. Proposal information and documents are on the ARRL website.

To maximize these radio contact opportunities, ARISS seeks proposals from schools and organizations that can draw large numbers of participants and integrate the contact into a well-developed education plan. Each FM-voice contact lasts about 10 minutes the length of a typical overhead ISS pass from horizon to horizon.

Scheduled ham radio contacts with ISS crew members allow students to interact with an astronaut or cosmonaut through a question-and-answer format. Participants and the audiences alike can learn firsthand from the astronaut or cosmonaut what its like to live and work in space and to learn about space research on the ISS. Students will be able to observe and learn about satellite communication, wireless technology, and radio science.

Because of the nature of human spaceflight and the complexity of scheduling activities aboard the ISS, organizations must demonstrate flexibility to accommodate changes in contact dates and times.

To help organizations prepare proposals, ARISS offers 1-hour online information sessions, designed to provide more information regarding US ARISS contacts and the proposal process, as well as provide an avenue for interested organizations to ask questions. Attending an online Information Session is not required but is strongly encouraged.

In the US, ARISS is a collaborative effort between ARRL and AMSAT, in partnership with NASA and the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS).

Contact ARISS for more information.

Read more:
ARISS Deadline Looms to Accept Proposals to Host Contacts with Space Station Crew - ARRL

Stunning snap reveals what London looks like from 250 miles above ground

AN astronaut shared an incredible photo of London seen from hundreds of miles above in Space.

Nasas Shane Kimbrough took the snap from the International Space Station which orbits at a height of 250 miles on Sunday evening.

It shows the capital city lit up and the winding course of the Thames river from hundreds of miles above.

You can make out large attractions including the O2 arena in Greenwich,Westhams London Stadium and Hyde Park.

Its been retweeted thousands of times prompting Londoners to zoom in and try and find their homes.

Cover Images

Getty Images

One Brit joked whether EastEnders might consider it for a new logo.

The former US Army Colonel had been busy sending a load of science samples back to Earth on a SpaceX Dragon capsule.

They used a robotic arm to send the cargo on its five-hour journey to the coast of Baja California, Mexico.

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See the article here:
Astronaut tweets dazzling picture of London's lights from the ... - The Sun

March 20, 2017 by Jenny Howard The Cygnus spacecraft reenters the Earth's atmosphere, as observed by Expedition 40 crewmembers aboard the space station. RED-Data2, a soccer-ball sized companion to a spacecraft reentering the Earth's atmosphere, will be a test-bed for the testing and demonstration of high-heat materials. Credit: NASA

Orbital ATK is targeted to launch its Cygnus spacecraft into orbit for a resupply mission to the International Space Station March 24, 2017 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. Cygnus will launch atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket carrying crew supplies, equipment and scientific research to crew members aboard the station. The flight will deliver investigations that study magnetic cell culturing, crystal growth and atmospheric reentry.

Here are some highlights of research scheduled to be delivered to the station:

ADCs in Microgravity could provide better drug designs for cancer patients

In microgravity, cancer cells grow in 3-D, spheroid structures that closely resemble their form in the human body, allowing to better test the efficacy of a drug. The Efficacy and Metabolism of Azonafide Antibody-Drug Conjugates in Microgravity (ADCs in Microgravity) investigation tests new antibody drug conjugates, developed by Oncolinx.

These conjugates combine an immune-activating drug with antibodies and target only cancer cells, which could potentially increase the effectiveness of chemotherapy and potentially reduce the associated side-effects. Results from this investigation could help inform drug design for cancer patients, as well as more insight into how microgravity effects a drug's performance.

3-D cell culturing in space may lead to improved drug development costs

Cells cultured in space spontaneously grow in 3-D, as opposed to cells cultured on Earth which grow in 2-D, resulting in characteristics more representative of how cells grow and function in living organisms. The Magnetic 3-D Cell Culture for Biological Research in Microgravity (Magnetic 3-D Cell Culturing) investigation will test magnetized cells and tools that may make it easier to handle cells and cell cultures. As a result, this could help investigators improving the ability to reproduce similar investigations on Earth.

This investigation will test ways to manipulate and culture cells in 2-D and 3-D in space and on the ground, which may help isolate the effects of gravity in experiments. If investigators can identify these effects on the cell's growth, data will be used to help design environments on Earth which mimic microgravity, which could reduce the cost of drug development.

SUBSA Furnace and Inserts provide for improved crystal growth in microgravity

The Solidification Using a Baffle in Sealed Ampoules (SUBSA) investigation was originally operated successfully aboard the space station in 2002. Although it has been updated with modernized software, data acquisition, high definition video and communication interfaces, its objective remains the same: advance our understanding of the processes involved in semiconductor crystal growth.

Many crystal growth investigations, such as CLYC Crystal Growth and Detached Melt and Vapor Growth of InI, will occur within SUBSA Furnace and Inserts. Samples can be observed with high-definition video in real-time, along with remote commanding of thermal control parameters by investigation teams.

Understanding how space debris reenters the atmosphere can lead to improved spacecraft materials

Out-of-function satellites, spent rocket stages and other debris frequently reenter Earth's atmosphere, where most of it breaks up and disintegrates before hitting the ground. However, some larger objects can survive atmospheric reentry. The ability to predict how an object will break apart is valuable in the protection of people and property. The Thermal Protection Material Flight Test and Reentry Data Collection (RED-Data2) investigation studies a new type of recording device that rides alongside of a spacecraft reentering the Earth's atmosphere, recording data about the extreme conditions it encounters during reentry, something scientists have been unable to test on a large scale thus far.

Understanding what happens to a spacecraft as it reenters the atmosphere could lead to increased accuracy of spacecraft breakup predictions, an improved design of future spacecraft and the development of materials that can resist the extreme heat and pressure of returning to Earth.

IceCube CubeSat seeks to improve understanding of weather and climate models

IceCube, a small satellite known as a CubeSat, will measure cloud ice using an 883-Gigahertz radiometer. Used to predict weather and climate models, IceCube will collect the first global map of cloud-induced radiances. The key objective for this investigation is to raise the technology readiness level, a NASA assessment that measures a technology's maturity level.

Advanced Plant Habitat supports plant research

Joining the space station's growing list of facilities is the Advanced Plant Habitat, a fully enclosed, environmentally controlled plant habitat used to conduct plant bioscience research. The habitat integrates proven microgravity plant growth processes with newly-developed technologies to increase overall efficiency and reliability. The ability to cultivate plants for food and oxygen generation aboard the space station is a key step in the planning of longer-duration, deep space missions where frequent resupply missions may not be a possibility.

Explore further: Stem cells seem speedier in space

Growing significant numbers of human stem cells in a short time could lead to new treatments for stroke and other diseases. Scientists are sending stem cells to the International Space Station to test whether these cells ...

The tenth SpaceX cargo resupply launch to the International Space Station, targeted for launch Feb. 18, will deliver investigations that study human health, Earth science and weather patterns. Here are some highlights of ...

Orbital ATK's unmanned Cygnus space capsule departed from the International Space Station on schedule Tuesday, three months after delivering 7,500 pounds (3,400 kilos) of supplies, material for scientific experiments and ...

Newly 3-D printed wrenches, data to improve cooling systems, protein crystals and seedling samples returned Feb. 10 aboard SpaceX's fifth contracted resupply mission to the International Space Station. Researchers will use ...

The crew of the International Space Station soon will be equipped to perform dozens of new scientific investigations with cargo launched Monday aboard NASA's latest commercial resupply services mission from the agency's Wallops ...

There will be more Dragons in space! The SpaceX Dragon's next launch to the International Space Station has been scheduled for Sunday, October 7, 2012, NASA and SpaceX announced today. This will be the first of 12 contracted ...

A new computer simulation helps explain the existence of puzzling supermassive black holes observed in the early universe. The simulation is based on a computer code used to understand the coupling of radiation and certain ...

What sounds like a stomach-turning ride at an amusement park might hold the key to unravelling the mysterious mechanism that causes beams of radio waves to shoot out from pulsarssuper-magnetic rotating stars in our Galaxy.

(Phys.org)A large international team of researchers has found that a hot Jupiter called KELT-16b is likely to offer a unique opportunity for research for many years to come. In their paper published in The Astronomical ...

The next rovers to explore another planet might bring along a scout.

As children, we learned about our solar system's planets by certain characteristicsJupiter is the largest, Saturn has rings, Mercury is closest to the sun. Mars is red, but it's possible that one of our closest neighbors ...

(Phys.org)Astronomers have inspected a mysterious isolated star cluster complex designated SH2 in the galaxy NGC 1316 (also known as Fornax A). The results of their study, which were published Mar. 1 in a paper on arXiv.org, ...

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Orbital ATK Cygnus set to deliver research to space station - Phys.org - Phys.Org