Daily Archives: June 29, 2017

Stowage gets a little tight up there on the Space Station, as John Phillips illustrates in 2011.

airspacemag.com June 28, 2017

Science in, garbage out. Every time a Cygnus or Progress cargo spacecraft brings up tons of experiments and equipment to the International Space Station, it stays around long enough for the astronauts to unload the new supplies. Then the spacecraft is refilled with tons of trash for a suicidal trip back through Earths atmosphere, where spacecraft and trash both burn up.

The routine is costly in terms of both money and astronaut time; it takes hours to finish all the loading and unloading, since every item must be carefully tracked. By some estimates, plastics account for about 20 percent of whats thrown out on a typical mission. NASA has found ways to reduce waste, such as having astronauts drink recycled urine, but it will need even better ideas for trash disposal if the agency wants to send humans on long missions into deep space.

Thats why its funding a couple of promising ideas for trash disposal under the NASA Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program, which awards contractors up to $750,000 each for a two-year study. If they still look promising, the projects would be fully commercialized.

One of the ideas is to turn packaging plastic into raw material for 3D printing. The technology, called ERASMUS, takes Ziploc bags or any other thermoplastic waste, and transforms it into filament. Developed by Tethers Unlimited, ERASMUS is intended to be fully plug-and-play, with astronauts simply loading the container with trash, then walking away while it does its thing.

ERASMUS can even turn waste plastic into food-safe utensils for astronauts to use. Space station crews now clean their utensils and plates with wet wipes, according to Rachel Muhlbarer, additive manufacturing program manager for Tethers Unlimited. Over timeif all youre doing is wet-wiping [utensils] every so often, it is gross, she says.

ERASMUS is now in Phase 2 of NASA funding, and in addition to testing the basic technology, theyre looking at how plastics degrade in microgravity. Its not clear whether degradation happens differently in microgravity than on Earth, or whether the material will outgas differentlya potential problem given the stations carefully balanced atmosphere.

Another trash-y idea currently receiving Phase 2 SBIR funding is a heat melt compactor developed by NASAs Ames Research Center, in partnership with Materials Modification of Fairfax, Virginia. Earlier versions of the HMC suffered because water vapor could not be easily removed from polyethylene bags, which plugged the vents from compacting chambers and stopped steam from escaping. The HMC now uses a membrane bag to allow water vapor to escape, while keeping the solid waste generated during the HMC process.

In a separate project, Materials Modification is looking to improve cleanup on board the ISS. We have also developed an antimicrobial, self-cleaning coating on surfaces to keep the NASA crew compartments clean and reduce the logistical burden of carrying a lot of wipes and cleaning supplies onboard, said Kris Rangan, chief chemist of the company, in an e-mail.

If successful, both of the SBIR contractors plan to test their proposed technology on the station in coming years. The long-range goal is to develop cleaning and trash disposal ideas for use on NASAs Orion spacecraft in the 2020s. That vehicle is headed for deep space, where Earths atmosphere wont be available for use as a convenient incinerator.

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These Companies Want to Revolutionize Trash Day on the Space ... - Air & Space Magazine

New York, June 29 (IANS) Scientists at NASA organise regular checks to ensure that the International Space Station (ISS) has one of the cleanest living environments and is free from bacteria and other micro-organisms, the space agency said.

"Once every three months, we sample from two locations in each module of the US segment of the station," Mark Ott, a microbiologist at NASA's Johnson Space Center, said in a statement.

Samples collected from surfaces and from the air are cultured on plates containing a growth medium, one specific for bacteria and the other for fungi. Those plates return to the ground and scientists identify each organism that grows on them.

The study, published in the journal of Microbiome, identified 11 strains of bacterium belonging to what microbiologists call the Bacillus anthracis, cereus, thuringiensis group, or Bacillus cereus group.

While this large family of microbes includes some bad bugs, Bacillus is extremely common on the Earth and around humans, so finding this type of bacteria on the space station is not unusual, the scientists said.

Using DNA hybridisation, researchers identified individual species in the samples and, while some were a close match to Bacillus anthracis type strains, they did not have the physical characteristics or the toxin-producing plasmids required to consider them a potential risk.

Further, drinking water on the ISS is treated similarly to the water we drink on earth to kill and keep micro-organisms from growing with regular monitoring on the station's drinking water systems.

"The astronauts' drinking water is, microbiologically speaking, cleaner than just about anything they drink on earth," Ott said.

In addition, the medical staff keeps a particularly sharp eye out for micro-organisms that pose a risk to the health of astronauts and when any turn up, the space station gets a more-thorough-than-usual cleaning.

"We should be investigating new and different ways of monitoring spacecraft for micro-organisms but we must be careful when we interpret the results," Ott added.

Continued research is being done to understand what organisms grow on the space station and how they affect an astronaut's health, the scientists said.

--IANS

tony/rt/ksk/vt

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NASA keeps a close watch for bad bugs on space station - Economic Times

The Empress card from the Brown Girl Tarot. All rights reserved.

Divination Space Station is proud today to feature Brown Girl Tarot , the worlds first real life non-illustrated Tarot Card Deck, that exclusively features 78 photographs of Women of Color and one adorable brown baby girl! Brown Girl Tarot deck is set to include 78, 3.5 X 5 artfully designed photographed, 350 GSM, Satin finish cards, including all suits of the Major and Minor Arcana. Created by Fontaine Foxworth, BGT celebrates and embraces the beauty and diversity of brown and black women, as every card is art directed to emphasize the core, sacred messages of tarot- with a modern brown girl spin. BGT aims to Uplift, Empower, & Unite WOC, Whilst Redefining Black Spirituality Through Tarot Cards. Im honored to reveal that I will be included in this deck too, as the Hierophant card. It was my pleasure to sit down with Foxworth recently and ask her some questions about tarot and this exciting new deck.

When did you start divining? With what method?

About 3 years ago, I found my first deck of tarot cards in the empty apartment above mine. My sister and I were only snooping around up there to use the gas stove to make some ginger tea. I had just moved in and the gas was not on in my apartment and I was feeling sick. The deck was in a velvet pouch in an otherwise empty kitchen cabinet. I have fallen in love with tarot and its divine power ever since.

The Strength Card courtesy of Brown Girl Tarot. All rights reserved.

What method do you use most often now?

I most often use tarot as my main source of divinatory meditation, however I have included the use of crystals, blessing oils, incense, and have even dabbled in spell work via Wiccan magical practices and evoking Orishas. I have been also grounding and molding my spirit to channel directly from source.

How important is the choice/phrasing of the question?

I think the choice and phrasing of the question is really important. I like to hone my energy and spirit onto very specific queries to the universe. I feel like if you are confused or unclear about the questions you need answers too, you should meditate and get as clear about what you are asking spirit to help you with. Its easy to get mixed messages from the universe, if you were not clear about your problem in the first place.

Do you have a yes/no method of divining you recommend?

I dont really have a yes/no method. Im pretty open to trying new things because I have a adventurous spirit. I think its about whatever you are most comfortable with, and whatever seems most natural to you. Some people like to practice divination using mirrors as oracles, but I personally havent ever had great success with that method. I guess some things take time and practice.

Is there any advice you have for newcomers when using divination?

I would say take it one step at a time. Opening your heart and spirit to this kind of work takes a lot of courage, focus, and will power. Its a sacred space that opens your spirituality up to a higher realm of consciousness definitely something that cant be rushed or forged. Be patient with yourself, and spirit also.

How did you come up with the idea for the Brown Girl Tarot Deck?

Brown Girl Tarot came by way of divine inspiration. I dont remember the date, nor the moment the thought came in my head. It was like one day it didnt exist, and the next day it did. In my imagination, it feels like the idea was implanted in my head by something not of this world when I was sleeping, and I have no recollection of how it was done.I just remember one night, whilst laying in bed thinking about it, I felt compelled by spirit to raise my hand and reach toward the ceiling. All I could say out loud, repeatedly was, thank youthank you. Im divinely grateful for Brown Girl Tarot.

See more here:
Divination Space Station: Fontaine Foxworth + Brown Girl Tarot - Patheos (blog)

Not CSUNSat1.

This mini satellite has performed like a dutiful child this summer, calling home at least twice a day to California State University, Northridge and doing all of its homework.

After months of preparation and waiting, on April 18, electrical and computer engineering professors Sharlene Katz and James Flynn and their students cheered with relief as NASA launched CSUNSat1, the universitys first stellar explorer, to the International Space Station (ISS). The cube-shaped satellite is about the size of a shoebox and launched from Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., aboard the OA-7 Cygnus spacecraft SS John Glenn, propelled by an Atlas V rocket.

It took four days to reach the space station, where astronauts unloaded and prepared the satellite and other payload for deployment. In mid-May, Katz and Flynn got word that NASA was ready to launch CSUNSat1 into orbit to start its mission. Then on May 18, the ISS crew deployed the mini satellite into low Earth orbit. Once it had safely cleared the massive space station, CSUNSat1 was allowed to power up and begin its mission operations and experiments.

Later that night, the satellite made its first pass over the CSUN ground station, designed and built from scratch (like the CubeSat itself) in the corner of an electrical engineering lab in Jacaranda Hall.

It was a tense and historic moment for CSUN. Katz and Flynn waited quietly in the ground station with several of the more than 70 students who have worked for four years to bring this project to life and to orbit. The device was designed in partnership with NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena to test the effectiveness of JPLs energy storage system to help explore deep space in extremely cold temperatures.

At 11:21 p.m., CSUNSat1 came up over the horizon, within range of the large, custom-built antenna on the roof of Jacaranda Hall. Katz, Flynn and their students and alumni held their breath. Then, they heard it: the first contact from the beacon, the long and short tones of International Morse Code. In addition to programming it to send data back to CSUN, the engineering team had built the satellite to broadcast its status every three minutes as it circles Earth, using Morse Code.

It is unfortunate that many CubeSats go up there, and theyre never heard from. You can imagine how those students and researchers must feel, Flynn said. Its like sending your child into the world, and it doesnt write home. You never know what happened to it. [When I heard the beacon], I felt like eight tons was off my shoulders. I was elated.

It [broadcasts] a letter B at the beginning of the beacon that tells us the experiment is ready to be run, added Katz, who noted that she and Flynn chose old-school Morse Code for the stellar traveler because it works when computerized data fails and because both professors happen to be fluent in Morse Code, thanks to a passion for ham radio in their teen years.

The satellite is orbiting 400 kilometers above the Earth, at Mach 22 22 times the speed of sound, which is at about 7.6 kilometers per second. This means that just a few minutes before it makes contact with the ground station in Northridge, its traveling over New Zealand.

CSUNSat1 sends data to CSUN as it passes over Northridge about six times each day. JPL assigned the team a list of tasks to complete, and by June 18 the group had checked off the entire list of experiments required for mission success including switching the CubeSat to operate from its experimental battery. The tests are key for deep-space technology, to help NASA develop a battery to aid in exploration out past planets such as Jupiter and Neptune without heaters, Flynn said. Current satellite batteries require heaters to function below freezing temperatures.

(L-R) Electrical and computer engineering professors Sharlene Katz and James Flynn; CSUNSat1 alumni Don Eckels 15 (Computer Science), now working at JPL, and Benjamin Plotkin 16 (Computer Science); and electrical engineering graduate student Rosy Davis cram into the small workshop room where they built and tested the CubeSat. June 14, 2017. Photo by Richard Chambers.

JPL and NASA expect to learn how a new form of storing energy will work in space, Flynn said. The current [satellites dont work below] freezing. But this system can do a North Dakota winter no problem, and create lots of power and store lots of power. NASA doesnt trust anything that hasnt flown. Our job is to test it in space. Once its successful in our spacecraft, theyd be willing to trust a mission to it.

The CubeSat uses solar panels to recharge its battery, and the experimental battery is designed to deliver a large surge of energy in a short period of time at very cold temperatures, Katz and Flynn said. Now that the satellite is in orbit, the students have gained even more priceless hands-on engineering experience, including overcoming variables such as radiation in the planets orbit.

CSUN was one of 14 universities selected for the orbital journey, by the NASA CubeSat Launch Initiative. Prior to selection, Katz and Flynn received a $200,000 grant from NASA to fund the project, competing against more than a hundred other applicants for 13 grants.

The miniature satellite is designed for short-term use, and a short lifespan.

How long it will be up there is a little bit up to Mother Nature, Katz said. Its [lifetime is] six months to a year, according to NASA. It depends on the drag and decay.

But with this faithful child acing all of its experiments and tasks, it still has time for extra credit before it fades away.

JPL is already talking about having us do some additional experiments as an extended mission, Katz said.

The Morse Code beacon employed by the satellite makes it possible for anyone with a ham radio and interest to tune in and track CSUNSat1 as it orbits the Earth. Space and NASA enthusiasts around the globe from the Netherlands to Brazil have set up remote ground stations and are helping contribute to CSUNs research and data collected from the satellite. One amateur radio enthusiast in Indiana, for example, sends the students beacon reports each morning from the Midwest, Katz said.

To track CSUNSat1 and learn more about this and future projects, please visit http://www.csun.edu/cubesat/

CSUNSat1 alumnus Benjamin Plotkin 16 and electrical engineering graduate student Rosy Davis run the telemetry and mission control stations as they monitor the CubeSats pass over Northridge, on June 14, 2017. Photo by Richard Chambers.

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Mission Accomplished: CSUN's CubeSat Launches from International Space Station and Contributes to NASA Research - CSUN Today

Do Savannah

Unplugged: Promising shows at Space Station, El-Rocko over ... Do Savannah The Fourth of July falls on a Tuesday, so the holiday weekend might feel extra long. and more »

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Unplugged: Promising shows at Space Station, El-Rocko over ... - Do Savannah

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Kurt Hickman, Stanford University

Researchers combine gecko-inspired adhesives and a custom robotic gripper to create a device for grabbing space debris. They tested their gripper in multiple zero gravity settings, including the International Space Station.

Right now, about 500,000 pieces of human-made debris are whizzing around space, orbiting our planet at speeds up to 17,500 miles per hour. This debris poses a threat to satellites, space vehicles and astronauts aboard those vehicles.

What makes tidying up especially challenging is that the debris exists in space. Suction cups dont work in a vacuum. Traditional sticky substances, like tape, are largely useless because the chemicals they rely on cant withstand the extreme temperature swings. Magnets only work on objects that are magnetic. Most proposed solutions, including debris harpoons, either require or cause forceful interaction with the debris, which could push those objects in unintended, unpredictable directions.

To tackle the mess, researchers from Stanford University and NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) have designed a new kind of robotic gripper to grab and dispose of the debris, featured in the June 27 issue of Science Robotics.

Hao Jiang, graduate student in the Cutkosky lab and lead author of the paper, shows a basketball being gripped by the gecko-inspired adhesive. (Image credit: Kurt Hickman)

What weve developed is a gripper that uses gecko-inspired adhesives, said Mark Cutkosky, professor of mechanical engineering and senior author of the paper. Its an outgrowth of work we started about 10 years ago on climbing robots that used adhesives inspired by how geckos stick to walls.

The group tested their gripper, and smaller versions, in their lab and in multiple zero gravity experimental spaces, including the International Space Station. Promising results from those early tests have led the researchers to wonder how their grippers would fare outside the station, a likely next step.

There are many missions that would benefit from this, like rendezvous and docking and orbital debris mitigation, said Aaron Parness, MS 06, PhD 10, group leader of the Extreme Environment Robotics Group at JPL. We could also eventually develop a climbing robot assistant that could crawl around on the spacecraft, doing repairs, filming and checking for defects.

The adhesives developed by the Cutkosky lab have previously been used in climbing robots and even a system that allowed humans to climb up certain surfaces. They were inspired by geckos, which can climb walls because their feet have microscopic flaps that, when in full contact with a surface, create a Van der Waals force between the feet and the surface. These are weak intermolecular forces that result from subtle differences in the positions of electrons on the outsides of molecules.

The gripper is not as intricate as a geckos foot the flaps of the adhesive are about 40 micrometers across while a geckos are about 200 nanometers but the gecko-inspired adhesive works in much the same way. Like a geckos foot, it is only sticky if the flaps are pushed in a specific direction but making it stick only requires a light push in the right direction. This is a helpful feature for the kinds of tasks a space gripper would perform.

If I came in and tried to push a pressure-sensitive adhesive onto a floating object, it would drift away, said Elliot Hawkes, MS 11, PhD 15, a visiting assistant professor from the University of California, Santa Barbara and co-author of the paper. Instead, I can touch the adhesive pads very gently to a floating object, squeeze the pads toward each other so that theyre locked and then Im able to move the object around.

Close up of the robotic gripper made by the Cutkosky lab at Stanford University. The gripper is designed to grab objects in zero gravity using their gecko-inspired adhesive. (Image credit: Kurt Hickman)

The pads unlock with the same gentle movement, creating very little force against the object.

The gripper the researchers created has a grid of adhesive squares on the front and arms with thin adhesive strips that can fold out and move toward the middle of the robot from either side, as though its offering a hug. The grid can stick to flat objects, like a solar panel, and the arms can grab curved objects, like a rocket body.

One of the biggest challenges of the work was to make sure the load on the adhesives was evenly distributed, which the researchers achieved by connecting the small squares through a pulley system that also serves to lock and unlock the pads. Without this system, uneven stress would cause the squares to unstick one by one, until the entire gripper let go. This load-sharing system also allows the gripper to work on surfaces with defects that prevent some of the squares from sticking.

The group also designed the gripper to switch between a relaxed and rigid state.

Imagining that you are trying to grasp a floating object, you want to conform to that object while being as flexible as possible, so that you dont push that object away, explained Hao Jiang, a graduate student in the Cutkosky lab and lead author of the paper. After grasping, you want your manipulation to be very stiff, very precise, so that you dont feel delays or slack between your arm and your object.

The group first tested the gripper in the Cutkosky lab.They closely measuredhow much load the gripper could handle, what happened when different forces and torques were applied and how many times it could be stuck and unstuck. Through their partnership with JPL, the researchers also tested the gripper in zero gravity environments.

In JPLs Robodome, they attached small rectangular arms with the adhesive to a large robot, then placed that modified robot on afloor thatresembleda giant air-hockey table to simulate a 2D zero gravity environment.They then tried to get their robot to scoot around the frictionless floorand capture and move a similar robot.

We had one robot chase the other, catch it and then pull it back toward where we wanted it to go, said Hawkes. I think that was definitely an eye-opener, to see how a relatively small patch of our adhesive could pull around a 300 kilogram robot.

Next, Jiang and Parness went on a parabolic airplane flight to test the gripper in zero gravity. Over two days, they flew a series of 80 ascents and dives, which created an alternating experience of about 20 seconds of 2G and 20 seconds of zero-G conditions in the cabin. The gripper successfully grasped and let go of a cube and a large beach ball with a gentle enough touch that the objects barely moved when released.

Lastly, Parnesss lab developed a small gripper that went up in the International Space Station (ISS), where they tested how well the grippers worked inside the station.

Next steps for the gripper involve readying it for testing outside the space station, including creating a version made of longer lasting materials able to hold up to high levels of radiation and extreme temperatures. The current prototype is made of laser-cut plywood and includes rubber bands, which would become brittle in space.The researchers will have to make something sturdier for testing outside the ISS, likely designed to attach to the end of a robot arm.

Back on Earth, Cutkosky also hopes that they can manufacture larger quantities of the adhesive at a lower cost. He imagines that someday gecko-inspired adhesive could be as common as Velcro.

Additional Stanford co-authors are Matthew A. Estrada, Srinivasan A. Suresh, Amy K. Han, Shiquan Wang and Christopher J. Ploch. Christine Fuller and Neil Abcouwer of NASA JPL are also co-authors. Cutkosky is also a member of Stanford Bio-X and the Stanford Neurosciences Institute.

This work was funded by NASA, the National Science Foundation and a Samsung Scholarship.

Originally posted here:
Stanford engineers design a robotic gripper for cleaning up space debris - Stanford University News