Monthly Archives: August 2017

When SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket blasts off Monday, one of the items on board will be a supercomputer built by Hewlett Packard Enterprise, dubbed the "Spaceborne Computer." When SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket blasts off Monday, one of the items on board will be a supercomputer built by Hewlett Packard Enterprise, dubbed the "Spaceborne Computer." Related Content

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) - A SpaceX rocket is ready to deliver one of the most high-tech payloads ever to the International Space Station.

When the Falcon 9 rocket blasts off on Monday, one of the items on board will be a supercomputer built by Hewlett Packard Enterprise, dubbed the "Spaceborne Computer." If it works, it could be the most powerful commercial, off-the-shelf computer ever to operate in space.

Astronauts aboard the space station already have a bunch of devices you'd find at your local electronics store -- including HP laptops.

But a supercomputer is something different. It's a much more powerful piece of hardware that can crunch massive amounts of data and send the results to other computers in just moments.

According to Mark Fernandez, the HPE engineer who is heading up this new experiment, the space-bound supercomputer will have the ability to make one trillion calculations in a single second -- about 30 to 100 times more powerful than your average desktop computer.

Julie Robinson, the chief scientist for NASA's space station program, said if this supercomputer can function in the harsh conditions of space -- it'll be very exciting news for companies down here on earth.

Robinson points out that a huge point of interest for the private sector is taking high-quality satellite images of earth in order to track things like crop growth or oil exploration.

"What's happening is -- just as your TV now has so much more resolution -- the same thing is happening with [satellite imagery]," she said.

But the high-definition images require 200 to 300 times more data, which can clog up the communication pipeline between earth and space. That's where a supercomputer on board the space station would become hugely valuable, Robinson told CNNMoney.

"If you can process the data on board [the space station], you then only need to send down a subset of the data that's actually needed," she said.

Space-bound computers have been slow to reach such powerful data processing capabilities. A lot of the hardware on board the space station now has undergone significant retrofitting via a process called "hardening" -- which means it's been beefed up with extra protection to keep it safe in the rough conditions of space.

"By the time it goes through the hardening process, and then the tests needed to ensure it's ready to fly, the computers are many generations old," HPE's Fernandez said.

HPE's supercomputer, however, is just like one you'd buy on earth. Fernandez said the only thing different about the one flying to space is some special software that should be able to detect when the computer is exposed to something dangerous -- like high radiation levels -- and make small adjustments to keep it safe.

Will the avant-garde software be enough to ensure the supercomputer will survive in space?

Not everyone is so sure. "Some think it'll never power up or be fried within the first few minutes," Fernandez said.

We'll find out soon enough.

Fernandez said he expects to receive word the device has been plugged in and booted up sometime on September 4.

"I told them to let me know as soon as that happens -- anytime, day or night," Fernandez said with a laugh. "If it powers up, that's going to be my first relief. I will be very excited then."

Fernandez and his team will then run about 2-and-a-half hours of tests to determine if the computer is fully functional. That, he said, will be the next major victory.

Then, the plan is for scientists here on earth to keep running tests with the supercomputer for a full year to see how it fares on the space station.

If the supercomputer is still operational at the end of one year -- Fernandez said it'll pave the way for NASA to send up even more powerful computers.

And one day, a similar computer could be used by astronauts traveling to Mars.

HPE's Fernandez and NASA's Robinson both said having the ability to process large amounts of data on board a Mars mission would be a huge advantage.

That's because there could be long minutes of lag time in communicating with Mars-bound astronauts, and communications could even be cut off for days at a time.

"Such a long communication lag would make any on-the-ground exploration challenging and potentially dangerous if astronauts are not able to solve certain problems themselves," HPE explained.

"By sending a supercomputer to space, HPE is taking the first step in that direction," the company said.

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SpaceX to launch most powerful computer ever sent to space station - NBC Montana

A new experiment set for an Aug. 14 launch to the International Space Station will provide an unprecedented look at a rain of particles from deep space, called cosmic rays, that constantly showers our planet. The Cosmic Ray Energetics And Mass mission destined for the International Space Station (ISS-CREAM) is designed to measure the highest-energy particles of any detector yet flown in space.

"The CREAM balloon experiment achieved a total sky exposure of 191 days, a record for any balloon-borne astronomical experiment," said Eun-Suk Seo, a professor of physics at the University of Maryland in College Park and the experiment's principal investigator. "Operating on the space station will increase our exposure by over 10 times, taking us well beyond the traditional energy limits of direct measurements."

Sporting new instruments, as well as refurbished versions of detectors originally used on balloon flights over Antarctica, the refrigerator-sized, 1.4-ton (1,300 kilogram) ISS-CREAM experiment will be delivered to the space station as part of the 12th SpaceX commercial resupply service mission. Once there, ISS-CREAM will be moved to the Exposed Facility platform extending from Kibo, the Japanese Experiment Module.

From this orbital perch, ISS-CREAM is expected to study the "cosmic rain" for three yearstime needed to provide unparalleled direct measurements of rare high-energy cosmic rays.

At energies above about 1 billion electron volts, most cosmic rays come to us from beyond our solar system. Various lines of evidence, including observations from NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, support the idea that shock waves from the expanding debris of stars that exploded as supernovas accelerate cosmic rays up to energies of 1,000 trillion electron volts (PeV). That's 10 million times the energy of medical proton beams used to treat cancer. ISS-CREAM data will allow scientists to examine how sources other than supernova remnants contribute to the population of cosmic rays.

Protons are the most common cosmic ray particles, but electrons, helium nuclei and the nuclei of heavier elements make up a small percentage. All are direct samples of matter from interstellar space. But because the particles are electrically charged, they interact with galactic magnetic fields, causing them to wander in their journey to Earth. This scrambles their paths and makes it impossible to trace cosmic ray particles back to their sources.

"An additional challenge is that the flux of particles striking any detector decreases steadily with higher energies," said ISS-CREAM co-investigator Jason Link, a researcher at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. "So to better explore higher energies, we either need a much bigger detector or much more observing time. Operating on the space station provides us with this extra time."

Large ground-based systems study cosmic rays at energies greater than 1 PeV by making Earth's atmosphere the detector. When a cosmic ray strikes the nucleus of a gas molecule in the atmosphere, both explode in a shower of subatomic shrapnel that triggers a wider cascade of particle collisions. Some of these secondary particles reach detectors on the ground, providing information scientists can use to infer the properties of the original cosmic ray.

Technicians lower ISS-CREAM into a chamber that simulates the space environment during system-level testing at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in summer 2015. Credit: University of Maryland Cosmic Ray Physics Laboratory These secondaries also produce an interfering background that limited the effectiveness of CREAM's balloon operations. Removing that background is another advantage of relocating to orbit.

With decreasing numbers of particles at increasing energies, the cosmic ray spectrum vaguely resembles the profile of a human leg. At PeV energies, this decline abruptly steepens, forming a detail scientists call the "knee." ISS-CREAM is the first space mission capable of measuring the low flux of cosmic rays at energies approaching the knee.

"The origin of the knee and other features remain longstanding mysteries," Seo said. "Many scenarios have been proposed to explain them, but we don't know which is correct."

Astronomers don't think supernova remnants are capable of powering cosmic rays beyond the PeV range, so the knee may be shaped in part by the drop-off of their cosmic rays in this region.

"High-energy cosmic rays carry a great deal of information about our interstellar neighborhood and our galaxy, but we haven't been able to read these messages very clearly," said co-investigator John Mitchell at Goddard. "ISS-CREAM represents one significant step in this direction."

ISS-CREAM detects cosmic ray particles when they slam into the matter making up its instruments. First, a silicon charge detector measures the electrical charge of incoming particles, then layers of carbon provide targets that encourage impacts, producing cascades of particles that stream into electrical and optical detectors below while a calorimeter determines their energy. Two scintillator-based detector systems provide the ability to discern between singly charged electrons and protons. All told, ISS-CREAM can distinguish electrons, protons and atomic nuclei as massive as iron as they crash through the instruments.

ISS-CREAM will join two other cosmic ray experiments already working on the space station. The Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS-02), led by an international collaboration sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, is mapping cosmic rays up to a trillion electron volts, and the Japan-led Calorimetric Electron Telescope (CALET), also located on the Kibo Exposed Facility, is dedicated to studying cosmic ray electrons.

Overall management of ISS-CREAM and integration for its space station application was provided by NASA's Wallops Flight Facility on Virginia's Eastern Shore. ISS-CREAM was developed as part of an international collaboration led by the University of Maryland at College Park, which includes teams from NASA Goddard, Penn State University in University Park, Pennsylvania, and Northern Kentucky University in Highland Heights, as well as collaborating institutions in the Republic of Korea, Mexico and France.

The Daily Galaxy via NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

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New NASA Mission Going to the International Space Station --"To Explore Mysteries of Cosmic Rain" - The Daily Galaxy (blog)

Wearing winter clothes, Andrew Frank entered a minus 20 degrees Celsius freezer at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida earlier this month to help insert hundreds of biological samples into a tiny device destined for a mission in space.

But the unit wouldn't quite fit into the 4-by-4-by-6-inch box required for the mission, so the 16-year-old Boy Scout with Palatine-based Troop 209 and other volunteers improvised with tinier screws and silicon tape to seal the container. After eight hours working off and on in the deep freeze, Frank was shaking from the cold, but the device was cleared for liftoff.

With that, a two-year process to build an experiment capable of testing DNA mutations in space while meeting strict NASA specifications was complete.

The project was chosen from a competition among Chicago-area troops sponsored by Boy Scouts of America and the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space, which runs the U.S. laboratory on the International Space Station. Some of the Scouts will be on hand to watch when the experiment is due to launch aboard a SpaceX rocket from the Florida space center on Monday.

"It's been a huge learning experience," said Frank, the team leader. "I had never done anything like this."

The experiment will test genetic mutations of bacteria in low gravity. Using a procedure called the Ames test, the Scouts will examine how much E. coli cultures change in space and compare that with what happens to them on Earth.

If they find changes in mutations, the Scouts said, it might suggest better ways to fight cancer or grow tissue to heal wounds.

"At the beginning, it's just really cool to do something that's going into outer space," said team mentor Norm McFarland. "By the end, the Scouts were coming up with their own solutions to problems they were finding."

Their device will take photos of each culture repeatedly throughout the flight, checking for a telltale color change from purple to yellow.

To fit a testing device into the restricted space, the Scouts tried out multiple designs, cameras and motors, finally settling on an octagon-shaped carousel that rotates the samples so they can be photographed. Sensors also track time, temperature and humidity.

The device must do all that without using more than the allotted power limit of about 2.5 watts, a small fraction of the power commonly used by lightbulbs.

When astronauts return the experiment to Earth after about a month, the Scouts will check the results, then run the same experiment under the same conditions but in normal gravity.

Some 20 Scouts, age 11 to 18, worked on the project, putting in more than 5,000 hours of meeting time.

The team had guidance from many adults including McFarland, an electrical engineer who retired from Siemens Building Technologies after helping develop numerous patents. Among those who also assisted were a microbiologist and a father who helped fabricate the aluminum parts for the device.

The Scouts themselves designed and soldered a circuit board to help make their experiment work. They even included a position sensor, so if the space station loses power temporarily, the device can reset itself.

Frank and teammate Harmon Bhasin were in Florida before the launch to explain their project at a NASA preflight news conference.

Adult volunteer Kathleen Cassady said she was impressed by how the Scouts grew during the project.

"I thought this would be a good thing to get them interested in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math)," she said, "but I never thought it would also give them the soft skills, to be able to work as a team, provide leadership and problem-solve."

Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune

Members of Palatine Boy Scout Troop 209 built this device to test genetic mutations of bacteria in low gravity. Its scheduled to launch on Monday, Aug. 14, 2017, aboard a SpaceX rocket in Florida.

Members of Palatine Boy Scout Troop 209 built this device to test genetic mutations of bacteria in low gravity. Its scheduled to launch on Monday, Aug. 14, 2017, aboard a SpaceX rocket in Florida. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune)

This isn't the only Scout experiment chosen for the space station. Explorer Post 2400, which includes males and females up to age 20 out of Calumet College of St. Joseph in Whiting, was chosen for the next space launch this fall, to test the effect of low gravity on peptides, which are thought to play a key role in Alzheimer's disease.

One of the faculty leaders on the project, Sandra Chimon Rogers, chairwoman of the college's department of biophysical chemistry and math, said the team developed an infrared spectrometer that fit into the tiny space allowed and cost only about $700, rather than the tens of thousands of dollars such devices often cost.

"It's an amazing opportunity for them, and more students should be aware of it," Rogers said.

In addition, a team of students from Deerfield High School won a separate competition to send their experiment on Monday's launch. They will test different materials for their ability to provide a shield from radiation, which could prove crucial to any long-range space mission, such as an expedition to Mars.

That Go For Launch! competition was sponsored by Higher Orbits, a nonprofit that promotes science and technology, and was judged in part by a former astronaut, Dorothy Metcalf-Lindenburger.

One of the students on the Deerfield team, 16-year-old Chirag Goel, said he was thrilled at the opportunity.

"To look into the night sky and to be a small part of that is humbling," Goel said. "To tell your kids I helped design an experiment to go into space ... what could be cooler than that?"

rmccoppin@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @RobertMcCoppin

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Local Boy Scout troop experiment about to take off for outer space ... - Chicago Tribune

By NASA // August 13, 2017

ABOVE VIDEO:The SpaceX CRS-12 mission will carry more than 20 ISS National Lab experiments to the International Space Station ranging from research on Parkinsons disease, DNA science to many others.

BREVARD COUNTY KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLORIDA The SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft is targeted for launch Monday, Aug. 14 from Kennedy Space Center for its 12th commercial resupply (CRS-12) mission to the International Space Station.

The flight will deliver investigations and instruments that study cosmic ray particles, protein crystal growth, stem cell-mediated recellularization and a nanosateliite technology demonstration.

The vehicle also will deliver supplies and equipment to crew members living aboard the station.

Here are some highlights of research that will be delivered:

Investigation studies cosmic ray particles

Cosmic ray particles reach Earth from far outside the solar system with energies well beyond what man-made accelerators can achieve. The Cosmic Ray Energetics and Mass (ISS-CREAM) instrument, attached to the Japanese Experiment Module Exposed Facility, measures the charges of cosmic ray particles ranging from hydrogen to iron nuclei.

The data collected from the CREAM instrument will be used to address fundamental science questions such as:

Do supernovae supply the bulk of cosmic ray particles?

What is the history of cosmic ray particles in the galaxy?

Can the energy spectra of cosmic rays result from a single mechanism?

Tested in several long duration balloon flights, the CREAM instrument holds the longest known exposure record for a single balloon-borne experiment at approximately 190 days of exposure. ISS-CREAMs three-year mission will help the scientific community build a stronger understanding of the fundamental structure of the universe.

Microgravity-grown protein crystals aid in understanding of Parkinsons disease

ABOVE VIDEO:The Michael J. Fox Foundation is sending an experiment to the ISS National Lab to investigate the LRRK2 protein, a key target in identifying the makeup of Parkinsons disease.

The microgravity environment of the space station allows protein crystals to grow larger and in more perfect shapes than earth-grown crystals, allowing them to be better analyzed on Earth.

Developed by the Michael J. Fox Foundation, Anatrace and Com-Pac International, the Crystallization of Leucine-rich repeat kinase 2 (LRRK2) under Microgravity Conditions (CASIS PCG 7) investigation will use the orbiting laboratorys microgravity environment to grow larger versions of this important protein, implicated in Parkinsons disease.

Defining the exact shape and morphology of LRRK2 would help scientists to better understand the pathology of Parkinsons and aid in the development of therapies against this target.

Telescope-hosting nanosatellite tests new concept

The Kestrel Eye (NanoRacks-KE IIM) investigation is a microsatellite carrying an optical imaging system payload. This investigation validates the concept of using microsatellites in low-Earth orbit to support critical operations, such as providing lower-cost Earth imagery in time-sensitive situations such as tracking severe weather and detecting natural disasters.

Sponsored by the space station U.S. National Laboratory, the overall mission goal for the investigation is to demonstrate that small satellites are viable platforms for providing critical path support to operations and hosting advanced payloads.

Growth of lung tissue in space could provide information about disease pathology

ABOVE VIDEO:The University of Texas Medical Branch will be sending human lung tissue to the ISS National Lab to better understand how lung tissue functions in microgravity in preparation for long-term spaceflight.

The Effect of Microgravity on Stem Cell Mediated Recellularization (Lung Tissue) uses the microgravity environment of space to test strategies for growing new lung tissue.

Using bioengineering techniques, the Lung Tissue investigation cultures different types of lung cells in controlled conditions aboard the space station.

The cells are grown in a specialized framework that supplies them with critical growth factors so that scientists can observe how gravity affects growth and specialization as cells become new lung tissue.

The SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft is targeted for launch Monday, Aug. 14 from Kennedy Space Center for its 12th commercial resupply (CRS-12) mission to the International Space Station.

Tissue mimic models such as this also have the potential to be used for assessing drug or chemical toxicity by biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies and could allow for rapid testing of new chemicals and compounds, considerably lowering the overall costs for research and development of new drugs.

The ultimate goal of this investigation is to produce bioengineered human lung tissue that can be used as a predictive model of human responses allowing for the study of lung development, lung physiology or disease pathology.

These investigations and others launching aboard CRS-12 will join many other investigations currently happening aboard the space station. Follow @ISS_Research for more information about the science happening on station.

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VIDEO: Research To Advance Disease Therapies Among Cargo Headed To Space Station On Dragon Monday - SpaceCoastDaily.com