Review of NASA Plans for the International Space Station
Review of NASA Strategic Roadmaps: Space Station Panel, National Research Council
80 pages (approximate), 8 1/2 x 11, 2005
In January 2004, President Bush announced a new space policy directed at human and robotic exploration of space. In June 2004, the President s Commission on Implementation of United States Space Exploration Policy issued a report recommending among other things that NASA ask the National Research Council (NRC) to reevaluate space science priorities to take advantage of the exploration vision. Congress also directed the NRC to conduct a thorough review of the science NASA is proposing to undertake within the initiative. In February 2005, the NRC released Science in NASA s Vision for Space Exploration, the first report of the two studies undertaken to carry out these requests. The second report focuses on NASA s plan for the ISS. This report provides broad advice on programmatic issues that NASA is likely to face as it attempts to develop an updated ISS utilization plan. It also presents an assessment of potentially important research and testbed activities that may have to be performed on the ISS to help ensure success of some exploration objectives.
http://www.nap.edu/catalog/11512.html
From Space Reference Daily:
Well, two excellent books on ISS are the BIS volumes 1 & 2 of " International Space Station - From Imagination to Reality " available at:
http://www.bis-spaceflight.com/sitesia.aspx/page/128/Node/108/l/nl-be
Volume 2 for instance has a complete chapter on all EVAs - spacewalks conducted up to 2005 with each astronaut's individual portrait !
A must have
Does this count as an unmanned spacecraft?
http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/SuitSat_To_Be_Thrown_Overboard_February_3.html
Bob Shaw
Astrophysics, abstract
astro-ph/0602151
From: Claudine Tur [view email] [via CCSD proxy]
Date: Tue, 7 Feb 2006 08:21:27 GMT (105kb)
Results from the ULTRA experiment in the framework of the EUSO project
Authors: G. Agnetta, P. Assis, B. Biondo, P. Brogueira, A. Cappa, O. Catalano, J. Chauvin (LPSC), G. D'Ali Staiti, M. Dattoli, M.C. Espirito-Santo, L. Fava, P. Galeotti, S. Giarrusso, G. Gugliotta, G. La Rosa, D. Lebrun (LPSC), M.C. Maccarone, A. Mangano, L. Melo, S. Moreggia (LPSC), M. Pimenta, F. Russo, O. Saavedra, P. Scarsi, J.C. Silva, P. Stassi (LPSC), B. Tomè, P. Vallania, C. Vigorito, the EUSO Collaboration
Report-no: LPSC 05167
The detection of Cerenkov light from EAS in a delayed coincidence with fluorescence light gives a strong signature to discriminate protons and neutrinos in cosmic rays. For this purpose, the ULTRA experiment has been designed with 2 detectors: a small EAS array (ETscope) and an UV optical device including wide field (Belenos) and narrow field (UVscope) Cerenkov light detectors. The array measures the shower size and the arrival direction of the incoming EAS, while the UV devices, pointing both to zenith and nadir, are used to determine the amount of direct and diffused coincident Cerenkov light.
This information, provided for different diffusing surfaces, will be used to verify the possibility of detecting from Space the Cerenkov light produced by UHECRs with the EUSO experiment, on board the ISS.
http://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0602151
Next example of effective utilization of ISS research facilities.
http://www.flatoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060225/NEWS02/602250341/1007
What a completely idiotic idea.
ISS should be abandoned, de-orbited and dumped into the ocean before we waste another billion dollars.
Well, maybe we can reach a general consensus on THAT, at any rate. When you have a $100 billion "science facility" whose "experiments" would all be rejected by a junior high school science fair, the situation is a bit much. (I suggested a few years ago that if the amateur rocketry people REALLY wanted to make a major contribution to space exploration, their most productive move would be to wait until the Station was uninhabited and then launch a small suborbital rocket loaded with ball bearings in its path.)
I think that to have an operable ISS would be very useful thing for any emergency logistics of any further space exploration. I don't agree that ISS project would be cancelled.
Rodolfo
Some hard questions.
http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewnews.html?id=1093
the ISS does better to be in the news with a newly revealed and hopefully working assembly sequence than golf shot headlines !!!
Msnbc.com (Oberg) -- Space station set for rare eclipse encounter
By chance, orbital crew is due to come within sight of moon's shadow
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11763975/
By James Oberg, NBC News space analyst
Special to MSNBC // Updated: 1:03 a.m. ET March 13, 2006
When the shadow from a total solar eclipse sweeps over Earth on March 29, two
skywatchers should have a guaranteed cloud-free view of the spectacle: NASA
astronaut Bill McArthur and Russian cosmonaut Valery Tokarev, the current
residents of the international space station.
The date with an eclipse will serve as a fitting celestial sendoff for the
station's Expedition 12 crew members, just days before a new international crew
arrives to take their place.
Between now and then, McArthur and Tokarev will be cleaning up and packing up
for the transition. Also on the agenda for the weeks ahead are a couple of tests
designed to assure space station operations for years to come.
The crew's date with an eclipse is something that NASA says is an unexpected
"bonus." Only a handful of humans have witnessed such a phenomenon, and it's not
clear whether the crew will be able to do anything beyond photographing the
moon's shadow on Earth beneath them.
At one point, it looked as if the space station would be flying right through
the shadow.
The station's Zvezda service module had been scheduled to fire up its rocket
engines on Wednesday to adjust the orbit in anticipation of the replacement
crew's launch on March 30. According to German space engineer Gerhard Holtkamp,
that maneuver would have put the station right in the path of the eclipse over
the coast of southern Turkey.
"With the eclipse shadow moving at triple the speed of sound, and the ISS
faster still, the whole thing is a little like shooting two bullets out of
different directions and trying to make them hit each other," he told MSNBC.com
in an e-mail.
Sources within NASA's Mission Control told MSNBC.com that the maneuver had
nothing to do with the eclipse. "It's to set up phasing and lighting for the
next Soyuz exchange," one expert explained in an e-mail. "The eclipse is a
bonus."
NASA Science News for June 1, 2006
A little droid is roaming the corridors of the International Space Station, and more are on the way.
FULL STORY at
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2006/01jun_spheres.htm?list161084
Hmmm. "Her resistance to the mind probe is considerable."
I'm going to take a look...
http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMA64AATME_index_0.html
You beautiful tiny one...:
http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMRHL8LURE_FeatureWeek_0.html
I just saw the ISS and it does indeed look brighter after the addition of the 2nd set of Solar Arrays.
I wonder if the ISS will be like the Iridium satellites, making spectacular flashes
when sunlight hits the solar panels just right?
http://www.satobs.org/iridium.html
looks from that website it's not the solar panels that flash. Solar panels will be at right angles to the sun if possible.
Solar Panels will always be oriented as best they can toward the sun. Iridium sats are a special case - they have a set of large aluminium antennae that are at an angle that reflects light onto the ground just right to create the flares.
http://www.obsat.com/irimage_e.html
of course, there's always still scope for the odd flash or flicks if the angle between a part of the station and the sun is right- but I don't think we'll ever see things like the flares occuring.
Of course - if it gets to mag -3 or lower - then we're talking brighter than 50% of Iridium flares anyway
Doug
Current position of the ISS:
http://www.heavens-above.com/
The russians actually tried this back in 1998, but the mirrior failed to deploy.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/default.stm
The 'cast has begun...
http://www.esa.int/esaHS/SEM7WVOFHTE_index_0.html
http://www.esa.int/esaHS/SEMHR7PFHTE_iss_0.html
+
http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/MM_NTV_Breaking.html:
October 26, Thursday
10 a.m. - ISS Progress 23 Docking to the ISS Coverage (docking occurs at 10:28 a.m.) - JSC (Public and Media Channels)
According to http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6089066.stm, the docking has failed
Sounds like they may just need to get the antenna folded, then re dock.
""There was some problem with achieving a perfect seal," he said. "We have had such incidents before and it is not something extraordinary."
Sounds fixable.
Just caught it going overhead....part built shedoffice at the bottom there
Doug
Just a bit of fun - badly done (shadows wrong etc etc )
I might try and do one with the modules finished - as with Destiny we have a sutiable stand in for the Japan module (missing the external platform). Cut a segment out and it's Columbus
Doug
Well this being an ISS topic, I would like to point out 2 books, unavailable via Amazon so a bit unknwon, but 2 excellent (technical detailed) volumes!
The 2nd has all color portraits of male & female astronauts who performed an EVA to help constructing the ISS:
http://www.bis-spaceflight.com/sitesia.aspx/page/170/id/169/l/en-us
http://www.bis-spaceflight.com/sitesia.aspx/page/170/id/279/l/en-us
A bit more fudgey - a sort of ISS config that will never happen ( S6 + Columbus sans Kibo )
Doug
Still a nice composite...though you have Columbus and Kibo on the wrong sides of Harmony. Oh well
LOL - DOH!!! Yup - I was thinking from the top, but editing from the bottom. Oops Well -MOVE OVER KIBO, Columbus is coming
Doug
One thing they did on or just before this mission, which I haven't seen mentioned anywhere but is clearly visible on the photos, is that they partially retracted the solar panels on Zarya. I haven't seen any approach photos of ISS (before docking) from STS 120, but the Zarya panels were fully extended at the end of Endeavour's mission in August.
The Zarya panels were retracted a few weeks before STS-120 launched. There was an article on it on Space.com
Yup - they had to retract them to make room for the deployment of two further radiators which can now happily rotate fully with a full compliment of three radiators. I assume the other side will have it's final two deployed once S6 goes up
Doug
The starboard radiators will be deployed after Harmony is moved. Kind of a clearance issue right now.
Hmm. Anybody know if extra precautions will be required for these panel redeployments in light of the malfunction? And actually, has NASA found a root cause for the hangup/tear yet?
EDIT: D'oh!!! Never mind; I read "radiators" and thought "solar arrays"...
Yup. Port. Whoops!
Squinting your eyes and ignoring the white clouds, and you can imagine that THAT'S Mars that Harmony is floating above...
In case you missed it, Harmony's now in its final spot : http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n0711/14harmony/index.html
"Only" 2 more spacewalk to go to complete set up and clear next Shuttle launch yet in another 3 weeks. Incredible time for the ISS.
BTW the 2 spacewalks will ne N°98 & 99 of ISS construction.
NASA TV reported earlier today that the port-side radiators have been fully deployed.
Hopefully this is spurious:
http://spaceflightnow.com/news/n0711/28harmonyleak/
Wouldn't want to lose 3lbs of air per day.
The spaceflight.nasa.gov website has this update, although it hasn't changed since Thursday:
"Wednesday night the Expedition 16 crew closed hatches to the vestibule between Harmony Node and Destiny Laboratory to support a second overnight leak check. When Commander Peggy Whitson opened the Destiny Lab forward hatch Thursday morning, there did not appear to be any pressure change between the Lab and the vestibule. If there had been a leak in the vestibule, a pressure drop would have been observed. Telemetry from this morning also suggested that the vestibule did not leak overnight. Specialists in Mission Control Center Houston will continue to analyze all data from both overnight leak checks."
On the space multimedia website ( http://www.space-multimedia.nl.eu.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3070&Itemid=2 ) is a lovely video of Peggy opening both hatches, drifiting into a dark Harmony, and turning the light on. It may seem a silly thing - but I don't think I've seen someone open the door, and turn on the light before
Doug
It's kind of funny to see her working in this high-tech setting barefoot. I guess there's no real reason to wear shoes in space, but it does stand out.
Normally they wear these: http://www.hammacher.com/publish/60665.asp?promo=ap_slippers
Another image of June 2007: http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/images/station/crew-15/lores/iss015e10579.jpg
Are those available at retail stores? I wonder how much they'll sell for at Walmart
In a microgravity environment, your feet and toes dramatically gain usefulness. I read a breakdown somewhere of how various Skylab and early ISS crew adapted to microgravity, and a certain percentage ended up going barefoot a lot, using their toes to grab onto little "toeholds" in their environments and help stabilize their lower bodies when stopping to do some transient activity for which strapping in or down is way too much activity overhead.
One of the more interesting results of the Skylab experience that was actually taken into account in the design of the ISS modules was the breakdown of how people orient themselves within a microgravity environment. Going entirely from memory, I believe it was something like a third who felt comfortable no matter what direction their heads were pointed at any given time, guys who would have happily tossed workstations anywhere on a floor, ceiling or wall. Then there was a third that preferred to have a sense of local vertical congruent to their surroundings, people who liked to keep their feet pointed towards a "floor" and their heads towards a "ceiling", but who could easily work in odd angles if they needed to. And finally, there was a third who really strongly needed the local vertical, people who got physically uncomfortable in locations like the Multiple Docking Adapter, which had no local verticals but literally plastered the interior with equipment and control consoles.
Because of this, the third who would be happy hanging any which way were outvoted, and the ISS modules are all built with a pretty strong sense of local vertical. And most of the eventual labs will share the same local vertical, minimizing disorientation going from module to module. So, this is one instance where it would seem lessons were indeed learned and applied to later programs.
-the other Doug
Another fun thing about being off of your feet for 180 days is that the callouses peel off the bottoms of your feet. For some folks, that can be quite a thick piece of skin! I would imagine that walking on uncalloused feet adds to the discomfort that people experience when they have to readjust to moving about on Earth.
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