Orbital Sciences' Cygnus spacecraft Leaves ISS to burn up in Earth atmosphere

The Cygnus spacecraft as seen when it was released from the International Space Station on Aug. 15, 2014.

Credit: NASA (via Twitter as @NASA)

A private cargo ship loaded down with trash left the International Space Station Friday morning (Aug. 15). Orbital Sciences' Cygnus spacecraft is due to plunge into Earth's atmosphere, burning up above the Pacific Ocean on Sunday (Aug. 17).

The Cygnus spacecraft launched to space on July 13 with close to 3,300 lbs. (1,496 kilograms) of supplies for the six astronauts on the orbiting outpost.

"A flock of nanosatellites was also shipped to the station aboard Cygnus for future release from the Kibo laboratory module’s airlock beginning next week," NASA officials said in a statement.

"Individually known as “Dove” satellites, the group will collect continuous Earth imagery documenting natural and man-made conditions of the environment to improve disaster relief and increase agricultural yields."

Virginia-based Orbital Sciences is one of two private companies that fly unmanned missions to the International Space Station for NASA.

The departure of Cygnus marks the end of the company's second mission (Orb-2) to the space laboratory under a $1.9 billion contract for eight resupply missions.

The other company, SpaceX, uses its Dragon capsule and Falcon 9 rocket to bring cargo to the station under a $1.6 billion NASA deal for 12 missions.

Orbital Sciences' Cygnus spacecraft seen from the International Space Station after its release on Aug. 15, 2014.

Credit: NASA TV

Lasercomm on International Space station to beam video via laser back to Earth

An artist's rendering shows the Optical Payload for Lasercomm Science (OPALS). 

Credit: OPALS

What's more interesting than videos of cats chasing laser beams over the kitchen floor?

How about videos sent over laser beams from NASA's International Space Station back to Earth?

A team of about 20 working at NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab in Pasadena, Calif., through the lab's Phaeton early-career-hire program, led the development of the Optical Payload for Lasercomm Science (OPALS) investigation, which is preparing for a March 16 launch to the International Space Station aboard the SpaceX-3 mission.

The goal is to provide NASA's first optical communication experiment on the orbital laboratory.

Scientific instruments used in space missions increasingly require higher communication rates to transmit gathered data back to Earth or to support high-data-rate applications, like high-definition video streams.

Matt Abrahamson

"Optical communications has the potential to be a game-changer," said mission manager Matt Abrahamson.

"Right now, many of our deep space missions communicate at 200 to 400 kilobits per second."

OPALS will demonstrate up to 50 megabits per second and future deep space optical communication systems will provide over one gigabits per second from Mars.

The Optical Payload for Lasercomm Science (OPALS) instrument is hoisted onto a shipping pallet for transfer to Kennedy Space Center in Florida. 

From there it will launch to the International Space Station. 

Credit: NASA

"It's like upgrading from dial-up to DSL," added project systems engineer Bogdan Oaida.

Bogdan Oaida

"Our ability to generate data has greatly outpaced our ability to downlink it. Imagine trying to download a movie at home over dial-up."

"It's essentially the same problem in space, whether we're talking about low-Earth orbit or deep space."

OPALS is scheduled to launch aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, part of a cargo resupply mission to the space station. The payload will be inside the Dragon cargo spacecraft.

Once deployed, OPALS will be conducting transmission tests for a period of nearly three months, with the possibility of a longer mission.

After the Dragon capsule docks with the station, OPALS will be robotically extracted from the trunk of the Dragon, and then manipulated by a robotic arm for positioning on the station's exterior.

It is the first investigation developed at JPL to launch on SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.