High Definition Earth Viewing equipment installed on ISS Columbus lab

A view of the High Definition Earth Viewing equipment installed on the exterior of the International Space Station's Columbus laboratory. 

The cameras are enclosed in a temperature specific housing and are exposed to the harsh radiation of space. 

Credit: NASA

A series of new Earth science instruments launching to the International Space Station over the next year is prompting a new era of Earth observation from the orbiting outpost.

These new tools that monitor ocean winds and measure clouds and pollution in the atmosphere, among other climate science phenomena, will help NASA deliver important information to climate researchers.

While these new Earth science instruments collect valuable information on our changing planet, one current Earth observation study continuously streams live views of Earth directly to your desktop or mobile internet device.

The High Definition Earth Viewing (HDEV) investigation allows anyone with an internet connection to view our world from above. Tune in to the HDEV live stream here.

The HDEV project employs four commercially available cameras to stream the first continuous, high definition video from the space station.

During the two-year study period, researchers hope to determine the best types of cameras to use on future missions by subjecting them to the harsh space environment.

The cameras are enclosed in a temperature-specific case and mounted outside the Columbus laboratory to monitor how quickly they degrade during exposure to radiation in microgravity.

"We know over time that the cameras will begin to degrade," said David Hornyak, engineer and HDEV project manager at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston.

"We will operate the cameras to determine how long it takes and to learn what that degradation characteristic looks like to provide information on the planning and design of future imagery systems."

"It is expected that the cameras will not just turn off, but they will have some type of image degradation and at some point, that degradation will be bad enough that the image is no longer useful."

With the use of commercially available cameras, the research team also hopes to validate cameras that may be more cost-effective for future missions.

If a camera is readily available on Earth and proves to hold up well in space, purchasing this type of camera would likely be cheaper than designing a new product.

A view of Earth from one of the High Definition Earth Viewing cameras aboard the International Space Station. 

Credit: NASA

By using four different types of cameras, each has a different type of technology to analyse for what works best in space.

Once a week, the project team uses an automated software program to compare pixels on night imagery taken by the cameras to assess the deterioration of each camera.

The pixels are easier to see and compare in dark images than in those with objects and multiple colors included.

"The project team is building up a database of knowledge for selecting cameras in the future," explained Hornyak.

"With this information, we will have an understanding of how much time we have on orbit before a camera has to be replaced."

NASA Orion Spacecraft: Back Shell Tile Panels Installed

Inside the Operations and Checkout Building high bay at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, technicians dressed in clean-room suits have installed a back shell tile panel onto the Orion crew module and are checking the fit next to the middle back shell tile panel.

Preparations are underway for Exploration Flight Test-1, or EFT-1.

Orion is the exploration spacecraft designed to carry astronauts to destinations not yet explored by humans, including an asteroid and Mars.

It will have emergency abort capability, sustain the crew during space travel and provide safe re-entry from deep space return velocities.

Two one-inch-wide holes have been drilled into tiles on Orion’s back shell to simulate micrometeoroid orbital debris damage. 

Sensors on the vehicle will record how high temperatures climb inside the hole during Orion’s return through Earth’s atmosphere following its first flight in December.

Image Credit: NASA

The first unpiloted test flight of the Orion is scheduled to launch later this year atop a Delta IV rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida to an altitude of 3,600 miles above the Earth's surface.

The two-orbit, four-hour flight test will help engineers evaluate the systems critical to crew safety including the heat shield, parachute system and launch abort system.

Image Credit: NASA/Dimitri Gerondidakis

ISS Astronaut Wiseman instals Capillary Channel Flow Experiment

Image Credit: NASA

NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman, Expedition 40 flight engineer, installs Capillary Channel Flow (CCF) experiment hardware in the ESA-developed Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG) located in the Destiny laboratory of the International Space Station.

CCF is a versatile experiment for studying a critical variety of inertial-capillary dominated flows key to spacecraft systems that cannot be studied on the ground.

Capillary flow is the natural wicking of fluid between narrow channels in the opposite direction of gravity. Tree roots are one example of a capillary system, drawing water up from the soil.

By increasing understanding of capillary flow in the absence of gravity, the Capillary Channel Flow (CCF) experiment helps scientists find new ways to move liquids in space.

Capillary systems do not require pumps or moving parts, which reduces their cost, weight and complexity.

ESO MUSE: Powerful 3D spectrograph successfully installed on VLT

This view shows how the new MUSE instrument on ESO's Very Large Telescope gives a innovative three-dimensional depiction of a distant galaxy. 

For each part of the galaxy the light has been split up into its component colours -- revealing not only the motions of different parts of the galaxy but also clues to its chemical composition and other properties. 

Credit: ESO /MUSE consortium /R. Bacon/L. Calçada

Following testing and preliminary acceptance in Europe in September 2013, MUSE was shipped to ESO's Paranal Observatory in Chile.

It was reassembled at the base camp before being carefully transported to its new home at the VLT, where it is now installed on Unit Telescope 4.

MUSE is the latest of the second generation instruments for the VLT (the first two were X-shooter and KMOS and the next, SPHERE, will follow shortly).

The leader of the team and principal investigator for the instrument, Roland Bacon (Centre de Recherche Astrophysique de Lyon, France), expressed his feelings: "It has taken a lot of work by many people over many years, but we have done it!

It seems strange that this seven-tonne collection of optics, mechanics and electronics is now a fantastic time machine for probing the early Universe."

"We are very proud of the achievement—MUSE will remain a unique instrument for years to come."

MUSE instrument on its VLT Nasmyth platform

MUSE's science goals include delving into the early epochs of the Universe to probe the mechanisms of galaxy formation and studying both the motions of material in nearby galaxies and their chemical properties.

It will have many other applications, ranging all the way from studies of the planets and satellites in the Solar System, through the properties of star-forming regions in the Milky Way and out to the distant Universe.

As a unique and powerful tool for discovery MUSE uses 24 spectrographs to separate light into its component colours to create both images and spectra of selected regions of the sky.

It creates 3D views of the Universe with a spectrum for each pixel as the third dimension.

During the subsequent analysis the astronomer can move through the data and study different views of the object at different wavelengths, just like tuning a television to different channels at different frequencies.

MUSE instrument on its VLT Nasmyth platform

MUSE couples the discovery potential of an imaging device with the measuring capabilities of a spectrograph, while taking advantage of the much better image sharpness provided by adaptive optics.

The instrument is mounted on Unit Telescope 4 of the VLT, which is currently being converted into a fully adaptive telescope.

Since the start of 2014, Bacon and the rest of the MUSE integration and commissioning team at Paranal have recorded the MUSE story in a series of blog posts which can be followed here.

The team will present the first results from MUSE at the forthcoming 3D2014 workshop at ESO in Garching bei München, Germany.

"A muse is there to inspire. Indeed, MUSE has inspired us for many years and will continue to do so," says Bacon in a blog post on the first light.

"No doubt many astronomers from all over the world will also be charmed by our MUSE." Bacon reported.

NASA Solar Ultraviolet Imager (SUVI): Space Weather instrument cleared for installation onto GOES-R spacecraft

The first NASA Solar Ultraviolet Imager (SUVI) flight unit for the GOES-R series of satellites is being inspected by Lockheed Martin engineer Glenn S. Gradwohl, the SUVI Mechanical Lead, at the Lockheed Martin Advanced Technology Center in Palo Alto, Calif. 

Credit: Lockheed Martin

The Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite – R known as GOES-R Series Program completed its next instrument, SUVI, Solar Ultra-Violet Imager, which is now ready for integration onto the GOES-R spacecraft.

SUVI is a telescope that will observe the sun in the extreme ultraviolet wavelength range and provide full-disk solar images around the clock.

The instrument will identify active regions on the sun, including solar flares and eruptions, which could lead to coronal mass ejections.

These eruptions affect space weather and can have impacts on Earth including the disruption of power utilities, communication and navigation systems, and can damage orbiting satellites and the International Space Station.

SUVI replaces the current GOES Solar X-ray Imager (SXI) instrument and represents an improvement in the coverage and resolution over the SXI.

SUVI will improve space weather forecasting to enable NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center to provide earlier warnings to electric power companies, telecommunication providers and satellite operators to mitigate possible impacts.

"This milestone marks the completion of the third space weather instrument to fly on board the GOES-R satellite," said Greg Mandt, GOES-R System Program Director at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.

"SUVI joins the Space Environment In-Situ Suite or SEISS and Extreme X-Ray Irradiance Sensor or EXIS instruments in preparation for spacecraft integration."

"The remaining space weather instrument, the Magnetometer, will be complete in the coming months."

SUVI will be shipped from the Lockheed Martin Advanced Technology Center in Palo Alto, Calif. to its sister Lockheed Martin facility in Littleton, Colo., in early 2014 to be installed onto the first GOES-R spacecraft. Lockheed Martin is building the spacecraft for the GOES-R series.

To date, the Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI), Extreme X-Ray Irradiance Sensor (EXIS) and Space Environment In-Situ Suite, (SEISS) are complete and poised to be integrated onto the spacecraft.

The remaining GOES-R instruments to be delivered are:

• Geostationary Lightning Mapper, which will, for the first time, provide continuous surveillance of total lightning activity from geostationary orbit over the Western Hemisphere;
• Magnetometer, which will provide measurements of the magnetic field surrounding Earth that protects the planet from charged particles released from the sun. 
• These particles can be dangerous to spacecraft and human spaceflight. 
• The geomagnetic field measurements will provide alerts and warnings to satellite operators and power utilities.

GOES-R's instruments will feature improved terrestrial and solar weather monitoring tools and will provide near real-time data to forecasters during severe weather events.

The first satellite in the GOES-R series is currently scheduled for launch in early 2016.

NASA - Russian Cosmonauts to Move Cargo Boom, Deploy Ham Radio Satellite

Expedition 28 Flight Engineers Sergei Volkov and Alexander Samokutyaev conducted an EVA outside the Pirs airlock at 10:30 a.m. EDT Wednesday. A grueling six-hour excursion. Both spacewalkers wore Russian Orlan-MK spacesuits.

Coverage of the spacewalk was broadcast live on NASA Television beginning at 10 a.m. EDT.

Volkov, making his third spacewalk, and Samokutyaev, making his first, both wore spacesuits marked with blue stripes. Volkov’s previous two spacewalks occurred while he was Expedition 17 commander in 2008.

During the spacewalk, Commander Andrey Borisenko and NASA Flight Engineer Ron Garan closed the hatches on the Poisk docking module, which is opposite the Pirs airlock, and sealed the hatches between Zvezda and Poisk.

This gave them access to their Soyuz 26 spacecraft, protected them against the unlikely possibility of a sudden station depressurization and allowed the forward transfer compartment of Zvezda to be used as a backup airlock.

Flight Engineers Mike Fossum of NASA, and Satoshi Furukawa of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, was supporting them in the U.S. segment and had access to their Soyuz 27 spacecraft, which is docked to the Rassvet module.

The duo’s first task wwas to deploy a boxy, 57-pound satellite, called alternately ARISSat-1 and Radioskaf-V, which is the prototype test flight of a proposed series of educational satellites being developed in a partnership with the Radio Amateur Satellite Corp. (AMSAT), the NASA Office of Education ISS National Lab Project, the Amateur Radio on ISS (ARISS) working group and RSC-Energia.

The ARISSat design can carry up to four student experiments and the data from these experiments will be transmitted to the ground via an amateur radio link. This prototype ARISSat-1 carries one student experiment, a pressure sensor built at Kursk University in Russia, to measure atmospheric pressure for the lifetime of the satellite.


Image above: Radioskaf-V nanosatellite. Credit: NASA
› View hi-res image

In addition to transmitting student experiment data, ARISSat-1 will transmit still-frame video Earth views from four onboard cameras, commemorative greetings in the native languages from students around the world, including messages to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the launch of Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin as the first human in space.

The satellite, which uses off-the-shelf equipment and software provided by AMSAT, also features a Morse code tracking beacon and will function as a space communications utility for use by “ham” radio operators world-wide.


More information on tracking ARISSat-1 decoding its telemetry visit the AMSAT and ARISSat-1 websites:

http://www.arissat1.org/v3/

http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/

NASA & ESA Celebrate Success of Cupola Installation on ISS,

Astronaut Nicholas Patrick participates in extravehicular activity as construction and maintenance continue on the International Space Station.

ESA Node 3 and Cupola (Tranquility Module) Installation

Fabulous picture from the Astronauts of the Space Shuttle Endeavour and ISS, showing the removal of ESA's Node3 from the Shuttle cargobay and the placement of it, prior to installation.

They opened the hatches between Node-1 and Node-3 at 03:17 CET (02:17 GMT) this morning and entered their new module.

For the moment, the module remains passive, with temporary lighting and ventilation, while it is prepared for the relocation of the Cupola window module.

With Node-3 now a part of the International Space Station (ISS), the first racks are being installed. This includes the advanced Resistive Exercise Device and the Air Revitalization System.

The four additional racks – two Water Recovery System racks, the Oxygen Generation System rack and the Waste and Hygiene Compartment – may be installed on the final day of the Shuttle mission if an additional day can be added. Otherwise, they will be moved into Node-3 after the Shuttle departs.

Read the full article on the ESA website - click here ..