SpaceX Falcon-9 Launch Postponed: Stormy weather delays launch

Stormy weather has forced SpaceX to delay its latest supply run to the International Space Station.

The California company called off its early Saturday liftoff from Cape Canaveral, with a half-hour remaining in the countdown.

Officials said they will try again Sunday to launch the unmanned Falcon 9 rocket.

Image of SpaceX Falcon 9 Rocket on launch pad at Cape Canaveral, NOT launching. 

Credit: NASA

The SpaceX Dragon capsule holds more than 5,000 pounds of space station cargo for NASA, including a 3-D printer.

NASA hopes astronauts will be able to one day fix their spacecraft by cranking out spare parts on the spot.

This will be the fifth station shipment by SpaceX.

It's been an exciting week for SpaceX. On Tuesday, the company won a huge contract to deliver U.S. astronauts to the space station.

Brad Kohlenberg, a business development engineer with Made In Space, displays some of the items that will be made by astronauts using a 3-D printer that will be transported to the International Space Station aboard the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Friday, Sept. 19, 2014. 

NASA is sending a 3-D printer to the International Space Station in hopes that astronauts will be able to one day fix their spacecraft by cranking out spare parts on the spot. 

Credit: AP Photo/John Raoux

This undated photo provided by Made In Space shows a 3-D Printer during testing in the ESA Supplied, Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG) Engineering Unit at Marshall Space Flight Center. 

Credit: AP Photo/Made In Space

This April 2014 photo provided by NASA shows a 3-D printer after it passed flight certification and acceptance testing at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. 

The technology demonstration will print objects in the  ESA Supplied, Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG). 

The ESA MSG Engineering Unit at Marshall is pictured in the background. 

Credit: AP Photo/NASA, Emmett Given

In this undated photo Michael Snyder and Aaron Kemmer monitor the performance of extruders inside the Made In Space experiment box during a microgravity portion of flight aboard a modified Boeing 727 from the Zero G Corporation. 

Credit: AP Photo/Made In Space

ESA Satellites showing clouds of sulphur dioxide from Bardarbunga volcano

A plume of sulphur dioxide was detected drifting towards Europe from Iceland’s Bardarbunga volcano late on 4 September 2014. 

These images are based on data from the Spinning Enhanced Visible & InfraRed Imager (SEVIRI) on the Meteosat Second Generation (MSG) mission. 

Credit: NILU

Satellites are showing clouds of sulphur dioxide from Iceland's restive Bardarbunga volcano.

ESA's Volcanic Ash Strategic Initiative Team (VAST) and Support to Aviation Control Service (SACS) are monitoring the situation closely, and have detected sulphur dioxide emissions since early September.

A small cloud of sulphur dioxide has been drifting toward Europe since late last night.

The Bardarbunga volcano has shown heightening activity since mid-August, causing thousands of local earthquakes, spewing lava and threatening air travel.

The aviation alert level is high, fluctuating between orange and red as the potential of eruption is increased.

"The current volcanic activity is typically effusive and no ash has been detected so far with satellite measurements," said Nicolas Theys from the Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy.

"SACS, VAST and ESA partners will continue monitoring volcanic emissions over Bardarbunga and provide added-value services, in case the eruption becomes explosive, causing ash-producing activity with possible consequences for European air space."

The presence of ash in the atmosphere can endanger jet engines, so timely information about ash, sulphur dioxide clouds and their dispersion are crucial to alert civil aviation authorities.

Earth-observing satellites can provide this information, especially for toxic gases like sulphur dioxide, which cannot be seen with the naked eye.

With frequent and worldwide measurements of ash plumes and sulphur dioxide emissions, satellites help to improve aviation safety.

This animation shows the spread of sulphur dioxide from Iceland’s Bardarbunga volcano from 31 August to 4 September 2014, as detected by the GOME-2 instrument on the MetOp-A and -B satellites. 

Credit: BIRA/IASB

SACS and VAST uses multiple satellites, including Europe's MetOp and Meteosat missions, to provide early warning information about volcanic eruptions.

When an eruption occurs, an alert is sent to interested users, most notably to Volcanic Ash Advisory Centres and airlines, and public maps are generated showing the extent and intensity of the volcanic plumes.

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.

Decontamination system to up research on space station

The in-orbit decontamination system inside the Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG) will enable advances in life science research aboard the International Space Station. 

Credit: NASA

Just like eating, drinking and even trying to wash your hair aboard the International Space Station, conducting science experiments in space is not a simple task for astronauts.

There are so many more factors for crews to consider than scientists on Earth have to worry about. If not contained, microgravity can turn gasses, dust, fluids and sharp objects into a floating nightmare.

Thanks to the Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG), those aboard the space station have safely performed science experiments since 2002 without these worries.

They conducted hundreds of studies within the sealed, negative pressured, nine-cubic-foot work area, developed by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, and the European Space Agency.

The crew members put the MSG to good use for a wide range of microgravity research, including fluid physics, combustion science, materials science, biotechnology, fundamental physics and other investigations.

This helps researchers looking to understand the role of gravity in basic physical and chemical interactions.

Now NASA will add even more studies to the growing list of MSG participants. With the recent installation of a decontamination system, the facility gains the capability to host an entire additional research discipline—life science.

This upgrade was designed and manufactured by Huntsville's Teledyne Brown Engineering Inc. in partnership with Marshall.

"We are really excited to be able to provide this new system that will enable astronauts aboard the space station the ability to conduct important life science research," said Lee Jordan, project manager of the MSG at Marshall.

"For example, with this system, crews can conduct experiments related to non-human cell biology that we couldn't do before in the MSG. The work we do aboard the space station is so vital because it helps us discover technologies that can lead to bettering our lives on Earth."

The decontamination system was designed with crew members' safety in mind by using high-power, ultraviolet, light-emitting diodes (UV LEDs) to sanitize surfaces inside the MSG.

This cleaning process takes only a matter of minutes before and after the crew conducts the experiments.

The sanitation process also removes airborne contaminants, such as biological and chemical impurities, and cleans up spills inside the glovebox, providing optimal accommodations for cell science and life science research.

It also has an exchangeable glove system that was redesigned to be better suited for these types of studies.

The system is based on the Ultraviolet Germicidal Irradiation (UVGI) method of disinfection where UV light, at sufficiently short wavelengths, is used to kill microorganisms.

NASA astronaut Rick Mastracchio, Expedition 38 flight engineer, prepares to test the ultraviolet light decontamination hardware, which will be used for life science experiments inside the Microgravity Science Glovebox. 

Credit: NASA

"This application of UV has been an accepted practice for disinfection since the mid-20th century," said Lee.

"The DNA of the microorganism is disrupted by the UV radiation, leaving them unable to grow or reproduce. With this technology, it is possible to destroy more than 99.99 percent of all pathogens within seconds, without addition of chemicals, without harmful side effects, inexpensively, highly efficiently and absolutely reliably."

The UV LEDs incorporated in the system are manufactured by Sensor Electronic Technology Inc. of Columbia, South Carolina, and were developed in part through the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency Compact Mid-Ultraviolet Technology program in Arlington, Virginia.