All
six Expedition 43 crew members gathered in the Destiny laboratory on
board the International Space Station on March 30, 2015, after an
emergency procedures training period. Photo Credit: NASA
SPACE STATION WEEKLY UPDATE March 30 — April 5, 2015 As the three new crew members of Expedition 43
settled in last week, ongoing science and research studies continued
onboard the International Space Station (ISS). Preparations for an
upcoming cargo delivery—along with robotics, fuel, and stem cell and
biological studies—all took place at the orbiting laboratory.
Since the ever-increasing amount of debris circling the
Earth is an ongoing threat to spacecraft in orbit, astronauts on the
space station are working on an investigation that will demonstrate to
researchers the ways in which robots in space could be multi-functional,
working on scheduled tasks and bringing old satellites back to life
that are still remaining in orbit after originally being deemed
non-functional. NASA astronaut Terry Virts and ESA (European Space
Agency) astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti worked on the Robotic Refueling
Mission Phase 2 (RRM-Phase 2) last week, installing pertinent parts on
the slide table currently located in the Japanese Experiment Module
(JEM) airlock.
RRM-Phase 2 is scheduled for deployment in April 2015. The
ISS is being used to test the ability to provide service to the
satellites using robots, as part of a partnership between NASA and the
Canadian Space Agency. The information learned from this study could
potentially prolong the usability of hundreds of satellites currently in
orbit by refueling and reusing them. This would lead to decreased costs
to the owners of the satellites since the need to send up new
replacements would be reduced or diminished, and, ultimately, to a
slower growth rate for orbital debris. In the future, this study’s
results could prove useful to engineers creating new means of refueling
spacecraft remotely from the ground with robots.
Beautiful
orbital sunset, as captured by Italy’s Samantha Cristoforetti aboard
the International Space Station (ISS) on 30 March 2015. Photo Credit:
Samantha Cristoforetti/Twitter/NASA
Cristoforetti also worked on the ESA’s Stem Cell
Differentiation (SCD) study by getting the Kubik module ready. Kubik
houses automatic gravity experiments that use seeds, cells, and animals
as their subjects inside of a temperature-controlled incubator or cooler
with removable inserts. Researchers hope to figure out the way in which
human mesenchymal stem cells, which control the maintenance of bone
mass—critical to bone repair—react to spending long periods of time in
microgravity.
When the last three Expedition 43 crew arrived at the ISS on March 27,
they brought the hardware required for the SCD investigation.
Installation into the Kubik will take place soon, followed by the module
being powered on to begin the experiment. Scientists will look for ways
to lessen the effects of microgravity on bone density, and information
from this study could also be used on Earth to help people experiencing
bone loss.
The FLEX-2 Binary-Droplet Arrays test is slated for its
final procedures this week. Virts put a new manifold bottle in the
Combustion Integrated Rack for the test. According to NASA, this
investigation burns small droplets of fuel to study the spherical
characteristics of burning fuel droplets in space by examining the way
interactions of droplets in a fuel spray affect soot formation, flame
extinction, burning rate, flame shape, size, and color.
The ultimate goal is to create more dynamic engines that
create less pollution. Gaining insight into the way these processes work
may help future engineers create safer spacecraft. It also may lead to
higher fuel efficiency in engines on Earth that run off of liquid fuel.
Scott
Kelly’s first selfie, taken after setting up camp in his crew quarters
in the station’s Harmony node on 27/28 March 2015. Photo Credit: Scott
Kelly/Twitter/NASA
Virts also worked on preparations for the first commercial
cargo delivery of Expedition 43 under NASA’s Commercial Resupply
Services (CRS) contract. On April 13, 2015,
SpaceX is scheduled to launch their Falcon-9 rocket with the Dragon
spacecraft out of Space Launch Complex-40 at Cape Canaveral, Fla. Virt’s
work included pre-packing gear that will eventually be loaded onto
Dragon for return to Earth at the conclusion of its mission.
When NASA astronaut Scott Kelly began his One-Year stay
(342 days) upon his arrival to the ISS on March 27, 2015, the Twins
study started. Doctors are trying to grasp the ways in which the human
body reacts and changes during long-duration stays in space. The Twins
study is a set of 10 individual investigations that will all come
together to use the data and analysis as one large integrated research
team. The research will show the less-noticeable effects and changes
that happen during time spent in space contrasted with living on Earth
by observing the brothers who share the same genetics. Biological
samples from Kelly’s body will be measured against those also taken from
his twin brother (former NASA astronaut Mark Kelly).
The three newest Expedition 43 members—comprised of Kelly, as well as cosmonauts Gennady Padalka and Mikhail Kornienko—have
been orienting themselves to the space station since their arrival.
Virts helped them become acquainted with emergency hardware. They also
donned emergency masks while working with ground controllers on
communication training, and worked on a variety of other activities to
get used to their surroundings on the ISS.
Eye checks for several members of the crew continued this
week as part of the Prospective Observational Study of Ocular Health in
ISS Crews (Ocular Health) investigation. For this study, ocular
coherence tomography is used to create a comprehensive 3-D image of the
retina and interior of the eyes. In the past, spaceflight has sometimes
impaired vision in astronauts upon their return to Earth. Data collected
on the visual health of the crew members during spaceflight will be
compared with measurements taken once they are back on Earth. Changes
that are presumed to take place due to intracranial pressure due to the
effects of microgravity on the visual, vascular, and central nervous
systems will also be analyzed, as well as the length of time restoration
of the astronauts’ visual health takes once they are back on the
ground.