 |  | | | | International Space Station Expedition 13 Science Operations Status Report for the Week Ending May 26, 2006
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05.30.06
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Steve Roy
Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala.
(Phone: 256.544.0034)
Status report: 06-073
Expedition 13 NASA Science Officer Jeffrey Williams began runs of the Investigating the Structure of Paramagnetic Aggregates from Colloidal Emulsions, or InSPACE. The fluid physics experiment, last operated during Expedition 7, studies the behavior of magnetorheological fluids -- fluids that change their properties when in a magnetic field.
InSPACE obtains basic data on a new class of smart materials that can be used to improve or develop new brake systems, seat suspensions robotics, clutches, airplane landing gear and vibration damper systems.
Williams also continued checking the camera for the ground-commanded Binary Colloidal Alloy Test, or BCAT-3 activity. The EarthKAM camera and equipment is taking time-lapse photography once every hour of BCAT sample 3. BCAT-3 studies the physics of surface crystallization and fluids at the critical point.
As part of the Crew Earth Observations experiment, Williams snapped the first shots of the Cleveland volcano erupting on the Aleutian Islands in Alaska. From their perspective in orbit, astronauts have been the first to spot and confirm the volcanic eruptions on several occasions. This is the first early sighting of a new eruption in recent years. Williams edged out the nearest satellite by approximately seven minutes to capture the image.
NASA’s payload operations team at the Marshall Center coordinates U.S. science activities on space station.
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