Blogs

As we progress on our journey north, it is as if we are travelling back in time through winter and on towards the Arctic. When we left Woods Hole, we were treated with blue skies, calm (occasionally glassy) seas, and reasonably warm air temperatures; a complete contrast to the November cruise! We have been extremely […]

The International Space Station completed its 100,000th orbit early this morning after its first component, the Zarya cargo module, launched Nov. 20, 1998. That is over 2.6 billion miles traveled, nearly the distance from Earth to Neptune (2.9 billion miles), or ten round trips from Mars to Earth. A few hours after the station reached …

I am a part of the Saltzman research group. Tom, our fearless yet cheery leader, and Jack, our resident optimist, night owl, and my lab mate, man the instruments day and night. They make sure that every piece, from the Mustang supercharger to the tiniest of valves, runs smoothly. None of this would be possible […]

Creature comforts What does it take to be comfortable on a ship? Good food? Check. A cozy cabin? Check. Diligent captain and crew? Check. We are very comfortable on our ride out to our first station, anticipated on Tuesday evening, May 17th. Before then, we have to cross a field of icebergs which excites the […]

NASA will not attempt a balloon launch tomorrow, Sunday, 15 May (all times in New Zealand time), due to unacceptable forecast launch weather conditions. Officials will continue to evaluate the weather conditions for an optimal launch window. A status update for Monday, 16 May, will be given by 2 pm Sunday (15 May). “The data …

Day three at sea! The ocean has decided to get livelier as we get into day three at sea, although I’m told it’s still tame compared to November. Personally, I have become Dramamine dependent and almost always have a mint in my mouth (if you can’t tell, this is my first time on a research […]

Two NASA astronauts and a European Space Agency astronaut are relaxing today after sending the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft home Wednesday. The three cosmonauts continued their ongoing Russian research work and maintenance activities after taking Monday off in observation of Victory Day. The Japanese Kibo lab’s airlock is being depressurized today before a series a nanosatellites …

The R/V Atlantis doesn’t sail, as much as it moves the water out of its way. The waters so far have been calm, and progress is steady. We are still relatively close to land, as evident from a couple stowaways we picked up this morning, such as a summer tanager and 3 grey catbirds! Hopefully, […]

Japanese Experiment Module Airlock (JEMAL) JEM Small Satellite Orbital Deployer (J-SSOD) Removal and NanoRacks CubeSat Deployer #7 (NRCSD) Installation: In preparation for next week’s NRCSD #7 deployment, the J-SSOD was removed from the Multi-Purpose Experiment Platform (MPEP) on the JEMAL Slide Table followed by installation of the NRCSD #7 onto the MPEP. The slide table …

This morning started out full of excitement. The weather was beautiful, sunny and relatively warm. The first nice day many of us experienced since we began trickling into WHOI over the last week or more. The day had finally arrived, we were leaving to start our expedition. Everyone was on deck, many skipping breakfast to […]