New Status: Italian Combustion Experiment for Green Air (ICE GA) Experiment: Cassidy removed the alignment guides from the Combustion Integrated Rack (CIR) to unlock Passive Rack Isolation System (PaRIS) in preparation for the second run of the ICE GA experiment conducted by ground teams. This new ISS experiment investigates the burning characteristics of biologically derived …
New Status: Synchronized Position Hold, Engage, Reorient, Experimental Satellites (SPHERES) Zero Robotics (ZR): Following last Wednesday’s successful practice run, today Flight Engineer (FE)-3 Cassidy and FE-6 Nyberg conducted the competition finals event with a live student audience. This investigation establishes an opportunity for students to design research for the ISS. As part of a competition, students …
The annual Perseid meteor shower peaked on Aug. 12 and 13, 2013, filling the sky with streaks of light caused by the meteoroids burning up in Earth’s atmosphere. Big meteor showers like the Perseids, are caused when Earth travels through a region of space filled with debris shed by a comet. The Perseids have been …
New Status: USOS Crew Off Duty: The USOS crew was off duty today for compensation for HTV ingress activities performed on Saturday. H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV)-4 Cargo Operations: Saturday and Sunday the crew performed 13 hours of HTV cargo operations, however through efficiency, the crew completed approximately 25.5 hours of cargo transfers. Today, the crew …
Different Data, Different Colors There are several types of data, each suited to different types of display. Continuously varying data, called sequential data, is the most familiar. In addition to sequential, Cynthia Brewer defines two additional types of data: divergent and qualitative. Divergent data has a “break point” in the center, often signifying a difference. […]
New Status: H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV)-4 Hatch Opening: This morning, Flight Engineer (FE)-5 Parmitano and FE-6 Nyberg successfully completed HTV-4 vestibule outfitting. The crew removed the HTV Hatch Thermal Blanket, installed power jumpers, removed the Common Berthing Mechanism (CBM) Controller Panel Assemblies (CPAs), installed an HTV Equalization and Inter-module Ventilation (IMV) supply Jumper, equalized pressures …
New Status: H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV)-4 Capture and Berthing: Robotics Ground Controllers powered up the Space Station Remote Manipulator System (SSRMS) in Hot Backup configuration. Cassidy, Nyberg and Parmitano monitored the HTV4 approach from the Cupola Robotics Work Station (RWS) and successfully captured HTV using the SSRMS at approximately 6:22 am CDT. Robotics Ground Controllers then maneuvered …
Yesterday’s Image of the Day — Ocean Revealed — elicited an interesting response from Norman Kuring, a NASA oceanographer who frequently contributes to the Earth Observatory. He notes: “There have indeed been a number of studies that exploit sunglint for ocean research since Paul Scully-Power made his statement. However, I disagree with the follow-on sentence that, “his […]
New Status: H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV)-4 Status: HTV’s forward Reaction Control System (RCS)-A oxidizer latch valve exhibited two recurrences of the unexpected “closed” indication during the past 24 hours. HTV continues to fly on the RCS-B string with RCS-A available as a backup. If this occurs on the RCS-B string during free flight, Japan Aerospace …
Wildfires follow a simple but dangerous equation: Hotter, dryer conditions + more people in the world = a greater likelihood of ferocious wildfires threatening lives and property. Fires in the western United States are burning earlier, longer and with more intensity, as shown by a decades-long record from ground surveys and NASA satellites. How much of […]
