New Status: Columbus Water On Off Valve 7 (WOOV7) Remove and Replace (R&R): During a WOOV8 R&R on January 18, 2013, the crew observed that WOOV7 was notably contaminated from condensation deposits. This morning Commander (CDR) Hadfield pre-gathered required tools and with assistance from Flight Engineer (FE)-6 Marshburn, removed and replaced the contaminated unit with a …
Lyrid Meteor Over Georgia
(Credit: MSFC Meteoroid Environment Office)A Lyrid meteor streaks though the dawn sky over North Georgia College and State University. Moving at 105,800 mph, this inch-diameter piece of Comet Thatcher lasted less than one and a half seconds, burning up 46 miles above Earth’s surface. The second image shows the same meteor seen from the Tellus …
Earth Week Puzzler #2
Each month, Earth Observatory offers up a puzzling satellite image here on Earth Matters. In celebration of Earth Month 2013, we’re upping the ante. We are going to release a new puzzler image every day this week. The second image is above. Your challenge is to use the comments section to tell us what part […]
ISS Daily Summary Report – 04/22/13
New Status: Columbus Water On Off Valve 7 (WOOV7) Remove and Replace (R&R) Preparation: Commander (CDR) Hadfield pre-gathered hardware in preparation for the WOOV7 R&R scheduled for tomorrow. Multi-user Droplet Combustion Apparatus (MDCA) Hardware Replacement: Cassidy reviewed procedures, gathered hardware, accessed the Combustion Integration Rack (CIR) Combustion Chamber and removed the MDCA Chamber Insert Assembly (CIA). He …
Back in the Office
By Lora Koenig Well, I am back in Greenbelt, Maryland, typing with warm fingers in a climate-controlled office with high-speed Internet and drinking fountain just down the hall. After fieldwork, I am always thankful for things I generally take for granted, like being able to charge my laptop by simply plugging it into an outlet. […]
Earth Week Puzzler #1
Each month, Earth Observatory offers up a puzzling satellite image here on Earth Matters. In celebration of Earth Month 2013, we’re upping the ante. We are going to release a new puzzler image every day this week. The first image is above. Your challenge is to use the comments section to tell us what part […]
Earth Day and Night
Earth Day (8,192 by 8,192 pixels, 9.1 MB JPEG) Earth Night (8,192 by 8,192 pixels, 4.2 MB JPEG) Credit: NASA Earth Observatory images by Robert Simmon, using Suomi NPP VIIRS data from Chris Elvidge (NOAA National Geophysical Data Center). Suomi NPP is the result of a partnership between NASA, NOAA, and the Department of Defense.
ISS Daily Summary Report – 04/19/13
New Status: Russian Segment (RS) Extravehicular Activity (EVA) #32: Flight Engineer (FE)-1 Vinogradov and FE-4 Romanenko performed a 6 hour 38 minute EVA. Egress was at 9:03 am. All planned tasks were completed nominally, including installation of the Obstanovka experiment, and the removal and replacement of the Laser Radar Reflector (LRR). The LRR is used as …
ISS Daily Summary – 04/18/13
New Status: Ku-Comm Unit #1 High-Rate Communications System (HRCS) COAX Connections: Commander (CDR) Hadfield and Flight Engineer (FE)-6 Marshburn connected Ku Comm Unit 1 to the Space to Ground Transmitter Receiver Controller (SGTRC) final configuration. The Ground activated Ku-Comm Unit 1 and confirmed video, payload data and Orbiter Communication Adapter (OCA) were functioning nominally. This completes …
Shallow drilling
By Ludovic Brucker We were on Greenland’s ice sheet for only a week, but despite the short deployment, we had to accomplish two main science objectives. The first was drilling two deep cores into the firn (aged snow) and ice (30- and 65-m deep, respectively), to insert temperature probes that will record temperature evolution at […]