International Space Station (ISS / Alpha)

SpaceNut · 2021-08-27 18:53:00

Astronauts successfully demonstrate DNA repair in space using CRISPR technology

As part of the "Genes In Space-6" experiment, astronauts on board the International Space Station (ISS) created breaks in the DNA of a common yeast, and then analyzed how it repaired itself.
During the investigation, the yeast's DNA was cut across both strands to create significant damage. In a recent paper published in the journal PLOS One, researchers explained how the DNA was restored to its original order.

this is working towards cancer with this experiment...and radiation treatment for long duration flights

Mars_B4_Moon · 2021-09-14 17:59:33

NASA astronaut gets extended stay in space for record-breaking 353-day mission
https://www.space.com/mark-vande-hei-year-in-space

An extended stay, Vande Hei wrote, was “a possibility that I was prepared for from the beginning. The opportunity to experience this with wonderful crewmates while contributing to science and future exploration is exciting!”
https://spacenews.com/nasa-astronaut-to … ly-a-year/

Also there were reports posted in another newmars topic, reports of Smoke Alarms Sounds at International Space Station and a smell of burnt plastic coming from the Russian section

Last edited by Mars_B4_Moon (2021-09-14 18:19:08)

SpaceNut · 2021-09-20 21:39:36

The International Space Station is expected to be retired by the end of this decade. NASA is turning to companies to build private space stations in orbit and anticipates saving more than $1 billion per year as a result

The ISS is more than 20 years old and costs NASA about $4 billion a year to operate. When NASA hosted an industry briefing for company officials in March, interested parties included recognizable names like Elon Musk's SpaceX, Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin, Airbus, Boeing and Lockheed Martin.
NASA earlier this year unveiled the Commercial LEO Destinations project, with plans to award up to $400 million in total contracts to as many as four companies to begin development of private space stations.
NASA has already begun funding the ambitions of one company under a separate but related contract, having awarded Axiom Space with $140 million to build modules that will connect to the ISS. When the ISS retires, Axiom plans to detach its modules and turn it into a free-flying space station.
Axiom has begun manufacturing of those modules, including the enormous windows that will make up an observation deck. The company plans to launch and connect the first habitable module to the ISS by 2024, under the assumption that Congress provides the necessary funding to extend the space station's life to 2028.

SpaceNut · 2021-11-01 18:06:25

Life expectancy of the station is getting closer every day and soon we will need to make a choice to keep manned space flight going down the commercial road or just for the elite once more.

A once-quiet battle to replace the space station suddenly is red hot; Three competitors have already entered the arena. More are expected.

The more places to travel to the better as that is the cost driver....

SpaceNut · 2021-11-01 21:26:16

NASA astronauts pick the first-ever chile peppers in space for the first time on International Space Station

Growing fresh produce in space will be key to longer missions, according to NASA

SpaceX resupply mission in June was the source of the seeds

FC35JADWUAQvi7e?format=jpg&name=small

eventually to Mars," Matt Romeyn, principal investigator for NASA’s Plant Habitat-04 experiment, explained.

https://www.nasa.gov/feature/chile-pepp … ce-station

SpaceNut · 2021-11-11 16:51:52

Look out here comes a piece
On Wednesday, about six hours before NASA’s Crew-3 mission launched to orbit, the International Space Station was forced to maneuver itself to avoid a piece of debris spawned by a Chinese antisatellite weapon test in 2007.

The piece of junk was projected to enter what’s called the “pizza box,” a square-shaped zone 2.5 miles deep and 30 miles wide, where the station sits in the middle. NASA officials keep close eyes on the zone using data models on the location of objects in space kept by the U.S. Space Command.

SpaceNut · 2021-11-12 20:39:14

The International Space Station swerved to narrowly avoid Chinese space junk. A major impact would be a disaster.

This is the 29th time the space station has had to dodge a piece of space junk, according to The Times. Space debris is made up of bits of often defunct spacecrafts broken apart in orbit, per NASA. It can travel at speeds up to 17,500 mph, per NASA, about ten times the speed of a bullet. Even a fleck of paint from a rocket can be dangerous at this speed - for instance, if it hits an observation dome. Anything above a third of an inch (1 cm) could penetrate the shields of the ISS's crew modules, according to the ESA. Anything larger than 4 inches (10 cm) could shatter the station to pieces, per ESA.

SpaceNut · 2021-11-15 21:08:35

Time to dodge more just this time from a Russian caused test.
Astronauts take shelter as debris passes dangerously close to space station; NASA did not specify what caused the debris field. The State Department confirmed that a Russian weapons test created more than 1,500 fragments of space junk in orbit.

State Department confirmed Monday that a Russian weapons test that intentionally destroyed a Soviet-era satellite
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the test "clearly demonstrate that Russia, despite its claims of opposing the weaponization of outer space, is willing to jeopardize the long-term sustainability of outer space and imperil the exploration and use of outer space by all nations through its reckless and irresponsible behavior."

not good or cool to put people in danger

GW Johnson · 2021-11-16 09:43:52

That's a characteristic behavior of Putin's Russia: achieve your objective no matter who you kill or endanger, even your own people. Don't get me wrong, that's not a characteristic of all Russians, just Putin's ruling clique. I think the real implication here is that Putin's clique is pretty much through with partnering on the ISS.

There is something to consider here should a debris strike actually occur. They shelter in the capsules because reentry vehicles are inherently more structurally robust than station modules. There's room in a Dragon to don a spacesuit, provided they are stored in there, but NOT in a Soyuz. If the station were struck and depressurized, those crews may to to reenter in shirtsleeves. That's risky, as the Salyut-1 crew found out to their deaths.

If the debris strikes the capsule, there is less chance of it being holed, but NOT a zero chance! Once holed, depending on the location of the hole, the capsule may not be usable for reentry. Even if it is usable, you must ride back in a suit, because it is holed and not pressurizable. If you are in your shirtsleeves in a leaking capsule, and the ISS module to which it is docked has depressurized, you are already dead in a matter of minutes.

Just food for thought, for the next station design.

GW

Calliban · 2021-11-16 13:15:18

It would be helpful to know what the functional purpose of a replacement station would be. The easiest shape to defend from impacts would be a spherical outer pressure hull, with woven carbon fibre panels lining its surface. The design would be internally segmented with pressure bulkheads. Each chamber will have primary access points through corridors and secondary egress hatches to all adjoining compartments. This ensures the station could withstand multiple direct hits and still retain areas of refuge. The station should be decentralised in design as much as possible, with multiple living areas and redundant life support systems. The most vulnerable parts in this case would be solar panels and waste heat rejection panels, which cannot be protected. Significant damage to these would leave the station without power. Without power, habitability would only last as long as it took for CO2 levels to rise.

GW Johnson · 2021-11-16 15:09:25

The ISS is fundamentally two things: (1) a science station, and (2) a place to foster international cooperation. Any semi-government-sponsored station can serve the international cooperation function, but a fully private enterprise station is far less likely to do that.

The science job of ISS is unfinished, precisely because the centrifuge module was never flown. With it, we might have some idea of how much partial gravity is "enough". Currently we don't, because all we currently know is that 1 full gee is known to healthy, and 0-gee is known to be unhealthy, and increasingly unhealthy as longer times go by. Times approaching the round trip to Mars and back.

Before the ISS gets too worn out, it would be wise to find and refurbish the centrifuge module that was never flown. Then launch it on a SpaceX Falcon-Heavy, which is more than capable of delivering a 14.1 ton module right to the ISS, flown re-usably. You could probably pack a ton or more supplies in it, and use this delivery as another supply mission. Then use the module to find out whether lunar or Mars gravity is "enough" to stay reasonably healthy over the long term. ISS has a few years left. Provided it is not destroyed by a debris strike.

After that, you are less interested in science missions in Earth orbit, and a whole lot more interested in practical purposes. A tourist space hotel may eventually be a sort of practical purpose, but there are two far better purposes: (1) An orbiting propellant depot to refill craft in low Earth orbit, so that they can conduct missions outside low orbit, such as geosynch, the moon, and even Mars. (2) An orbiting repair and assembly facility, to which ailing craft can be brought for repair, and in which specialty craft can be assembled for unusual missions in low orbit or anywhere else.

Plus it could serve as a place to learn how to weld and cut metals, thread pipe, apply paints and coatings, etc., in vacuum and zero-gee. That's more engineering technology than it is science. But it is engineering technology that we need, and we currently do not have.

Either (or both) of these follow-on facilities should probably have multiple space tug craft available, to go and get the things needing repair or refilling. Some of those might even be spent stages and dead satellites deorbited for debris removal. My guess is that these facilities should be located in a fairly low altitude orbit down near 300-400 km, and at a rather low inclination eastward. Orbital altitudes don't cost a lot to traverse, but orbital plane changes cost quite a lot. You set the inclination to match the bulk of the expected routine traffic.

GW

Last edited by GW Johnson (2021-11-16 15:18:25)

RobertDyck · 2021-11-16 16:22:33

According to Wikipedia: Centrifuge Accommodations Module

It is now on display in an outdoor exhibit at the Tsukuba Space Center in Japan.

Reference to pictures on forum.nasaspaceflight.com - date 18-Feb-2018

Map location using Google maps: https://www.google.com/maps/place/36%C2 … 40.1258172

Close-up of satellite image. Note: Google deliberately distorts extreme close-up, so it's a bit wavy.

RobertDyck · 2021-11-16 16:48:11

It could be attached to nadir port of Node 1 or Node 2. (click image for enlarged view)

GW Johnson · 2021-11-19 10:56:39

I smell another concept proposal letter for refurbishing and flying the centrifuge module. To whom should it go?

GW

GW Johnson · 2021-11-19 10:59:28

The recent hoopla over the Russian ASAT test that endangered ISS is spawning hints of an impending space arms race. Unfortunately. See quote.

GW

quote:

From AIAA “Daily Launch” email newsletter for Thurs 11-19-2021:

Pentagon Works Quickly To Develop Countermeasures After Chinese, Russian Space Tests
Defense One (11/17) reported that Russia’s anti-satellite missile test Monday “is adding urgency to the U.S. Space Force’s efforts to better defend U.S. space assets.” Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Wednesday that, “We are concerned about the weaponization of space. We’re working as hard as we can to ensure that we can defend ourselves against a range of threats going forward.”

Mars_B4_Moon · 2021-11-19 16:36:57

The Russians call U.S. 'hypocritical' for condemning anti-satellite weapons test
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/11/16/russia- … -test.html

Russia’s Space Agency Destroys Orbiting Satellite and Endangers ISS Crew
https://journal.com.ph/russias-space-ag … -iss-crew/

"I'm outraged by this unconscionable action," NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said in a statement. "With its long and storied history in human spaceflight, it is unthinkable that Russia would endanger not only the American and international partner astronauts on the ISS, but also their own cosmonauts.
"Their actions are both reckless and dangerous, not even to speak of the threat to the Chinese space station and the taikonauts on board."
State Department spokesman Ned Price said the Russian Federation "recklessly conducted a destructive satellite test of a direct ascent anti-satellite missile against one of its own satellites."
"The test has so far generated over 1,500 pieces of trackable orbital debris and hundreds of thousands of pieces of smaller orbital debris that now threaten the interests of all nations."

https://www.yahoo.com/news/satellite-de … 59796.html

Last edited by Mars_B4_Moon (2021-11-19 16:37:15)

RobertDyck · 2021-11-20 23:47:29

I read the User's Guide for Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy directly from SpaceX. It just says "Mass-to-orbit capabilities for the Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy fairing configuration are available upon request." According to Wikipedia: Falcon Heavy

In April 2017, the projected LEO payload for Falcon Heavy was raised from 54.4 t (120,000 lb) to 63.8 t (141,000 lb). The maximum payload is achieved when the rocket flies a fully expendable launch profile, not recovering any of the three first-stage boosters. With just the core booster expended, and two side-boosters recovered, Musk estimates the payload penalty to be around 10%, which would still yield over 57 t of lift capability to LEO. Returning all three boosters to the launch site rather than landing them on drone ships would yield about 30 t of payload to LEO.

So with all 3 boosters recovered to launch site (not drone ships) that reduces launch mass to 33.8t to LEO. Space Shuttle in final configuration was able to lift 27.5 t to LEO or 16.050 t to ISS.

I should also add, the first launch of Falcon Heavy recovered boosters, but did not recover the central core booster. Since then Falcon Heavy has launched two more times. Both additional times all 3 boosters were successfully recovered.

SpaceNut · 2021-11-21 09:56:11

If I recall the engines were given another upgrade which allowed for the initial heavy mass to orbit to go from the 53mT up to that 63mT which they are advertising for payloads to orbit. I agree that numbers can be confusing if not correctly spelled out but it appears to be a capable delivery once a new mounting and payload shroud or fairing is made for the Centrifuge Accommodations Module to be transported to orbit.

Maybe the approach needs to be pitched to Axiom since they are planning for a station and science to be continued.

SpaceNut · 2021-11-26 12:19:31

A Russian cargo craft carrying a new docking module successfully hooked up with the International Space Station Friday after a two-day space journey.

The new spherical module, named Prichal (Pier), has moored to the docking port of the new Russian Nauka (Science) laboratory module.

Progress is also delivering 700 kilos of various cargoes to the space station and is expected to undock from the station on Dec. 22.
The first Soyuz spacecraft is expected to dock at the new module on March 18, 2022, with a crew of three cosmonauts: Oleg Artemyev, Denis Matveev and Sergei Korsakov.
Earlier this week, the Russian crew on the station started training for the module’s arrival, simulating the use of manual controls in case the automatic docking system failed.
The space outpost is currently operated by NASA astronauts Raja Chari, Thomas Marshburn, Kayla Barron, and Mark Vande Hei; Russian cosmonauts Anton Shkaplerov and Pyotr Dubrov; and Matthias Maurer of the European Space Agency.

Mars_B4_Moon · 2021-11-30 05:23:54

NASA postpones ISS spacewalk because of debris

https://spacenews.com/nasa-postpones-is … of-debris/

“While the Russian actions are disturbing, they are a reminder of the need for U.S. leadership on SSA and STM and provide an opportunity to disseminate lessons learned that will protect U.S. assets and personnel in the future,” the senators wrote in the letter to Raimondo.

SpaceNut · 2021-11-30 19:39:32

Originally set to be retired in 2024 but got extended to 2030.
NASA details intent to replace the International Space Station with a commercial space station by 2030

Mars_B4_Moon · 2021-12-03 11:00:06

Astronauts conclude spacewalk to replace antenna at space station

https://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Astr … n_999.html

SpaceNut · 2021-12-03 19:06:27

Its good that they got it done before any more debris comes rolling through...
I am not sure that we should be dumping a lot of cash into a ship that will be gone in less than a decade unless we do something to replace the propulsion system.

SpaceNut · 2021-12-22 19:09:45

Santa has arrived early thanks to SpaceX Dragon capsule arrived at the International Space Station early Wednesday (Dec. 22), carrying with it a holiday haul of science gear and Christmas treats for the astronauts living on the orbital outpost.

It delivered 6,500 pounds (2,949 kilograms) of research experiments and supplies for the crew. With Christmas just days away, NASA did pack a special dinner for the seven astronauts on the space station. The research gear tucked inside will support a variety of experiments in the life sciences, pharmaceuticals, and many other fields.

SpaceNut · 2021-12-26 21:05:33

By 2023 (or 2024, or 2025, or maybe 2030, depending on whom you ask) you may look up into the night sky and see no International Space Station (ISS) flying above you. Russia, you see, keeps threatening to pull out of the project and take its space station modules with it -- and right now, ISS can't operate without them.

Sure but not at the ISS levels and above...

Calling all space companies
Apparently, we're going to build new space stations -- commercial space stations, built by companies you can invest in.
We know this because earlier this month, NASA picked three companies out of a field of 11 bidders and awarded them "Commercial Low Earth Orbit Development" contracts totaling $415.6 million in value. The lucky winners were:
Aerospace and defense giant Northrop Grumman (NYSE: NOC), which won $125.6 million to develop a space station assembled from Northrop Cygnus cargo transport spacecraft.
Privately held Nanoracks, a subsidiary of Voyager Space Holdings, which was awarded $160 million to design a research-focused "Starlab" in cooperation with Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT).
And Amazon founder Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin space tourism company, which got $130 million to help it get its planned "Orbital Reef" space station concept off the ground.

While I am sure we can its more about what orbit will it be in as the old one was no favor...

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#551 2021-08-27 18:53:00

Re: International Space Station (ISS / Alpha)

#552 2021-09-14 17:59:33

Re: International Space Station (ISS / Alpha)

#553 2021-09-20 21:39:36

Re: International Space Station (ISS / Alpha)

#554 2021-11-01 18:06:25

Re: International Space Station (ISS / Alpha)

#555 2021-11-01 21:26:16

Re: International Space Station (ISS / Alpha)

#556 2021-11-11 16:51:52

Re: International Space Station (ISS / Alpha)

#557 2021-11-12 20:39:14

Re: International Space Station (ISS / Alpha)

#558 2021-11-15 21:08:35

Re: International Space Station (ISS / Alpha)

#559 2021-11-16 09:43:52

Re: International Space Station (ISS / Alpha)

#560 2021-11-16 13:15:18

Re: International Space Station (ISS / Alpha)

#561 2021-11-16 15:09:25

Re: International Space Station (ISS / Alpha)

#562 2021-11-16 16:22:33

Re: International Space Station (ISS / Alpha)

#563 2021-11-16 16:48:11

Re: International Space Station (ISS / Alpha)

#564 2021-11-19 10:56:39

Re: International Space Station (ISS / Alpha)

#565 2021-11-19 10:59:28

Re: International Space Station (ISS / Alpha)

#566 2021-11-19 16:36:57

Re: International Space Station (ISS / Alpha)

#567 2021-11-20 23:47:29

Re: International Space Station (ISS / Alpha)

#568 2021-11-21 09:56:11

Re: International Space Station (ISS / Alpha)

#569 2021-11-26 12:19:31

Re: International Space Station (ISS / Alpha)

#570 2021-11-30 05:23:54

Re: International Space Station (ISS / Alpha)

#571 2021-11-30 19:39:32

Re: International Space Station (ISS / Alpha)

#572 2021-12-03 11:00:06

Re: International Space Station (ISS / Alpha)

#573 2021-12-03 19:06:27

Re: International Space Station (ISS / Alpha)

#574 2021-12-22 19:09:45

Re: International Space Station (ISS / Alpha)

#575 2021-12-26 21:05:33

Re: International Space Station (ISS / Alpha)

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