Monthly Archives: September 2014

Living in Space, Simulators

HI-SEAS space habitat simulation in Hawaii + Things to do now to build a space colony

On Monday’s episode of The Space Show, Dr. Kim Binsted and Simon Engler of the University of Hawaii discussed the Hawaiian Space Exploration Analog and Simulation (HI-SEAS) project : Dr. Kim Binsted, Simon Engler-HI-SEAS-Monday, 9-8-14 – Thespaceshow’s Blog

Dr. Binsted and Simon introduced us to the HI-SEAS project, described its ideal location in Hawaii, and the physical site itself.  Simon was on the first mission which was a four month simulation.  He described the simulation, his experiences and perspectives throughout our discussion.  Kim also described her FMARS at Devon Island experiences in this segment.  We learned that for the HI-SEAS projects, the first focus was on food and the food system which they explained in detail.   Crew dynamics were discussed  plus our guests took us through the crew screening process.  Also talked about were crew issues, conflict resolution and crew leadership.   I asked about the relevance of analog research to a real Mars mission then our guests brought up the need to retire risks, especially team risks. 

Listen to the program here:

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Speaking of living in space, here is a discussion of  the feasibility of space colonies with today’s technologies : 8 Things We Can Do Now to Build a Space Colony This Century

Education, micro-g R&D, Space participation

Knoxville students sending experiment to the Int. Space Station

While in Knoxville recently I came upon this article in the local newspaper about a student group whose experiment on waste disposal in microgravity will go to the International Space Station (ISS) this fall : The final frontier: Local students come up big in space competition – News Sentinel Story

An Orb-3 space vehicle carrying the experimental materials is scheduled to launch from Wallops Island, Va., on Oct. 21, and the L&N team might get to travel up there to watch it, school officials said.

When the astronauts begin the experiment once the materials have been transported to the International Space Station, the L&N team will do a similar experiment with a similar tube here for comparison later, Hawkins added.

Here Orb-3 refers to the third cargo delivery flight to the ISS that will be carried out by Orbital Sciences with the Antares rocket and Cygnus cargo module. As the launch date approaches, the latest info will be available on the Orbital Sciences Mission Updates page.

Eyes in the Sky, Multiple media

Video: Ultra HD video of earth from the ISS

Here’s a super high resolution video taken from the International Space Station (link via i09):

 

From the caption:

This timelapse video was made from images taken by ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst orbiting Earth on the International Space Station.

The video is offered in Ultra High Definition, the highest available to consumers. Be sure to change the settings in YouTube if your computer or television can handle it for the full effect.

The montage is made from a long sequence of still photographs taken at a resolution of 4256 x 2832 pixels at a rate of one every second. The high resolution allowed the ESA production team to create a 3840 x 2160 pixel movie, also known as Ultra HD or 4K.

Playing these sequences at 25 frames per second, the film runs 25 times faster than it looks for the astronauts in space.

The artistic effects of the light trails from stars and cities at night are created by superimposing the individual images and fading them out slowly.

Alexander Gerst is a member of the International Space Station Expedition 40 crew. He is spending five and a half months living and working on the ISS for his Blue Dot mission.

Near Space, Space participation

Rockzip Highballoons Kickstarter

Rockzip Highballoons is closing in on their crowd-funding goal with a couple of days left: Rockzip – Launch Your Own Highballoon to Space! Staff Pick by Rockzip Highballoons — Kickstarter

Science and Technology

Sci-Tech: LPP Fusion update

The latest update from Lawrenceville Plasma Physics (LPPFusion) , which is developing an aneutronic focus fusion power system, is now available on line:  LPP Fusion Report September 8th 2014 –

LPP Focus Fusion Report

September 8, 2014

Summary:

* Fusion Policy: Nature calls for funding aneutronic fusion; ARPA-E puts $30 million for fusion alternatives; Science covers fusion start-ups

* Dr. Hamid R. Yousefi is new LPP Chief Research Officer

* Assembly of FF-1 with tungsten electrodes begins

And from the latter item:

The first steps have now been completed to begin the re-assembly of FF-1. LPP’s lab team has successfully joined the new monolithic tungsten anode to a steel connector plate, creating a current contact that is outside the vacuum chamber and arcing-proof.  Moving the contact outside the vacuum chamber completely eliminates the possibility that vaporization caused by arcing will add impurities to the plasma. In addition, making the contact at a lager radius spreads out the current, making it easier to avoid the intense heating that leads to vaporization.

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 We will now mount the steel plate and anode onto the FF-1 device. We currently expect assembly to be complete in October.