Education, Living in Space, Simulators

Univ. North Dakota students to simulate deep space mission by living 10 days in inflatable habitat

The University of North Dakota UND Human Spaceflight Laboratory, which recently participated in the World Space Walk event with two other space suit teams, will start a ten day simulation of a planetary mission this Sunday: NDX Planetary Exploration System First Test Starts this Weekend! – NDX Space Suit Projects

Final preparations are taking place at the UND Department of Space Studies for the initial 10 days testing of the Lunar/Mars Inflatable Planetary Habitat. Three crewmembers , all UND Aerospace Graduate Students, will take part on this first mission. The objectives are to test the habitat, pressurized rover, and NDX-2AT space suits for habitation, and to test if all systems are operational.
Further details will be published on [NDX Space Suit Projects blog …], Saturday [Oct 26, 2013].

More details about the project:

Drawing of the habitat in which the 3 “crew members” will reside for 10 days.

Living in Space, Solar Sci-Fi, Space films and videos

“Gravity” film: Getting the biology right + Commercial option missed + Google Hangout with astronauts et al

The very popular movie Gravity doesn’t get the orbital mechanics right but Joel Achenbach thinks they did fine with the human part of the story : “Gravity” better on biology than orbital dynamics [spoilers] – Washington Post.

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With the Space Shuttles now retired, the movie could have shown the astronauts flying in a private spacecraft like the Dragon, which SpaceX hopes to fly people on as early as 2015 : The Gravitas of Commercial Spacecraft – Greg Autry.

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Here’s a video of an interesting Google Hangout held on Thursday night and organized by Ryan Kobrick of Yuri’s Night and with a focus on the movie Gravity.

From the Caption:

The first in a series of one-of-a-kind hangouts hosted by Yuri’s Night. We’ll be talking with some amazing experts in zero-gravity about the movie “Gravity” that came out a few weeks ago. Joining us will be Astronaut Ron Garan, Astronaut Cady Coleman, Italian Astronaut Paolo Nespoli, JSC Physiologist Liz Warren, Founder and Editor of collectSPACE Robert Pearlman, Zero G Flight Director Tim Bailey, and Yuri’s Night event host and Executive Director Dr. Ryan Kobrick!

Watch our Google+ account and +1 us to learn about more  Hangin’ with Yuri Hangout events in the coming months leading up to Yuri’s Night on April 12, 2014.

In Space Infrastructure, Space Systems

FISO: Laser communications relay demo project – Bernard Edwards, NASA Goddard

The latest presentation to the Future In-Space Operations (FISO) study group is now posted in the FISO Working Group Presentations Archive. Find slides and audio for the talk at Overview of the Laser Communications Relay Demonstration Project, Bernard Edwards, NASA GSFC – Oct.23.13

Here are some slides from the presentation about the successful demonstration of high bandwidth communications via laser between the LADEE orbiter at the Moon and stations on earth:

LLCDFoundation

LCRDMissionArchitecture

LineOfSightAndClouds

LCRDSummary

 

Here’s a NASA press release about the demonstration: NASA Laser Communication System Sets Record with Data Transmissions to and from Moon – NASA.

Education, Space TV

Space Racers – new animated TV show for kids

Space Racers is a new animated series that will come to US public television in 2014: NASA helps launch ‘Space Racers’ on public television – The Family Room/EW.com

The online site SpaceRaceKids.com currently has lots of activities and videos based on the program.

Here’s a sample of the series:

Rockets

Video: NASA Mighty Eagle VTOL rocket

NASA Marshall’s Mighty Eagle vertical takeoff and landing rocket vehicle went for a spin yesterday: Mighty Eagle Flight – Quadcopter stabilized video – 10/24/13 – YouTube

Everyone can participate in space