Here is this week’s Space to Ground report from NASA on the latest news about the International Space Station:
As mentioned in the video, an Orbital ATK Antares rocket is set to blast off from Wallops Island, Virginia on Saturday morning at 7:37 am EST. It will send a Cygnus cargo module to the ISS with over 3.3 metric tons of supplies, experiments, and equipment. The launch will be webcast on NASA TV. Updates on the mission can be found at OA-8 Mission Page and Orbital ATK (@OrbitalATK) | Twitter.
The rocket was lifted upright on the pad yesterday:
Weather permitting, the launch should be visible to some degree over much of the East Coast of the US. Here is a
Viewing Map for OA-8 Launch: Weather permitting, the launch of Antares from Wallops Island, Virginia, on November 11, 2017 may be widely visible along the East Coast. However, because this is an early morning launch, it is likely that the sun will interfere with viewing from most locations.
A Kickstarter has opened to back a program to let students run crystal and microbe growing experiments on the ground to compare with similar experiments on the International Space Station:
Kickstarter for STEM Education Program in Space Announced Xtronaut, NanoRacks, and DreamUp are launching two experiments to the International Space Station and producing affordable STEM experiment kits that let students compare their findings to results from space.
WASHINGTON, D.C., November 9, 2017 – Xtronaut, DreamUp, and NanoRacks announce a Kickstarter campaign to offer out-of-this-world STEM educational opportunities for learners. Xtronaut Space Station connects Earth-based experiments to science done by astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS), empowering students in classrooms, homes and afterschool programs to research in the stars.
The “Crystals in Space” and “Microbes in Space” ground kits are available to Kickstarter backers for $25 each. The Kickstarter campaign will run until December 9, and the kits will ship to backers in Q2 2018. More experiment kits and lessons are in production for future programs.
Each ground kit includes:
Experiment materials
Workbook with detailed instructions, lessons on space, in-depth descriptions of the science behind the experiments, fun activities, and more
Access to an online portal to compare the ground experiments with the experiments conducted on the ISS
“Crystals in Space” will include materials to grow sugar crystals on Earth and compare them to crystals grown in microgravity on the ISS. For “Microbes in Space,” astronauts on board the ISS will collect several samples from around the station to culture in Petri dishes. The ground experiment kits will allow learners to mimic this procedure by collecting culture samples in their homes or classrooms.
The “Microbes in Space” flight experiment is scheduled to launch November 11 on the Orbital ATK CRS-8 mission. “Crystals in Space” will launch to the ISS on SpaceX CRS-13, currently scheduled for December 4.
The Crystal Growth in Space kit is designed to teach you about the similarities and differences of crystal growth in microgravity on the ISS and in Earth’s gravity at your home or school.
The successful launch of this collaboration demonstrates yet again the robustness of the commercial pathway to space, both in industry and education. The partnership not only utilizes NanoRacks’ commercial research platforms inside the U.S. National Lab on the ISS but also DreamUp’s proven expertise in inspiring the next generation of explorers and innovators with space-based educational opportunities. Xtronaut has a track-record of delivering quality products through the Kickstarter platform, including the STEM board games, Xtronaut: The Game of Solar System Exploration, and Constellations: The Game of Stargazing and the Night Sky.
Jeffrey Manber, CEO of NanoRacks, commented,
“I’m delighted that a personal goal of mine is being met, that NanoRacks cutting-edge scientific platforms are making the ISS STEM community more accessible to everyone, including homeschooling families and other learners.“
Professor Dante Lauretta, Chief Science Advisors for Xtronaut and Principal Investigator for NASA’s OSIRIS-REx space mission, commented,
“This joint effort will create a very special learning opportunity for learners across the country, and we are pleased to work with NanoRacks, DreamUp, and their unique capabilities.”
Carie Lemack, CEO and Cofounder of DreamUp commented,
“We’re thrilled to provide a cost-effective way for students to become space scientists and engage in STEM learning, setting them on a path of exploration and scientific curiosity that can guide them both inside and beyond the classroom.”
Mike Lyon, CEO of Xtronaut, commented,
“Xtronaut, DreamUp, and NanoRacks are making space research available to all students on a low-cost basis. Students will have a special opportunity to discover the difference between conducting certain experiments on Earth and in space — and learn firsthand about special characteristics of space-based science.”
Visit the Kickstarter to learn more and reserve your Xtronaut Space Station Kit today!
The Microbes in Space kit lets student explorers learn about the different types of life growing around the ISS and compare it to small life in their environments. While astronauts are living in space, there are also other kinds of life on the ISS! However, most of this life is too small for the astronauts to see unless they help it grow. In this activity, you will perform an experiment to grow small life on Earth and compare it with the experiment conducted by astronauts on the ISS.
Help Nickname New Horizons’ Next Flyby Target NASA’s New Horizons mission to Pluto and the Kuiper Belt is looking
for your ideas on what to informally name its next flyby destination,
a billion miles (1.6 billion kilometers) past Pluto.
Artist’s concept of NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft flying by 2014 MU69 on Jan. 1, 2019. Early observations hint at the Kuiper Belt object being either a binary orbiting pair or a contact (stuck together) pair of nearly like-sized bodies with diameters near 20 and 18 kilometers (12 and 11 miles). Credits: NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI/Carlos Hernandez
On New Year’s Day 2019, the New Horizons spacecraft will fly past a small, frozen world in the Kuiper Belt, at the outer edge of our solar system. The target Kuiper Belt object (KBO) currently goes by the official designation “(486958) 2014 MU69.” NASA and the New Horizons team are asking the public for help in giving “MU69” a nickname to use for this exploration target.
“New Horizons made history two years ago with the first close-up look at Pluto, and is now on course for the farthest planetary encounter in the history of spaceflight,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. “We’re pleased to bring the public along on this exciting mission of discovery.”
After the flyby, NASA and the New Horizons project plan to choose a formal name to submit to the International Astronomical Union, based in part on whether MU69 is found to be a single body, a binary pair, or perhaps a system of multiple objects. The chosen nickname will be used in the interim.
“New Horizons has always been about pure exploration, shedding light on new worlds like we’ve never seen before,” said Alan Stern, New Horizons principal investigator from Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado. “Our close encounter with MU69 adds another chapter to this mission’s remarkable story. We’re excited for the public to help us pick a nickname for our target that captures the excitement of the flyby and awe and inspiration of exploring this new and record-distant body in space.”
The naming campaign is hosted by the SETI Institute of Mountain View, California, and led by Mark Showalter, an institute fellow and member of the New Horizons science team. The website includes names currently under consideration; site visitors can vote for their favorites or nominate names they think should be added to the ballot.
“The campaign is open to everyone,” Showalter said. “We are hoping that somebody out there proposes the perfect, inspiring name for MU69.”
The campaign will close at 3 p.m. EST/noon PST on Dec. 1. NASA and the New Horizons team will review the top vote-getters and announce their selection in early January.
Telescopic observations of MU69, which is more than 4 billion miles (6.5 billion kilometers) from Earth, hint at the Kuiper Belt object being either a binary orbiting pair or a contact (stuck together) pair of nearly like-sized bodies – meaning the team might actually need two or more temporary tags for its target.
“Many Kuiper Belt Objects have had informal names at first, before a formal name was proposed. After the flyby, once we know a lot more about this intriguing world, we and NASA will work with the International Astronomical Union to assign a formal name to MU69,” Showalter said. “Until then, we’re excited to bring people into the mission and share in what will be an amazing flyby on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day, 2019!”
