OnOrbit - Social Space News and Networking

(Image) Sea of Okhotsk As Seen From Orbit

keithcowing — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 18:02:23 -0800

This image, acquired by Envisat's Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS) instrument on 9 March 2010, captures sea ice in the Sea of Okhotsk off the northeastern coast of Russia's Sakhalin Island (top left) and the northern tip of Japan's Hokkaido Island (bottom left). Sea ice began forming in the northern area over the Sea of Okhotsk in November 2009. Since then, it extended down to about 30 km off the northern coast of Hokkaido and has likely reached its maximum. Credits: ESA. Download: HI-RES JPEG (Size: 1541 kb) HI-RES TIFF (Size: 27 954 kb)

New Photos of Everest and Moon Rocks In Orbit

keithcowing — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 14:26:49 -0800

Astronaut and Everest climber Scott Parazynski recently posted some new images of the Everest summit rock and Apollo Moon rocks that were installed inside the cupola attached to the ISS node Tranquility last month. You can see more of them here.

(Photo) Small Fine Arm (Ko-Bot)

keithcowing — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 14:18:10 -0800

Astro_Soichi: Small Fine Arm (Ko-Bot) unveiled. This is not CG. Real robot arm in real space!

(Photos) Space Florida Secures Licenses for Launch Complexes 46 and 36

keithcowing — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 14:02:30 -0800

Space Florida is pleased to announce that it has secured Real Property Licenses for Space Launch Complexes 46 and 36 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. As a result, the 45th Space Wing now grants Space Florida full rights to proceed with construction and refurbishment work at either launch location.

Mini Research Module MRM1 (Rassvet) Integration Begins

keithcowing — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 13:46:39 -0800

RSC Energia: Specialists from the S.P.Korolev Rocket and Space Corporation Energia continue their work at Kennedy Space Center (KSC), FL, USA on the processing for launch of the Mini Research Module MRM1 (Rassvet). At the SPPF facility of the Astrotech company (formerly Spacehab) stand-alone electrical tests and leak tests of the module and the airlock which is to be delivered on it have by now been completed.

The work has started on preparing the airlock and the radiative heat exchanger for installation onto MRM1. These items will be structurally integrated with the module and delivered to the Russian Segment of the International Space Station (ISS) to await the docking of the Multi-Purpose Laboratory Module (MLM) with the space station. They will be transferred to MPL to operate as parts of that module.

The launch of the Rassvet module onboard the Space Shuttle is stipulated by an agreement between Russia and US under the ISS program and is scheduled for May 2010. The Multi-Purpose Laboratory Module is expected to be added to the space station in 2012.

Click on image to enlarge

Alternative Energy Crops in Space

keithcowing — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 20:39:53 -0800

Fruits of J. curcas. Fruits are produced terminally in the branches, and each fruit contains three seeds. Image credit: Dr. Wagner A Vendrame, University of Florida at Homestead

What if space held the key to producing alternative energy crops on Earth? That's what researchers are hoping to find in a new experiment on the International Space Station.

NASA Offers 'Fast' Opportunities for Zero-G Technology Testing

keithcowing — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 20:21:35 -0800

NASA has announced opportunities to test emerging technologies during flights on an airplane that simulates the weightless conditions of space. The technologies should have potential use in future NASA projects, support future exploration systems, or improve air and space vehicle capabilities.

Zero Gravity Corporation Establishes The Zero-G Weightless Lab

keithcowing — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 20:07:40 -0800

Today, Zero Gravity Corporation (ZERO-G) announced the establishment of the ZERO-G WEIGHTLESS LAB. The specially designed two-day program provides the only commercial access to Martian, Lunar, zero and hyper gravity environments for scientific research. The program is open to academic, corporate and government agency applicants.

SpaceX Falcon 9 Update

keithcowing — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 14:41:01 -0800

On Tuesday, March 9th, SpaceX performed our first Static Fire for the Falcon 9 launch vehicle. We counted down to T-2 seconds and aborted on Spin Start (the process that fires the engines). Given that this was our first abort event on this pad, we decided to scrub for the day get a good look at the rocket before trying again.

Ice and Rock Mixture Inside Titan

keithcowing — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 13:29:40 -0800

By precisely tracking NASA's Cassini spacecraft on its low swoops over Saturn's moon Titan, scientists have determined the distribution of materials in the moon's interior. The subtle gravitational tugs they measured suggest the interior has been too cold and sluggish to split completely into separate layers of ice and rock.