ISS – Expedition 57 Mission patch.
Nov. 28, 2018
Crew members aboard the International Space Station had a lot to celebrate as they observed the station’s 20th anniversary and enjoyed a traditional Thanksgiving meal together before returning to scientific operations.
The launch of the station’s first element, the Zarya module, occurred on Nov. 20, 1998. The three-person Expedition 57 crew commemorated the beginning of the orbital lab’s construction during a Facebook Live event and answered questions submitted via social media.
Image above: NASA astronaut Serena M. Auñón-Chancellor performed the pressurization of the Japanese Experiment Module – Exposed Facility (JEM-EF), a constantly exposed platform located outside of the Japanese Experiment Module. Image Credit: NASA.
Here’s a look at some of the science conducted last week aboard the orbiting lab:
Crew members record cultural experiences in space
The station serves as home, office and recreation room for astronauts. They share this confined space far above the Earth with crew members from different countries and cultures for as long as six months or more. Maintaining individual well-being and crew harmony is important for the crew and mission success.
The Culture, Values, and Environmental Adaptation in Space (At Home In Space) investigation, sponsored by the Canadian Space Agency, looks at changes in perceptions about home in space and the ways a unique culture may develop aboard the station during a mission.
The crew completed an At Home in Space questionnaire, noting things like individual and culturally-related differences, family functioning, values and coping skills.
New drive activated on Earth-observation platform
Orbiting approximately 250 miles above the Earth, the Multiple User System for Earth Sensing Facility (MUSES) offers researchers a unique vantage point from the outside of the station for tasks like Earth observation, disaster response, maritime domain awareness, agricultural/land use applications, food security, air quality, oil and gas exploration, mining, atmospheric investigations and fire detection.
Image above: NASA astronaut Serena Auñón-Chancellor and ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Alexander Gerst captured Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus space freighter this week. Image Credit: NASA.
MUSES provides low-cost access to space for instrument developers. MUSES and the ability to return payloads from the space station to Earth provides an excellent platform for technology demonstration and the space qualification of hardware.
Due to degradation observed in one of the facility’s boot drives, the crew switched the MUSES server to use one of the platform’s other drives.
Investigation stowed for return
Binary Colloidal Alloy Test – Cohesive Sediment (BCAT-CS) studies dynamic forces between sediment particles that cluster together. For the study, scientists sent mixtures of quartz and clay particles to the space station and subjected them to various levels of simulated gravity. Conducting the experiment in microgravity makes it possible to separate out different forces that act on sediments and look at the function of each.
Image above: Crew members continued to maintain the plants growing as a part of the VEG-03G investigation. Image Credit: NASA.
Understanding how sediments behave has a range of applications on Earth, including predicting and mitigating erosion, improving water treatment, modeling the carbon cycle, sequestering contaminants and more accurately finding deep sea oil reservoirs.
The crew performed the final set of sample photos and stowed hardware for return. Due to the data produced from the investigation, the experiment was extended substantially past the original two to four-week run to around 90 days in order to observe the continued evolution of the aggregates.
Other work was done on these investigations:
– Team Task Switching studies whether or not crew members have difficulty in switching tasks and determines the impacts of these switches in order to both reduce any negative consequences and improve individual and team motivation and effectiveness: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=7538
– The Probiotics investigation studies the impact of continuous consumption of beneficial bacteria (probiotics) on immune function and intestinal microbiota in astronauts in a closed microgravity environment: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=2047
– The MVP facility is used to conduct research with a wide variety of sample types, such as fruit flies, flatworms, plants, fish, cells, protein crystals and many others. It includes internal carousels that simultaneously can produce up to 2 g of artificial gravity. MVP Cell-05 investigates the complex process of cement solidification at gravity levels of interest: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Facility.html?#id=1777
– Food Acceptability examines changes in how food appeals to crew members during their time aboard the station. Acceptability of food – whether crew members like and actually eat something – may directly affect crew caloric intake and associated nutritional benefits: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=7562
– The Veg-03 investigation expands on previous validation tests of the new Veggie hardware, which crew members used to grow cabbage, lettuce and other fresh vegetables in space: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=1159
Related links:
Expedition 57: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/expedition57/index.html
At Home In Space: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=1727
Multiple User System for Earth Sensing Facility (MUSES): https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=1147
Binary Colloidal Alloy Test – Cohesive Sediment (BCAT-CS): https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=7668
MVP Cell-05: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=7874
Veggie: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Facility.html?#id=374
Facebook Live: https://www.facebook.com/ISS/videos/305402173409008/
Canadian Space Agency (ASC-CSA): http://www.asc-csa.gc.ca/eng/sciences/at-home-in-space.asp
Spot the Station: https://spotthestation.nasa.gov/
Space Station Research and Technology: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/index.html
International Space Station (ISS): https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.html
Images (mentioned), Video (NASA), Text, Credits: NASA/Michael Johnson/Vic Cooley, Lead Increment Scientist Expeditions 57/58.
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