- Canada is providing a 55-foot-long robotic arm to be used for assembly and maintenance tasks on the Space Station.
- The European Space Agency is building a pressurized laboratory to be launched on the Space Shuttle and logistics transport vehicles to be launched on the Ariane 5 launch vehicle.
- Japan is building a laboratory with an attached exposed exterior platform for experiments as well as logistics transport vehicles.
- Russia is providing two research modules; an early living quarters called the Service Module with its own life support and habitation systems; a science power platform of solar arrays that can supply about 20 kilowatts of electrical power; logistics transport vehicles; and Soyuz spacecraft for crew return and transfer.
- In addition, Brazil and Italy are contributing some equipment to the station through agreements with the United States.
Showing posts with label Space Info. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Space Info. Show all posts
Thursday, July 3, 2008
International Contributions For IIS
The international partners, Canada, Japan, the European Space Agency, and Russia, will contribute the following key elements to the International Space Station:
The International Space Station
The International Space Station is the largest and most complex international scientific project in history. And when it is complete just after the turn of the century, the the station will represent a move of unprecedented scale off the home planet. Led by the United States, the International Space Station draws upon the scientific and technological resources of 16 nations: Canada, Japan, Russia, 11 nations of the European Space Agency and Brazil.
More than four times as large as the Russian Mir space station, the completed International Space Station will have a mass of about 1,040,000 pounds. It will measure 356 feet across and 290 feet long, with almost an acre of solar panels to provide electrical power to six state-of-the-art laboratories.
The station will be in an orbit with an altitude of 250 statute miles with an inclination of 51.6 degrees. This orbit allows the station to be reached by the launch vehicles of all the international partners to provide a robust capability for the delivery of crews and supplies. The orbit also provides excellent Earth observations with coverage of 85 percent of the globe and over flight of 95 percent of the population. By the end of this year, about 500,000 pounds of station components will be have been built at factories around the world.
U.S. Role and Contributions
The United States has the responsibility for developing and ultimately operating major elements and systems aboard the station. The U.S. elements include three connecting modules, or nodes; a laboratory module; truss segments; four solar arrays; a habitation module; three mating adapters; a cupola; an unpressurized logistics carrier and a centrifuge module. The various systems being developed by the U.S. include thermal control; life support; guidance, navigation and control; data handling; power systems; communications and tracking; ground operations facilities and launch-site processing facilities.
More than four times as large as the Russian Mir space station, the completed International Space Station will have a mass of about 1,040,000 pounds. It will measure 356 feet across and 290 feet long, with almost an acre of solar panels to provide electrical power to six state-of-the-art laboratories.
The station will be in an orbit with an altitude of 250 statute miles with an inclination of 51.6 degrees. This orbit allows the station to be reached by the launch vehicles of all the international partners to provide a robust capability for the delivery of crews and supplies. The orbit also provides excellent Earth observations with coverage of 85 percent of the globe and over flight of 95 percent of the population. By the end of this year, about 500,000 pounds of station components will be have been built at factories around the world.
U.S. Role and Contributions
The United States has the responsibility for developing and ultimately operating major elements and systems aboard the station. The U.S. elements include three connecting modules, or nodes; a laboratory module; truss segments; four solar arrays; a habitation module; three mating adapters; a cupola; an unpressurized logistics carrier and a centrifuge module. The various systems being developed by the U.S. include thermal control; life support; guidance, navigation and control; data handling; power systems; communications and tracking; ground operations facilities and launch-site processing facilities.
Source : ShuttlePressKit
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
ISS Science Highlight: STS-124/1J Every Day is Earth Day on the International Space Station
There may be only one place in the universe which can be the subject of 300,000 and counting photos and still never get old. It is the same place that astronauts spend hours upon hours of their free time watching, for months, yet still can't get enough. It's not a distant galaxy, or a spectacular nebula. It's simply home -- our planet Earth.
Of all the things astronauts speak of after their flights, the view of Earth remains their most consistent, indescribable, awe-inspiring constant.
Imagine looking out your window and seeing the planet pass below at 17,500 miles per hour every day, circling it each 90 minutes. That's the view for astronauts living and working on the International Space Station for six months at a time, orbiting 220 miles above the ground. Every day is Earth Day aboard the station.
The station provides an incomparable vantage point from which to observe, monitor and even discover Earth. A high quality optical window, located in the U.S. Laboratory, Destiny, was designed just for that purpose.
"Astronaut photographs of Earth are taken from the human perspective from space,” said Sue Runco, Earth remote sensing scientist at Johnson Space Center. “Just the fact of seeing Earth as another human sees it, is why people often can relate to them much greater than they can to satellite imagery."
Astronauts are trained in meteorology, geology, oceanography and environmental science in advance of their mission to maximize their observations of Earth. They use an array of professional digital cameras and lenses to capture the images, and, more recently, high-definition video.
A team of scientists on the ground helps the crews identify upcoming photo opportunities. The scientists send daily messages to the crew with specific times, locations and background on the areas of interest. Those areas can range from coral reefs to alpine glaciers to smog over industrial regions.
The unique documentation has become a valuable asset to researchers who use the data to help illustrate changes over time. By comparing photos from space of areas of interest, they can develop maps of land cover change, identify changes in Earth’s atmosphere and document changes in water levels, vegetation or even urban sprawl.
Their photos also serve as the “eyes of the world” – giving us never seen before images of hurricanes from above or squall lines as they develop. Unlike satellites, astronauts can actively search and identify new developments below them. During Expedition 13, Flight Engineer Jeff Williams was the first person to identify an erupting volcano of which even ground scientists were unaware.
"Astronaut photography of Earth has some unique aspects that aren't found in most satellite imagery,” said Runco. “There is a person behind the camera, and they use their judgment and training to pick the features they will photograph and the angle they will use.
Because of their orbit tracks and variable imaging times the lighting will be different which emphasizes different features. They operate in a mode of real-time discovery to see features of interest and document them in a way that is not possible with satellites.” Because it must rely on as few supplies as possible, the space station uses several very green principles in its daily operations. Water aboard the complex is recycled, not for drinking use, but to provide air for the complex. The water is split into hydrogen and oxygen. The oxygen is then used for breathing air while the hydrogen is vented overboard. All the electrical power on the station is generated by more than a half-acre of solar panels. Future systems may also even recycle the crew's exhaled breath -- combining the carbon dioxide scrubbed from the cabin atmosphere with hydrogen to create additional water.
Learning to use resources onboard the ISS for sustainable living is a smaller version of learning about the larger space platform, Earth, its resources, changes, and effects on sustainable living.
Source : NASA
Of all the things astronauts speak of after their flights, the view of Earth remains their most consistent, indescribable, awe-inspiring constant.
Imagine looking out your window and seeing the planet pass below at 17,500 miles per hour every day, circling it each 90 minutes. That's the view for astronauts living and working on the International Space Station for six months at a time, orbiting 220 miles above the ground. Every day is Earth Day aboard the station.
The station provides an incomparable vantage point from which to observe, monitor and even discover Earth. A high quality optical window, located in the U.S. Laboratory, Destiny, was designed just for that purpose.
"Astronaut photographs of Earth are taken from the human perspective from space,” said Sue Runco, Earth remote sensing scientist at Johnson Space Center. “Just the fact of seeing Earth as another human sees it, is why people often can relate to them much greater than they can to satellite imagery."
Astronauts are trained in meteorology, geology, oceanography and environmental science in advance of their mission to maximize their observations of Earth. They use an array of professional digital cameras and lenses to capture the images, and, more recently, high-definition video.
A team of scientists on the ground helps the crews identify upcoming photo opportunities. The scientists send daily messages to the crew with specific times, locations and background on the areas of interest. Those areas can range from coral reefs to alpine glaciers to smog over industrial regions.
The unique documentation has become a valuable asset to researchers who use the data to help illustrate changes over time. By comparing photos from space of areas of interest, they can develop maps of land cover change, identify changes in Earth’s atmosphere and document changes in water levels, vegetation or even urban sprawl.
Their photos also serve as the “eyes of the world” – giving us never seen before images of hurricanes from above or squall lines as they develop. Unlike satellites, astronauts can actively search and identify new developments below them. During Expedition 13, Flight Engineer Jeff Williams was the first person to identify an erupting volcano of which even ground scientists were unaware.
"Astronaut photography of Earth has some unique aspects that aren't found in most satellite imagery,” said Runco. “There is a person behind the camera, and they use their judgment and training to pick the features they will photograph and the angle they will use.
Because of their orbit tracks and variable imaging times the lighting will be different which emphasizes different features. They operate in a mode of real-time discovery to see features of interest and document them in a way that is not possible with satellites.” Because it must rely on as few supplies as possible, the space station uses several very green principles in its daily operations. Water aboard the complex is recycled, not for drinking use, but to provide air for the complex. The water is split into hydrogen and oxygen. The oxygen is then used for breathing air while the hydrogen is vented overboard. All the electrical power on the station is generated by more than a half-acre of solar panels. Future systems may also even recycle the crew's exhaled breath -- combining the carbon dioxide scrubbed from the cabin atmosphere with hydrogen to create additional water.
Learning to use resources onboard the ISS for sustainable living is a smaller version of learning about the larger space platform, Earth, its resources, changes, and effects on sustainable living.
Source : NASA
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