spacestationshuttle

GOES-O Mission

2009-06-29T07:50:00.001-07:00

GOES-O Reaches Orbit
Image above: Rising above the two lightning towers around the pad, a Delta IV rocket races into the sky with the GOES-O satellite aboard. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

The GOES-O satellite lifted off from Launch Complex 37 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida at 6:51 p.m. EDT atop a Delta IV rocket. From a position about 22,300 miles above Earth, the advanced weather satellite will keep an unblinking eye on atmospheric conditions in the Eastern United States and Atlantic Ocean.

Mission Overview
GOES-O is the latest weather satellite developed by NASA to aid the nation's meteorologists and climate scientists. The acronym stands for Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite. The spacecraft in the series provide the familiar weather pictures seen on United States television newscasts every day. The satellites are equipped with a formidable array of sensors and instruments.

GOES provides nearly continuous imaging and sounding, which allows forecasters to better measure changes in atmospheric temperature and moisture distributions, hence increasing the accuracy of their forecasts. GOES environmental information is used for a host of applications, including weather monitoring and prediction models.

Bungee Cords Keep Astronauts Grounded While Running

2009-06-29T07:48:00.001-07:00

Astronaut Suni Williams bungeed to the TVIS treadmill aboard the International Space Station.
Credit: NASA

Official patch for "COLBERT," the Combined Operational Load Bearing External Resistance Treadmill, due to launch on shuttle Discovery as early as August 2009. (Click image to enlarge.)
Credit: NASA

International Space Station astronauts are getting a new toy in August – a treadmill. Famously named after comedian Stephen Colbert, the new running machine will help astronauts stay fit, fighting off the bone loss and muscle decay that otherwise comes with space travel.

Just one problem: How do you run where there's no gravity to hold your feet to the ground?

"Bungee cords! You have to strap yourself to the treadmill," explains astronaut Sunita "Suni" Williams. And she's not joking.

In 2007, she ran the Boston Marathon on the station's TVIS treadmill wrapped in bungee cords for the entire 26.2 mile race.

"It's not as bad as it sounds," she laughs.

TVIS stands for "Treadmill with Vibration Isolation System." It's the space station's original treadmill, designed to allow astronauts to run without vibrating delicate microgravity science experiments in adjacent labs. COLBERT, short for "Combined Operational Load Bearing External Resistance Treadmill", has a different kind of vibration-suppression system plus some other improvements for runners:

"I tried a COLBERT mockup at Johnson Space Center," says Williams. "It's broader than TVIS, so you don't have to watch out where your feet go. It allows a wider, more natural gait."

Williams spent a lot of time running during her six months on board the International Space Station, and she recalls what it's like:

"Just getting ready to run is a workout when you're weightless. Before all my training runs up there, I had to hook the toes of one foot under a handrail to keep from floating around while I struggled to put my sock and shoe on my other foot."

"I did this so often, it made calluses on top of my feet. Meanwhile, the calluses on the bottoms of my feet from running on Earth went away. It's totally upside down and backwards!" she laughs.

The treadmill's bungee harness "can be a bit uncomfortable," she continues. "During the marathon my foot sometimes went numb and tingly from the straps' pressure on my hip. Also, I had to use moleskin where the harness rubbed my neck raw."

And inside the close, still quarters of the space station, there are no gentle breezes to cool you down.

"Sweat globs onto you. It doesn't evaporate. I was soaking wet. During the marathon my hair was so sopping it flopped right in my face. We have little fans blowing on us but they don't do much good."

And Williams missed more than the soft winds of Earth.

"On Earth, the crowd cheers you on and you enjoy the camaraderie and support of the other runners. In space it's a little bit lonely. I was by myself most of race. My crewmates did cheer me through the last half hour to the finish. That was great!"

"Also, one of the Soyuz astronauts floated sweet, juicy pieces of oranges to me – so refreshing!"

After the grueling run, Williams longed for a hot shower. "A sponge bath just isn't the same!" she says. Neither did she have a washer and dryer for cleaning her sweat-soaked running clothes. "I hung my drenched clothes near a fan and tied my sneakers to a handrail to air them out."

Williams is the only person to have run the Boston Marathon on Earth and in space—and she noted some interesting differences:

"I recovered faster after the space marathon. When you're floating, your muscles get to rest, so you can totally relax when you finish running – it's like being in a pool."

"Also, the space marathon didn't give me the same endorphin effect – that wonderful mood lift runners enjoy after running – as the Earth marathon did. I'm not sure why," she says. "We are loaded with only about 60% of our Earth weight on TVIS and its harness system, so maybe I just didn't work hard enough!"

Williams says she'd consider running another marathon on COLBERT. "If another astronaut challenges my time, maybe I’ll do it. I have a competitive nature."

When it comes to running, you could say "it's out of this world."

UFO - UHF Follow On

2009-06-10T05:00:00.000-07:00

Hughes Space and Communications will build, launch, test and deliver on-orbit 10 UFO satellites under this $1.8-billion contract with the US Navy. UFO-1 was launched into a useless orbit by a faulty Atlas on March 25, 1993. UFO-4 cost roughly $188M. These spacecraft will replace the aging Leasat and Fltsatcom spacecraft in providing secure global communications for U.S. Naval forces.

Spacecraft
The UFO series was the first to use the HS-601 spacecraft bus design. The dual solar arrays provide nearly 2700 watts.

Payload
UFO-4 is the first in the series to carry an EHF package (roughly 400 lbm and provides uplink at 44 GHz and downlinks at 20 GHz on 11 channels through an Earth coverage antenna and a 5 deg steerable spot beam antenna). The payload also includes 11 solid-state UHF amplifiers covering 555 kHz UHF bandwidth on 21 5-kHz-bandwidth channels, seven 25-kHz relay channels and one fleet broadcast channel with a 25 kHz bandwidth.

Country of Origin	United States
Customer/User	US Navy
Manufacturer(s)	Hughes
Orbit	Geosynchronous UFO4: 177 deg W.
Design Life	10 years minimum

Source:nasa.gov

MACSAT- Multiple Access Communications Satellites

2009-06-10T04:57:00.000-07:00

The two MACSAT spacecraft are third generation DSI digital communications satellites designed to demonstrate tactical UHF voice, data, fax and video store and forward capabilities for the U.S. military. The gravity gradient boom on one spacecraft appears to have failed to deploy. The other spacecraft was used during Operation Desert Storm for message relay to and from military troops in the Gulf region.

Spacecraft
Gravity gradient stabilized (approx. 5 degrees control) using a 9+ meter boom and 2.3 kg tip mass. Damping achieved via hysteresis rods. Z-coil used to invert the spacecraft should it stabilize upside down. Dual digital processors provide redundancy and 2.4 to 16 megabytes of data storage. 16 sided cylindrical structure. Body mounted solar cells provide 10 to 17 watts of orbit average power. Redundant NiCd batteries provide 150 Whr capacity.

Payload
Each satellite contains two digitally tunable 10 watt transmitters, a 65 watt high power auxiliary receiver for spacecraft command and hardware reconfiguration, and two antenna systems. This equipment was used to conduct store and forward communications demonstrations.

Country of Origin	United States
Customer/User	DARPA
Manufacturer(s)	Defense Systems Inc. (now CTA)
Size	61 cm diameter, 35.6 cm high
Orbit	613 x 739 km, 90 deg inclination

Source:NASA.gov

Endeavour Launch Targeted for Nov. 14

2008-10-03T22:00:00.000-07:00

Space Shuttle Program managers advanced the target launch date for Endeavour's STS-126 mission by two days to Nov. 14 at 7:55 p.m. EST.

Endeavour will carry new equipment to the International Space Station that will allow the orbiting laboratory to double its current resident crew from three to six. One Endeavour crew member, Sandra Magnus, will remain on the station for a long-duration mission when Endeavour returns. She will take the place of current station resident crewman Greg Chamitoff.

Working inside the gigantic swimming pool at NASA's Neutral Buoyancy Lab at NASA's Johnson Space Center, astronauts Steve Bowen and Shane Kimbrough are rehearsing the fourth spacewalk for the mission.

Technicians at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida will remove the Hubble Space Telescope servicing hardware from the cargo bay of space shuttle Atlantis early next week and place it inside its protective cannister on Oct. 13 for transfer to the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility. The Atlantis mission to service the Hubble has been delayed and Atlantis will be moved back from Launch Pad 39A to the Vehicle Assembly Building on Oct. 20. Endeavour will be moved to Pad A on Oct. 25.

by

nasa.gov