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Astrophotographer Took a Photo of the International Space Station So Detailed You Can See Spacewalking Astronauts
From Germany to space, with love. Last Wednesday (March 23), astrophotographer Sebastian Voltmer captured a snapshot of spacewalk action from the ground. Using a Celestron 11-inch EdgeHD telescope on a GM2000 HPS mount and an ASI290 planetary camera to get the shot, Voltmer caught the image in the sky from Sankt Wendel, Germany. The picture was of NASA astronaut Raja Chari and the European Space Agency's Matthias Maurer who were performing a variety of maintenance tasks at the exterior of the International Space Station. Voltmer managed to capture the rare sighting shortly after sunset. Interestingly, Maurer’s hometown also happens to be Sankt Wendel, Germany, making the entire circumstance doubly amazing.Image: Sebastian Voltmer#InternationalSpaceStation #astrophotography #telescope #astronaut #NASA #spacewalk
International Space Station Crossing the Moon
Thierry Legault is an engineer and astrophotographer living near Paris. Big city skies are notoriously bad for stargazing due to the light pollution, so he drove 155 miles to a remote spot in the countryside of Bourges, France to perform his hobby. And on that night, something extraordinary happened.Despite foggy weather, Legault managed to capture the split second when the International Space Station passed through the moon. The moment was photographed in such great detail that you can make out the spaceship’s solar panels. Legault wrote in a Facebook Post:Many modules and spacecrafts are visible, in particular the SpaceX Crex-3 Dragon.I had to ride 250 km from home and find a remote place in the countryside in the center of the transit path, in the middle of the night between the blankets of fog.As shown by the video, the transit (prepared on www.transit-finder.com) lasted only 1/2 second, at the speed of 27000 km/h.Tycho crater near the ISS is 85 km wide and one of the youngest craters on the Moon ("only" 100 million years old). The large surrounding rays were caused by the impact of an asteroid comparable in size to the body that caused the extinction of the dinosaurs.The image is so impressive that even senior NASA photographer Bill Ingalls praised it while retweeting the snapshot. Of course, there are also naysayers who doubted the authenticity of the picture, but Legault chose to see it as a compliment: if it seems too good to be true then he must’ve done a great job at capturing it.Image: Thierry Legault#ISS #InternationalSpaceStation #Moon #LunarTransit #ThierryLegaultSource: Astrophotography, Legault's official website
The Planned Death of the International Space Station
The International Space Station was launched in 1998, and by now it seems like it was always there. But all good things must come to an end, and the ISS will be decommissioned in 2030. Then what? Because the space station is in a relatively low orbit, it currently has to be boosted on a regular basis to keep it from falling to earth. Once it is abandoned, it must be destroyed. This week, NASA released their plan for bringing the ISS back down to earth safely. In January of 2031, the ISS will be "de-orbited" with the aim of crashing it into the Pacific Ocean at a place called Point Nemo, which is also the “Oceanic Pole of Inaccessibility” because it is 2,700 miles from any land, and therefore void of shipping traffic. This spot is the traditional graveyard of space debris.
The Ultimate House Tour: Float Through the International Space Station with a 360 Degree Camera
The International Space Station may perhaps be the most challenging place to go to. For one, you have to be an astronaut to live there, and being an astronaut requires a lot. To be one, you'd need a master's degree in a STEM field and at least two years of related, professional experience. Last but not least, you need to be able to pass the NASA astronaut physical. It is without saying that there are only a few people qualified to go to the ISS. The rest of us, meanwhile, are left wondering what it is like inside the orbital outpost.ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet shows us around the station with a 360 camera. And what's inside the station, you ask? Well, it's mostly wires and lots of monitors.(Video Credit: European Space Agency, ESA)#NASA #ESA #InternationalSpaceStation #ISS #Space
Astronaut Photographed a Lightning Strike with a "Transient Luminous Event" over Europe from Space
Absolutely stunning. Also scary. Very scary.This blue blob surrounded by the dark and starry mass of land on Earth is actually a lightning strike that was seen in the upper atmosphere. The ‘transient luminous event’ was observed over Europe.Events like this are rarely observed, but astronaut Andreas Mogensen captured the image from the International Space Station. Surprisingly, his location was very well-suited to capture the flash of light, as the Station flies over the equator where there are more thunderstorms.Image credit: Thomas Pesquet via Flickr #Thuderstorms #InternationalSpaceStation #Lightning #TransientLuminuousEvent
Fire is Spherical in Microgravity
Now this is absolutely cool!In order to learn how fire spreads and behaves, scientists have created the Combustion Integrated Rack (CIR), launched to the International Space Station in 2008. The CIR is a facility that allows combustion investigations in microgravity. The experiments so far have been related to fire safety in space and understanding fire combustion. In their experiments, researchers have discovered that the flame on Earth is different from the flame in space. Thanks to a lower amount of gravitational force in space, flames tend to look spherical. It looks like those special powers or moves you have seen in anime, I know. It’s also interesting to note how gravity affects fire. According to NASA, ‘on Earth, hot gasses from the flame rise while gravity pulls cooler, denser air to the bottom of the flame. This creates both the shape of the flame, as well as a flickering effect. In microgravity, this flow doesn’t occur. This reduces the variables in combustion experiments, making them simpler and creating spherical shaped flames.’Image credit: NASA#fire #flame #gravity #microgravity #InternationalSpaceStation #NASA #combustion
NASA Growing Chili Pepper in Space: Pepper Plant on the International Space Station Bore Fruit
Houston, we have managed to grow some plants in space!Four chili pepper plants growing in the International Space Station have produced several peppers. This development is the result of efforts by the team at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center that controlled the fans on the station’s Advanced Plant Habitat (APH) in order to create a gentle breeze and encourage the pollination of the plants’ flowers.Two harvests will be made this year, in October and November. Astronauts will sanitize the peppers, eat some of them, and return the rest to Earth for analysis.Image credit: NASA#Peppers #Plants #PlantingInSpace #Space #InternationalSpaceStation #NASA #ChilePepperPlants
The International Space Station Has an AI-Powered Space Robot Named CIMON
The CIMON-2 is the astronaut's latest cyber companion in space!The Artificial Intelligence (AI)-powered contraption, fully known as Crew Interactive Mobile Companion, is a small floating sphere with a digital cartoon-like face. The robot accompanied two European astronauts to past missions to the International Space Station, where it is currently stored. The mechanical sphere will be woken up for the upcoming mission of German astronaut Matthias Maurer. The CIMON-2 was developed by Till Eisenberg with the German Aerospace Centre DLR and the LMU University in Munich. Its function is to communicate with the astronauts, and respond to their commands. As for how it recognises speech, Space.com explains that the robot relies on IBM's Watson speech recognition and synthesis software to do so, as Till Einseber fully explains: "The sphere is just the front end," Eisenberg said. "All the voice recognition and artificial intelligence happens on Earth at an IBM data centre in Frankfurt, Germany. The signal from CIMON has to travel through satellites and ground stations to the data centre and back. We focused on improving the robustness of this connection to prevent disruptions."The current robot at the space station has the Watson Tone Analyzer, which makes it more attuned to the astronauts’ emotional states. Image credit: Airbus #Space #Robot #ArtificialIntelligence #IBM #TillEisenberg #CIMON #CrewInteractiveMobileCompanion #Technology #SpeechRecongition #InternationalSpaceStation
Space Olympics: Astronauts on the ISS Just Held Their Own Olympic Games
Why let all those gravity-bound athletes have all the fun at the Olympic Games?Astronauts at the International Space Station has just held their own "Space Olympics" with a weightless twist. There was the lack-of-floor routine gymnastic event, the No-handball where astronauts had to get a ping-pong ball through the hatch by blowing on it, synchronized space swimming, and weightless sharpshooting.European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Pesquet tweeted: "The first Space Olympics. 4 disciplines. 7 athletes. 2 teams, and a boost for crew cohesion."In Space Olympics, everybody wins!#Olympics #SpaceOlympics #InternationalSpaceStation #ISS #astronaut #weightless #sports
This is How Russian Cosmonauts Opened the Hatch That Connects the Lab Module to the International Space Station
Last week, Russian space agency Roscosmos' lab module docked with the International Space Station with a bit of drama: due to a software glitch, the module fired its thrusters which caused the space station to spin and tilt.After the situation was stabilized, the cosmonauts inside the Russian module, nicknamed 'Nauka' (Russian for 'science') were able to open the hatch that connect it to the space station and moved inside.The two cosmonauts, Oleg Novitsky and Pyotr Dubrov, took a video clip of their opening of the hatch. It's an interesting sight to see: Novitsky used a special key then he and Dubrov pushed the hatch directly outwards then swung it away before the cosmonaut went through it.At the end of the clip, there's a brief tour of the Nauka lab module.#InternationalSpaceStation #ISS #spacestation #NaukaModule #cosmonaut #Roscosmos #hatch
High School Students Designed a Duct Tape Dispenser for the International Space Station
NASA astronauts aboard the International Space Station used to need scissors to tear a strip of duct tape (in a pinch, they use their teeth to tear a piece) but thanks to high school students, they now have something much better: a duct tape dispenser specially with connector that can be mounted on the walls of the space station.Mike Hopkins of the Crew-1 SpaceX Crew Dragon explained, "This tape dispenser I think is going to find a lot of use here on the International Space Station. One of the key things I like about it is you can basically operate it with one hand. Up here, you often times are using your other hand to stabilize yourself."The duct tape dispenser was created through HUNCH or High School Students United with NASA to Create Hardware, a nationwide program that lets thousands of high school students design and build equipment for NASA's space programs. Now in their 18th year, HUNCH has created storage locker, galley table, sleeping bag liner, handrail, and hygiene kit. They've also created various culinary items for the astronauts to eat.
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