When it comes to experiments in space, astronauts on the International Space Station face challenges you won’t find on Earth: bubbles don’t rise, things float away and many Earth-based lab tools don’t always work the same way. So science in space needs to me reimagined from the ground up.
A NASA scientist explains how we study life, chemistry and physics in orbit.
We know how microgravity impacts the brain thanks to astronauts on the ISS, but what about life on the Moon or Mars? Future explorers will also face hypoxia—low oxygen levels—which could affect their brain function and decision-making.
A team of students is tackling this challenge by conducting zero-gravity flight experiments to study how the brain responds to both microgravity and hypoxia. Their research could help improve astronaut safety for future lunar and Martian missions, ensuring they can explore safely beyond their spacecraft.
Could this be a key step in preparing humans for deep space exploration? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!
📹 ESA – European Space Agency 📸 ESA – European Space Agency
Satellite communication underpins everyday life, enabling fundamental improvements not just in communication, but also in transport, healthcare, safety and security, environmental services and many other industries.
The Advanced Research in Telecommunications Systems (ARTES) 4.0 programme enables European and Canadian industry to explore, through research and development, innovative concepts that stimulates the wider economy, creating new business and jobs across almost every industry. ARTES 4.0 supports the production of market-leading and cutting-edge products and services within a fiercely competitive global satellite communications market.
We are Europe’s gateway to space. Our mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world. Check out https://www.esa.int/ to get up to speed on everything space related.
Foams are ubiquitous in our daily lives: they are used to produce food, detergents and plastics. Foams are inherently unstable in gravity, because the liquid between the bubbles is pulled downwards bursting the bubbles in the process. Experiments on the International Space Station have shown that foams are more stable in microgravity because they remain wet. It has even been possible to make foams from pure water.
Foam research in microgravity allows researchers to better understand the processes and calculate models in the most optimal conditions. This is leading to better production and assembly of products containing foams as well as more effective foam-suppression agents.
Many industrial applications benefit from foam research and development in space: cleaning products, cosmetics, fire-fighting and medicines are just some examples. The quality, texture, taste and shelf-life of food and beverages can be enhanced – from the supermarket to the consumers’ fridge.
“It is a game change for our business” says Cécile Gehin-Delval, from Nestlé Research Laboratories in Orbe, Switzerland.
The step to space research is closer than you might think. Get involved with spaceflight research via www.esa.int/spaceflightAO. Find out about our commercial partnerships and opportunities in human and robotic exploration via www.esa.int/explorationpartners to run your research in microgravity as well.
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We are Europe’s gateway to space. Our mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world. Check out http://www.esa.int/ESA to get up to speed on everything space related.
The ESA Director General’s annual new year press breakfast held at ESA’s headquarters in Paris, France, on 16 January 2019. Jan Wörner talked about the achievements of 2018 and the highlights for 2019, with a particular focus on Space19+, the ministerial conference to be held in Seville, Spain, in November 2019. The event was concluded with an interactive question-and-answer session with Director General and ESA’s Programme Directors.
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ESA is Europe’s gateway to space. Our mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world. Check out http://www.esa.int/ESA to get up to speed on everything space related.
ESA Web TV talks with ESA’s Director General Jan Wörner about the plans for ‘Space19+’, ESA’s next Ministerial Council, and its benefits for citizens.
Ministers from ESA’s Member States will come together in Seville, Spain, 27-28 November 2019, to secure financing for ESA’s activities in the coming years.
In this interview the Director General discusses the Space19+ proposal including his plans for space programmes to be carried out by the Agency beyond 2019, covering all aspects of space activities: science and exploration, applications, access to space, operations, research and development. The Space19+ plan also puts ESA in a world-leading position in the emerging field of space safety and security.
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ESA is Europe’s gateway to space. Our mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world. Check out http://www.esa.int/ESA to get up to speed on everything space related.
This talk explores the similarities between the human brain and AI. It is a very high level abstraction of AI and how it enables us to unfold the convolutions of the mind. It convinces you that when you invest in AI, you are actually investing in yourself. Upamanyu Ghose is a 3rd year computer science and engineering student, who is an ex computer vision team member of Project Manas, the only team comprising only of undergraduate students, working to build India’s first driverless car for Mahindra’s million dollar rise prize challenge.
He has been actively pursuing projects and research in the field of computer vision and natural language processing for the past year and is currently working on a project to enable searching through contents of a video. His prior projects include, cervical cancer detection using deep learning, tweet generator, generating stem cell lineage using image processing techniques (assisted a lab in Imperial College London). He’s also a part of a group called Teach Code for Good, which focuses on teaching underprivileged children the basics of coding in order to gear them up for the future.
His future plan is to pursue research in the field of human cognition in order to understand the mind better through artificial intelligence. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx
From ESA astronaut Luca Parmitano’s hometown in Catania, Italy, Luca talks about the science he ran on the International Space Station.
The European laboratory Columbus was launched in 2008 and offers scientists a permanent place in space to conduct research that is out of this world.
Luca’s first spaceflight was in 2013 with Russian cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin and NASA astronaut Karen Nyberg. He conducted over 20 experiments during the Volare mission as flight engineer for Expeditions 36 and 37 and he was the first of ESA’s new generation of astronauts to fly into space.
Luca talks about space research, being a human guinea pig, dieting to avoid bone disease osteoporosis, human physiology, using ultrasound remotely to diagnose back problems, measuring eye pressure and how his body and mind reacted to living in weightlessness.
Luca is set for a second mission to the International Space Station in 2019.
Ginevra Favole is an ESAC research fellow working on the large-scale structures of the universe. Her main scientific field is emission-line galaxies, galaxy clustering and weak gravitational lensing. She also works with mock catalogues and N-body cosmological simulations.
Maggie Lieu is an ESAC research fellow working on Euclid, a visible and near-infrared space telescope due to launch in 2021. By measuring the shapes of distant galaxies we can determine the mass of the largest systems in the Universe, galaxy clusters. Euclid will achieve unprecedented shape measurements of galaxies covering almost half of the extragalactic sky.Maggie is developing statistical methods to deal with this upcoming big, noisy dataset, so that we can better understand the physics of galaxy clusters and theirrolein the Dark Universe.
On 7 February 2008, Space Shuttle Atlantis launched to the International Space Station. In its cargo bay, ESA’s laboratory module Columbus. Now for adecade Columbus has been a part of the ISS. It is the place where ESA astronauts have done countless experiments in microgravity and the scientific importance of the module can hardly be overstated.
Chris from the UK shares his experience as an ESA YGT. He has a background in Materials Engineering and in this video, he shows the set-up that he has been using in the lab at ESTEC to test stress corrosion cracking in spacecraft propellant tanks.
A 5 m-diameter antenna reflector, designed for orbital operations, seen during a test deployment during ESA’s latest Large Deployable Antenna Workshop.
Large-scale antenna reflectors are increasingly required for telecommunications, science and Earth observation missions.
This metal mesh reflector has a ‘double pantograph’ design to form a deployable ring. Once deployed it tensions two opposing, but connected, parabolic shaped nets, one on the top and one on the bottom.
Located on the UK Space Gateway, Harwell Campus, the ESA-RAL Advanced Manufacturing Laboratory provides expertise and test services to investigate and optimise advanced materials and manufacturing processes in support of cutting-edge research and development. The facility is physically located within the Science and Technology Facilities Council’s Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL).
The laboratory takes in samples of material destined for future space projects and puts them through various tests. A wide range of material properties and characteristics can be investigated in order to provide recommendations on how the materials can best be applied or improved before they can be considered for further development and used in a fully-fledged space mission. It has access to a metal-based 3D printer and is equipped with a suite of powerful microscopes, an X-ray CT machine and a range of furnaces.
Mechanical testing such as tensile and micro hardness testing is also performed.The lab is a gateway to accessing some of the extensive on-site testing facilities based on Harwell Campus, such as STFC’s ISIS Neutron Source, the Diamond Light Source synchrotron and the UK’s Central Laser Facility.
ESA Director General Jan Woerner sends a message to mark Asteroid Day 2016, an annual global movement to increase public awareness of potential asteroid impacts with Earth, and the importance of guarding against them. It is held each year on 30 June, the anniversary of the largest impact in recent history, the 1908 Tunguska event in Siberia.
ESA astronaut Tim Peake shows how to draw blood for research on the International Space Station. Researchers often request samples before, during and after a spaceflight to examine differences.
The tubes of blood are put in a refrigerated centrifuge and then stored in the International Space Station’s –80°C freezer called MELFI for later analysis on Earth.
ESA’s proposed e.Deorbit mission plans to demonstrate the retrieval and disposal of a derelict satellite from low-Earth orbit. The mission needs to capture a massive, drifting object left in an uncertain state, which may well be tumbling rapidly. Several capture mechanisms are being studied in parallel – including casting a net.
Polish company SKA Polska won this new ESA Member State’s first competitive contract to design a prototype net gun that could be tested in microgravity on a parabolic flight. Wojtek Gołebiowski of SKA Polska brought it along to the Industry Days of ESA’s Clean Space initiative – tasked with safeguarding both terrestrial and orbital environments – in May 2016. The net gun is comparatively low power (because it was designed for weightlessness) but here he demonstrates how it works on some low-flying drones. Results from firing the net, which is multi-coloured to make it easier to track by cameras, are being used to sharpen the fidelity of software models of net behaviour.
ESA’s European Astronaut Centre (EAC) in Cologne, Germany, trains and prepares astronauts for their missions into space. This video details how EAC is preparing astronauts and technology for missions to the Moon as part of their SpaceShip EAC programme.
Tiny satellites the size of a small cube, jam-packed with the most advanced nanotechnologies: is this the future of Space missions?
To find out, ESA Euronews went to Tallin, Estonia, where students at the Mektory Space Centre are preparing the launch of their first nanosatellite.
Nanosatellites – tiny cubes of 10cm x 10cm x 10cm, full of nanotechnologies — are going to be more and more important in the future of space exploration, from Mars missions, to the surveillance of asteroids, which could potentially be dangerous for our planet.
Also known as ‘CubeSats’ these tiny satellites open up a whole world of possibilities for those who want to explore space.
A nanoműholdak egyre fontosabbak lesznek az űrkutatásban, a Mars megfigyelésétől a Földre veszélyt jelentő aszteroidák felkutatásáig. A bennük rejlő potenciált mindenki igyekszik kiaknázni, a nagy űrügynökségektől a tudományos diákkörökig. Ez a helyzet a Mektory Űrközpontban, az észt főváros, Talinn műszaki egyetemén, ahol a diákok az első nanoműholdjuk Föld körüli pályára állítását készítik elő.
– Azt hittem, soha nem fogok műholdat építeni, hiszen ilyesmit csak a NASA-nál csinálnak. Most meg műholdat építek az egyetemi laborban – hitetlenkedett az Euronewsnak Marta Hang, az űrközpont programasszisztense.
A Mektory nanoműhold-programja egy nemzetközi egyetemi kezdeményezés, amelyben az oktatók és a hallgatók együttműködnek az űrkutatásban érdekelt és más technológiai cégekkel. A cél az, hogy felkészítsék a hallgatókat arra, hogy az űriparban helyezkedjenek el. A csapat jelenleg az első űrküldetését tervezi.
– Egy kockaműholdat fejlesztünk, amely egy egységből áll, és távérzékelési célokat szolgál, vagyis képeket készít majd a Földről – magyarázza a Mektory Űrközpont igazgatója, Mart Vihmand.
Discover how you can participate in ESA programmes as a student, and learn about your entry options once you’ve got your Masters degree. ESA recruitment and education colleagues share some valuable info with you.
ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti, from Italy, will shortly be ending her long-duration stay onboard the International Space Station. Launched in November 2014, the Futura mission is the result of a special agreement between NASA and the Italian Space Agency ASI.
During her time in orbit Samantha Cristoforetti has undergone an intensive programme of scientific research, educational and maintenance activities, as well as overseeing the undocking of ESA’s fifth – and last – Automated Transfer Vehicle.
NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, speaking during his Feb. 2 “State of NASA” address at Kennedy Space Center in Florida after the release of President Obama’s Fiscal Year 2016 $18.5 billion budget proposal for NASA said, “I can unequivocally say that the State of NASA is strong.” The proposed budget is a half-billion-dollar increase over last year’s enacted budget, which, the Administrator noted, “is a clear vote of confidence to you – the employees of NASA and the ambitious exploration program you are executing.” The budget facilitates NASA’s plan moving forward, which includes development of new vehicles and technologies needed for unprecedented human missions to an asteroid and to Mars, commercial partnerships to provide transportation to and from the International Space Station from the United States and research on the station for the benefit of future deep space travelers and people living on our home planet. Also, New views of Pluto, Soil moisture mission underway and Virginia Aerospace Day!
Sunday 5 October saw thousands of visitors converge on the European Space Agency’s technical heart for its annual Open Day. Touring across the site, they met astronauts, viewed spacecraft and inspected test facilities – and came face to face with a spectacular new world.
NASA’s 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, carrying space shuttle Endeavour, as it flew over NASA’s Ames Research Center in Mountain Valley, Calif. on Sept. 21.
Traditionally, engineers faced with the task of designing a new, complex system or structure – a car, an aircraft or a satellite – work sequentially, one step at a time, passing the design from engineer to engineer. This is inefficient and consumes time and resources.
For more than a decade, many of ESA’s sophisticated spacecraft have been designed with the help of the CDF, making use of very advanced iterative techniques – hence its title ‘concurrent’.
Concurrent engineering puts all related engineers, with all their brain power and required tools together with the final user representative – or customer – in the same location at the same time. This allows for iterative design at a fast pace, with customer and designers agreeing requirements and taking decisions in real time to ensure the best design for the right cost and an acceptable risk.
This process has been developed and honed so it is now common to produce a risk assessed conceptual space mission design complete with various options and including scheduling, testing and operations in a matter of weeks.
Ed Waggoner, director of the Integrated Systems Research Program, and John Cavolowsky, director of the Airspace Systems Program, discuss what’s next for NASA in the field of aeronautics research during a briefing to the news media at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center.
NASA-funded astrobiology research has changed the fundamental knowledge about what comprises all known life on Earth.
Researchers conducting tests in the harsh environment of Mono Lake in California have discovered the first known microorganism on Earth able to thrive and reproduce using the toxic chemical arsenic. The microorganism substitutes arsenic for phosphorus in its cell components.
This finding of an alternative biochemistry makeup will alter biology textbooks
and expand the scope of the search for life beyond Earth. The research
is published in this week’s edition of Science Express.
