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HydRON: Optical (laser-based) satellites for faster data sharing in space
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The multinational named operation represents a growing commitment among the closest allies in space to jointly strengthen defenses and deter aggression, ensuring space remains a domain that benefits all of humanity.
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Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
Science in Space: October 2024
Cultures around the world celebrate Halloween on Oct 31. In many places, in addition to people wearing costumes and eating candy, this day is associated with spooky decorating using fake blood, skeletons, flies, and spiders, some of them glow-in-the-dark.
Crew members on the International Space Station have been known to indulge in a bit of dressing up and candy consumption to mark the day, and the research they conduct year-round occasionally involves these iconic Halloween themes. No tricks, just treats.
JAXA astronaut Koichi Wakata and NASA astronauts Frank Rubio, Nicole Mann, and Josh Cassada dressed up for Halloween 2022.NASA A current investigation, Megakaryocytes Flying-One or MeF1, investigates how components of real blood known as megakaryocytes and platelets develop and function during spaceflight. Megakaryocytes are large cells found in bone marrow and platelets are pieces of these cells. Both play important roles in blood clotting and immune response. Results could improve understanding of changes in inflammation, immune responses, and clot formation in spaceflight and on the ground.
Creepy crawlies
Fake spiders and flies are popular Halloween decorations (and fodder for fun pranks). Several investigations on the space station have used real ones.
Fruit Fly Lab-02 used fruit flies, Drosophila melanogaster, to examine the cellular and genetic mechanisms that affect heart health during spaceflight. The flies experienced several effects on cardiac function, including changes in muscle fibers, that could be a fundamental response of heart muscles to microgravity.
MVP Fly-01 looked at how spaceflight affects immune function and resulting changes to the nervous system of the same type of flies, along with the value of artificial gravity as a countermeasure. Researchers found that artificial gravity provided some protection to physical changes to the central nervous system from spaceflight. Spiders, Fruit Flies and Directional Plant Growth (CSI-05) compared the weaving characteristics of golden orb-web spiders on the space station and the ground. Under natural conditions, the spiders build asymmetric webs with the hub near the upper edge, where they wait for prey. In microgravity, most but not all webs were quite symmetric, although webs built when the lights were on were more asymmetric and the spiders waited facing away from the lights. This could mean that in the absence of gravity, the spiders orient to the direction of light.
A golden-orb weaver and its web on the space station.NASA Bad to the bones
Everyone needs healthy bones and skeletons, and not just on Halloween. But spaceflight and aging on Earth can cause loss of bone mass. Space station research has looked at the mechanisms behind this loss as well as countermeasures such as exercise and nutrition.
Bisphosphonates as a Countermeasure to Bone Loss examined whether a medication that blocks the breakdown of bone, in conjunction with the routine in-flight exercise program, protected crew members from bone mineral density loss during spaceflight. The research found that it did reduce loss, which in turn reduced the occurrence of kidney stones in crew members.
Assessment of the Effect of Space Flight on Bone (TBone) studied how spaceflight affects bone quality using a high-resolution bone scan technique. Researchers found incomplete recovery of bone strength and density in the tibia (a bone in the lower leg), comparable to a decade or more of terrestrial age-related bone loss. The work also highlighted the relationship between length of a mission and bone loss and suggested that pre-flight markers could identify crew members at greatest risk.
In a merging of blood and bones, CSA’s Marrow looked at whether microgravity has a negative effect on bone marrow and the blood cells it produces. Decreased production of red blood cells can lead to a condition called space anemia. Findings related to the expression of genes involved in red blood cell formation and those related to bone marrow adipose or fat tissue, which stores energy and plays a role in immune function, could contribute to development of countermeasures. Marrow results also suggested that the destruction of red blood cells (known as hemolysis) is a primary effect of spaceflight and contributes to anemia. Bad news for vampires.
ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet storing Marrow samples in MELFI.NASA It glows in the dark
Fluorescence – a cool effect at a ghoulish party – also is a common tool in scientific research, enabling researchers to see physical and genetic changes. The space station has special microscopes for observing glow-in-the-dark samples.
For Medaka Osteoclast 2, an investigation from JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency), researchers genetically modified translucent Medaka fish with fluorescent proteins to help them observe cellular and genetic changes the fish experience during spaceflight. One analysis revealed a decrease in the mineral density of bones in the throat and provided insights into the mechanisms behind these changes.
A translucent Medaka fish with fluorescent proteins showing its bone structure.Philipp Keller, Stelzer Group, EMBL Biorock, an investigation from ESA (European Space Agency), examined how microgravity affects the interaction between rocks and microbes and found little effect on microbial growth. This result suggests that microbial-supported bioproduction and life support systems can perform in reduced gravity such as that on Mars, which would be a perfect place for an epic Halloween celebration.
Preflight fluorescence microscopy image of a biofilm for the Biorock experiment.NASA Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA
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By Space Force
U.S. Space Command formally recognized Germany’s membership in Multinational Force-Operation Olympic Defender.
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By European Space Agency
This week, at the International Aeronautics Congress in Milan, ESA officially kicked off a new project called Ciseres, a small satellite mission designed to significantly improve crisis response times using artificial intelligence (AI). Part of ESA's Civil Security from Space (CSS) programme, Ciseres aims to enhance satellite capabilities to alert first responders and government officials within minutes of the occurrence of a disaster – such as floods, fires, landslides. The project is led and co-financed by Deimos, a European space tech company specialising in small satellite missions.
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By NASA
4 Min Read NASA Terminal Transmits First Laser Communications Uplink to Space
NASA's LCOT (Low-Cost Optical Terminal) located at the agency's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. Credits: NASA NASA’s LCOT (Low-Cost Optical Terminal), a ground station made of modified commercial hardware, transmitted its first laser communications uplink to the TBIRD (TeraByte Infrared Delivery), a tissue box-sized payload formerly in low Earth orbit.
During the first live sky test, NASA’s LCOT produced enough uplink intensity for the TBIRD payload to identify the laser beacon, connect, and maintain a connection to the ground station for over three minutes. This successful test marks an important achievement for laser communications: connecting LCOT’s laser beacon from Earth to TBIRD required one milliradian of pointing accuracy, the equivalent of hitting a three-foot target from over eight American football fields away.
The test was one of many laser communications achievements TBIRD made possible during its successful, two-year mission. Prior to its mission completion on Sept. 15, 2024, the payload transmitted at a record-breaking 200 gigabits per second. In an actual use case, TBIRD’s three-minute connection time with LCOT would be sufficient to return over five terabytes of critical science data, the equivalent of over 2,500 hours of high-definition video in a single pass. As the LCOT sky test demonstrates, the ultra-high-speed capabilities of laser communications will allow science missions to maintain their connection to Earth as they travel farther than ever before.
Measurement data of the power, or “fluency,” of the connection between NASA’s LCOT (Low-Cost Optical Terminal) laser beacon and TBIRD’s (TeraByte Infrared Delivery) receiver provided by Massachusetts Institute of Technology Lincoln Laboratory (MIT-LL). LCOT and TBIRD maintained a sufficient connection for over three minutes — enough time for TBIRD to return over five terabytes of data. NASA/Dave Ryan NASA’s SCaN (Space Communications and Navigation) program office is implementing laser communications technology in various orbits, including the upcoming Artemis II mission, to demonstrate its potential impact in the agency’s mission to explore, innovate, and inspire discovery.
“Optical, or laser, communications can transfer 10 to 100 times more data than radio frequency waves,” said Kevin Coggins, deputy associate administrator and SCaN program manager. “Literally, it’s the wave of the future, as it’ll enable scientists to realize an ever-increasing amount of data from their missions and will serve as our critical lifeline for astronauts traveling to and from Mars.”
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A recording of TBIRD’s (TeraByte Infrared Delivery) successful downlink from NASA’s LCOT (Low-Cost Optical Terminal) Wide Field Camera. The light saturation from the downlink caused a secondary reflection in the upper right of the video.NASA Historically, space missions have used radio frequencies to send data to and from space, but with science instruments capturing more data, communications assets must meet increasing demand. The infrared light used for laser communications transmits the data at a shorter wavelength than radio, meaning ground stations on Earth can send and receive more data per second.
The LCOT team continues to refine pointing capabilities through additional tests with NASA’s LCRD (Laser Communications Relay Demonstration). As LCOT and the agency’s other laser communications missions continue to reach new milestones in connectivity and accessibility, they demonstrate laser communications’ potential to revolutionize scientists’ access to new data about Earth, our solar system, and beyond.
“It’s a testament to the hard work and skill of the entire team,” said Dr. Haleh Safavi, project lead for LCOT. “We work with very complicated and sensitive transmission equipment that must be installed with incredible precision. These results required expeditious planning and execution at every level.”
NASA’s LCOT (Low-Cost Optical Terminal) at the agency’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, uses slightly modified commercial hardware to reduce the expense of implementing laser communications technology. NASA Experiments like TBIRD and LCRD are only two of SCaN’s multiple in-space demonstrations of laser communications, but a robust laser communications network relies on easily reconfigurable ground stations on Earth. The LCOT ground station showcases how the government and aerospace industry can build and deploy flexible laser communications ground stations to meet the needs of a wide variety of NASA and commercial missions, and how these ground stations open new doors for communications technology and extremely high data volume transmission.
NASA’s LCOT is developed by the agency’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. TBIRD was developed in partnership with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Lincoln Laboratory (MIT-LL) in Lexington. TBIRD was flown and operated as a collaborative effort among NASA Goddard; NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley; NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California; MIT-LL; and Terran Orbital Corporation in Irvine, California. Funding and oversight for LCOT and other laser communications demonstrations comes from the (SCaN) Space Communications and Navigation program office within the Space Operations Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington.
About the Author
Korine Powers
Senior Writer and Education LeadKorine Powers, Ph.D. is a writer for NASA's Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN) program office and covers emerging technologies, commercialization efforts, education and outreach, exploration activities, and more.
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Last Updated Oct 09, 2024 EditorKorine PowersContactKatherine Schauerkatherine.s.schauer@nasa.govLocationGoddard Space Flight Center Related Terms
Space Communications Technology Communicating and Navigating with Missions Goddard Space Flight Center Space Communications & Navigation Program Space Operations Mission Directorate Technology Technology Demonstration View the full article
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