Nanoracks small experiment host module for ISS

[Danderman]

http://www.nasa.gov/directorates/heo/reports/iss_reports/2012/01252012_prt.htm

André Kuipers reviewed OCBT (Onboard Computer Based Training) materials for accessing NanoRacks platforms, reconfiguration of modules, and operation of the NanoRacks Microscope-1 and Microscope-2.  The latter was then subjected to a checkout to confirm its functionality.

[Danderman]

http://nsl.netquire.com/

?

[Danderman]

http://ipv6.nasa.gov/directorates/heo/reports/iss_reports/index.html

Jan 29 2012: André turned on the MPC (Multi Protocol Converter) and started the Ku-band data flow of video recorded during the CFE VG1, Spheres Zero Robotics and Nanoracks activities to the ground, with POIC (Payload Operations & Integration Center) routing the onboard HRDL (High-Rate Data Link).

[Danderman]

IU Biosafety Staff Assisting Research to Send Bacteria into Space

http://protect.iu.edu/blog/2012/01/29/iu-biosafety-staff-assisting-research-send-bacteria-space

Posted by Jenson, Mike Craig on January 29, 2012 at 4:05 PM EST

Assistant Professor Harold Olivey, PhD, at IU Northwest is collaborating with a local school and the Indiana University Biosafety staff to send E.coli to the International Space Station.

The National Center for Earth and Space Science Education and NanoRacks LLC encourage students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics to design experiments for microgravity conditions through their Student Spaceflight Experiments Program. Students at the Avicenna Academy in Crown Point, IN designed and submitted a project to study the effects of microgravity on E. coli. Their project was selected from over a hundred submissions as one of only 15 experiments that will be sent to the International Space Station aboard Soyuz 30 in March, 2012. Dr Olivey is collaborating with the students by preparing the cultures of E. coli that will be taken to the International Space Station.

The IU-Bloomington Biosafety Office is assisting the project team by developing the means to safely ship the E. coli, which is classified as a dangerous biological material, to Houston,TX. To learn more about the program, visit:

    ssep.ncesse.org
    www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/news/SSEP.html

[Danderman]

http://ssep.ncesse.org/2012/02/to-all-mission-flight-experiment-teams-time-critical-update-impact-of-soyuz-30-failure-on-ssep-mission-1-to-iss/

On January 30, 2012, the National Center for Earth and Space Science Education (NCESSE) sent an email alert to all SSEP Community Program Directors and Co-Directors for Mission 1 to ISS. It stated that Soyuz 30 failed a critical pressurization test at the fabricator’s facility, Energia, before shipping to the Baikonur launch site in Kazakhstan. Soyuz 30 was to be the ferry vehicle to ISS for Aquarius, the SSEP payload of Mission 1 experiments. NanoRacks alerted NCESSE to the Soyuz 30 failure on January 30 at 12:30 am EST. Conversations over the last two days between NASA and NanoRacks allowed the current status of SSEP Mission 1 to be assessed in light of the failure.

Here is what we now know:

1. While the media outlets have been reporting a number of estimates for the expected launch delay for Soyuz 30, NanoRacks has not received any official information concerning the delay.

2. NanoRacks has asked NASA for the launch of Aquarius to be switched from Soyuz 30 to SpaceX’s Dragon vehicle, which will launch from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NanoRacks is optimistic that NASA will accept this request.

[Danderman]

http://www.thebaynet.com/news/index.cfm/fa/viewStory/story_ID/26115/d/02032012

Science experiments at Henry E. Lackey High School are out-of-this-world. For the second consecutive year, an experiment created at Lackey is headed for outer space through the national science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) program called the Student Spaceflight Experiments Program (SSEP). Experiments are entered nationwide. Lackey junior Paul Warren, who was a member of Lackey's space bound experiment team in 2011, created this year's experiment, which will fly on the first commercial spacecraft, the SPaceX-Dragon.

Warren plans to conduct identical experiments - one on the shuttle and one at school. His experiment will compare the structural differences between Caenorhabditis elegans, a round worm, with radiation on earth and in space, and to isolate the effects of microgravity on radiation. The experiment, "Physiological effects of microgravity and increased levels of radiation on wild type and genetically engineered Caenorhabditis elegans," is one of 15 nationwide that will be conducted by astronauts aboard the International Space Station.

Jeff Goldstein, center director of the National Center for Earth and Space Science Education (NCESSE) and director of the SSEP, expressed the importance of science and how the commercial space flights are a new turning point in history. The experiments were originally due to take off on March 30 from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan on the Russian Soyuz 30, but the spaceship failed a critical flight test and has been postponed indefinitely. Therefore, the experiments will go aboard the SPaceX-Dragon vehicle, the first commercial spacecraft to dock with the International Space Station. The launch date has not been set.

SSEP is undertaken by the National Center for Earth and Space Science Education, a project of the 501(c) (3) Tides Center, in partnership with NanoRacks, LLC. This on-orbit educational research opportunity is enabled through NanoRacks LLC, which is working in partnership with NASA under a Space Act Agreement as part of the utilization of the International Space Station as a National Laboratory.

[Danderman]

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2012/02/06/background-exhibits-students-and-competitions-white-house-science-fair

The second White House Science Fair celebrates over 100 students from over 45 states, representing over 40 different competitions and organizations that work with students and inspire them to excel in STEM. A subset of the students being honored today will have the added opportunity to exhibit their award-winning work. More than 30 student teams will have the opportunity to exhibit their projects this year, almost twice as many as the first White House Science Fair. In addition, senior Administration officials and leading STEM advocates and educators will attend the White House Science Fair and meet the students.

Expected attendees include:

Senior Administration Officials:

John Holdren, Assistant to the President for Science and Technology, Director, Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP)
Lisa P. Jackson, Administrator, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
Charles F. Bolden, Administrator, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
Subra Suresh, Director, National Science Foundation (NSF)
Jane Lubchenco, Administrator, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
Patrick Gallagher, Director, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)
Stephen Van Roekel, Federal Chief Information Officer
Harold Varmus, Director, National Cancer Institute
Carl Wieman, Associate Director for Science, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy

Leading STEM Educators and Advocates:

Bill Nye, Bill Nye the Science Guy, Executive Director, Planetary Society
Craig Barrett, former Chairman of Intel
Neil deGrasse Tyson, American astrophysicist, Director of Hayden Planetarium
Alan Leshner, CEO, American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
Michelle Cahill, Vice President of Carnegie Corporation of New York
Linda Rosen, CEO, Change the Equation
Jo Handelsman, Professor of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology at the Yale School of Medicine

More details on the more than 40 competitions and organizations represented by students include:

Student Spaceflight Experiments Program (SSEP) launched in June 2010 by the National Center for Earth and Space Science Education (NCESSE), in partnership with NanoRacks, LLC, is a U.S. STEM education program that immerses an entire community of grade 5-12 students in real science. Student teams propose microgravity experiments for flight in a research minilab. The minilab is provided to the community and flown to the International Space Station with the community’s selected flight experiment. SSEP is the first pre-college STEM education program that is both a U.S. national initiative and implemented as an on-orbit commercial space venture. SSEP is enabled through NanoRacks working in partnership with NASA under a Space Act Agreement as part of the utilization of the International Space Station as a National Laboratory.

http://ssep.ncesse.org/

[Danderman]

http://guidrynews.com/story.aspx?id=1000040822

Astrium North America
News Release
Wednesday, February 08, 2012

Commercial Hardware Ready for U.S. National Lab on NASA’s ISS


Houston, Texas - Astrium North America is proud to announce that Astrium Space  Transportation and NanoRacks LLC have teamed up to offer a cost‐effective, commercial centrifuge facility for the International Space Station.  Astrium Space Transportation is handing over on the 14th of February to NanoRacks LLC a gravitational research centrifuge marking a new era of commercial utilization of the U.S. National Lab. The handover will take place at Astrium North America’s Houston facility.

The centrifuge will allow researchers to perform research under various gravity levels, including Mars and Moon conditions or as 1‐G control to contrast results with microgravity projects conducted on the space station.

Astrium North America is pleased to be involved in this truly commercial and collaborative project with NanoRacks, working together with NASA toward the enhancement of science facility capabilities on ISS.  “This centrifuge facility is a first small step in adding commercially available science facilities to the ISS, but we think one in the right direction, and look forward to similar developments and collaborations in the near future” said Carl Kuehnel, Senior Project Manager Astrium North America.

“We are delighted to permanently house the Astrium centrifuge on our third NanoRacks’ Platform, one dedicated to basic and industrial research, with higher power than our first two Platforms now on space station” said Jeffrey Manber, Managing Director of NanoRacks. The NR‐3 Platform, along with the Astrium Centrifuge, are manifested on  the Russian cargo ship Progress scheduled to be launched to the space station in the summer of 2012.

The hardware, and its home on NanoRacks Platform‐3, has been solely funded by the two companies in a demonstration of support for researchers’ needs for sophisticated research tools in low‐earth orbit. The ability of the NanoRacks’ Platform and the Centrifuge to be produced in a short period of time at low cost shows that the private sector has a critical role to play in supporting the infrastructure in low‐earth orbit and beyond. Both companies expect more announcements in the near future on further joint projects. 

[Space Pete]

From ISS On-Orbit Status Report for 09/02/2012.

With the video camcorder set up in the Lab for documentary coverage, André Kuipers worked another NanoRacks, Module 17, activity, performing Sensor Calibration on the previously used (and failed) Smartphone. [The NanoRacks Smartphone-1 malfunction encountered earlier by André was due to a damaged voltage regulator in the iPhone battery pack, under-powering the device. Additional data collection was necessary from the Sensor Calibration subexperiment.  For this, André required a set of fresh AAA batteries which were delivered on Progress M-14M/46P and made available to the NanoRacks operation on short notice by Russian consent.]

[Jim]

“We are delighted to permanently house the Astrium centrifuge

Those flew on Biorack, Biobox  in the Spacehab module and FOTON

[Danderman]

http://oregonspacegrant.wordpress.com/2012/02/10/international-space-station-national-laboratory-education-project-iss-nlep/

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Office of Education, NASA Higher Education Office in cooperation with the Human Exploration Operations Mission Directorate (HEOMD) and the Johnson Space Center (JSC) Office of Education, invites proposals to seven (7) areas within the ISS National Lab Education Project’s (ISS NLEP) portfolio.

Three (3) “General” categories open for proposals to include: 1) new ground-based educational activities/experiments not requiring ISS upmass, 2) new flight-based or on-orbit experiments that require ISS upmass capability; and 3) new educational experiments utilizing a facility that simulates the ISS microgravity environment. The four (4) “Specific” areas open for proposals are: 1) flight experiments that can be conducted in “1 unit” (1U) NanoRacks payload modules onboard the ISS; 2) mission planning proposals to recommend an appropriate mission planning support for the Amateur Radio on ISS (ARISS) school contacts program using appropriate software and hardware; 3) proposals to provide engineering/project management support for the High Schools United with NASA for the Creation of Hardware (HUNCH) project; and 4) proposals will be solicited to develop new applications for the ISSLive! Internet educational experience using existing real-time ISS telemetry.

Proposals will be accepted from higher education institutions, nonprofit organizations, or consortia of organizations and institutions serving higher education. Institutions may only submit two (2) proposals total to the categories in this solicitation. Each funded proposal is expected to address innovative, meaningful, and enduring research and technology development activities that utilize the unique microgravity environment of the ISS in a STEM-related context.

[Danderman]

The Nanoracks-Astrium Centrifuge is supposed to be launched on Progress later this year.

[Danderman]

http://www.yourhoustonnews.com/bay_area/news/companies-develop-commercial-centrifuge-to-simulate-gravity-in-space/article_157e29d8-0459-58ba-bd5c-7a74686ecb35.html


Companies develop commercial centrifuge to simulate gravity in space

Astrium, a European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company subsidiary, has teamed up with NanoRacks LLC, a space research company based in Virginia, and developed a commercial centrifuge facility for the International Space Station.

The centrifuge will allow researchers on the ISS to perform research under different gravity levels, including Earth, Mars and Moon conditions. That way scientists can contrast results with microgravity projects conducted on the space station.

On Tuesday (Feb. 14), Astrium representatives presented the centrifuge to representatives of NanoRacks at the Astrium North America headquarters at 16055 Space Center Boulevard.

The two companies worked together to combine the centrifuge with a platform that can be cost-effectively integrated as spacecraft payload.

“This centrifuge facility is a first small step in adding commercially available science facilities to the ISS,” said Carl Kuehnel, senior project manager of Astrium North America, “but we think one in the right direction, and look forward to similar developments and collaborations in the near future.”

Founded in 2009, NanoRacks has already provided spacecraft space for research by public schools and space agencies and its hardware has flown on the space shuttle as well as Russian and Japanese rockets, and is scheduled to fly on the commercial SpaceX, said Michael Johnson, co-founder of NanoRacks.

Currently, there are two NanoRacks research platforms onboard the ISS’s U.S. National Laboratory, according to the company.

“We are delighted to permanently house the Astrium centrifuge on our third NanoRacks’ Platform, one dedicated to basic and industrial research, with higher power than our first two Platforms now on (the) space station,” said Jeffrey Manber, NanoRacks managing director.

The centrifuge facility is scheduled to fly to the ISS onboard the Russian cargo ship Progress this summer.

[Danderman]

HOUSTON, Feb. 15, 2012 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- NASA, Astrium Space Transportation and NanoRacks LLC are teaming up to expand the research capability of the International Space Station through delivery of a small commercial centrifuge facility that will conduct molecular and cellular investigations on plant and animal tissue.

The centrifuge enhances NanoRacks' existing suite of lab equipment aboard the space station, which includes microscopes and a plate reader used to detect biological, chemical or physical activity in samples.

Astrium Space Transportation handed over the research centrifuge to NanoRacks LL, during a ceremony Tuesday, Feb. 14 in Houston. Astrium North America adapted the centrifuge -- originally built by Kayser Italia for use on space shuttle missions -- for use in the station's NanoRacks Platform-3. The commercial research team funded the centrifuge.

NASA will deliver the centrifuge as part of its responsibility to provide transportation for U.S. National Laboratory research and facilities to the space station.

Under its partnership with Astrium, NanoRacks will add the centrifuge to the two racks of laboratory support equipment already on the station. The centrifuge is sized to fit the standard NanoRacks architecture, which can fly on any launch vehicle.

"This is an important step in the expansion of National Lab facilities aboard the space station," said Marybeth Edeen, U.S. National Laboratory manager at NASA's Johnson Space Center. "Having companies develop research and facilities for the National Lab with their own funding demonstrates the beginnings of the commercial space marketplace that the National Lab was created to serve."

The platform and centrifuge were produced in a short time at low cost. Both NanoRacks and Astrium expect announcements in the near future about more joint projects.
   
NASA has manifested the NanoRacks-3 platform and the Astrium centrifuge on a Russian Progress cargo ship scheduled for launch in summer 2012 under its cargo agreements with the Russian Federal Space Agency.

For more information about the International Space Station, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/station

SOURCE NASA

[Danderman]

From the Open NASA blog:

http://open.nasa.gov/blog/2012/02/16/i-am-nasa-justin-kugler-strategic-relationships-manager/

"One success story is how we worked with NanoRacks, LLC, to bring their concept of small, modular experiment modules from concept to flight in around six months.   The innovative NanoRacks business model of making the hardware open-source and selling their integration expertise is leading to new opportunities for both science education and private industrial research that weren’t available even a few years ago.  NanoRacks is now enhancing the Space Station’s on-board diagnostic capabilities by modifying a commercial microplate reader to operate in microgravity.  This will allow researchers to analyze some samples on-orbit and save the time and expense of waiting for a return flight."