Image taken by Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano from the International Space Station, who said, 'Maybe one day our settlements on Mars will look like this." Credit: NASA/ASI
This sure looks like a futuristic settlement on the Red Planet, as Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano pondered on Twitter yesterday when he shared this image taken from the International Space Station, saying, “Maybe one day our settlements on Mars will look like this.”
But what is this facility — which must be huge and looks to be out in the middle of absolutely nowhere? A secret new branch at Area 51? A mock-up of a base from the “Legion of Space” sci-fi books?
It’s actually one of the world’s largest lithium salt production facilities, located in the “lithium triangle” of Argentina, Chile and Bolivia, high in the Atacama desert in Chile. Below is an aerial view:
An aerial view of the brine pools and processing areas of the Soquimich lithium mine on the Atacama salt flat, the largest lithium deposit currently in production, in the Atacama desert of northern Chile, on Jan. 10, 2013. Credit: Ivan Alvarado / Reuters.
You can read a great article here (with more great images) about the lithium mining operations, enabling all your electronic gizmos to be powered.
An image from the ISS in 2012 showing re-boost thrusters firing. Credit: NASA.
Here’s a follow-up on an interesting image we posted last year, during Don Pettit’s stay on the International Space Station during Expedition 30/31. Pettit had posted this beautiful, sci-fi-looking image on his Google+ page, but didn’t say what it was, only describing it as “Orion in the headlights.” The constellation Orion is off in the distance, but there was some debate about what the light source was: was it light coming from a window on the ISS or a thruster burn?
It turns out this is likely one of the first ever-images of a thrust-burn taken (or released) from the ISS. An Debris Avoidance Maneuver took place at 10.12 GMT (5:12 a.m. EST) on February 29, 2012 and G+ commenter Peter Caltner pointed out, “the scenic lighting effect ends exactly in [the series of images that Pettit took] at the end of the 76 seconds of the burn duration.”
Engineers at Johnson Space Center confirmed to Universe Today this was in fact a thruster burn from the thrusters located on the aft end of the Zvezda Service Module.
The JSC team told us that during a burn, most of the windows are covered so they don’t get damaged so there’s not a lot of opportunity to take a picture like this. But the astronaut or cosmonaut that took this image was in the Pirs module looking toward the aft end of the Service Module, where the reboost engines are located. The “downward” -facing window (looks “up” in this image) is the large observation window in the Russian Zvezda Service Module.
But does this actually show a thruster plume?
Very likely, the light seen here is not actually the light from the rockets after igniting for lifting the station. Caltner, who regularly answers questions from the public on Twitter and G+ about images from space, said the light probably comes from the docking headlights, switched on deliberately for illuminating the exhaust gases of the booster rockets.
It’s an intriguing shot, and the debate on it (and finding out more about it) has been fascinating and interesting!
What do you get when you combine Mike Massimino, Don Pettit, Chris Hadfield, Tom Marshburn and some bean bag chairs? Space geek heaven, perhaps? Here’s the premier edition of a new series, and it features a great discussion about what it is like to fly in the cramped Soyuz after living in the expanse of the International Space Station for five months.
This looks like a great new series, as any day you can get Don Pettit talking science is a good day! Look for more in this series that will showcases human spaceflight and science aboard the International Space Station.
Ariane 5 VA213 carrying ATV Albert Einstein lifted off from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana at 21:52 GMT on June 5, 2013. Credit: ESA
ESA used a little E=mc^2 and launched the Automated Transfer Vehicle-4 (ATV-4) resupply ship, named “Albert Einstein” in honor of the iconic physicist, famous for his handy little equation. Liftoff of the Ariane 5 rocket from Europe’s spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana occurred at 5:52 p.m. EDT (2152 GMT) on June 5, 2013. This is second-to-last of ESA’s five planned ISS resupply spacecraft; the first one launched 2008, and all have been named after scientists.
ATV-4 will take a leisurely 10 days to reach the station, with docking scheduled for June 15.
You can watch the launch video below.
The three previous ATVs were named for Jules Verne, Johannes Kepler and Edoardo Amaldi.
The 13-ton ATV-4 will deliver more than 7 tons of supplies to the station when it docks to the aft port of the Russian Zvezda service module a week from Saturday.
The cargo includes 5,465 pounds of dry cargo, experiment hardware and supplies, 1,896 pounds of propellant for transfer to the Zvezda service module, 5,688 pounds of propellant for reboost and debris avoidance maneuver capability, 1,257 pounds of water and 220 pounds of oxygen and air.
Before the ATV-4 arrives at the station, the Russian ISS Progress 51 cargo spacecraft will undock from the Zvezda port at 13:53 UTC (9:53 a.m. EDT), Tuesday, June 11.
An orbital sunset puts Earth in a unique light, as seen from the International Space Station. Credit: NASA, via astronaut Karen Nyberg.
This is just a gorgeous shot of our home planet from the International Space Station, shared by astronaut Karen Nyberg via Twitter. While many pictures of Earth from space show a bright view of our planet, this view of the world plunging into darkness provides a unique, not-often-seen view. If a picture can be this beautiful, imagine what must look like in person.
Nyberg is sharing her experiences via Twitter and also — I believe she is the first astronaut sharing on Pinterest. She describes herself as “Aspiring quilter, crafter, artist” (perfect for the Pinterest crowd) in addition to being an astronaut by day, and said she hopes to do some crafting in space if she has any spare time. Nyberg has a special board for “Hair in Space” (which includes both bald pates and gravity defying hair,) hoping to inspire the younger generation of women to get interested in space exploration. “When girls see pictures of ponytails, don’t you think it stirs something inside them that says, that could be ME up there!” Nyberg writes.
Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano, right, reacts to NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy's shaved head, a welcome present for the bald Parmitano. Via NASA TV.
International Space Station astronaut Chris Cassidy surprised the new crew arriving at the station earlier today, welcoming them aboard with a new look: he shaved his head to match his new crewmate, Luca Parmitano, who always sports a bald noggin. You can watch the video below to see Parmitano’s reaction.
During a televised video conference with family after the crew came aboard, Parmitano said Cassidy looked awesome.
Parmitano, Russian Fyodor Yurchikhin, and NASA’s Karen Nyberg docked their Soyuz to the station’s Rassvet module at 02:16 UTC on May 29 (10:16 p.m. EDT on May 28).
During the video conference, Nyberg’s husband and fellow astronaut Doug Hurley said the crew looked good, but “there are way too many bald guys on space station right now. Have a great time up there.”
Now with a full crew compliment of six, Expedition 36 will operate full throttle the next five and a half months, and perform up to six spacewalks, and welcome four cargo ships, including the exciting maiden visit of the Cygnus commercial cargo craft built by Orbital Sciences Corporation (tentatively scheduled for sometime in June), as well as ESA’s “Albert Einstein” Automated Transfer Vehicle-4 in June, a Russian Progress cargo craft in July and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s H-II Transfer Vehicle-4 in August.
Five of the spacewalks will prepare for the installation of the Russian Multipurpose Laboratory Module in December, and a spacewalk scheduled for November 9, 2013 will bring an Olympic torch outside the ISS.
Among the scientific research the crew has on tap are the Hip Quantitative Computed Tomography (QCT) experiment, which will evaluate countermeasures to prevent the loss of bone density seen during long-duration space missions. The experiment, which uses 3-D analysis to collect detailed information on the quality of astronauts’ hip bones, also will increase understanding of osteoporosis on Earth.
The station’s crew will continue research into how plants grow, leading to more efficient crops on Earth and improving understanding of how future crews could grow their own food in space. The crew also will test a new portable gas monitor designed to help analyze the environment inside the spacecraft and continue fuel and combustion experiments that past crews have undertaken. Studying how fire behaves in space will have a direct impact on future spaceflight and could lead to cleaner, more efficient combustion engines on Earth.
The trio of Cassidy, Pavel Vinogradov and Alexander Misurkin will return to Earth aboard their Soyuz TMA-08M spacecraft in September. Their departure will mark the beginning of Expedition 37 under the command of Yurchikhin, who along with crewmates Nyberg and Parmitano will maintain the station as a three-person crew until the arrival of three additional flight engineers in late September. Yurchikhin, Nyberg and Parmitano are scheduled to return to Earth in November.
On May 23, NASA hosted a Google+ Hangout from the Johnson Space Center with three recently returned International Space Station Astronauts. NASA astronauts Kevin Ford, Tom Marshburn and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Chris Hadfield answered questions about daily living in a weightless environment, all the scientific research they did, the spacewalk conducted by Marshburn, how they hope they helped the people of Earth “fall in love with their planet,” and what it is like to return back to Earth after 5-6 months in space.
Below are two more astronaut videos. The first is a post landing interview with the very popular Chris Hadfield, and the second is a video with several ESA astronauts — including Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano who is heading for the ISS next week — talking about living and working in space.
The Pavlof Volcano in Alaska on May 18, 2013. The oblique perspective from the ISS reveals the three dimensional structure of the ash plume, which is often obscured by the top-down view of most remote sensing satellites. Credit: NASA
The Pavlof Volcano began erupting on May 13, 2013, shooting lava into the air and spewing an ash cloud 20,000 feet (6,000 meters) high. This image from the International Space Station was taken on May 18, and provides a unique oblique (sideways) glance at the action. When the photograph was taken, the space station was about 475 miles south-southeast of the volcano (49.1° North latitude, 157.4° West longitude). The volcanic plume extended southeastward over the North Pacific Ocean.
NASA says the oblique perspective reveals the three dimensional structure of the ash plume, which is usually not visible from the top-down views of most remote sensing satellites.
If the volcano keeps erupting and spewing ash at those heights, it could interfere with airline traffic. Pavlov is one of the most frequently erupting volcanoes in the Aleutian arc. It last erupted in August of 2007; it previously had not been active since 1996.
There’s more information — and an impressive set of ground-based images — on the Pavlov Volcano at the Alaska Volcano Observatory website, and here’s a helicopter video of the eruption:
We at Universe Today have been wondering, where did Chris Hadfield find the time to do all the greatvideos he put together during his five months on the International Space Station, all while his Expedition set records for the amount of scientific research performed? Now there’s even more. Hadfield teamed up with Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage of Mythbusters fame, who now are part of the Tested crew, too, to produce three different videos about living in space; specifically about eating and what to do with any free time astronauts might have.
“Working with Adam and Jamie was fun!” Hadfield said via Twitter. “Mutual mustache appreciation.”
In the video above, Jamie and Adam learn about Chris Hadfield’s clever “space darts” invention, and propose a new game for Hadfield to test while he’s on orbit. Spoiler: duct tape is involved.
Expedition 35 Commander Chris Hadfield of the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), left, Russian Flight Engineer Roman Romanenko of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos), center, and NASA Flight Engineer Tom Marshburn sit in chairs outside the Soyuz Capsule just minutes after they landed in a remote area outside the town of Dzhezkazgan, Kazakhstan, on Tuesday, May 14, 2013. Hadfield, Romanenko and Marshburn are returning from five months onboard the International Space Station where they served as members of the Expedition 34 and 35 crews. Photo Credit: (NASA/Carla Cioffi)
Already missing him being in space? I’ve seen several tweets about people going through Hadfield withdrawal. But to tide you over until he starts tweeting again (just give him a little time to get his Earth-legs again) here’s a mashup/supercut of Chris Hadfield’s video and image highlights from his five-month stay on the International Space Station.
