This infrared view shows the Bahamas' Long Island (left) and parts of Little and Great Exuma (right). It was photographed as part of an experiment by one of the Expedition 30 crew members aboard the International Space Station on Jan. 17, 2012.
The Payun Matru Volcanic Field in Argentina is featured in this image photographed by an Expedition 30 crew member on the International Space Station.
The unpiloted ISS Progress 45 supply vehicle departs from the International Space Station at 5:10 p.m. (EST) on Jan. 23, 2012.
This nighttime panorama of much of the land mass of the eastern two-thirds of the contiguous United States was photographed by crew members aboard the International Space Station as it was moving over the Gulf of Mexico on Jan. 29, 2012.
The Great Salt Lake in Utah serves as a striking visual marker for the Expedition 30 crew members orbiting over the western states aboard the International Space Station.
With hardware from the Earth-orbiting International Space Station appearing in the near foreground, a night time European panorama reveals city lights from Belgium and the Netherlands.
Spheres Final Robot competition in Zero-gravity
"School teams from Europe and America have been commanding robots competing in the Spheres ZeroRobotics tournament in space. The arena: 400 km above Earth on the International Space Station. Student teams could send a single piece of instruction software to control the small robotic 'Spheres'. The goal of the tournament was to earn points through masterful operation via guidance and navigation control algorithms as well as choosing the best tactics to win the game."
Space Station Astronaut Will Answer Video Questions From Public
"NASA has announced a unique opportunity to ask the commander of the International Space Station a question about his role on the orbiting outpost. Commander Dan Burbank will answer videotaped questions from the public during a live event tentatively set for Friday, Jan. 20 on NASA Television. The video questions must be less than 30 seconds. Submitters should introduce themselves and mention their location. Questions must be posted as responses to a video Burbank recorded on YouTube at: http://go.nasa.gov/sDYpzP"
ISS National Lab Education Project Workshop
"The objective of ISS NLEP is to strengthen a link between the unique venue of the space station and science, technology, engineering and mathematics, or STEM, education. The objective of the workshop is to bring together researchers, academicians and interested parties for discussions on upcoming opportunities."
Photos: Robonaut-2 Gestures In Space
Keith's note: I have seen Robonaut-2 in action and its dexterity is interesting - and rather facile. So ... how could NASA demonstrate this dexterity in new ways, make it a little more "human" or approachable, - and reach a new segment of the populace that is normally overlooked? Program it to use Sign Language. Background: I worked for more than a decade as a professional certified (educational) sign language interpreter. This idea occurred to me when I was looking at this picture and instantly wondered what Robonaut-2 "wanted" or why it was seemingly in the process of saying "here" or maybe "give". Imagine how fast a video of Robonaut-2 saying something in American Sign Language from space would go viral. NASA could have a competition wherein people submit questions for it to answer. NASA already has a signing astronaut and SMD and NLSI already put out books in Braille. Just a thought.
P.S. Maybe he could repeat what that alien signed in "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" (video). I first saw this film when it came out with my hearing impaired roommates - none of us knew that aliens were going to sign so we all freaked out when one of them did. Of course, it was natural to us that all aliens would know how to sign - since they all already speak English, right?
Think for a moment: Remember all of the things in "Avatar", "Star Trek", and other SciFi films that were controlled by people waving their hands over sexy looking devices, wandering around holodecks, or using remotely controlled bodies. When Kinect was first released, Microsoft was against anyone hacking it. A similar thing happened when LEGO Mindstorms was released and hobbyists began to fiddle with the software. As was the case with LEGO, Microsoft has done a complete 180 and has overtly embraced the notion that people can take technology and do things that its originators never imagined. How could Kinect hacks change the way that NASA does things? What would it be like to use Kinect as a whole body interface with 360 degrees of movement while living in microgravity aboard the ISS? Could NASA control Robonaut this way?
"The American Society for Gravitational and Space Biology (ASGSB), a U.S. non-profit 501(C)(6) scientific society, announces today an agreement has been signed with Nanoracks (Houston, Texas) to fly a student space >light experiment on-board the NASA International Space Station (ISS). NanoRacks is an industry leader in low-earth orbit space services http://nanoracks.com/. NanoRacks, LLC is working with NASA under a Space Act Agreement for the use of the U.S. National Lab. ASGSB has entered into an agreement with NanoRacks as a result of an industry partnership agreement with the Science and Technology Corporation (STC). STC is a small, high-technology company that has experience in nano-satellite and space instrument development."
NASA Seeks Hosts for Space Station Interactive Education Events
"NASA is seeking proposals from educators who are looking for a unique way to inspire the next generation of explorers. Formal and informal education organizations can apply to host live interactive education downlinks with astronauts onboard the International Space Station. During Expeditions 31 and 32, NASA crew members Don Pettit, Joseph Acaba and Sunita Williams will participate in the 20-minute downlink opportunities. Participants on Earth see and hear the crew members live from space, while the crew hears the questions but does not see the audience."
YouTube SpaceLab Lifts Off With Lenovo Aboard
"Six regional finalists will gather in Washington, D.C., in March 2012 to experience a ZERO-G flight and receive other prizes. From them, two global winners, one from each age group, will be announced and later have their experiments performed 250 miles above Earth and live streamed on YouTube. Additionally, the global winners will get to choose a unique space experience as a prize: either a trip to Tanegashima Island, Japan, to watch their experiment blast off in a rocket bound for the ISS, or once they are 18 years old, a one-of-a-kind astronaut training experience in Star City, Russia, the training center for Russian cosmonauts."
"The International Space Station Utilization Office currently has 2U Mission of opportunity payload capacity available on the EcAMSat launch mission planned for Summer of 2012. This launch opportunity will be open to all Ames individuals or groups with technology that meets the interface requirements as described in the attached file and will be ready for integration by the project March 21, 2012, CDR date."
ISS-Notify - The Space Station Light, Kickstarter
"Human space flight is an awesome part of living in the future. But why does it still seem so abstract? There are people in space right now! Did you know that? Do you know how many there are? ISS-Notify is a simple attempt at making our space program more real. Many times a day the international space station passes overhead unnoticed. Often it happens during the day when it's too bright to see the tiny dot in the sky. So this light will pulse and shine whenever the station is overhead -- making the invisible visible. This started as a simple weekend project because I thought it would be cool. I finished it in only 4 days! The response has been overwhelming. Everyone says "I want one"! I've heard from space geeks, teachers, NASA employees, and just about everyone in between."
Keith's note: An interesting new website International Space Station Live!, hosted at JSC, is now online. It displays a variety of telemetry and data feeds from the ISS. Much of the data is realtime or close to real time and will offer people a chance to look over the shoulders of the people operating - and working aboard - the ISS.
Keith's note: In the very near future NASA, Google, and computer manufacturer Lenovo are set to announce an interesting educational project. As I understand the gist of the effort from various sources, students will be asked to come up with ideas for experiments that can be performed on the ISS and submit a video via YouTube that describes their idea. Winners will be selected and the experiments described in the videos will actually be performed aboard the ISS. This is an interesting way to get novel ideas onboard the ISS - and possibly to spark careers. Moreover, it is a way to show that the ISS has utility beyond the experiments proposed by a small cadre of insiders.
PSU in Space: Experiments underway on the International Space Station
"The goal of this series of experiments is to test how fluid in specially shaped conduits behaves in zero gravity. The scientists on Earth - at PSU and at the University of Bremen - are manipulating the fluid movement to see at what point bubbles form. Formation of bubbles decreases fuel efficiency, and is particular to zero-gravity situations. Fuel tanks on spacecraft are designed in a way that minimizes this occurrence, but these experiments may shed light on how tanks might be designed smaller - a logistical advantage in sending any kind of craft into space, according to Bob Green, one of the NASA scientists working temporarily at PSU."
On April 2, Skvortsov, Kornienko, and Caldwell Dyson will launch to the station aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft. They will dock to the space station on April 4, joining Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kotov, NASA astronaut T.J. Creamer and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Soichi Noguchi, who arrived on the station in December as part of Expedition 22.
