OrbitalHub

Credits: NASA

The Valentine’s Day Edition of the Carnival of Space is hosted by Bruce Cordell at 21ST CENTURY WAVES.

The collision of the Iridium 33 and Cosmos 2251 satellites has sent ripples across the space blogosphere and debris into low Earth orbit. At this Carnival you can read about shielding interstellar spaceships, saving the Space Shuttle, Pluto, visualizing constellations, lakes on Titan, type III Kardashev civilizations, and much more.

OrbitalHub has submitted a post about the Japan Experiment Module a.k.a. Kibo. The Japanese Experiment Module (JEM) is the first contribution of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) to the International Space Station (ISS) program.

Copyright: CNES

COROT, the first space telescope able to detect rocky planets around nearby stars, was launched in December 2006. COROT is a French-led mission with ESA contributions.

COROT uses its 30-centimeter telescope to monitor the brightness of stars. The changes in the brightness of a star reveal transiting planets. COROT is also able to detect starquakes, which are acoustical waves generated deep inside stars. The brightness of a star can be altered by ripples caused by starquakes, and this provides data that allows astronomers to determine the mass, age, and the chemical composition of a star.

The RSS feeds for OrbitalHub have migrated to Google. There are new URLs for posts and for comments. The old feeds will still be active for a couple of weeks.

Thank you for your understanding.

Credits: NASA

The Japanese Experiment Module (JEM) a.k.a. Kibo is the first contribution of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) to the International Space Station (ISS) program.

Kibo improves the research capabilities of the ISS by accommodating a maximum of four astronauts who can conduct scientific research activities and experiments in orbit.

JEM has six major components: the Pressurized Module (PM), the Exposed Facility (EF), the Experiment Logistics Module – Pressurized Section (ELM-PS), the Experiment Logistics Module – Exposed Section (ELM-ES), the Remote Manipulator System (JEMRMS), and the Inter-Orbit Communication System (ICS).

The PM is the largest component of JEM. It has a cylindrical shape, 4.4 m in diameter and 11.2 m in length. A total of twenty-three racks can be installed in the PM, six racks on each of the four walls, except for the zenith wall, which can accommodate a maximum of 5 racks. Some of the visible features are the airlock (which allows access to the EF), the two windows located above the airlock, the berthing mechanism for the EF (EFBM), an Active Common Berthing Mechanism (ACBM) on the zenith side for berthing the ELM-PS, and a Passive Common Berthing Mechanism (PCBM) used to connect with the port side ACBM of the Harmony module.

Credits: NASDA

The EF is a box-shaped structure, which is 5.0 m wide, has a length of 5.2 m, and a height of 3.8 m. The EF has 12 payload attachment locations. Each payload location can accommodate a science experiment that must be conducted in the exposed environment.

Kibo’s robotic arm (JEMRMS) is used for attaching and removing the payloads.

The ELM-PS is a cylindrical structure 4.4 m in diameter and 4.2 m in length. The ELM-PS contains a total of eight rack locations. ELM-PS can be used as storage space for experiments, samples, and spare items.

The ELM-ES provides storage space for up to three payloads. ELM-ES will be attached to the end of the EF. Besides the function of in-orbit exposed storage facility, the ELM-ES can also be used to return scientific payloads to Earth. The ELM-ES is a frame structure 4.9 m wide, with a length of 4.1 m, and a height of 2.2 m.

Credits: NASDA

The JEMRMS is a robotic manipulator system. JEMRMS will have two roles: supporting the experiments conducted on Kibo, and assisting with Kibo’s maintenance tasks.

A 10 m long Main Arm (MA), a 2.2 m long Small Fine Arm (SFA), and a robotic control workstation are the components of the robotic manipulator system.

The ICS has two subsystems: a Pressurized Module (ICS-PM) and an Exposed Facility (ICS-EF). The ICS-PM occupies a rack inside the PM, and provides command and data handling functions. The ICS-EF is basically the antenna used for communication.

Kibo is a large structure and more Space Shuttle missions are required to complete the deployment of all the components.

STS-123 Space Shuttle Endeavour delivered the ELM-PS component and ICS-PS to the ISS. JAXA astronaut Takao Doi was part of the STS-123 crew as mission specialist. During the mission, the ELM-PS was berthed to the zenith port of the Node 2 (Harmony) module. The ELM-PS carried the system racks and the experiment racks that are operated in the PM.

Credits: NASA

STS-124 Space Shuttle Discovery delivered the PM and the JEMRMS components to the ISS. The JAXA astronaut assigned to STS-124 as mission specialist was Akihiko Hoshide. STS-124 had to perform a number of operations in order to activate and assemble the pressurized components of JEM: installation and activation of PM, rack deployment, installation of JEMRMS, and the relocation of the ELM-PS from the zenith port of Node 2 to the zenith side of the PM.

The EF is the last major component of Kibo that has to be hauled to the ISS. The STS-127 mission will carry the EF, together with the ELM-ES and the ICS-EF components. The completion of Kibo will be done in two steps: the EF will be attached to the PM through the EFBM, and the ELM-ES will be attached to the EF as the last step. JAXA astronaut Koichi Wakata will be on board the ISS to supervise the operation as mission specialist.

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency has a web page dedicated to Kibo.

Credits: ESA – S. Corvaja

The Mars500 experiment is a cooperative project between the European Space Agency’s Directorate of Human Spaceflight and the Russian Institute for Biomedical Problems (IBMP).

The experiment will be conducted inside a special facility at the IBMP in Moscow.

Mars500 is essential for the preparation of human missions to Mars, as the data, knowledge, and experience accumulated during the experiment will help scientists investigate the human factors of this type of mission.

Many aspects of long duration spaceflights are targeted by this study: crew composition, the influence of isolation on sleep, mood, and mental health, the impact of different personalities, cultural background, and motivation of the crew members, and the effects of stress on health and the immune system.

There is one 150-day simulation to be conducted (that can be followed by an additional 150-day study) before the full 520-day simulation. The full simulation follows the profile of a real mission to Mars, which contains an exploration phase that has to be performed by the crew of six selected for the experiment.

During the experiments, the crews will have a diet identical to the one that the ISS crews have and communication with the outside world will involve a delay (as in the real conditions of a space mission, when the spacecraft and the mission control are millions of kilometers away from each other).

The crew will be completely isolated, and they will have to handle all of the critical situations for the duration of the experiment. The crew will speak English and Russian, and have experience in medicine, biology, and engineering.

Credits: ESA – S. Corvaja

The facility at IBMP is known as the Ground-based Experimental Complex (GEC or NEK in Russian). Besides the isolation facility (or the mockup of the habitable modules of a spacecraft), the facility also contains technical facilities, offices, and an operations room.

The isolation facility contains four interconnected modules, which are used by the crew for daily activities.

It also contains a module that will simulate the Martian landscape and it will be used for activities on the surface of Mars during the simulated landing.

The four modules are designated as the medical module, the living quarters, the Mars landing module, and the storage module. The medical module will be used for routine medical examinations, and eventually for complex medical investigations in the case of any crew member becoming ill. The living quarters module contains individual compartments for the crew members, and also a living room, and a kitchen. The control room will also be part of this module.

The Mars landing module will accommodate the landing crew during the orbiting of Mars phase of the mission. Three of the crew members will have to live and work inside this module for up to 3 months. The storage module contains a refrigerator for food storage, a storage compartment for non-perishable food, a greenhouse, a gym, a bathroom, and even a sauna.

The start of the full 520-day study is planned for late 2009, when a six-member crew will be sealed behind the entry hatch in order to live and work in the conditions of a complete Mars mission.

For more information about the Mars500 project, check out the dedicated page on the IBMP web site.

Credits: NASA-JPL

The Carnival of Space (The Lunar Edition) is hosted at the Moon Society Blog by Darnell Clayton.

At the lunar edition of the Carnival, you can read about Skylon Space Planes, the history of lunar exploration, fresh craters on Mars, Pluto the (ex)planet, the Drake Equation, and much more.

OrbitalHub has submitted a post about the GRACE mission.