OrbitalHub

ESA dixit:

“The Dragon spacecraft was released from the Station’s robotic arm at 18:38 GMT on 3 August 2018. Thrusters fired to increase its distance from the Space Station and the spacecraft started its deorbit and return to Earth, splashing down in the Pacific Ocean less than seven hours after release. The International Space Station flies at 28 800 km/h above our planet doing a complete orbit in around 90 minutes – during release operations the sun set and rose above the horizon many times. As Dragon faded into the distance it flew over a stormy part of Earth – lightning flashes can be seen many kilometres below. Dragon is the only spacecraft that can return to Earth with scientific cargo aside from the Soyuz spacecraft that ferries astronauts to space and back – this flight carried over 1700 kg of cargo.

The International Space Station also released Cygnus supply spacecraft to burn up harmlessly over Earth. The spacecraft was released at 14:17 GMT on 15 July 2018 as the International Space Station flew over Colombia. Cygnus spent two weeks orbiting Earth on its own allowing engineers to conduct tests as well as releasing a series of miniature satellites before ending its mission.”

Video Credit: ESA

NASA dixit:

“Cameras on the International Space Station captured views of Hurricane Lane churning in the Pacific Ocean August 22 as it flew 254 miles south of the Hawaiian Islands at 12:47 p.m. EDT. At the time of the station’s pass, Lane was a major hurricane packing winds of 155 miles an hour moving west-northwest on a track that would bring the storm close to or over the islands between Wednesday and Saturday. Hurricane warnings and watches were posted by the Central Pacific Hurricane Center in Honolulu for the entire island chain.”

Video Credit: NASA

NASA dixit:

“Orbital debris poses a risk to all spacecraft in Earth orbit, so the International Space Station is getting a new debris impact sensor to provide information on the micrometeoroid orbital debris environment in low Earth orbit. The Space Debris Sensor, launching on the next SpaceX Dragon cargo vehicle, will monitor impacts caused by small-scale orbital debris for a period of two to three years. That data will improve station safety by generating a more accurate estimate of the amount of small-scale debris that cannot be tracked from the ground and helping define better spacecraft shielding requirements.”

Video Credit: NASA Johnson

NASA dixit:

“This time-lapse video, obtained June 8, 2018, shows the precise choreography of NASA’s Neutron star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER) as it studies pulsars and other X-ray sources from its perch aboard the International Space Station. NICER observes and tracks numerous sources each day, ranging from the star closest to the Sun, Proxima Centauri, to X-ray sources in other galaxies. Movement in the movie, which represents a little more than one 90-minute orbit, is sped up by 100 times.

One factor in NICER’s gyrations is the motion of the space station’s solar arrays, each of which extends 112 feet (34 meters). Long before the panels can encroach on NICER’s field of view, the instrument pirouettes to aim its 56 X-ray telescopes at a new celestial target.

As the movie o pens, the station’s solar arrays are parked to prepare for the arrival and docking of the Soyuz MS-09 flight, which launched on June 6 carrying three members of the Expedition 56 crew. Then the panels reorient themselves and begin their normal tracking of the Sun.

Neutron stars, also called pulsars, are the crushed cores left behind when massive stars explode. They hold more mass than the Sun in a ball no bigger than a city. NICER aims to discover more about pulsars by obtaining precise measures of their size, which will determine their internal make-up. An embedded technology demonstration, called Station Explorer for X-ray Timing and Navigation Technology (SEXTANT), is paving the way for using pulsars as beacons for a future GPS-like system to aid spacecraft navigation in the solar system — and beyond.”

Video Credit: NASA Goddard

Horizons mission time-lapse – Australia and New Zealand.

Credits Video: ESA

ESA dixit:

“Housed within the European Columbus Laboratory aboard the International Space Station, the Fluid Science Laboratory is a multi-user facility designed to investigate how fluids and granules behave in space. In July 2018, the Fluid Science Laboratory received an upgrade. The new video management unit, installed by ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst in this clip, enables even more precise recording so researchers on Earth can better analyse results.”

Credits Video: ESA