Space Station Sunday: Spaceships That Pass In The Night

Good evening, space fans!  Here's what was up on the ISS this week...

Dial-Up Diagnosis, Part II: Developing The "Sniffphone" App To Sense Cancer

Last week, we learned that HIV is now detectable via a cheap smartphone attachment.  Now, smartphones are getting even more diagnostically intelligent thanks to a new app that can identify cancer via a breath test...

"Like" After Death: Leave A "Legacy Contact" To Manage Your Facebook Postmortem

Like millions of people the world over, perhaps you enjoy reporting the diverse details of your life on Facebook.  But what about...after?  What happens to your e-life when your real one is over?  Better find someone very trustworthy to handle your e-estate...

Get Loopy: Elon Musk's Hyperloop Poised To Revolutionize Transportation

Elon Musk has been on fire lately.  Two wild dreams of his - the SpaceX private aerospace company and Tesla motors - have overcome tremendous adversity to become useful, sustainable, forward-thinking modern businesses.  Now, Musk is about to hit the futuristic trifecta: his supersonic vacuum-tube transport device, the Hyperloop, is poised to become a reality . . .

Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep? Farmers And Internet Enthusiasts Do...For Their Wi-Fi

Like it or hate it (although you probably still secretly like it, at least a little bit), the internet is a major force in modern human life.  Yet we hyper-connected humans continue to forget that there are wide swaths of this planet that slip through the net of the World Wide Web.  Some propose to remedy this with signal-beaming satellites, or even drones, but now, a new and ecologically-interesting idea has manifested: using sensors placed on animals to spread connectivity.  Can we turn a herd into a hotspot?

It's about time we replaced the old dial-up style of sheep.
(Image courtesy marilynstevens.com.)

According to The Atlantic, some scientists are seriously into the idea.  Placing wi-fi sensors on animals like sheep or even reindeer could allow them to traverse rural areas (for reindeer, to venture further beyond where many humans are comfortable living) and spread the signal.  In addition to helping the information superhighway get a few more on-ramps, it could allow farmers to monitor things like pollution, flooding, or even keep tabs on the flock themselves (e-shepherding!)  This type of technological exploration could expand not only our knowledge of the natural world, but also expand all knowledge for the far-flung residents therein.

Thanks to the vastness but also relative modernity of Australia, experiments with such sensors are now being carried out there with sheep.  The small sensors, which are embedded in ear tags and are light enough not to perturb the animal, can operate independently but can also help form mesh networks.  This kind of rudimentary internet also serves to spread information (as the sensors "talk" to each other to recognize their presence and location) and can operate as a whole even if singular elements fail (because wild dogs often do some non-technological sensing of their own for a sheep-snack.)

This could be one big fuzzy mesh network.
(Image courtesy news.bbcimg.co.uk.)

Greg Cronin, an Australian professor of animal welfare, explained that such attacks on sensor-bearing sheep could improve the hardships of shepherding, theorizing, “If you could pick the right sensor that identified behaviors that changed when sheep were under attack, it could trigger an alarm for the farmer.” While the technology is still undergoing trials, Cronin was enthusiastic about its eventual results. “We know we can do it but we still have to do the hard work to prove it,” he said.  According to the BBC, the idea has gained traction in rural Wales as well, including sensors that would be placed on inanimate set locations (such as rivers) to improve knowledge of overall farm conditions.

So, maybe your toaster isn't able to Tweet yet, and perhaps your pet piranha isn't getting far enough away to require a tracking device.  But for this early inception of the Internet Of Things (well, Internet Of Creatures, at least), man and beast might be able to share information in harmony.  Just don't give the sheep options to upload selfies every time they get a haircut.

"@BleatBox - Looking mad fly today.  Hit me up on Tinder."
(Image courtesy fr.pinterest.com.)

Moon Loot! Neil Armstrong's Widow Finds Stashbag Of Apollo 11 Parts

It's not uncommon to have elements of your job wind up following you home...maybe some pens from the office, a cupcake from the bakery, or a limited-edition craft brew bottle from the bar (or maybe two.)  But recently, a whole new level of work-treasure was unearthed (unmooned?) when Neil Armstrong's widow discovered a cache of original Apollo 11 equipment...stowed in a bag at the back of a closet.

"Time to conquer the moon.  But first, a selfie."
Armstrong, pictured near some of the power cables found in his moon-stash.
(Image courtesy NASA.gov.)

As reported by gizmodo.com, the amazing and historically rich find had been either forgotten or kept a secret by Armstrong, who died in 2012.  His wife Carol reported the find to Alan Needell, the curator of the Apollo collection at the Smithsonian Air And Space Museum, and it was instantly recognized to be of "priceless historical value", according to NASA.

Known as the "McDivitt Purse", the bag was a readily-available container kept accessible inside the lunar Eagle module, where it was used to keep small parts from floating away in micro-gravity.  "The Purse" was named for Apollo 9 commander Jim McDivitt, who had emphasized the importance of a stowable bag for for the front of the spacecraft.  The one-of-a-kind collection is now being prepared for display by the Smithsonian.

Allen Wrench?  Maybe on Earth.  Offplanet, that's the door key to a moonship!
(Image courtesy NASA.gov.)

Inside, all manner of Apollo artifacts had been preserved by Armstrong.  Power cables, hand tools, a valve cover, a mounting bracket, and other everyday-type items were in the collection, but the crown jewel of the space stuff was a 16-mm film camera (plus accessories!) that was used to record the descent of the Eagle onto the surface of the moon.

The original Apollo 11 footage (left) as compared to footage from the modern unmanned LRO (Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter.)  Because moon movies are always awesome. 

Also present was a safety strap that was photographed in use for Buzz Aldrin's EVA ("Extravehicular Activity"...a common term for astronauts, which in this case specifically meant WALKING ON THE FREAKING MOON.)  You know...so he wouldn't get too excited in that 1/6th gravity and just bounce away.

Buzz Aldrin, rocking the waist tether on descent from the Eagle.  Just moon things.
(Image courtesy gizmodo.com.)

By the way, if you swoon for some moon, you can check out the LRO's sharp, zoomable moon imagery right here.  Thanks to NASA, more info on the overall LRO project, which is run from the Goddard Spaceflight Center in Maryland, can be found here.  Take your own lunar recon voyage from the comfort of Earth!

Sure, it may just be an orbiting chunk of rock that's mostly comprised of what Buzz Aldrin called "magnificent desolation"...but it's OUR chunk of orbiting rock.  And in an age where we can use a smartphone (that contains more computing power than the Eagle had) to check out close-up snaps of a celestial body, it's cool to recall that even some small steps like helmet straps, power cables, and bits of hardware were critical to making that "giant leap for mankind" come to pass.

One small stash for a man...
(Image courtesy gizmodo.com.)

Space Station Sunday: The Ships That Fell To Earth

Good evening, space fans!  Here's what went on with our off-planet pioneers this week.

Preparations are underway for Tuesday's detachment of the SpaceX Dragon space freighter that arrived at the ISS in January.  The Dragon will be loaded up with scientific experiments to be analyzed back on earth.  Also aboard will be non-essential hardware and a space suit with a malfunctioning fan motor (another space suit aboard the ISS had the same problem, but was repaired.)  The Dragon will be grappled by the 57.7-ft. Canadarm2 robotic arm, then sent back to earth by way of a splashdown near Baja, California.

Another vehicle currently docked at the ISS will be sent home this week, albeit to a fiery demise.  The European ATV-5 cargo vehicle will be loaded with trash and sent home to burst into flames in the atmosphere as it deorbits on Valentine's Day.  How's that for burnin' love?

Artist's rendering of the ATV-5 controlled reentry.  Happy Valentine's Day from space!
(Image courtesy esa.int.)

Other scientific endeavors of note this week on the ISS included Commander Butch Wilmore analyzing seedlings in the APEX-03 experiment to determine the effects of microgravity on plant cells and root systems.  ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti analyzed roundworms in an Epigenetics study, which will assess if new cells develop significantly differently in micro-g.

CNN ran a story on the planning, packaging, and consumption of the food that gets transported to the ISS.  Since the human body cannot truly be at rest while constantly floating in micro-gravity, the astronauts must imbibe 3,000 calories a day, more than the average human on earth should consume.  Food scientist Maya Cooper of the Johnson Space Center explains that their team, who are responsible for 40% of all the food sent by NASA to the ISS, tries to "strike a delicate balance between providing home comforts and healthy food."  This includes everything from M&Ms to birthday cake on the comfort side, but a carefully-reformulated program of sodium reduction on the health side.  Of course, every now and again after a cargo launch, a special treat like fresh fruit might be the first thing out of the hatch.

Astronauts Terry Virts and Samantha Cristoforetti were eager to help unpack the latest SpaceX Dragon, which delivered (among other things) this precious golden cargo.
(Image courtesy NASA.gov.)

Back on earth, this week astronaut Scott Kelly concluded his aquatic training, which is designed to mimic microgravity.  Kelly will be headed to the ISS in March as part of a pioneering endeavor to spend a full year in space.  Looks like he's good to go!

On land...on sea...and in the lack-of-air...astronauts always take care of business!
(Image courtesy NASA.gov.)

Want to see the station for yourself (albeit from beneath the surly bonds of gravity?)  Check out Spot The Station and receive text or email alerts whenever the ISS will be flying by your area!  Then, if you happen to leave your lens open and capture an image of the ISS, tag it to #SpotTheStation or @SpotStationAUT (for Android users.)  Enjoy images by space fans from all over earth!

The space station, captured in long-exposure, swoops past Reunion Island, off the coast of Madagascar.
(Image courtesy @panoramareunion.)

That's all for this week, space fans!  See you next Sunday for news on two upcoming spacewalks...watch this space!

                               Commander Wilmore captured a nice, bright flyby this week.
                                 If you live on the East Coast of the US, you're in this video.