SpaceX efficiently launched a spaceship full of science to the space station Saturday following a climate scrub.
A Dragon cargo spacecraft carrying SpaceX‘s twenty sixth industrial resupply mission launched for the International Space Station (ISS) Saturday (Nov. 26) at 2:20 p.m. EST (1920 GMT). The launch, which was SpaceX’s 54th general launch and fifth Dragon launch of 2022, got here after an try on Nov. 22 was scrubbed by bad weather (opens in new tab).
“Beautiful launch, as always, great to see that,” NASA spokesperson Sandra Jones stated in the course of the launch’s reside broadcast.
Docking on the ISS is scheduled to happen on Sunday (Nov. 27) at 7:30 a.m. EST (1230 GMT) with protection accessible right here at Space.com, courtesy of NASA, beginning at 6 a.m. EST (1100 GMT). When Dragon arrives on the orbiting laboratory, it is going to dock to the zenith, or space-facing, port of the space station, the place it is going to stay for about 45 days.
“Go Falcon and happy Thanksgiving, ISS,” launch personnel stated at lift-off.
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Today’s launch was the primary flight for each the Falcon 9 and Dragon, an uncommon prevalence for SpaceX. As deliberate, about eight minutes after launch, the Falcon 9’s first stage touched down on the drone ship “Just Read the Instructions” stationed within the Atlantic Ocean.
Dragon carried 7,700 kilos (3,500 kilograms) of cargo throughout at the moment’s launch. Some of the payloads on board embody dwarf tomatoes, a microscope to take a look at adjustments in crew immune programs, liquid resin tech to create greater buildings, solar energy arrays, {hardware} to seize photos of astronaut eyes and a system to create vitamins from easy-to-carry space meals like yogurt, NASA officers wrote in a release (opens in new tab).
With NASA having just launched its Artemis 1 uncrewed mission to the moon Nov. 16, making ready for long-duration excursions underneath the Artemis program would require rethinking the way to provide astronauts with meals and preserve them wholesome for weeks or months, not solely on a space station, but in addition on the moon.
Veggie is a sequence of experiments that has been exploring rising all types of crops in space, and even flowers like zinnias. Today’s Dragon carried the newest installment, dubbed Veg-05 (opens in new tab), which is bringing Red Robin dwarf cherry tomatoes to the ISS. The investigators are significantly drawing classes discovered from efficiently maturing chili peppers final fall, Gioia Massa, NASA’s space crop manufacturing scientist and principal investigator of Veg-05, informed Space.com throughout a information convention Nov. 9.
“To date, that’s the longest plant growth experiment we’ve had on the space station,” Massa stated of the chili peppers. “It was 135 days, and the astronaut pollinated the fruit. We got a tremendous amount of data. We learned better ways to fertilize as part of that.”
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Veg-05 investigators are in search of methods of lowering astronaut time on the crops, as previous experiments have required handbook watering and monitoring. “Pillow” reservoirs will likely be used for the dwarf tomatoes, very like with previous crops of lettuce and zinnias. (The “pillows” confer with baggage that comprise fertilizer and a soilless substance, packed right into a wicking floor, that encourages progress with a minimal of mess.)
“Tomatoes will be a new adventure for us on the Veggie team, trying to figure out how to keep these thirsty plants well-watered without over watering,” Massa stated. Astronauts will eat the tomatoes in orbit to see how they style, and investigators are already discussing the way to higher the physics of watering for low-gravity environments on the moon or Mars, she added.
Related: For astronauts on Mars, the veggie of the day may be asparagus
In addition to the host of science tools, Dragon is carrying extra solar arrays as much as the space station to proceed upgrading energy on the orbiting complicated. The ISS base arrays have been put in in the course of the station’s first main phase of building within the early 2000s. Over time, arrays in space naturally degrade, producing much less energy, and the entire arrays on the ISS are working past their 15-year design life.
The two new solar arrays, known as iROSAs (ISS Roll-Out Solar Arrays), are designed to be deployed atop the unique arrays to partially overlay the bigger, authentic buildings. There are six iROSA installations deliberate; astronauts have already put in two and mounted {hardware} for 3 extra throughout a spacewalk on Tuesday (Nov. 15).
The new arrays can generate 20 kilowatts of energy and when working with the still-exposed components of the older arrays they cowl, the space station’s electrical energy provide must be boosted by 20% to 30%. The two new iROSAs are scheduled to be put in throughout spacewalks starting on Dec. 3, NASA has stated.
Video: Wow! NASA photographer spots space station crossing the sun during spacewalk
The 2021 spacewalks that put in the primary two iROSAs had solely minor points, together with bracket interference when unhinging the arrays and small bucklings within the sunshades used to forestall overheating. The two arrays aboard the present mission have a redesigned hinge and stronger sunshades to forestall the issue from taking place once more, Matt Mickle, Boeing’s developmental tasks senior supervisor, informed Space.com throughout the identical information convention.
“We’ve tested those minor modifications on the ground, and … we are confident that will ensure a better deployment this time,” he stated. The two at present put in iROSAs, he added, have had barely higher energy generated than anticipated.
NASA, which is dedicated to the ISS until at least 2030 and hopes different companions will signal on past 2024, is engaged on upgrading these arrays to not solely present solar energy for current experiments and station wants, but in addition to increase these capabilities for the rising industrial companions on the complicated.
Elizabeth Howell is the co-author of “Why Am I Taller (opens in new tab)?” (ECW Press, 2022; with Canadian astronaut Dave Williams), a e book about space medication. Follow her on Twitter @howellspace (opens in new tab). Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom (opens in new tab) or Facebook (opens in new tab).
