Each International Space Station module is designed with micrometeoroid debris protection. A recent survey of the European Space Agency’s Columbus module shows just how much it is needed.
According to a news release from ESA, a survey performed Sept. 6, 2018, using the station’s 17.6-meter robotic arm showed “hundreds of impacts” across the surface of the Columbus module.
Read MoreTwo astronauts—one American, the other Japanese—suited up to venture outside the International Space Station to finish work upgrading the outpost’s robotic Canadarm2, a process that has now involved five extravehicular activities over some four months.
The six-hour U.S. EVA-48 began when NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Norishige Kanai put on their suits and exited the Quest airlock.
Read MoreNASA has postponed its planned Jan. 29, 2018, spacewalk to swap a latching end effector on the International Space Station’s robotic Canadarm2 after robotics specialists devised a software patch to fix a communications anomaly with the recently-installed mechanism.
While an exact date has not been set, the agency said it is targeting mid-February for the rescheduled outing.
Read MoreJust days after installing a new grapple fixture on the International Space Station’s robotic Canadarm2, NASA is working on a plan to re-install the old latching end effector on an upcoming spacewalk after a problem was found with the new mechanism.
U.S. EVA-28 was already planned for Monday, Jan. 29, 2018, less than a week after the previous spacewalk installed the new LEE.
Read MoreThe first spacewalk of 2018, U.S. EVA-47, is now in the history books after two NASA astronauts completed a nearly 7.5 hour extravehicular activity to replace an aging latching end effector on the International Space Station’s robotic Canadarm2.
Canadarm2 has a latching end effector, also called a LEE, on either side of the 17-meter robotic arm to either grab onto the exterior of the station, move objects around the outpost, or grab visiting spacecraft.
Read MoreLess than a week after completing one spacewalk, International Space Station Expedition 53 astronauts Randy Bresnik and Mark Vande Hei set out on another extravehicular activity. This excursion, U.S. EVA-45, lasted about 6.5 hours.
At 7:56 a.m. EDT (11:56 GMT) Oct. 10, 2017, the two NASA astronauts switched their spacesuits over to battery power, officially starting U.S. EVA-45. The primary task of the spacewalk was to replace a faulty camera and begin the process of lubricating the new Latching End Effector on the robotic Canadarm2.
Read MoreOrbital Velocity is designed to be "living time capsule" about the International Space Station.
This project is an attempt to bridge an information gap between space agencies and companies, as well as a public that supports space endeavors with their tax dollars. Despite the importance of the space station, the general public doesn't always know what is happening aboard this amazing complex on a regular basis. Research being conducted isn't always readily available and what information is out there can sometimes be difficult to understand. Some people aren't even aware there is an active space program, let alone a space station.
Orbital Velocity hopes to change that by building a database of information through blogs, a website, small videos and longer documentary-like series'.
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