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Author Topic:   Northrop Grumman Cygnus NG-16 CRS flight
Robert Pearlman
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From: Houston, TX
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posted 07-16-2021 07:03 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
collectSPACE
Space station cargo ship named after first Asian-American astronaut

The first Asian American to launch into space, who made the ultimate sacrifice in pursuit of NASA's exploration goals, has been chosen as the namesake for a commercial cargo vehicle set to deliver supplies and science to the International Space Station.

Northrop Grumman has christened its next Cygnus flying a commercial resupply services mission for NASA (NG-16) after Ellison Onizuka, who on January 28, 1986, died with his six crewmates on the ill-fated final flight of the space shuttle Challenger.

Robert Pearlman
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From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999

posted 08-09-2021 10:32 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Northrop Grumman release
Northrop Grumman Set to Launch 16th Cargo Delivery Mission to the International Space Station

"S.S. Ellison Onizuka" ready for liftoff aboard Antares rocket carrying record amount of critical cargo and supplies for crew aboard the station

Northrop Grumman Corporation is set to launch the company's 16th resupply mission (NG-16) to the International Space Station under NASA's Commercial Resupply Services-2 (CRS-2) contract. For the NG-16 mission, the Cygnus spacecraft will launch aboard the company's Antares rocket, carrying approximately 8,200 pounds of supplies, equipment and experiments for the astronauts aboard the station—the company's largest resupply delivery to date.

Antares is set to launch Aug. 10 at 5:56 p.m. EDT from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport 0A at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. Cygnus is scheduled to rendezvous with the Space Station on Aug. 12. Live coverage of the Antares launch and NG-16 berthing with the station will be available on NASA TV, the NASA app, and the agency's website.

Each Cygnus spacecraft is named in honor of an individual who has made significant contributions to the U.S. space program and human spaceflight. For the NG-16 mission, Cygnus commemorates Ellison Onizuka, the first Asian American astronaut. After a long and successful career as a test pilot at the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School, Onizuka was selected to become a NASA astronaut in 1978 and flew his first mission in 1985. In 1986, Onizuka and his crew tragically lost their lives during the launch of Space Shuttle Challenger.

The S.S. Ellison Onizuka will remain attached to the ISS for approximately three months before departing with up to 8,221 pounds (approximately 3,729 kilograms) of disposal cargo.

Riding as a payload on the Cygnus spacecraft is a Northrop Grumman, Space Development Agency (SDA) and Missile Defense Agency (MDA) experimental mission called the Prototype Infrared Payload (PIRPL). Upon arrival at the Space Station, PIRPL will begin collecting infrared data and expanding detection capabilities that will aid in the development of algorithms for the next generation of tracking satellites.

Robert Pearlman
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From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999

posted 08-10-2021 08:19 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
NASA release
NASA Science, Cargo Launches on Northrop Grumman Resupply Mission

A Northrop Grumman Cygnus resupply spacecraft is on its way to the International Space Station with more than 8,200 pounds of science investigations and cargo after launching at 6:01 p.m. EDT (2201 GMT) Tuesday (Aug. 10) from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. At 8:46 p.m. EDT (0045 GMT Aug. 11), the spacecraft's solar arrays successfully deployed to collect sunlight to power Cygnus on its journey to the station.

Cygnus is scheduled to arrive at the space station around 6:10 a.m. (1010 GMT) Thursday, Aug. 12.

NASA astronaut Megan McArthur will use the space station's robotic Canadarm2 to capture Cygnus upon its arrival, while ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Thomas Pesquet monitors telemetry during rendezvous, capture, and installation on the Earth-facing port of the Unity module.

This is Northrop Grumman's 16th cargo flight to the space station and is the fifth under its Commercial Resupply Services 2 contract with NASA. Cygnus launched on an Antares 230+ rocket from the Virginia Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport's Pad 0A at Wallops.

The resupply flight will support dozens of new and existing investigations. Included in the scientific investigations Cygnus is delivering to the space station are:

  • From dust to dwelling
    Using resources available on the Moon and Mars to build structures and habitats could reduce how much material future explorers need to bring from Earth, significantly reducing launch mass and cost. The Redwire Regolith Print (RRP) study demonstrates 3D printing on the space station using a material simulating regolith, or loose rock and soil, found on the surfaces of planetary bodies such as the Moon. Results could help determine the feasibility of using regolith as the raw material and 3D printing as a technique for on-demand construction of habitats and other structures on future space exploration missions.

  • Maintaining muscles
    As people age and become more sedentary on Earth, they gradually lose muscle mass, a condition called sarcopenia. Identifying drugs to treat this condition is difficult because it develops over decades. Cardinal Muscle tests whether microgravity can be used as a research tool for understanding and preventing sarcopenia. The study, funded by the National Science Foundation in collaboration with the ISS U.S. National Laboratory, seeks to determine whether an engineered tissue platform in microgravity forms the characteristic muscle tubes found in muscle tissue. Such a platform could provide a way to rapidly assess potential drugs prior to clinical trials.

  • Taking the heat out of space travel
    Longer space missions will need to generate more power, producing more heat that must be dissipated. Transitioning from current single-phase heat transfer systems to two-phase thermal management systems reduces size and weight of the system and provides more efficient heat removal. Because greater heat energy is exchanged through vaporization and condensation, a two-phase system can remove more heat for the same amount of weight than current single-phase systems. The Flow Boiling and Condensation Experiment (FBCE) aims to develop a facility for collecting data about two-phase flow and heat transfer in microgravity. Comparisons of data from microgravity and Earth's gravity are needed to validate numerical simulation tools for designing thermal management systems.

  • Cooler re-entries
    The Kentucky Re-Entry Probe Experiment (KREPE) demonstrates an affordable thermal protection system (TPS) to protect spacecraft and their contents during re-entry into Earth's atmosphere. Making these systems efficient remains one of space exploration's biggest challenges, but the unique environment of atmospheric entry makes it difficult to accurately replicate conditions in ground simulations. TPS designers rely on numerical models that often lack flight validation. This investigation serves as an inexpensive way to compare these models to actual flight data and validate possible designs. Before flying the technology on the space station, researchers conducted a high-altitude balloon test to validate performance of the electronics and communications.

  • Getting the carbon dioxide out
    Four Bed CO2 Scrubber demonstrates a technology to remove carbon dioxide from a spacecraft. Based on the current system and lessons learned from its nearly 20 years of operation, the Four Bed CO2 Scrubber includes mechanical upgrades and an improved, longer-lasting absorbent material that reduces erosion and dust formation. Absorption beds remove water vapor and carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, returning water vapor to the cabin and venting carbon dioxide overboard or diverting it to a system that uses it to produce water. This technology could improve the reliability and performance of carbon dioxide removal systems in future spacecraft, helping to maintain the health of crews and ensure mission success. It has potential applications on Earth in closed environments that require carbon dioxide removal to protect workers and equipment.

  • Mold in microgravity
    An ESA investigation, Blob, allows students aged 10 to 18 to study a naturally-occurring slime mold, Physarum polycephalum, that is capable of basic forms of learning and adaptation. Although it is just one cell and lacks a brain, Blob can move, feed, organize itself, and even transmit knowledge to other slime molds. Students replicate experiments conducted by ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet to see how the Blob's behavior is affected by microgravity. Using time-lapse video from space, students can compare the speed, shape, and growth of the slime molds in space and on the ground. The French space agency Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales and the French National Center for Scientific Research coordinate Blob.
These are just a few of the hundreds of investigations currently being conducted aboard the orbiting laboratory in the areas of biology and biotechnology, physical sciences, and Earth and space science. Advances in these areas will help keep astronauts healthy during long-duration space travel and demonstrate technologies for future human and robotic exploration missions as part of NASA's Moon and Mars exploration approach, including lunar missions through NASA's Artemis program.

Cygnus also will deliver a new mounting bracket that astronauts will attach to the port side of the station's backbone truss during a spacewalk planned for late August. The mounting bracket will enable the installation of one of the next pair of new solar arrays at a later date.

The Cygnus spacecraft will remain at the space station until November before it disposes of several thousand pounds of trash through its destructive re-entry into Earth's atmosphere.

Robert Pearlman
Editor

Posts: 47407
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999

posted 08-12-2021 08:41 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
SS Ellison Onizuka captured, attached to station

Expedition 65 flight engineer Megan McArthur used the International Space Station's Canadarm2 robotic arm to grapple Northrop Grumman's NG-16 Cygnus spacecraft on Thursday (Aug. 12) at 6:07 a.m. EDT (1007 GMT). The spacecraft was flying about 260 miles (420 km) above the Atlantic Ocean, southwest of Lisbon, Portugal, at the time of capture.

Ground controllers then commanded the space station's arm to rotate and install the S.S. Ellison Onizuka on the Earth-facing side the Unity module.

Robert Pearlman
Editor

Posts: 47407
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999

posted 11-20-2021 10:32 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
SS Ellison Onizuka departs space station

The S.S. Ellison Onizuka is now flying free of the International Space Station.

Flight controllers on Saturday (Nov. 20) sent the commands to release Northrop Grumman Cygnus spacecraft from the Canadarm2 robotic arm after earlier detaching Cygnus from the Earth-facing port of the Unity module. At 11:01 a.m. EST (1601 GMT), the time of release, the station was flying about 260 miles over the South Pacific Ocean.

The Cygnus spacecraft successfully departed the space station more than three months after delivering about 8,000 pounds of scientific investigations and supplies to the orbiting laboratory.

The Onizuka will re-enter Earth's atmosphere on Wednesday, Dec. 15. The Kentucky Re-Entry Probe Experiment (KREPE), which is stowed inside the Cygnus, will take measurements to demonstrate a thermal protection system for spacecraft and their contents during the re-entry, which can be difficult to replicate in ground simulations.

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