6 Ways NASA Space Communications Connect Astronauts To Earth

6 Ways NASA Space Communications Connect Astronauts to Earth

1. When Astronauts Phone Home, the Space Network Answers

Operated by our Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, this communications system enables all types of Earth-to-astronaut communication. The Space Network is a complex system of ground station terminals and satellites. The satellites, called ‘Tracking and Data Relay Satellites’ or TDRS, provide continuous communications for human spaceflight 24/7/365. The information this network relays includes astronaut communication with Mission Control in Houston, posting live video of spacewalks and live interviews with schools, even posting Tweets on Twitter and doing Facebook posts. The Space Network can even broadcast live 4K, ultra-HD video right from the station. You can now watch an astronaut eat a space taco in high definition. WHAT A TIME TO BE ALIVE!

2. The Space Network Also Communicates Science Data

Astronauts on the Space Station perform experiments on the station that will enable our Journey to Mars and other future human space missions. For example, astronaut Peggy Whitson works on a bone cell study that could lead to better preventative care or therapeutic treatments for people suffering bone loss as a result of bone diseases like osteopenia and osteoporosis, or for patients on prolonged bed rest. All that fantastic data is sent back to Earth via our Space Network for scientists around the world to analyze and build on.

3. The Space Network Transmits Spacecraft Health Data

The Space Network not only lets us communicate with the astronauts, it also tracks the ‘health’ of the spacecraft, be it the International Space Station where the astronauts are living, a cargo vehicle servicing the space station, or even, in the near future, crewed vehicles to other worlds. We deliver data on a spacecraft’s state of health, from power generation levels and avionics status to carbon dioxide and oxygen levels, and more to Mission Control 24/7/365.

4. The Space Network Helps Monitor Spacecraft Location

The International Space Station Is pretty big, but space is bigger. The Space Network enables flight controllers on the ground to provide a GPS-type service for the Space Station, letting them track the exact location of the space station at all times as it orbits the Earth. It also allows us Earth-bound folk to get real-time text updates when the Space Station is flying overhead. If you want to track the station, sign up here: https://spotthestation.nasa.gov

5. The Space Network Supports Launch Vehicles

Goddard’s Space Network also controls all the communications for all the missions that go to the space station. That includes command and telemetry services during launches, free flight, berthing and un-berthing to the station, as well as re-entry and landing back to Earth.

6. The Space Network Is Also Looking Toward the Future

It’s also helping to test vehicles that will carry astronauts to other worlds. Currently, they are working with teams for our Space Launch System and commercial crew vehicles. The first flights for these vehicles will occur in 2018 and 2019, setting us on the road to Journey to Mars! This image shows the Orion capsule that will aid in our continuous march into space.

What’s Next for the Space Network?

We’re continuing to grow! Watch out for the launch of a new TDRS spacecraft in August 2017! TDRS-M is coming. Check out more info here and join our countdown to TDRS launch: https://tdrs.gsfc.nasa.gov.

Science, Technology, Engineering and Math: STEM

Today is College Signing Day and we’re working with the White House to celebrate all graduating seniors and inspire more young people to Reach Higher and enroll in higher education.

Additionally, choosing a degree within a STEM (Science, Math, Engineering and Technology) field enables the United States to remain the global economic and technological leader. We feel that it’s our duty to help inspire the next generation of scientists, technologists, engineers and astronauts.

It’s important that each and every student feels empowered and equipped with the knowledge to solve tough problems, evaluate evidence and analyze information. These are all skills students can learn through studying a subjects in STEM.

College is one of the stepping stones to many careers, including becoming an astronaut! Here are a few of our astronauts on their college graduation day, along with their astronaut portrait.

Astronaut Victor Glover

Undergraduate: California Polytechnic State University Graduate: Air University and Naval Postgraduate School Astronaut Class: 2013

Astronaut Reid Wiseman

Undergraduate: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Graduate: Johns hopkins University Astronaut Class: 2009

Astronaut Thomas Marshburn

Undergraduate: Davidson College Graduate: University of Virginia, Wake Forest University and University of Texas medical Branch Astronaut Class: 2004

Astronaut Karen Nyberg

Undergraduate: University of North Dakota Graduate: University of Texas at Austin Astronaut Class: 2000

Astronaut Bob Behnken

Undergraduate: Washington University Graduate: California Institute of Technology Astronaut Class: 2000

Astronaut Peggy Whitson

Undergraduate: Iowa Wesleyan College Graduate: Rice University Astronaut Class: 1996

Astronaut Joseph Acaba

Undergraduate: University of California Graduate: University of Arizona Astronaut Class: 2004

Astronaut Rex Walheim

Undergraduate: University of California, Berkeley Graduate: University of Houston Astronaut Class: 1996

Whether you want to be an astronaut, an engineer or the administrator of NASA, a college education opens a universe of possibilities:

Administrator Charles Bolden

Here, Administrator Bolden wears the jersey of Keenan Reynolds, a scholar athlete who graduates from the Naval Academy this year. His jersey is on its way to the college football hall of fame. Bolden holds a drawing of himself as a midshipman in the Navy.

Deputy Administrator Dava Newman

Deputy Administrator Dava Newman sports her college shirt, along with Lisa Guerra, Technical Assistant to the Associate Administrator. Both women studied aerospace engineering at Notre Dame.

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com

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carlosalberthreis

8 years ago

Como se formou o Sistema Solar?

Acho que muitos devem saber, existia uma nuvem de poeira e gás, e por alguma perturbação esse gás e essa poeira começaram a se aglutinar até dar origem ao Sol e ao seu disco protoplanetário.

Mas o que perturbou originalmente a nuvem? Sempre se falou de que a onda de choque gerada por uma supernova poderia ter feito, sempre foi falado, mas agora pode ter sido provado.

Um grupo de astrônomos estudaram núcleos de vida curta presentes em meteoritos, núcleos que só podem ter sido criados no interior de supernovas.

Basicamente os pesquisadores estudaram o berílio-10, um núcleo radioativo de vida curta vastamente distribuído nos meteoritos.

Esse berílio-10 pode ter sido gerado por vários processos, inclusive pela explosão de uma supernova de grande massa ou de uma de baixa massa.

Ao modelar a presença do berílio-10 de maneira geral nos meteoritos só sobrou a chamada supernova de colapso de núcleo de baixa massa para explicar essa abundância, além também de explicar a presença de outros elementos como o cálcio-41, o paládio-107 entre outros.

Quando falamos que os asteroides e consequentemente os meteoritos guardam os segredos da formação do Sistema Solar, estamos dizendo exatamente isso, num estudo praticamente forense, é possível detectar resquícios do início da vida do nosso Sistema Solar a 4.6 bilhões de anos atrás.

Obviamente serão necessários mais estudos para confirmar essa hipótese com o menor grau de incerteza, estudos posteriores terão que ser realizados, até mesmo para explicar alguns mistérios, que podem ser atribuídos a outras fontes.

Mas, por enquanto, aquela velha frase é mais valida do que nunca, somos feitos de poeira e de restos de estrelas!!!

(via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7X1Lc7CmxI)

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carlosalberthreis

8 years ago

Foto da minha graduação em Física na Universidade do Estado do Amazonas (UEA) que ocorreu no dia 25 de agosto de 2016. (em Parintins)

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carlosalberthreis

8 years ago

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carlosalberthreis

8 years ago

There’s Going to Be an Outburst!

Watch the Perseid Meteor Shower at Its Peak Tonight

The last time we had an outburst, that is a meteor shower with more meteors than usual, was in 2009. This year’s Perseid meteor shower is predicted to be just as spectacular starting tonight!

Plan to stay up late tonight or set your alarm clock for the wee morning hours to see this cosmic display of “shooting stars” light up the night sky. Known for it’s fast and bright meteors, tonight’s annual Perseid meteor shower is anticipated to be one of the best meteor viewing opportunities this year.

For stargazers experiencing cloudy or light-polluted skies, a live broadcast of the Perseid meteor shower will be available via Ustream overnight tonight and tomorrow, beginning at 10 p.m. EDT.

“Forecasters are predicting a Perseid outburst this year with double normal rates on the night of Aug. 11-12,” said Bill Cooke with NASA’s Meteoroid Environments Office in Huntsville, Alabama. “Under perfect conditions, rates could soar to 200 meteors per hour.”

Every Perseid meteor is a tiny piece of the comet Swift-Tuttle, which orbits the sun every 133 years. When Earth crosses paths with Swift-Tuttle’s debris, specks of comet-stuff hit Earth’s atmosphere and disintegrate in flashes of light. These meteors are called Perseids because they seem to fly out of the constellation Perseus.

Most years, Earth might graze the edge of Swift-Tuttle’s debris stream, where there’s less activity. Occasionally, though, Jupiter’s gravity tugs the huge network of dust trails closer, and Earth plows through closer to the middle, where there’s more material.

This is predicted be one of those years!

Learn more about the Perseids!

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space.

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carlosalberthreis

9 years ago

Chasing Storms at 17,500mph

Flying 250 miles above the Earth aboard the International Space Station has given me the unique vantage point from which to view our planet. Spending a year in space has given me the unique opportunity to see a wide range of spectacular storm systems in space and on Earth.

The recent blizzard was remarkably visible from space. I took several photos of the first big storm system on Earth of year 2016 as it moved across the East Coast, Chicago and Washington D.C. Since my time here on the space station began in March 2015, I’ve been able to capture an array of storms on Earth and in space, ranging from hurricanes and dust storms to solar storms and most recently a rare thunder snowstorm.

Blizzard 2016

Hurricane Patricia 2015

Hurricane Joaquin 2015

Dust Storm in the Red Sea 2015

Dust Storm of Gobi Desert 2015

Aurora Solar Storm 2015

Aurora Solar Storm 2016

Thunderstorm over Italy 2015

Lightning and Aurora 2016

Rare Thunder Snowstorm 2016

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carlosalberthreis

9 years ago

#YearInSpace Reddit AMA

NASA astronaut Scott Kelly and Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko will return from a year-long mission to the International Space Station on Tuesday, March 1. Research conducted during this mission will help prepare us for future voyages beyond low-Earth orbit.

On Friday, March 4 at 11 p.m. EST, we will host a Reddit AMA with scientists and medical doctors from our Johnson Space Center. During the AMA, they will answer your questions about everything from how microgravity affects the human body to how astronauts’ food intake is closely monitored while on-orbit. Ask us anything about the science behind the One Year Mission!

Participants include:

Julie Robinson, Ph.D., NASA’s Chief Scientist for the International Space Station

John Charles, Ph.D., Associate Manager for International Science for NASA’s Human Research Program

Scott M. Smith, Ph.D., Nutritional Biochemistry Laboratory Manager for NASA’s Human Research Program

Dr. Shannan Moynihan, NASA Flight Surgeon

Mark Guilliams, Strength and Conditioning Coach

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com

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