Hoje, a caminhada espacial prepara-se entre pesquisas sobre câncer, robótica e agricultura

Caros Leitores;

NASA astronaut Christina Koch (right) poses for a portrait with fellow Expedition 61 Flight Engineer Jessica Meir of NASA who is inside a U.S. spacesuit for a fit check.

Science experiments continue aboard the International Space Station as two NASA astronauts prepare for their first spacewalk together, which is set to take place Friday. The Expedition 61 crew researched a variety of space phenomena today and reviewed procedures for tomorrow’s excursion.

Flight Engineers Christina Koch and Jessica Meir will venture out into the vacuum of space on Friday to replace a failed power controller, also known as a battery charge-discharge unit (BCDU). The BCDU regulates the charge to the batteries that collect and distribute solar power to the orbiting lab’s systems. They will set their spacesuits to battery power around 7:50 a.m. EDT and exit the Quest airlock for the 5.5-hour repair job on the Port 6 truss structure. NASA TV begins its live coverage at 6:30 a.m.

Commander Luca Parmitano of the European Space Agency (ESA) and NASA Flight Engineer Andrew Morgan will assist the spacewalkers. Parmitano will control the Canadarm2 robotics arm and Morgan will provide airlock and spacesuit support. All four astronauts gathered together today for a final procedures review.

In the midst of the spacewalk preparations, the crew continued ongoing microgravity science. The astronauts had time set aside today for researching cancer therapies, DNA sequencing, planetary robotics and space agriculture.

Morgan set up protein crystals critical to tumor growth and survival in a microscope for observation and photography. Koch continued exploring the viability of sequencing microbial DNA in microgravity.

Parmitano is readying hardware that will enable an astronaut on the station to control a robot on the Earth’s surface. Future astronauts could use the robotic technology to explore a planetary surface such as the Moon or Mars while orbiting in a spacecraft.

The crew is also in the second week of growing a crop of Mizuna mustard greens. Meir watered the Mizuna plants today for the ongoing space agriculture study to learn how to provide fresh food to space crews.

Cosmonauts Alexander Skvortsov and Oleg Skripochka had their own slate of human research to conduct today. The duo studied cardiac output changes and blood flow regulation including the effects of space on enzymes.

Fonte:  NASA / Mark Garcia / 17-10-2019  

https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacestation/2019/10/17/spacewalk-preps-today-amid-cancer-robotics-and-agriculture-research/  

Obrigado pela sua visita e volte sempre!

                      

Hélio R.M. Cabral (Economista, Escritor e Divulgador de conteúdos da Astronomia, Astrofísica, Astrobiologia e Climatologia).

Membro da Society for Science and the Public (SSP) e assinante de conteúdos científicos da NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) e ESA (European Space Agency).

Participa do projeto S`Cool Ground Observation (Observações de Nuvens) que é integrado ao Projeto CERES (Clouds and Earth´s Radiant Energy System) administrado pela NASA. A partir de 2019, tornou-se membro da Sociedade Astronômica Brasileira (SAB), como astrônomo amador.

Participa também do projeto The Globe Program / NASA Globe Cloud, um Programa de Ciência e Educação Worldwide, que também tem o objetivo de monitorar o Clima em toda a Terra. Este projeto é patrocinado pela NASA e National Science Fundation (NSF), e apoiado pela National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) e U.S Department of State.

e-mail: heliocabral@coseno.com.br

Page: http://pesqciencias.blogspot.com.br

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