After 19 Years, the ISS Receives Its Very Last NASA Science Rack (engadget.com) 19
"One of the longer chapters of the International Space Station has come to a close," writes Engadget.
"NASA has sent the last of its 11 ExPRESS (Expedite the Processing of Experiments to the Space Station) science racks to the orbiting facility, 19 years after sending the first two." They don't look like much, but they provide the power, storage, climate control and communications for up to 10 small payloads — they're key to many of the experiments that run aboard the ISS and will help the station live up to its potential research capabilities. This last rack was carried aboard a Japanese cargo ship and should be installed and functioning by fall 2020. While the EXPRESS racks should be useful for a while yet, this effectively marks the end of an era for NASA's ISS work...
Originally developed by engineers at Boeing and the Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama, "The first two completed racks were delivered to the space station on STS-100 in 2001 and have been in continuous operation ever since," notes a NASA press release, "as have all the subsequent added racks." And since then NASA has logged more than 85 total years of combined rack operational hours. "The sheer volume of science that's been conducted using the racks up til now is just overwhelming," says Shaun Glasgow, project manager for the EXPRESS Racks at Marshall.
"And as we prepare to return human explorers to the Moon and journey on to Mars, it's even more exciting to consider all the scientific investigations still to come."
"NASA has sent the last of its 11 ExPRESS (Expedite the Processing of Experiments to the Space Station) science racks to the orbiting facility, 19 years after sending the first two." They don't look like much, but they provide the power, storage, climate control and communications for up to 10 small payloads — they're key to many of the experiments that run aboard the ISS and will help the station live up to its potential research capabilities. This last rack was carried aboard a Japanese cargo ship and should be installed and functioning by fall 2020. While the EXPRESS racks should be useful for a while yet, this effectively marks the end of an era for NASA's ISS work...
Originally developed by engineers at Boeing and the Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama, "The first two completed racks were delivered to the space station on STS-100 in 2001 and have been in continuous operation ever since," notes a NASA press release, "as have all the subsequent added racks." And since then NASA has logged more than 85 total years of combined rack operational hours. "The sheer volume of science that's been conducted using the racks up til now is just overwhelming," says Shaun Glasgow, project manager for the EXPRESS Racks at Marshall.
"And as we prepare to return human explorers to the Moon and journey on to Mars, it's even more exciting to consider all the scientific investigations still to come."
Seasons? (Score:2)
The ISS has seasons?
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Why not just post the NASA link? (Score:3)
The article reads as if they sent 2 racks in 2001 and then never sent another rack up for 19 years which, if you actually RTFA that Engadget links to says
https://www.nasa.gov/centers/m... [nasa.gov]
Once the new rack is installed, 11 total racks will be on the station -- the eight original EXPRESS Racks and three Basic EXPRESS Racks, more streamlined and versatile modern versions. Each is about the size of a refrigerator and comes equipped with up to eight configurable lockers and two drawers to house payloads. Experiments can be conducted, removed independently and returned to Earth, depending on varying time requirements.
The first EXPRESS rack was successfully tested aboard the space shuttle in 1997. The first two completed racks were delivered to the space station on STS-100 in 2001 and have been in continuous operation ever since -- as have all the subsequent added racks.
They've been actually sending up racks "continuously"
I Remember Tang, and Hand Held Calculators (Score:2)
Re:I Remember Tang, and Hand Held Calculators (Score:5, Informative)
"The sheer volume of science that's been conducted"; what are these things that American Tax Payers been footing the bill for? I do not think it is negative, I just want to know.
NASA has many pages devoted to this - here one of the main ones:
https://www.nasa.gov/mission_p... [nasa.gov]
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I took a look myself, and saw a lot of pretty pictures and grand ideas which look promising, but certainly wouldn't convince a skeptic. Mostly, studying how to do something normal, but IN SPACE!" I'm reminded of all the patent stories where someone does something normal, "but on the INTERNET!"
Having said that, I do believe it's necessary work in becoming a space-faring entity, and that doing so is a good thing.
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Probably the most important experiment aboard is the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer which is searching for dark matter. The ISS is probably the only place that it will ever be available in orbit due to its power and cooling requirements.
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You mean like this?
https://www.nasa.gov/feature/n... [nasa.gov]
The landmark Twins Study brought ten research teams from around the country together to observe what physiological, molecular and cognitive changes could happen to a human from exposure to spaceflight hazards. This was accomplished by comparing retired astronaut Scott Kelly while he was in space, to his identical twin brother, retired astronaut Mark Kelly, who remained on Earth.
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Discontinuation is dumb. (Score:5, Interesting)
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Some of it will probably be recycled. Russia might retain its parts, which include the core module. Maybe partner with China, or just sell them off. Could even be used commercially.
The space station was never about science (Score:2)
The value of scientific experiment on the ISS is minimal, certainly compared to the stupendous cost of running them. So no problem if they stop doing science.
The ISS and shuttle are all about Television. About pretending of sending humans to mars (why bother -- the robots are doing fine). About feeling good.
Personally, I would rather see the money spent on thing like the Webb telescope which we could have launched long ago.
Space is not "the last frontier". It is not like exploring other earthly continen
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That's what happens when you let the big herd of lawyers in Congress dictate to engineers how to run a space program. If the politicians had stayed out of the way and left NASA with its paltry 4.5% of the budget it had during Apollo (still less than 10% of the military budget at the time) we would have had a permanent colony on the moon by the mid-1980s.