RASC Calgary Centre - Current Astronomical Highlights by Don Hladiuk Follow Don on: ("astrogeo") ASTRONOMICAL HIGHLIGHTS provides information about space science events for the upcoming month. The information here is a rough transcript of information covered on the popular CBC Radio One Calgary Eyeopener segment on 1010 AM and 99.1 FM usually on the first or second Monday of each month at 7:36 AM. Don is a life member of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada and was twice President of the Calgary Centre. Since June 1984, Don has had a regular radio column on the Eyeopener describing monthly Astronomical Highlights to southern Albertans. For additional sources of sky information see the list of links below this month's article. For information about the Calgary Centre of the RASC, please visit our web site. Interested in Astronomy? Become a member of the RASC! Click here to find out about RASC membership and RASC publications. ASTRONOMICAL HIGHLIGHTS November 2020 Broadcast Date November 2, 2020 ISS Marks 20 Years of Continuous Human Presence in Space On November 2, 2020, Humanity will celebrate 20 years of continuous presence onboard the International Space Station. Although the first element of the International Space Station was launched in 1998, the orbiting outpost was not ready to receive its first long duration crew until November 2, 2000. Please note… Expedition 1 to the ISS was launched on October 31, 2000, but the Soyuz capsule did not rendezvous with the ISS until November 2. Technically, humans have been continuously in low Earth orbit since the crew launched on October 31, 2000 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Back in 2000, the space station was a small orbiting complex of just three modules, not the sprawling research complex that today is as large as a five-bedroom home with a gym, two bathrooms and a 360-degree bay window looking at Earth below. When Expedition 1 entered the space station, this was the beginning of an unprecedented era of peaceful cooperation in space, paving the way for hundreds of residents and visitors from countries around the world who conduct science in the name of benefitting humankind and furthering space exploration. This includes NASA's Artemis program to land the first woman and next man on the Moon in preparation to going on to Mars. Canada played a key role in the construction of this international space engineering marvel. The Canadarm was used to transfer some of the first elements of the space station from the space shuttle’s cargo bay to the fledgling station. Canadarm2 (or the Space Station Remote Manipulator System – SSRMS) was launched aboard Space Shuttle Endeavour on April 19, 2001. Three days later, Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield and NASA astronaut Scott Parazynski attached the robotic arm to the ISS. Chris Hadfield at the end of the Canadarm2. Photo: NASA In addition to Canadarm2, Canada has provided a “hand” for the robotic arm called Dextre and a mobile platform to move the system along the main truss of the ISS. All three elements are essential for many maintenance tasks and regular operations. Dextre tackles the tough or routine jobs that have to be performed in the harsh environment of space. The Station's robotic handyman allows astronauts to spend more time doing scientific experiments inside the station instead of going on risky spacewalks. Dextre can: • install and replace small equipment, like exterior cameras or the 100-kg batteries used on the Space Station • replace defective components in the Station's electrical system • refuel satellites • test new tools and robotics techniques including some that could enable us to one day service satellites in space Canadian robotic spinoffs from Canadarm2 and Dextre have led to the development of many technologies that benefit our lives here on the blue planet: • NeuroArm, the world's first robot capable of performing brain surgery inside an MRI machine • IGAR, precision technology that has the potential to accelerate breast cancer diagnosis and treatment • Modus V, a robotic digital microscope set to transform the way surgery is performed in hospitals The station is the only laboratory that allows scientists to manipulate every variable - including gravity. In the 20 years of crewed operation, thousands of researchers on the ground in more than 100 countries have conducted more than 2,500 experiments in microgravity, and that number continues to grow. Areas of research include: innovative technology, human health, Earth observations, disaster response, and global awareness. Highlights of space station statistics include: • The primary pieces of the space station were delivered on 42 assembly flights: 37 on the U.S. space shuttles and five on Russian Proton/Soyuz rockets. Elements were constructed independent of one another around the globe and assembled for the first time in space. • The space station took 11 years to fully construct. Its current configuration measures 109 metres end to end with a mass of approximately 450,000 kilograms. • There have been about 231 spacewalks for space station assembly, maintenance and upgrades. • It took a collaborative effort by 15 nations to construct the space station in orbit, and that collaboration continues today. The principal space agencies are the United States’ NASA, Russia’s Roscosmos, ESA (European Space Agency), Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA). • Over 240 individuals from 19 countries have visited or enjoyed extended stays on the space station • Peggy Whitson holds the record for cumulative days in space by an astronaut at 665 days. Christina Koch holds the longest stay in space by a female astronaut at 328 days • Scott Kelly holds the record for longest single spaceflight by a NASA astronaut at 342 days where he participated in the One-Year Mission with Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko. Male cosmonaut Valery Polyakov currently holds the overall record for longest space mission, having completed a stay of 437 days aboard the ISS. • More than 2,700 investigations have been conducted on the space station from 108 different countries. Around 250 scientific investigations are conducted on the station at any given time, and an expedition astronaut’s usual stay aboard the orbiting laboratory is six-months. The space station serves as a test bed for innovative technologies like recycling waste plastic and carbon dioxide filtration that are critical for long-duration missions on the lunar surface in the Artemis program. Crew member safety also is important for lunar missions, so data collected from bone scans and eye exams helps inform what happens to the human body in space. State-of-the-art facilities on board station help NASA increase understanding of what it will take to expand human exploration beyond low-Earth orbit, and microgravity research into protein crystal growth and fiber-optic cables offers scalable commercial opportunities and benefits for humanity. The space station has expanded these efforts to open for more commercial activities with the goal of building a self- sustaining commercial economy in low-Earth orbit where NASA can be one of many commercial and international customers. The Canadian Space Agency is running a number of experiments studying the effects of micro-gravity onboard the ISS: Vascular Aging – heart health Vection: Studying disorientation using Virtual Reality technology OSTEO: How does microgravity effect bone strength (direct benefits to Osteoporosis). MARROW: Study bone marrow and its cells in microgravity Radi-N2: Tracking space radiation and its risks Wayfinding: how does spaceflight affects astronauts’ brains Most of these experiments will help us live a better life on Earth. There is a saying: Off the Earth, For the Earth Three Canadian astronauts have taken part in long-duration missions: 1) Robert Thirsk, during Expedition 20/21 in 2009; 2) Chris Hadfield, during Expedition 34/35 in 2012/2013. 3) David Saint-Jacques, during Expedition 58/59, in 2018/2019. The next Canadian astronaut to live and work on the ISS will be Jeremy Hansen Other Canadian astronauts have also travelled to the Station on U.S. space shuttle missions and onboard Soyuz capsules: Chris Hadfield Julie Payette Dave Williams Steve MacLean Marc Garneau Guy Laliberte – Space Tourist Although it is too early to say, I believe there is a high probability the two new Alberta astronauts will first visit the ISS. Dr Jenni Sidey-Gibbons has a PhD in engineering focusing on combustion and flame propagation in microgravity. In the years ahead the ISS will continue to conduct research onboard the orbiting laboratory and study the effects of microgravity on the human body. We will also see an increase in space tourism and even a movie being filmed onboard the ISS with Tom Cruise. OSIRIS-REx Update – NASA News Release NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission performed an early stow of the large sample it collected from the surface of the asteroid Bennu to protect and return as much of the sample as possible back to Earth in 2023. On Oct. 22, the OSIRIS-REx mission team received images that showed the spacecraft’s collector head overflowing with material collected from Bennu’s surface -- well over the two-ounce (60-gram) mission requirement -- and that some of these particles appeared to be slowly escaping from the collection head, called the Touch-And-Go Sample Acquisition Mechanism (TAGSAM). The OSIRIS-REx spacecraft’s sample collection arm touched down on asteroid Bennu on October 20, collecting a sample of the regolith. The spacecraft safely stowed the sample in the Sample Return Cannister on October27. (NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona) A mylar flap on the TAGSAM allows material to easily enter the collector head and should seal shut once the particles pass through. However, larger rocks that didn’t fully pass through the flap into the TAGSAM appear to have wedged this flap open, allowing bits of the sample to leak out.