If you think that the final mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope is going to be boring, you haven't seen this video yet. Not only the astronauts will be risking their lives as usual at 366 miles above the Earth, but the sheer amount and the difficulty of the tasks—from repairing components to replacing them to installing new gadgets—makes the mission an almost-impossible one, with soundtrack to match. I never imagined this was going to be such an ambitious and daunting work.

First, there's the pressure the astronauts are going to be facing. In addition to the stress of the spacewalks and the manual work in a weightless environment, they know this is not only the final mission, but also a single shot to service the mighty telescope. If some of the tasks are not completed, there's no way to return back another time and fix whatever is broken. The mission crew knows that Hubble is a vital instrument to science—one that keeps expanding our knowledge of the Universe, helping to answer the most crucial question Humanity has ever faced: where the hell do we come from?—and that the astronauts are men and women of science. And they are going to be the ones responsible for giving science this amazing tool for ten more years.

Then there's the time constrain: just eleven days. As John Grunsfeld—one of the mission astronauts with Andrew Feustel, Gregory Johnson, Megan McCarthur, Michael Good, Scott Altman, and Michael Massimino—puts it: "We got a lot of things we want to repair in Hubble and upgrade in Hubble, and not a lot of time to do it." During that short time, this is all the things they have to do:

Repairs

• Repair two failed instruments in space, which is the first time such a task is going to be attempted. This will be a test to see if Nasa can do this kind of tasks in future missions to the Moon and Mars. The repairs will require removing 110 (yes, a hundred and ten) little screws. While this seems easy, not only it will take a lot of time in zero gravity, but the screws, like any other floating debris, may become a big problem for the security of the astronauts up there.

• The first instrument to be repaired is the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS). It was installed in 2002, and then died after being the most used instrument in Hubble for years.

• Then they have to fix the Space Telescope Imagine Spectrograph (STIS). This is a black hole hunter which also did the first detection and chemical analysis of a planet orbiting another star.

New instruments

• They will install the fanciest, most advanced spectrograph in space: the Cosmic Origin Spectrograph.

• In addition to the COS, they are also going to install the Wield Field Camera 3. This new camera is ten times better than the current instrument, and will let us see into the past of the Universe deeper and farther than ever before.

Spacecraft service

• In addition to the pure science aspect of the mission, Nasa also wants to upgrade and fix the spacecraft itself, starting with the gyroscopes, which will be upgraded.

• They also are going to install a refurbished fine guidance sensor.

• The batteries are going to be replaced for the first time since Hubble went into space.

• A new outer blanket layer, this time a solid shield, will be put on top of the current blanket.

• Thermal insulation will be replaced on several bays of the telescope.

• A new capture instrument will be installed to recover the Hubble at the end of its life.

Seems like a lot to me, but maybe is the Jerry Bruckheimerish soundtrack that makes it all more exciting. The really exciting part however, if the mission is completely successful, is that Hubble will be better than ever, ready for action for the next ten years. What does this really mean? Awesome eye candy for the next decade. And maybe showing to us that the origin of the Big Bang is really a huge bowl full of Froot Loops that went horribly wrong during one of God's breakfast.

The rocket in the video is a Delta II launched by the USAF in 1997 to carry a 45 million dollar GPS Block IIR satellite to orbit. For sure, this Delta II variant is a much more powerful rocket than the 53-foot ATK Launch Vehicle X-1: At 127 feet, the Delta II 7925 is a 7000-Series (7) with nine boosters (9) and three stages—the second one a restartable Aerojet AJ10 engine (2) and the third one a payload assist module (encoded as 5 in the model number).

The first stage alone holds 10,000 gallons of fuel, so the mayhem that ensues after only 13 seconds of flight looks like a Jerry Bruckheimer wet dream. One that doesn't involve Bruce Willis. [IT Wire and Dark Roasted Blend, research Wikipedia and NASA]

Servicing Mission 4 astronaut Drew Feustel uses the "Pistol Grip Tool," a computer-controlled power tool, to install the Wide Field Camera 3 into a high-fidelity Hubble model. Just another day at the office.

Feustel gets all the fun gadgets, apparently. In this image he's practicing with one of the cameras for the mission. It's certainly no Nikon D90, but—what am I saying. This thing is one of the most advanced pieces of gear in the solar system. It's Labor Day today. I need this thing for a barbecue. [NASA images via The Big Picture]

The ISS doesn't have a full-time net connection, but astronauts can send email periodically through the Ku-band main data link. NASA reassures us that any virus found on an astronaut's laptop has little chance of compromising any of the station's main systems. But it did manage to spread to more than one laptop once onboard the station, either via machine-to-machine networks or thumb drives—so it's not a crazy assumption to make.

NASA further downplayed the story to the folks at Threat Level, saying this kind of thing happens "all the time." But still, whoever the fuck-up is that wrote this virus is now collecting massive, massive LOLZ in whichever basement he is currently calling home. [BBC, Threat Level via Slashdot]

He concludes from the experiments that it should work really well as a fire retardant or insulation, as well as pulling moisture out of pretty much anything (including his finger!). Aerogel weighs only three times as much as air, but is even more effective than your everyday pink insulation. It may only be the world's coolest insulation material, but are you the world's coolest anything? Didn't think so. [Jason Wells via Crunchgear]

The article 14 of the ISS agreement says: "The Space Station together with its additions of evolutionary capability will remain a civil station, and its operation and utilization will be for peaceful purposes, in accordance with international law."

According to Russia, the photos were taken to "support potential humanitarian activities in the area, including serious water resource management issues" as part of the Russian "Uragan" project, which studies glaciers and water sources in the country. However, I don't remember all those tanks with reactive armor participating in any humanitarian activities in the area two days after the invasion, the day the photos were taken.

The whole thing smells quite fishy, but apparently NASA has preferred to avoid confrontation and not investigate the matter. Put your conspiracy hats on and give us your explanation in the comments. [Aviation Week]

Lunch went well...

I could easily have downed two packages of the shrimp cocktail, long an astronaut favorite. The six medium-size orange shrimp were just a touch chewy after their slapdash, 10-minute water bath, but they looked and smelled like what you get at the supermarket. NASA’s cocktail sauce is spiked with plenty of horseradish and salt. If anything can revive tired taste buds in space, this dish is it. I chased it with a pouch of powdered mango-orange drink. The lush but tangy mango flavor juiced up the orange’s sweetness, and the mango aroma was pronounced. It was delicious.

Breakfast, on the other hand...

The food scientists had also sent two breakfast items, freeze-dried “Mexican” eggs and a sausage patty. The eggs, colored a bright buttercup yellow, were bouncy and broke down into small, dry curds. Flavorwise they were like a reluctant suitor, vaguely sweet but unwilling to make the full taste commitment. Hot sauce, ketchup even, would work wonders here. Nothing, however, could have saved the sausage patty.

There's lots more foodie space fun where this came from, so hit the link for the complete article. It's a fun, quick and educational read. [Discover]

Says the ESA:

Open invitation for image feedback:: You can assist the Mars Express team with additional processing of the raw image data files as well as interpretation: What do you see? What part of the Mars surface is being shown? Can you identify any geographical features? What regions of the atmosphere or atmospheric components do you see?

Keep in mind these images are what they're calling "tourist quality" (i.e. non-scientific), so they aren't going to be used in any major studies or experiments anytime soon. They are, however, perfect for Mars enthusiasts and weather-watchers. And who knows, maybe you'll be lucky enough to use this web cam to spot a careless Martian doing something they can't take back. Interstellar YouTube video? WIN. [ESA via Discover Magazine]

The $800 million telescope, which was named after the first man to propose putting telescopes in space, Dr. Lyman Spitzer Jr., launched on August 25 2003 from Florida's Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Its mission will conclude when its onboard helium supply is exhausted—estimates from 2007 put that date at April 2009. So happy birthday, Spitzer Space Telescope! May you continue to provide us with awesome pictures for the last leg of your journey! [Cosmiclog]

Here, the initial chutes that position the craft for the main chutes' test (so, not a part of the final system) failed shortly after being dropped from a C-17 cargo plane at 25,000 feet. As you can see, it all goes downhill from there, terminating in "a landing that severely damaged the test mock-up." Well said, NASA—I'm guessing any test dummies inside for pressure measurements had to be scraped off the desert floor with a knife. [NASA - Thanks Travis!]

I feel tiny.

For a project that has been dying for the last few years, this telescope keeps being one of the most successful NASA projects in history. Let's hope the James Webb works as well. [NASA]

GSE Katana DA-20 Plane With Omnivore Biodiesel Engine

Awards Won: None

This modded Diamond Katana DA-20 plane was probably the most innovative and exciting plane in the challenge with its biodiesel capability, but due to a faulty inlet sensor, it was unable to compete. Designed by Greg and Geoff Stevenson and their aircraft engine company, GSE, the Omnivore only relies on biodiesel for auxiliary power during takeoff and landing. But the plan is to get it FAA certified step-by-step so that it relies more on the eco-friendly fuel. The engine also has an electric motor and fuel injection to help make the craft quieter and more fuel efficient. It was expected to win the Green Prize handily, which would have been awarded to any plane averaging over 30 mpg for the race, but none of the others could meet that requirement.

Pipistrel Virus

Awards Won: Safety Prize, Shortest Takeoff Distance, Quietest Cabin Noise, 400 Mile Race Winner, Best Angle of Climb

The Pipistrel Virus took home more awards than any other craft, but the team was still disappointed with their results, as it had performed better in some categories last year. The $100k craft has a constant propeller speed switch that helps with fuel efficiency (28.8 MPG for the competition), as well as heavy sound dampening where it tied the Lambada motoglider for lowest cabin noise at 91.5 db. The plane flew 145 miles per hour, and only required 924 feet for takeoff.

Pipistrel even flew out a team of engineers from Slovenia to install a new engine that was supposed to improve power and mileage, but it didn't quite work out. What did work out was the super high-tech dashboard, normally found in much more expensive planes, with the aforementioned three GPS modules and a panel that can take map data and can digitally recreate the surrounding geography when visibility is poor.

UFM-13 Lambada

Awards Won: Lowest Community Noise, Quietest LSA, Lowest Cabin Noise

Running as quietly as a pickup truck, the sexily named UFM-13 Lambada motoglider took home prizes for having the lowest community noise, at 62dB. According to team leader John Dunham, the plane would have also won the Best Glide Ratio award—this measures the amount a plane can move forward once it cuts power and eases back towards the ground, and the UFM-13 is apparently able to glide at a similar rate as a feather—but miscalculations due to human error prevented that from happening. Few mods were made to the plane itself, other than noise dampening measures. For the challenge, it managed to fly 130 mph, averaged 26.5 mpg and required 1011 feet for takeoff.

Flight Design CT

Awards Won: Best Glide Ratio

Spearheaded by freelance aircraft mechanic Bob Bashim, this Flight Design CT didn't have the resources of some of the other teams, but managed to snag the Best Glide Ratio prize. Bashim had some neat ideas to reduce noise and fuel consumption, including the use of a motorcycle muffler on his plane. Other measures taken for the challenge include adding noise dampening panels around the engine, and removing all unnecessary weight around the plane.

— — —

Though most of the participants started working on this only 6 weeks ago, they are already looking forward to next year, with more time to work on their planes. Pipistrel's team in particular is interested in the idea of shorter takeoff lengths, where people could have their own runways, and wouldn't have to use a regional airport to hit the skies. For more information on the challenge, check out the homepage of the [CAFE Foundation].

During the development and early testing of the smaller Ares I rocket, there've been fears that uneven fuel burning in the motor could lead to high-g shaking when in flight. If the shaking builds to a high enough intensity, it could be deadly to both the crew and vehicle.

So Ares Is will have an adaptive damping system built into the rocket base: essentially spring-mounted weights, with smart springs that can be adjusted so the system compensates for severe vibrations—a little like some anti-earthquake systems employed in modern buildings.

Apparently the design team has enough margin in the power-weight ratio of the rocket's current configuration to accommodate the extra safety equipment. "I'm comfortable that they'll be able to absorb the mass impact that these things imply, with no problem," said the Constellation program manager. Though whether or not this adds more delays to the development of the rockets remains to be seen. [New Scientist]

It's a little puzzling as to how something like this could find its way to a derelict desert in the middle of nowhere, but with NASA's budgetary fluctuations, I guess sometimes you have to rip and run. The whole thing has a definite abandoned-seconds-before-the-apocalypse kind of vibe.

If anyone has any idea what kind of machines we're seeing here, fill me in. More pics: [Richard Harrington via FFFFOUND]

So what, exactly, is a plasma rocket?

Rather than heating chemicals and directing the resulting gases through high-temperature metal nozzles, VASIMR uses radio waves to create and speed up free-flying, electrically charged particles known as plasma. The concoction is then herded through nozzles made of magnetic fields, not metals like traditional rocket engines.

Designed by a former astronaut who's flown in the shuttle seven times, the plasma rocket will use solar power to produce energy to convert into radio waves. This makes it reusable, and the plan is to have it haul things from low-Earth orbit to low-Lunar orbit, a trip that would take about six months to haul one ton of equipment, and it could be reused six or more times.

They hope to launch the engine up to space in 2011 or 2012. And while this engine isn't going to be suitable for transporting people, NASA is already thinking about the next generation of this design: one powered by a nuclear reactor, cutting the trip time down from nine months to 39 days. Awesome. [New Launches via Discovery News]

[Sub-Zero via BKDI]

The team has also decided to extend the mission to the end of the fiscal year to September 30, to a full 126 martian Sols (was scheduled for 90 sols initially) at the cost of another $2 million. A new full-color, 360° panorama should hit the web soon as well, and they've just started work on an even larger one that will be almost a gigabyte in size and will take 100 satellite passes to download.

Here's the panorama:

Click for the full version (it's a delicious 11MB).

Keeping with the fairytale theme, the ice sample came from the "Dodo Goldilocks" trench you can see here in this shot of the robot arm's workspace. The two trenches outlined in yellow will be new trenches dug as part of the mission's extension.

[NASA]

One way to preserve the Phoenix workers' sanity are the harsh blue LED-lit workstations you see here, which are on a wavelength that simulates daylight and fools the body into thinking everything's OK. Researchers from the Harvard Medical School who are using the Mars Phoenix staff as guinea pigs for a study on Circadian rhythms also have them doing pre- and post-shift cognition and "mood" testing.

So if any of this crazy scheduling rings a bell with your terrestrial gig, do yourself right and get a nice big glaring blue LED panel for your cube. You'll feel a lot better. [Space.com]

First of all, understand that Schweickart loves NASA. The agency put him in orbit around Earth, after all, but he believes its cash-strapped later years might have led the agency—under immense pressure from Washington—to endorse a program with an ulterior motive: put nuclear weapons in space.

To remedy that situation, Schweickart's group, the B612 Foundation, intends to "use gentler tactics" to observe and eventually deflect asteroids. It's totally make love, not intergalactic war, man.

These new methods include using more powerful telescopes as they come online throughout this century to ID targets ASAP, as well as unmanned spacecraft and probes. Most asteroids could be redirected easily by rear-ending or towing them with these craft, Schweickart said.

In his lecture Schweickart compared Earth's citizens to a blindfolded hitter in a batting cage. We know the pain is coming, but we have no way of knowing when. One day we will, and people like Schweickart hope we'll be ready to react with the most effective means possible. According to him, that means no nukes. Will Smith and Jeff Goldblum will simply have to find another way to kill the aliens. [Wired]

"Explosions of magnetic energy a third of the way to the moon," says NASA, "power substorms that cause sudden brightenings and rapid movements of the aurora borealis...We discovered what makes the Northern Lights dance." The process is called magnetic reconnection (check back to that incredible video of visible magnetic field lines for a general idea) and when we're talking about the fields generated by the whole Earth, it involves a lot of energy. When the fields snap around like rubber bands, charged particles collide with atmospheric gasses and release visible light energy, and boom, aurora borealis:

The THEMIS crafts' mission is to study these explosions of magnetic energy, called substorms, and learn how they affect the Earth. PS: It's solar wind day here on Giz.

The release:

NASA Satellites Discover What Powers Northern Lights

GREENBELT, Md. — Researchers using a fleet of five NASA satellites have discovered that explosions of magnetic energy a third of the way to the moon power substorms that cause sudden brightenings and rapid movements of the aurora borealis, called the Northern Lights.
The culprit turns out to be magnetic reconnection, a common process that occurs throughout the universe when stressed magnetic field lines suddenly snap to a new shape, like a rubber band that's been stretched too far.

"We discovered what makes the Northern Lights dance," said Dr. Vassilis Angelopoulos of the University of California, Los Angeles. Angelopoulos is the principal investigator for the Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms mission, or THEMIS.

Substorms produce dynamic changes in the auroral displays seen near Earth's northern and southern magnetic poles, causing a burst of light and movement in the Northern and Southern Lights.

Substorms often accompany intense space storms that can disrupt radio communications and global positioning system signals and cause power outages. Solving the mystery of where, when, and how substorms occur will allow scientists to construct more realistic substorm models and better predict a magnetic storm's intensity and effects.

"As they capture and store energy from the solar wind, the Earth's magnetic field lines stretch far out into space. Magnetic reconnection releases the energy stored within these stretched magnetic field lines, flinging charged particles back toward the Earth's atmosphere," said David Sibeck, THEMIS project scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. "They create halos of shimmering aurora circling the northern and southern poles."

Scientists directly observe the beginning of substorms using five THEMIS satellites and a network of 20 ground observatories located throughout Canada and Alaska. Launched in February 2007, the five identical satellites line up once every four days along the equator and take observations synchronized with the ground observatories. Each ground station uses a magnetometer and a camera pointed upward to determine where and when an auroral substorm will begin. Instruments measure the auroral light from particles flowing along Earth's magnetic field and the electrical currents these particles generate.

During each alignment, the satellites capture data that allow scientists to precisely pinpoint where, when, and how substorms measured on the ground develop in space. On Feb. 26, 2008, during one such THEMIS lineup, the satellites observed an isolated substorm begin in space, while the ground-based observatories recorded the intense auroral brightening and space currents over North America.

These observations confirm for the first time that magnetic reconnection triggers the onset of substorms. The discovery supports the reconnection model of substorms, which asserts a substorm starting to occur follows a particular pattern. This pattern consists of a period of reconnection, followed by rapid auroral brightening and rapid expansion of the aurora toward the poles. This culminates in a redistribution of the electrical currents flowing in space around Earth.

THEMIS is the fifth medium-class mission under NASA's Explorer Program. The program, managed by the Explorers Program Office at Goddard provides frequent flight opportunities for world-class space investigations in heliophysics and astrophysics. The University of California, Berkeley's Space Sciences Laboratory in Berkeley, Calif., managed the project development and is currently operating the THEMIS mission. ATK Space (formerly Swales Aerospace) of Beltsville, Md., built the THEMIS satellites.

The THEMIS team's findings will appear online July 24 in Science Express and Aug. 14 in the journal science. For more information about the THEMIS mission, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/themis

It is hoped that sails many times larger (we're talking football fields) will eventually propel long-range missions into deep space, with the help of lasers here on Earth firing light into their sails. The NanoSail-D is sticking in near-Earth orbit to perform its tests, which will inform later uses of the tech.

One caveat is that the launch is scheduled for July 29 aboard a SpaceX Falcon 1 rocket, which like to go ka-boom and have yet to deliver a payload into orbit successfully. Our fingers are crossed for the little sailor. [Technology Review]

The base would be delivered by the Ares V rocket, due to be deployed in the next decade, and would automatically deploy when it lands. It could house up to four people for a period of up to six months. So technically it wouldn't be a permanent base, but it could act as a home for long enough to do a serious amount of research or to go nice and space crazy, as we all know is inevitable. Looks pretty cool to us. [Archietecture and Vision via io9]

Li explained how the system will work: images taken from orbit will combine with images from the surface to create maps of lunar terrain; motion sensors on lunar vehicles and on the astronauts themselves will allow computers to calculate their locations; signals from lunar beacons, the lunar lander, and base stations will give astronauts a picture of their surroundings similar to what drivers see when using a GPS device on Earth. The researchers have named the entire system the Lunar Astronaut Spatial Orientation and Information System (LASOIS)

NASA has awarded Li a $1.2 million grant to develop the LASOIS system over the next three years. He hopes that it will help the astronauts explore the lunar surface with a greater degree of confidence and avoid the stress that comes with getting lost. After all, losing your bearings on the moon is a far cry from taking the wrong exit on the highway. [Physorg]

Statement on Inaccurate Reports About Japanese Cargo Services

WASHINGTON — Contrary to news reports, NASA has not officially or unofficially been discussing the purchase of H-II Transfer Vehicles (HTV) — uninhabited resupply cargo ships for the space station — from the Japanese Space Agency, or JAXA.

NASA is committed to domestic commercial cargo resupply to the space station and does not plan to procure cargo delivery services from Japan. As part of our original agreements as compensation for common system operating costs NASA has limited cargo capability on the Japanese and European cargo vehicles. NASA has recently issued a request for proposal for the cargo needs of International Space Station beyond those supplied by our current international agreements. NASA has chosen to depend on commercial resupply of cargo delivery to the station.

[Reuters]

The iShoe actually began life as an experiment Lieberman conducted as an intern at NASA. Astronauts routinely return home with a host of balance issues thanks to the weightlessness of space, so Lieberman and the rest of the iShoe team created a new algorithm that was capable of looking at the pressure distribution of proprioceptors on the feet and analyze what that data meant. Proprioceptors, in case you didn't know, are sensory receptors which tell your brain where body parts are in relation to other body parts and the objects around you.

It took a family emergency to show Lieberman that the iShoe had ramifications beyond just a few drunken astronauts. When Lieberman's grandmother had a bad fall, he knew the tech could be used as a "balance diagnostic" to help doctors and their patients prevent falls before they occurred. The device's super-sensitive insole would measure the pressure of the foot and report data to the doctor, and in extreme cases an alarm would alert family or care givers to a fall. "Help, I've fallen and I can't get up," would be quickly replaced with "Hey, I can walk just fine! Get off my damn lawn." [MIT]

The quality isn't the best, but it doesn't need to be; it's still absolutely breathtaking. This is an alien's-eye view, my friends, seen for the very first time. Amazing. [Bad Astronomy via Neatorama]

The Jupiter design would require two separate launches to get to the moon (one with payload, one with astronauts), but both rockets would utilize the old shuttle fuel tank at the core. Its backers claim that it could save NASA $19 billion in development costs and another $16 billion in operating costs over two decades. However, NASA formally reviewed the plans last fall and determined that the design was not feasible—a claim that some are disputing. At least one engineer and former NASA contractor has come forward saying that he believes NASA is suppressing information that Jupiter would perform better than Ares. As a result, he is calling for an independent review—something that he is not likely to get when you consider how far along NASA is with the Ares project. [Space via DVICE]

The researchers need this massive amount to try to figure out what to do with all the urine the Orion astronauts will produce over the course of their missions on the lunar surface, which could last as long as six months. Urine is full of solid particles that tend to clog waste venting systems, making it a challenge to dispose of efficiently. And as Jeff Lewis, head of life support for the Orion craft told the AP, "you can't make fake urine." Here's the full email in all its glory:

Sent: Friday, July 11, 2008 3:00 PM

Subject: Urine Collection Study Donor Request

Who: All Houston-SLS Associates, employees at 2200 Space Park, and any visitors to the building

What: Please donate your urine to our study

When: Monday, July 21 - Thursday, July 31 from 6 a.m. until goal amount is collected each day including weekends

Where: First floor lab Kick-off Meeting: Thursday, July 17 11-11:30 am in the first floor conference room

SLS-Houston Associates,

The Orion Program will be holding a urine collection study starting Monday, July 21 and running through Thursday, July 31, 2008. We are looking for donors as we need to collect a large amount of urine per day for the entire 11 day period. Please contact [deleted] at [deleted]@hs.utc.com to express interest in donating or to get answers to any questions you have regarding the study.

We will be hosting an informational meeting with encouraged attendance for potential urine donors from 11-11:30 a.m. Thursday, July 17, 2008 in the first floor conference room. In this meeting we will go over instructions and guidelines for the study and introduce volunteers to the equipment that will be used in the study. If you are unable to attend this meeting due to scheduling conflicts, we can set up another time to clarify the study operations on an individual basis.

Please see the attached Donor Guide for further information on donating.

Urine Collection - Donor Guide

General Guidelines

1. Do not add urine to the collection that was collected more than 1 hour before addition. This is necessary so that urine is exposed to the pretreatment chemical in a timely manner.

2. Do not add urine with blood in it into the system. This is an issue of personnel safety.

3. Some previous tests have limited donation size to 350mL per donation. While this is not a regulation of our testing, you are not encouraged to over-hydrate as this could dilute the urine we collect.

4. Our test is meant to be as flight-like as possible. This means that unlike in the doctor's office, you do not need to worry about starting collection midstream. Our testing will be more accurate if you collect as much of the entire urination as possible including the beginning.

Procedure for donation

1. Donation

1. At work

1. Take a wide mouthed beaker to the bathroom to collect your urine. You may pick up a beaker from the first floor lab in advance.

2. Fill the beaker and take it to the first floor lab to pour it into the collection.

3. Fill out the donation sheet as instructed in step 2.

2. At home

1. If you are collecting urine at home in the morning before coming in to work, remember to take collection beakers and labels home with you. You are welcome to take both a wide mouthed beaker for collection and bottle with a lid for transport. Record the volume of your sample before transferring as the bottles with lids are not marked with volumetric measurements.

2. Once you put the urine into the bottle with a lid, fill out a label or a piece of masking tape with the time of collection and sample volume and stick it on the bottle.

3. Urine older than 1 hour cannot be put into the system, so please keep that in mind when collecting urine at home. We suggest that morning urine be collected at home but not nighttime urine.

2. Fill out the donation sheet with the following information:
1. Time of sample collection
2. Time of addition to the system
3. Volume

1. Measure donation volume while it is in the wide mouthed beaker, before pouring it into the bottle with a lid

4. Your donor number
1. A donor number will be assigned to you so that we can keep track of donations without listing names

[NASA Watch via AP]

Dr Jason Kring, from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Florida, is pressing Nasa to investigate sex in space, and possibly even zero-g pregnancy. Apparently there are potential issues like excessive sweating and low blood-pressure effects that might affect zero-g sex, as well as potential difficulties with the pill (like some other medications) which may not work as well in space.

He's also arguing for private spaces to be planned into crew quarters on the next Moon missions. Like drinking and eating, he points out that sex is a basic human function and "It doesn’t make sense to assume that these men and women are going to have no thoughts of it for three years." That's an approximate timescale for a round-trip mission to Mars.

His suggestion, in an upcoming Nasa publication is that, like polar explorers, crew members should take a colleague as a temporary lover. Can you predict Nasa's fun-killing response? "We don't study sexuality in space." [The Telegraph]

The maps are especially important as floating wind farms become more technologically possible. Ocean wind farms have less environmental impact than onshore wind farms and also tend to be more efficient, since winds are stronger over the water and there are no hills or mountains to block a heavy gust's path. Placed in the correct areas, the farms could harvest up to 500 to 800 watts of wind power per square meter.

One area with extremely high winds is located off the coast of Northern California near Cape Mendocino, where northernly zephyrs are deflected to create a local wind jet that blows year-round. Similarly, Tasmania in New Zealand and Tierra del Fuego in South America have the potential to utilize similar jets. [NASA via Treehugger]

SHUTTLE FLIGHTS IN 2009

Feb. 12 — Discovery (STS-119 / 15A) will kick off a five-flight 2009 with its 36th mission to deliver the final pair of U.S. solar arrays to be installed on the starboard end of the station's truss. The truss serves as the backbone support for external equipment and spare components, including the Mobile Base System. Lee Archambault will command the 14-day flight that will include four planned spacewalks. Joining him will be pilot Tony Antonelli and mission specialists John Phillips, Steve Swanson, Joseph Acaba, Richard Arnold and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Koichi Wakata. Wakata will replace Sandy Magnus on the station as a flight engineer. STS-119 marks the 28th shuttle flight to the station.

May 15 — Endeavour (STS-127 / 2JA) sets sail on its 23rd mission with the Japanese Kibo Laboratory's Exposed Facility and Experiment Logistics Module Exposed Section, the final permanent components of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s contribution to the station program. During the 15-day mission, Endeavour's crew will perform five spacewalks and deliver six new batteries for the P6 truss, a spare drive unit for the Mobile Transporter and a spare boom assembly for the Ku-band antenna. Mark Polansky will be Endeavour's commander with Doug Hurley as pilot. Mission specialists will be Christopher Cassidy, Tom Marshburn, Dave Wolf, Tim Kopra and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Julie Payette. Kopra will become a station flight engineer replacing Koichi Wakata, who will return home with the STS-127 crew. It will be the 29th shuttle flight to the station.

July 30 — Atlantis (STS-128 / 17A) launches on its 31st flight, an 11-day mission carrying science and storage racks to the station. In the payload bay will be a Multi-Purpose Logistics Module holding science and storage racks. Three spacewalks are planned to remove and replace a materials processing experiment outside the European Space Agency's Columbus module and return an empty ammonia tank assembly. The mission includes the rotation of astronaut Nicole Stott for Tim Kopra, who will return to Earth with the shuttle crew. The remaining crew members have yet to be named. STS-128 marks the 30th shuttle flight dedicated to station assembly and outfitting.

Oct. 15 — Discovery's (STS-129 / ULF-3) 37th mission will focus on staging spare components outside the station. The 15-day flight includes at least three spacewalks. The payload bay will carry two large External Logistics Carriers holding two spare gyroscopes, two nitrogen tank assemblies, two pump modules, an ammonia tank assembly, a spare latching end effector for the station's robotic arm, a spare trailing umbilical system for the Mobile Transporter and a high-pressure gas tank. Canadian Space Agency astronaut Bob Thirsk will return home aboard Discovery with its crew, which has yet to be named. STS-129 marks the 31st shuttle mission devoted to station assembly.

Dec. 10 — Endeavour (STS-130 / 20A) will close 2009 with its 24th mission to deliver the final connecting node, Node 3, and the Cupola, a robotic control station with six windows around its sides and another in the center that provides a 360-degree view around the station. At least three spacewalks are planned during the 11-day mission. The 32nd station assembly mission by a shuttle does not yet have a crew named.

SHUTTLE FLIGHTS IN 2010

Feb. 11 — Atlantis (STS-131 / 19A) begins its 32nd mission as the first flight in 2010, carrying a Multi-Purpose Logistics Module filled with science racks that will be transferred to laboratories of the station. The 11-day mission will include at least three spacewalks to attach a spare ammonia tank assembly outside the station and return a European experiment that has been outside the Columbus module. It will be the 33rd shuttle mission to the station. The crew has yet to be named.

April 8 — Discovery's (STS-132 / ULF-4) 38th mission will carry an integrated cargo carrier to deliver maintenance and assembly hardware, including spare parts for space station systems. In addition, the second in a series of new pressurized components for Russia, a Mini Research Module, will be permanently attached to the bottom port of the Zarya module. The Russian module also will carry U.S. pressurized cargo. The first Russian Mini Research Module to go to the station is scheduled to launch on a Russian rocket in the summer of 2009.

Additionally, at least three spacewalks are planned to stage spare components outside the station, including six spare batteries, a boom assembly for the Ku-band antenna and spares for the Canadian Dextre robotic arm extension. A radiator, airlock and European robotic arm for the Russian Multi-purpose Laboratory Module also are payloads on the flight. The laboratory module is scheduled for launch on a Russian rocket in 2011. The mission marks the 34th mission to the station. The STS-132 crew has yet to be named.

May 31 — Endeavour's (STS-133 / ULF-5) 25th mission will carry critical spare components that will be placed on the outside of the station. Those will include two S-band communications antennas, a high-pressure gas tank, additional spare parts for Dextre and micrometeoroid debris shields. At least three spacewalks are planned to be carried out by the crew, which has yet to be named. The 15-day mission will be the 35th to the station.

[NASA]