Actividades do dia na ISS – 18 a 24 de Agosto de 2011

Aproveito para agradecer este post, pois tem uma grande quantidade de informação muito recente, e que me foi bastante útil.

Penso que é importante mantermo-nos actualizados. Ao longo dos anos, vamos vendo como as coisas se repetem, (ou não) e começamos a notar inúmeros padrões curiosos, e por isso é importante preservar (e analizar) “oceanos” de registos minuciosos.

Ainda não vi tudo, mas há uma referência no primeiro video a uma experiência sobre coloides http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colloid / http://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coloide que está em curso neste momento.

Em 1998, a experiência comercial que voou no STS-95 e em que estive envolvido na preparação e na recolha das amostras, nas instalações da NASA no KSC foi de um tipo de Coloide, que se denomina Emulsão (Portuguese Migrogravity Emulsion Experiment) http://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emuls%C3%A3o / http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emulsion

Um aspecto é a monitorização das vibrações na ISS:

The data collected from Preliminary Advanced Colloids Experiment (PACE) ensures and optimizes the success of the Advanced Colloids Experiment (ACE). PACE determines which Light Microscopy Module (LMM) magnifications are usable before external vibrations blur the images.

Both air and oil immersion microscope objectives (at 50x, 63x, and 100x magnifications) are used along with a microscope test target.

The test target is used to resolve target images at different magnifications while operating with the vibrations that exist in an International Space Station (ISS) environment.

Fonte: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/PACE.html

Em particular, há uma referência á utilização de uma “Glovebox” que é uma ferramenta destinada a ser operada por astronautas, e que requer muito treino no solo.

Ver este link: http://www.esa.int/esaHS/ESAJVYG18ZC_iss_0.html

Conhecem alguem com interesse ou actividade nestas áreas?

Este assunto interessa-me: “Influence of Vibrations on Diffusion in Liquids”

Recomendo este link: http://www.esa.int/esaMI/Columbus/SEMHM2WO1FG_0.html

Microgravity Science Glovebox and SODI experiments

ESA’s SODI–Colloid experiment, which was delivered to the ISS on Progress 39P in September has been continuing in the Microgravity Science Glovebox and has so far undertaken an extensive number of successful experiment runs. On 27 September accumulated science data was downlinked for analysis. The facility was powered down for the weekend on 1 October and Colloid was restarted on 4 October. Following a debris inspection on 6 October, the SODI-Colloid hardware was dismantled and stowed.

The Colloid experiment covers the study on growth and properties of advanced photonic materials within colloidal solutions. The focus is on materials that have a special interest in photonics, with emphasis on nano-structured, periodic dielectric materials, known as photonic crystals, which possess appealing properties and make them promising candidates for new types of optical components.

Colloid is the second in the series of three SODI experiments. The first SODI experiment performed in the Microgravity Science Glovebox was IVIDIL (Influence of Vibrations on Diffusion in Liquids), which was successfully completed on 20 January.

The subsequent DSC experiment (‘Diffusion and Soret Coefficient Measurements for Improvement of Oil Recovery’) will now be the third and final SODI experiment processed in the Microgravity Science Glovebox which is now tentatively foreseen around mid 2011. The DSC cells, which originally arrived at the ISS on Progress 36P on 5 February, were returned on STS-131 Shuttle Discovery for re-filling due to SODI avionics failure and rescheduling of the experiment series.

The Microgravity Science Glovebox was developed by ESA within a barter agreement with NASA.

The Glovebox provides the ability to perform a wide range of experiments in the fields of material science, biotechnology, fluid science, combustion science and crystal growth research, in a fully sealed and controlled environment.