Ahead Of Shubhanshu Shukla's Homecoming, Space Experts Explain Undocking And Earth Re-Entry Process
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United News of India
an hour ago
- United News of India
Muscle, exercise studies to maintain crew health in Space
Chennai, July 17 (UNI) After the safe splashdown of four member AX-4 crew, including Indian astronaut Shubhansu Shukla, following their 18-day stay in the orbital platform, NASA today said maintaining muscles and monitoring astronaut health in space were the top research subjects aboard the International Space Station (ISS). The Expedition 73 crew also replaced critical life support hardware and serviced a variety of experimental gear. The lack of gravity weighing down on a human living in space contributes to muscle loss since it takes much less effort to move around in weightlessness. Spaceflight crews exercise daily for two hours to counteract space-caused muscle atrophy and bone loss to stay healthy in microgravity and remain in shape for the eventual return to Earth. Scientists are studying electrical muscle stimulation in combination with exercising in space to improve muscle function, reduce workout times, and design lighter exercise equipment. NASA Flight Engineers Nichole Ayers and Jonny Kim joined each other in the Columbus laboratory module on Wednesday for the muscle study that may benefit future long-duration space flights as well as patients on Earth with mobility issues. Ayers wore electrodes that sent electrical signals to her legs as Kim operated the biomedical equipment that also recorded how her muscles responded. Next, Ayers removed the electrodes then wore a sensor-packed headband and vest collecting her heart and breathing rate as she worked out on the advanced resistive exercise device that mimics free weights on Earth and then pedaled on an exercise cycle. Researchers will use the health data to continuously adjust crew exercise plans and improve aerobic and cardiovascular conditioning in microgravity. Ayers and Kim later assisted NASA Flight Engineer Anne McClain as she replaced a catalytic reactor in the Tranquility module. The catalytic reactor introduces oxygen into the station's water processor assembly and oxidizes organic material in the wastewater. Station Commander Takuya Onishi from JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) helped the trio conclude the maintenance work as he reinstalled hardware removed in Tranquility so the crew could access the advanced life support components. Onishi began his day in the Kibo laboratory module troubleshooting and inspecting combustion research hardware in the Multipurpose Small Payload Rack. Onishi then replaced a device, the Microgravity Measurement Apparatus, that measures the vibrations Kibo experiences due to astronaut activities and spacecraft dockings that may affect sensitive science experiments. Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Kirill Peskov also participated in an exercise study as they took turns jogging on the Zvezda service module's treadmill for a fitness evaluation. Doctors will use the data to determine a crew member's energy requirements to stay fit in space and ensure readiness for strenuous activities such as spacewalks and the return to Earth's gravity. Roscosmos Flight Engineer Alexey Zubritskiy started his shift cleaning ventilation systems and smoke detectors. He then trained to perform medical procedures on the orbital outpost including eye checks, needle injections, injury treatments, and more. The Progress 91 cargo craft docked to the rear port of Zvezda fired its engines for nearly 12 minutes on Wednesday. The reboost lifts the space station's orbit to the correct altitude for the approach and docking of the Progress 93 cargo craft planned for September. UNI GV 1755
Deccan Herald
an hour ago
- Deccan Herald
No immediate health concerns for Shubhanshu Shukla: ISRO
Shukla returned to earth on June 15 when the Dragon Grace spacecraft carrying him and three other astronauts of the Axiom-4 mission splashed down off San Diego coast in California.
Indian Express
2 hours ago
- Indian Express
NASA to launch sounding rocket to study sun's chromosphere
Solar physicists will make a new attempt to observe the chromosphere of the sun, which is the most dynamic region. NASA, along with a team of international solar physicists, will launch a sounding rocket experiment on July 18 from New Mexico. Reddish in colour, the chromosphere is a region sandwiched between the sun's atmosphere (the million-degree corona) and the photosphere (the sun's visible surface). It is in the chromosphere where the solar flares, hot plasma jets, and powerful energy fluxes originate. The temperature variations recorded along this region can vary between 6000 degrees Celsius and over a million degrees Celsius. The suborbital sounding rocket experiment will last under ten minutes. On board will be the Solar EruptioN Integral Field Spectrograph (SNIFS) – a solar gazing spectrograph. a solar-gazing spectrograph solar gazing spectrograph. 'SNIFS is a first-of-its-kind solar instrument and the first ultraviolet integral field spectrograph ever flown to study the Sun. It will observe a magnetically active region on the Sun and capture high-resolution spectroscopic data from both the chromosphere and the transition region — in real time,' Souvik Bose, co-investigator of the mission, told The Indian Express. The SNIFS stands out among the heliophysics missions to study the chromosphere, as scientists will now be able to obtain a full 2D field of view, along with being able to extract a complete spectrum for every pixel in that field, thus making it a 3D data set for each moment in time. SNIFS will target the hydrogen Lyman-alpha line — the brightest line in the solar ultraviolet spectrum and one of the most powerful diagnostics for upper chromospheric conditions. 'From this, we can calculate temperatures, velocities, and densities of the solar plasma,' Bose said and further added, 'It's a dynamic, complex interface through which nearly all the energy that ultimately heats the corona must pass.' So, if we want to solve the long-standing puzzle of why the solar corona is so hot, we must first understand what is happening in the chromosphere.' The instrument comprises a Gregorian-style reflecting telescope, combined with a spectrograph via a specialised mirrorlet array that will focus on the light from each spatial location in the image. This is so that it may be spectrally dispersed without overlap from neighbouring locations. Solar physicists have noted the several challenges in observing the chromosphere and why this belt has remained elusive from detailed studies so far. Due to its composition, which is ionised plasma (a mix of charged and neutral particles), it behaves very differently in the presence of magnetic fields, and secondly, it does not adhere to the assumptions of thermodynamic equilibrium. Modelling the chromosphere has been an uphill task. But it is only an improved understanding of the chromosphere which will help scientists better understand the solar corona. The chromosphere is cooler but denser than the corona. 'This means that the chromosphere rapidly loses energy and will need a continuous supply of energy in order to stay active. Only if there is an understanding of how this energy is supplied and dissipated will it help us piece together the larger story of how the solar corona is heated,' said Bose, who is currently a research scientist at the Lockheed Martin Solar & Astrophysics Lab in California. The main agencies involved in this mission are scientists from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, the University of Colorado and Queen's University Belfast, UK.
