Photo Credit: NASA/Shane Kimbrough
Like many of us, the astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) crave their morning coffee. Consequently, that’s one of the food treats, along with fresh citrus, apples, and cherry tomatoes that are aboard the SpaceX CRS-30 mission to the ISS scheduled for launch March 21 at 4:55 pm from Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
According to Heidi Parris, associate program scientist at NASA’s International Space Station Program Research Office, the Dragon spacecraft (the fourth flight of that named C-209) will carry 6000 pounds of the usual array of food, spare parts, sundry supplies, and science/technical investigations to the ISS.
Besides the human astronauts, did you know that there are three bees flying around the ISS? No, not the kind that sting, but rather “astrobees,” rough 2-foot free-flying robotic cubes that buzz around the ISS powered by electric motors. Honey, Bumble, and Queen have been ISS residents for about three years, completing over 100 activities, from tech demonstrations to assisting in experiments. The robots have proven capable of feats previously in the realm of science fiction, such as detecting an anomaly during a simulation on station and connecting autonomously with station subsystems.
CRS-30 cargo will include multi-resolution scanners (MRS) for the astrobees that will test technology to automate 3D sensing, mapping, and situational awareness systems. The technology combines multiple sensors, which compensates for weaknesses in any one of them and provides very high-resolution 3D data and more accurate trajectory data to understand how the robot moves around in space. Results could not only provide assistance in the harsh environments of space but also support improvements in robotic technologies for harsh and dangerous environments on Earth.
Although some unfavorable weather is headed for the Cape, Melody Lovin, launch weather officer, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s 45th Weather Squadron, forecasts that the weather conditions about the time of launch to be about 85% favorable. But on the next day, the launch back-up day, that drops down to only about 20% favorable.
A number of the investigations on this flight are time sensitive and either require power or refrigeration. Explained Parris, they will consequently not be loaded until about 24 hours prior to launch. These include a number of biological and medical experiments that will have a direct benefit to those of us here on Earth.
As background, it’s been nearly thirteen years since the Space Shuttle Program was retired in 2011, requiring the necessity to find other means to transport supplies and investigations to the International Space Station (ISS). Thus was borne NASA’s Commercial Resupply Services Initiative, uncrewed resupply not by NASA’s spacecraft per se, but rather by private American companies. The first operational resupply missions were flown by SpaceX in 2012 (SpaceX CRS-1) and Orbital Sciences in 2014 (Cygnus CRS Orb-1). Since then there have been 29 SpaceX missions using Dragon spacecraft (one, CRS-7 was lost), and 20 using the Cygnus spacecraft (one, CRS Orb-3 was lost). Northrup Grumman acquired Orbital Sciences in 2018.
The next commercial resupply mission by SpaceX, CRS-31, is tentatively scheduled for June 2024.
