Canadian microgravity sciences program - The International Space Station era

The H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV), which is a Japanese unmanned cargo transfer spacecraft, will deliver supplies to the International Space Station (ISS). The first HTV will be launched in 2009 from the Tanegashima Space Center aboard an H-IIB launch vehicle with up to 6,000kg of supplies. HTV approaches to the ISS and the Space Station Remote Manipulator System (SSRMS), known as Canadarm2, will grapple the HTV and berth it to the ISS. After the supplies, the HTV will then be loaded with waste materials and then separated from the ISS by SSRMS. HTV conducts departure sequence from ISS after release from SSRMS and reentry to the atmosphere. In this paper, technology of HTV automated Guidance, Navigation and Control (GN&C) system is presented.

Singularity analysis of the Canadarm2

Lessons learned from the STS-120/ISS 10A robotics operations

ADVANCED CONTROL SYSTEM FEATURES OF THE SPACE STATION REMOTE MANIPULATOR SYSTEM

Neptec Design Group has developed the Laser Camera System (LCS), a three-dimensional auto-synchronized laser scanner based on a principle originating from the National Research Council of Canada. In imaging mode, the LCS raster scans objects and captures reflections from their surface features. In centroid acquisition mode, the LCS determines the position of discrete target points on an object. Neptec Design Group first developed the LCS for space applications. In August 2001, the LCS flew successfully onboard space shuttle Discovery during mission STS-105 to the International Space Station (ISS). During the mission, the LCS took four high-resolution (1024 × 1024 voxels) images of elements of the ISS during orbital day and night, demonstrating its immunity to dynamic lighting conditions. The LCS also tracked targets affixed to the Multi-Purpose Logistics Module (MPLM) while in motion, more than 10 m away. Comparison with Space Station Remote Manipulator System (SSRMS) data confirmed that the LCS tracked these targets with millimetre precision. continued on page 116

This chapter describes the establishment process, purpose of establishment, mission, exploration plan, activities of the European Space Agency (ESA) and International Space Station (ISS), and an explanation of the contents of the treaty that is legal basis for its establishment. The European Space Agency (ESA) is an intergovernmental organization of 22 member states dedicated to the exploration of space. Established in 1975 and headquartered in Paris, France, ESA has a worldwide staff of about 2,200 in 2018 and an annual budget of about € 6.68 billion (US $ 7.43 billion) in 2020. ESA also works closely with space organizations outside Europe. ESA has missions planned for Jupiter (JUICE, 2022) and others that will seek dark matter (Euclid, 2020) and observe the energetic universe (Athena, 2028). The International Space Station (ISS) is a space station (habitable artificial satellite) in low Earth orbit. The ISS programme is a joint project between five participating space agencies: NASA (United States), Roscomos (Russia), JAXA (Japan), ESA (Europe), and CSA (Canada).

Robotic manipulators in space: A dynamics and control perspective

The rendezvous and proximity operations of the European Columbus Free Flyer with the International Space Station Freedom are safety critical, as a collision of the two spacecrafts would endanger the space station crew. According to the Columbus System Requirements Document any possibility of collision shall be avoided. In addition, a Abort Function shall be implemented which provides a supplementary two failure tolerant capability to safely abort rendezvous operations, and a special Red Button capability shall be provided which enables the space station crew to abort the rendezvous at their discretion. This paper describes the rendezvous safety concept and how it will be implemented in the Guidance, Navigation and Control subsystem of the Columbus Free Flyer. The selected Safe Trajectory principle takes benefit of the orbit dynamics. All flight operations in the vicinity of the space station Freedom are performed such that at any time propulsion can be shut off resulting in a free drift trajectory which does not intercept the Freedom flight path. Fig. 1: Columbus Free Flyer For this purpose each, the Free Flyer and the freeflying Resource Module, will have to perform an active rendezvous with the space station. The rendezvous and proximity operations wil be implemented as automatic sequences to be executed under supervision of the Freedom crew who has an override and abort capability. Introduction The European Columbus programme consists of three components: a free-flying laboratory for microgravity experiments, an attached laboratory being part of the International Space Station Freedom, and a polar platform for earth observations. The Columbus Free Flyer is scheduled to be launched in late 1998 by the European Ariane 5 launcher. As shown in fig. 1, the Free Flyer is composed of a Resource Module and a Pressurized Module. Servicing of the Free Flyer will be performed every 180 days by the European spaceplane Hermes. Every five years the Columbus Free Flyer will visit the International Space Station Freedom for Resource Module exchange. Rendezvous Scenario The nominal rendezvous scenario is illustrated in fig. 2. It starts at a point denoted by S1 and located 37 km behind and 1.5 km below the space station. It ends with successful grappling by the Space Station Remote Manipulator System (SSRMS) at a point denoted by S5. The approach consists of three major subphases: Copyright

Advanced Control System Features of the Space Station Remote Manipulator System

Network structures created by hydroxycinnamate cross-links within the cell wall architecture of gramineous plants make the cell wall resistant to the gravitational force of the earth. In this study, the effects of microgravity on the formation of cell wall-bound hydroxycinnamates were examined using etiolated rice shoots simultaneously grown under artificial 1 g and microgravity conditions in the Cell Biology Experiment Facility on the International Space Station. Measurement of the mechanical properties of cell walls showed that shoot cell walls became stiff during the growth period and that microgravity suppressed this stiffening. Amounts of cell wall polysaccharides, cell wall-bound phenolic acids, and lignin in rice shoots increased as the shoot grew. Microgravity did not influence changes in the amounts of cell wall polysaccharides or phenolic acid monomers such as ferulic acid (FA) and p-coumaric acid, but it suppressed increases in diferulic acid (DFA) isomers and lignin. Activities of the enzymes phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL) and cell wall-bound peroxidase (CW-PRX) in shoots also increased as the shoot grew. PAL activity in microgravity-grown shoots was almost comparable to that in artificial 1 g-grown shoots, while CW-PRX activity increased less in microgravity-grown shoots than in artificial 1 g-grown shoots. Furthermore, the increases in expression levels of some class III peroxidase genes were reduced under microgravity conditions. These results suggest that a microgravity environment modifies the expression levels of certain class III peroxidase genes in rice shoots, that the resultant reduction of CW-PRX activity may be involved in suppressing DFA formation and lignin polymerization, and that this suppression may cause a decrease in cross-linkages within the cell wall architecture. The reduction in intra-network structures may contribute to keeping the cell wall loose under microgravity conditions.

   Ukrainian Physical and Mathematical Lyceum of Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv is a special educational institution where talented teenagers from different regions of the country study and live in a campus. Mathematics, Physics, Astronomy, Informatics, Chemistry are the main subjects which students learn on more advance levels than in ordinary schools. But to integrate their knowledge and to shape correct scientific imagination about nature and the Earth, it is important to study Geography.Activities of the geography teacher include curricular classes and outclass work. On the lessons teacher helps students to analyze and search correct information for specific topic of the lesson. For example, about climate change, the new energy sources, the land reclamation, the mining of rare earth elements, the disturbance of forest ecosystems, etc.But the more possibilities in learning to write and work on scientific topics, students have after main classes by individual work with the teacher. Students work on their own small research projects, write and submit the thesis to the competition-defense jury. This competition has three stages starting on school level then city level and the most successful projects are defended at the national level. The organizer of this competition is the Junior Academy of Sciences of Ukraine.The students can get useful experience when they take part in school conference of scientific students' reports -"Scientific Olympus". The conference includes the 7–8 sessions such as physics, mathematics, geography, biology, chemistry, computer science and humanitarian sciences. A two month before students select the problem, they are interested in, and prepare a report.In 2021, 2022 our students took part in a joint project of the Junior Academy of Sciences of Ukraine with the American SSEP (Student Spaceflight Experiments Program). They were proposed to create their own research projects and test them in microgravity conditions in space on the International Space Station. These projects were focused on biology and chemistry sciences. Students were divided in groups of 3–5 persons, supervised by teachers as facilitators. The most difficult requirement was to limit the research in a mini-laboratory – a small hermetically sealed silicone tube with volume of 9.2 ml.Apart from these projects the teaching activity includes meetings with scientists, excursions to the geological and science museums, coordination of the competition-game “Heliantus” (Geography, Physics, Chemistry, Biology), geography olympiads.There are much more difficulties for students now with the full-scale russian war on Ukraine, and it requires even more efforts from teachers to provide them with high quality education in natural sciences and particularly in geosciences, since the war has huge impact on ecosystems which need to be recovered by new generations of researchers and engineers.In the future as for tomorrow in our Lyceum we are looking forward to continuing the above activities and to joint other projects in cooperation with educational institution and resources from other countries.

Space travel: medicine in extremes

As we move into the next era of the Canadian Space Program, there is heightened expectation in Canada of commercial returns from space and increased participation of industry in space programs. At the Canadian Space Agency, we are acutely aware of the need to demonstrate value-for-investment to the Canadian taxpayer as Government programs compete for fewer dollars. This need has redefined the role which industry will be expected to play in future space projects and their commitment as equity partners is key to launching new projects. The International Space Station is the most complex space program ever undertaken. As a partner in the ISS program, Canada has access to a percentage of ISS resources. In order to make optimal use of these resources, Canada is investigating ways to involve industry and to make the ISS resources accessible to a broader range of commercial users. In order for this to be feasible, it will be necessary to overcome the traditional barriers to entry that are associated with space such as the high capital costs and lengthy development cycles. Furthermore, it will be necessary to convince potential users that they can expect certain results within a given timeframe and budget. This paper addresses the guiding principles which are being pursued in Canada to develop a plan for utilization of the ISS with a view to maximizing commercial returns.

We carried out a space experiment, denoted as Aniso Tubule, to examine the effects of microgravity on the growth anisotropy and cortical microtubule dynamics in Arabidopsis hypocotyls, using lines in which microtubules are visualized by labeling tubulin or microtubule-associated proteins (MAPs) with green fluorescent protein (GFP). In all lines, GFP-tubulin6 (TUB6)-, basic proline-rich protein1 (BPP1)-GFP- and spira1-like3 (SP1L3)-GFP-expressing using a constitutive promoter, and spiral2 (SPR2)-GFP- and GFP-65 kDa MAP-1 (MAP65-1)-expressing using a native promoter, the length of hypocotyls grown under microgravity conditions in space was longer than that grown at 1 g conditions on the ground. In contrast, the diameter of hypocotyls grown under microgravity conditions was smaller than that of the hypocotyls grown at 1 g. The percentage of cells with transverse microtubules was increased under microgravity conditions, irrespective of the lines. Also, the average angle of the microtubules with respect to the transverse cell axis was decreased in hypocotyls grown under microgravity conditions. When GFP fluorescence was quantified in hypocotyls of GFP-MAP65-1 and SPR2-GFP lines, microgravity increased the levels of MAP65-1, which appears to be involved in the maintenance of transverse microtubule orientation. However, the levels of SPR2 under microgravity conditions were comparable to those at 1 g. These results suggest that the microgravity-induced increase in the levels of MAP65-1 is involved in increase in the transverse microtubules, which may lead to modification of growth anisotropy, thereby developing longer and thinner hypocotyls under microgravity conditions in space.

The International Space Station (ISS) now soars overhead, representing the most unique international research facility ever built. However keeping the station fully functional requires a substantial portion of crew time. Early estimates indicate that the crew may spend up to 60% of their time on overall station maintenance tasks, which is time that could be devoted to science research. To minimize the need for extra-vehicular activity, or spacewalks, many maintenance tasks and payload handling operations external to the ISS will be performed by the Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator (SPDM). The SPDM, designed and built by MD Robotics for the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), is an external robotic system that consists of two seven degree of freedom arms mounted on a one degree of freedom body. The present concept of operations requires the on orbit operator to command and monitor any SPDM motion from one of two robotics workstations inside the ISS. Initial analysis estimates the time to replace a battery box on the ISS at 3 crew days. Minimizing this crew time will allow them to redirect resources to science research and will be the focus of this paper. This paper presents different approaches to reducing the crew time needed to perform SPDM based maintenance tasks and payload operations. Specifically the paper discusses the advantages and disadvantages, as well as the technical hurdles of various options including: ground commanding, flight hardware modifications and flight software enhancements.