Robotics and Space Biology Fill Research Schedule on Station
The Expedition 70 crew focused its research on robotics, artificial organs, and eye checks aboard the International Space Station today. The orbital septet also worked on a variety of life support and science maintenance tasks throughout Wednesday.
NASA Flight Engineer Loral O?Hara began Tuesday configuring an experiment that will explore how CubeSats fitted with a robotic arm might be used to repair larger satellites. She set up hardware inside the Destiny laboratory module?s Microgravity Science Glovebox for the experiment that seeks to demonstrate the on-orbit survey and repair of satellites.
Afterward, O?Hara moved to the Kibo laboratory module and treated and stowed samples that will be analyzed to understand reproductive health and bone loss in microgravity. NASA Flight Engineer Jasmin Moghbeli cleaned up Kibo?s Life Science Glovebox and stowed the research hardware following O?Hara?s sample work.
Earlier in the day, Moghbeli assisted Commander Andreas Mogensen from ESA (European Space Agency) as he swapped out components that analyze elements in the space station?s air. At the end of the day, Moghbeli scanned the eyes and retinas of Mogensen and O?Hara using standard medical imaging gear, analogous to ultrasound imaging, found in a doctor?s office on Earth.
Flight Engineer Satoshi Furukawa from JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) spent his day working with a pair of microscopes. During the morning, Furukawa activated the Confocal microscope to image organoid culture samples for an investigation exploring regenerative medicine, or the creation of artificial organs in microgravity. In the afternoon, the two-time station resident from JAXA set up the Kermit microscope for a ground-commanded check out of its imaging ability during a vibration test.
Veteran cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko continued his inspections inside the Zvezda service module then videotaped and photographed his crewmates at work aboard the orbital lab. Roscosmos Flight Engineer Nikolai Chub tested a laptop computer in the Nauka science module, transferred fluids into the Progress 86 cargo craft, and photographed panels inside the Poisk module at the end of the day. Cosmonaut Konstantin Borisov spent his day cleaning ventilation systems and electronics gear in the Nauka and Zvezda modules.
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