A private U.S. cargo ship carrying a 3D printer, nanosatellites and an experiment to study fire in space blasted off on Tuesday night on an orbital delivery mission to the International Space Station (ISS) for NASA, the U.S. space agency's TV broadcast showed.
The unmanned Cygnus spacecraft, operated by NASA commercial provider Orbital ATK, lifted off on an Atlas V rocket at 11:05 p.m. EDT (0305 GMT Wednesday) from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in the southern U.S. state of Florida. This flight is Orbital ATK's fifth official mission to the ISS for NASA under a commercial resupply services contract. It is also the second flight for the enhanced version of Cygnus, which first flew in December on a successful return mission for the Virginia-based company.
Cygnus' upgrade allows it to carry about 25 percent more cargo than previously after a resupply mission using the company's own rocket exploded on the launch pad in October 2014. This mission will deliver about 7,500 pounds (3,500 kilograms) of science and research, crew supplies and vehicle hardware to the orbital laboratory to support dozens of science and research investigations.
"It's like Christmas when a supply craft arrives," said Orbital ATK's Dan Tani, a former NASA astronaut who is now senior director of the mission's cargo and operations. "It's always fun to watch another vehicle approach and then it's like opening a box of goodies and finding some stuff you've been wanting and some surprises you didn't know about."
The new experiments aboard the Cygnus spacecraft includes an investigation that evaluates how soil on small, airless bodies such as asteroids behaves in microgravity; an instrument for the first-ever, space-based observations of the chemical composition of meteors entering the Earth's atmosphere; and a demonstration of an adhesive device that can stick on-command in the harsh environment of space. Also on board is an upgraded version of the 3D printer launched to the ISS in 2014, called the Additive Manufacturing Facility.
The device, about twice the size of its predecessor, will help the station produce new tools and experiments. Cygnus also carries more than two dozen nanosatellites that will be ejected from either the spacecraft or the space station at various times during the mission to evaluate a range of technologies. One particular interesting experiment that will be conducted after Cygnus leaves the ISS is the Saffire, a box that is designed to light up a large fire intentionally inside the spacecraft. Sensors will monitor how the flames spread.
NASA said the research can help them develop better strategies to deal with fires onboard. If all goes well, Cygnus will dock with the ISS on Saturday and then remain there until May. Orbital ATK has two additional cargo missions scheduled in 2016 to support NASA's ISS cargo and payload mission needs. Orbital ATK is one of two U.S. companies that provide ISS cargo services for NASA. The other company is SpaceX, which had a launch explosion in June last year during its seventh ISS resupply mission. The California-based company has decided to resume resupply runs to the space station in early April.
Latest comments