NASA Sends Fire, Meteor Experiments To ISS On Commercial Cargo Spacecraft | Aero-News Network
Aero-News Network
RSS icon RSS feed
podcast icon MP3 podcast
Subscribe Aero-News e-mail Newsletter Subscribe

Airborne Unlimited -- Most Recent Daily Episodes

Episode Date

Airborne-Monday

Airborne-Tuesday

Airborne-Wednesday Airborne-Thursday

Airborne-Friday

Airborne On YouTube

Airborne-Unlimited-10.06.25

AirborneNextGen-
10.07.25

Airborne-Unlimited-10.08.25

Airborne-FlightTraining-10.09.25

AirborneUnlimited-10.10.25

Tue, Mar 29, 2016

NASA Sends Fire, Meteor Experiments To ISS On Commercial Cargo Spacecraft

Cygnus Cargo Vessel Docked With Station Saturday

Scientific investigations of fire in microgravity and grippers inspired by geckos are among the nearly 7,500 pounds of cargo headed to the International Space Station aboard an Orbital ATK Cygnus spacecraft, along with equipment to support some 250 other experiments and studies aboard the world’s only orbital laboratory.

Orbital ATK’s fifth cargo delivery flight under its Commercial Resupply Services contract with NASA launched at 11:05 p.m. EDT Tuesday on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Space Launch Complex 41 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The Cygnus arrived at the orbiting laboratory Saturday, March 26.

The station’s Expeditions 47 and 48 crews will employ these science payloads to support experiments in biology, biotechnology, physical science and Earth science – research that improves life on Earth -- including:

  • Saffire-I provides a new way to study a large fire on an exploration craft, which has not been possible in the past because the risks for performing such studies on spacecraft with astronauts aboard are too high.
  • Meteor will enable the first space-based observations of meteors entering Earth’s atmosphere from space.
  • Strata-I could give us answers about how regolith behaves and moves in microgravity, how easy or difficult it is to anchor a spacecraft in regolith, how it interacts with spacecraft and spacesuit materials, and other important properties.
  • The Gecko Gripper study tests a gecko-inspired adhesive gripping device that can stick on command in the harsh environment of space.
  • The Additive Manufacturing Facility will add an upgraded 3-D printing capability to the station.

NASA astronaut and Expedition 46 Commander Tim Kopra captured Cygnus at about 6:40 a.m. Saturday, March 26, using the space station's Canadarm2 robotic arm to take hold of the spacecraft.

Saffire-1 will remain on the spacecraft once all the other supplies are unloaded, and the vehicle will be attached to the space station for about two months. Once it departs and the spacecraft is a safe distance from the space station, engineers will remotely conduct the first Saffire experiment before the Cygnus’ destructive reentry into Earth’s atmosphere. Before detaching from the station, Cygnus will also be filled with about 3,000 pounds of trash, which will be burned up over the Pacific Ocean.

This is the second flight of an enhanced Cygnus spacecraft, and the second using the Atlas V launch system. The cargo freighter features a greater payload capacity, supported by new fuel tanks and solar arrays, and an extended pressurized cargo module that increases the spacecraft’s interior volume by 25 percent, enabling more cargo to be delivered with each launch.

(Image provided with NASA news release)

FMI: www.nasa.gov

Advertisement

More News

True Blue Power and Mid-Continent Instruments and Avionics Power NBAA25 Coverage

Mid-Continent Instruments and Avionics and True Blue Power ANN's NBAA 2025 Coverage... Visit Them At Booth #3436 101 Aviation Nears STC Approval for Lithium Battery Upgrade on Gulf>[...]

ANN's Daily Aero-Term (10.11.25): Hertz

Hertz The standard radio equivalent of frequency in cycles per second of an electromagnetic wave. Kilohertz (kHz) is a frequency of one thousand cycles per second. Megahertz (MHz) >[...]

Aero-News: Quote of the Day (10.11.25)

“NATCA does not endorse, support, or condone any federal employees participating in or endorsing a coordinated activity that negatively affects the capacity of the NAS, or an>[...]

ANN's Daily Aero-Linx (10.11.25)

Aero Linx: European Association for Aviation Psychology (EAAP) Since 1956 the European Association for Aviation Psychology (EAAP) provides a forum for professionals working in the >[...]

NTSB Prelim: Pegasus Quantum 15

Aircraft Experienced A Total Loss Of Engine Power During A Go-Around Attempt And Then Impacted A Soybean Field On September 13, 2025, at 1625 eastern daylight time, a Pegasus Quant>[...]

blog comments powered by Disqus



Advertisement

Advertisement

Podcasts

Advertisement

© 2007 - 2025 Web Development & Design by Pauli Systems, LC