Space to Ground: Flying Robots in Space: 02/17/2017

"Houston, Station on Space to Ground".
FLYING ROBOTS IN SPACE...
WHAT ELSE COULD YOU WANT?
WELCOME TO SPACE TO GROUND, I'M DAN HUOT.
THE SPHERES SATELLITES WERE ZOOMING
AROUND THE STATION ONCE AGAIN THIS WEEK.
THE SYNCHRONIZED POSITION, HOLD, ENGAGE, REORIENT,
EXPERIMENTAL SATELLITES, OR SPHERES, WERE PUT TO WORK
WITH A NEW UNIVERSAL DOCKING PORT ATTACHMENT.
WITH THEIR NEW DOCKING AND UNDOCKING ABILITY,
THEY SERVED AS A TEST CASE FOR THE CHALLENGES OF FLYING
AND CONNECTING AUTONOMOUS SPACECRAFT.
LESSONS LEARNED FROM INVESTIGATIONS
LIKE THIS COULD LEAD TO ROBOTIC SATELLITES PERFORMING COMPLEX
WORK IN OUTER SPACE ALL ON THEIR OWN, DOING THINGS
LIKE ASSEMBLING SPACECRAFT,
REPAIRING OTHER SATELLITES OR REFUELING THEM.
WE COULD ALSO APPLY LESSONS FROM THE SPHERES RIGHT HERE ON EARTH,
SPECIFICALLY DEEP UNDERWATER IN MISSIONS
TO AN UNCHARTED OCEAN FLOOR.
THE SPRING TRAFFIC SEASON IS ABOUT TO KICK OFF
WITH SPACEX'S TENTH RESUPPLY MISSION.
AN UNMANNED DRAGON CARGO CRAFT IS TARGETED
TO LAUNCH ON SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 18th
AT 10:01 A.M. EASTERN TIME.
PACKED WITH NEARLY 5,500 POUNDS OF SCIENCE AND SUPPLIES,
IT'S SET TO LAUNCH FROM PAD 39A, THE SAME PAD
THAT FIRST SENT HUMANS TO THE MOON AND WAS THE SITE
FOR THE FINAL FLIGHT OF THE SPACE SHUTTLE.
ONBOARD, THE CREW HAS BEEN TRAINING FOR THEIR ROLE
OF CAPTURING DRAGON ONCE IT ARRIVES ON MONDAY.
YOU CAN WATCH DRAGON'S JOURNEY LIVE ON NASA TV
OR BY GOING TO NASA.GOV/NTV.
OUR VIEWER QUESTION THIS WEEK COMES FROM ZACK HANSEN
IN MR. TELLSTROM'S 4TH GRADE CLASS AT SUNRISE ELEMENTARY.
ZACK WANTED TO KNOW HOW MUCH ELECTRICITY GETS COLLECTED
IN THE SOLAR PANELS.
THEY'RE BIG SOLAR ARRAYS, SO IT'S A LOT.
ON AVERAGE, THE MASSIVE ARRAYS GENERATE 75 KW
OF CONTINUOUS POWER, ENOUGH TO POWER DOZENS
OF HOMES HERE ON EARTH.
TWO BLANKETS OF SOLAR CELLS MAKE UP EACH SOLAR ARRAY WING
WITH 8 WINGS TOTAL ON THE STATION.
EACH WING WEIGHS MORE THAN 2,400 POUNDS
AND USES 32,800 SOLAR ARRAY CELLS.
IT SOUNDS LIKE A LOT, BUT THESE PROVIDE ALL
OF THE ELECTRICAL POWER FOR THE STATION, ENERGIZING EVERYTHING
FROM THE LIGHTS AND EXPERIMENTS TO THE AIR GENERATORS
AND LIFE SUPPORT SYSTEMS KEEPING THE CREW SAFE
AND FUNCTIONING IN OUTER SPACE.
KEEP SENDING YOUR QUESTIONS USING THE HASHTAG
SPACE-TO-GROUND, WE'LL SEE YOU NEXT WEEK.

Space to Ground: Flying Robots in Space: 02/17/2017

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