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NASA conducts largest fire experiment in space (update)
As part of its efforts to ensure the safety of spacefarers, NASA set a 16x37-inch block of cotton-fiberglass material on fire aboard a spacecraft that's making its way back home. Since the largest material NASA ever burned in space before this was the size of an index card, this is now officially the biggest fire experiment conducted outside our planet. The Spacecraft Fire Experiment or Saffire-I, as it's officially called, happened aboard the Cygnus spacecraft that ferried the ISS' largest delivery back in March.
Watch Orbital's Cygnus spacecraft reach the ISS this morning
Run out of Daredevil episodes to binge but still can't sleep? Take a peek live while the ISS captures its largest delivery ever, riding aboard an Orbital Cygnus spacecraft (like the one shown above during a delivery in December last year). NASA TV will kick off its livestream at 5:30AM ET., and the craft is scheduled to arrive at 6:40AM ET. The most exciting part, however, is still a couple of months off. Once Cygnus detaches from the ISS, engineers will remotely ignite the Spacecraft Fire-1 (Saffire-I) experiment, to find out how a large fire spreads in microgravity. It will be the first of a series of such experiments, and they will be the first ones conducted at this scale. Other experiments aboard include upgraded 3D-printing capabilities, the Gecko Gripper device, five CubeSats and much, much more. Update: The Cygnus successfully berthed with the ISS.
Orbital rocket ready to launch its biggest ISS cargo ever
A resupply ship from Orbital ATK is ready to launch its largest cargo ever to the International Space Station. The newly redesigned Cygnus craft, first launched in December, is capable of carrying 25 percent more payload than before, and today's weighs nearly four tons. "It's like opening a box of goodies and finding some stuff you've been wanting and some surprises you didn't know about," says Orbital's Dan Tani, a former ISS astronaut. Along with the supplies, Cygnus will carry a 3D printer from Made in Space, two dozen nanosatellites and Saffire, an experiment to test the effects of fire in space.
