Blogs

I always knew that one day I wanted to study the ocean, even though I grew up just north of Pittsburgh and had never seen the ocean. After graduating high school, I attended the College of Charleston in South Carolina where my plan from the start was to major in Marine Biology. I began my […]

Here are a few of the images from our archive that our staff love the most.

The International Space Station is continuing to receive software updates to improve its spacecraft communications and navigation systems. Meanwhile, the astronauts today are setting up new life science gear and testing the docking ability of tiny internal satellites. New software is being uplinked and installed on the station this week to increase the communications and …

Transition to (X2) R15 Software:  As part of the R15 software transition, two of the three Command and Control (C&C) Multiplexer/Demultiplexers (MDMs) were transitioned to updated software today. Updates to the C&C MDMs include:  Visiting Vehicle Support Implement modified capability for loading patches Modification to Rapid Depress Auto-Response Dual Integrated Communications Unit (ICU) Capability Increase …

Melissa Omand, interdisciplinary physical oceanographer from the University of Rhode Island’s Graduate School of Oceanography, was confronted with a conflict: it was time for an upgrade to her phone, but creating more technological trash did not feel right. Plus, the camera on her older phone was fantastic. Together with her first graduate student Noah Walcutt, she worked on optimizing […]

The Expedition 50 crew is getting the International Space Station ready for new experiments that will be delivered on the next SpaceX Dragon resupply mission. The station is also receiving a software update for its navigation and control systems. Dragon is set to deliver new research gear for a variety of experiments exploring the benefits …

Electrostatic Levitation Furnace (ELF) Sample Clean: This morning the crew disconnected the Sample Cartridges from within the ELF to exchange the samples and retrieve lost samples within the sample holders.  The crew reinserted the cartridge and reconnected the hoses and cables.  Ground teams will resume checkout and operations later this week. The ELF is an …

Trying to sleep on a trampoline while somebody is jumping on it – this is how it feels during many nights at sea as the ship zig-zags in an imaginary box around our drifting instruments in the North Pacific during winter. This is when biological activity is lowest, but clearly there is no absence of physical […]

Act 1: Blowin’ in the wind At the unholy hour of 0400, I find myself on the aft deck of the world-class research vessel Falkor, bubbling with excitement stemming from a unique combination of four shots of espresso, generally being a morning person, and, most importantly, preparing to test an experimental device that I have put […]