The International Space Station fired its thrusters to dodge an orbiting fragment of a Russian satellite. Space junk is a major issue — and there's more of it than you might imagine.
Space junk is a major problem: There are millions of pieces of debris circling Earth, most of it originating from satellite explosions and collisions. And when objects collide with each other, they can create even smaller pieces of debris.
"It is of particular risk to the United States because the United States is probably the most space-dependent power around," said Saadia Pekkanen, director of the Space Law, Data and Policy program at the University of Washington, in anearlier this year."Relative to other powers, if anything happens to those satellites, it does affect the civilian, commercial and military capabilities of the United States.
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International Space Station swerves to avoid Russian space debris, NASA says | CNNThe International Space Station fired its thrusters to maneuver out of the way of a piece of oncoming Russian space junk, NASA said late Monday.
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International Space Station dodges debris from Russian anti-satellite testA cargo ship attached to the station performed a five-minute engine burn on Monday night (Oct. 24) to get the ISS out of harm's way.
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Russia launches cargo spacecraft toward International Space Station (video)Russia's Progress 82 freighter will arrive at the orbiting lab on Thursday (Oct. 27).
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Microbial Tracking-2, a metagenomics analysis of bacteria and fungi onboard the International Space Station - MicrobiomeBackground The International Space Station (ISS) is a unique and complex built environment with the ISS surface microbiome originating from crew and cargo or from life support recirculation in an almost entirely closed system. The Microbial Tracking 1 (MT-1) project was the first ISS environmental surface study to report on the metagenome profiles without using whole-genome amplification. The study surveyed the microbial communities from eight surfaces over a 14-month period. The Microbial Tracking 2 (MT-2) project aimed to continue the work of MT-1, sampling an additional four flights from the same locations, over another 14 months. Methods Eight surfaces across the ISS were sampled with sterile wipes and processed upon return to Earth. DNA extracted from the processed samples (and controls) were treated with propidium monoazide (PMA) to detect intact/viable cells or left untreated and to detect the total DNA population (free DNA/compromised cells/intact cells/viable cells). DNA extracted from PMA-treated and untreated samples were analyzed using shotgun metagenomics. Samples were cultured for bacteria and fungi to supplement the above results. Results Staphylococcus sp. and Malassezia sp. were the most represented bacterial and fungal species, respectively, on the ISS. Overall, the ISS surface microbiome was dominated by organisms associated with the human skin. Multi-dimensional scaling and differential abundance analysis showed significant temporal changes in the microbial population but no spatial differences. The ISS antimicrobial resistance gene profiles were however more stable over time, with no differences over the 5-year span of the MT-1 and MT-2 studies. Twenty-nine antimicrobial resistance genes were detected across all samples, with macrolide/lincosamide/streptogramin resistance being the most widespread. Metagenomic assembled genomes were reconstructed from the dataset, resulting in 82 MAGs. Functional assessment of the collective MAGs showed a propen
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Progress 82 Cargo Craft Safely in Orbit Following Launch – Heading to Space StationAt 8:20 p.m. EDT (5:20 a.m. Baikonur time) on Tuesday, October 25, the uncrewed Roscosmos Progress 82 launched on a Soyuz rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. It is now safely in orbit and headed for the International Space Station (ISS). On its way to meet up with the orbiting labo
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