2014
Space milestones
HAM TV enters service
Following the previous year’s launch, Ham TV installation and commissioning are completed. The system enables amateur radio video transmissions from the ISS, making it possible to add images to voice during educational contacts with schools.
Samantha Cristoforetti sets off for the ISS
In November, Samantha Cristoforetti sets off on her first mission aboard the International Space Station.
Philae lands on a comet
The Rosetta mission’s lander reaches the surface of comet 67P, achieving the first landing in history on a cometary nucleus.
Missions & Payloads
ATV-5
Fifth and final mission of the European Automated Transfer Vehicle. It transports supplies to the ISS, performs orbital reboost manoeuvres and tests technologies for future rendezvous systems.
Centrifuge insert for NanoRacks Frame-3
Insert made by Kayser for the NanoRacks/Astrium centrifuge in Frame-3. It allows experimental units to be housed on a rotating platform, generating artificial gravity conditions for control samples. Comparison with equivalent samples maintained in microgravity makes it possible to distinguish the effects of gravitational conditions from those of other spaceflight factors. The centrifuge is used in the Cellbox-1 mission, associated with SpaceX CRS-3.
EML
ESA/DLR facility dedicated to studying molten metals, alloys and semiconductors without contact with a container. The name derives from Electromagnetic Levitator. Electromagnetic fields keep the samples suspended and heat them until they melt, enabling optical observations and measurements during cooling and solidification. The system allows viscosity, surface tension and density to be measured and undercooling, nucleation and solidification phenomena to be studied. The facility and the first 18 samples are launched aboard ATV-5 Georges Lemaître in July 2014, bound for the European Columbus laboratory.
PPS Mk1 (KuPS) second launch
Reusable unit designed and built by Kayser Italia to convert and distribute electrical power to ISS payloads. It supplies regulated, protected power to the connected experimental equipment. In 2014, a second unit is transported aboard ATV-5, expanding the system’s availability on the station.
KAB for NanoRacks Frame-3
Experiment Controller developed and supplied by Kayser Italia to manage biological experiments in the NanoRacks infrastructure on the ISS. It manages housekeeping data acquisition, automatic execution of experimental sequences, storage on micro-SD and USB communication with connected devices. It is used in the Cellbox-1 mission aboard SpaceX CRS-3 between April and May 2014. The experiments concern human macrophages and thyroid carcinoma cells, comparing samples maintained in microgravity with control samples subjected to artificial gravity.
SpaceX CRS-3
Third operational resupply mission of the Dragon capsule under the Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) contract. It transports experiments, materials and supplies to the ISS and returns scientific samples to Earth.
ELITE-S2
During Samantha Cristoforetti’s Futura mission, studies continue on posture, motor control and the mental representation of gravity in microgravity. The facility records body movements using motion capture systems and transfers the data to Earth for analysis.
NIH-1A
Experiment dedicated to studying reduced T-cell activation in microgravity and similarities with ageing processes. The hardware reaches the ISS in April 2014 aboard SpaceX CRS-3. The experimental units are used in the KUBIK incubators, which are equipped with a centrifuge.