Space Station Team takes on 'EPIC' occasion

Expedition 30 Flight Engineer Don Pettit, operational in singing group with the International Space Station team in Houston’s Mission Control Center, inspects hardware as he install a set of Enhanced Processor and Integrated Communications (EPIC) processor cards in one of seven primary computers aboard. Anyone who has ever been concerned in a computer improve knows that they can be complex, and that you have to take your time, be cautious, and go step-by-step if you want to be winning.

That’s precisely what the journey 30 crew and International Space Station team in Mission Control are responsibility as they fit a set of Enhanced Processor and Integrated Communications (EPIC) computer cards in the seven main computers on the station.

EPIC is the shorthand name the team is using to explain this improve of the main processor cards. The seven computers, which are officially called Multiplexer/Demultiplexers, are second-hand for Guidance, Navigation, & Control; Command and Control; and Payload, or experiment, control. The innovative cards have faster processors, more memory, and an Ethernet connection for data output. Astronauts use laptop computers to control station systems from side to side these main computer.

Europe's automatic move Vehicle is incorporated on Ariane 5

The third European Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) for open by Arianespace was installing atop its Ariane 5 at the Spaceport, mark one of the final steps in arrangements for a March 9 liftoff on a service mission to the International Space Station.

Named after Italian physicist Edoardo Amaldi, the ATV will take dry cargo (including food, clothing, experiments and spare parts), along with water, gas and propellant for delivery to the crewed orbital ability.

This latest ATV flight in support of International Space Station operations will utilize an Ariane 5 ES version of Arianespace's heavy-lift workhorse, underscoring the launcher's suppleness in meeting a full range of mission requirements. The launch of ATV Edoardo Amaldi follows Arianespace missions with Europe's first two Automated Transfer Vehicles, perform in February 2011 and March 2008 from the Spaceport in French Guiana.

An industry consortium led by Astrium produces the ATVs in a program manage by the European Space Agency.

Mars Science Laboratory Mission rank account

Engineers have established the root reason of a computer rearrange that occur two months ago on NASA's Mars Science Laboratory and have strong-minded how to right it.

The fix involves altering how certain vacant data-holding locations, called registers, are configured in the memory management of the kind of computer chip used on the spacecraft. Billions of run on a test computer with the personalized register pattern yielded no repeat of the reset behavior. The assignment team made this software change on the spacecraft's PC last week and long-established this week that the update is winning.

Three days after launch, during use of the craft's star scanner. The cause has been recognized as a previously unknown design peculiarity in the memory organization unit of the Mars Science Laboratory computer processor. In rare set of situation unique to how this mission uses the processor, cache access errors could occur, resulting in instructions not being executed properly. This is what happen on the spacecraft.

"Good police officer work on thoughtful why the rearrange occurred has yielded a way to avert it from occurring again," said Mars Science Laboratory Deputy Project Manager Richard Cook of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. "The winning resolution of this difficulty was the ending of productive teamwork by engineers at the computer producer and JPL."