Materials International Space Station Experiment
| Project overview | |
|---|---|
| Project name: | Materials International Space Station Experiment |
| Investigator: |
MISSE 1 to 5: William H. Kinard, Langley Research Center MISSE 5: Robert Walters, Naval Research Laboratory |
| Developer: |
MISSE 1 to 5: Marshall Space Flight Center Phantom Works , Boeing Langley Research Center MISSE 5: United States Department of Defense Space Test Program , Johnson Space Center |
| Carried out during the ISS expedition: |
MISSE 1 & 2: 3–11 MISSE 3 & 4: 13–15 MISSE 5: 11–13 MISSE 6: 16–20 MISSE 7: 21–25 MISSE 8: 27–38 |
The Materials International Space Station Experiment (MISSE) is a passive experimental setup on the International Space Station (ISS).
The experiment involves many small samples of material that are kept in a container. This experiment container, called PEC for short (Passive Experiment Container), is brought into space with a space shuttle , attached to the outer shell of the ISS and then opened. The samples are directly exposed to space for a longer period of time (the researchers are assuming 18 months).
MISSE examines the behavior of materials in the extreme environment of space . Coatings and materials that are to be used in space must be able to withstand temperatures , (solar) radiation , atomic oxygen, as well as the absence of gravity and atmosphere . Simulations conducted on Earth can only incorporate a few of these factors.
The results of the MISSE test series provide basic knowledge that enables the development of better and more resistant materials. These will be needed , among other things, for future manned missions to Mars . To do this, it must be determined how the materials interact with space and whether they change.
The first two sample containers brought astronauts to the ISS on the STS-105 mission in August 2001. During an outboard activity (EVA) MISSE were on the outside of the air lock 1 and 2 Quest attached. Originally, these 1,500 total materials were only supposed to stay in space for a year, but the loss of the Columbia space shuttle and the STS-107 crew in early 2003 postponed the return of the sample containers. MISSE 1 and 2 could only be brought back with the STS-114 mission four years after Steven Robinson removed the containers during an exit in July 2005.
To continue the experiment, STS-114 astronaut Soichi Noguchi attached a new container to the station, which was exposed to free space for a year. This container, known as MISSE 5, was dismantled in September 2006 by the two astronauts Heide Stefanyshyn-Piper and Joseph Tanner during an EVA and brought back to Earth by the STS-115 mission.
At the beginning of August 2006, two spacemen from ISS expedition 13 installed the containers MISSE 3 and 4 on the outside of the space station. The two PECs had arrived on board the STS-121 on the ISS four weeks earlier together with the German Thomas Reiter . Reiter and his US colleague Jeffrey Williams attached the two experiment carriers to the Quest module during an EVA: MISSE 3 on one of the four tank containers and MISSE 4 at the end of the airlock. 40 experimenters from space agencies, military facilities and companies prepared 875 samples of materials, electronic components, sensors, paints and protective coatings that were supposed to prove their space suitability. Exactly one year later, on August 18, 2007, Dave Williams of STS-118 and ISS Expedition 15 flight engineer Clay Anderson unscrewed the two experiment carriers . MISSE 3 and 4 returned to Earth on August 21, 2007 with the Endeavor .
While STS-123 was docked at the space station, mission specialist Robert Behnken attached two new sample containers to the ISS in March 2008. MISSE 6 was installed on the outside of the European space laboratory Columbus . In September 2009, Danny Olivas and Nicole Stott dismantled MISSE 6 during an EVA on the STS-128 mission and stowed it in the Discovery to return .
The MISSE 7 package was attached to the newly installed ELC-2 in November 2009 during the third EVA during STS-129 by Randy Bresnik and Robert Satcher .
The MISSE program is led by the Langley Research Center .
Web links
- NASA: MISSE website (English)
- NASA: Opening the Door to New Materials for Exploration , October 4, 2005 (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e Materials International Space Station Experiment (MISSE) at NASA's Glenn Research Center (English)