SpaceX CRS-23, also known asSpX-23, was aCommercial Resupply Service mission to theInternational Space Station, successfully launched on 29 August 2021 and docking the following day.[1] The mission was contracted byNASA and was flown bySpaceX using theCargo Dragon C208. This was the third flight for SpaceX under NASA'sCRS Phase 2 contract awarded in January 2016. It was the second mission for this reusable capsule.
Multiple views of CRS-23 mission Falcon 9 from liftoff to first-stage landing.
SpaceX plans to reuse the Cargo Dragons up to five times. Since it does not support a crew, the Cargo Dragon launches without SuperDraco abort engines, seats, cockpit controls or the life support system required to sustain astronauts in space.[3][4] Dragon 2 improves onDragon 1 in several ways, including lessened refurbishment time, leading to shorter periods between flights.[5]
NASA contracted for the CRS-23 mission from SpaceX and therefore determines the primary payload, date of launch, andorbital parameters for theCargo Dragon.[6]
TheGITAI S1 Robotic Arm Tech Demo will test GITAI Japan Inc.'s microgravity robot by placing the arm inside the newly addedNanoracks Bishop Airlock, which was carried to the station by Dragon C208 during theSpaceX CRS-21 mission last year. Once inside the airlock, the arm will perform numerous tests to demonstrate its versatility and dexterity.[7]
Designed by GITAI Japan Inc., the robot will work as a general-purpose helper under the pressurized environment inside the Bishop Airlock. It will operate tools and switches and run scientific experiments. The next step will be to test it outside the ISS in the harsh space environment. The robot will be able to perform tasks both autonomously and via teleoperations. Its arm has eight degrees of freedom and a 1-meter reach. GITAI S1 is a semi-autonomous/semi-teleoperated robotic arm designed to conduct specified tasks internally and externally on space stations, on-orbit servicing, and lunar base development. By combining autonomous control via AI and teleoperations via the specially designed GITAI manipulation system H1, GITAI S1 on its own, possesses the capability to conduct generous-purpose tasks (manipulation of switches, tools, soft objects; conducting science experiments and assembly; high-load operations; etc.) that were extremely difficult for industrial robots such as task specific robotic arms to do.
Flow Boiling and Condensation Experiment (FBCE) insert for the Fluids Integrated Rack (FIR)[9]
Support hardware for Solid Fuel Ignition and Extinction (SoFIE) insert for the Combustion Integrated Rack (CIR),[10] remaining SoFIE hardware to fly onSpaceX CRS-24.
Malta sent its very first space bioscience experiment entitled SpaceOMIX as a first mission under the Maleth Program. The first mission will be investigating the skin microbiome of diabetic foot ulcers resistant to conventional treatment. Experiments will include a full multi-omic analysis before and after spaceflight takes place. The experiment is also taking a large number of STEM-based science messages from people including school children of all ages to be part of this historic first mission to the International Space Station. The specially designed biocube based on the ICECubes platform is done in collaboration with Space Applications Services based in Belgium.[13]
European Space Agency (ESA) research and activities:
ESA's BIOFILMS (BiofilmInhibitionOnFlight equipment and on board theISS using microbiologicallyLethalMetalSurfaces) experiment investigating bacterial biofilm formation and antimicrobial properties of different metal surfaces under spaceflight conditions in altered gravity.[14]
ESA's Orbit Your Thesis!: OSCAR-QUBE -Designed, built and tested in a period of 14 months by a team of university students fromHasselt University inBelgium, OSCAR-QUBE will be installed in the Columbus Laboratory's ICECubes facility owned and operated by Space Applications Services. The team took part in ESA's Education programme called Orbit Your Thesis! (OYT) and proposed the experiment which is a diamond quantum-based magnetometer with femto Tesla precision. The team are the first to launch their experiment as part of the OYT programme and are the first students from their university to launch an experiment to the ISS.[15]
^"ISS Research Program".Glenn Research Center. NASA. 1 January 2020. Retrieved27 September 2020. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in thepublic domain.
Launches are separated by dots ( • ), payloads by commas ( , ), multiple names for the same satellite by slashes ( / ). Crewed flights are underlined. Launch failures are marked with the † sign. Payloads deployed from other spacecraft are (enclosed in parentheses).
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This article incorporates text from this source, which is in thepublic domain.
