BEC In Space

 Not as amusing as Pigs In Space, but still quite impressive.

The ISS is useful after all! :) Physicists have created the first controlled Bose-Einstein condensate in low earth orbit, thus eliminating the issue of gravitational effects[1] that affects the stability of the condensate.

A review of the work can be found here.

As discussed, Bose–Einstein condensation requires low temperatures, at which atoms hardly move. However, when a BEC is released from a magnetic trap so that experiments can be carried out, repulsive interactions between the atoms cause the cloud to expand. Within a few seconds, the BEC becomes too dilute to be detected. The expansion rate can be reduced by decreasing the depth of the trap, and, thereby, the density of atoms in the trap.

On Earth, the planet’s gravitational pull restricts the shape of possible magnetic traps in such a way that a deep trap is needed to confine a BEC (Fig. 1a,b). By contrast, Aveline and colleagues found that the extremely weak gravity (microgravity) on the International Space Station allowed rubidium BECs to be created using shallow traps. As a result, the authors could study the BECs after about one second of expansion, without needing to manipulate the atoms further.

But this is more than just an achievement on the scientific level. It is also a technological feat because of the numerous requirements that are needed to be able to have an experiment on the ISS, as stated in the review:

Aveline and colleagues’ technological achievement is remarkable. Their apparatus needed to satisfy the strict mass, volume and power-consumption requirements of the International Space Station, and be robust enough to operate for years without needing to be serviced. The authors’ Earth-orbiting BECs provide new opportunities for research on quantum gases, as well as for atom interferometry, and pave the way for missions that are even more ambitious.

If you have ever designed an experiment, you know of all the issues involved, not just the scientific ones. This includes engineering, robustness, economics/costs, etc. So I can't imagine what they had to come up with to be able to send something up there and basically run this with very little to no involvement from the astronauts onboard.

Very well done indeed!

Zz.

[1] D.C. Aveline et al. Nature v.582, p.193 (2020).

Space Coffee

It's amazing how much physics and engineering go into just getting the ISS occupants to have their cup of Joe while on board the space station.



They should just open a Starbucks franchise up there. It would have been easier!

Zz.

Where Do Tears In Zero-G Go?

Nowhere! They just stay in front of your eyes!

That's what happened to astronaut Andrew Feustel during a space walk when his eyes got stung by something and started to water.

NASA's lead spacewalk officer in Mission Control, Allison Bolinger, later identified the irritant as an anti-fogging solution that had been applied to the inside of Feustel's helmet. It's essentially off-the-shelf dishwashing soap and occasionally flakes off, if not buffed properly, and can get in a spacewalker's eye.

Feustel managed to rub his eye against a foam block in his helmet — normally used for clearing ears — and said that helped. The spacewalkers noted that tears in space "don't fall off of your eye ... they kind of stay there."

Yup! Another property of gravity that we take for granted.

Zz.

AMS Attached To Space Station

Finally, after such a long wait, the ISS is now actually a useful scientific laboratory! The AMS has been successfully installed to the International Space Station.

The task was done over several hours in the middle of the night as astronauts used robotic arms from both the shuttle and the space station to lift the AMS out of the shuttle’s cargo bay then maneuver it into place and install it on the station. They were finished by 5:46 a.m. Eastern time.

The report also stated that it has already been "turned on", whatever that means. I'm sure there's a lot of diagnostic checks and calibration being done before actual data-taking.

Check out the AMS on-orbit images at the AMS homepage.

Zz.

The Odyssey Of The Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer

With Endeavor's last trip into space, it will carry a very important piece of experimental equipment for the International Space Station that might make the ISS finally becoming an important scientific facility - the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer.

The idea for the AMS came from Samuel Ting, a Nobel Prize laureate out of MIT. This article documents his "odyssey" to have this built.

Starting in 1994, he threw himself into a project he called the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS), a device of nearly eight tons that would be attached to the International Space Station. Essentially a giant magnet for sifting apart the particles in cosmic rays, the AMS will look for evidence of the mysterious dark matter that some physicists believe makes up more than 80 percent of the matter of our universe.

It is quite an informative article, not just about the AMS, but also about Samuel Ting. It also conveyed a very fascinating story on the discovery of the J/psi particle, and how it is another one of those "Who Ordered That?" situation.

Like I said, a very entertaining article. Don't miss it.

Zz.

The International Space Station Celebrates 10 Years (Yawn!)

The International Space Station (ISS) turns 10 years old today. Big Freaking Deal!

For $100 billion dollars, what did we get?

Its objective also has shifted over the years. NASA views the space station as essentially a place to learn more about astronaut health and other issues that could make or break future expeditions to the moon, Mars and beyond. Before, the emphasis was supposed to be on basic scientific experiments, like protein crystals and cell tissue.

I bet you that if it was sold in the very beginning as "a place to learn more about astronaut health and other issues that could make or break future expeditions to the moon, Mars and beyond", it would NOT have been funded, and certainly not for $100 billion, to build a glorified human lab.

The only saving grace for the ISS is (or was) the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, and even that got canned until recently because they were more interested in finishing building the ISS (for what?) rather than actually making it useful.

The ISS currently is a symbol of wasteful spending on something disguised as science.

Zz.

Bush Signs Law Allowing Extra Shuttle Flight

... and thus, giving the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer a chance to get to the ISS and be installed.

The measure authorizes $20.2 billion for next year's NASA budget, including $1 billion specifically for work to help accelerate development of the Constellation program slated to replace the shuttles. The measure also gives NASA the green light to add an extra flight to the shuttle's current manifest to deliver a physics project, the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, to the International Space Station.

Unfortunately, it doesn't allocate any money to it. So NASA will have to re-prioritize its program to include the launch for the AMS.

Zz.

An Interview With Steven Weinberg

Oh, I just LOVE this! :)

The Space Review has an interview with Nobel Laureate Steven Weinberg, and he aimed dead center at the International Space Station and the current Administration obsession of human space travel.

Steve Weinberg told a dark energy workshop in September that, “I see on the part of the president and the administrators of NASA… an infantile fixation on putting people into space, which has little or no scientific value.”

You got to snicker when a piece starts off with that type of paragraph! :)

Notice also the very sharp point he made about the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, which I've mentioned on here. It is INSANE that the one piece of effort that would have justified the scientific existence of the ISS is being dropped in favor of completing the building of the ISS. NASA still hasn't told us what they're building the ISS for. So far, they're simply building it for the same of building it.

You may not agree with him, but you cannot deny that this interview is fascinating.

Zz.