Waching daily Nov 30 2018

"HOUSTON, STATION ON SPACE TO GROUND."

WELCOME TO SPACE TO GROUND, I AM KAYLA LAFRANCE.

A BUILDING MATERIAL THAT HAS BEEN USED THROUGHOUT HUMAN

HISTORY IS BEING TESTED

BY ASTRONAUTS ONBOARD THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION.

THIS WEEK NASA'S SERENA AUNON-CHANCELLOR WORKED

ON AN EXPERIMENT USING CEMENT.

THE MVP CELL-05 EXPERIMENT USES A CENTRIFUGE

TO IMPART THREE SIMULATED GRAVITY LEVELS

TO DIFFERENT CEMENT SAMPLES.

THE VARIATION IN GRAVITY LEVELS MATCHES THOSE OF LUNAR GRAVITY,

MARS GRAVITY AND MICRO GRAVITY.

THE PROCESS OF MAKING CEMENT - HYDRATING A POWDER

AND LETTING IT DRY TO HARDEN - CREATES MICROSTRUCTURES

THAT RESULT IN ELABORATE COMBINATIONS OF PHASES,

ULTIMATELY DETERMINING THE MATERIAL PROPERTIES

OF THE HARDENED CEMENT.

BY SOLIDIFYING CEMENT IN MICROGRAVITY,

RESEARCHERS MINIMIZE GRAVITY-DRIVEN PHENOMENA

AND ARE ABLE TO CREATE A DIFFERENT MICROSTRUCTURE

THAN THAT OBSERVED IN TYPICAL LABORATORY CONDITIONS ON EARTH.

RESEARCHERS AIM TO UNDERSTAND THIS PROCESS IN MICROGRAVITY,

THIS KNOWLEDGE IS ESSENTIAL TO ADVANCING THE USE OF CEMENT

IN EXTRATERRESTRIAL SETTINGS, SUCH AS THE MOON OR MARS.

THIS KNOWLEDGE COULD ALSO LEAD TO IMPROVEMENTS

IN MANUFACTURING PROCESSES HERE ON EARTH AS WELL.

IT WILL NOT BE LONG UNTIL THE NUMBER

OF RESIDENTS ONBOARD THE SPACE STATION DOUBLES.

NEXT WEEK, NASA ASTRONAUT ANNE MCCLAIN,

CANADIAN SPACE AGENCY ASTRONAUT DAVID SAINT-JACQUES,

AND COSMONAUT OLEG KONONENKO WILL LAUNCH INSIDE A SOYUZ

FROM THE BAIKONUR COSMODROME IN KAZAKHSTAN.

MAKE SURE YOU TUNE IN TO NASA TV ON MONDAY, DECEMBER 3 STARTING

AT 6:30AM EASTERN FOR LIVE COVERAGE OF THEIR LAUNCH,

DOCKING, AND THEIR WELCOMING ONBOARD.

SUNI WILLIAMS IS A VETERAN STATION COMMANDER

AND EXPERIENCED SPACEWALKER, BUT THERE IS STILL A LOT OF TRAINING

TO DO BEFORE HER NEXT FLIGHT!

ASSIGNED TO THE SECOND MISSION ON BOEING'S CST-100 STARLINER,

SHE RECENTLY DID SOME SPACEWALK TRAINING IN VIRTUAL REALITY

TO PREPARE FOR HER NEXT LONG DURATION STAY ABOARD THE

SPACE STATION.

TO SEE THE LATEST AS WE GET CLOSER

TO THESE FIRST COMMERCIAL CREW FLIGHTS FROM BOEING AND SPACEX,

VISIT NASA.GOV/COMMERICALCREW.

KEEP SENDING IN YOUR QUESTIONS USING THE HASHTAG SPACETOGROUND,

WE'LL SEE YOU NEXT WEEK.