Thomas Pesquet posted a photo:

The second Molecular Muscle Experiment arrived on the International Space Station with SpaceX-22 last Saturday, and it is one of the experiments we had to process immediately. Inside these cartridges are microscopic worms, C. Elegans, that will be monitored in this box called Kubik. The "box" is actually a complicated incubator and centrifuge in one, and a succes of European engineering as it has been on the Space Station for over a decade and just works. Like with many experiments they sound more interesting than they are visually. We cannot see the worms as they are microscopic and inside sealed cartridges. They will grow over five days to find out more about how their muscles adapt to weightlessness. C. Elegans worms share 80% of their genes with us humans and researchers on this @esa/@UKSA experiment hope to pinpoint what genes cause muscle decay – with the aim to develop drugs to limit muscle decay.

Nous avons reçu la V2 de l’expérience Molecular Muscles (MME) samedi dernier, lors du ravitaillement du cargo Dragon. Il a fallu s’en occuper immédiatement : ces cartouches contiennent des vers microscopiques ! Ils s’appellent C. Elegans et sont est très utilisés par les chercheurs. Nous les avons mis en sécurité dans KUBIK qui est à la fois un incubateur et une centrifugeuse en un seul appareil. C'est un très bel outil européen qui se trouve à bord de la station spatiale depuis plus de dix ans et qui fonctionne toujours parfaitement. Comme beaucoup d'expériences, MME n’est pas très impressionnante visuellement : on ne peut pas voir les vers car ils sont microscopiques et se trouvent dans des cartouches scellées. En revanche, comme beaucoup d’expériences, son objectif est fascinant. Dans les jours qui viennent, ils vont grandir et vieillir, et lorsqu’ils redescendront sur Terre, les chercheurs pourront étudier comment leurs muscles se sont adaptés à l'apesanteur. C. Elegans partage 80 % de ses gènes avec les humains, et les chercheurs de l'expérience @esa/@UKSA espèrent identifier ceux qui sont responsables de la dégradation des muscles. Comme souvent, le but est de développer des médicaments pour contrer ce problème :thumbs up:

Credits: ESA/NASA–T. Pesquet

423F1439 Thomas with MME

Thomas Pesquet posted a photo:

Athens is as bustling at night as it is during the day. At night the different colour lighting in different areas is remarkable, but also the Acropolis can be made out.

Il me semble que ma dernière photo d'Athènes montrait la ville de jour. De nuit on voit d'autres détails, comme les différences de couleurs d'éclairage en function des quartiers (je me demande d’ailleurs pourquoi, c’est la seule ville où je l’ai remarqué à ce point), et l'Acropole qui reste bien visible !

Credits: ESA/NASA–T. Pesquet

513B7395

Thomas Pesquet posted a photo:

An upcoming spacewalk for Shane and myself has now been announced, but we have been hard at work with the ground teams for a few weeks already: here we are in a conference call where we discuss the procedures, the tools, the contingency scenarios, and try to all be on the same page before the day itself. Actually, many people have been doing A LOT of work over more than a year to be ready for this. It’s beautiful to see all the different disciplines come together to make such special moments happen. It always feel like the stars have to align for something so complicated to happen, and they make the stars align every time with talent and sheer work. Impressive. A million thanks to everyone involved.

Deux sorties dans l’espace que Shane et moi allons réaliser dans une dizaine de jours viennent d’être officiellement annoncées, mais cela fait déjà plusieurs semaines que l’on s’y prépare avec les équipes au sol. Ici on était en visioconférence pour passer en revue les procédures, les outils, anticiper les scenarii dégradés (qui n’arrivent jamais :)) et s’assurer d’être bien sur la même longueur d’onde avant le jour J. En réalité, cela fait déjà plus d’un an que de nombreuses équipes travaillent à la préparation pour faire en sorte que les étoiles soient bien alignées sur un projet d’une telle complexité. Déjà que pour aller dans l’espace, on a l’impression qu’il faut qu’une série de miracles s’enchaînent, mais sortir en scaphandre ça rajoute encore un cran à la complexité. C’est le genre d’opérations hors normes qui impliquent des domaines très différents et nécessitent un énorme travail de préparation. Bravo à toutes les équipes, et on va faire de notre mieux pour tout faire marcher comme prévu :)

Credits: ESA/NASA–T. Pesquet

527C3814

Thomas Pesquet posted a photo:

I got out an old friend that I haven't seen since Proxima, the CNES experiment Fluidics! I installed it in 2017 during Proxima and since then eight astronauts have set it up for research. This box holds six spheres with liquid that slosh about up here in weightlessness and are recorded by cameras for researchers to observe – but only one sphere at a time. The experiment has two very different but also somewhat similar benefits: it will help satellite and rocket designers understand how fuel behaves in their tanks (and help them get all the fuel into their thrusters, effectively improving their mileage) as well as help researchers understand ocean currents (and our climate). As today is World Oceans Day let's look at the ocean currents . Like all science it is helpful for researchers to isolate factors and investigate them. It is easier to understand how light travels if you research it in a darkened room for example. With Fluidics researchers are trying to understand how water currents form and behave, without gravity influencing them. The results will isolate the factors at play and help us understand the phenomena on a larger scale. Ocean currents are important for everything from fish migration, to plastic pollution of our seas and even shipping efficiency.

I got out an old friend that I haven't seen since Proxima, the CNES experiment Fluidics! I installed it in 2017 during Proxima and since then eight astronauts have set it up for research. This box holds six spheres with liquid that slosh about up here in weightlessness and are recorded by cameras for researchers to observe – but only one sphere at a time. The experiment has two very different but also somewhat similar benefits: it will help satellite and rocket designers understand how fuel behaves in their tanks (and help them get all the fuel into their thrusters, effectively improving their mileage) as well as help researchers understand ocean currents (and our climate). As today is World Oceans Day let's look at the ocean currents . Like all science it is helpful for researchers to isolate factors and investigate them. It is easier to understand how light travels if you research it in a darkened room for example. With Fluidics researchers are trying to understand how water currents form and behave, without gravity influencing them. The results will isolate the factors at play and help us understand the phenomena on a larger scale. Ocean currents are important for everything from fish migration, to plastic pollution of our seas and even shipping efficiency.

Credits: ESA/NASA–T. Pesquet

607C7715

Thomas Pesquet posted a photo:

I got out an old friend that I haven't seen since Proxima, the CNES experiment Fluidics! I installed it in 2017 during Proxima and since then eight astronauts have set it up for research. This box holds six spheres with liquid that slosh about up here in weightlessness and are recorded by cameras for researchers to observe – but only one sphere at a time. The experiment has two very different but also somewhat similar benefits: it will help satellite and rocket designers understand how fuel behaves in their tanks (and help them get all the fuel into their thrusters, effectively improving their mileage) as well as help researchers understand ocean currents (and our climate). As today is World Oceans Day let's look at the ocean currents . Like all science it is helpful for researchers to isolate factors and investigate them. It is easier to understand how light travels if you research it in a darkened room for example. With Fluidics researchers are trying to understand how water currents form and behave, without gravity influencing them. The results will isolate the factors at play and help us understand the phenomena on a larger scale. Ocean currents are important for everything from fish migration, to plastic pollution of our seas and even shipping efficiency.

I got out an old friend that I haven't seen since Proxima, the CNES experiment Fluidics! I installed it in 2017 during Proxima and since then eight astronauts have set it up for research. This box holds six spheres with liquid that slosh about up here in weightlessness and are recorded by cameras for researchers to observe – but only one sphere at a time. The experiment has two very different but also somewhat similar benefits: it will help satellite and rocket designers understand how fuel behaves in their tanks (and help them get all the fuel into their thrusters, effectively improving their mileage) as well as help researchers understand ocean currents (and our climate). As today is World Oceans Day let's look at the ocean currents . Like all science it is helpful for researchers to isolate factors and investigate them. It is easier to understand how light travels if you research it in a darkened room for example. With Fluidics researchers are trying to understand how water currents form and behave, without gravity influencing them. The results will isolate the factors at play and help us understand the phenomena on a larger scale. Ocean currents are important for everything from fish migration, to plastic pollution of our seas and even shipping efficiency.

Credits: ESA/NASA–T. Pesquet

607C7714