diana Posted February 4, 2004 Share Posted February 4, 2004 NASA Space Station On-Orbit Status 1 Feb 2004<P> "After a visual inspection of the three GCF-02 crystallization unitsinside the powered-down CGBA, the crew took shots of them with theNikon D1 digital camera for subsequent downlink to MCC-M/TsUP via OCA,preparatory to subsequent power-up of the CGBA by Mike Foale, to keepit at 20 degC."<P> <ahref="http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewsr.html?pid=11741">http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewsr.html?pid=11741</a><P> <ahref="http://leovilletownsquare.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=&Number=453489">Nikonfanatics at Leoville</a><P> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eric friedemann Posted February 4, 2004 Share Posted February 4, 2004 To say NASA uses a Nikon D1 is like saying that stock car drivers race "stock cars." It would be interesting to know how many of the parts on NASA's DSLRs would be found on an Earthbound D1. In any event, yes, NASA has been using Nikons since the Nikon FTn back in the 1960s. Hasselblad also shares this honor.<div></div> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jt991 Posted February 4, 2004 Share Posted February 4, 2004 all very well ... but what I`d really like to know is what are a /the CGBA, MCC-M/TsUP and OCA for goodness sake ? (Not that I`m about to buy a D1 .. more likely an F2AS as a back-up for my F3....) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
discpad Posted February 4, 2004 Share Posted February 4, 2004 Widelux shares the honor, too, back in the glory days of Apollo... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eric friedemann Posted February 4, 2004 Share Posted February 4, 2004 Interesting, I hadn't known about Widelux use by NASA. There are some online references to NASA Widelux pix, but the only online Widelux NASA images appear to be in proprietary databases. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patrick smith Posted February 4, 2004 Share Posted February 4, 2004 To answer the question about the CGBA and the MCC-M/TsUP: The CGBA is described by its manufacturer as, "Isothermal Containment Module version 3 (ICM v.3) is used to house a variety of experiment hardware inserts. Temperature can be controlled between 4°C and 37°C for each of the 8 experiment insert volumes individually with variable profiles throughout the mission. Computer control enables experiments to be conducted autonomously. Command and telemetry capabilities also allow real-time ground-based data monitoring and remote operation." It is manufactured by BioServe Space Technologies. I think the MCC-M/TsUP is some sort of communications link between spacecraft and ground control, but I couldn't find anything useful out about it. Hope this helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eric friedemann Posted February 4, 2004 Share Posted February 4, 2004 Thanks for clearing that up, Patrick. I would have been lying awake wondering about that tonight. ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patrick smith Posted February 4, 2004 Share Posted February 4, 2004 I'm glad. I simply couldn't let anyone go without knowing what some esoteric piece of scientific equipment did. I'm just kidding. By the way, I hope that the D1 NASA is using has been modified. DSLR technology has maybe moved on just a little since the D1 came out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kurt_raschke Posted February 4, 2004 Share Posted February 4, 2004 MCC-M is Mission Control, Moscow. TsUP is an acronym in Russian for the same thing. The OCA is the Orbiter Communications Adapter, more-or-less a laptop PC (an IBM Thinkpad, as I recall) with specialized hardware designed for voice and video communications with the ground. -Kurt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
haris_ashraf Posted February 4, 2004 Share Posted February 4, 2004 While we are taking about Space Hardware Aronyms (SHA), CBGA stands for Commercial Generic Processing Apparatus. It is a box about 12"Hx24"x24" which is kept at a constant temperature (thus the term isothemal) and is used for life science research in microgravity environment (mainly on MIR, Shuttle and Space Station). When I was getting my Masters in Aerospace Engineering I was involved in some of its thermal control design. Bioserve is associated with University of Colorado Boulder. Area around Boulder offers some spectacular photo opportunities, if one is interested in landscape, wintersport or mountaineering photography. Normen Koren (www.normankoren.com also lives in Boulder. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roto Posted February 6, 2004 Share Posted February 6, 2004 Inside the ISS the environmental conditions are (apart from gravity, or lack thereof) the same as in your office. The D1 is certainly a standard one, with no modification. I flew my F5 in zero-G, during an ESA parabolic flight campaign last year in Bordeaux (France): it operated perfectly both at 0 g and in 1.8 g (during the pull-up phase). <p>If you don't know what a parabolic flight is, look <a href=http://www.novespace.com/VEnglish/Microgravity_a/microgravity.htm>here</a>.<div></div> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dennis_oconnor2 Posted February 6, 2004 Share Posted February 6, 2004 The ISS is a shirt sleeve environment, not the surface of the moon... Why would the D1 need modification? denny Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eric friedemann Posted February 6, 2004 Share Posted February 6, 2004 It needs padding in case it gets loose and hits someone in the head. ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
berg_na Posted February 6, 2004 Share Posted February 6, 2004 NASA modified a Nikon F4 and flew this prototype way before digital SLRs were developed for commercial use. I think that a complete technical description of the camera electronics, including all the schematics, is in the public domain.<div></div> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
diana Posted February 17, 2004 Author Share Posted February 17, 2004 NASA related cartoons:<P> Who repaired Spirit:<P> <a href="http://images.chron.com/content/chronicle/comics/archive/2004/2/10/Rose.344.g.gif">http://images.chron.com/content/chronicle/comics/archive/2004/2/10/Rose.344.g.gif</a><P> Photos from NASA (hacked!) Foxtrot<P> <a href="http://images.ucomics.com/comics/ft/2004/ft040215.gif">http://images.ucomics.com/comics/ft/2004/ft040215.gif</a><P> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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