KENNEDY SPACE CENTER — Northrop Grumman launched a variety of scientific experiments and equipment – including a surgical robot and a 3D cartilage cell culture – to the International Space Station on Tuesday. Skywatchers on Florida’s east coast – including portions of the Treasure Coast – watched the launch under clear skies, followed by a booster landing accompanied with a thunderous-like sonic boom.
The liftoff was part of Northrop Grumman’s 20th Commercial Resupply Services mission, NASA officials said. Viewers on the Space and Treasure coasts can soon expect to see more launches, including the SpaceX Crew 8 launch slated for Feb. 22.
Northrop Grumman officials named the recent mission after NASA Astronaut Patricia “Patty” Hilliard Robertson, a medical doctor, pilot and space medicine fellow who died in a plane crash in 2001.
Northrop Grumman, SpaceX and NASA coordinated the event. The Cygnus cargo spacecraft – manufactured by Northrop Grumman – launched at 12:07 p.m. atop a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Launch Complex 40.
Cygnus will reach the space station in two days, NASA officials said. This marks the seventh launch for SpaceX this year.
The cargo is carrying more than 8,200 pounds of supplies to the space station. The spacecraft will deliver the first surgical robot on the space station, an orbit reentry platform that collects thermal protection systems data and a 3D cartilage cell culture that will help astronauts keep healthy cartilage in microgravity, NASA officials said.
The cargo also has a metal 3D printer that will test the capability for printing small metal parts. The MSTIC facility – Manufacturing of Semiconductors and Thin-film Integrated Coatings – is another science experiment headed to space.
The facility – developed by Redwire Space based in Jacksonville – has a manufacturing capability to make high-quality, lower cost semiconductor chips at a fast rate, NASA officials said. The semiconductors are a critical component that function many of the tools people use every day including smartphones, computers, vehicles and medical devices, Redwire Space officials said.
MSTIC also has an autonomous manufacturing capability that can replace several machines and processes that are required to create semiconductor devices.
“The true potential of manufacturing in space lies in the unique conditions of space. Producing films in orbit could lead to significantly improved crystal structures, minimizing irregularities often seen in earth-based manufacturing,” Tere Riley, director of marketing and communications for Redwire Space, told VeroNews. “This could mean films with more uniform thickness, enhanced conductivity, and greater efficiency, ultimately boosting the performance of the devices they’re used in.”
The Cygnus spacecraft will remain at the space station until July, when it will descend back to earth and burn up in the atmosphere, NASA officials said.
