I have a confession to make...

I tried to resist. I really did. But somewhere in the middle of spring break I caved and bought it.

Two of my favorite people

Bruce Springsteen performing Working on a Dream last Thursday on The Daily Show With Jon Stewart:

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	M - Th 11p / 10c
Bruce Springsteen - Working on a Dream
comedycentral.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Important Things w/ Demetri Martin Political Humor

That's not TANG they're drinking

The crew of Space Shuttle Discovery has just finished their 8th day in orbit. The highlight of the day was a completion of the mission's 3rd spacewalk, which had two astronauts outside of the shuttle for 6.5 hours.

One of the snags that this mission to the International Space Station has encountered has to do with the station's Urine Processor Assembly:

Two hundred and fifty miles above the Earth puts you a long way from the nearest kitchen tap. And at $15,000 a pint, the cost of shipping fresh water aboard the space shuttle is, well, astronomical.

So astronauts on the International Space Station have to recapture every possible drop. That includes water evaporated from showers, shaving, tooth brushing and hand washing, plus perspiration and water vapor that collects within the astronauts' space suits. They even transfer water from the fuel cells that provide electric power to the space shuttle.

And, since last November, they are able to tap a previously unused source of water: the astronauts' own urine.

The Water Recovery System...can transform ordinary pee into water so pure it rivals the cleanest on Earth.
[...]
Under the new system, urine undergoes an initial distillation process and then joins the rest of the recovered fluids in the water processor. The processor filters out solids such as hair and lint and then sends the wastewater through a series of multifiltration beds, in which contaminants are removed through adsorption and ion exchange.

"What's left over in the water are a few non adsorbing organics and solvents, like nail polish remover, and they go into a reactor that breaks them all down to carbon dioxide, water and a few ions," said [David] Hand, a professor of civil and environmental engineering.

After a final check for microbes, the water is again clean and ready to drink.

According to a post from yesterday on NASA's shuttle mission blog:

International Space Station Commander Mike Fincke just replaced a filter assembly in the Urine Processor Assembly (UPA). Mission Control hopes this will increase the rate of urine flowing into the UPA, after a slower-than-expected rate was noted earlier today. This issue is not related to the newly-installed Distillation Assembly.

Fincke is filling the UPA with urine and, if all goes well, will begin to process a sample. It takes four to five hours to process a complete sample.

Apparently the processor was experiencing a slower-than-expected output a few days ago. Hopefully Mr. Fincke will get the thing filled (in whatever manner he and NASA deem is appropriate) and output levels will be better. And we can all marvel at the wonders of space age technology. Now let's just hope that the good folks at Dasani don't get ahold of this technology.

(And, for those of you keeping score, this is now the second time this blog has made reference to peeing astronauts...I think I might need counseling.)

Daily Recap: Monday, 3/23

Welcome back! I hope everyone had a relaxing and enjoyable spring break...

Investigating Technologies:
Today was the first day in our last Suite rotation of the school year. We should have interval one finished by the middle part of next week.

Anatomy and Physiology:
Today was the first day for the rat lab. We spent most of the periods going over introductory information. There was some time at the end of class to begin the "Introduction" unit. Don't forget that everything you need to complete the rat activities (with the exception of the dissection manuals) is available on the course website. This includes answer keys. Also, don't forget to check out the introductory podcast for this unit. We will be working on the rats for the next several weeks.

Biology:
We began our unit covering taxonomy and classification by discussing why classification is important in biology. We also gave some examples of things that are classified by people on a daily basis. There was time at the end of the period to begin working on tomorrow's assignment, which is to read textbook section 17.1. The reading strategy is students' choice.

Update on Discovery

The crews of Space Shuttle Discovery and the International Space Station have both been busy since Sunday's launch. Discovery's primary mission is to deliver the last set of solar panels to the space station. This will increase the amount of power available up there for scientific experiments. They are about halfway through their two-week mission, and here's a short recap of what's been going on:

Sunday evening: launch

Monday: One of the biggest jobs on Monday was to use specialized cameras mounted on the shuttle's robotic arm to inspect the exterior of the shuttle for any damage that was sustained during launch.

Tuesday: On Tuesday Discovery docked with the International Space Station. The two crews exchanged personnel...one astronaut will be leaving the ISS after several months in orbit and returning to earth aboard Discovery. One member of Discovery's crew will stay aboard the ISS when Discovery departs. (It's like a space version of "Red Rover".)

Wednesday: The shuttle and space station worked together to unload a "truss" which will support the new solar panels.

Thursday: Two astronauts performed a 6-hour spacewalk to install the truss that was deployed on Wednesday.

Friday: The new solar wings were deployed on Friday. They will be installed during later spacewalks.

Saturday: A second spacewalk, this time lasting 6.5 hours. The objectives of this one appeared to be some work in preparation for later missions to the ISS.

Sunday: The shuttle and space station performed a maneuver today that slowed down their combined orbit slightly. This was important to allow them to "dodge" a 4-inch piece of space debris. The third and final scheduled spacewalk will happen tomorrow.

NASA's website has a ton of great information and pictures of this (and other) missions. It's definitely worth taking some time to check it out. Also, if you're really interested in this stuff, there's a 45 minute animated video on YouTube that details the entire mission.