Jane Edwards
Northrop Grumman
plans to launch no earlier than Nov. 15 its Cygnus spacecraft to bring scientific experiments, equipment and supplies to the International Space Station.
Cygnus will take off aboard Northrop’s Antares rocket from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia as part of the company’s 10th cargo resupply services mission, the space agency said Thursday.
Some of the scientific payloads aboard the spacecraft will support an investigation into the cement solidification process; a test of the first 3D printer and recycling platform designed to convert plastic waste into filament to develop new materials; and research into a mathematical model that aims to determine how an astronaut’s body position, distance and motion perception changes in space.
Cygnus will also carry cargo related to an astrophysics investigation into the formation of chondrules and research that aims to assess a process used to make fiber optic cables in space.
Northrop completed the ninth cargo resupply mission in July two months after Cygnus took off to deliver approximately 7.4K pounds of experiments and crew supplies to the orbiting laboratory.
