SpaceX To Launch Thor And Hacking Devices To ISS On The CRS-28 Cargo Mission Today

SpaceX is again trying to launch Crew Resupply Mission 28 or CRS-28 to the International Space Station (ISS). (photo: dock. spacex)

JAKARTA - SpaceX will again try to launch Crew Resupply Mission 28 or CRS-28 to the International Space Station (ISS), June 5 at 23:47 EDT (10:47 WIB).

This cargo delivery mission will be launched from Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, United States (US) aboard SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft.

The launch was supposed to take place on Sunday, June 4, but due to strong winds in the booster recovery zone, it was postponed. Dragon is scheduled to arrive at the ISS at 05:50 Tuesday 6 June, and will dock independently to the port of the Harmony module station zenith.

CRS-28 will supply more than 7,000 pounds of equipment, supplies needed by astronauts on the ISS, hardware for the coming months, as well as science experiments developed by various agencies, companies, and organizations from around the world.

In addition, CRS-28 will also bring the next IROSA (International Roll Out Solar Arrays Space Station) pair, with the first array launched in November 2022 and installed in the following month.

One of the science experiments CRS-28 brings is Thor belonging to the European Space Agency (ESS). Thor will observe thunderstorms in Earth's atmosphere from a distance of 250 kilometers above the surface. Thor's goal is to measure the frequency and altitude of the blue release produced by internal phenomena and structures in thunderstorms.

There is also the Genes in Space-10 experiment, a DNA experiment designed by students supported by the National Laboratory of the ISS. With this experiment, students in the seventh to 12th classes can design DNA experiments that can overcome space exploration challenges and answer questions like "Can we detect a new form of life?" and "Can living organisms help us colonize the new world?".

The new seeds were also brought by the CRS-28 mission for NASA's plant habitat project, which is an experiment used to investigate plant growth in microgravity environments.

Habitat aims to verify the adaptation of various plants to the space environment and study special ways of plants learning to thrive in a gravityless environment. The experiment will also determine whether humans can pre-adaptate plants for prolonged spaceflight.

Another payload that will be launched on CRS-28 is the Moonlighter 3U cube, which was built by The Aerospace Corporation. The Moonlighter will be the first hacking testing ground in space, serving as a sandbox that allows cybersecurity experts to test and try hacking the customs software in space.

Apart from Moonlighter, the Canadian Space Agency will deploy five cubes designed by students from the ISS. One of the customers from York University, named Essence, will observe Arctic ice for climate research purposes using a fisheye-lensed camera.

Finally, IRIS NanoRacks will observe weathering geological samples under cosmic radiation and exposure to direct solar radiation. This tool can help geologists better understand the strength of the earth's surface and the strength that satellites experience when flying in space.

Dragon is expected to spend about a month stuck on the ISS outpost, before he returns to Earth with research and returns cargo, landing off the Florida coast.

However, weather officials with the 45th Weather Squadron Cape Canaveral Space Force Station currently expect a 30 percent chance of favorable weather conditions for launches.

The main weather problems are cumulus cloud rules, aviation through participation, and surface electric field rules. This was quoted from Nasa Space Flight, Monday, June 5.