health care
This common fluid shift causes astronauts to feel congested, giving them a "puffy face" and "bird legs" syndrome.
What is fluid shift to the head?
This 3-letter acronym refers to the 31 satellites orbiting the Earth that provide position, velocity, and time.
What is GPS?
This space telescope, launched in late 2021, is NASA's powerful infrared observatory, named for a former NASA administrator.
What is the James Webb Space Telescope
This element, with the symbol H, is highly effective at shielding against cosmic rays and is found in high amounts in polyethylene plastic.
What is Hydrogen?
Because of the lack of gravity-driven convection, this commonly observed, tear-shaped phenomenon becomes spherical in space, allowing scientists to study its fundamental physics.
What is a flame?
Due to lack of gravity, astronauts lose density in these, making exercise mandatory.
What are bones?
While we use it on Earth, the primary purpose of GPS is to help spacecraft determine this, which is their path through space.
What is their trajectory (or location/position)?
Webb's ability to see infrared light allows it to peer through cosmic dust to study the early universe and star formation, unlike Hubble's focus on visible light.
Why is Webb an infrared telescope? / What wavelengths does Webb observe?
To protect against solar particle events (SPEs), astronauts might retreat to this heavily shielded, small area of the spacecraft.
What is a storm shelter (or bunker)?
This term refers to the "weightless" environment where astronauts live, allowing for experiments on how liquids and particles behave without buoyancy or sedimentation.
What is microgravity?
This is the most common illness reported by astronauts during their first few days in space.
What is Space Motion Sickness?
GPS satellites operate in this type of orbit, located roughly 11,000 miles above the Earth's surface.
What is Medium Earth Orbit
This is the name of the European rocket that successfully launched James Webb space telescope from French Guiana in December 2021.
What is the Ariane 5?
On long-term missions to the Moon or Mars, scientists plan to use this, covering habitats with several feet of it to block radiation.
What is soil?
Located on the ISS, this device is considered the coldest place in the universe and uses lasers to study the quantum properties of atoms.
What is the Cold Atom Lab?
This device, often used on Earth for imaging, is crucial on the ISS for checking eyes, heart, and musculoskeletal health in microgravity.
What is an ultrasound?
To calculate a 3D position, a GPS receiver in space or on Earth needs to receive signals from a minimum of this many satellites.
What is four?
The James Webb Space Telescope's giant primary mirror is made of 18 hexagonal segments coated in this precious yellow metal to reflect infrared light.
What is gold?
The International Space Station (ISS) utilises this, a protective bubble around Earth, to stay within safe radiation limits.
What is the magnetic field (or magnetosphere)?
In the absence of container contamination, this technique allows scientists to melt and solidify materials while floating, leading to the creation of better semiconductors.
What is container less processing (or levitation)?
This term describes the loss of red blood cell mass often seen in astronauts returning from long-duration missions.
What is space anemia?
The U.S. GPS system is owned by this branch of the U.S. Armed Forces and operated by Space Delta 31.
What is the United States Space Force?
The size of a tennis court, this multi-layered shield keeps the telescope's instruments freezing cold by blocking heat from the Sun, Earth, and Moon.
What is the sunshield?
While lead is a common shield on Earth, hydrogen-rich materials are preferred in space to avoid creating this, a secondary shower of radiation.
What is bremsstrahlung?
This phenomenon, where differences in surface tension cause fluid flow, can be studied in isolation in space, helping to explain complex heat transfer in the universe.
What is Marangoni convection?