Design World

  • Home
  • Articles
    • 3D CAD
    • Electronics • electrical
    • Fastening & Joining
    • Factory automation
    • Linear Motion
    • Motion Control
    • Test & Measurement
    • Sensors
  • 3D CAD Models
    • PARTsolutions
    • TraceParts
  • Leadership
    • 2020 Winners
    • 2019 Winners
    • LEAP Awards
  • Resources
    • Subscribe
    • DIGITAL ISSUES
      • EE World Digital Issues
    • Future of Design Engineering
    • LEAP Awards
    • MC² Motion Control Classroom
    • Motion Design Guide Library
    • Podcasts
    • Suppliers
    • Webinars
  • Women in Engineering
  • Ebooks / Tech Tips
  • Videos
  • COVID-19

Elf on the International Space Station

By European Space Agency | December 21, 2018

Share

There is no escaping the holidays, even in space.

Though the crew celebrates together on the International Space Station, it is still hard to be away from family during festive times. Astronauts are encouraged to bring along items to make their time more comfortable and homely.

One such item, the famous elf of the popular children’s book Elf on the Shelf, accompanied NASA astronaut Anne McClain to the International Space Station.

The popular tradition of Elf on the Shelf involves placing the elf in a different spot in the home every day in the lead up to Christmas.

In this image tweeted by Anne from her home for the next six months, the elf poses next to MELFI, the Minus Eighty Lab Freezer for ISS.

Built by ESA and transferred to NASA and JAXA, MELFI is a versatile storage freezer. The four compartments can be set at different temperatures ranging from −98 °C to +4 °C to preserve biological samples such as blood and urine that will be returned to Earth.

Building a freezer that can reach such cold temperatures while meeting other standards for operation on board the Space Station was not an easy feat. The facility must be reliable and easy to maintain, energy efficient, quiet, and have little effect on the Space Station’s microgravity environment.

A closed thermodynamic loop using nitrogen gas and a Brayton Machine rotating at over 90,000 revolutions per minute was selected to meet these requirements.

Nitrogen gas is an ideal cooling agent as it abundant, odourless, and nonreactive. In the closed system, nitrogen gas is compressed, cooled, and expanded through tubes surrounding the compartments. It exchanges heat with everything it comes into contact with, which accelerates the cooling.

But just how cold is −98 °C? According to Anne, “those are cold temperatures – colder than the North Pole.”

There are 3 MELFIs on the International Space Station that were launched in 2006, 2009 and 2010, so MELFI has been in operation on the Space station for 12 years now, surpassing its expected 10-year service life.

MOTION DESIGN GUIDES

“motion

“motion

“motion

“motion

“motion

“motion

Enews Sign Up

Motion Control Classroom

Design World Digital Edition

cover

Browse the most current issue of Design World and back issues in an easy to use high quality format. Clip, share and download with the leading design engineering magazine today.

EDABoard the Forum for Electronics

Top global problem solving EE forum covering Microcontrollers, DSP, Networking, Analog and Digital Design, RF, Power Electronics, PCB Routing and much more

EDABoard: Forum for electronics

Sponsored Content

  • Drilling rig OEM benefits from a PLC with edge computing technology: IIoT case study
  • The industry shift to smart electromechanical actuators
  • Commemorating a great entrepreneurial personality – Oskar Lapp at 100 – A pioneer for the future
  • SE motor – uncompromised motion performance
  • With virtual commissioning, commissioning time and prototype waste is reduced
  • Master Bond Supreme 10HT High strength, NASA low outgassing approved epoxy
Engineering Exchange

The Engineering Exchange is a global educational networking community for engineers.

Connect, share, and learn today »

Tweets by @DesignWorld
Design World
  • Advertising
  • About us
  • Contact
  • Manage your Design World Subscription
  • Subscribe
  • Design World Digital Network
  • Engineering White Papers
  • LEAP AWARDS

Copyright © 2021 WTWH Media, LLC. All Rights Reserved. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of WTWH Media. Site Map | Privacy Policy | RSS

Search Design World

  • Home
  • Articles
    • 3D CAD
    • Electronics • electrical
    • Fastening & Joining
    • Factory automation
    • Linear Motion
    • Motion Control
    • Test & Measurement
    • Sensors
  • 3D CAD Models
    • PARTsolutions
    • TraceParts
  • Leadership
    • 2020 Winners
    • 2019 Winners
    • LEAP Awards
  • Resources
    • Subscribe
    • DIGITAL ISSUES
      • EE World Digital Issues
    • Future of Design Engineering
    • LEAP Awards
    • MC² Motion Control Classroom
    • Motion Design Guide Library
    • Podcasts
    • Suppliers
    • Webinars
  • Women in Engineering
  • Ebooks / Tech Tips
  • Videos
  • COVID-19