New Year 2024: just a few hours later year 2023 It will end and the world will enter 2024. Meanwhile, the International Space Station (ISS) is ready to face changes from 2023 to 2024. The special thing is that astronauts will be able to watch the New Year countdown a total of 16 times.
Due to the rapid velocity of the space station and its orbit around Earth, astronauts see approximately 16 occurrences of both sunrise and sunset in a 24-hour cycle. In this regard, NASA has said, “In 24 hours the space station makes 16 revolutions around the Earth and during this time it passes through 16 sunrises and sunsets.”
revolves around the earth in 90 minutes
The ISS revolves around the Earth every 90 minutes with a speed of about 28,000 kilometers per hour. This trajectory gives the astronauts a chance to welcome the New Year 16 times, as they cross different regions at different times during their journey.
Astronauts circle the Earth 16 times a day
ISS astronauts experience several day-night cycles every day during one Earth day. Earth experiences 12 hours of light and 12 hours of darkness, while astronauts experience 45 minutes of daylight followed by 45 minutes of darkness. This cycle runs 16 times a day, due to which there are a total of 16 sunrises and 16 sunsets on ISAA.
The frequent changes between day and night on the ISS allow astronauts to conduct experiments in areas such as microbiology and metallurgy, providing information that cannot be obtained on Earth. Apart from this, ISS expands our knowledge about the universe.
NASA said that maintaining a circadian rhythm that constantly oscillates between day and night despite adhering to Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) for a consistent schedule creates challenges.
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