Welcome to CIRiS

CIRiS is a department of NTNU Samfunnsforskning AS with the mandate to promote and perform research and development relevant to the human exploration of space. The main activities are related to plant research activities onboard the International Space Station (ISS).

Human Spaceflight and Society

History shows that access to new transport technologies, new territories and resources, affects our view of the world and the society we live in. At CIRiS we are focusing on how human exploration and exploitation of space can and will affect our civilization.

International Space Station

Today, the ISS is a beautiful reality, an international accomplishment that Norway, through ESA, is proudly taking part of. The ESA Columbus laboratory is a key contribution to an endeavour that has brought humanity to live and work in space uninterruptedly for almost a decade.

CIRiS contributes on a daily basis to this endeavour through support to the utilization and operation of the ISS research facilities and experiments.

Regenerative life support systems

The vast distances to be travelled when exploring space, makes it both economically and practically necessary to develop new concepts to supply the required consumables to the astronauts.

Today, life support systems with the necessary regenerative functions hold the best promise to fulfil the ancient dream of permanent presence of humans on other planets and in deep space.

Agricultural Research

CIRiS maintains high-quality research and development capability through applied agricultural research projects. Together with established partners we perform chemical, biological and microbiological analyses of plant material.

CIRiS contributes to a better understanding of plant health and crop yield through field and greenhouse experiments and research facilities with controlled environments.

Image of the day from NASA

Haze over Santiago, Chile After Quake

Haze lingered over the metropolitan area of Santiago, Chile, following a magnitude 8.8 earthquake on February 27, 2010. In an image from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA's Terra satellite at 14:25 UTC, black smoke hung over the northern part of the city, while light-colored haze (perhaps pollution and/or dust) covered the southern part of the city and filled a canyon that cuts eastward into the mountains.

rsaquo, Earth Observatory: View Before And After Comparison

rarr, Image Credit: NASA

News

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Vessel ID Sys succesfully powered up »
On June 3rd the Vessel ID System, with the ship-traffic surveillance system AIS included, was powered up on-board the Internatinal Space Station (ISS) for the first time ever. Read more »

Vessel ID Sys assembled inside the ISS »
Vessel ID Sys, the Norwegian/Luxembourgian ship tracking payload is one step closer to operation onboard the International Space Station. Read more »

Norsk teknologi med Atlantis til ISS »
Da romferja Atlantis koblet seg til ISS onsdag 18. november, var et norsk teknologieksperiment med i lasten. Eksperimentet skal styres fra CIRiS kontrollrom på Dragvoll. Read more »