Sultan Al Neyadi asks public to explain physics problem on space station

The Emirati astronaut demonstrates how objects move in unusual ways

UAE astronaut Sultan Al Neyadi has shared his first selfies taken from inside the International Space Station. Photo: Sultan Al Neyadi Twitter

UAE astronaut Sultan Al Neyadi has asked people to explain a rare physics event that took place on the International Space Station.

He was seen spinning an iPad three times but on the last spin the device rotated in different directions as opposed to the constant movement on the first two occasions.

Dr Al Neyadi, 41, demonstrated the intermediate axis theorem in space, also known as the Dzhanibekov effect or the Tennis Racket Theorem, which was discovered by Soviet cosmonaut Vladimir Dzhanibekov on the MIR space station in 1985.

"This question is for the smart ones," he said in a video posted on his Twitter on Monday. "An object's movement is as shown in these three cases.

"Have you noticed that in the third case, the direction of movement kept on changing unlike the first two cases where the direction remained the same. Can you tell me why?"

The theory states that objects, except for ones that are circular and square, have two axes and when that object rotates, it spins in a stable condition.

But when the rotation happens around the intermediate axis, it is unstable, causing it to spin in a different direction than expected.

And when this is done in microgravity, the physics phenomenon is even more fascinating.

Dr Al Neyadi arrived on the ISS on March 3 for a six-month stay and has already begun some of the 219 science experiments assigned to him by Nasa and UAE universities.

He harvested tomatoes that were planted by a Nasa astronaut in December, as part of a botany investigation and also for crew consumption.

Fresh supplies are being sent on Wednesday on a SpaceX cargo resupply mission, which will deliver experiments, food and other items to the new astronauts on board.

There were 11 people on the ISS, but four departed this weekend and landed safely back on Earth.

Crew members include station commander Sergey Prokopyev, flight engineer Dmitri Petelin, both from Roscosmos, and Nasa flight engineer Frank Rubio.

They were supposed to return to Earth last month but the Soyuz spacecraft on which they had arrived suffered severe damage from a micrometeorite.

A replacement Soyuz was sent and will bring the astronauts back home in September.

This means the crew will complete a year in space and replacements will be sent as they return.

On May 12, four private astronauts, including two from Saudi Arabia, will travel to the ISS for a 10-day stay.

The Axiom-2 mission will lift off on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida.

The Saudi astronauts are Ali Al Qarni and Rayyanah Barnawi, who is set to become the first Arab woman in space.

This will bring the number of Arabs in space together simultaneously to a record of three.

Sultan Al Neyadi's life on the International Space Station - in pictures