NASA Space Station On-Orbit Status 12 March 2005
SpaceRef note: This NASA Headquarters internal status report, as presented here, contains additional, original material produced by SpaceRef.com (copyright © 2005) to enhance access to related status reports and NASA activities.
All ISS systems continue to function nominally, except those noted previously or below. Saturday, first weekend rest day for the crew. Today Expedition 10 completes 150 days in space (148 aboard ISS), with 44 days to go.
CDR/SO Leroy Chiao and FE Salizhan Sharipov completed the regular weekly 3-hour task of thorough station cleaning, wearing protective garment.
The crew worked another 2-hr. troubleshooting task on the Elektron oxygen generator, essentially a repeat of the gas bubble removal activities of 3/6. The issue is with gas bubbles forming, almost unavoidable in fluids in zero-G, in the recently refilled electrolyte solution (potassium hydroxide, KOH) in the Liquid Unit (BZh), not the more common bubbles in the water flow through the micropumps. [To remove the bubbles from the electrolyte loop, the crew used the external circulation assembly (UTs), which temporarily has the electrolyte flowing outside the BZh, and the nitrogen purge assembly (BPA) to pressurize the BZh slightly above ambient pressure.]
CDR/SO Chiao collected the periodic reading of the cabin air’s current CO2 partial pressure in the Service Module (SM) and Lab, using the U.S. CDMK (carbon dioxide monitoring kit), for calldown (along with the battery status) for use in trending analyses.
Leroy also completed the regular weekly maintenance reboot on the operational PCS (portable computer system) laptops and the bi-monthly restart of the OCA comm router laptop.
Sharipov performed the daily routine maintenance of the SM’s environment control & life support system (SOZh), including toilet facilities servicing. Part of today’s ECLSS maintenance was the regular checkup on the BRPK air/liquid condensate separator apparatus.
The crew performed their regular daily 2.5-hr. physical exercise program on TVIS, RED exerciser, CEVIS cycle and VELO cycle with bungee cord load trainer. [Salizhan’s daily protocol currently prescribes a four-day microcycle exercise with 1.5 hr on the treadmill and one hour on VELO (today: Day 3 of a new set).]
Leroy then transferred the daily TVIS and RED exercise data files to the MEC (medical equipment computer) for downlink, as well as the daily wristband HRM (heart rate monitor) data, followed by their erasure on the HRM storage medium.
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Previous Reports ISS On-orbit Status [HQ] |
At ~5:55am EST, the crew held their weekly teleconference with ISS Program Management at JSC/Houston via S-band/audio.
At ~9:00am EST, Chiao and Sharipov engaged in their weekly planning conference (WPC) with the ground, discussing next week’s “Look-Ahead Plan” (prepared jointly by MCC-H and TsUP/Moscow timeline planners), via S-band/audio, reviewing upcoming activities and any concerns about future on-orbit events.
Beginning this afternoon at 4:00pm, POIC (Payload Operations & Integration Center) at MSFC/Huntsville undergoes a planned power outage to perform annual systems maintenance, lasting until 3/14 (1:00am), with complete loss of voice, video and data. [Onboard, EXPRESS Racks 1 and 4 will remain powered, HCOR (high-rate communications outage recorder) will be left in “record”, and the PL MDM (Payload Multiplexer/Demultiplexer, computer) will continue its payload monitoring functions.]
Battery reconditioning on set 2B2 continues with no issues so far. Reconditioning of set 2B3 is targeted for April and of 2B1 for early June, after LF-1. [Nickel hydrogen batteries can develop and display memory loss resulting in a temporary loss of capacity that should be periodically erased by cycling all material via fully discharging and charging cells ( reconditioning ).]
Weekly Science Update (Expedition Ten — 19th):
GASMAP: Another health check is planned for next week.
Human Research Facility/Workstation (HRF WS): Continuing.
Advanced Ultrasound (ADUM): The crew was thanked for their participation in the ADUM session this week. There will be one more session for Expedition 10.
Hand Posture Analyzer (HPA: Nothing new.
In-Space Soldering Investigation (ISSI): Operations are complete. –>For a descriptive article on ISSI background & early surprising results, see AIAA’s “Aerospace America” Magazine, March 2005 issue (page 24)
Pore Formation and Mobility Investigation (PFMI): Nothing new.
Space Acceleration Measurement System (SAMS): SAMS remains in nominal operations.
Microgravity Acceleration Measurement System (MAMS): MAMS remains in nominal operations.
Protein Crystal Growth-Single Locker Thermal Enclosure System (PCG-STES): PCG-STES is performing nominally.
Protein Crystal Growth Monitoring by Digital Holographic Microscope (PromISS): Nothing new.
Investigating the Structure of Paramagnetic Aggregates from Colloidal Emulsions (InSPACE): Nothing new.
Binary Colloidal Alloy Test-3 (BCAT-3): The ground is in the process of reviewing the images downlinked from last “Saturday Science” session.
Renal Stone (RS): Nothing new.
Synchronized Position Hold, Engage, Reorient, Experimental Satellites (SHERES): Nothing new.
Foot/Ground Reaction Forces during Space Flight (FOOT): Nothing new.
Materials ISS Experiment (MISSE): In progress. Deployed outside on the U.S. Airlock. Nominal and collecting data.
Cellular Biotechnology Support Systems-Fluid Dynamics Investigation (CBOSS-FDI): Nothing new.
Dust and Aerosol Measurement Feasibility Test (DAFT): The DAFT team is in the process of analyzing the downlinked data.
Biotechnology Specimen Temperature Controller (BSTC): Nothing new.
Yeast Group Activation Packs (Yeast GAP): Nothing new.
Earth Knowledge Acquired by Middle School Students (EarthKAM): Nothing new.
Earth Science Toward Exploration Research (ESTER): Nothing new.
Serial Network Flow Monitor (SNFM): Nothing new.
Fluid Merging Viscosity Measurement (FMVM): Looking forward to future operations with honey samples.
Space Experiment Module (SEM): Nothing new.
Viscous Liquid Foam–Bulk Metallic Glass (Foam): Nothing new.
Effects of Prolonged Space Flight on Human Skeletal Muscle (BIOPSY): Nothing new.
Coarsening in Solid-Liquid Mixtures-2 (CSLM-2): Planned.
Commercial Generic Bioprocessing Apparatus (CGBA): Nothing new.
Miscible Fluids in Microgravity (MFMG): Nothing new.
Educational Payload Operations (EPO): Nothing new.
Capillary Flow Experiment (CFE): Nothing new.
Crew Earth Observations (CEO): To date the ground has received 11,985 CEO images from the current Increment. Although weather and lighting have worked against CEO in recent weeks, overall “the crew has been very responsive to ground requests” and acquired a lot of useful imagery so far. They were thanked for spectacular views of Betsiboka River Delta in Madagascar received this week.
Today’s CEO (crew earth observations) photo targets, limited in the current XPOP attitude by flight rule constraints on the use of the science window, which is available for only ~1/4 of each orbit when not facing forward (in ram), were Tropical Cyclone Willy, Indian Ocean (Dynamic Event. Willy continues to move SW into the Indian Ocean. The storm should exhibit excellent flow banding; however an eye is not currently visible in weather satellite data. Looking to the right of track for the center of the storm system), Offshore Flow, southern Africa (Dynamic Event. Season wind patterns in southern Africa cause strong offshore winds that frequently move significant dust off the coast. Looking to either side of track along the African coastline for dust fronts and well-defined dust plumes), and Dust Plume, Cape Verde Islands (Dynamic Event. A large dust plume is visible in weather satellite imagery extending westwards past the Cape Verde Islands. Looking to the left of track approximately 100 miles west of the islands for a visible dust front edge. For dust plume targets over water, overlapping mapping swaths are desirable to link images back to shoreline or island geographic reference points).
CEO photography can be viewed and studied at the websites:
- http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov
- http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov
- http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Study/AstronautPhotography/
See also the website “Space Station Challenge” at:
To view the latest photos taken by the expedition 10 crew visit:
- http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/images/station/crew-10/ndxpage1.html at NASA’s Human Spaceflight website.
Expedition 10 Flight Crew Plans can be found at http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/station/timelines/
Previous NASA ISS On-orbit Status Reports can be found here. Previous NASA Space Station Status Reports can be found here. Previous NASA Space Shuttle Processing Status Reports can be found here. A collection of all of these reports and other materials relating to Return to Flight for the Space Shuttle fleet can be found here.
Upcoming Key Events:
- Reboost — 3/25 (5:00am EST; ~1.65 m/s);
- EVA-13 — 3/25 (could slip to 3/28);
- Soyuz TMA-6 (10S) launch — 4/15 with Expedition 11 (CDR Sergei Krikalev, FE/SO John Phillips);
- Soyuz TMA-5 (9S) undocking — 4/25 with Exp. 10 crew (after 193 days on orbit, 191 days on board ISS);
- LF1 (STS-114) — NET 5/12;
- Progress M-53 (18P) launch — 6/10;
- ULF1.1 (STS-121) — NET 7/10;
- Progress M-54 (19P) launch — 8/24;
- Soyuz TMA-7 (11S) launch — 9/27.
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ISS Orbit (as of this morning, 7:56am EST [= epoch]):
- Mean altitude — 356.7 km
- Apogee height — 359.2 km
- Perigee height — 354.2 km
- Period — 91.68 min.
- Inclination (to Equator) — 51.65 deg
- Eccentricity — 0.0003711
- Solar Beta Angle — 30.5 deg (magnitude decreasing)
- Orbits per 24-hr. day — 15.71
- Mean altitude loss in last 24 hours — 120 m
- Revolutions since FGB/Zarya launch (Nov. 98) — 36048
ISS Altitude History
Apogee height — Mean Altitude — Perigee height
For more on ISS orbit and worldwide ISS naked-eye visibility dates/times, see http://www.hq.nasa.gov/osf/station/viewing/issvis.html. In addition, information on International Space Station sighting opportunities can be found at http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/sightings/ on NASA’s Human Spaceflight website. The current location of the International Space Station can be found at http://science.nasa.gov/temp/StationLoc.html at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center. Additional satellite tracking resources can be found at http://www.spaceref.com/iss/tracking.html.
