NASA ISS On-Orbit Status 18 August 2012

All ISS systems continue to function nominally, except those noted previously or below. Saturday – Crew off duty.

At wakeup, Gennady Padalka performed the routine inspection of the SM PSS Caution & Warning panel as part of regular Daily Morning Inspection.

Upon wakeup, FE-3 Joe Acaba, FE-5 Sunita Williams & FE-6 Akihiko Hoshide completed their weekly post-sleep session of the Reaction Self-Test (Psychomotor Vigilance Self-Test on the ISS) protocol, the 30th for Joe, the 9th for Suni & Aki. [RST is done twice daily (after wakeup & before bedtime) for 3 days prior to the sleep shift, the day(s) of the sleep shift and 5 days following a sleep shift. The experiment consists of a 5-minute reaction time task that allows crewmembers to monitor the daily effects of fatigue on performance while on ISS. The experiment provides objective feedback on neurobehavioral changes in attention, psychomotor speed, state stability, and impulsivity while on ISS missions, particularly as they relate to changes in circadian rhythms, sleep restrictions, and extended work shifts.]

FE-6 Hoshide had Day 3 of his 2nd (FD30) suite of sessions with the controlled Pro K diet protocol (Dietary Intake Can Predict and Protect against Changes in Bone Metabolism during Spaceflight and Recovery) with diet logging after the urine pH spot test, for a 5-day period after start of collections. After recording his diet input today, Akihiko broke out the equipment for the associated urine collections for pH value beginning tomorrow, followed by the blood sampling on Monday (8/20). [For the Pro K (Dietary Intake Can Predict and Protect against Changes in Bone Metabolism during Spaceflight and Recovery) protocol, there are five in-flight sessions (FD15, FD30, FD60, FD120, FD180) of samplings, to be shared with the NUTRITION w/Repository protocol, each one with five days of diet & urine pH logging and photography on the last day. The crewmember prepares a diet log and then annotates quantities of food packets consumed and supplements taken. Urine collections are spread over 24 hrs; samples go into the MELFI (Minus Eighty Laboratory Freezer for ISS) within 30 min after collection. Blood samples, on the last day, are centrifuged in the RC (Refrigerated Centrifuge) and placed in MELFI at -80 degC. There is an 8-hr fasting requirement prior to the blood draw (i.e., no food or drink, but water ingestion is encouraged). MELFI constraints: Maximum MELFI Dewar open time: 60 sec; at least 45 min between MELFI dewar door openings. Background on pH: In chemistry, pH (Potential Hydrogen) is a measure of the acidity or basicity of a watery solution. Pure water is neutral, with a pH close to 7.0 at 25 degC. Solutions with a pH less than 7 are “acidic” and solutions with a pH greater than 7 are “basic” or “alkaline”. pH measurements are important in medicine, biology, chemistry, agriculture, forestry, food science, environmental science, oceanography, civil engineers and many others.]

Padalka, Revin, Acaba, Malenchenko, Williams & Hoshide joined in conducting the regular weekly three-hour task of thorough cleaning of their home, including all USOS (US Orbit Segment) modules like Lab, COL (Columbus Orbital Laboratory) and Kibo JPM (JEM Pressurized Module). [“Uborka”, usually done on Saturdays, includes removal of food waste products, cleaning of compartments with vacuum cleaner, damp cleaning of the SM dining table, other frequently touched surfaces and surfaces where trash is collected, as well as the sleep stations with a standard cleaning solution; also, fan screens and grilles are cleaned to avoid temperature rises. Special cleaning is also done every 90 days on the HEPA (high-efficiency particulate air) bacteria filters in the Lab.]

As part of Uborka house cleaning, Sergei, Yuri & Gennady also completed regular weekly maintenance inspection & cleaning of fan screens in the FGB (TsV2) plus Group E fan grilles in the SM (VPkhO, FS5, FS6, VP), and the grilles of the BMP Harmful Contaminants Removal System and SKV air conditioner in the SM.

Sergei Revin started a new round of monthly preventive maintenance of RS (Russian Segment) ventilation systems. [After yesterday’s suited Orlan translation exercise in the DC1 Pirs module, Sergei changed out the DC1 PF1 & PF2 dust filter cartridges and cleaned the V1 & V2 fan screens, the VD1 & VD2 air ducts and the V3 fan screen.]

Gennady conducted the routine daily servicing of the SOZh system (Environment Control & Life Support System, ECLSS) in the SM. [Regular daily SOZh maintenance consists, among else, of checking the ASU toilet facilities, replacement of the KTO & KBO solid waste containers, replacement of EDV-SV waste water and EDV-U urine containers and filling EDV-SV, KOV (for Elektron), EDV-ZV & EDV on RP flow regulator.]

Joe Acaba performed regular (~weekly) inspection & maintenance, as required, of the CGBA-4 (Commercial Generic Bioprocessing Apparatus 4) and CGBA-5 payloads in their ERs (EXPRESS Racks) at Lab O2 & O1, focusing on cleaning the muffler air intakes.

Acaba & Williams filled out their standard FFQs (Food Frequency Questionnaires) on the MDLT (Medical Laptop). It was Joe’s 11th, Suni’s 4th. [On the FFQs, USOS astronauts keep a personalized log of their nutritional intake over time on special MDLT software. Recorded are the amounts consumed during the past week of such food items as beverages, cereals, grains, eggs, breads, snacks, sweets, fruit, beans, soup, vegetables, dairy, fish, meat, chicken, sauces & spreads, and vitamins. The FFQ is performed once a week to estimate nutrient intake from the previous week and to give recommendations to ground specialists that help maintain optimal crew health. Weekly estimation has been verified to be reliable enough that nutrients do not need to be tracked daily.]

Sunita had a time slot/placeholder reserved for making entries in her electronic Journal on the personal SSC. [Required are three journaling sessions per week.]

At ~6:50am EDT, Sergei supported a Russian PAO TV downlink, extending greetings to the freshmen of the National Research University of Electronic Technology (MIET).

At ~9:30am, the entire crew held the regular WPC (Weekly Planning Conference) 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.

At ~10:25am, Aki had his weekly PFC (Private Family Conference), via S-band/audio and Ku-band/MS-NetMeeting application (which displays the uplinked ground video on an SSC laptop).

The crew worked out on the CEVIS cycle ergometer with vibration isolation (FE-3, FE-5), TVIS treadmill with vibration isolation & stabilization (CDR, FE-2, FE-4), ARED advanced resistive exerciser (CDR, FE-3, FE-5, FE-6), T2/COLBERT advanced treadmill (FE-6), and VELO ergometer bike with load trainer (FE-2, FE-4). [FE-5 is on the special experimental SPRINT protocol which diverts from the regular 2.5 hrs per day exercise regime and introduces special daily sessions involving resistive and aerobic (interval & continuous) exercise, followed by a USND (Ultrasound) leg muscle self scan in COL. No exercise is being timelined for Friday. If any day is not completed, Suni pick up where she left off, i.e., she would be finishing out the week with the last day of exercise on her off day. Today, her SPRINT exercise started with ARED/CEVIS (resistive/aerobic continuous), with T2 (aerobic 4 min), ARED/CEVIS, T2 (aerobic, interval 30s), ARED/T2 and T2 (Kinematics, 2 min) in the following 5 days.]

Tasks listed for Revin, Malenchenko & Padalka on the Russian discretionary “time permitting” job for today were –
. A ~30-min. session for Russia’s EKON Environmental Safety Agency, making observations and taking KPT-3 aerial photography of environmental conditions on Earth using the NIKON D3X camera with the RSK-1 laptop, and
. More preparation & downlinking of reportages (written text, photos, videos) for the Roskosmos website to promote Russia’s manned space program (max. file size 500 Mb).

WRM Update: A new WRM (Water Recovery Management) “cue card” was uplinked to the crew for their reference, updated with their latest CWC (Contingency Water Container) water audit. [The new card (32-0027F) lists 13 CWCs (264.9 L total) for the five types of water identified on board: 1. Silver technical water (5 CWCs with 214 5 L); 2. Condensate water (3 CWCs with 14.0 L, plus 2 empty bags); 3. Iodinated water (3 CWCs with 36.4 L); and 4. Waste water (1 empty bag EMU waste water). Also one leaky CWC (#1024) with 8.5 L, stowed in ATV3 for disposal. No bags with Wautersia bacteria. Other CWCs are stowed behind racks and are currently not being tracked due to unchanging contents. Wautersia bacteria are typical water-borne microorganisms that have been seen previously in ISS water sources. These isolates pose no threat to human health.]

Weekly Science Update (Expedition Thirty-Two – Week 7).

2D NANO Template (JAXA): Mission completed.

3D SPACE: Complete.

ACE-1 (Advanced Colloids Experiment 1, NASA): “Joe: Thank you for your hard work photo documenting and video recording each of the four remaining ACE Samples. The photos were perfectly in focus. Great job! The PI used this image data to choose the next sample to investigate using the LMM Microscope. The PI looked for the sample that has the fewest or smallest bubble(s) in its sample wells (i.e. the sample with the best chance of being mixed well). Bubbles prohibit the rotation of the stir bars in the well.”

ALTCRISS (Alteino Long Term monitoring of Cosmic Rays on the ISS): Complete.

ALTEA SHIELD Shielding (NASA/ASI): At the time of reporting (8/16), the session#2 has progressed nominally, with 7 cumulative days of science acquisition. Also for the second measurement session, the minimum duration is 40 days, preferred duration 60 days. [Cosmic radiation consists of very small, atomic-sized particles that are flying around in space at tremendous speeds. Their energy is so high that these particles, like tiny bullets, can permeate through the complete structure of the ISS. Exposure of astronauts to cosmic radiation is risky from a medical point of view. The best way to protect our astronauts against cosmic radiation is to build the complete ISS from lead! This would solve the problem but the enormous mass can impossibly be launched into space. Therefore different materials, much lighter than lead, are being tested to be used as shielding materials. Two of those will be investigated in the ALTEA-SHIELD experiment. The effectiveness of the shielding materials will be measured on board by a set of special radiation detectors. Some detectors will be covered with tiles made of shielding materials, some others will not. We are looking forward to find out what difference it will make!”]

Amine Swingbed (NASA): The Amine Swingbed team has been troubleshooting the valve anomaly, and we appear to have identified two contributing causes for the issue: 1) the torque value on the set screws that secure the drive key into the motor gearbox is insufficient, causing the drive key to slip during valve rotation, 2) the control circuit is not providing sufficient power at the beginning of valve rotation to successfully overcome the start up torque, causing lag at the beginning of valve rotation. The Swingbed team is working to determine whether the software/firmware can be updated from the ground. The team is confident that the set screws will need to be tightened by the crew. This task will be included in a procedure to verify the position sensor integrity, as we can’t be certain that is not also contributing to the issue without the crew. The team has several reviews to complete prior to executing this task and does not anticipate being able to do so for at least 6 weeks.

AMS-02 (Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer): No report.

APEX (Advanced Plant Experiments on Orbit) -Cambium: No report.

APEX-TAGES (Transgenic Arabidopsis Gene Expression System): No report.

Asian Seed 2010 (JAXA): Returned on ULF6.

BASS (Burning and Suppression of Solids, NASA): This week we burned three candle samples in the wake orientation with Japan wax as fuel. A total of 8 tests were completed. Our focus was on establishing a flame at very low flow speeds. After manipulating the flexible igniter wire into the best configuration, Joe Acaba was easily able to ignite the candles at an air flow speed of around 2 cm/s. The flow was then reduced very slowly, and digital still images were taken at each increment. The flame tips had some visible soot, which dimmed as the air flow was reduced. Precise control of the fan is not possible at these very low speeds, and one result is that the fan abruptly shuts off when voltage is reduced too far (below about 1 cm/s). Nevertheless, we obtained a large number of novel images of candle flames burning in low-speed air flow. In the last few tests, nitrogen was turned on to try to extinguish the flame. However as previously observed with some other samples, the nitrogen actually entrains enough air to strengthen the flame rather than extinguish it.

BCAT-6(Binary Colloidal Alloy Test 6, CSA): No report. [Colloids are particles as small as a few tens of nanometers (a thousandth of a thousandth of a millimeter) that are suspended in a medium, usually a liquid or a gas. The name “colloid” comes from the Greek word for “glue”, and expresses very important properties of colloids: when small and light enough, particles can be influenced in their behavior by forces of electromagnetic origin, and make them stick together, or repel each other depending on the configuration. Colloids are widely studied in science because the forces between particles can be controlled and tuned and because particles, while being small enough to be influenced by such forces, are big and slow enough to be seen with a relatively simple and inexpensive laboratory instrument like a microscope. This is why colloids are often studied as model for molecular systems (like standard gases or liquids) where molecules, the individual constituents, are much smaller than colloids and cannot be seen with light. As mentioned, forces between colloids can be tuned giving rise to a rich variety of phenomena. One of them is aggregation, which is when particles stick together and tend to form structures. Among the many ways to induce particle aggregation, one allows to do so by controlling the temperature of the solution in which the particles are immersed, thanks to very weak forces called “critical Casimir forces” that have been predicted more than 30 years ago but just partially verified in experiments. The objective of SODI COLLOID is to measure such forces and produce a controlled aggregation of tiny plastic particles. This would allow to shed light on critical Casimir forces and to make a step towards the fabrication of new nanostructured materials with remarkable optical properties for industrial applications.]

BCAT-C1 (Binary Colloidal Alloy Test C1, CSA): “Joe and Suni: Thanks for re-establishing the camera setup on Monday, 8/13. We noted a significant improvement in focus as a result. Zoomed-in analysis (a recommended technique) reveals a small camera offset angle relative to the BCAT-C1 Slow Growth Sample Module face, affecting uniformity of focus across sample. Examination of the sample reveals an abundant presence of crystals, the color of which will probably be revealed when flash unit angle is re-adjusted in the second run. The sample homogeneity appears uniform but will be easier to verify during the second run when focus is directed specifically at the crystals during setup.”

BLB (Biolab, ESA): No report.

BIORHYTHMS 48 (Biological Rhythms, JAXA): Ground Team successfully completed the data download.

BISE (Bodies in the Space Environment, CSA): No report.

BISPHOSPHONATES: No report.

BXF-Facility (Boiling eXperiment Facility, NASA): No report.

BXF-MABE (Microheater Array Boiling Experiment, NASA): No report.

BXF-NPBX (Pool Boiling Experiment, NASA): No report.

CARD (Long Term Microgravity Model for Investigating Mechanisms of Heart Disease, ESA): No report.

CARDIOCOG-2: Complete.

CB (JAXA Clean Bench): No report.

CBEF-2 (JAXA Cell Biology Experiment Facility)/SPACE SEED: No report.

CCISS (Cardiovascular & Cerebrovascular Control on Return from ISS): No report.

CERISE (JAXA): No report.

CCF (Capillary Channel Flow, NASA): No report.

CFE-2 (Capillary Flow Experiment 2, NASA): No report.

CFS-A (Colored Fungi in Space-A, ESA): No report.

CSI-5/CGBA-5 (CGBA Science Insert #5/Commercial Generic Bioprocessing Apparatus 5): No report.

CGBA-2 (Commercial Generic Bioprocessing Apparatus 2): Complete.

CIR (Combustion Integrated Rack), MDCA/Flex: No report.

CIRCADIAN RHYTHMS (ESA): “Dear Aki, the science team confirmed the validity of the data for your first session nicely performed from 7/31 to 8/1. We thank you for your proposal to reschedule your second session over this coming weekend, to safeguard all the science objectives of our experiment!”

Commercial (Inc 23&24, JAXA): No report.

Commercial (Inc 25 & 26, JAXA): No report.

CSAC (Chip-Scale Atomic Clock, SPHERES): No report.

CSLM-2 (Coarsening in Solid-Liquid Mixtures 2): No report.

CsPins (JAXA): No report.

CubeLab: No report.