XA/EVA Project Office Weekly Activity Report March 8, 2001
STS-109 Hubble Space Telescope (HST) Servicing Mission 3B Baseline
STS-109 HST Servicing Mission 3B was baselined at the EVA Configuration Control Board (CCB). The Hubble Space Telescope (HST) servicing mission 3B will upgrade the telescope’s science capability, make repairs, and life and performance extending changes. There will be five scheduled EVA’s conducted to: replace the current solar arrays with new rigid arrays, replace the malfunctioning Power Controller Unit (PCU), install the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) and to install the Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer (NICMOS) cooling system. There are two unscheduled EVA’s for completion of the scheduled EVA tasks and deploy contingencies and one contingency EVA reserved for the orbiter. The five EVA’s will be conducted back-to-back by two sets of EVA crewmembers. Currently two of the EVA’s (the first solar array EVA and the PCU EVA) exceed the 6 hours and 30 minutes planning guideline. The EVA Assessment Team evaluation is scheduled for late May 2001. At that time, the timelines will be reassessed to determine if all the scheduled tasks can be accommodated within the five EVA’s available on the mission.
STS-102 Heated Glove Anomaly
A post thermal vacuum chamber test inspection revealed a condition on a pair of heated Phase VI gloves that indicated a design flaw. The anomaly that was discovered allows for the over heating of the heater foils which are integral to the glove. This condition resulted in deformation of the urethane bladders in the gloves. Gloves manifested for STS-102 were exonerated by the fact that the heaters had not been operated for a period which would allow for this condition. The concern during on-orbit use was addressed by managing to a “heater-on” duty cycle. By managing the duty cycle the gloves will not reach temperatures sufficient to damage the bladder, which is the pressure retention layer of the glove. In addition, it is not anticipated that the crew will utilize the heated gloves for this thermally benign flight. This operational plan for STS-102 is conservative and provides for the safe use of glove heaters if they are required and was presented at the STS-102 Flight Readiness Review on February 27, 2001. The gloves will be modified for future flights to eliminate this design flaw.
ISS Joint Airlock Bench Review
EVA Project Office personnel coordinated with the ISS 7A Launch Package Manager, USA FCE/EVA, and members of the crew office to successfully complete a bench review for EVA and EVA support items that are being launched in the ISS Joint Airlock on mission ISS-7A. The event, which occurred on Friday, March 2, 2001, was held in Houston at the USA FCE/EVA facility. From the EVA prospective, the overall goal of the Airlock Bench Review was to include as many Increment EVA support items as possible in the joint airlock to relieve the STS-104 middeck locker stowage area of this equipment. This goal was met, as virtually all of the possible Increment EVA support and ISS-2/ISS-3 candidate EVA equipment for this stow was successfully packaged in the bench review. STS-104/7A will mark the single largest launching of ISS EVA equipment planned in the program. This flight, along with equipment launched on ISS-6A and ISS-7A.1, will completely outfit the ISS Joint Airlock and ISS as necessary to support Increment and Assembly flight EVA’s
EMU Executive Program Review
On March 1, 2001, NASA, Hamilton Sundstrand and USA participated in the quarterly EMU Executive Program Review. The review was co-chaired by EVA Project Manager, Gregory Harbaugh and Hamilton Sundstrand President, Edward Francis. The full-day review concentrated on out briefs related to recent mishaps and quality concerns at Hamilton Sundstrand facilities. In summary, at least one internal and two external audits are nearing conclusion and a final list of corrective actions are in development. Preliminary results of the audits indicate a deficiency in the areas of control and documentation of processes, training certification and documentation, and performance of hazard analyses. In addition to these topics, the contractors provided a status on Small Suit design, power conversion unit impacts to EMU, hardware transition to USA, and failure rate reduction.
Original signed by:
G. Allen Flynt
Deputy Manager
