NASA Space Station On-Orbit Status 30 October 2017 – Fresh Lettuce, Cabbage and Mizuna Harvested
The Expedition 53 crew capped off last week’s investigations with fresh pickings of lettuce, cabbage and mizuna harvested from the Veg-03 investigation.
There’s still some left, though, for the remainder of the vegetation will be allowed to grow and sprout new leaves. Since future long-duration explorers will expected to grow their own food to survive the harsh environment of space and Mars, understanding how plants respond to microgravity is an important component to a robust astronaut food system.
Plants are still on the table for the crew, so to speak, as the week kicks off. Following last week’s successful assembly and installation of the Advanced Plant Plant Habitat facility into the EXpedite the PRocessing of Experiments to Space Station (EXPRESS) Rack 5 (ER5), today the crew moved the Space Acceleration Measurement System (SAMS) Sensor Enclosure to ER5. The automated plant habitat facility will be used to conduct plant bioscience research aboard the International Space Station by providing a large, enclosed, environmentally controlled chamber.
The crewmates also set up the payload components for EarthKAM in Node 2 for a weeklong imaging session. Sally Ride EarthKAM allows thousands of students worldwide to photograph and examine Earth from a space crew’s perspective. Using the Internet, the students control a special digital camera mounted on the space station to photograph coastlines, mountain ranges and other geographic items of interest from the incomparable viewpoint of space. Later, the varied topographies are shared online for the public and participating classrooms to observe.
Around noon EDT, Station Commander Randy Bresnik and Flight Engineer Joe Acaba of NASA shared insights about living and working aboard the nation’s most unique U.S. National Laboratory with students from Santa Monica High School in Santa Monica, California.
On-Orbit Status Report
Astronaut Energy Requirements for Long-Term Space Flight (Energy): Over the weekend a 51S crewmember completed day 5 and 6 activities of the 11-day Energy experiment run. Today the subject performed day 7 activities by logging their food and drink consumptions throughout the day. The Energy investigation is conducted over an 11 day period (day 0 through day 10) and measures an Astronaut’s Energy Requirements for Long-Term Space Flight, a crucial factor needed for sending the correct amount of the right types of food with space crews. Nine astronauts will be examined during exercise and rest cycles three months before launch, three months after arriving at space station and adapting to the space environment, and after return to Earth. Physicians will measure metabolic rates, urine content, and bone density to determine energy needs.
Plant Habitat Installation: Following last week’s successful assembly and installation of the Plant Habitat facility into the EXpedite the PRocessing of Experiments to Space Station (EXPRESS) Rack 5 (ER5), today the crew moved the Space Acceleration Measurement System (SAMS) Sensor Enclosure (SE) from the European Drawer Rack to ER5. The Advanced Plant Habitat Facility (Plant Habitat) is a fully automated facility that will be used to conduct plant bioscience research on the International Space Station (ISS). It occupies the lower half of the EXPRESS rack and two International Subrack Interface Standard (ISIS) drawers, providing a large, enclosed, environmentally controlled chamber.
Lighting Effects: A 52S crewmember conducted a Visual Performance Test by stowing the hardware in their crew quarters, setting the light to the correct mode, turning all other light sources in the crew quarters off, and performing a Color Discrimination Test. After the test was completed, the crewmember setup the Actiwatch hardware to prepare for a two week long sleep study session, which will track his sleep patterns and wakefulness. The sleep study session begins tomorrow. The Lighting Effects investigation studies the impact of the change from fluorescent light bulbs to solid-state light-emitting diodes (LEDs) with adjustable intensity and color and aims to determine if the new lights can improve crew circadian rhythms, sleep, and cognitive performance.
Sally Ride Earth Knowledge Acquired by Middle School Students (EarthKAM) Node 2 Setup and Activation: The crew set up the payload components for EarthKAM in Node 2 for a week-long imaging session. Sally Ride EarthKAM allows thousands of students to photograph and examine Earth from a space crew’s perspective. Using the Internet, the students control a special digital camera mounted on-board the International Space Station. This enables them to photograph the Earth’s coastlines, mountain ranges and other geographic items of interest from the unique vantage point of space. The team at Sally Ride EarthKAM then posts these photographs on the Internet for the public and participating classrooms around the world to view.
Radiation Dosimetry Inside ISS-Neutron (RaDI-N) Retrieval: Today a USOS crewmember retrieved all 8 of the Space Bubble Detectors that were deployed last week for the RaDI-N experiment and handed them to a Russian crewmember to be processed in the Bubble Reader. This Canadian Space Agency (CSA) RaDI-N investigation measures neutron radiation levels while onboard the ISS. Bubble detectors are used as neutron monitors designed to only detect neutrons and ignore all other radiation.
Manufacturing Device (MD) Operations: The crew removed, inspected, and reinstalled the MD feedstock canister, and replaced the extruder head. The Manufacturing Device – Additive Manufacturing Facility (AMF) enables the production of components on the ISS for both NASA and commercial objectives. Parts, entire experiments, and tools can be created on demand utilizing the AMF that is installed into an Express Rack locker location. The AMF is capable of producing parts out of a wide variety of thermopolymers including engineered plastics.
Meteor Hard Drive R&R: The crew removed and replaced the hard drive in the Meteor laptop located in the Window Observational Research Facility (WORF). The Meteor payload is a visible spectroscopy instrument with the primary purpose of observing meteors in Earth orbit. Meteor uses image analysis to provide information on the physical and chemical properties of the meteoroid dust, such as size, density, and chemical composition. Since the parent comets or asteroids for most of the meteor showers are identified, the study of the meteoroid dust on orbit provides information about the parent comets and asteroids.
Japanese Experiment Module (JEM) Airlock (JEM A/L) Activities: The JEM A/L slide table was extended into the JEM Pressurized Module (JEM PM). Kaber was removed from the Airlock adapter plates, caps were installed and the hardware was stowed. The JEM A/L adapter plate was then removed from the JEM A/L slide table and the JEM Orbital Replacement Unit (ORU) Transfer Interface (JOTI) was installed. The Main Bus Switching Unit (MBSU) spare was installed on the JOTI and the slide table was retracted into the airlock. The MBSU will be transferred to External Stowage Platform (ESP) 2 on November 4th.
Extravehicular Mobility Unit Loop Scrub: The crew configured Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) suits 3006 and 3010 for loop scrubbing. Once the scrubbing activity was complete, they reconfigured hardware and performed iodination of ion filters for both suits. A sample of the water was obtained after the loop scrub activity to determine the effectiveness of the filtering. A small portion of this water sample will be used for a conductivity test onboard ISS and the remaining water will be sent to the ground for chemical analysis.
Crew Quarters (CQs) Airflow Measurements: The crew took airflow measurements in all four CQs using the velocicalc tool. Measurements were taken at the exhaust outlet and inlet vents, intake inlet vent and head region at three different fan speeds.
Lab Umbilical Interface Panel Reconfiguration: The crew reinstalled the necessary power harness and potable water connectors on the Lab1P1 Z-panel. These connectors are required for use by the European Space Agency (ESA) Life Support Rack to be delivered on H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV)-7.
Today’s Planned Activities
All activities were completed unless otherwise noted.
Reminder 2 Lighting Effects Actiwatch Spectrum – Standard Sleep
Orthostatic Tolerance Exercise Reminder
ENERGY Diet Log of Breakfast
Zero Boil-Off Tank GN2 Valve Open/Close
ALGOMETRIA. Preparation and measurements in strain-gage – and thermoalgometry modes
Mass Measurement Device Procedure Review
Earth Imagery from ISS Crew Preference Target Operations
JEM Airlock Press
Metal Oxide (METOX) Regeneration Termination
Multi-Omics-Mouse Item Consolidation 2
Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) Cooling Loop Maintenance Scrub Initiation
KONSTANTA-2. Cassette retrieval from ???-? and stowage on panel for 1-hour warmup
JEM Airlock Leak Check
VIZIR. Preparatory ops
JEM Airlock Slide Table (ST) Extension to JPM Side
KABER REMOVAL
SM-AGAT-U42 monitor install and c/o
Water Recovery System (WRS) Waste Tank Sample
KONSTANTA-2. Preparation and Carrying out Research #4
Environmental Health System (EHS) Total Organic Carbon Analyzer (TOCA) Water Recovery System (WRS) Sample Analysis
JEM Airlock Adapter Plate Removal
Structures and Mechanisms (S&M) JEM ORU Transfer Interface (JOTI) Installation for Main Bus Switching Unit (MBSU) Transfer
Meteor Hard Drive Swapout
Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) Post Scrub Cooling Loop Water (H2O) Sample
Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) Cooling Loop Maintenance Iodination
SREDA-MKS. Setup Ops and observation start
ISS HAM Video Pass
MATRYOSHKA-R. BUBBLE-dosimeter gathering and measurements
Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) Conductivity Test
Structures and Mechanisms (S&M) JEM ORU Xfer I/F (JOTI) Main Bus Switching Unit (MBSU) Assist 2
In-flight Maintenance (IFM) Main Bus Switching Unit (MBSU) Stanchion Cover Teardown
?3 fan grill cleaning in DC1
Radi-N Detector Retrieval/Readout
JEM Airlock Slide Table (ST) Retraction from JPM Side
Radiation Dosimetry Inside ISS-Neutrons Hardware Handover
MATRYOSHKA-R. Handover of BUBBLE-dosimeter detectors from USOS
Lighting Effects Color Discrimination Test
VEG-03 Plant Photo
Environmental Health System Crew Quarter Airflow Measurement
EVA Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) Cooling Loop Scrub Deconfiguration
Countermeasures System (CMS) Advanced Resistive Exercise Device (ARED) Cylinder Flywheel Evacuation
ALGOMETRIA. Measurements setup and performance in tenso- and thermo-algometria mode
SREDA-MKS. Concluding ops
ENERGY Diet Log of Lunch
EarthKAM Node 2 Setup and Activation
Manufacturing Device Feedstock Canister, Extruder And Print Tray Exchange
VIZIR. Concluding ops
??? Maintenance
Public Affairs Office (PAO) Social Media Event
MELFI 2 Ice Brick Insert 2
SPLANH. Preparation for the experiment
In-flight Maintenance (IFM) Pivot Fitting Installation
Auxiliary Laptop Computer System Virus Definition File Update
Environmental Health System (EHS) Total Organic Carbon Analyzer (TOCA) Sample Data Record
Exercise Data Downlink via OCA
Actiwatch Spectrum HRF1 Setup
In-Flight Maintenance (IFM) Reconfiguration of the LAB1P1 Utility Interface Panel (UIP)
VIZIR. Experiment Ops
Stow Syringes used in H2O Conductivity Test
Public Affairs Office (PAO) Event in High Definition (HD) – JEM
Plant Habitat Space Acceleration Measurement System Sensor Move
IMS Update
PMM1S4 Rack Audit
Actiwatch Spectrum HRF1 Stow
Microbial Tracking-2 Saliva Setup
CB/ISS CREW CONFERENCE
URAGAN. Observation and photography
Preparation for Antivirus Scanning on [???] Laptops
ENERGY Diet Log of Dinner
Microbial Tracking-2 Reminder for Saliva and Body Collection
Completed Task List Activities
Pesquet saxophone transfer and label
ESA trash pregather for OA8 disposal
ESA-PAO-COMIC
ESA-PAO-FOOD
ESA-PAO-GALA
ESA-PAO-SUMMIT
Node 1 Video Survey and Charcoal Filter Photography
Plug in Plan Inverter Swap
VEG-03 Plant Pillow Water (X3)
Wanted Trash Bag CTB
Ground Activities
All activities were completed unless otherwise noted.
Node 3 CDRA Blower Test
Standard commanding and support of crew activities
Three-Day Look Ahead:
Tuesday, 10/31: JEM Stowage, MMD, ASTROBEE JPM Map, N2 Fwd IMV Mod prep, INSITU, FSL maintenance, EIISS Target Ops, ELF Cartridge Clean, Microbial Tracking, N1 IMV Jumper Install, Storytime, PEPs Inspect
Wednesday, 11/01: N2 Fwd IMV Reconfig, P/RV SAW Mast Survey, EIISS Target Ops, ER8 iPEHG Install
Thursday, 11/02: A/L PHA QD, Energy, COL WOOV8 Inspect, Miniature Exercise Device ARED, Lab Rack Swap, Hatch Seal Inspect, Storytime
QUICK ISS Status – Environmental Control Group:
Component – Status
Elektron – On
Vozdukh – Manual
[???] 1 – SM Air Conditioner System (“SKV1”) – Off
[???] 2 – SM Air Conditioner System (“SKV2”) – On
Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly (CDRA) Lab – Standby
Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly (CDRA) Node 3 – Operate
Major Constituent Analyzer (MCA) Lab – Idle
Major Constituent Analyzer (MCA) Node 3 – Operate
Oxygen Generation Assembly (OGA) – Process
Urine Processing Assembly (UPA) – Standby
Trace Contaminant Control System (TCCS) Lab – Full Up
Trace Contaminant Control System (TCCS) Node 3 – Off
