NASA Space Station On-Orbit Status 26 October 2018 – Cleaning Spacesuits for Upcoming Spacewalks
U.S. spacesuits and hot, fiery research kept the Expedition 57 crew busy Friday. The three-member crew from around the world also continued the ongoing upkeep of the International Space Station’s systems.
A pair of spacesuits inside the Quest airlock had their cooling loops scrubbed today by station Commander Alexander Gerst of ESA (European Space Agency). The suit maintenance comes ahead of a pair of spacewalks being planned to connect new lithium-ion batteries on the space station’s port truss structure.
Fellow flight engineers Serena Auñón-Chancellor of NASA and Sergey Prokopyev of Roscosmos worked on advanced science hardware. The two devices, the Electrostatic Levitation Furnace (ELF) and the Combustion Integrated Rack (CIR), enable the safe research of high temperatures, flames and gases.
Auñón-Chancellor cleaned up the ELF inside the Kibo lab module after removing samples exposed to extremely high temperatures. Scientists are observing how microgravity affects the thermophysical properties of a variety materials at different temperatures.
Prokopyev worked in the Destiny lab module replacing fuel bottles for experiments inside the CIR researching how fuels and flames burn in space. Results may guide the development of rocket engines and fire safety aboard spacecraft.
On-Orbit Status Report
Echo External Hard Disk Connection: The crew connected the Echo External Hard Disk and USB Cable to SSC 11 in preparation for a file update and subsequent Echo software update. The purpose of the investigation is to evaluate a tele-operated ultrasound system equipped with motorized probes that are controlled by ground controllers. Additionally, this investigation serves to perform the commissioning of the Echo instrument which is planned for use during future Vascular Echo experiment.
Electro-static Levitation Furnace (ELF): The crew extracted the sample cartridge from the ELF, removed the lost sample from ELF cartridge chamber, and reassembled the ELF. ELF is an experimental facility designed to levitate, melt and solidify materials by containerless processing techniques using the electrostatic levitation method. With this facility thermophysical properties of high temperature melts can be measured and solidification from deeply undercooled melts can be achieved.
Sally Ride Earth Knowledge Acquired by Middle Schools (EarthKAM): EarthKAM mission 64 is continuing nominally. A total of 21,753 students from 38 countries are now signed up and 4,984 images have been downlinked. 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 ISS. 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 EarthKAM team then posts these photographs on the Internet for viewing by the public and participating classrooms around the world.
Wireless Communication and Positioning Experiment (Wireless Compose or WiCo): The crew reconfigured the WiCo Motes (sensor packages) to energy harvesting mode. One of the three objectives of the WiCo experiment is to demonstrate energy harvesting as a viable method to achieve a maintenance-free sensing system for ISS and future scenarios. WiCo demonstrates a wireless network for the efficient readout of sensors, as well as the localization of moving objects within the Columbus module of the ISS. The experiment is based on the impulse radio – ultra-wideband (IR-UWB), which extends the capabilities of a recently performed wireless sensor network (WSN) demonstration using Industrial, Scientific, and Medical (ISM) bands at 2.45 GHz. The evaluation of Wireless Compose helps to analyze potential uses of WSN for unmanned and manned spaceflight missions, and to derive obstacles and limitations for the operations under very specific conditions due to the complex electromagnetic environment.
Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) Water Operations: The crew completed a half dump and fill on EMUs 3004 and 3006 followed by scrubbing and iodination of the suits.
Temperature and Humidity Control (THC) Intermodule Ventilation (IMV) Flow Measurement Survey: Using the Velocicalc tool, the crew took measurements of selected USOS ventilation inlets and outlets as part of system health monitoring. These readings are taken approximately every 4 months.
Completed Task List Activities:
None
Ground Activities:
All activities are complete unless otherwise noted.
EVA EMU activities
SSRMS maneuver in preparation for CALET experiment
Three Day Look Ahead:
Saturday-Sunday, 10/27-28:
Payloads:
No Crew Payload activities
Systems:
Housekeeping, Crew Off Duty
Monday, 10/29
Payloads:
GRIP
LSG hardware gather
SPHERES Zero Robotics unit test
Systems:
HTV Small Re-entry Capsule (HSRC) procedure review
EVA BSA ops
Today’s Planned Activities:
All activities are complete unless otherwise noted.
Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) Full Water Tank Dump and Fill
Inventory Audit of БИТС2-12 Devices
Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) Cooling Loop Maintenance Scrub Initiation
XF305 Camcorder Setup
Cell Biology Experiment Facility (CBEF) Cable Resecure.
XF305 Camcorder Setup
Electrostatic Levitation Furnace(ELF) sample Cartridge Retrieval
Electrostatic Levitation Furnace(ELF) sample Cartridge Cleaning
Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) Cooling Loop Maintenance Iodination
Electrostatic Levitation Furnace(ELF) Sample Holder Retrieval
Temperature and Humidity Control (THC) Intermodule Ventilation (IMV) Flow Measurement
Electrostatic Levitation Furnace(ELF) sample Cartridge Installation
Team Task Switching Experiment Survey
Vacuum Cleaning ВД1 and ВД2 air ducts in DC1
IMS Update
Stowing of ESA Power Bank
Food Acceptability Questionnaire
Binary Colloidal Alloy Test – Cohesive Sedimentation Camera Activities
EVA Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) Cooling Loop Scrub Deconfiguration
NOD2 Stowage Configure
Echo External Hard Disk connection to SSC 11
Combustion Integrated Rack Upper Rack Doors Open
Temperature and Humidity Control (THC) Intermodule Ventilation (IMV) Flow Measurement Survey
Combustion Integrated Rack Manifold #2 Bottle Replacement
Combustion Integrated Rack Manifold #4 Bottle Replacement
Combustion Integrated Rack Upper Rack Doors Close
Battery Stowage Assembly (BSA) Operation Initiation
