ISS Weekly Science Status Report 31 Oct 2001
With a visiting Soyuz spacecraft the focus of activities onboard the
International Space Station during the past week, payload duties for the
crew have been relatively light while ground-commanded telescience work
continued.
Some members of the Expedition Three crew participated in science
experiments brought up by the visiting Soyuz crew and conducted a variety of
housekeeping chores, such as replacing the smoke detectors in the Russian
Zvezda module.
On Friday, October 26, the crew conducted Dreamtime documentary operations
using a new high definition TV camera.
On Monday, October 29, the crew assisted the Active Rack Isolation System
ISS Characterization Experiment (ARIS-ICE) science team on the ground in
three “hammer” tests with the experimental device intended to damp out
vibrations from crew activities, operating equipment, etc. that could
disturb delicate microgravity experiments. The science team is completing
an analysis that indicates that new power cables between the Station
structure and the vibration-protected EXPRESS experiment rack perform better
than the original ARIS power cables.
The Experiment on Physics of Colloids in Space team conducted 12-hour tests
on Monday and Tuesday, October 29-30, involving the crystallization in the
binary crystals, and the colloid-polymer gel sample and was scheduled to
begin a 24-hour run on Wednesday, October 31.
In other payload activity this week, the crew activated the Human Research
Facility rack and did a 30-day health check of the Gas Analyzer for
Metabolic
Analysis Physiology, a diagnostic device for life sciences experiments. The
Payload Operations Center downlinked 20 Pulmonary Function in Flight data
files from the Human Research Facility laptop computer, as well as six
Hoffman Reflex files also stored on the laptop.
Targets uplinked for the Crew Earth Observations photography program this
week included smog in the Great Lakes basin in the United States, smog in
the east and west basins of the Mediterranean, land use along the Nile
River, tropical glaciers in New Guinea, fires in southern Africa, the Ganges
River Delta in India and the Euphrates River valley in Turkey.
Astronaut Frank Culbertson and cosmonaut Mikhail Turin on Thursday and
Friday, November 1-2, respectively, were scheduled to fill out their Crew
Interactions questionnaires on the laptop computer.
The Station’s other automated experiments in the fields of biological
materials, materials science, and characterizing the Station’s radiation and
acceleration environment continued to function nominally this week. The
Space Acceleration Measurement System and the Microgravity Acceleration
Measurement System were expected to record Tuesday’s Soyuz spacecraft
undocking.
In addition to supporting Expedition Three payloads in the past week,
Station crew and the Payload Operations Center conducted several activities
to prepare for Expedition Four next month. The Operations Center sent
commands to EXPRESS Rack 4 in the Destiny lab to prepare it to accept
payloads during Expedition Four. The crew moved the Advanced Astroculture
(ADVASC) experiment support system hardware from EXPRESS Rack 1 to EXPRESS
Rack 4 in the Destiny lab module. Active during Expedition Two, ADVASC will
resume experiments during Expedition Four. Looking ahead, the Operations
Center is preparing to load its ground computers on November 15 to support
Expedition Four experiments going to the Station on the UF-1 Space Shuttle
mission.
Editor’s Note: The Payload Operations Center at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight
Center in Huntsville, Ala., manages all science research experiment
operations aboard the International Space Station. The center is also home
for coordination of the mission-planning work of a variety of international
sources, all science payload deliveries and retrieval, and payload training
and payload safety programs for the Station crew and all ground personnel.
