MRPO Daily Status Report 08-06-02
GMT Date: 218
Calendar Date: 08/06/02
Increment: 5
Stage: UF2
Week 9
Payloads currently on-board ISS:
ADVASC, BSTC, InSPACE, MAMS, MEPS, MSG (facility), PFMI, SAMS, StelSys, STES-8, SUBSA and ZCG. InSpace will not operate during this increment.
Status:
MRPO payloads ADVASC, MAMS, SAMS, and STES 8 continue nominal, basically unattended, operations. BSTC, MEPS, StelSys, and ZCG operations have been successfully completed.
EXPRESS RACKS 1 and 4 (ER1 & ER4) are powered and supporting payload operations. ER2, and then ER4, lost health and status data earlier today. ER2 is currently not supporting any active payloads so the recovery effort concentrated on ER4 which contains the payloads requiring continuous power. ER4 executed a self reboot and then all payloads were recovered via ground commanding. ER2 will be rebooted later today when KU-band communications are available. ER3 is installed in the US Lab and will be checked out later. ER5 was checked out during Increment 4 and powered down.
ADVASC is downlinking nominal health and status data following the ER4 reboot. The reboot, which occurred during a KU-band loss of signal period, caused the payload to lose water-cooling and power was turned off by the flight crew to avoid possible over-heating. At the next KU-band pass,uritASC was successfully re-powered and health and status data was restored. No research impact due to this event.
MAMS is operating nominally in the quasi-steady mode. HiRAP is turned-off. MAMS data is available on the acceleration measurement web page.
The MSG facility is currently powered-down. The facility operated nominally last week and it is to be powered-on tomorrow to support a SUBSA run.
PFMI is stowed in the US Lab and is scheduled to operate in the MSG during Stage 9A.
SAMS equipment in all EXPRESS racks is operating nominally following the ER4 reboot. All SAMS equipment had to be reinitialized after the reboot. The SAMS sensor in the MSG is currently un-powered, but is planned to be powered and active during MSG/SUBSA operations tomorrow. SAMS data is also being posted to the acceleration measurement web page.
STES-8 is downlinking nominal health and status data. Following the ER4 reboot, STES-8 communications were re-enabled via ground commands. Two of the six growth chambers have been deactivated.
SUBSA completed a successful fifteen-hour sample run last Friday (8/2/02) and the next SUBSA operation is planned for tomorrow. Planning and coordination is occurring to schedule an extra run during this coming weekend as a catch-up activity.
ZCG has worked with ARCTIC to have seven of ZCG’s autoclaves removed from the ZCG furnace and placed in the ARCTIC freezer to assure no degradation occurs. This activity took place yesterday with the ARCTIC unit set to +5 C. The other twelve autoclaves were placed in normal stowage.
Near-term Outlook:
Week 9 (8/5-8/11) – Planning for this week was based on approximately 15 hours of crew time availability for NASA payload operations. Significant crew time will be devoted to preparation for an EVA during week10. MSG/SUBSA operations are included.
Week 10 (8/12-8/18) – Planning is being based on approximately 6 hours of crew time availability for NASA payload operations. The majority of crew time will be devoted to preparation for, and implementation of, an EVA on 8/16. Post EVA activities will also require significant crew time. No crew activities are planned for MRPO payloads during this week.
M. Vlasse, PhD, DSc
MRPO Increment Scientist
ACRONYMS:
ADVASC – Advanced Astroculture
BCSS — Biotechnology Cell Science Stowage
BSTC– Biotechnology Specimen Temperature Controller (General status information on this payload will include coverage of the following items of support equipment: BTR, BCSS and GSM)
BTR — Biotechnology Refrigerator
ER1– EXPRESS RACK 1
ER2 — EXPRESS RACK 2
ER3 – EXPRESS RACK 3
ER4 – EXPRESS RACK 4
ER5 – EXPRESS RACK 5
GSM — Gas Supply Module
InSPACE- Investigating the Structure of Paramagnetic Aggregates
MAMS — Microgravity Acceleration Measurement System
MCOR -Medium Rate Communication Outage Recorder
MEPS – Microencapsulation Electrostatic Processing System
MSG – Microgravity Science Glovebox
PFMI – Pore Formation and Mobility Investigation
SAMS — Space Acceleration Measurement System II
STES – Protein Crystal Growth – Single Thermal Enclosure System
SUBSA – Solidification Using a Baffle in Sealed Ampoules
ZCG – Zeolite Crystal Growth
