ISS On-orbit Status 27 Sep 2002

All ISS systems continue to function nominally, except as noted previously or below.

Progress 9P has reached the vicinity of the ISS, after the DV 4 and DV5 maneuver burns at 10:54 am and 11:32 am EDT placed it about 30 km behind and slightly above the ISS.  Later today, MCC-M (TsUP) was to conduct the planned troubleshooting test of the Kurs automatic rendezvous and docking system, with ISS maneuvered by Russian thrusters to the test attitude (inertial) at 12:40 pm and the test to be conducted from 1:10 to 4:28 pm.  [The Kurs radio rendezvous system is an S-band radar-based system, which has its active set (Kurs-A) on the chaser vehicle, i.e., Progress or Soyuz, and the passive transponder (Kurs-P) on the Service Module (SM).  Kurs-P has exhibited some intermittent failures on its backup set #2, and today’s test is designed to troubleshoot the problem.]

Progress docking is scheduled for 9/29 at 1:07pm EDT.  After hooks and latches are engaged, the mating will be rigidized with QD clamps and a leak test performed.  Then hatches will be opened and the time-consuming and exacting job of unloading and stowing hundreds of cargo items from the fully loaded Progress begins, documented in the IMS (inventory management system).  A detailed stowage list was uplinked.

Progress cargo includes the equipment for the ESA “Odissea” experiments that Belgian crewmember Frank De Winne will conduct on board the ISS during the 5S taxi mission in late October/early November. [One of the experiment, “Cardiocog”, which studies effects of microgravity on cardiovascular and respiratory systems, and the stress, cognition and physiological response during spaceflight, uses special batteries that have not undergone U.S. safety certification.  On NASA request, the cosmonauts, upon Progress hatch opening, will sample the air with both the U.S. CSA-CP (compound specific analyzer-combustion products) and the Russian AK-1M sampler, as well conduct a “sniff test” for telltale odors.]

Also among the Progress cargo are Russian census forms for Valery Korzun and Sergei Treschev to fill out.  This gesture is seen by Russian authorities as an important symbol to persuade all citizens of their nation to participate in the first post-Soviet population head-count on October 9 to 16.  The filled-out questionnaires will return to Earth on Soyuz 5S or STS-112/9A

FE-1/SO Peggy Whitson completed today’s EVARM (extravehicular radiation monitoring) activities.  After activating the badge reader, she inserted appropriate badges (three per EVA crewmember) in the reader for a pre-EVA radiation reading, then powered the system down again. Dave Wolf and Piers Sellers  will wear the badges inside their spacesuits during the 9A spacewalks to collect readings external to the station.

Peggy Whitson completed troubleshooting the MEC (medical equipment computer), which had a problem in downloading files, by running a scan on its hard disk and taking other steps as per instructions uplinked overnight.

The crew completed a detailed 2-hr. review of the 9A timeline, followed by a tagup with ground specialists via S-band.

Daily routine servicing tasks were completed by CDR Korzun (SOSh life support systems maintenance), FE-2 Treschev (IMS delta file preparation), and FE-1/SO Whitson (Lab payloads status checkup).  Korzun also performed the periodic inspection of the VR fan of the active SKV air conditioner (SKV-1) and the checkup of the BRPK-2  water condensate separator and pumping unit.

All crewmembers completed their daily physical exercise program on the onboard workout equipment.

The crew set up Russian LIV television equipment and downlinked a message of greetings and congratulations to the Salyut Design Team at Khrunichev Space Center in Korolev near Moscow.  The team is observing the 100th anniversary of the birth of the founder of the Design Bureau, prominent aviation designer Vladimir Mikhailovich Myasischyev. [The Salyut Design Bureau was responsible for creating the Proton and Cosmos launchers and contributed significantly to the Salyut space stations, the Mir complex, and the FGB/Zarya and SM/Zvezda modules of the ISS.]

During the same comm pass, Korzun and Treschev also downlinked a message for the Happy Teacher’s Day ceremony at the Kremlin Palace in Moscow during the awarding of the Teacher of the Year prize.

At 9:41 am EDT, Peggy Whitson set up and conducted an amateur radio session with students at Joamie Ilinniarvik School at Iqaluit, Nunavut, capital of Canada’s newest territory.  The majority of the school are of Inuit ancestry, and the school, which covers Kindergarten to Grade 5, opened its doors in 1989.  [A partnership with CSA (Canadian Space Agency), MDD-R (MacDonald Dettwiler Robotics, builder of the SSRMS) and Northwestel enabled 25 grade 3-5 students in 1999 to take part in a pilot video conference using CSA’s electronic classroom module.]

Yesterday’s SSRMS/robotics operations were fully successful. All activities (S1 installation dry run, MSS checkout, DJOPS software testing) went extremely well, and the MSS (mobile service system) and SSRMS behaved perfectly.  Both crew and ground did an outstanding job.  The entire system has been given a Go for 9A.

The MCA (major constituent analyzer) is running but still not processing data.  The issue is being worked.

The IAC-2 (internal audio controller #2) failed last night during crew sleep, and the software automatically brought up IAC-1.  IAC-2 was restored, and the system is now back to the original configuration.

The GNC MDMs (guidance, navigation & control computers) onboard the ISS continue to get their source data from the Russian guidance and navigation sensors.  The GPS-based SIGIs (space integrated GPS inertial navigation systems) are off, due to the earlier problem with an anomalous “not a number” value.  The current configuration will be maintained at least through the duration of the 9A mission and likely for some time beyond.

Yesterday’s test by Peggy Whitson of the PFMI (pore formation and mobility investigation) hardware in the MSG (microgravity science glovebox) also was fully successful.  After the problem with corrupted motor control constants in the laptop earlier in the week, the test reset the constants nominally, indicating that the problem was a single-event upset.  This puts the MSG/PFMI in a good configuration for the next sample run on Monday, 9/30, with PFMI-07.

Peggy’s reboot/reset of the EXPRESS Rack 4 (ER4) computer yesterday also went well.  Full communications were restored between the RIC (rack interface controller) and the PC.

Good communications were confirmed for the ARCTIC-2 refrigerator payload, which currently holds the ZCG (Zeolite crystal growth) autoclaves for return on 9A.  The troubleshooting was intended to prepare the freezer/refrigerator system for its use during Increment 6.  

The spare CMG (control moment gyroscope) today arrived at KSC.  Next week it will be checked out in an interface test with the CMG MDM (multiplexer/demultiplexer, computer).

In the evening, the crew was scheduled to tag up with the Flight Director and the Crew Office Director via S-band.

Today’s targets for NASA’s CEO earth observations program were Congo-Zimbabwe Biomass Burning (crew was to look right across the entire width of Mozambique to the sea to document extent of late-season burning.  Of interest: oblique views for indications of smoke transport direction), Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania (nadir pass over this ancient trading capital city. ESC [electronic still camera] requested.  Spice islands of Zanzibar and Pemba just offshore), Patagonian Glaciers (best pass for documenting less photographed S end of the S Andes ice fields.  Nadir views of remote southern glacier tongues, especially on the east [Argentine] side of the mountains.  Crew to look left for views up the mountain chain), Buenos Aires, Argentina (nadir and just left of track; ESC.  Montevideo, the Uruguayan capital was on the north side of the River Plate estuary just right of track), Sao Paulo, Brazil (crew was to look left for a near synoptic view; ESC), and Lower Amazon River Basin (nadir pass.  Crew to look left and right of track for detailed shots of this largest estuary on the planet.  Sunglint opportunity looking upstream left of track).
CEO images can be viewed at the website http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov

U.S. and Russian Segment Status (as of 1:55 am EDT):

Environmental Control and Life Support (ECLSS) and Thermal Control (TCS):

• Elektron O2 generator is powered On (16-amp mode), on backup pump.  Vozdukh CO2 scrubber is ON in MANUAL cycle mode #5, i.e., 10-min. cycle time (vacuum pump failed).  U.S. CDRA CO2 scrubber is offline.  BMP Harmful Impurities unit: Absorbent bed #1 in Purify mode, bed #2 in Purify mode.
• SM Working Compartment:  Pressure (mmHg) — 759, temperature (deg C) — 26.2, ppO2 (mmHg) — 160.2, ppCO2 (mmHg) — 2.6.
• SM Transfer Compartment:  Pressure (mmHg) — 761, temperature (deg C) — 20.2.
• FGB Cabin:  Pressure (mmHg) — 756, temperature (deg C) — 21.3.
• Node:  Pressure (mmHg) — 754.07, temperature (deg C) — 23.1 (shell); ppO2 (mmHg) — n/a; ppCO2 (mmHg) — n/a.
• U.S. Lab:  Pressure (mmHg) — 753.50, temperature (deg C) — 24.8, ppO2 (mmHg) — n/a; ppCO2 (mmHg) — n/a;
• Joint Airlock (Equip. Lock):  Pressure (mmHg) — 753.50, temperature (deg C) — 24.3; shell heater temp (deg C) — 22.4, ppO2 (mmHg) — n/a; ppCO2 (mmHg) — n/a.
• PMA-1:  Shell heater temp (deg C) — 22.3
• PMA-2:  Shell heater temp (deg C) — 17.9

(n/a = data not available)

Propulsion System (PS):  

• Total propellant load available (SM + FGB) — 3542 kg (7809 lb) [as of 9/26].

Electrical Power Systems (EPS):

• Both P6 channels fully operational.  Beta Gimbal Assembly (BGA) 2B and BGA 4B in directed position, non-solar tracking (for 9P Kurs-P test).
• SM batteries:   No data available.
• FGB batteries:  Battery #4 is in “Storage” mode (offline); all other batteries (5) are in “Partial Charge” mode.
• Plasma Contactor Unit PCU-1 in Standby mode; PCU-2 in Standby mode.

Thermal Control Systems:

• Air conditioner SKV-1 is On; SKV-2 is Off.

Command & Data Handling Systems:

• C&C-3 MDM is prime, C&C-2 is back-up, and C&C-1 is in standby.
• GNC-2 MDM is prime; GNC-1 is off (backup).
• LA-1, LA-2 and LA-3 MDMs are all operating.
• PL-1 MDM is On (primary); PL-2 MDM is off (cold backup).
• EXT-2 MDM is prime; EXT-1 is off.
• APS-1 (automated payload switch #1) and APS-2 are both On.
• SM Terminal Computer (TVM): 3 redundant lanes (of 3) operational.
• SM Central Computer (TsVM): 3 redundant lanes (of 3) operational.

Attitude Source:

• 3 CMGs on-line.
• State vector — Russian segment
• Attitude — Russian segment
• Angular rates — Russian segment

Communications & Tracking Systems:

• All Russian communications & tracking systems are nominal.
• S-band is operating nominally.
• Ku-band is operating nominally.
• Audio subsystem operating nominally.
• Video subsystem operating nominally.
• MCOR (medium-rate communications outage recorder) is operating nominally.

Robotics (before today’s ops):

• SSRMS/Canadarm2 at MBS PDGF1 (mobile base system/power & data grapple fixture 1) and PDGF2, with Keep Alive power on both strings.  SSRMS based on PDGF1 (LEE A, derigidized)
• MBS: Keep Alive power on both strings.
• RWS (robotics workstations): Lab RWS is Off; Cupola RWS is Off.

ISS Orbit (as of this morning, 7:28am EDT [= epoch]):

• Mean altitude — 387.1 km
• Apogee — 398.7 km
• Perigee — 375.5 km
• Period — 92.3 min.
• Inclination (to Equator) — 51.63 deg
• Eccentricity — 0.0017154
• Orbits per 24-hr. day — 15.60
• Solar Beta Angle — 48.0 deg (magnitude decreasing)
• Altitude decrease — 200 m (mean) in last 24 hours
• Revolutions since FGB/Zarya launch (Nov. ‚98) — 21998
• Current Flight Attitude — XVV (x-axis in velocity vector, 5.0 deg roll bias [yaw: -10 deg, pitch: -9.5 deg, roll: -5 deg], with CMG Thruster Assist Momentum Management).

For more on ISS orbit and worldwide naked-eye visibility dates/times, see
http://www.hq.nasa.gov/osf/station/viewing/issvis.html