NASA ISS On-Orbit Status 18 September 2013
Cygnus Orbital Demo 1 (Orb-D1) Launch: Orbital’s Antares rocket successfully launched today from Launch Pad 0A at Wallops Flight Facility, Virginia, at 9:58 CDT. The Cygnus spacecraft was successfully injected into orbit. The vehicle’s solar arrays deployed as expected.
One issue ground teams are actively working is associated with the Cygnus communications system experiencing problems with its initial lock up to the Tracking Data Relay Satellite (TDRS) forward link signal. Ground teams have established a temporary workaround to the issue by removing then reapplying forward link modulation at the beginning of every TDRSS pass. Once this is performed, Cygnus stays locked onto TDRS for the remainder of the scheduled pass. Permanent solutions are being explored by MCC-Dulles. Return link telemetry has not been affected. The first delta-V burn (DV1) occurred at 3:07 pm CDT this afternoon. This marked the beginning of demonstration objective #1, which will be complete tomorrow morning at approximately 6:00 am CDT. Additional far-field demonstrations, including Free Drift and Active Abort, will take place this evening at approximately 8:30 pm CDT. Capture and berthing to the Node 2 Nadir port is planned for Sunday, 22 September. Cygnus is carrying approximately 700 kg of cargo to ISS.
Cygnus On-Board Training (OBT): Flight Engineer (FE)-5 Parmitano and FE-6 Nyberg participated in a Robotics OBT session in preparation for Cygnus berthing. Utilizing an onboard simulator, the crew practiced setting up external cameras, robotic overlays, and maneuvering Cygnus to the ready to latch position.
Emergency Simulation OBT: All 3 crewmembers along with ground teams participated in an Emergency OBT session. The crew used the onboard simulator to guide their response towards two separate emergency cases (Rapid Depress and Ammonia Leak). Objectives for this training session included practicing communication skills, procedure execution, and rehearsal of roles and decision making based on information provided by the simulator. Following this activity, the crew took part in a conference with ground specialist in order to discuss the OBT results.
Ocular Health Fundoscope: Parmitano and Nyberg continued their three day series of activities performed in support of the Ocular Health payload. This series will complete their flight day 120 session and is their fifth of six planned sessions. Alternating as a Crew Medical Officer (CMO) and as a subject, Parmitano and Nyberg performed a vision test with medical ground support that was postponed yesterday due to a laptop resolution issue. They then completed Fundoscope eye examinations of each other after administering drops for pupil dilation. The Ocular Health protocol calls for a systematic gathering of physiological data to characterize the risk of microgravity-induced visual impairment/intracranial pressure in ISS crewmembers. Researchers believe that the measurement of visual, vascular and central nervous system changes over the course of this experiment and during the subsequent postflight recovery will assist in the development of countermeasures, clinical monitoring strategies and clinical practice guidelines.
Columbus Module Air Loop Unmanned Configuration Test: Ground teams completed a 6 hour test with the Columbus Air Loop. The test was conducted during a period of low crew member activity within the Columbus module to minimize fluctuations in the environment. The activity assesses the hydraulic performance of the Columbus Air Loop in steady state conditions with three fans active.
Today’s Planned Tasks
PROK- Urine Sampling [Complete]
URAGAN. Repair of Mounting Bracket of Photo Spectral System (???) Science Hardware. [Complete]
Prepare Plume Impingement and Deposit Monitoring Unit (????) Hardware and Accessories for Disposal on ATV4 [Complete]
CYGNUS. Cargo Transfer Operations Review [Complete]
MATRYOSHKA-R. Monitor LULIN-5 Hardware Readings [Complete]
CYGNUS. Conference on Cargo Transfer [Complete]
Review of CBCS visual materials [Complete]
On-board Training (OBT) Cygnus Install Review [Complete]
Robotics OBT Debrief [Complete]
PROK- prep and diet logging [Complete]
ISS Emergency OBT [Complete]
Comm Reconfig after Emergency OBT [Complete]
Ocular Health (OH) – Vision Test [Complete]
ISS Emergency OBT Debrief between ISS Crew and MCC [Complete]
Smart Switch Router (???) Reconfig. ROS-USOS Comm Testing w/o Link Aggregation [Complete]
MSPR Experiment Laptop Terminal (ELT) Setup [Complete]
Ocular Health (OH) Fundoscope Setup [Complete]
Ocular Health (OH) Fundoscope Prep [Complete]
Ocular Health (OH) Fundoscope Exam [Complete]
??? Maintenance [Complete]
HRF – Urine Samples Collection Setup [Complete]
IMS update [Complete]
Ocular Health (OH) Fundoscope Prep [Complete]
?2/??2 Sampling [Complete]
Ocular Health (OH) Fundoscope Exam [Complete]
Ocular Health (OH) Fundoscope Stow [Complete]
Task List
CEO Ops
ARED Cylinder Evacuation
??? replace
???-? R&R
ECON-M. Observations and Photography
URAGAN. Observations and Photography
Preparation of reports for Roskosmos site
WSTA Fill
Ground
Nominal Ground Commanding [Complete]
Solar Array Maximum Output Test [Complete]
Three-Day Look Ahead:
Thursday, 9/19: Ultrasound Scan, Ocular Health Cardiac Echo
Friday, 9/20: HRF Blood/urine collection, Cygnus Vehicle Ops OBT
Saturday, 9/21: SSRMS DOUG Setup, Off Duty
QUICK ISS Status – Environmental Control Group:
Component – Status
Elektron – On
Vozdukh – Auto
[???] 1 – SM Air Conditioner System (“SKV1”) – Off
[???] 2 – SM Air Conditioner System (“SKV2”) – Off
Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly (CDRA) Lab – Standby
Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly (CDRA) Node 3 – Operate
Major Constituent Analyzer (MCA) Lab – Off
Major Constituent Analyzer (MCA) Node 3 – Operate
Oxygen Generation Assembly (OGA) – Process
Urine Processing Assembly (UPA) – Standby
Trace Contaminant Control System (TCCS) Lab – Off
Trace Contaminant Control System (TCCS) Node 3 – Full Up
