NASA International Space Station On-Orbit Status 1 April 2016
The Expedition 47 crew will receive a space delivery from Russia this weekend. SpaceX is counting down to the launch of another space shipment on its Dragon space freighter scheduled for April 8 from Florida.
Onboard the International Space Station, the crew checked out U.S. spacesuits and advanced science hardware. The station residents also explored life science and human research to benefit life on Earth and crews in space.
Commander Tim Kopra scrubbed cooling loops in U.S. spacesuits and installed new gear inside the Combustion Integrated Rack research facility. NASA astronaut Jeff Williams set up equipment for an experiment that is researching new exercise techniques for living in space. British astronaut Tim Peake swapped hard drives in a laptop computer that is recording data collected for a dark matter detection experiment.
Russia’s newest cargo craft, the Progress 63, is on its way to the station carrying over three tons of food, fuel and supplies for the crew and will dock Saturday at 2 p.m. EDT/6 p.m. UTC. The following week, another delivery from the United States will liftoff aboard the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, carrying more science and gear inside the Dragon cargo craft. Both missions will be covered live on NASA TV.
On-Orbit Status Report
Strata-1 Payload Activation: Earlier this morning Peake moved the Space Acceleration Measurement System (SAMS) sensor enclosure from the Japanese Experiment Module (JEM) to the Strata-1 payload for activation and checkout activities. When Peak switched the main power switch on, an overcurrent trip occurred on the Solid State Power Control Module (SSPCM) channel for Express Rack 8 where Strata is connected. Activation has been deferred to allow assessment of the locker trip. Strata-1 investigates the properties and behavior of regolith on small, airless bodies. Regolith is the impact-shattered “soil” found on asteroids, comets, the Moon, and other airless worlds, but it is different from soil here on Earth in that it contains no living material. Strata-1’s goal is to provide answers about how regolith behaves and moves in microgravity, how easy or difficult it is to anchor a spacecraft in regolith, how it interacts with spacecraft and spacesuit materials, and other properties. It is important to NASA to know how to set anchors in regolith, how to safely move and process large volumes of regolith, and predict and prevent risk to spacecraft and astronauts visiting these small bodies.
Cell Biology Experiment Facility (CBEF) Cell Mechanosensing Humidifier Installation: Williams disconnected the vent fan cables in Micro-G and 1G, and installed the CBEF incubator unit (IU) humidifier in the CBEF IU Micro-G. Cell Mechanosensing is a Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) investigation that identifies gravity sensors in skeletal muscle cells to develop countermeasures to muscle atrophy, a key space health issue. Scientists believe that the lack of mechanical stress from gravity causes tension fluctuations in the plasma membrane of skeletal muscle cells which changes the expression of key proteins and genes, and allows muscles to atrophy. Muscle cells from rats, and kidney cells from African clawed frogs are tagged with fluorescent gene markers, and attached to an extracellular matrix to study their performance under different tensions, simulating use on earth.
Sprint VO2 Operations: Williams completed video setup for Sprint operations, then performed instrument calibrations, exercise protocol and data downlink. Sprint VO2 is a test that measures oxygen uptake, ventilatory threshold, and other physiological parameters.
Education Payload Operations (EPO) Destination Space: Peake recorded messages that will be used in shows and demonstrations at 20 science and discovery centers around the United Kingdom. The messages will be aimed at younger children. EPO includes curriculum-based educational activities that demonstrate basic principles of science, mathematics, technology, engineering and geography. These activities are videotaped and then used in classroom lectures. EPO is designed to support the NASA mission to inspire the next generation of explorers.
Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer-02 (AMS-02) Hard Drive Change Out: Peake changed out the battery and hard drive in the AMS-02 laptop, then loaded new software onto the new hard drive. AMS-02 is a high profile space-based particle physics experiment. Orbiting the Earth at an altitude of 200 nautical miles attached to the ISS, AMS-02 will pioneer a new frontier in particle physics research. As the largest and most advanced magnetic spectrometer in space, AMS-02 collects information from cosmic sources emanating from stars and galaxies millions of light years beyond the Milky Way.
Habitability Human Factors Directed Observations: Williams completed a session of the Habitability experiment when he recorded and submitted a walk-through video documenting observations of an area and activity. The Habitability investigation collects observations about the relationship between crew members and their environment on the ISS. Observations will help spacecraft designers understand how much habitable volume is required and whether a mission’s duration impacts how much space crew members need.
Combustion Integrated Rack (CIR) Alignment Guide Installation: Kopra installed three Alignment Guides on CIR to lock down PaRIS hardware. CIR provides sustained, systematic microgravity combustion research and it houses hardware capable of performing combustion experiments for research of combustion in microgravity.
Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) 3005, 3008 Loop Scrub: Kopra completed ionic and particulate filtration (scrubbing) and biocidal maintenance (iodination) of EMU and Airlock cooling water loops. This procedure accomplished an EMU checkout, post-scrub cooling loop samples and Display Control Module (DCM) flow checks. Following the loop scrub, Kopra took a 250 mL sample of the EMU cooling loop water to determine the effectiveness of the Ion filter in scrubbing the EMU and Airlock cooling water. Ten mL of this water sample will be sent to the ground for chemical analysis.
Common Communications for Visiting Vehicles (C2V2) Health and Status Checkout: The ground performed a checkout of the recently installed C2V2 units. Both units were powered on with Unit A configured to primary and Unit B configured as backup. All data was nominal.
Today’s Planned Activities
All activities are on schedule unless otherwise noted.
Weekly Housekeeping
SM Ventilation Subsystem Preventive Maintenance, Group E
Vacuum Cleaning FGB Circulation Fan 2 (panel 203)
Vacuum Cleaning SM, DC1, MRM1, MRM2 Dust Filters.
Inspection of Air Conditioner for moisture / Thermal Mode Control System
Cleaning Auxiliary Computer System [???] / r/g 0788
Vacuum Cleaning FGB Circulation Fan 2 (panels 203)
Vacuum Cleaning SM, DC1, MRM1, MRM2 Dust Filters.
Inspection of Air Conditioner for moisture / Thermal Mode Control System
Cleaning Auxiliary Computer System [???] / r/g 0788
HABIT – Video Recording
CBEF – Hardware Removal
Unlatching N2 Nadir Hatch Hardstops
Node 3 Hatch Unlatch and Latch to test the Hatch mechanism
Standardized Breakfast
HABIT – Terminate Video
EMU cooling loop scrub.
CBEF – Cable Removal
Conference on specifics of Progress 432 docking r/g 1825
SPRINT – Hardware Power Up
CMS3 – Hardware Setup
CIR – Hardware Setup
VELO Exercise, Day 1
HMS Defibrillator Inspection
SPRINT Experiment Ops
??? Maintenance
EMU cooling loop scrub
24-hour ECG Monitoring (termination) / r/g 1798
EMU – Conductivity Test
24-hour BP Monitoring (end) r/g 1799
SPRINT – Equipment Stowage
Video Footage of Greetings / r/g 1827
EMU cooling loop scrub.
On-orbit Hearing Assessment using EARQ
IMS tagup (Ku-band)
End of Battery Stowage Assembly (BSA) Operations
Initiation of Battery Stowage Assembly (BSA) Operations
EMU – Cooling Loop Maintenance – EMU Reconfig
EMU – Long Dryout
SHD – Weekly Questionnaire
HAM radio session from Columbus
EMU – Cooling Loop Maintenance – Deconfiguration
Stow Syringes used in ?2? Conductivity Test
SPRINT – Closeout Ops
Completed Task List Items
None
Ground Activities
All activities are on schedule unless otherwise noted.
C2V2 initial activation
Nominal ground commanding
Three-Day Look Ahead:
Saturday, 04/02: 63P dock, ENERGY ops, crew off duty, weekly housekeeping
Sunday, 04/03: Crew off duty
Monday, 04/04: MARES, Emergency OBT, Thermal exchange data transfer/stow
QUICK ISS Status – Environmental Control Group:
Component – Status
Elektron – On
Vozdukh – Manual
[???] 1 – SM Air Conditioner System (“SKV1”) – On
[???] 2 – SM Air Conditioner System (“SKV2”) – Off
Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly (CDRA) Lab – Override
Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly (CDRA) Node 3 – Operate
Major Constituent Analyzer (MCA) Lab – Idle
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
