NASA International Space Station On-Orbit Status 14 September 2016

The Expedition 49 trio orbiting Earth inside the International Space Station are less than two weeks away from welcoming three new crew members. As the station residents wait for the new arrivals, they continue conducting space science and maintaining station systems.
Commander Anatoly Ivanishin with Flight Engineers Kate Rubins and Takuya Onishi have been living in space for two months. They are awaiting reinforcements scheduled to join them two days after a Sept. 23 launch from Kazakhstan. Soyuz Commander Sergey Ryzhikov and Flight Engineers Shane Kimbrough and Andrey Borisenko are reviewing their flight plan and familiarizing themselves with the new Soyuz MS-02 spacecraft.

Back inside the space station, Commander Ivanishin started his day researching how crew activities affect the station structure and exploring how the circulatory system adapts to microgravity. Afterward, he setup a laptop computer and worked on more science and Russian maintenance tasks.

Onishi setup some simple experiments today to show how space affects the flight of a paper plane, a spinning ball and buoyancy among other phenomena. The results were videotaped for sharing to Asian audiences to promote the understanding of spaceflight.

Rubins installed a Phase Change Heat Exchanger into an experiment rack. The new Phase Change HX payload will test ways to regulate thermal conditions on future spacecraft.

On-Orbit Status Report

Asia Try Zero-G: The crew performed the ASIA TRY ZERO-G experiment. The crew performed science experiments on themes proposed by six different countries throughout Asia. The downlinked video will be used to promote the understanding of space activity for Asian countries.

Electrostatic Levitation Furnace (ELF) Troubleshooting: The crew is troubleshooting the ELF facility. The crew removed hardware from the Multi-Purpose Small Payload Rack (MSPR)-2 and connected the laptop via USB to provide the ground the ability to load software to the ELF subunits. Troubleshooting is scheduled to continue through Friday, September 16th. The Electrostatic Levitation Furnace (ELF) is an experimental facility designed to levitate/melt/solidify materials by containerless processing techniques using the Electrostatic Levitation method. With this facility, thermophysical properties of high temperature melts can be measured, and solidification from deeply undercooled melts can be achieved. The ELF is located in the JEM Multipurpose Small Payload Rack (MSPR) in Kibo.

Phase Change Heat Exchanger (PCHx): The crew began the installation of the PCHx into EXpedite PRocessing of Experiments to Space Station (EXPRESS) Rack (ER)-8. The crew was initially unable to mate the Low Temperature Loop (LTL) Quick Disconnect (QD) to complete the PCHx installation. After further troubleshooting, the crew was able to mate the LTL supply line, and continued with PCHx Installation. The crew will check for any leaks and ground teams will continue with verification. The primary objective of the PCHx Project is to create a unique test platform utilizing the EXPRESS Rack on the ISS to advance the technology readiness level of phase change heat exchangers for infusion into future exploration vehicles. Phase change material heat exchangers are a useful technology that helps certain space missions in regulating the thermal conditions on their particular spacecraft. They serve as a supplemental heat rejection device during time-varying heat loads and/or transient environments. It does so by storing waste energy by melting a phase change material during peak loads. It can then reject this energy through a radiator when conditions allow, causing the phase change material to freeze.

NanoRack Cubesat Deployer (NRCSD) #9 Deployment: Ground controllers deployed the first of four pairs of Planet Lab DoveSats from the NRCSD #9. One solar array on the first cubesat and both solar arrays on the second cubesat deployed early, which was an expected possibility and there are no impacts. The remaining three pairs of cubesats will be deployed through tonight’s crew sleep period. This deployment titled “Flock 2” is a fleet of nanosatellites designed, built and operated by Planet Labs Inc., and will enable imagery of the changing planet to be taken on a frequent basis, with humanitarian and environmental applications ranging from monitoring deforestation and the ice caps to disaster relief and improving agriculture yields in developing nations.

Nitrogen/Oxygen Recharge System (NORS) Setup and Oxygen Transfer: The crew demated and stowed a depleted O2 recharge tank and then installed a new O2 recharge tank and configured NORS to transfer O2 to the US Airlock High Pressure Gas Tanks (HPGTs).

Today’s Planned Activities
All activities were completed unless otherwise noted.

Electrostatic Levitation Furnace (ELF) Item Gathering
DOSETRK Data Input
Monthly Inspection of T2 Treadmill System
IDENTIFICATION. Copy ???-? micro-accelerometer data to laptop
ASIAN Experiment Ops
CARDIOVECTOR. Experiment
Phase Change HX (PCHX) Hardware Setup
Preparation and Configuration Setup for Remote RS Laptop on USOS
Testing RS Remote Laptop with ???1 and ???2
Tear Down of Remote RS Laptop Setup
JEMAL Experiment Ops
Vacuum Cleaning of ??1 and ??2 air ducts in DC1
XF305 Camcorder Settings Adjustment
MSPR2 Hardware Removal
SEISMOPROGNOZ. Downlink data from Control and Data Acquisition Module (????) Hard Drive
O2 Transfer Termination
MSPR2 Hardware Removal
JEMAL Hardware Setup
JEMAL Closeout Ops
ELF Hardware Reconfiguration
OTKLIK. Equipment Check
Measuring Partial CO Pressure in RS using US portable CSA-CP device
INTERACTION-2. Experiment Ops
PCHX Hardware Setup
Multi Omics (MO) Kits Setup
IMS Delta File Prep
CUBESAT Hardware Photography
Atmosphere Control System (ACS) Nitrogen and Oxygen Recharge System (NORS) Start Oxygen Transfer
HMS Defibrillator Inspection
EMU Metox Regeneration
ELF Electrostatic Levitation Furnace Cable Change

Completed Task List Items
None

Ground Activities
All activities were completed unless otherwise noted.
JEMRMS retrieval of NRCSD from JEMAL
NRCSD deploy (4)
Phase Change Heat Exchanger activation
Battery 4B1 reconditioning

Three-Day Look Ahead:
Thursday, 09/15: ARED 6 month, JPM window inspection, MDCA H/W replace, ELF troubleshooting
Friday, 09/16: T2 Yearly Maintenance, Plant RNA Regulation
Saturday, 09/17: Housekeeping, Crew Off Duty

QUICK ISS Status – Environmental Control Group:
Component – Status
Elektron – Off
Vozdukh – Manual
[???] 1 – SM Air Conditioner System (“SKV1”) – Off
[???] 2 – SM Air Conditioner System (“SKV2”) – On
Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly (CDRA) Lab – Standby
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) – Process
Trace Contaminant Control System (TCCS) Lab – Off
Trace Contaminant Control System (TCCS) Node 3 – Full Up