NASA International Space Station On-Orbit Status 3 March 2016

NASA astronaut Scott Kelly has returned to Houston and his Expedition 46 crewmates Mikhail Kornienko and Sergey Volkov have returned to Russia. Their historic mission is over but there are three crew members who are still orbiting Earth on the International Space Station.
The new station commander of Expedition 47, NASA astronaut Tim Kopra, worked on the Water Recovery System that converts urine into pure drinking water. After that, he took a look at the humanoid robot, also known as Robonaut2, for some troubleshooting activities.

British astronaut Tim Peake was inside the Columbus lab module today checking out science hardware for a magnetic field experiment and a payload transfer rack. Cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko, who has visited the orbital lab five times, worked on Russian life support gear.

A new set of space station crew members is getting ready to join Expedition 47 when they launch March 18 U.S. time. NASA astronaut Jeff Williams and cosmonauts Oleg Skripochka and Alexey Ovchinin will ride the Soyuz TMA-20M spacecraft for a six-hour trip to their new home in space.

On-Orbit Status Report

MAGVECTOR: Peake configured switches on portable power supply 1 and inserted the Universal Serial Bus (USB) in preparation for the European Space Agency’s (ESA’s) MAGVECTOR experiment run. MAGVECTOR qualitatively investigates the interaction between a moving magnetic field and an electrical conductor. The expected changes in the magnetic field structure on the ram and wake side of the electrical conductor are of interest for technical applications as well as for astrophysical research.

Education Payloads Operations (EPO) – AstroPi: Peake played Reaction Games on the ESA AstroPi which is a complete suite of games that provide reaction times of the user. AstroPi is composed of RaspberryPi B+, Sense HAT (Hardware Attached on Top) and a camera module contained within a protective aluminum case. Raspberry Pi is a credit-card sized computer that enables students to explore computing and learn how to program. Two AstroPi are on board: AstroPi Vis, with visible light camera, and AstroPi IR, with an infrared camera. Both AstroPi will run programs written by the winners of a student competition and collect data from sensors (i.e., inertial movement, barometric pressure, relative humidity and temperature). The data will be shared with various schools.

Robonaut: Kopra setup the XF305 camcorders, which will be used capture video downlinks of the Robonaut investigation in the Lab and Node 2 modules. Kopra configured the Oscilloscopes to Robonaut which will monitor voltage signatures during debugging activities. Robonaut is a humanoid robot designed with the versatility and dexterity to manipulate hardware, work in high risk environments, and respond safely to unexpected obstacles. It is comprised of a torso with two arms and a head, and two legs with end effectors that enable the robot to translate inside the ISS by interfacing with handrails and seat track. Robonaut is currently operated inside the ISS, however, in the future, it will perform tasks both inside and outside the ISS. The Robonaut Teleoperations System enables Robonaut to mimic the motions of a crewmember wearing specialized gloves, a vest and a visor providing a three-dimensional view through Robonaut’s eyes.

Urine Processing Assembly (UPA) Separator Plumbing Assembly (SPA) Remove & Replace (R&R): On February 21st, the UPA failed due to the Distillation Assembly (DA) centrifuge speed exceeding its low limit. Three attempts to restart the UPA were not successful and review of the data indicated that the SPA was not functioning properly. Today Peake purged the DA-PCPA purge hose of moisture and R&Rd the malfunctioning SPA. Shortly after transitioning the UPA to standby, the PCPA turned on and the UPA immediately faulted due to a high pressure alert, indicating a lack of flow through the SPA. The crew subsequently cycled the Quick Disconnects (QDs) connected to the newly installed SPA in an attempt to recover flow through the SPA which was unsuccessful. The crew was advised to perform another SPA R&R which was completed but did not recover the UPA. Teams are meeting to discuss the forward plan.

Today’s Planned Activities
All activities were completed unless otherwise noted.
– ISS HAM RADIO Power Down
– Charger Unstow and Setup
– VCA1 Camera Adjustment
– MAGVEC – Gather and setup hardware
– MAGVEC – Data Export from USB Drive
– SPHERES – Battery Charging
– Consolidation of US Food Rations
– HAM Radio Power Up
– VIZIR. Start charging ???? Infrared Receiver (???) battery / r/g 1593
– IDENTIFICATION. Copy ???-? micro-accelerometer data to laptop / r/g 1589
– ARED exercise video setup
– Urine Processor Assembly (UPA) Hose Purge
– Flushing Elektron-VM Gas-Liquid Separator (???) SKO / r/g 1590
– Filling (separation) of EDV (KOV) for Elektron or EDV-SV r/g 1590
– ??? Maintenance
– SSC – Crew Log Out
– UPA SPA R&R
– Date and Time Synch on 6 RS photo cameras to the station time / r/g 1594
– Preventive Maintenance of FS1 Laptop / r/g 1023
– Semi-annual BRI Cleaning. Express-check of nominal network configuration r/g 1596
– Urine Processor Assembly (UPA) Purge Hose Part 2
– ROBONAUT – Installation of camcorder for EPO video
– SPHERES – Battery Replacement
– VIZIR. Battery Charge / r/g 1593
– R2 – Equipment Setup
– EPO – Reaction Game (Crew’s choice)
– SPHERES OBT
– Testing Inter-modular connectivity r/g 1597
– Test procedure and plan
– SPHERES – Battery Replacement
– BRI log download from RSS1 / Auxiliary Computer System
– OTKLIK. Hardware Monitoring / r/g 1588
– Checkout of video equipment to capture ARED exercise
– ROBONAUT 2 (R2) – Hardware Deactivation and Stowage
– ARED Exercise Video Equipment Stowage
– SPHERES – Battery Replacement
– Crew handover conference
– PAO Hardware Setup
– VIZIR. Battery Charge / r/g 1593
– IMS Delta File Prep
– Crew Prep for PAO
– PAO Event
– Station Support Computer (SSC) System Log-in
– Flight Director / ISS Crew Tagup
– SPHERES – Battery Replacement

Completed Task List Items
– None

Ground Activities
All activities were completed unless otherwise noted.
– UPA recovery support

Three-Day Look Ahead:
Friday, 03/04: BASS H/W Stow, SPHERES, Food Consolidation
Saturday, 03/05: Crew Off Duty, Weekly Cleaning
Sunday, 03/06: Crew Off Duty

QUICK ISS Status – Environmental Control Group:

Component Status
Elektron – On
Vozdukh – Manual
[???] 1 – SM Air Conditioner System (“SKV1”) – Off
[???] 2 – SM Air Conditioner System (“SKV2”) – On
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) – Init
Trace Contaminant Control System (TCCS) Lab – Off
Trace Contaminant Control System (TCCS) Node 3 – Full Up