NASA Space Station On-Orbit Status Report 2 February, 2022 – Testing an Autonomous Rendezvous Algorithm

Life science, robotics and space construction kept the Expedition 66 crew busy aboard the International Space Station on Wednesday.
The orbital residents also worked on spacesuits and inspected a Russian module.

Eye checks continued on the orbiting lab with NASA astronaut Thomas Marshburn taking charge as crew medical officer during the afternoon. The three-time station astronaut used medical imaging gear, or optical coherence tomography, to scan the eyes and retinas of NASA Flight Engineers Kayla Barron and Raja Chari.

Marshburn began his day studying how to produce and maintain nutrients during long-term space missions. Chari later worked on communications components inside a pair of U.S. spacesuits. Barron started her morning cleaning the Cell Biology Experiment Facility, an incubator with an artificial gravity generator.

NASA Flight Engineer Mark Vande Hei set up the free-flying Astrobee robotic assistants and tested an autonomous rendezvous algorithm for the ROAM technology demonstration. ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Matthias Maurer resumed the Concrete Hardening experiment studying potential lunar and planetary construction techniques.

Roscosmos Flight Engineer Pyotr Dubrov photographed the condition of window panes in the Zvezda service module for inspection by engineers on the ground. Station Commander Anton Shkaplerov transferred water from tanks in the ISS Progress 79 resupply ship into the space station.

On-Orbit Status Report

Payloads:

Actiwatch Plus: Four Actiwatch Plus devices were connected to the HRF Payload Drawer on HRF Rack 1 for charging and data download. The Actiwatch is a waterproof, nonintrusive, sleep-wake activity monitor worn on the wrist of a crewmember. The device contains a miniature uniaxial accelerometer that produces a signal as the subject moves. The data are stored in nonvolatile memory within the Actiwatch until they are downloaded for analysis.

BioNutrients: A crewmember performed hydration, agitation, and incubation of the BioNutrients-1 Production Packs. BioNutrients demonstrates a technology that enables on-demand production of human nutrients during long-duration space missions. The process uses engineered microbes, like yeast, to generate carotenoids from an edible media to supplement potential vitamin losses from food that is stored for very long periods. Specially designed storage/growth packets are intermittently activated by astronauts over a five-year period, then frozen and returned to Earth for examination.

CBEF-L (Cell Biology Experiment Facility): The CBEF-L was cleaned and reconfigured from configuration G (sample tray and centrifuge) to configuration H (two centrifuges). CBEF-L is a Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) new subrack facility, which is an upgraded facility of the original CBEF currently aboard the ISS. CBEF-L provides new capabilities with additional new resources such as Full High Definition video interface, Ethernet, 24V D/C power supply, and a larger diameter centrifugal test environment. By using the original CBEF and CBEF-L as one facility for the same experiment, the payload user is provided with an upgraded experimental environment that can handle the processing of more experimental samples for a wider array of experiments.

Concrete Hardening: The ISS Portable Glovebag was setup and the 2nd set of Operations were conducted on Concrete Hardening Kits. Material Science on the Solidification of Concrete (Concrete Hardening) investigates how lack of gravity affects the hardening process and resulting properties of concrete. Different mixtures of cement, water, sand, simulated lunar regolith, and other additives are mixed and left to harden in microgravity. Analysis of material strength, bubble and pore distribution, as well as crystal structures in comparison with ground samples, will help in the development of materials for construction of habitats in lunar or planetary exploration.

Microstructure Formation in Casting of Technical Alloys Under Diffusive and Magnetically Controlled Convective Conditions (MICAST): A crewmember removed the used MSL Sample Cartridge, installed the new Sample Cartridge for MICAST #3 and prepared the facility for the next experiment run. The MICAST investigation aims to deepen the understanding of the physical principles that govern solidification processes in metal alloys. The patterns of the crystals resulting from transitions of liquids to solids is of substantial importance to processes in producing materials such as solar cells, thermoelectrics, and metal alloys.

ROAM (Relative Operations for Autonomous Maneuvers): The Astrobee Free Flyers were setup for the 2nd session to test an autonomous rendezvous algorithm and assist the ground team in monitoring Astrobee performance of autonomous robotic rendezvous with a tumbling target. ROAM demonstrates processes for a robotic craft to rendezvous with debris in space. Space debris includes satellites that could be repaired or taken out of orbit, but many of these objects are tumbling, which makes rendezvous and docking challenging. ROAM uses the International Space Station’s Astrobee robots to observe and understand how targets tumble and uses this information to plan ways to safely reach them.

Systems:

Environmental Health System (EHS) Operations: As part of regular maintenance to ensure crew health, the crew performed EHS water sampling by auditing and organizing 1.0 unit-sized Cargo Transfer Bags (CTB). The crew also conducted acoustic monitoring surveys in multiple designated habitable locations around the station to capture sound level data every second as well as an audio recording for the duration of the measurement.

Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) Operations: EMU 3015 encountered a hardline communications issue during a previous EMU preparation activity. Today, the crew worked with the ground team to troubleshoot and isolate where the squealing sound is coming from. Additionally, the crew performed an EMU Swap to reconfigure EMUs on EMU Don-Doff Assemblies (EDDAs) for upcoming activities.

Eye Exams: The crew completed routine Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) eye exams today. OCT is an imaging technique analogous to ultrasound imaging that uses light instead of sound to capture micrometer-resolution, two- and three-dimensional images of tissue; in this case, the objects of interest are the crewmembers’ eyes. Eye exams are performed regularly on-board to monitor crewmembers’ eye health. Eyesight is one of the many aspects of the human body that may be affected by long-duration stays in a microgravity environment.

Completed Task List Activities:

None
Today’s Ground Activities:
All activities are complete unless otherwise noted.

Crew Dragon Awake Mode Checkout
Command and Control Software (CCS) Mobile Transporter (MT) Diagnostic Buffer Collection List (DBCL) Dump
Mobile Transporter (MT) Translation from WS7 to WS2
JEMRMS Ground Control Main Arm Maneuver to Small Satellite Deploy Position
Look Ahead Plan:

Thursday, February 3 (GMT 34)
Payloads:

Astrobee Stowage Replace (NASA)
CBEFL Plant Unit Removal (CBEF)
ER11B t/s (NASA)
J-SSOD-20 Deploy Observation (JAXA)
Retinal Diagnostics Session (ESA)
RR-18 Resupply, HAB restock and Operations and Access unit clean (NASA)
SALI-1 Card exchange (NASA)
SQuARE (NASA)
TOUCHS Ops (ESA)
VECTION Session (CSA)
VR OBT (ESA)
Systems:

Extravehicular Activity (EVA) Tool Gathering, Tether Inspection, M-02 Audit
Waste and Hygiene Compartment (WHC) Manual Fill
Temperature and Humidity Control (THC) Intermodule Ventilation (IMV) Flow Measurement Survey
Health Maintenance System (HMS) – Optical Coherence Tomography 2 (OCT2) Exam
Friday, February 4 (GMT 35)
Payloads:

Astrobee Off (NASA)
BioNutrients Sample Transfer to Cold Stowage and Survey (NASA)
ISS HAM (NASA)
SQuARE (NASA)
Systems:

Crew Off-Duty
Saturday, February 5 (GMT 36)
Payloads:

SQuARE (NASA)
Veggie PONDS Water Fill and Photo (NASA)
Systems:

Crew Off-Duty
Today’s Planned Activities:
All activities are complete unless otherwise noted.

Execution of Concrete Hardening – Session 2, Session 3, Session 4
BioNutrients-1 Preparation and Incubation
Environmental Health System (EHS) Acoustic Monitor Survey
LTL Distribution Box and CO2 QD Setup
Acoustic Monitor Setup for Static Measurements
Airborne Particulate Monitor Status Check
Astrobee Preparations
Photo/TV External Inspection from MRM2 Windows
Cell Biology Experiment Facility Left (CBEF-L) Configuration
Water Sample CTB Audit
Multi-use Variable-g Platform Desiccant Replace
Cupola Sun Visor Stow
CBEF-L Checkout Preparation and Confirmation
Actiwatch Plus HRF Rack 2 Setup Alternate Performance
SQuARES Fixed Daily Imagery
ARED Compression Stand Trash
Food Acceptability Survey
On-orbit Hearing Assessment (OOHA) with Kuduwave Software Setup and Test
Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) Swap
Material Science Laboratory SCA Exchange
Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) EMU Audio Control Panel Troubleshooting
Urine Transfer System Offload EDV Swap
ROAM Operations Session 2
ISS HAM Troubleshooting Ops
PCS Laptop Relocate
Crew Dragon Location 8 Fix
Health Maintenance System (HMS) – OCT2 Exam
Resupply Air Tank Setup and Initiation
VR-OBT Charging