ISS On-Orbit Status 12 May 2003
All ISS systems continue to function nominally, except as noted previously or below. Week 2 for Expedition 7 has begun.
Yuri Malenchenko replaced the blood pressure monitor (AD) of the Russian Gamma-1M medical complex (which also handles ECG/electrocardiography) with a new unit brought up on Soyuz-212/6S. [Test activation and checkout of the monitor with its AD cuff and cuff hose is scheduled for tomorrow.]
The two crewmembers unstowed the CMRS (crew medical restraint system) from the CHeCS (crew health care systems) rack and conducted a checkout. The board-like CMRS allows strapping down a patient on the board with a harness for medical attention by the CMO (crew medical officer) who is also provided with restraints around the device. [CMRS can be secured to the ISS structure within two minutes to provide a patient restraint surface for performing emergency medical procedures, such as during ACLS (advanced cardiac life support). It can also be used to transport a patient between the station and the Orbiter middeck. It isolates the crew and equipment electrically during defibrillations and pacing electrical discharges, accommodates the patient in the supine zero-G positions, provides cervical spine stabilization and, for a three-person crew, can also restrain two CMOs (crew medical officers) during their delivery of medical care.]
After lunch (7:55am EDT), CDR Malenchenko and FE/SO Ed Lu conducted a two-hour emergency OBT (on-board training) drill, with both Russian and US specialists standing by in case Yuri and Ed had any questions or comments. The rule is that the emergency egress exercise should be performed by every new station crew once within seven days after departure of the previous crew. The OBT is an on-the-spot review of crew and equipment readiness to respond to an emergency. A second OBT, response to an on-board fire emergency, is scheduled for 5/15 (Thursday). No software activation or hardware usage are involved in these drills. [Purpose of today’s OBT was to familiarize the crew with the locations of emergency equipment and the position of valves used in emergency situations, to work through the Russian Segment (RS) deactivation procedures, and to develop crew emergency joint measures. Crewmembers verified ISS readiness for emergency response by performing specific actions such as inspection of all translation paths to the Soyuz CRV and determination of any obstructions that would hinder an emergency egress, inspection of all vehicle hatchways and determination if hatchways can be easily cleared in the event of an emergency, reviewing and discussing methods to disconnect air ducts that run through Russian hatches, determining the accessibility of all communications panels and hardware, of all emergency equipment, of specific ports, instruments and kits, and confirming that specific valves are in the expected configuration. The exercise is usually topped off by a debrief with the ground.]
Malenchenko completed his regular daily inspection of the growing pea plants of the BIO-5 “Rasteniya-2/Lada-3” (Plants-2) experiment.
Later, Yuri performed the daily routine maintenance on the SOZh life support system, prepared the daily IMS (inventory management system) delta file for automatic export/import to update the database, and completed the regular inspection of the water recovery system’s BRPK-2 air/liquid condensate separator unit, while Ed Lu conducted the periodic Lab payload status checkup.
Both crewmembers today again had one hour reserved on their schedule for ISS familiarization and adjustment to their new surroundings and activities, a standard requirement for new station occupants for the first two weeks.
After the RED (resistive exercise device) was returned to service last Friday when Ed Lu successfully replaced its two Flexpack canisters with two canisters from Expedition 6, Ed today completed the routine inspection of the device (every other week).
The Science Officer also was to perform a major (one-hour) inspection of the TVIS (treadmill with vibration isolation and stabilization) to take a closer look at and pictures of the wire ropes reported by the crew to be frayed [For this purpose, the treadmill had to be partially lifted out of the Service Module (SM) “pit”.]
During the course of the day, Malenchenko and Lu completed their daily physical exercise program, on TVIS, RED, CEVIS bike and, for Yuri, on the Russian VELO cycle ergometer with load trainer.
Yesterday’s station maneuver from earth-oriented LVLH (local vertical/local horizontal) attitude to XPOP (x-axis perpendicular to orbit plane) was successfully executed. MCC-H reported that temperatures on truss radiator motors started climbing soon afterwards, as expected, and will probably go as high as 73 degC before attitude is changed to YVV/”barbecue” on 5/18. [If the temp limit of 75 deg is exceeded before that, the maneuver may have to be conducted earlier.]
With only two crewmembers aboard, O2 (oxygen) partial pressure has increased to 173 mmHg, equivalent to 27% O2 content in the cabin air (which exceeds the Flight Rule limit of 24%). MCC-Moscow has turned down the Elektron oxygen generator from 24 amps performance to 16A.
Over the weekend, an RPCM (remote power controller module ) controlling critical systems such as the Lab’s starboard CCAA (common cabin air assembly) air conditioner and SSRMS (space station remote manipulator system) redundant power, has popped a “health” flag. Its EEPROM (electronically erasable programmable memory) is being refreshed today.
In the SM, battery #2 is showing reduced capacity after Cycle mode. It will be cycled again and then disconnected for recovery. If this is unsuccessful, the 800A unit will have to be replaced with a remaining spare from the FGB module. There are currently six good batteries in the SM (out of eight total) and five in the FGB (out of six total). [This could become critical for the RS since, due to the power-limited orbital orientation of the ISS in YVV beginning on 5/18, the US segment will only be able to provide the RS with power from one of the SM’s four SNTs (voltage and current stabilizer units, i.e., transformers). The #2 battery had been returned to Earth on the Shuttle for refurbishment and reflight, with a one-year certified service life. Since then, it has operated for 1.5 years.]
Over the past weekend, on three occasions the two MCCs have tracked (and prepared for) conjunctions with space debris, none of which required a DAM (debris avoidance maneuver)
Joint evaluation of near-term orbit altitude maintenance strategy by the joint US/Russian “Team Zero” is still going on. In the absence of an estimated ULF-1 launch date, current Russian data indicate that we would have to accept a propellant penalty of 150-200 kg if reboosting is postponed beyond the originally proposed May/June time frame.
MCC-Moscow is still working the problem of the failed Russian payload laptop #3. [The computer is now booting up again but is not restored as yet. Additionally, the usual uplink procedure for Russian radiograms via Packet communications is nonfunctional, and neither can the Packet channel be used for downlinks. Work continues.]
Today’s CEO (crew earth observations) targets, severely restricted by limited the use of the science window in the Lab due to the current XPOP attitude, were Smoke, Mexican fires (smoke covers the Gulf of Mexico between Yucatan and Brownsville (5/9), derived from fires on the Guatemalan border. Satellites show a smoke mass heading NW, reaching southern Texas. Shooting obliques of margins of the smoke mass. The Mexican plateau appears to be containing the smoke on the west side, indicating that smoke is mainly in the lower layers of the atmosphere), Barcelona, Spain (looking a touch right on the coast), Tunis, Tunisia (nadir pass), Casablanca, Morocco (nadir pass), and Patagonian Glaciers (light is rapidly improving over this target. Shooting left of track, especially obliques for context views. Handheld photography has supplied the best imagery for science [and in the case of some glacier tongues, the first detailed imagery] of this area in existence. This is a site chosen by Russian colleagues).
http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov and
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov
U.S. and Russian Segment Status (as of 1:27pm EST).
Environmental Control and Life Support (ECLSS) and Thermal Control (TCS):
- Elektron O2 generator is powered On (16 Amp mode). Vozdukh CO2 scrubber is On (manual mode 3). U.S. CDRA CO2 scrubber is Off. TCCS (trace contaminant control subsystem) is operating. MCA (major constituents analyzer) is operating. BMP Harmful Impurities unit: absorbent bed #1 in Purify mode, bed #2 in Purify mode. RS air conditioner SKV-1 is On; SKV-2 is Off.
- SM Working Compartment: Pressure (mmHg) — 742; temperature (deg C) — 29.0; ppO2 (mmHg) — data invalid; ppCO2 (mmHg) — data invalid.
- SM Transfer Compartment: Pressure (mmHg) — 751; temperature (deg C) — 20.9.
- FGB Cabin: Pressure (mmHg) — 752; temperature (deg C) — 22.3.
- Node: Pressure (mmHg) — 745.8; temperature (deg C) — 23.8 (shell); ppO2 (mmHg) — n/a; ppCO2 (mmHg) — n/a.
- U.S. Lab: Pressure (mmHg) — 747.64; temperature (deg C) — 22.4; ppO2 (mmHg) — 172.7; ppCO2 (mmHg) — 4.2.
- Joint Airlock (Equip. Lock): Pressure (mmHg) — 747.75; temperature (deg C) — 23.0; shell heater temp (deg C) — 23.0, ppO2 (mmHg) — n/a; ppCO2 (mmHg) — n/a.
- PMA-1: Shell heater temp (deg C) — 24.4
- PMA-2: Shell heater temp (deg C) — 13.1
(n/a = data not available)
Propulsion System (PS):
- Total propellant load available: 3588 kg (7910 lb) as of 5/8 [SM(774) + FGB(2562) + Progress(252)]. (Capability: SM — 860 kg; FGB — 6120 kg).
Electrical Power Systems (EPS):
- Both P6 channels fully operational. BGA (beta gimbal assembly) 2B and 4B both in solar-tracking Auto mode (“sun slicer” position).
- SM batteries: Battery #4 is disconnected, in stand-alone ops; battery #2 in “Cycle” mode (degraded); all other batteries (6) are in “Partial Charge” mode.
- FGB batteries: Battery #5 is disconnected; all other batteries (5) are in “Partial Charge” mode.
- Plasma Contactor Unit PCU-1 and PCU-2 both in Standby mode.
Command & Data Handling Systems:
- C&C-1 MDM is prime, C&C-2 is back-up, and C&C-3 is in standby.
- GNC-1 MDM is prime; GNC-2 is Backup.
- INT-1 is operating; INT-2 is Off.
- EXT-2 is On (primary), EXT-1 is Off (both now upgraded to R3).
- LA-1, LA-2 and LA-3 MDMs are all operating.
- PL-2 MDM is On (primary); PL-1 MDM is Off
- APS-1 (automated payload switch #1) and APS-2 are both On.
- SM Terminal Computer (TVM): 3 redundant lanes (of 3) operational. Being upgraded.
- SM Central Computer (TsVM): 3 redundant lanes (of 3) operational. Being upgraded.
Attitude Control Systems:
- 3 CMGs on-line (CMG-1 failed).
- State vector source — U.S. SIGI-1 (GPS)
- Attitude source — U.S. SIGI-2 (GPS)
- Angular rate source — RGA-2
Flight Attitude:
- XPOP (x-axis perpendicular to orbit plane = “sun-fixed” [yaw: 0.5 deg, pitch: -6.8 deg., roll: 0 deg]), with CMG TA (thruster assist).
- Solar Beta angle: 34.1 deg (magnitude increasing).
Communications & Tracking Systems:
- FGB MDM-1 is powered Off; FGB MDM-2 is operational.
- All other Russian communications & tracking systems are nominal.
- S-band is operating nominally (on string 2).
- Ku-band is operating nominally.
- Audio subsystem operating nominally.
- Video subsystem operating nominally.
- HCOR (high-rate communications outage recorder) is operating nominally.
Robotics:
- SSRMS/Canadarm2 based at MBS PDGF #1 with Keep Alive (KA) power on both strings.
- MBS: KA power on both strings.
- MT: latched at WS4, with KA power.
- POA: KA power on both strings.
- RWS (robotics workstations): Lab RWS is Off; Cupola RWS is Off.
ISS Orbit (as of this morning, 7:52am EDT [= epoch]):
- Mean altitude — 389.9 km
- Apogee — 394.1 km
- Perigee — 385.7 km
- Period — 92.35 min.
- Inclination (to Equator) — 51.63 deg
- Eccentricity — 0.0006211
- Orbits per 24-hr. day — 15.59
- Solar Beta Angle: 34.1 deg (magnitude increasing)
- Mean altitude loss in last 24 hours — 80 m
- Revolutions since FGB/Zarya launch (Nov. ’98) — 25543
- For more on ISS orbit and worldwide naked-eye visibility dates/times, see http://www.hq.nasa.gov/osf/station/viewing/issvis.html
