ISS On-Orbit Status 20 Nov 2002

All ISS systems continue to function nominally, except as noted previously or below.

After wake-up at 11:00am EST, the crew received kudos for yesterday’s busy day, filled with Vozdukh troubleshooting (no joy) and ARIS3 install activities (completed as planned).

After breakfast and work preparation, FE-1/SO Peggy Whitson started on today’s science activities with PFMI (pore formation and mobility investigation), made possible as “bonus” from the 11A launch delay.  [First, she reactivated the MSG (microgravity science glovebox) at about 1:00pm and prepared it for another PFMI session, by installing the PROMISS (protein crystal growth monitoring by digital holography) microdrive in the MSG laptop, setting up the thermal chamber inside the MSG and two cameras for photo documentation, and selecting the appropriate EPF (experiment parameter file) for the computer.  She will then process the first of two samples scheduled for the week.]

The CDRA (carbon dioxide removal assembly) in the U.S. Lab continues to operate in single-bed mode.  A temporary small air leak in the vacuum section of absorbent bed #2 has disappeared.  [CDRA’s current operation is used to check out  the system’s CO2 removal capability in single-bed mode.  At present working on bed #1, the system switches to the inactive bed #2 every 2h 24min for bed #1 regeneration.  During this cycle, no CO2 absorption takes place.  An attempt will soon be made to restart CDRA on both channels.  Spare ASV (air selection valve) assemblies will be delivered by 11A.]
 
The Russian Vozdukh CO2 scrubber continues to be inoperative.  The current suspect is an external selector valve package that may have caused the circuit breaker shutdown (see below).  If its replacement with an on-board spare is not successful, more troubleshooting is required.  Meanwhile, MCC-H is monitoring the station atmosphere and putting together a plan for CO2 management.  [There is an ample supply of LiOH canisters on board and coming up with 11A to support station ops over the longer term.  Altogether two LiOH cans have been used to date, the second one last night.]

As part of Vozdukh troubleshooting, FE-2 Sergei Treschev today is performing a detailed checkout procedure of the Vozdukh BVK vacuum valve package, focusing on resistance and connectivity tests of BVK1, one of three selector valves in the BOA valve panel for the CO2 scrubber.  [Each BVK connects an absorbent cartridge (PP) to the atmosphere during the adsorption process while isolating the line from vacuum, and subsequently connects the PP to vacuum during the regeneration process.]

The previously scheduled cleaning of SM ventilation system fans (groups A & B) by Treschev was deferred because of the Vozdukh work.
 
Later in the afternoon, CDR Valery Korzun and Sergei Treschev are scheduled to work on a major revision of the IMS (inventory management system) database, updating it for recent equipment changes, particularly for items associated with the departed Soyuz 4S/TM-34, the new Soyuz 5S/TMA-1 and recent IFM (in-flight maintenance) activities.

At about 4:15pm, Treschev will terminate the regeneration/bake-out process for absorbent cartridge #2 of the BMP micropurification unit.  Both filter channels will then be back in Purify mode.

Sergei also conducts the routine BRPK-2 water condensate separator inspection. 

Afterwards the cosmonauts perform maintenance in the DC-1/”Pirs” docking module, replacing a TA251MB local signal switching device (commutator) in the DC-1’s message acquisition system (ASS) with a new unit.  [The ASS is part of the BITS2-12 onboard measurement system in the RS.]

Valery and Peggy are to work in the Joint Airlock (A/L), checking out the two large EMU (extravehicular mobility unit) spacesuits #3011 and 3013 for the upcoming 11A EVAs.  [In preparation for that activity,  the A/L’s air ducting will be reconfigured and the A/L CCAA (common cabin air assembly) air conditioner activated.  For EMU fan and pump checks, a cooling jumper from the RFCA LTL (rack flow control assembly/low temperature loop) will be used instead of the normal LCVG (liquid cooling ventilation garment) worn by the spacewalker.  After the checkout, RFCA and A/L CCAA will be deactivated again by the ground.]

The daily routine tasks of SOSh life support system maintenance and preparation of the daily IMS delta file will be performed by FE-2 Treschev, while Peggy Whitson checks up on status of autonomous payloads in the Lab.

All crewmembers are scheduled for their regular daily physical exercise on TVIS (treadmill) and RED (resistive exerciser).  [When the aft Flexpack canister of the RED failed last Sunday after approximately 140,000 cycles, the crew replaced it with a good Expedition 6 spare and resumed exercising.  Several options are currently being assessed, including a partial IFM that could be performed by Expedition 5, depending on when the second Expedition 5 canister fails (it is already noisy) and when 11A launches.]

NASA has been asked to participate in the annual lighting of the famous Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center in New York.  The ISS crew is to perform the ceremonial plugging-in of the tree, a 75-year old, 76-ft spruce from New Jersey, decorated with more than 30,000 lights.  The audio/video downlink for taping, with three separate messages for the event, is scheduled for tomorrow, 11/21.  The tree lighting ceremony will be aired live as an NBC Special on 12/4 (Thursday), 7-8pm EST.

Today’s targets for the CEO (crew earth observations program) were Buenos Aires, Argentina (nadir pass. ESC [electronic still camera] requested), Cyclone Boura, Indian Ocean (Dynamic event:  Early season tropical, category 2 storm [70 kts gusting 85 kts] NE of Madagascar heading west. Nadir pass), Congo-Zimbabwe Biomass Burning (late season fires continue to burn in SE Africa), and Bamako, Mali (nadir pass. Also, crew was to look obliquely for surrounding fires in West Africa).
CEO images can be viewed at the website
http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov

U.S. and Russian Segment Status (as of 1:45pm EST).

Environmental Control and Life Support (ECLSS) and Thermal Control (TCS):

• Elektron O2 generator is powered On (32 Amp mode).  Vozdukh CO2 scrubber is Off.  U.S. CDRA CO2 scrubber is On (single-bed mode). TCCS is operational.  BMP Harmful Impurities unit: Absorbent bed #1 in Purify mode, bed #2 in Purify mode.

• SM Working Compartment:  Pressure (mmHg) — 753; temperature (deg C) — 23.3; ppO2 (mmHg) — 139.6; ppCO2 (mmHg) — 4.0.
• SM Transfer Compartment:  Pressure (mmHg) — 751; temperature (deg C) — 20.1.
• FGB Cabin:  Pressure (mmHg) — 752; temperature (deg C) — 21.0.
• Node:  Pressure (mmHg) — 745.89; temperature (deg C) — 22.7 (shell); ppO2 (mmHg) — n/a; ppCO2 (mmHg) — n/a.
• U.S. Lab:  Pressure (mmHg) — 746.33; temperature (deg C) — 25.6; ppO2 (mmHg) — n/a; ppCO2 (mmHg) — n/a;
• Joint Airlock (Equip. Lock):  Pressure (mmHg) — 746.33, temperature (deg C) — 25.5; shell heater temp (deg C) — 23.4, ppO2 (mmHg) — n/a; ppCO2 (mmHg) — n/a.
• PMA-1:  Shell heater temp (deg C) — 22.9
• PMA-2:  Shell heater temp (deg C) — 18.4

         (n/a = data not available)

Propulsion System (PS): 

• Total propellant load available (SM + FGB + Progress) — 3793 kg (8362 lb) [as of 11/14/02].

Electrical Power Systems (EPS):

• Both P6 channels fully operational.  Beta Gimbal Assembly (BGA) 2B and BGA 4B both in dual-angle mode (directed position).
• SM batteries:  Battery #4 is in “Cycle” mode; all other batteries (7) are in “Partial Charge”: mode.
• FGB batteries:  Battery #3 is offline; all other batteries (5) are in “Partial Charge” mode.
• Plasma Contactor Unit PCU-1 in Standby mode; PCU-2 in Standby mode.

Thermal Control Systems:

• Air conditioner SKV-1 is Off; SKV-2 is Off.

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 (new patches loaded on both).
• EXT-1 is On (primary), EXT-2 is off.
• LA-1, LA-2 and LA-3 MDMs are all operating.
• PL-1 MDM is On (primary); PL-2 MDM is off (diagnostic
• APS-1 (automated payload switch #1) and APS-2 are both On.
• SM Terminal Computer (TVM): 2 redundant lanes (of 3) operational. Lane 1 is down.
• SM Central Computer (TsVM): 3 redundant lanes (of 3) operational.

Attitude Source:

• 3 CMGs on-line.
• State vector — U.S. SIGI-1
• Attitude — Russian segment (RS)
• Angular rates — U.S. RGA-1 (from RS attitude)

Communications & Tracking Systems:

• All Russian communications & tracking systems are nominal.
• S-band is operating nominally.
• Ku-band is operating nominally.
• Audio subsystem operating nominally.
• Video subsystem operating nominally.
• MCOR (medium-rate communications outage recorder) is operating nominally.

Robotics:

• SSRMS/Canadarm2 at MBS PDGF3 (mobile base system/power & data grapple fixture 3) and mated to PDGF1 (11A park position), with Keep Alive power on both strings.
• MBS: Keep Alive power on both strings.  POA: Keep Alive power on both strings.
• RWS (robotics workstations): Lab RWS is Off; Cupola RWS is Off.

ISS Orbit (as of this morning, 7:26am EST [= epoch]):

• Mean altitude — 389.6 km
• Apogee — 398.7 km
• Perigee — 380.4 km
• Period — 92.35 min.
• Inclination (to Equator) — 51.64 deg
• Eccentricity — 0.0013488
• Orbits per 24-hr. day — 15.59
• Solar Beta Angle — 28.0 deg (magnitude increasing)
• Altitude loss — 200 (mean) in last 24 hours
• Revolutions since FGB/Zarya launch (Nov. ’98) — 22835
• Current Flight Attitude — LVLH (local vertical/local horizontal = “earth-fixed”: z-axis in local vertical, x-axis in velocity vector [yaw: -13 deg, pitch: -9 deg, roll: 0 deg]). LVLH until 11A docking.

 
For more on ISS orbit and worldwide naked-eye visibility dates/times, see
 http://www.hq.nasa.gov/osf/station/viewing/issvis.html