Status Report

ISS On-Orbit Status 21 Feb 2003

By SpaceRef Editor

February 21, 2003

Filed under ISS On-orbit status, NASA HQ, US

All ISS systems continue to function nominally, except as noted previously or below. Day 90 in space for Expedition 6.

All R3 software upload activities yesterday were completed successfully and without hitches. The process continued today by transitioning primary control to the new software. [Among else, today’s tasks were: transition primary C&C MDM to standby, followed by post-C&C transition reconfiguring; handover ISS attitude control to Russian MCS (motion control system) at about 10:40am for the software transition of the two GNC (guidance, navigation & control) MDMs; return attitude control to the U.S. segment at 1:30pm;and transition the INT MDMs, to conclude today’s activities. Tomorrow is clean-up day for remaining tasks, such as installing hard drives with new software in the remaining PCS laptops, loading backup MDMs, etc. So far, everything has gone quite well.]

Due to the R3 transition activities today, the three-hour demo of EVA EMU operations by Bowersox and Pettit without IV (intravehicular crewmember) assist has been rescheduled for Monday (2/24).

The Vozdukh CO2 carbon dioxide (CO2) scrubber failed last night. Prime suspect is BVK valve package #2, and troubleshooting is underway today (more tomorrow) to determine whether the failure is in the connections or in the valve assembly itself.

Upon loss of Vozdukh, the U.S. CDRA (CO2 removal assembly) was powered up and by this morning had reduced ppCO2 to 3.9 mmHg. But later today, CDRA failed too. It is currently operating in single-bed mode, and investigations by crew and ground are underway.

MCC-Moscow/TsUP has requested continuation of ppCO2 sampling by the crew with the U.S. CDMK (CO2 monitoring kit) until next Thursday (2/27), to help in calibrating the Russian measurements, now that IMV (intermodular ventilation) air exchange has improved. Two CDMK readings were taken by FE-2/SO Don Pettit today, one in the morning, the other in the evening.

FE-1 Nikolai Budarin continued his periodic preventive maintenance of Russian segment (RS) atmospheric ventilation, today working in the DC-1 “Pirs” docking module to change out the two dust collector filters (PF 1 & 2).

Budarin also took photo imagery of cables on panels of the FGB “Zarya” module. The digital images were then transferred to laptop for subsequent downlink. [This was in response to a previous (December 2002) crew proposal on providing exterior protection for these cables in the FGB.]

Later, Budarin completed a TsUP-requested task of measuring distances between specific mounting screws and their locations on two interior panels of the Service Module (SM).

Yesterday’s inventory audit of EVA equipment in the Airlock by Ken Bowersox and Don Pettit confirmed that there is an extra SPD (spool positioning device) on board. This device was apparently left over from the 9A EVAs last October, when SPDs were installed on exterior ammonia QDs (quick disconnects).

Bowersox and Pettit filled out their weekly FFQ (food frequency questionnaire), a special software log on the MEC (medical equipment computer) to track nutritional intake.

Troubleshooting of the Foot (foot/ground reaction forces during space flight) experiment scheduled for Ken Bowersox today has been postponed. Next Foot session is now planned for March 4-5. [During the last Foot session, six of eight data channels were not recorded. Ground engineers to date were unable to duplicate the failure.]

Sox performed the daily routine maintenance of the SOSh life support systems in the SM and the payload status checkup in the Lab (PCG-STES010), while Nikolai prepared the IMS database update file for export/downlink.

Planning is underway for a possible spacewalk by the Expedition 6 crew during their increment. This would be some time in March.

RBVM (radiator beam valve module) temperatures are still being watched, but they have come down with decreasing solar Beta angle, and an attitude change to YVV (y-axis in velocity vector) is not required at this time. [As indicated by analysis (telemetry is not available), one thermal cover/bootie on the RBVM appears to be not correctly positioned. High temperatures over longer periods could potentially degrade the ammonia QD seals underneath.]

At 1:50pm EST, amateur radio operator Don Pettit chatted with students of Cowichan Secondary School of Duncan, British Columbia (Canada) during a 10-min. ham radio pass. [52-year old Cowichan Secondary School is a grade 10-12 school and one of four secondary schools serving the Cowichan Valley district, with a population of about 950 students, 50 teachers and three administrators.]

The conjunction with the TRMM (Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission, object #25063) predicted two days ago for tonight has “gone away” and will not occur.

Today’s targets for the CEO (crew earth observations program) were Eastern Mediterranean Smog (conditions remain favorable over the basin of the Adriatic Sea for significant aerosol accumulations. As the crew tracked across central Italy they were to look either side of track over the water for smog plumes, especially to the left of track toward Venice), Eastern Great Lakes Ice and Snow (in the wake of this week’s winter storm, looking left of track towards Lake Erie and Ontario for ice accumulation and the pattern of lake effect snow to their south and east), Western Mediterranean Smog (high pressure should still be holding sway over northern Italy. As ISS tracked you from the NW, the crew was to look left of track towards the Alps and the Po River valley in oblique views for smog layers), New England Snow Cover (the northeastern US is still digging out from the major snowstorm earlier this week. Looking right of track to document the extent of snow cover over upstate New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts), and Chicago, Illinois (the city was probably not visible, but the crew was to look left of track of the eastern shore of Lake Michigan for wind-driven ice formations).
CEO images can be viewed at the website
http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov

U.S. and Russian Segment Status (as of 1:15pm EST).

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

Elektron O2 generator is powered On (24 Amp mode). Vozdukh CO2 scrubber is Off. U.S. CDRA CO2 scrubber is On (single-bed mode). 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) — 753; temperature (deg C) — 25.0; ppO2 (mmHg) — 183.1; ppCO2 (mmHg) — 2.5 (suspect).
SM Transfer Compartment: Pressure (mmHg) — 751; temperature (deg C) — 20.7.
FGB Cabin: Pressure (mmHg) — 752; temperature (deg C) — 23.7.
Node: Pressure (mmHg) — 745.16; temperature (deg C) — 24.0 (shell); ppO2 (mmHg) — n/a; ppCO2 (mmHg) — n/a.
U.S. Lab: Pressure (mmHg) — 747.04; temperature (deg C) — 22.4; ppO2 (mmHg) — 170.2*; ppCO2 (mmHg) — 3.8*;
Joint Airlock (Equip. Lock): Pressure (mmHg) — 747.14; temperature (deg C) — 20.9; shell heater temp (deg C) — 22.5, ppO2 (mmHg) — n/a; ppCO2 (mmHg) — n/a.
PMA-1: Shell heater temp (deg C) — 24.3
PMA-2: Shell heater temp (deg C) — 11.8

(n/a = data not available)

(* = sample location currently unavailable until completion of R3 s/w upload on 2/20)

Propulsion System (PS): Total propellant load available [SM(811) + FGB(2777) + Progress(576)] — 4164 kg (9180 lb) as of 2/14/03. (Capability: SM — 860 kg; FGB — 6120 kg).

Electrical Power Systems (EPS):

Both P6 channels fully operational. Beta Gimbal Assembly (BGA) 2B and 4B both in auto track (sun following) mode.
SM batteries: Battery #6 is in “Cycle” mode (freshly installed); all other batteries (7) are in “Partial Charge” mode.
FGB batteries: Battery #1 is off line; battery #6 is in “Cycle” mode; all other batteries (4) are in “Partial Charge” mode.
Plasma Contactor Unit PCU-1 and PCU-2 both in Standby mode.

Command & Data Handling Systems:

C&C-3 MDM is prime, C&C-1 is back-up, and C&C-2 is in standby.
GNC-1 MDM is prime; GNC-2 is Backup.
INT-2 is operating; INT-1 is in standby.
EXT-1 is On (primary), EXT-2 is off.
LA-1, LA-2 and LA-3 MDMs are all operating.
PL-2 MDM is On (primary); PL-1 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 out of the set (as of 11/14/02).
SM Central Computer (TsVM): 3 redundant lanes (of 3) operational.

Attitude Source:

3 CMGs on-line (CMG-1 failed).
State vector — U.S. SIGI-1 (GPS)
Attitude — U.S. SIGI-1 (GPS)
Angular rates — U.S. RGA-1

Flight Attitude:

XPOP (x-axis perpendicular to orbit plane = “sun-fixed” [yaw: 0 deg, pitch: -8.8 deg., roll: 0 deg]), with CMG/Thruster Assist Momentum Management).
Solar Beta Angle: -62.0 deg (magnitude decreasing).

Communications & Tracking Systems: