ISS On-Orbit Status 21 Sep 2002
All ISS systems continue to function nominally, except as noted previously. For us it’s Autumn Equinox, but Alpha knows no seasons.
The crew had a regular Saturday schedule, led off by the weekly 3-hr. housecleaning. [As part of Bioenvironmental Surveillance, the extensive cleanup focuses on removal of food waste products, periodic cleaning of compartments with vacuum cleaner, and wet cleaning of surfaces.]
CDR Valery Korzun completed the regular maintenance/inspection of the Service Module (SM) life support systems (SOSh) and the VR fan of the active SKV air conditioner (SKV-1).
Valery also performed the weekly inspection of the BRPK-1 water condensate separator, while FE-1/SO Peggy Whitson checked up on payload status in the Lab.
All crewmembers worked out on TVIS (treadmill), RED (resistive exerciser), CEVIS (cycle ergometer) and VELO (cycle ergometer with load trainer), completing their daily physical exercise program.
The decision has been made to replace the current RED Flexpack canisters, which have reached their lifecycle end, with two on-board spares before 9A, so that the used-up canisters can return on STS-112/Atlantis to be refurbished in time for ULF-1 in March next year (to support Expedition 7 exercise activities). An existing set of ground spares is also manifested on 11A to support Expedition 6. The RED R&R will be timelined in the next few days. [Due to the size and mass of the RED canisters, some other items will not return on 9A, viz., two CDRA items, two UOP (utility outlet panel) items, and two ODF (orbital data file) items.]
MCC-H has added the swap-out of the internal floppy disk drive of SSC4 (station support computer #4) and the CD-ROM drive of SSCVT (SSC for video recorder) to the crew’s task list as a new item.
Early planning is underway for the next Robotics operations, scheduled for 9/26 (Thursday). [Primary objectives will be for the ISS crew to perform the S1 installation dry run and the MSS (mobile service system) pre-launch checkout. If time remains, as per nominal schedule, the crew will also perform an additional procedure to exercise the new DJOPS (degraded joint operations) software functionality of the SSRMS (space station remote manipulator system).]
Inspection of ARIS (active rack isolation system) video indicates that laptop cables touch ER2 (EXPRESS rack 2) too close to the seat-track cable clamp that secures them to ER1. This almost certainly interferes with desired unimpeded rack motion, as can be seen in ARIS data. The crew was asked to reroute the cables to prevent the disturbance.
As a long-term addition to the Russian task list, MCC-M is requesting photographs of the Kromka experiment tablet deployed on the plume deflector of the SM’s plus-pitch thrusters. The pictures are to be taken with the Kodak 760 digital still camera (DSC) from the EVA hatch 1 window in the DC-1 docking compartment.
Today’s targets for the Russian “Uragan” (hurricane) earth observation experiment, using the Nikon D1 digital still camera and the LIV video camcorder, were South America (villages in the jungles along small rivers flowing west from the Andes into a river straight along the ISS track), and ice drifts in the Southern Ocean from Drake Strait to the Sandwich Islands.
For “Diatomeya” world ocean observations, the cosmonauts were to observe and image color-contrast bioproduction blooms in the Atlantic Ocean (Bengal upwelling, Agulhas Current, Falkland-Patagonia region), Indian Ocean (southern front of West Wind Drift near Prince Edward Island), and Pacific Ocean (convergence zone south of West Wind Drift).
Science Update (Expedition Five — 14th):
Lead Increment Scientist Vic Cooley to crew: “Thank you for your excellent performance on the EVARM badge read, interactions, ARIS calibration and snubber cup adjustment, ADVASC fluid withdrawal and ARIS POP reconfig. The PFMI PI commented that results from their first run were very interesting and surprising (“lots of bubbles”). We feel like we are getting some excellent science accomplished. Some of the ISS science investigations may lead to, or accelerate discoveries which willimproveour lives. Some of the Increment-5 investigations may be among them.”
Extra-Vehicular Activity Radiation Monitors (EVARM): The data collected during the past several badge readings were downloaded to the HRF (human research facility) PC this week and are expected to be downlinked to the ground for evaluation on 9/23 (Monday).
GASMAP/Pulmonary Function in Flight (PuFF): Next PuFF session will be in early October.
Renal (Kidney) Stone Experiment: In progress.
Interactions (NTXN): Continuing.
Human Research Facility/Workstation (HRF WS): n/a
Commercial Refrigerator Incubator Module-Commercial Stelsys (STELSYS): Experiment is complete and samples are stowed in frozen state in ARCTIC-1. “Waiting for a ride home”.
Microencapsulation Electrostatic Processing (MEPS): Complete. To be returned on 9A.
Advanced Astroculture (ADVASC): ADVASC is running nominally. The payload has been configured to start the plant preservation/drying stage. To aid in this process, Peggy Whitson has twice removed some excess fluid from the growth chamber this past week.
Solidification Using a Baffle in Sealed Ampoules (SUBSA): SUBSA operations have been completed with eight successful samples runs. The crew was thanked for all their perseverance and patience. “Without your extra efforts, we wouldn‚t have been able to get the additional science obtained after the SUBSA-07 anomaly”.
Pore Formation and Mobility Investigation (PFMI): The PFMI checkout and the first sample run went extremely well this week. The material that is melted and regrown in PFMI is succinonitrile (SCN), a substance that solidifies in a manner similar to metals and metal alloys. It is transparent, and therefore, it can be seen on the ground how the processing conditions affect the generation and incorporation of defects. On 9/19 (Thursday), the team saw bubbles move towards the hot end of an applied temperature gradient, with the bigger bubbles moving faster than the smaller bubbles. This is in qualitative agreement with theory. On 9/23, sample PFMI-01 will be processed.
Space Acceleration Measurement System (SAMS): SAMS SE 121f08 in the MSG (microgravity science glovebox) was activated in support of the first run of PFMI. SAMS continued gathering vibratory acceleration data.
Microgravity Acceleration Measurement System (MAMS): MAMS is active and continuing measurement of microgravity environment in the quasi-steady regime for general characterization. OSS acceleration data recorded during the recent Progress reboost event was analyzed and the results provided to the NASA Glenn Research Center(GRC) Power and Propulsion Office for correlation with their on-board propulsion system analysis. Recent review of data collected in July and August show correlation between 0.5 micro-g step disturbances seen in OSS data (specific to ISS Y-axis) and 100-120 Hz signal seen in SAMS data. MAMS is working to determine the cause of this phenomenon.
Active Rack Isolation System (ARIS) Support: Snubber adjustments and ground-commanded tests this week indicate ARIS should be properly configured to prevent hyperextension damage of the actuators and pushrods and be ready to resume operations. Analysis of the snubber cup containment test results is in progress. Preliminary indications are that no further snubber adjustments will be needed. Peggy Whitson was thanked for her hard work to get ARIS back up and running.
Protein Crystal Growth-Single Locker Thermal Enclosure System (PCG-STES): PCG STES-008 continues with nominal temperatures, checked every day by the crew.
Materials ISS Experiment (MISSE): In progress. Deployed outside. Nominal and collecting data.
Educational Payload Operations (EPO-5): Completed.
EarthKAM: Planned. Will be performed during Stage 9A.
Zeolite Crystal Growth (ZCG): ARIS preparations to support ZCG ops during 9A are going well. Activation of the samples that arrive on 9A will most likely begin during the joint ops period.
ARCTIC Refrigerator/Freezer 1 (ARCTIC-1): Status is still nominal and temperature is holding at -19.5 degC. The PD (payload developer) team suspects that the recent rise in temp may be due to a frost-related issue. However, they are comfortable with the current situation since 9A will arrive soon.
ARCTIC Refrigerator/Freezer 2 (ARCTIC-2): Nominal, supporting ZCG sample autoclaves (+5.0 degC).
Commercial Generic Bioprocessing Apparatus (CGBA): Will be performed during Stage 9A.
Crew Earth Observations (CEO): The ground received 1,128 new DCS (digital camera system) images down linked this past week bringing the total so far to 8,206. Of special interest have been splendid new views of Pacific coral reef targets where the international science community is monitoring coral reef bleaching episodes this year. The quality and composition of the ISS CEO imagery is excellent.
Today’s optional target areas of the U.S. CEO (crew earth observations) program were Kinshasa, Zaire (a break in the weather may have offered good views of this large city on the south bank of the Congo River), Angolan Biomass Burning (best views from ISS for fires in central Angola this pass were oblique to the right of track), Congo-Zimbabwe Biomass Burning (crew was to look left of track over Zimbabwe for fires and burn scars. Glint on water bodies was also possible), Cape Town, South Africa (this should have been a fine nadir pass over this large South African city with its picturesque coastal setting), High Central Andean Glaciers (this pass should have offered best views over southern Peru. Crew was to use the long lenses of the DCS to carefully map the location and features of the small ice fields and glaciers there), La Paz (it was probably not cloud-free at this time, but the Bolivian capital was directly under track), Lake Poopo (crew was to continue documenting the already-noted drying of this lake as the current El Nino progresses. Target should have been to the right of track), Tuamotu Archipelago (the ISS pass was over the NE edge of the island chain. Clouds were diminishing and light remained adequate. Crew to use the long lenses of the DCS to map and document details of the coral reef structures here), and Patagonian Glaciers (the first pass, with a break in the weather expected, offered nadir views of the Northern Patagonian Ice Field. Crew was to use the long lens of the DCS to document details of the glaciers, especially those on the less-photographed northeastern flank. The second pass may have been the best pass to photograph in detail the glaciers at the southern end of the Southern Patagonian Ice Field. Use of the long lenses of the DCS requested. On a third pass, crew was to try for detailed views of the large east-side glaciers Viedma, Upsala, and Perito Moreno where they terminate in the lakes).
