ISS On-Orbit Status 23 Mar 2002

All ISS systems continue to function nominally, except as noted previously or below. Today 37 years ago (1965), Gemini 3 was launched with Virgil “Gus” Grissom and John Young on America’s first two-person space mission.

The ISS crew enjoyed a day off, without even the weekly housecleaning on their “executable timeline” (moved to tomorrow, a busy day anyway).

CDR Onufrienko occupied himself with configuring the LIV VTR (video tape recorder) in the SM for two separate downlinks of recorded onboard events: at 8:45 am EST scenes of the GTS (global timing system) module installation on 3/6 and oxidizer/fuel line purge on 3/15, followed at 10:20 am by Kolibri micro satellite installation footage recorded on 3/17. Both times the TV system was activated automatically by the Russian SPP automated daily timeline system, a sequence timer using pre-set time tags.

Yuri also performed the daily SOSH life support systems maintenance, while FE-2 Dan Bursch took care of the regular UF-1 payload status checks.

All crewmembers completed their prescribed two daily physical exercise sessions: 1.5 hrs on TVIS (treadmill) and IRED (interim resistive exercise device), 1 hr on CEVIS/VELO (cycle ergometer).

The discretionary “job jar” U.S. task list currently shows only three items: 8A prepack, CEO ops, and EVA tool configuring. Russian task list activities include Uragan (“hurricane”) earth observations, shooting video with the Japanese HDTV, and preparing deployment area and setup for the CPCF-2 experiment (commercial protein crystallization facility-2) coming up with Progress 7P.

Progress 7P/M1-8 continues catching up with the station, having successfully passed its “BILU” test yesterday and long-range approach maneuvers today. Docking with the ISS at the SM aft port is still scheduled for tomorrow (3/24) at 3:55 pm EST. The automated cargo ship’s objective is logistics support for the ISS, including equipment for both pure science and applied science research programs of Russia and other countries. Its total load of 2.4 tons includes propellant for the Russian segment , food rations and fresh food for the crew, drinking water, equipment and spares for the onboard systems for atmospheric control and supply, thermal control, sanitary-hygiene/medical support, water supply and power supply, personal protection aids, a suite of crew support equipment, payloads to support work under ASI (Italian Space Agency) and ÊESA (European Space Agency) programs as well as for the South-African cosmonaut Mark Shuttleworth during the upcoming 4S mission of the third Russian visiting crew to ISS, and other items.

The crew was thanked by the ground for their great job on 3/19 for NASA and Universal Studios on the “E.T.” 20th Anniversary Event. The interactive TV downlink to the celebration in Orlando/FL, supported on stage by Astronaut Janice Voss and Dr. Kathryn Clark from NASA HQ, with an on-screen appearance of Steven Spielberg from Los Angeles/CA went off very well. Two new live interactive audio/video educational events are being scheduled next week for school kids in Ohio and North Carolina.

Science Update (Expedition Four — 15th):

Hoffman-Reflex: Completed.

Extra-Vehicular Activity Radiation Monitors (EVARM): In progress.

Ultrasound: In progress.

GASMAP/Pulmonary Function in Flight (PuFF): The PuFF team sent their thanks to Dan Bursch and Carl Walz for another “stellar run”. The ground saw most of the data “as it happened” and enjoyed the “breathtaking” video.

Renal (Kidney) Stone Experiment: In progress.

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Interactions (NTXN): In progress.

Human Research Facility Workstation (HRF WS): n/a

Human Research Facility/PC (HRF/PC): n/a

Cellular Biotechnology Support Systems (CBOSS): Complete. The CBOSS team was happy to learn that the temperature in the BTR (biotechnology refrigerator) had dropped to 4.4 deg C on 3/22.

Physics of Colloids in Space (EXPPCS): ÊUsing a monitor and keyboard borrowed from the HRF (Human Research Facility) and an ISS pin/jumper kit to make electrical connections from the EXPPCS Avionics Section to these HRF equipment items, FE-1 Carl Walz executed the EXPPCS recovery procedures on 3/20, but without success. EXPPCS team is still reviewing video camcorder footage and still camera images of the procedure and final setup state, as well as electrical power draw profiles, to assess what happened. In spite of the negative results on the EXPPCS recovery to date, the ground team expressed much gratitude to Carl Walz and the entire ISS program on the planning and execution of an intricate set of procedures for recovering the experiment.

Space Acceleration Measurement System (SAMS): Will continue to support general characterization in the vibratory regime of the micro-gravity environment and EXPPCS operations.

Microgravity Acceleration Measurement System (MAMS): MAMS continues collection and archival of low-frequency acceleration data for the characterization of the ISS quasi-steady micro-gravity environment, continue to display quasi-steady data plots in Space Station Analysis coordinates as of 3/22. HiRAP was disabled on 3/21 due to continuing coverage by SAMS and to reduce the downlink bandwidth utilized by acceleration measurements. HiRAP will be re-enabled tomorrow, several hours prior to the Progress docking on 3/24.

Protein Crystal Growth-Single Locker Thermal Enclosure System (PCG-STES): In progress. Three additional protein crystal growth chambers were activated during the past week as part of an experiment with potential contributions to the fields of medicine, agriculture, the environment and other biosciences. PCG-STES cylinder #9 (PCAM9) was activated on 3/15, PCAMs #10 & #11 on 3/18 & 3/19, respectively. PCAMs #8, #9, and #11 were deactivated on 3/20, followed by #10 yesterday. All the protein crystal growth cylinders are identical and have identical contents. The only variable is the growth period. The results of the experiment are used to determine how fast different solutions can form protein crystals, so later ISS experiments can better match the length of the mission to the type of protein solution being flown and how long it requires to form crystals.

Materials ISS Experiment (MISSE): Nominal and collecting data.

Educational Payload Operations (EPO): Complete.

Active Rack Isolation System – Isolation Characterization Experiment (ARIS-ICE): The hammer tests on 3/20 produced some of the highest disturbance levels seen on the ground to date, an excellent result. The ground is looking forward to the hammer tests scheduled for 3/29 now that the ARIS GN2 (gaseous nitrogen) umbilical has been installed. ARIS isolation performance testing, since the ARIS recovery was completed, indicates that the hardware is functioning properly and ARIS is performing as well as it was before the pushrod failure. The failed pushrod, which the crew replaced, is one of eight such devices which “float” the rack inside its location in the Lab. In the hammer tests, the EXPRESS Rack 2 (ER2), which houses the experimental device, was tapped to test the successful isolation of delicate microgravity experiments from vibrations.

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EarthKAM: Currently complete. All EarthKAM images are available for public access on the EarthKAM data system at: http://EarthKAM.sdsc.edu/cgi-bin/datasys/ek_images_station

Advanced Astroculture (ADVASC): Plant tissue samples were collected from the growth chamber on 3/15, followed, on 3/18, by collection of condensate, nutrient and gas samples.

Zeolite Crystal Growth (ZCG): Planned. Hardware is ready to process samples to be launched on ISS 8A.

Crew Earth Observations (CEO): ÊToday’s (optional) target areas were Angolan Biomass Burning (as ISS traveled SE along the coast, crew was to look left of track for fires and agricultural burning. Of interest: both individual point sources and smoke palls), Industrialized Southeastern Africa (the manufacturing and industrial corridor along the Orange and Vaal River valleys stretched off to the left of the ISS track. Clear weather should have permitted documentation of any smog concentrations in the valleys, as well as the seaward [SE] extent of aerosols), Soufriere Volcano (Dynamic Event: Soufriere volcano has been smoking again — after crossing Puerto Rico, crew was to look for butterfly-shaped Guadeloupe Island just to right of track. Soufriere is one of several active volcanoes that mark the edge of the Caribbean tectonic plate), Parana River (land clearing, agricultural development and other land-use changes are of interest in the drainage basin of the Parana River. Crew should have been be able to shoot through scattered clouds to record conditions in this rapidly changing region), and Tuamotu-Austral Islands (detailed mapping views of the small atolls of the southeasternmost Tuamotu-Austral Islands are the targets here. ISS track was along the SE end of the chain. Both the fringing coral reefs and the pinnacle reefs within the lagoons are of interest).

ISS Orbit (as of this morning, 7:52 am EST):

• Mean altitude — 391.9 km
  
• Apogee — 394.5 km
  
• Perigee — 389.4 km
  
• Period — 92.4 min.
  
• Inclination (to Equator) — 51.64 deg
  
• Eccentricity — 0.0003715
  
• Orbits per 24-hr. day — 15.58
  
• Altitude decrease — 350 m (mean) in last 24 hours
  
• Solar Beta Angle: +44.0 deg (magnitude increasing)
  
• Revolutions since FGB/Zarya launch (Nov. ’98) — 19067
  
• Current Flight Attitude — XPOP (x-axis perpendicular to orbit plane = “sun-fixed” [yaw: ~180 deg, pitch: -6 deg., roll: 0 deg])

  
  

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