ISS Science Operations Status Report for week ending April 24, 2002
The crew activated the new Zeolite Crystal Growth (ZCG) experiment aboard
the International Space Station this week, seeking information that could
improve petroleum production.
Activation Monday kicked off a 15-day series of experiment runs. Zeolites
have a rigid crystalline structure with a network of interconnected tunnels
and cages, similar to a honeycomb. While a sponge needs to be squeezed in
order to release water, zeolites give up their contents when they are heated
or under a reduced pressure.
Zeolites form the backbone of the chemical processes industry, and virtually
all the world’s gasoline is produced or upgraded using zeolites as
catalysts. Industry wants to improve zeolite crystals so that more gasoline
can be produced from a barrel of oil, making the industry more efficient and
thus reducing America’s dependence on foreign oil.
“Results from three Space Shuttle experiments have shown that larger, better
quality crystals can be grown in microgravity,” said Marcus Vlasse,
Microgravity Sciences Increment Scientist at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight
Center in Huntsville. Marshall manages the experiment.
“We hope to be able to get better results with longer missions aboard the
Space Station,” Vlasse said.
The Zeolite experiment is the first use of the Active Rack Isolation System
(ARIS), designed to damp out stray vibrations caused by crew movement,
operating equipment and other sources. Both ZCG and ARIS are located in
EXPRESS Rack 2 in the Destiny lab module.
“This is a very exciting milestone for the ARIS and ARIS-ICE teams,” said
Naveed Quraishi, project manager of the ARIS-ISS Characterization Experiment
(ARIS-ICE) with NASA’s Johnson Space Center. “This is what we were
designed to do. We have spent the past year running tests to learn whether
we could perform the level of isolation required. We passed those tests and
now we can begin in earnest contributing to scientific research aboard the
Space Station.”
During their day off Friday, the crew agreed to take quick corrective action
when the Biomass Processing System (BPS) lost control in its humidity
control system. Flight Engineer Dan Bursch removed the air and water
mixture from the reservoir and refilled it with water, saving a substantial
amount of science return. On Monday, the crew collected gas samples from
three of the four BPS plant growth chambers, while continuing last Friday’s
humidity control work with the fourth chamber. On April 18 and again
Tuesday, the crew successfully harvested Apogee wheat plants. Pollination
work with Brassica plants, which belong to the mustard family, was scheduled
for today (Wednesday) and Friday. A third harvest is planned for Thursday.
The BPS is a test facility for future Space Station payloads capable of
supporting plant growth and botanical experimentation in microgravity for
90-day intervals or longer.
The crew today (Wednesday) downloaded to the Human Research Facility laptop
computer some EVA Radiation Monitoring data recorded during last week’s
spacewalks to install a new truss structure on the station. The data will
be downlinked to the ground next week and provided to Principal Investigator
Ian Thomson, of Thomson & Nielsen Electronics, Ltd., Ottawa, Canada. All
three also completed their weekly Crew Interactions surveys, designed to
discover interpersonal and cultural factors that can affect long duration
space crews.
Crew Earth Observations photography targets for the week include dust and
smog from Eastern Europe and the urban area around Istanbul and the
Bosporus, snow in the Colorado Plateau, Salton Sea water levels in
California, ice in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and snowpack and glaciers in
the Canadian Rocky Mountains.
All 31 American science experiments planned for Expedition Four are now on
board or completed.
Status Report
http://www1.msfc.nasa.gov/NEWSROOM/news/releases/2002/02-102.html
Photo
http://www1.msfc.nasa.gov/NEWSROOM/news/photos/2002/photos02-102.htm
ISS Science Operations News
http://www.scipoc.msfc.nasa.gov/
Zeolite Crystal Growth Fact Sheet
http://www.msfc.nasa.gov/NEWSROOM/background/facts/zeolites.htm
