MRPO Daily Status Report 08-12-02
GMT Date: 224
Calendar Date: 08/12/02
Increment: 5
Stage: UF2
Week 10
Payloads currently on-board ISS:
ADVASC, BSTC, InSPACE, MAMS, MEPS, MSG (facility), PFMI, SAMS, StelSys, STES-8, SUBSA and ZCG. InSpace will not operate during this increment.
Status:
MRPO payloads ADVASC, MAMS, SAMS, and STES 8 continue nominal, basically unattended, operations. BSTC, MEPS, StelSys, and ZCG operations have been successfully completed.
EXPRESS RACKS 1 and 4 (ER1 & ER4) are powered and supporting payload operations. ER2 is powered but is currently not supporting any active payloads. ER3 is installed in the US Lab and will be checked out later. ER5 was checked out during Increment 4 and powered down.
ADVASC is downlinking nominal health and status data. A nutrient exchange sample is scheduled to be taken Wednesday, 8/14.
MAMS is operating nominally in the quasi-steady and HiRAPmodes. HiRAP was turned-on today due to SAMS sensors being inoperative. MAMS data is available on the acceleration measurement web page.
The MSG facility is currently powered-down following completion of a nominal support period for a SUBSA run Saturday.
SUBSA completed their third sample run Saturday. When removal of the SUBSA sample ampoule was attempted yesterday, the ampoule broke and released glass particles into the MSG work volume and left some particles inside the thermal chamber. The crew performed clean-up procedures, however there is concern that additional clean-up may be needed. The SUBSA team is assessing the problem and developing a plan for resuming operations.
PFMI is stowed in the US Lab and is scheduled to operate in the MSG during Stage 9A.
SAMS sensor data from EXPRESS Racks was lost Friday and following several reboot attempts, the SAMS equipment in ER1 that is required for SAMS EXPRESS Rack sensors to function, was turned off. The SAMS sensor in the MSG is currently turned-off, however it functioned nominally during the SUBSA run this past weekend. SAMS equipment in ER1 was powered up again today and for a few minutes down-linked health and status data but then lost communications again. The SAMS Interface Control Unit in ER4 also locked-up and was rebooted by the flight crew just prior to their sleep period. The SAMS team is assessing the problem and developing a trouble-shooting plan.
STES-8 is downlinking nominal health and status data. Four of the six growth chambers remain activated.
Near-term Outlook:
Week 10 (8/12-8/18) – Planning for this week was based on approximately 6 hours of crew time availability for NASA payload operations. The majority of crew time will be devoted to preparation for, and implementation of, an EVA on 8/16. During the EVA, the crew will install debris panels on the Russian Service Module and remove and replace an external Russian payload. The crew is sleep shifting to be able to perform the EVA with maximum coverage by Russian Ground stations. Post EVA activities will also require significant crew time. The ADVASC sample procedure is the only MRPO payload crew activity scheduled during this week.
Week 11 (8/19-8/25) – Preliminary planning for this week is being based on approximately 8 hours of crew time availability for NASA payload operations. Again, the majority of crew time will be devoted to preparation for, and implementation of, an EVA on 8/23. During the EVA, the crew will swap out Japanese experiments measuring the effect of the space environment on a variety of materials and install two additional amateur radio antennas on the Zvezda module. Post EVA activities will also require significant crew time. An additional SUBSA run is scheduled to begin on 8/19.
M. Vlasse, PhD, DSc
MRPO Increment Scientist
ACRONYMS:
ADVASC – Advanced Astroculture
BCSS — Biotechnology Cell Science Stowage
BSTC– Biotechnology Specimen Temperature Controller (General status information on this payload will include coverage of the following items of support equipment: BTR, BCSS and GSM)
BTR — Biotechnology Refrigerator
ER1– EXPRESS RACK 1
ER2 — EXPRESS RACK 2
ER3 – EXPRESS RACK 3
ER4 – EXPRESS RACK 4
ER5 – EXPRESS RACK 5
GSM — Gas Supply Module
InSPACE- Investigating the Structure of Paramagnetic Aggregates
MAMS — Microgravity Acceleration Measurement System
MCOR -Medium Rate Communication Outage Recorder
MEPS – Microencapsulation Electrostatic Processing System
MSG – Microgravity Science Glovebox
PFMI – Pore Formation and Mobility Investigation
SAMS — Space Acceleration Measurement System II
STES – Protein Crystal Growth – Single Thermal Enclosure System
SUBSA – Solidification Using a Baffle in Sealed Ampoules
ZCG – Zeolite Crystal Growth
