NASA ISS On-Orbit Status 12 February 2012
All ISS systems continue to function nominally, except those noted previously or below. Sunday – Crew off duty. Ahead: Week 12 of Increment 30 (six-person crew).
Nominal crew schedule was interrupted last night by a critical power loss on the ISS when Channel 3B BCDU (Battery Charge & Discharge Unit) suffered a POR (Power-On Reset), cutting off power from essentially one solar array (see Update below). Crew sleep ended at ~7:00pm EST (instead 1:00am), and the crew spent the night on supporting ground teams in restoring onboard systems. ISS should be fully recovered by about 1:00pm EST. The recovery was extremely well executed. Thanks everyone!
The emergency/restoration has kept the crew from enjoying their nominal off-duty Sunday schedule which includes –
* Routine inspection of the SM (Service Module) PSS Caution & Warning panel by FE-1 Shkaplerov as part of regular Daily Morning Inspection,
* Checkout and testing of the electrical food warmer (EPP/elektropodogrevatelya pishchi) by FE-2 Ivanishin,
* Routine daily servicing of the SOZh system (Environment Control & Life Support System, ECLSS) in the SM and FGB by Anatoly; [this included the weekly collection of the toilet flush (SP) counter and water supply (SVO) readings for calldown to TsUP-Moscow, as well as the weekly checkup on the Russian POTOK-150MK (150 micron) air filter unit of the SM’s & FGB’s SOGS air revitalization subsystem, gathering weekly data on total operating time & “On” durations for calldown. SOZh servicing includes checking the ASU toilet facilities, replacement of the KTO & KBO solid waste containers and replacement of EDV-SV waste water and EDV-U urine containers],
* A PFC (Private Family Conference) by CDR Burbank at ~2:00pm, and
* The physical exercise workout routines by the crewmembers.
New items added to Dan’s, Don’s & Andre’s discretionary “job jar” task list:
* A procedure for using the two-part Epoxy material to repair the PWD (Potable Water Dispenser) PIP Switch Lever,
* Tightening and torque-striping both sets of ARIS (Active Rack Isolation System) Upper Pushrod knurled nuts on the FIR (Fluids Integrated Rack) [these knurled nuts have been known to vibrate loose on the ER-2 ( ExPRESS-2 Rack)],
* Continuing the cleanup of the PMM (Permanent Multipurpose Module) endcone area to enable creation of a trash staging area prior to Progress loading, and
* Installing a new JSL (Joint Station LAN) switch in Node 3, [this hardware replaces an existing powered, but not utilized WAP in Node 3 and allows connection of more devices; even though the new switch will be installed, it will not be incorporated into the JSL for some time.]
Tasks listed for Shkaplerov, Kononenko & Ivanishin on the Russian discretionary “time permitting” job for today were –
* A ~30-min. run of the GFI-8 “Uragan” (hurricane) earth-imaging program with the NIKON D3X digital camera with Sigma AF 300-800mm telelens, focusing on the volcanoes Krakatau, Cordon-Kaul, Hudson, Kilimanjaro, Tanguraua, Reventador, Galeras, and the glaciers of Patagonia (Viedma, Upsala, Chico), and Canberra,
* A 10-min. photography session for the DZZ-13 “Seiner” ocean observation program, obtaining HDV (Z1) camcorder footage of color bloom patterns in the waters of the South-Eastern Pacific, then copying the images to the RSK-1 laptop,
* A ~30-min. session for Russia’s EKON Environmental Safety Agency, making observations and taking KPT-3 aerial photography of environmental conditions on Earth using the NIKON D3X camera with the RSK-1 laptop, and
* More preparation & downlinking of reportages (written text, photos, videos) for the Roskosmos website to promote Russia’s manned space program (max. file size 500 Mb).
ISS Power Loss Update: The power loss on Channel 3B (i.e., essentially all of solar array 3B) was caused by a POR (Power-On Reset) on a major DCSU (Direct Current Switching Unit). This shifted loads upstream to BCDUs (Battery Charge & Discharge Units) and tripped all of the BCDU fuse-type RBI (Remote Bus Isolator) switches. As a result, power was lost to CMG-3 (Control Momentum Gyro 3), Ku-band communication prime antenna, and several MDM (Multiplexer/Demultiplexer) computers with their clients. Ground teams immediately swung into action, monitoring thermal clocks to ensure no components violated their thermal limits, and keeping proper attitude control with the remaining 3 CMGs. After analyzing the problem, flight controllers, with crew support, dove into several hours of repowering systems. The crew was in no danger and the station was stable. As of this morning all major power boxes were back online (one box took two power cycles to recover), and ISS is now almost fully recovered from the event. There are a few minor cleanups needed to restore full station configuration. CMG-3 is presently spinning up and should be back on line at about 1:00pm EST. Background: PORs occur occasionally and are considered random events (perhaps radiation induced). The last one, on MBSU1 (Main Bus Switching Unit 1) was on 11/3/2008, the first time for an MBSU; systems restoration took 3 hrs. The only other POR on a DCSU to date occurred on 2/11/2007, causing loss of Channel 2A (i.e., solar array 2A) with CMG-2 and other critical systems.
Conjunction Advisory: Flight controllers are monitoring a conjunction with Object 34284 (COSMOS 2251) with a TCA (Time of Closest Approach) tomorrow (2/13) at 8:43pm EST. Radial miss distance of this object is ~250m, remaining stable to date. The first decision point (Go/NoGo for maneuver data Cyclogram development) is tonight at 9:13pm, for a DAM (Debris Avoidance Maneuver) tomorrow at 6:25pm EST, if required.
No CEO (Crew Earth Observation) targets uplinked for today.
ISS Orbit (as of this morning, 8:02am EST [= epoch])
. Mean altitude – 390.9 km
. Apogee height – 404.8 km
. Perigee height – 377.1 km
. Period — 92.37 min.
. Inclination (to Equator) — 51.64 deg
. Eccentricity — 0.0020497
. Solar Beta Angle — 34.2 deg (magnitude decreasing)
. Orbits per 24-hr. day — 15.59
. Mean altitude loss in the last 24 hours — 65 m
. Revolutions since FGB/Zarya launch (Nov. 98) — 75,842
. Time in orbit (station) — 4832 days
. Time in orbit (crews, cum.) — 4119 days
Significant Events Ahead (all dates Eastern Time and subject to change):
————–Six-crew operations—————-
02/14/12 – Russian EVA-30 Dry-run
02/16/12 — Russian EVA-30
03/09/12 — ATV3 launch — (target date)
03/19/12 — ATV3 docking — (target date)
04/19/12 — Progress M-14M/46P undock
04/20/12 — Progress M-15M/47P launch
04/22/12 — Progress M-15M/47P docking
xx/xx/12 — SpaceX Falcon 9/Dragon launch
xx/xx/12 — SpaceX Falcon 9/Dragon berthing
xx/xx/12 — SpaceX Falcon 9/Dragon unberth
04/30/12 — Soyuz TMA-22/28S undock/landing (End of Increment 30)
————–Three-crew operations————-
05/15/12 — Soyuz TMA-04M/30S launch – G.Padalka (CDR-32)/J.Acaba/K.Volkov (target date)
05/17/12 — Soyuz TMA-04M/30S docking (MRM2) (target date)
————–Six-crew operations—————-
07/01/12 — Soyuz TMA-03M/29S undock/landing (End of Increment 31)
————–Three-crew operations————-
07/15/12 — Soyuz TMA-05M/31S launch – S.Williams (CDR-33)/Y.Malenchenko/A.Hoshide
07/17/12 — Soyuz TMA-05M/31S docking
07/31/12 — Progress M16M/48P launch
08/02/12 — Progress M16M/48P docking
————–Six-crew operations—————-
09/17/12 — Soyuz TMA-04M/30S undock/landing (End of Increment 32)
————–Three-crew operations————-
10/15/12 — Soyuz TMA-06M/32S launch – K.Ford (CDR-34)/O.Novitskiy/E.Tarelkin
10/17/12 — Soyuz TMA-06M/32S docking
————–Six-crew operations————-
11/01/12 — Progress M-17M/49P launch
11/03/12 — Progress M-17M/49P docking
11/12/12 — Soyuz TMA-05M/31S undock/landing (End of Increment 33)
————–Three-crew operations————-
12/05/12 — Soyuz TMA-07M/33S launch – C.Hadfield (CDR-35)/T.Mashburn/R.Romanenko
12/07/12 — Soyuz TMA-07M/33S docking
————–Six-crew operations————-
12/26/12 — Progress M-18M/50P launch
12/28/12 — Progress M-18M/50P docking
03/19/13 — Soyuz TMA-06M/32S undock/landing (End of Increment 34)
————–Three-crew operations————-
04/02/13 — Soyuz TMA-08M/34S launch – P.Vinogradov (CDR-36)/C.Cassidy/A.Misurkin
04/04/13 — Soyuz TMA-08M/34S docking
————–Six-crew operations————-
05/16/13 — Soyuz TMA-07M/33S undock/landing (End of Increment 35)
————–Three-crew operations————-
05/29/13 — Soyuz TMA-09M/35S launch – M.Suraev (CDR-37)/K.Nyberg/L.Parmitano
05/31/13 — Soyuz TMA-09M/35S docking
————–Six-crew operations————-
09/xx/13 — Soyuz TMA-08M/34S undock/landing (End of Increment 36)
————–Three-crew operations————-
09/xx/13 — Soyuz TMA-10M/36S launch – M.Hopkins/TBD (CDR-38)/TBD
09/xx/13 — Soyuz TMA-10M/36S docking
————–Six-crew operations————-
11/xx/13 — Soyuz TMA-09M/35S undock/landing (End of Increment 37)
————–Three-crew operations————-
11/xx/13 — Soyuz TMA-11M/37S launch – K.Wakata (CDR-39)/R.Mastracchio/TBD
11/xx/13 — Soyuz TMA-11M/37S docking
————–Six-crew operations————-
03/xx/14 — Soyuz TMA-10M/36S undock/landing (End of Increment 38)
————–Three-crew operations————-
