Status Report

NASA ISS On-Orbit Status 21 January 2012

By SpaceRef Editor
January 21, 2012
Filed under , , ,
NASA ISS On-Orbit Status 21 January 2012
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All ISS systems continue to function nominally, except those noted previously or below. Saturday – Crew off duty.

Sleep Cycle Shift: Wake – 6:00am; Sleep – 4:30pm EST. Tomorrow: Return to nominal.

After wakeup, FE-2 Ivanishin performed the routine inspection of the SM (Service Module) PSS Caution & Warning panel as part of regular Daily Morning Inspection.

FE-5 Andre Kuipers started his workday with Day 3 of his 2nd (FD30) suite of sessions with the medical protocol Pro K (Dietary Intake Can Predict and Protect against Changes in Bone Metabolism during Spaceflight and Recovery), with diet logging after the urine pH spot test, for a 5-day period. After recording his diet input today, Andre will begin the urine collections for pH value tomorrow (1/22) and blood sampling on Monday (1/23). [For Pro K, there will be five in-flight sessions (FD15, FD30, FD60, FD120, FD180) of samplings, to be shared with the NUTRITION w/Repository protocol, each one with five days of diet & urine pH logging and photography on the last day (science sessions are often referred to by Flight Day 15, 30, 60, etc. However, there are plus-minus windows associated with these time points so a “Flight Day 15” science session may not actually fall on the crewmember’s 15th day on-orbit). The crewmember prepares a diet log and then annotates quantities of food packets consumed and supplements taken. Urine collections are spread over 24 hrs; samples go into the MELFI (Minus Eighty Laboratory Freezer for ISS) within 30 min after collection. Blood samples, on the last day, are centrifuged in the RC (Refrigerated Centrifuge) and placed in MELFI at -80 degC. There is an 8-hr fasting requirement prior to the blood draw (i.e., no food or drink, but water ingestion is encouraged). MELFI constraints: Maximum MELFI Dewar open time: 60 sec; at least 45 min between MELFI Dewar door openings.]

Kuipers also worked on today’s choice of the VolSci (Voluntary Weekend Science) program, with the ERB2 (European Recording Binocular 2) payload, first disconnecting ERB2 from the ESA EDR (European Drawer Rack), equipping it with new batteries, checking White Balance and Focus setting and then shooting video of onboard activities in all ISS locations, without script (but crew was invited to apply creativity for filming). ERB2 was then turned off, reconnected to EDR and the camera mounted on its EDR multi-use bracket. [ERB uses a three-dimensional (3-D) video camera, the Sony DSR PD150P camcorder and a Nikon SSM-3DC-101 D photo camera for taking imagery of the environment onboard the ISS for an accurate map of the station’s interior and crew activities. The images are transferred by a computer application into a 3D model to be viewed in the Virtual Reality Theater of ESA’s Erasmus Center.]

FE-6 Don Pettit filled out his 4th weekly FFQ (Food Frequency Questionnaire) on the MEC (Medical Equipment Computer). [On the FFQs, USOS astronauts keep a personalized log of their nutritional intake over time on special MEC software. Recorded are the amounts consumed during the past week of such food items as beverages, cereals, grains, eggs, breads, snacks, sweets, fruit, beans, soup, vegetables, dairy, fish, meat, chicken, sauces & spreads, and vitamins. The FFQ is performed once a week to estimate nutrient intake from the previous week and to give recommendations to ground specialists that help maintain optimal crew health. Weekly estimation has been verified to be reliable enough that nutrients do not need to be tracked daily.]

Afterwards, Don performed his first session with the MedOps psychological evaluation experiment WinSCAT (Spaceflight Cognitive Assessment Tool for Windows), logging in on the MEC (Medical Equipment Computer) laptop and going through the psychological evaluation exercise on the PC-based WinSCAT application. [WinSCAT is a monthly time-constrained questionnaire test of cognitive abilities, routinely performed by astronauts aboard the ISS every 30 days before or after the PHS (periodic health status) test or on special CDR’s, crewmembers or flight surgeons request. The test uses cognitive subtests that measure sustained concentration, verbal working memory, attention, short-term memory, spatial processing, and math skills. The five cognitive subtests are Coding Memory – Learning, Continuous Processing Task (CPT), Match to Sample, Mathematics, and Coding Delayed Recall. These WinSCAT subtests are the same as those used during NASA’s long-duration bed rest studies.]

Anton Shkaplerov performed the routine daily servicing of the SOZh system (Environment Control & Life Support System, ECLSS) in the SM. [Regular daily SOZh maintenance consists, among else, of checking the ASU toilet facilities, replacement of the KTO & KBO solid waste containers, replacement of EDV-SV waste water and EDV-U urine containers and filling EDV-SV, KOV (for Elektron), EDV-ZV & EDV on RP flow regulator.]

At ~7:30am EST, the six crewmembers held the regular WPC (Weekly Planning Conference) with the ground, discussing next week’s “Look-Ahead Plan” (prepared jointly by MCC-H and TsUP-Moscow timeline planners), via S-band/audio, reviewing upcoming activities and any concerns about future on-orbit events.

The crew worked out with their regular 2-hr physical exercise protocol on the CEVIS cycle ergometer with vibration isolation (CDR, FE-5), TVIS treadmill with vibration isolation & stabilization (FE-1, FE-2, FE-4, FE-5), ARED advanced resistive exercise device (CDR, FE-6), T2/COLBERT advanced treadmill (FE-6), and VELO ergometer bike with load trainer (FE-1, FE-2, FE-4).

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 Volcano Etna,
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 Atlantic, 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).

WRM Update: A new WRM (Water Recovery Management) “cue card” was uplinked to the crew for their reference, updated with their latest CWC (Contingency Water Container) water audit. [The new card (29-0008G) lists 60 CWCs (1466.6 L total) for the five types of water identified on board: 1. Silver technical water (25 CWCs with 1044.6 L, for Elektron electrolysis, all containing Wautersia bacteria, plus 3 with 129 L contingency water; 2. Condensate water (2 CWCs with 9.8 L), 9 empty bags; 3. Iodinated water (22 CWCs with 385.6 L; also 8 expired bags with 140.5L); 4. Waste water (1 bag with 6.4 L EMU waste water); and 5. Special fluid (1 CWC with 20.2 L, hose/pump flush). Other CWCs are stowed behind racks and are currently not being tracked due to unchanging contents. Wautersia bacteria are typical water-borne microorganisms that have been seen previously in ISS water sources. These isolates pose no threat to human health.]

Weekly Science Update (Expedition Thirty/Thirty-One — Week 18).

2D NANO Template (JAXA): The experiment is continuing in Dewar4 of MELFI-1. The samples should proceed by arranging peptides slowly on base plates. The samples will be returned on 28S.
3D SPACE: Complete.

AgCam (Agricultural Camera): No report.

ALTCRISS (Alteino Long Term monitoring of Cosmic Rays on the ISS): Complete.

ALTEA SHIELD (NASA/ASI): The Survey part of the ALTEA-SHIELD experiment is considered complete. However the teams are working to have ALTEA continue to record data.

Amine Swingbed (NASA): No report.

AMS-02 (Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer): AMS Payload and Laptop operations are nominal. AMS has data on the ground for over 11 billion particle events.

APEX (Advanced Plant Experiments on Orbit) -Cambium: No report.

APEX-TAGES (Transgenic Arabidopsis Gene Expression System): No report.

Asian Seed 2010 (JAXA): Returned on ULF6.

BCAT-6 (Binary Colloidal Alloy Test 6): No report. [Colloids are particles as small as a few tens of nanometers (a thousandth of a thousandth of a millimeter) that are suspended in a medium, usually a liquid or a gas. The name “colloid” comes from the Greek word for “glue”, and expresses very important properties of colloids: when small and light enough, particles can be influenced in their behavior by forces of electromagnetic origin, and make them stick together, or repel each other depending on the configuration. Colloids are widely studied in science because the forces between particles can be controlled and tuned and because particles, while being small enough to be influenced by such forces, are big and slow enough to be seen with a relatively simple and inexpensive laboratory instrument like a microscope. This is why colloids are often studied as model for molecular systems (like standard gases or liquids) where molecules, the individual constituents, are much smaller than colloids and cannot be seen with light. As mentioned, forces between colloids can be tuned giving rise to a rich variety of phenomena. One of them is aggregation, which is when particles stick together and tend to form structures. Among the many ways to induce particle aggregation, one allows to do so by controlling the temperature of the solution in which the particles are immersed, thanks to very weak forces called “critical Casimir forces” that have been predicted more than 30 years ago but just partially verified in experiments. The objective of SODI COLLOID is to measure such forces and produce a controlled aggregation of tiny plastic particles. This would allow to shed light on critical Casimir forces and to make a step towards the fabrication of new nanostructured materials with remarkable optical properties for industrial applications.]

BIOLAB (ESA): No report.

BIORHYTHMS (JAXA, Biological Rhythms): No report.

BISE (CSA, Bodies in the Space Environment): No report.

BISPHOSPHONATES: No report.

BXF-Facility (Boiling eXperiment Facility, NASA): No report.

BXF-MABE (Microheater Array Boiling Experiment, NASA): No report.

BXF-NPBX (Pool Boiling Experiment, NASA): No report.

CARD (Long Term Microgravity: Model for Investigating Mechanisms of Heart Disease, ESA): No report.

CARDIOCOG-2: Complete.

CB (JAXA Clean Bench): No report.

CBEF-2 (JAXA Cell Biology Experiment Facility)/SPACE SEED: No report.

CCISS (Cardiovascular & Cerebrovascular Control on Return from ISS): No report.

CERISE (JAXA): No report.

CCF (Capillary Channel Flow, NASA): No report.

CFE-2 (Capillary Flow Experiment 2, NASA): “Don, on Monday, 1/16, you completed the Clockwise (CW) wetted surface test for the VG2 unit. You made measurements on the critical wetting angles for 8 different conditions (wetting and de-wetting) by adjusting vane angles based primarily on your own realtime observations. Despite the Ku band outage, such that the CFE ground team could not observe real-time video, you quickly adapted to the experiment and we are very confident in results you collected even during these LOS periods. No bulk shift was observed for today’s unfilled perforation study, but we aren’t expecting this effect until the later VG2 tests where the crew member will purposely fill the vane perforations with fluid. We were also grateful for the opportunity to talk directly to you during these operations, which added to the already surreal experience of conducting experiments on ISS. Thank you!”

CFS-A (Colored Fungi in Space-A, ESA): No report.

CSI-5/CGBA-5 (CGBA Science Insert #5/Commercial Generic Bioprocessing Apparatus 5): No report.

CGBA-2 (Commercial Generic Bioprocessing Apparatus 2): Complete.

CIR (Combustion Integrated Rack), MDCA/Flex: No report.

Commercial (Inc 23&24, JAXA): No report.

Commercial (Inc 25 & 26, JAXA): No report.

CSLM-2 (Coarsening in Solid-Liquid Mixtures 2): No report.

CsPins (JAXA): No report.

CubeLab: No report.

CW/CR (Cell Wall/Resist Wall) in EMCS (European Modular Cultivation System): Complete.

DECLIC-ALI (Device for the Study of Critical Liquids & Crystallization-ALICE-like, CNES/NASA): No report.

DomeGene (JAXA): Complete.

DOSIS (Dose Distribution Inside ISS, ESA): No report.

EarthKAM (Earth Knowledge Acquired by Middle School Students): No report.

EDR (European Drawer Rack, ESA): Activated in support of the ERB-2 data transfer.

EKE (Endurance Capacity by Gas Exchange and Heart Rate Kinetics During Physical Training, ESA): No report.

ELITE-S2 (Elaboratore Immagini Televisive – Space 2): Planned.

EMCS (European Modular Cultivation System): No report.

ENose (Electronic Nose): No report.

EPM (European Physiology Module): Activated in support of the NEUROSPAT troubleshooting steps.

EPO (Educational Payload Operations, NASA) (Eye in the Sky; Sleep 2): No report.

EPO (Educational Payload Operations, NASA) (Sesame Street): No report.

EPO (Educational Payload Operations, NASA) (Kids in Micro-G): No report.

EPO (Educational Payload Operations, NASA) (Earth/Moon/Mars Demo): No report.

EPO (Educational Payload Operations, NASA) (Space Sports): No report.

EPO CONVECTIONS (ESA): “Andre, kudos for a smooth execution of the EPO CONVECTION experiment! ESA got the files on ground but these are not available at ESTEC yet. Meanwhile, we have positive feedback for you. Several ground activities have been triggered since the beginning of Expedition 30 (i.e. PromISSe mission). Spaceship Earth webpages within PromISSe mission pages were launched with the first three lessons on the first theme of Life. These lessons cover Immunology in Space, Balance in Space and Radiation. The age range of the lessons is from 12-18 with immunology and radiation being the upper level lessons. Great EPO FOAM-S activities during week 17, ESA is planning the MPC downlink for next week. EPO CONVECTION operations were also deemed highly successful with Press and Payload Developers watching VCA live from Erasmus USOC. Finally, the EPO Education kits are complete and soon ready to be shipped out (see picture in a separate tabsheet). Schools are signing up to receive the kits ready for an upcoming in-flight call!”

EPO LES-2 (ESA): No report.

EPO GREENHOUSE (ESA): No report.

EPO 3-min Video (JAXA): No report.

EPO J-Astro Report (JAXA): No report.

EPO Dewey’s Forest (JAXA): Closed out on 3/15.

EPO Space Clothes (JAXA): Complete.

EPO Hiten (Dance, JAXA): No report.

EPO Lego Bricks (NASA, JAXA): No report.

EPO-5 SpaceBottle (Message in a Bottle, JAXA): No report.

EPO Moon Score (JAXA): No report.

EPO-7 Try Zero-G (JAXA): No report.

EPO Kibo Kids Tour (JAXA): Complete.

EPO Paper Craft (Origami, JAXA): No report.

EPO Poem (JAXA): No report.

EPO-6 Spiral Top 2 (JAXA): No report.

EPO-7 Doctor Demo (JAXA): No report.

EPO-7 Green Tea Preparation (JAXA): No report.

EPO-7 Ink Ball (JAXA): No report.

EPO-7 Video (JAXA):

ERB-2 (Erasmus Recording Binocular, ESA): [ERB-2 aims are to develop narrated video material for various PR & educational products & events, including a 3D interior station view.] No report.

ETD (Eye Tracking Device): Completed.

FACET-2 (JAXA): No report.

FERULATE (JAXA): No report.

FIR/LMM/CVB (Fluids Integrated Rack / Light Microscopy Module / Constrained Vapor Bubble): No report.

Fish Scales (JAXA): Completed on FD7/ULF-4 and returned on STS-132.

FOAM STABILITY EPO (ESA): No report.

FOCUS: No report.

FSL (Fluid Science Laboratory, ESA): No report.

FWED (Flywheel Exercise Device, ESA): No report.

GENARA-A (Gravity Regulated Genes in Arabidopsis A/ESA): No report.

GEOFLOW-2 (ESA): FSL was activated during the whole week to support the GEOFLOW-2 experiment. We had a good start with the completion of all the skipped temperature set-points for the No-Rotation runs for the experiment High Working Environment (T_cold = 30.5 degC). The experimental program was continued with several Low/Medium/High Rotation Runs: one could be completed in two steps (run #i17d), while the next three (runs #i17e, #i18c, #i18d and #i18e) had to be aborted due to FSL ground segment problems. Those pending runs were replanned on 1/19-1/20, taking into account the Columbus power limitations with the current high beta angle conditions. [Background: Everybody is familiar with liquids. In an average day we get to use, handle or drink water or other liquids. And everybody knows how fluids (that is liquids and gases) behave: when subjected to a net force, may be pressure, a temperature difference or gravity, they can move freely. Scientists have been studying how fluids move for centuries, and managed to write mathematical formulas that can describe and predict such movements. Unfortunately, these equations are extremely complex and only approximate solutions are known. As a result, our quantitative understanding of fluid movement is just partial. This is especially true for natural phenomena where the forces can be enormous and unpredictable, like in oceans or in the atmosphere. Or the interior of the earth, where rocks are exposed to pressures and temperatures so incredibly high that they slowly move and adapt their shape. That is, over hundreds of years rocks flow just like a very viscous liquid. Scientists try to study such flows but cannot observe them directly due to the fact that they take place deep beneath the surface of our planet. The only way is to have computers simulating those movements starting from the equations, but how to check whether computers are correct? This is what Geoflow II is trying to answer on board the International Space Station. Geoflow II is a miniature planet that has some of its essential ingredients: a fluid can freely move inside a spherical container that rotates, has temperature differences and has a simulated gravity directed towards the centre just like in a real planet. By taking pictures of the fluid movements, scientists are able to understand the essential characteristics of the flows and determine whether computer simulations are correct or whether they need to be refined and improved towards a better understanding of the elusive movements that take place inside our planet.]

HAIR (JAXA): The 1st hair sampling from Don was completed on 1/20.

HDTV System (JAXA): No report.

Hicari (JAXA): No report.

Holter ECG (JAXA): No report.

HQPC (JAXA): Was delivered by 34P.

HREP (HICO/Hyperspectral Imager for the Coastal Ocean & RAIDS/Remote Atmospheric & Ionospheric Detection System/JAXA): HICO has taken 4875 images to date. The most recent HICO images taken include Bahrain, the Yellow River Estuary in China, the coast of Italy near Venice, Lake Tahoe and the Straits of Gibraltar. RAIDS is collecting secondary Science data including nighttime atmospheric disk photometry, spectra and temperatures. Extreme Ultra Violet airglow spectroscopy and optical contamination studies will also be performed.

HydroTropi (Hydrotropism & Auxin-Inducible Gene Expression in Roots Grown under Microgravity Conditions/JAXA): No report.

ICE CRYSTAL (JAXA): Complete.

ICV (Integrated Cardiovascular): “All: Thanks so much for your efforts on ICV this week! Don and Andre, you may notice that we have updated the number of anticipated inflight sessions. Because of the delay in your launch, FD135 and R-15 are essentially the same date so you will be performing four instead of the typical five sessions. This means that Andre is at the halfway point for ICV and Don isn’t far behind!”

IMMUNO (Neuroendocrine & Immune Responses in Humans During & After Long Term Stay at ISS): Complete.

INTEGRATED IMMUNE: No report.

InSPACE-2 (Investigating the Structure of Paramagnetic Aggregates from Colloidal Emulsions 2): No report.

IRIS (Image Reversal in Space, CSA): No report.

ISS Amateur/Ham Radio: No report.

ISSAC (ISS Agricultural Camera, NASA): No report.

IV Gen (Intravenous Fluids Generation): No report.

JOURNALS (Behavioral Issues Associated with Isolation and Confinement, NASA): No report. [Studies conducted on Earth have shown that analyzing the content of journals and diaries is an effective method for identifying the issues that are most important to a person. The method is based on the reasonable assumption that the frequency that an issue or category of issues is mentioned in a journal reflects the importance of that issue or category to the writer. The tone of each entry (positive, negative, or neutral) and phase of the expedition also are variables of interest. Study results will lead to recommendations for the design of equipment, facilities, procedures, and training to help sustain behavioral adjustment and performance during long-duration space expeditions to the ISS, asteroids, the Moon, Mars, and beyond. Results from this study could help to improve the behavioral performance of people living and working under a variety of conditions here on Earth.]

KID/KUBIK6: No report.

KUBIK 3 (ESA): No report.

LMM/PACE-2 (Light Microscopy Module / Preliminary Advanced Colloids Experiment): No report.

LOCAD-PTS (Lab-on-a-Chip Application Development-Portable Test System): No report.

Marangoni Exp. (JAXA): Ground Team performed run #24 on 1/14 and run #25 on 1/15. But on 1/16, before the start of #26, the Fluid Physics Experiment Facility (FPEF) and Image Processing Unit (IPU) were suddenly shutdown. On 1/17, during the trouble shooting of these facilities, when Ground Team sent an activation command to the Image Processing Unit (IPU) it was not able to close the switch for the IPU, and instead the PPDB RPC 1 switch was open. Trouble shooting is continuing in order to restart the remaining four runs of Marangoni Experiment.

Marangoni DSD – Dynamic Surf (JAXA): Payload name was change from Marangoni DSD to Dynamic Surf.

Marangoni UVP (JAXA): No report.

MARES (Muscle Atrophy Research & Exercise System, ESA/NASA): No report.

Matryoshka-2 (RSA): No report.

MAXI (Monitor of All-sky X-ray Image, JAXA): Continuing telemetry monitoring.

MDCA/Flex-2: This week we ran our first MDCA/FLEX-2 test points. MDCA/FLEX-2 encompasses five distinct investigation classes using pure and bi-component mixed fuels. The first investigation class is Fuel Surrogates. These test points will continue throughout the rest of this Increment. Surrogate fuels are mixtures of pure fuels that simulate the behavior of real fuels, such as gasoline and jet fuels. Surrogate fuels are chosen for investigation because they allow insight into the burning characteristics of real fuels, which are very difficult to study because they are multi-component. The results from these test points will lead to greater fuel efficiency of liquid-fuel engines and will minimize pollutant emissions. Results will also allow for the quantitative evaluation of future fuels. On 1/17, we performed four freely deployed test points with fuel droplet diameters of approximately 2 mm. Freely deployed means that the fuel droplet was not tethered on the fiber inside the MDCA CIA. These test points were performed in a “standard” air mixture of 21% oxygen and 79% nitrogen at 1 atm. All Fuel Surrogate test points will be performed in this same chamber environment. Five test point days are dedicated to iso-octane, which is a pure fuel, to gather baseline data prior to investigating a bi-component mixture of iso-octane and heptane. Three of the four test points were only partially successful because the fuel droplet drifted outside the field of view of our cameras before it extinguished. One test was successful because the entire burn was captured on our cameras. On 1/19, we repeated more of these same test points (droplet diameter of ~2 mm) to achieve a total of three successful test points to establish repeatability of our results.

MEIS (Marangoni Experiment for ISS) in JAXA FPEF (Fluid Physics Experiment Facility): No report.

Microbe-2 (JAXA): Sample returned by ULF6.

Micro-G Clay (JAXA EPO): Complete.

MISSE-8 (Materials ISS Experiment 8): MISSE-8 is operating nominally. The Communication Interface Board (CIB) has not reset since December 2011. PASCAL has performed nominal commanding that produced IV curves of the solar cells. IV curves are plots of the current versus voltage for solar cells and tell a lot about how these are performing. The SpaceCube experiment is running code for new radiation hardening by software.

MMA (JAXA/Microgravity Measurement Apparatus): No report.
MPAC/SEED (JAXA): No report.
MSG-SAME (Microgravity Science Glovebox-Smoke Aerosol Measurement Experiment): No report.

MSPR (Multi Purpose Small Payload Rack, JAXA): On 1/18, Don activated Payload Laptop 2 (PLT2) to update software to control MSPR. He completed the upload and partially confirmed a new function to control the AAA Fan Speed Level. After that, PLT2 was deactivated.

MSL (Materials Science Laboratory, ESA): No report.

MTR-2 (Russian radiation measurements): Passive dosimeters measurements in DC-1 “Pirs”.

MULTIGEN-1: Completed.

MYCO 3 (JAXA): On 9/22, Mike and Satoshi completed sample collection.

MyoLab (JAXA): Completed on 4/20.

NANOSKELETON (Production of High Performance Nanomaterials in Microgravity, JAXA): No report.

NEURORAD (JAXA): No report.

NEUROSPAT (ESA/Study of Spatial Cognition, Novelty Processing and Sensorimotor Integration): “Dear Andre, thanks for your help supporting the troubleshooting of NEUROSPAT. Ground teams were able to access the crippled hard disk, and downlink a subset of the data. While the outcome of this week’s activities looks positive, the downlinked data does not allow for a full science assessment of the session performed on 1/3. We are awaiting the next troubleshooting steps.” [During microgravity stay, human body goes through multitude of physiological changes in order to accommodate to the new environment. As the brain is a master organ where major crucial processes take place, it is fundamental to understand how it manages adaptation for living in Space. One of the main purposes of Neurospat (NES) experiment is to focus on how microgravity environment influences cerebral activity of astronauts aboard ISS. For this, the global electrical activity of the brain of the astronaut is measured thanks to electroencephalogram (EEG) technique, while he or she is executing specific tasks through a computer as if it was a kind of videogame. In practice, the astronaut is wearing a specially equipped cap with passive, gel filled electrodes that are in contact with his/her scalp while he or she is performing the specific tasks that we have designed. These are visual-orientation perception and visuo-motor tracking tasks that may be encountered on a daily basis. The tasks allow the study of 5 cognitive processes: Perception, Attention, Memorization, Decision and Action. Besides there are also task-irrelevant images that are showed to the astronaut in order to assess how well he or she processes novel visual stimuli. The electrodes all over the scalp are linked to sensitive amplifiers that allow us to measure small variations of electrical potential between different regions of the scalp. These signals are in turn used to estimate activity in the cerebral cortex related to the task being performed. Also, they serve to identify the mental processes associated with these tasks and to localize in the brain the sources of the underlying neural activity. After analysis of the data we can better understand whether the novel environment of microgravity accompanied by a multitude of stressors may place an increased load on the cognitive capacity of the human brain and whether the sensory signals and motor responses of astronauts are processed and interpreted differently because a new reference frame.]

NOA-1/-2 (Nitric Oxide Analyzer, ESA): Complete.

NUTRITION w/REPOSITORY/ProK: No report.

ODK (Onboard Diagnostic Kit, JAXA): No report.

PACE-2 (Preliminary Advanced Colloids Experiment 2, NASA): (please see under FIR and LMM/PACE-2.

PADIAC (Pathway Different Activators, ESA): No report.

PADLES (JAXA, Area PADLES 6/7; Passive Area Dosimeter for Lifescience Experiment in Space): No report.

PASSAGES (JAXA): No report.

PCDF-PU (Protein Crystallization Diagnostic Facility – Process Unit): No report.

PCG (JAXA, Protein Crystal Growth): On 1/17, Ryutai Rack was activated and Ground Team confirmed functional readiness of Protein Crystallization Research Facility (PCRF) for upcoming PCG experiment.

PCRF (Protein Crystallization Research Facility) Reconfiguration (JAXA): See PCG.

PLSG (Plant Signaling, NASA/ESA): No report.

PMDIS (Perceptual Motor Deficits in Space): Complete.

POLCA/GRAVIGEN (ESA): Complete.

Portable PFS: No report.

Pro K: No report.

RadGene & LOH (JAXA): Complete.

RadSilk (JAXA): No report.

Reaction Self Test (RST/Psychomotor Vigilance Self Test on the ISS): “”Dan, Don and Andre: Thank you for your participation in Reaction Self Test! Also, thank you Dan for your crew note about the Reaction Self Test software anomaly. We are looking into the cause.”

ROALD-2 (Role of Apoptosis in Lymphocyte Depression 2, ESA): No report. [Background: The ROALD-2 experiment studies how the function of T-cells from the immune system are affected by microgravity and spaceflight. T-cells play an important role in controlling the immune systems response to infection. It has previously been shown that the immune response of astronauts can be reduced following spaceflight and it has also been shown that the activation of T-cells in culture is reduced in microgravity. A series of experiments on T-cells and other immune system cells have been previously performed by different scientific teams on Space Shuttle and the ISS over the last 30 years. The data from these individual experiments provides information which together can be used to understand the mechanisms by which gravity or the absence of gravity can affect T-cell function.]

Robonaut (NASA): No report.

RYUTAI Rack (JAXA): No report.

SAIBO Rack (JAXA): On 1/16, Don completed the clean up and valve checkout of the Clean Bench (CB). Thank you for your comments to improve the procedure.

SAMS/MAMS (Space & Microgravity Acceleration Measurement Systems): “Dan, Don and Andre: Thanks for your support this week with MAMS/SAMS ER-1 recovery efforts (again). As part of our last report from the SAMS-SODI mission team, we include the analysis of measurements made the day of the debris avoidance maneuver on 1/13. The comparison plot illustrates acceleration measured as a function of frequency. The blue curve shows acceleration during a crew sleep period with the MSG on, while the red curve shows acceleration during the DAM and crew wake. Between 0.01 and 0.1 Hz, acceleration levels are shown to differ by at least two orders of magnitude! Between 0.1 and ~10 Hz, they are shown to differ by one order of magnitude. Note that in most frequencies below 7 Hz, the acceleration levels measured during the DAM exceed the ISS vibration requirements (bold black step-curve). The measurements in general are also of great interest to the international scientific community conducting operations onboard the ISS, including those experiments conducted within the MSG facility. Thanks to the data collected, we, you, and the ISS research operations team now have multiple recent examples to answer typical questions like: “What is the local acceleration level on the MSG?” and “What happens to the gravity level during an ISS thruster firing with my experiment running?” To the three of you, thank you for contributing to the success of these missions. It was a pleasure working with you during your respective Increments. Have a restful weekend and we’ll see y’all back on the ground.”

SAMPLE: Complete.

SCOF (Solution Crystallization Observation Facility, JAXA): No report.

SEDA-AP (Space Environment Data Acquisition Equipment-Attached Payload, JAXA): Continuing telemetry monitoring.

SHD (Space Headaches, ESA): “Andre, thanks for your continued participation in this experiment. Keep going, this is much appreciated!” [Background: The neurologists from Leiden University want to study the question whether the astronauts, while in space, suffer from the headaches. With the help of simple questionnaires the astronauts will register the headache episodes and the eventual accompanying symptoms. The results will hopefully help to characterize the frequency and characteristics of space headache and to develop countermeasure to prevent/minimize headache occurrence during the space flight.]

SHERE II (Shear History Extensional Rheology Experiment II): No report.

SLAMMD (Space Linear Acceleration Mass Measurement Device): No report.

SLEEP (Sleep-Wake Actigraphy & Light Exposure during Spaceflight): No report.

SLICE (Structure & Liftoff In Combustion Experiment): “Don, thanks for your SLICE preparations. We look forward to working with you to lift the flames!”

SMILES (JAXA): Continuing telemetry monitoring.

SODI/IVIDIL (Selectable Optical Diagnostics Instrument/Influence of Vibration on Diffusion in Liquids, ESA): No report.

SODI/COLLOID (Selectable Optical Diagnostics Instrument/Colloid): No report.

SODI-DSC (Selectable Optical Diagnostics Instrument/Diffusion & Soret Coefficient, ESA): Making use of any operational time available before SODI hardware stow, several science runs were executed during the last weekend. In total, the DSC science program has been largely fulfilled, with only 3 science runs that could not be performed due to lack of time. Due to the bubble problem with Experimental Cell#1, 3 additional runs could not be performed. The science team is now analyzing the last runs from an image quality stand-point, and we should come with a final status by next week. Many thanks for the good job in removing SODI hardware from the MSG!” [Background: Fluids and gases are never at rest. This statement is in apparent contradiction with our experience: when we pour water in a glass and wait until all flows have disappeared and the temperature of the liquid is in equilibrium with that of the room, we see that water appears to be completely at rest. However, if we were able to see the individual molecules of water with a very powerful microscope, we would discover that they are incessantly moving and collide with each other following frantic, random paths even if the liquid appears to be quiescent at naked eye. Scientists are interested in observing and measuring such movements because they reveal important, practical information: how fast does heat propagates in a fluid? How fast do liquid mixtures mix? Such phenomena occur in absence of a macroscopic flow, that is when the fluid appear to be at rest, and are called heat and mass diffusion respectively. While the theoretical prediction of heat and mass diffusion is still quite challenging, its measurement is a standard laboratory practice, but may become extremely difficult or impossible when dealing with mixtures of many liquids, due to the fact that such measurement needs to be carried out when the fluid is quiescent, a condition sometimes impossible to achieve on ground. This is precisely the objective of the SODI DSC experiment carried out on board the International Space Station: the measurement of diffusion in mixtures of liquids. By using very sensitive optical techniques, it will be possible to measure mass diffusion, compare with current theories, and improve our present understanding of how molecules move in liquid mixtures. The results will be used by the large team of scientists involved in the project to try to understand which of the many existing theories for mass diffusion is correctly predicting the experimental behavior.]

SOLAR (Solar Monitoring Observatory, ESA): Currently out of Sun Visibility Window. On 1/13, SOLACES was heated up at short notice for the Debris Avoidance Maneuver (DAM). The instrument will remain in this condition until a date to be coordinated with the science team. There are indeed several ISS dynamic events with 45P undock and 46P dock that are impacting the instrument (with respect to a potential contamination problem). SOLSPEC regular calibration measurements were performed on 1/16.

SOLO (Sodium Loading in Microgravity): “Dan, thanks for your feedback about the SOLO Food Menu. We hope that after the JSC Food Lab email, everything is clear to start the experiment. Andre, thanks a lot for your feedback about your Food Menu too!”

Space-DRUMS (Space Dynamically Responding Ultrasonic Matrix System): No report.

Space Food (JAXA): No report.

SPHERES (Synchronized Position Hold, Engage, Reorient, Experimental Satellite): “Don, you successfully completed all objectives of the SPHERES-ZR Dry-Run. Thank you!”.

SPHINX (SPaceflight of Huvec: an Integrated eXperiment, ESA): No report.

SPICE (Smoke Point In Co-flow Experiment): No report.

SPINAL (Spinal Elongation): No report.

SPRINT: “Don, great job again on you Ultrasound session Thursday! Your images are on the ground and the PI team will begin analysis soon. We will see you again in about 30 days. Good luck finding the red sharpie!”

SS-HDTV (Super Sensitivity High Definition Camera, JAXA): No report.

STP-H3 (Space Test Program – Houston 3): The STP-H3 video survey using the SSRMS/SPDM was performed on 1/19. The survey revealed that the VADER VED3 has been damaged. A picture of the damaged VED is included on the STP-H3 tab, linked below. The VADER PD will analyze the video to determine the probable cause(s) of the damage. Also the STP-H3 thermal and voltage telemetry from the Serial Interface Unit (SIU) are currently off nominal and the SIU reset has not been performed since other temperature telemetry is in the Science data downlink. An investigation is in progress on the conditions that might cause this SIU condition and the SIU may be reset in the next few weeks. MHTEX is repriming in preparation for further testing. Canary plans to collect data during the 45P propellant purge. VADER is continuing lifetime testing of the VEDs at a reduced cycle rate. DISC has taken more imagery this week and is processing images that were taken in previous weeks.

SWAB (Characterization of Microorganisms & Allergens in Spacecraft): No report.

TASTE IN SPACE (ESA): No report.

THERMOLAB (ESA): No report.

TRAC (Test of Reaction & Adaptation Capabilities): Planned.

TREADMILL KINEMATICS: No report.

TRIPLELUX-B (ESA): No report.

ULTRASOUND: Planned.

UMS (Urine Monitoring System (NASA): No report.

VASCULAR (CSA): “No report.

VCAM (Vehicle Cabin Atmosphere Module, NASA): No report.

VESSEL ID System (ESA): Nominal data acquisition on-going with the Norwegian NORAIS receiver.

VESSEL IMAGING (ESA): “Don, the VESSEL IMAGING team appreciated much your efforts in getting as much of the additional scans this week. It is confirmed that we have acquired the missing science data from the first session performed on 1/6.” [Background: It is known that the ability of blood vessels to vasoconstrict – the ability of the muscular vessel wall to narrow the diameter of the blood vessel – is impaired during and after a human has been in space. “Vessel Imaging” is using the Ultrasound scanner on board the ISS to take images of the five different blood vessels in the lower abdomen and in the legs to study what changes occur to cause the blood vessels to be less able to vasoconstrict. For each vessel, a 5 second scan is performed to observe the blood vessel during several heart beats, followed by a scan where the ultrasound scan-head is tilted to allow a “cut through the blood vessel wall”. The same scans are also performed before flight, and these pre-flight images are used as the baseline to which the in-flight data is compared with. The images are analyzed to detect any changes in the blood vessel wall properties, such as wall thickness, elasticity or structure, changes in the size of the blood vessel or blood flow (volume) while the crewmember is in orbit.]

VIABLE (eValuatIon And monitoring of microBiofiLms insidE the ISS Payload Touch, NASA): No report.

VO2max (NASA): No report.

VLE (Video Lessons ESA): No report.

WAICO #1/#2 (Waving and Coiling of Arabidopsis Roots at Different g-levels; ESA): No report.

YEAST B (ESA): No report.

YOUTUBE SpaceLab: “Andre, thank you very much for completing the YouTube Space Lab video! We appreciate your time and creativity. We are sure the kids participating in the contest will be inspired by you!”

CEO (Crew Earth Observation): Through 1/14 the ground has received 30,084 of ISS CEO frames for review and cataloguing, over 7,000 frames in the past week alone! “We are pleased to report your acquisition of imagery with times corresponding to those of our CEO Daily Target Lists for the following targets (most of these within the past 24 hours): Etosha dry lake, N. Namibia – 25 frames – several potentially useful frames of the lakebed – under evaluation; Mississippi Delta Region – 16 frames – several context views – under evaluation; Lake Nasser, Toshka Lakes, Egypt – 32 frames – in 2 sessions – under review; Mt. Kilimanjaro, Tanzania – 92 frames – in 2 sessions – under review; Port au Prince, Haiti – 22 frames – under review; Porto-Novo-Benin – 7 frames – under evaluation; B.P. Structure, Impact Crater, Libya – 17 frames – under evaluation; and Southeastern Australian Cities at Night – 14 frames – under evaluation. We will try to provide positive feedback only on the results of our review of these sessions next time. We are also happy to report that we have been able to visually confirm your time correction on the IR-modified camera system. Thanks for your prompt response to this issue. To continue reporting the publication and application of your increment’s imagery: Your beautiful shot of the Iberian Peninsula at Night was posted on NASA/GSFC’s Earth Observatory website on December 25, 2011. This panoramic view with few clouds nicely outlines the coastlines of Portugal and Spain and locates the major metropolitan areas – nice catch! Another one of your photos, a colorful view of Menindee Lakes, New South Wales, Australia, was published on Earth Observatory on January 1st. Your shot documents the complex inland delta systems of the Darling River as well as the applications of large lakes in flood control, both manmade and natural. Thank you for this great view of this seldom-photographed area!”

CEO (Crew Earth Observation) targets uplinked for today were Tropical Cyclone Funso (DYNAMIC EVENT: This tropical weather system has been slowly developing off the coast of Mozambique for the past several days. It then rapidly reached Category 1 strength yesterday and is forecasted to be near Category 3 at the time of the ISS pass today. It is also forecasted to meander slowly southward over the Mozambique Channel and be near nadir as you track southeastward towards the coast in early afternoon light. Trying a variety of oblique and nadir views for both context and cloud structure of this relatively small tropical cyclone), Soufriere Hills Volcano, Montserrat (IR PHOTOGRAPHY COLLECTION SITE: ISS pass was at midday in partly cloudy weather over this target area that includes the island of Montserrat in the northwestern part of the Lesser Antilles. The Soufriere Hills Volcano is located on the southwestern end of the island, and its ongoing activity has rendered more than half of it uninhabitable. Try for IR photography of Montserrat and the surrounding islands for vegetation comparisons using the #99 filter), Bridgetown, Barbados (CAPITAL CITIES COLLECTION SITE: Bridgetown is the capital and largest city of the island country of Barbados with the population of the metropolitan area at 96,578 (2006). ISS had a partly cloudy pass at midday. As it approached the island from the NW at this time, the crew was to look for this target just right of track. Barbados is the easternmost of the Lesser Antilles Archipelago. The city is located on the southwestern coast of the island along Carlisle Bay), Sian Kaan Bay Mangroves, Yucatan, MX (IR PHOTOGRAPHY COLLECTION SITE: ISS had a mid-day pass in fair weather for this target area located on the east coast of the Yucatan Peninsula. This large World Heritage Site of ~1.3 million acres was established as a biosphere area in 1986, and preserves fauna, flora and archeological sites. As ISS tracked southeastward over the northeastern Yucatan, look nadir for this area with its visual cues of two major bays on the Caribbean Sea. At this time, trying for mapping views of the darker vegetated areas using the IR filter #99), and Panama City, Panama (CAPITAL CITIES COLLECTION SITE: This capital city of nearly 900,000 is located on the Pacific side of the Isthmus of Panama and just east of the Panama Canal. ISS had a nadir pass at midday with partly cloudy skies expected at the time. Trying to capture the entire urban area of the city within a single frame).

ISS Orbit (as of this morning, 6:43am EST [= epoch])
. Mean altitude – 390.9 km
. Apogee height – 405.5 km
. Perigee height – 376.2 km
. Period — 92.37 min.
. Inclination (to Equator) — 51.64 deg
. Eccentricity — 0.0021633
. Solar Beta Angle — -28.8 deg (magnitude decreasing)
. Orbits per 24-hr. day — 15.59
. Mean altitude loss in the last 24 hours — 71 m
. Revolutions since FGB/Zarya launch (Nov. 98) — 75,498
. Time in orbit (station) — 4810 days
. Time in orbit (crews, cum.) — 4097 days

Significant Events Ahead (all dates Eastern Time and subject to change):
————–Six-crew operations—————-
01/23/12 — Progress M-13M/45P undock (5:10pm EST)
01/24/12 — Chibis-M deploy (6:19pm)
01/24/12 — Progress 45P deorbit (burn start: 9:25pm)
01/25/12 — Progress M-14M/46P launch (6:06 pm)
01/27/12 — Progress M-14M/46P docking (DC-1) (~7:09 pm)
02/16/12 — Russian EVA-30
xx/xx/12 — SpaceX Falcon 9/Dragon launch
xx/xx/12 — SpaceX Falcon 9/Dragon berthing
xx/xx/12 — SpaceX Falcon 9/Dragon unberth
03/09/12 — ATV3 launch — (target date)
03/16/12– Soyuz TMA-22/28S undock/landing (End of Increment 30)
————–Three-crew operations————-
03/30/12 — Soyuz TMA-04M/30S launch – G.Padalka (CDR-32)/J.Acaba/K.Volkov — (Target Date)
04/01/12 — Soyuz TMA-04M/30S docking (MRM2) — (Target Date)
————–Six-crew operations—————-
TBD — 3R Multipurpose Laboratory Module (MLM) w/ERA – launch on Proton (under review)
04/24/12 — Progress M-14M/46P undock
04/25/12 — Progress M-15M/47P launch
04/27/12 — Progress M-15M/47P docking
TBD — 3R Multipurpose Laboratory Module (MLM) – docking (under review)
05/16/12 — Soyuz TMA-03M/29S undock/landing (End of Increment 31)
————–Three-crew operations————-
05/30/12 — Soyuz TMA-05M/31S launch – S.Williams (CDR-33)/Y.Malenchenko/A.Hoshide
06/01/12 — Soyuz TMA-05M/31S docking
————–Six-crew operations—————-
06/26/12 — HTV-3 launch (target date)
09/12/12 — Soyuz TMA-04M/30S undock/landing (End of Increment 32)
————–Three-crew operations————-
09/26/12 — Soyuz TMA-06M/32S launch – K.Ford (CDR-34)/O.Novitskiy/E.Tarelkin
09/28/12 – Soyuz TMA-06M/32S docking
————–Six-crew operations————-
11/12/12 — Soyuz TMA-05M/31S undock/landing (End of Increment 33)
————–Three-crew operations————-
11/26/12 — Soyuz TMA-07M/33S launch – C.Hadfield (CDR-35)/T.Mashburn/R.Romanenko
11/28/12 – Soyuz TMA-07M/33S docking
————–Six-crew operations————-
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————-

SpaceRef staff editor.