NASA ISS On-Orbit Status 29 December 2008
All ISS systems continue to function nominally, except those noted previously or below. Underway: Week 10 of Increment 18.
FE-1 Lonchakov worked several hours on the SM (Service Module)’s fire warning system, removing and replacing all ten SIGNAL-VM DS-7A smoke detectors (which were expired). The SIGNAL-VM system was deactivated from the ground beforehand and later turned on again, as was the VD-SU telemetry control mode. [The ten DS-7A units were replaced last by Yuri Malenchenko on 11/27/07 on Expedition 16.]
As a relatively new regular activity after deactivation/reactivation of the BITS1-12 and VD-SU control mode, the FE-1 then checked the BRI Smart Switch Router computer and its new Ethernet connection to assess any impact of these activities on Ethernet comm, followed by dumping BRI log files from the RSS1 laptop for downlinking to the ground. [BRI is part of the RS OpsLAN (Russian Segment/Operations Local Area Network), with connections to the three SSC clients, the Ethernet tie-in with the US network, and a network printer in the RS.]
After FE-2 Magnus set up the video equipment in Node-1 for live monitoring of activities by the ground, Sandy & Mike Fincke conducted Part 1 of the 2-day job of replacing the RED (Resistive Exercise Device) with the new Advanced RED (ARED). [First task for Mike was to remove the RED from the “ceiling” of Node-1 and stow it in the Kibo JPL (JEM Pressurized Logistics Segment), where he had made room for it on 12/26. Next steps were: Retrieving ARED components, installing the VIS (Vibration Isolation Stabilization) parts and the launch stack, checking yoke beam alignment, removing VIS launch restraints, position ARED launch stack (with Sandy’s help), and checking the VIS for unobstructed operation. Part 2 will finish the installation tomorrow, followed by extensive ACO (Activation & Checkout) ops.]
For station structural dynamics measurements of the first ARED use, Magnus retrieved the IWIS (Internal Wireless Instrumentation System) accelerometer and interface plate from the WRS-2 (Water Recovery System 2) rack and set up the IWIS network of RSUs (Remote Sensor Units) and NCU (Network Control Unit) in the SM, FGB, Lab, Node-1 and Node-2.
With the OBSTANOVKA (Environment) equipment moved from stowage to the DC1 Docking Compartment yesterday as a discretionary task, Yuri Lonchakov today prepared the Fluke 105B scopemeter by connecting accessories and installing alkaline batteries, then worked with the instrument in oscilloscope mode for checkout and familiarization for the upcoming Langmuir Probe experiment ops, supported by ground specialist tagup. [The GFI-11/OBSTANOVKA payload, along with the IMPULSE experiment, will use ionosphere probes and a pulsed plasma source to make scientific measurements of ionosphere parameters and plasma-wave characteristics.]
Sandy Magnus performed the regular periodic US WRS (Water Recovery System) sampling. The planned sample run with the TOCA (Total Organic Carbon Analyzer) could not be completed due to another TOCA abort. Data and log files were downlinked for engineering analysis. [Magnus collected samples from the PWD (Potable Water Dispenser) Hot needle outlet for subsequent inflight processing using the WMK (Water Microbiology Kit) with MCD (Microbial Capture Device) and CDB (Coliform Detection Bag). The usual water reclamation from the sample bags via an absorbing towel (to be dried by airing) and data recording after the analyses concluded the activities.]
The FE-2 also performed the standard sensor calibration on the CSA-O2 (Compound Specific Analyzer-Oxygen) units #1043 & #1059, delivered on 1J, using a new calibration adapter (#1001), brought up by 30P. [Sandy reported an initial gas pressure of 1400 psi and final gas pressure of slightly less than 1400 psi. Flow rate: >10 fps. For #1059, peak reading was 25.8% O2 and the final (post-calibration) cabin value was 22.1%; for #1043, peak: 25.2%, final cabin value: 22%.]
On the Russian Matryoshka-R (RBO-3-2) radiation payload in the DC-1, the FE-1 deactivated the AST Spectrometer, removed its ALC-957 PCMCIA (Portable Computer Memory Card International Adapter) and checked out its contents on the RSK-1 laptop before stowing it in its kit (#7). AST remains off.
Lonchakov also unstowed and installed the equipment for the periodic Russian PZE-MO-10 "Hematokrit" testing which is scheduled for his post-sleep use tomorrow. [MO-10 measures the hematocrit (red blood cell mass) value of the blood (it is a well-known phenomenon of space flight that red blood cell mass {normal range: 30-45%} tends to go down over time).]
At ~3:15am EST, the crew supported a 20-min PAO TV downlink for a major press conference with Russian officials at TsUP/Moscow in observance of New Year. The participants at TsUP, headed by Anatoly Perminov (Head of the Russian Space Agency Roskosmos), included rocket & space industry leaders, cosmonauts (Solovyev, Padalka, Gidzenko), local & state government representatives, politicians, NASA delegates, and – most of all – Ded Moroz (“Grandfather Frost” of all Russia). Reportedly, the press conference “was fun!”
At ~6:35am, Yuri Lonchakov had a 15-min TV conference with Hegumen Iov of the Eastern Church. [The Hegumen is the Abbott or Superior of a Monastery.]
At ~10:25am, the crew downlinked a special New Year’s message (being aired on NASA TV) expressing their year-end thoughts on the significance of the international outpost and their New Year’s wish for the complex in 2009. The crew also extended “Peace” wishes to all countries partnering in the ISS, in their languages: English (Peace), Russian (Mir), Japanese (Heiwa), French (Paix), Dutch (Vrede), German (Friede), Danish/Norwegian/Swedish (Fred), Italian (Pace), Spanish (Paz).
In the SM, the FE-1 completed the routine daily servicing of the SOZh system (Environment Control & Life Support System, ECLSS). [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 performing US condensate processing (transfer from CWC to EDV containers) if condensate is available.]
The daily IMS maintenance was performed by Yuri from his discretionary “time permitting” task list, i.e., updating/editing of its standard “delta file” including stowage locations, for the regular weekly automated export/import to its three databases on the ground (Houston, Moscow, Baikonur).
Also on Lonchakov’s discretionary list was the frequent status check on the Russian BIO-5 Rasteniya-1 ("Plants-1") experiment, verifying proper operation of the BU Control Unit and MIS-LADA Module fans (testing their air flow by hand). [Rasteniya-1 researches growth and development of plants under spaceflight conditions in the LADA-14 greenhouse from IBMP (Institute of Bio-Medical Problems, Russian: IMBP)],
The station residents conducted their regular daily 2.5-hr. physical workout program (about half of which is used for setup & post-exercise personal hygiene) on the CEVIS cycle ergometer (CDR, FE-2), TVIS treadmill (FE-1), RED resistive exercise device (CDR, FE-1, FE-2) and VELO bike with bungee cord load trainer (FE-1).
Conjunction Advisory: A new conjunction with the recurring Cosmos 2421 debris is being tracked, for a TCA (Time of Closest Approach) tomorrow morning (12/30) at 5:39am EST. Latest data show a total miss distance of 11.7 km (0.13 x 6.1 x -10.0 km) which puts the conjunction into the Red zone, an imaginary oblong box around the ISS (probability of collision Pc = 0.00076). MCC-Houston is working with Russian Ballistic experts on avoidance maneuver options. Two prime options are tomorrow at 3:22am, one of 0.5 m/s, the other of 1.0 m/s delta-V. Analysts are looking at which one is preferable for downstream Progress 32P launch phasing.
No CEO (Crew Earth Observations) photo targets uplinked for today.
CEO photography can be studied at this “Gateway” website:
http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov (as of 9/1/08, this database contained 770,668 views of the Earth from space, with 324,812 from the ISS alone).
ISS Orbit (as of this morning, 8:40am EST [= epoch]):
Mean altitude — 353.5 km
Apogee height — 358.6 km
Perigee height — 348.5 km
Period — 91.61 min.
Inclination (to Equator) — 51.64 deg
Eccentricity — 0.000757
Solar Beta Angle — -12.8 deg (magnitude decreasing)
Orbits per 24-hr. day — 15.72
Mean altitude loss in the last 24 hours — 57 m
Revolutions since FGB/Zarya launch (Nov. 98) — 57927
Significant Events Ahead (all dates Eastern Time, some changes possible!):
01/14/09 — ISS reboost w/SM thrusters
02/09/09 — Progress M-01M/31P undocking & deorbit
02/10/09 — Progress 32P launch
02/12/09 — Progress 32P docking
02/12/09 — STS-119/Endeavour/15A launch – S6 truss segment
02/14/09 — STS-119/Endeavour/15A docking
02/24/09 — STS-119/Endeavour/15A undocking
02/26/09 — STS-119/Endeavour/15A landing (nominal)
03/25/09 — Soyuz TMA-14/18S launch
03/27/09 — Soyuz TMA-14/18S docking (DC1)
04/05/09 — Soyuz TMA-13/17S undocking
04/07/09 — Progress 32P undocking & deorbit
05/12/09 — STS-125/Atlantis Hubble Space Telescope Service Mission 4 (SM4)
05/15/09 — STS-127/Endeavour/2J/A launch – JEM EF, ELM-ES, ICC-VLD
05/27/09 — Soyuz TMA-15/19S launch
Six-person crew on ISS
08/06/09 — STS-128/Discovery/17A – MPLM (P), LMC, last crew rotation
08/XX/09 — Soyuz 5R/MRM2 (Russian Mini Research Module, MIM2) on Soyuz
09/XX/09 — H-IIB (JAXA HTV-1)
11/12/09 — STS-129/Atlantis/ULF3 – ELC1, ELC2
12/10/09 — STS-130/Endeavour/20A – Node-3 + Cupola
02/11/10 — STS-131/Atlantis/19A – MPLM(P), LMC
04/08/10 — STS-132/Discovery/ULF4 – ICC-VLD, MRM1
05/31/10 — STS-133/Endeavour/ULF5 – ELC3, ELC4
12/XX/11– Proton 3R/MLM w/ERA.
