Status Report

NASA Space Station On-Orbit Status 27 Mar 2004

By SpaceRef Editor

March 27, 2004

Filed under ISS, ISS On-orbit status, NASA HQ, US

NASA Space Station On-Orbit Status 27 Mar 2004 — iss

Saturday — time again for the crew start the day with the weekly 3-hr. station cleaning.

FE Alexander Kaleri performed the daily routine maintenance of the SOZh environmental control & life support systems in the Service Module.

Mike and Sasha worked out on their regular daily physical exercise program of 2.5 hrs on TVIS treadmill, CEVIS bike, RED exerciser and VELO cycle with load trainer.

At 8:45am EST, the crew held their monthly teleconference with ISS Program Management via S-band/audio.

The crew also conducted the weekly planning conference with the ground, discussing next week’s “Look-Ahead Plan” (regularly prepared jointly by MCC-H and MCC-M planners), via S-band/audio.

Sasha Kaleri had his weekly PFCs (private family conference), via VHF/home phone.

Mike Foale was thanked for his work yesterday on the EMU/spacesuit midterm checkout. The C/O was generally successful, its purpose being to confirm the EVA readiness of the unit (EMU 3011) and to provide needed runtime (2 hrs.) to mix the grease in the fan motor bearings. There were several lessons learned that will be incorporated in procedures for next time. [The EMU was cleared for EVA, but since Mike observed a large amount of gas bubbles going into the EMU water tanks during the fill process and there were several data dropouts on the primary comm channel during the C/O, the suit must undergo a full water dump-and-fill procedure and another checkout of its comm equipment before its next use.]

Last Thursday (3/25), RED (resistive exercise device) canister #1012 developed the same symptoms as #1011 before it (viz., scraping noise in low settings 2,3 and 4, but none at higher loads). Yesterday, the crew replaced both Flexpak canisters with the previous cans with new pulley cords. The system is now working nominally, and a forward plan for canister management is in work.

As reported before, several cracks were found on the ground in the autovent/control module of two U.S. RSPs (respirator support packs) during routine refurbishment. Since the RSP currently on orbit cannot be visually inspected for cracks, the Failure Investigation Team (FIT) recommends crew testing of the on-board RSP to understand the unit’s current performance for timing (breaths per minute) and volumetric flow. [The timing part of the testing is straightforward and could be conducted with minimal preparatory work. However, the crew’s ability to determine volumetric flow from the unit using on-board resources is in doubt, and proposals for this testing are being developed at this time. Based on the history of the on-orbit unit, there is some confidence that the unit will perform well. If its performance is degraded, the testing crewmember would receive insufficient O2; thus, validation of the RSP’s performance could be done by monitoring the crewmember’s vital signs. If the unit turns out to be not working there are backup methods, but for a two-man crew they preclude preparing the Soyuz for crew return at the same time while aiding the afflicted crewmember.]

The situation of the on-board RSP is somewhat complicated by the fact that its certification expires next month (5/20/04). Extension of its life will depend on the results of the testing mentioned above. [Engineers will assess the run time on the unit, the soft goods, and certification data, as well as an adequate on-orbit timing check. A draft life extension plan is being prepared for presentation to the IMMT (ISS Mission Management Team).]

Weekly Science Update (Expedition Eight — 19th):

GASMAP: Mike was thanked for his work with the GASMAP this week. “Your continued efforts help maintain the integrity of our hardware.”

Human Research Facility/Workstation (HRF WS): Continuing.

Advanced Ultrasound (ADUM): The crew was thanked for the pointers they provided to the ground during the session analysis via telecon. They will be incorporated into future sessions and forwarded to the ISS-9 crew.

Hand Posture Analyzer (HPA: Looking forward to future operations.

In-Space Soldering Investigation (ISSE): Nothing new.

Pore Formation and Mobility Investigation (PFMI): Two PFMI science runs were successfully completed this week. In the first run, the sample was grown at a relatively slow growth rate that created a water-poor region in the sample because of the segregation behavior. The second run used this same sample. Observations were recorded of how the morphology of dendrites changed as they grew from a water-rich region into a water-poor region and back into a water-rich region. These runs would not have been possible without Mike’s troubleshooting efforts in identifying the loose connector and fixing the problem. The PFMI team sincerely appreciates his work in getting them running again.

Space Acceleration Measurement System (SAMS): Currently working on a troubleshooting plan.

Microgravity Acceleration Measurement System (MAMS): MAMS operations are nominal.

Protein Crystal Growth-Single Locker Thermal Enclosure System (PCG-STES): Behaving nominally.

Protein Crystal Growth Monitoring by Digital Holographic Microscope (PromISS): Experiment has ended.

Investigating the Structure of Paramagnetic Aggregates from Colloidal Emulsions (InSPACE): Planned.

Binary Colloidal Alloy Test-3 (BCAT-3): Crew was thanked for the Crew Conference on 3/25 morning. The PI and team enjoyed discussing BCAT-3 on Space-to-Ground. The MWA setup looks good. The ground is looking forward to the BCAT-3 tasks “homogenized samples” and “photograph samples” which are scheduled for 3/29 and 3/30.

Renal Stone (RS): The crew’s last in-flight data collection session will occur in April. Thanks to the crew for their continued support with taking their daily pills at dinner time.

Synchronized Position Hold, Engage, Reorient, Experimental Satellites (SHERES): Pre-Increment requirements have been completed. A second BBT (Beacon & Beacon Tester) session will be scheduled in US Lab.

Foot/Ground Reaction Forces during Space Flight (FOOT): Nothing new.

Materials ISS Experiment (MISSE): In progress. Deployed outside. Nominal and collecting data.

Cellular Biotechnology Support Systems-Fluid Dynamics Investigation (CBOSS-FDI): The ground received Mike’s video on FDI Tissue Culture runs, and the PI is looking at it. Mike’s methods were called “great”.

Yeast Group Activation Packs (Yeast GAP): Nothing new.

Earth Knowledge Acquired by Middle School Students (EarthKAM): Nothing new.

Earth Science Toward Exploration Research (ESTER): No more activities scheduled for this increment.

Coarsening in Solid-Liquid Mixtures-2 (CSLM-2): Planned.

Commercial Generic Bioprocessing Apparatus (CGBA): CGBA continues to run nominally at 20C.

Miscible Fluids in Microgravity (MFMG): Four runs are remaining; they will be performed on Increment 9.

Educational Payload Operations (EPO): No more activities scheduled for this increment.

Crew Earth Observations (CEO): This weekend Earth Observatory has posted a stunning mosaic of Mount Everest and the eastern Himalayas assembled from a series of panoramic views you took of the north side from western China in late January. Also, two images, received only yesterday, were posted as a dynamic event: ISS/CEO views of the large smoke plume produced when oil, spilled from a ruptured pipeline in southeastern Iraq, ignited this past Tuesday. Thanks to the crew for their fine response to ground requests of images of the smaller, less-well photographed glaciers of the Patagonian Ice Fields. Investigators are also noting good coral reef shots to be cataloged. They will also be looking for changes in the most recent CEO views of the large icebergs noted earlier near South Georgia Island. Thanks also for making the most of the limited target opportunities available in the Southern Hemisphere the past several weeks.

Today’s optional CEO (Crew Earth Observations) targets, including Asian sites coming into the daylight-awake window on ascending passes, but limited in XPOP attitude by flight rule constraints on the use of the science window, which is available for only ~1/4 of each orbit when not facing forward (in “ram”), were Cyclone Oscar, Indian Ocean (Dynamic event. This South Indian Ocean tropical cyclone is predicted to be a Category 4 storm. It is moving slowly SW. Looking right about 2.5 degrees for the eye and well organized feeder bands of this tight storm), Beijing, China (looking right for a view of the whole urban region), Delhi, India (nadir pass over this city. Visual cues are the radial pattern of highways and railroads, centered on the Yamuna River), Sobat Fans, Sudan (the ground is looking forward to the first images of this extremely remote region, where several major fans of sediment have formed along the foot of the Ethiopian plateau. These new features are not recognized on existing topographic maps), Tashkent, Uzbekistan (nadir pass over this central Asian capital city of 2.1 million [about 10% of the total population]), Patagonian Glaciers (400mm-lens. Looking on the E side of the mountains to continue crew efforts to shoot the smaller glaciers), South Atlantic cyclone, Brazil (Dynamic event. Tight circular storms [budding hurricanes] are very unusual in the South Atlantic basin. The storm off the Brazilian coast south of Rio is becoming better organized and seems to be developing an eye. It is well formed and has attracted media attention because of its unusual location and formation [far removed from mid-latitude frontal zones]. Winds [45 kts] are tropical storm strength and satellite indications suggest strengthening), Panama Canal (400mm-lens. Nadir pass. Good viewing weather persists. Landuse changes are the major interest, apart from general interest in the region), and Puebla, Mexico (looking left for the major industrial city [1.4 million] of southern Mexico).

CEO images can be viewed at the websites.

See also the website “Space Station Challenge” at
http://voyager.cet.edu/iss/

ISS Orbit (as of this afternoon, 2:13am EST [= epoch]):