NASA Space Station On-Orbit Status 31 July 2004
SpaceRef note: This NASA Headquarters internal status report, as presented here, contains additional, original material produced by SpaceRef.com (copyright © 2004) to enhance access to related status reports and NASA activities.
All ISS systems continue to function nominally except those noted previously or below. Saturday — light-duty day for the ISS crew. Flight Control to crew: “Great video of the undock and re-entry of the 14P!”
After breakfast, CDR Padalka and FE Fincke performed the regular weekly 3-hr. station cleaning. [“Uborka” includes removal of food waste products, cleaning of compartments with vacuum cleaner, wet cleaning of the Service Module (SM) dining table and other surfaces with “Fungistat” disinfectant and cleaning fan screens to avoid temperature rises.]
Afterwards, Padalka and Fincke held their monthly teleconference with ISS Program Management in Houston via S-band/audio.
Science Officer Fincke’s “Saturday Science” program today consisted of a 20-min. MFMG (Miscible Fluids in Microgravity) honey crystallization check. Afterwards, Mike restowed the MFMG equipment.
At 9:35am EDT, Gennady and Mike are scheduled for their weekly planning conference (WPC) with the ground, during which they discussed next week’s “Look-Ahead Plan” (regularly prepared jointly by MCC-H and MCC-M planners), via S-band/audio.
The CDR will also conduct the daily routine maintenance of the SM’s SOZh environment control & life support system.
|
Previous Reports ISS On-orbit Status [HQ] |
The crew is timelined for their full regimen of physical exercise on VELO with force loader, RED (resistive exercise device) and TVIS (treadmill with vibration isolation and stabilization).
Working off the Russian discretionary task list, Gennady transferred new accumulated Matryoshka measurement tables from the Matryoshka server (BSPN) via the ISS Wiener laptop to a PCMCIA memory card (using a program called “ShellForKE”) for subsequent downlink on U.S. OCA comm. [Matryoshka automatically takes measurements in the SM and DC-1 docking compartment for studies of on-orbit radiation and long-term dose accumulation, using six SPD dosimeters deployed throughout the Russian segment as well as in a spherical body-simulating Matryoshka-R “phantom” and a human torso model outside on the SM hull, mounted there during EVA-9 on 2/27/04.]
A second Russian task list assignment for Padalka today, prior to his physical exercise, was another session with the VC6 “Delta” program’s ETD experiment (Investigation of the Coordination of Eye and Head Movements). [After a calibration with the calibrating unit, the experiment investigates horizontal eye and head movement coordination, measured Listing’s plane, and determined the orientation of the vestibulo-ocular coordinate system, using five target marks on the horizontal plane. Each step required another prior calibration run, using visual target cues or the calibration unit.]
A third discretionary task list item for today and tomorrow is a session of the “Diatomeya” ocean observations program, using the DSR PD-150P camcorder and Nikon F5 digital still camera with 24/85-mm lens for Gennady to collect photo and video data on North Atlantic water areas that are characterized by highly seasonal dynamics of bio-production processes. [The CDR is to collect data from the Northern Atlantic near the Gulf Stream Delta that characterize the stability of geographic location and the shape of boundaries of bio-productive zones in the specified region.]
Also working from the task list, Padalka used the Nikon D1 (800mm-lens) to take areal photography for Russia’s Environmental Safety Agency (ECON).
Weekly Science Update (Expedition Nine — 14th):
GASMAP: Next activity will be a Routine Health Check on 8/6.
Human Research Facility/Workstation (HRF WS): Continuing.
Advanced Ultrasound (ADUM): Mike Fincke will have a 30min OPE session late next week to prepare for the scans the following week.
Hand Posture Analyzer (HPA: Nothing new.
In-Space Soldering Investigation (ISSE): The ground is still analyzing the downlinked video data. “It is really extraordinary”.
Pore Formation and Mobility Investigation (PFMI): Nothing new.
Space Acceleration Measurement System (SAMS): A software modification is being prepared that will allow the SAMS ICU (interface control unit) laptop to operate with a missing, defective, or discharged battery. The ground will use an Express FTP process to load the new software. Initial software testing successfully completed at MSFC.
Microgravity Acceleration Measurement System (MAMS): The MAMS Orbital Acceleration Research Experiment Sensor Subsystem (OSS) continues collection of quasi-steady acceleration measurements from the station. The High Resolution Accelerometer Package (HiRAP) is also enabled to capture vibratory data below 100 Hz in EXPRESS Rack 1.
Protein Crystal Growth-Single Locker Thermal Enclosure System (PCG-STES): Nominal.
Protein Crystal Growth Monitoring by Digital Holographic Microscope (PromISS): Nothing new.
Investigating the Structure of Paramagnetic Aggregates from Colloidal Emulsions (InSPACE): Planned.
Binary Colloidal Alloy Test-3 (BCAT-3): BCAT-3 is working to add another photography session as Saturday Science.
Renal Stone (RS): Nothing new.
Synchronized Position Hold, Engage, Reorient, Experimental Satellites (SHERES): Nothing new.
Foot/Ground Reaction Forces during Space Flight (FOOT): Nothing new.
Materials ISS Experiment (MISSE): In progress. Deployed outside on the U.S. Airlock. Nominal and collecting data.
Cellular Biotechnology Support Systems-Fluid Dynamics Investigation (CBOSS-FDI): Nothing new.
Biotechnology Specimen Temperature Controller (BSTC): Planned.
Yeast Group Activation Packs (Yeast GAP): Nothing new.
|
|
Earth Knowledge Acquired by Middle School Students (EarthKAM): Inc-9 EarthKAM Summary: 2- operations, 214 operational hours, 87 schools participated (some repeated) with 1856 images downlinked, plus some really good video and one fantastic PI conference!.
Earth Science Toward Exploration Research (ESTER): Nothing new.
Serial Network Flow Monitor (SNFM): The SNFM team is looking forward to the ADUM activities next week.
Fluid Merging Viscosity Measurement (FMVM): Downlinked video from the FMVM operations have been examined. The downlinked AVI files previously sent are of exceptional quality and superior to the video. The ground is anxious to begin scientific analysis of the drop coalescence runs. Completion of honey crystal dissolution tests in ground based ovens gets researchers closer to completing paperwork for future operations..
Viscous Liquid Foam–Bulk Metallic Glass (Foam): Investigators are very pleased with the results of the recent run and thanked Mike for precise timing. The video on the third run “was fantastic. We can extract the ampoule temperature during the run by watching the oxidation. Using that temperature, we can set the viscosity in our foam model”.
BIOPSY (Effects of Prolonged Space Flight on Human Skeletal Muscle): The crew’s next 48-hour diet logging session will occur over the 8/9 and 8/10 timeframe.
Coarsening in Solid-Liquid Mixtures-2 (CSLM-2): Planned.
Commercial Generic Bioprocessing Apparatus (CGBA): Nothing new.
Miscible Fluids in Microgravity (MFMG): Nothing new.
Educational Payload Operations (EPO): Thanks went up to Mike Fincke for an excellent pollution demonstration last Saturday. The live video and B-roll footage will allow the ground team to develop a great education resource. “The EPO-9 photographs are wonderful.”
Expedition 9 Flight Crew Plans can be found at http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/station/timelines/
Previous NASA ISS On-orbit Status Reports can be found here. Previous NASA Space Station Status Reports can be found here. Previous NASA Space Shuttle Processing Status Reports can be found here. A collection of all of these reports and other materials relating to Return to Flight for the Space Shuttle fleet can be found here.
Crew Earth Observations (CEO): The ground appreciates Mike’s efforts to prepare for EQUIS II (Kwajalein) and the challenges of nighttime photography. While their digital cameras were not designed particularly for this purpose, useful and often strikingly beautiful images are possible. The phenomenon researchers are hoping to document for EQUIS II is different from others they have tried to capture, being “in” the atmosphere, but longer-lasting than lightning, and hopefully not within clouds. Unlike cities, the plumes are expected to be three-dimensional, and unlike auroras are much, much smaller. As the crew practices on these less than ideal targets, they should bear in mind that they are experimenting with techniques here and looking at the characteristic of the cameras rather than the quality of their images. While a few of the larger cities they’ve shot like Alexandria, Cairo, Medina, and Jakarta, are large, most others will probably not be.
Major upcoming events:
- EVA timeline review — 8/1;
- OpsLan reconfig, etc. — 8/2;
- Orlan EVA-10 from DC-1 — 8/3 (hatch open: 2:50am EDT);
- EVA debrief, etc. — 8/4;
- Progress 15P launch — 8/11 (1:01am EDT);
- Progress 15P docking — 8/14 (2:05am EDT).
Today’s CEO photo targets, in the current LVLH attitude no longer limited by flight rule constraints on the use of the Lab nadir/science window, except for the shutter closure and condensation-prevention plan (limited to 90 min. in 24 hours), were Typhoon Namtheun (looking left for lightning in this Category 1 storm), Manila (looking right about two degrees for this large city. Suggested trying the 800 mm lens), Cairns, Australia (Cairns was near nadir right of track. The coast trends away from track so that later cities will be easier to image. Trying the 800 again), Aurora, Australia (looking right), Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (looking just left), and Kenyan coastal towns (looking right along the coast for small towns).
CEO images can be viewed at these websites:
See also the website “Space Station Challenge” at:
To view the latest photos taken by the expedition 9 crew visit:
- http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/images/station/crew-9/ndxpage1.html at NASA’s Human Spaceflight website.
ISS Altitude History
Apogee height — Mean Altitude — Perigee height
For more on ISS orbit and worldwide ISS naked-eye visibility dates/times, see http://www.hq.nasa.gov/osf/station/viewing/issvis.html. In addition, information on International Space Station sighting opportunities can be found at http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/sightings/ on NASA’s Human Spaceflight website. The current location of the International Space Station can be found at http://science.nasa.gov/temp/StationLoc.html at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center. Additional satellite tracking resources can be found at http://www.spaceref.com/iss/tracking.html.
