XA/EVA Project Office Weekly Activity Report October 5, 2000
EMU O2 Contamination Recovery Status – Update 10/4
To date five (5) Secondary Oxygen Pack (SOP) assemblies out of 15 flight units have completed cleaning and are ready to support flight. A sixth SOP will be delivered to USA on 10/9. This unit will complete the next set of three required for STS-97, slated to launch on 11/30/00. At this pace, the 7th and 8th SOP’s will be cleaned and refurbished by the end of the month. Testing of cold trap filtration methods is continuing. This testing will increase our understanding of the transport mechanisms of Non-Volatile Residue (NVR) as well as the efficiency of nitrogen cooled cold trap systems. This data will then be used to recommend long-term product protection measures for maintaining and operating ground support equipment used in processing SOP’s.
2A.2b EVA Debrief
The 2A.2b EVA crewmembers, Ed Lu and Yuri Malenchenko, along with the IVA crewmember, Dan Burbank, participated in the EVA Debrief on Wednesday, September 27 to discuss their highly successful EVA. No significant issues are being worked by the 2A.2b EVA team as a result of the debrief. All crew comments will be incorporated into an EVA Lessons Learned presentation that will be made to the EVA Configuration Control Board on October 6.
0.25″ QD Cap Tool
Testing was performed on 0.25″ and 0.5″ symmetric QD caps to determine if a contingency tool would be required if pressure was present behind the cap. Initial testing indicated that the tool would be required, as the results indicated torques exceeding the 35 in.-lbs. requirement for gloved crewmember actuation. Subsequent testing has provided results in the 45-50 in.-lbs. range. To assure a 0.25″ tool is ready for flight 5A.1, development is being initiated.
STS-92 Activities
The two Simplified Aid for EVA Rescue (SAFER) units for STS-92 were successfully prepared to support the flight. (One of the two units was destowed from STS-106, and thoroughly checked out at KSC.) The SAFER batteries from STS-106 were also turned around at KSC to support STS-92. This quick turnaround process was completely successful with the cooperative support of personnel from JSC, KSC, and United Space Alliance Corporation (USA). This process represents the way in which the SAFER units will be handled in the future, upon completion of the SAFER ground processing responsibility transfer from JSC to USA in 2001. The EMU Integration test “V1103.02” was successfully completed for this mission as well. This test verifies the interfaces between the three flight EMU’s and the shuttle airlock.
American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics: Space 2000 Conference
The EVA Project Office and several of its primary vendors were represented at the AIAA Space 2000 Conference in Long Beach, California, September 19-21, 2000. An invited paper entitled “Space Station Construction: The Shape of Spacewalks 2000-2010” was presented during the Human Space Flight panel session by N. Beth Stubbings. Topics included growth in the EVA infrastructure to support increased demand for EVA, specific ISS construction challenges, and the upcoming evolution of EVA beyond payload bay servicing. The conference focused on current health of the U.S. aerospace industry and plans within the civil, military, and commercial sectors for the next ten years. A primary recurring topic was the impending human resources crisis: it was stated that 54 percent of employees across the 21 main aerospace companies are over 45 years of age, the industry overall has less than half of the required number of 35-44 year olds, and aerospace has dropped from the third to the seventh most desirable science and engineering field over the last 10 years.
Gregory J. Harbaugh
Manager
