ISS On-Orbit Status, 11-01-2004

ISS On-Orbit Status 11 Jan 2004

All ISS systems continue to function nominally, except as noted previously
or below. Ahead: Week 12 for Increment 8.

Sunday -- but not quite the usual rest day for the crew (neither was
Saturday, yesterday).

Leak Test Activities -- Update and Preview (ref. On-Orbit Status report
1/10): The crew eliminated Progress 12P and its docking assembly yesterday
as a source of the pressure decay. Today, isolation/monitoring tests are
focusing on the U.S. Airlock (A/L) and the combined DC-1/Soyuz volume.
Depending on the results, which should be available by tonight, ground
specialists & crew will either have found the source or press on to prepare
for isolation of the RS and USOS segments next Wednesday, as planned (final
details are still being worked). Regardless of today's checks and their
outcome, ISS will be repressed tonight, just prior to crew sleep, using
Progress O2 (not N2 from A/L HPGTs). [At 3:40am EST this morning, ppN2 was
558.3 mmHg (torr), a drop of ~1.12 mmHg (= 0,022 psi) over 24 hours. This
is a decay of 0.2% from yesterday's ppN2, or a total loss of 3% from the
nominal ppN2 of ~576 mmHg.]

Early in the morning, CDR/SO Michael Foale began with preparations for the
isolation testing of the A/L "Quest". Atmospheric pressure inside the
isolated A/L is now being monitored by the ground for several hours. [The
work involved turning on the four A/L GLAs (general luminaire assembly)
lighting fixtures, closing the depress pump valve, installing a VRA (vent
relief valve) power cable, removing the PCS (portable computer system)
laptop, other equipment and personal items, and closing the Node starboard
hatch.]

FE Alexander Kaleri, in the RS, similarly prepared the Soyuz/DC-1 "Pirs"
combination for the leak monitoring, which he is conducting throughout the
day, once every hour for a duration of ten hours. [The two hatches between
DC-1 and Soyuz TMA-3 are being kept open to retain quick access safety.
Tonight at ~4:00pm EST, Sasha will restore the initial configuration.]

Kaleri completed the weekly routine life support systems (SOZh) maintenance
tasks of inspection and collecting SP toilet flush counter and SVO water
supply readings in the Service Module (SM) for calldown to TsUP. He also
was scheduled to do the regular inspection of the Elektron oxygen
generator's VM gas/liquid system (GZhS) for obstructing air bubbles.

There were no SFOG (solid-fuel oxygen generator) candles burnt today, so as
not to disturb the ongoing pressure monitoring. The number of candles used
so far is 20 (2 units/day), with 122 SFOGs (Russian: TGK) remaining on
board. [New SFOGs have been built by Russia and are currently in safety
certification.]

Mike concluded the current renal (kidney) stone experiment session by
collecting and stowing equipment and samples of the last two days. [The
ground expressed a heartfelt Thank you for the crew's continued support for
this experiment. There will be one more in-flight session for Mike and
Sasha in April, and they were reminded to keep taking their pills.]

The crew worked out on TVIS, RED exerciser and VELO cycle with load trainer.

At 4:25 pm, just prior to crew sleep, on TsUP "Go", ISS will be repressed
using Progress O2 (not N2 from U.S. A/L supplies). [The plan is to open the
Progress O2 valve and leave it open through the night. There is
approximately 8-10 mmHg of O2 remaining in the Progress and this repress
will bring the cabin safely above the 13.9 psi certification limit on some
hardware.]

Upcoming Events:

12P Undock -- 1/28/04
13P Launch -- 1/29/04
13P Dock -- 1/31/04

Weekly Science Update (Expedition Eight -- 10th): GASMAP: Thank you to the
crew for supporting another 30-day health check, with flawless execution, in
association with collecting environmental sampling data for the US Lab. The
data collected has been forwarded to ECLSS for processing and analysis.

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

Advanced Ultrasound: Planned.

Hand Posture Analyzer (HPA): Mike's second (of three) HPA session is
scheduled for next week. The ground has analyzed the video of the first
session and this has helped to evaluate acquired data correlated with
pictures.

In-Space Soldering Investigation (ISSE): Thanks to Mike for wrapping the
ISSI coupons in preparation for the soldering operations later in the
Increment. The ground enjoyed watching him and appreciates his dedication
to details.

Pore Formation and Mobility Investigation (PFMI): The PFMI experiment
conducted on1/8 went great. Both the sample and camera translation systems
operated without any problems and even the video was as good as any that has
been seen on the ground. The sample processed was an alloy sample, and
investigators were able to observe transitions from planar to cellular to
dendritic growth. The time to change from a planar to a cellular growth
front was observed to take much longer in micro-G than in a sample processed
under essentially identical conditions on earth. PFMI is back in business.
Space Acceleration Measurement System (SAMS): The SAMS file repair
procedure that was performed on 1/5 was successful, and SAMS was able to
collect data all week. SAMS successfully supported the PFMI operations this
week. Upcoming events include additional support for PFMI. Microgravity
Acceleration Measurement System (MAMS): MAMS continues to measure the
quasi-steady and vibratory environment of the ISS. Reboost and recent
attitude changes were captured and are being analyzed.

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

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

Renal Stone (RS): Thanks to the crew for taking the time out of their hectic
week to provide an accurate hardware inventory for the Renal Stone
experiment. The ground is looking forward to hearing how the second
inflight collections ended.

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): The ground looks
forward to another excellent data collection.

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

Cellular Biotechnology Support Systems-Fluid Dynamics Investigation
(CBOSS-FDI): The CBOSS-FDI team and the NIH (National Institute of Health)
PI sincerely appreciate all of the crew's efforts on FDI this week. They
are still in the process of analyzing the video and images that the crew
took throughout last week. The new setup is considered a success and it is
hoped that it makes procedures a bit easier and faster to manage. The first
images were just a bit too bright, which might have been due to the new MWA
(maintainance work area) setup; the lower f-stop should help out in the
analysis. Investigators look forward to the data coming down from the 1/9
activities.

Earth Knowledge Acquired by Middle School Students (EarthKAM): Students are
looking forward to the next session later this Increment.

Earth Science Toward Exploration Research (ESTER): Looking forward to the
sessions next year.

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

Commercial Generic Bioprocessing Apparatus (CGBA): Completed.

Miscible Fluids in Microgravity (MFMG): Mike was thanked for setting up
MFMG this week. The team is looking forward to MFMG thermal pperations
using the CGBA the week of 1/20.

Educational Payload Operations (EPO): The Educators are excited about using
the video from the crew's education demonstrations in classrooms and
workshops. They were thanked for providing this valuable education
resource. The ground is looking forward to upcoming activities.

Crew Earth Observations (CEO): The ground now has a significant backlog of
imagery to review and catalog. It was noticed that the crew seem to have
been experimenting with varying focal lengths during some of their sessions
at the window. This can be helpful in locating and composing a good image
of a particular target. However, they should remember that there are
usually specific lens recommendations for most of the targets and that
changing focal length usually requires refocusing. The crew was invited
keep this aspect of the camera system in mind. They now seem to have become
so familiar with both the selected targets and the features/phenomena they
represent, that they are now acquiring them or their proxies even when not
solicited.

Today's optional CEO targets, in the current XPOP attitude constrained by
flight rule to fewer near-vertical targets due to shutter closure, were S
Chad swamplands(sunglint opportunity left of track. Early December CEO
images of this area show many changes compared with the Landsat [1990]
images. Sunglint images will reveal which streams in the complex network
are presently active. Sediment dispersal patterns [i.e. river patterns] on
continents are a new topic of geologic interest. Large modern continental
sediment bodies like those of the swamplands had never been examined
systematically by geologists until handheld imagery provided the concept for
a global study),Congo-Ubangui R. confluence (Dynamic event. Unusual
clearing in the northern Congo basin: Congo River water is dark and tannin
stained forest-derived water without significant sediment; the Ubangui R. is
light colored with sediment from the semiarid plains of the Sahel. Looking
right for the confluence), and Panama (Dynamic event. Nadir pass. Clear
skies may have persisted for a view of this seldom seen point).

CEO images can be viewed at the websites.

http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov

See also the website "Space Station Challenge" at

http://voyager.cet.edu/iss/



--
-------------------

Jacques :-)

Editor: www.spacepatches.info