ISS On-Orbit Status, 18-10-2003

ISS On-Orbit Status 18 Oct 2003

All ISS systems continue to function nominally, except as noted previously or below.

Soyuz TMA-3 (7S) launched on time this morning (1:38am EDT) from the Baikonur Cosmodrom in Kazakhstan, with Expedition 8 Commander Michael Foale and Flight Engineer Alexander Kaleri plus ESA visiting crewmember Pedro Duque. With its perfect on-time liftoff and ascent to orbit, the Soyuz launch vehicle racked up another success in its history of (today) 430 flights (420 successes). 7S is currently on its way to the rendezvous with the ISS on 10/20 morning, to be concluded by docking at 3:20am EDT (11:20am
Moscow time, 10:20am DMT). [Background: The crew boarded the spacecraft (S/C) at 11:15pm EDT last night, as final countdown proceeded smoothly. The 15,300 lbs. TMA-3 S/C reached orbit with shutdown of the single third-stage engine at 1:47am. During the next five Daily Orbits (DO) with comm passes over Russian ground sites (RGS) the following events occurred in sequence, all successful: DO1 -- deployment of solar arrays & radio/radar antennas, cabin leak checks; DO2 -- docking probe extension, Kurs
radar self tests, hatch opening to the Soyuz BO Orbital Module and ingress, doffing of Sokol pressure suits; DO3 & DO4 -- SOA air purification system activation in the BO and deactivation in the SA Descent Module, maneuver burns DV1 and DV2; DO5 (ending at ~9:15am this morning) -- cleaning and stowing of Sokol pressure suits. At present, lasting for the next six orbits (~9 hrs.) the crew is in their sleep period. Tonight, at about 6:15pm, Flight Day 2 (FD2) will begin, featuring the third orbit adjust b
urn and initiation of ISK sun-spinning ("barbecue") attitude for Soyuz. The ascent profile to final docking on FD3 comprises 34 orbits, with five DOs each FD having RGS comm windows.]

After wake-up at the regular 2:00am EDT, shortly after 7S launch, the ISS crew started their work day with a 20-min. pre-docking configuration check of the Service Module's (SM) telephone/telegraph subsystem (STTS) and its audio paths and comm stations.

CDR Yuri Malenchenko and FE/SO Ed Lu also configured the onboard VDS (video distribution system) for transmission via U.S. Ku-band assets. Subsequently they conducted a checkout of TV signal transmission for the Soyuz docking from the SM. The Ku-band system was then re-configured back to nominal ops. [In the Russian segment (RS), the testing included power cycling of the manual comm control units (BRUB, BRUS) in the Soyuz TMA-2 BO and SA modules, and checking work lights and Klest-M TV system on its PK
crew console and integrated control panels InPU-1 & InPU-2. Russian video was downlinked on all four U.S. VBSP (video baseband signal processors) channels for MCC-H to determine which video channel was the most stable to send on to MCC-Moscow and use on docking day.]

For Yuri Malenchenko it was time for Day 4 of the ODNT training cycle in the "Chibis" suit as part of his preparations for returning into gravity. Ed Lu provided assistance. [The below-the-waist reduced-pressure device ODNT (US: LBNP) provides gravity-simulating stress to the body's cardiovascular/circulatory system for reestablishing the body's orthostatic tolerance (e.g., the Gauer-Henry reflex) after the six-month stay in zero-G. Yuri's ODNT protocol today consisted of first imbibing 150-200 millili
ters of water or juice, followed by a sequence of progressive regimes of reduced ("negative") pressure, set at -20, -30, -35, and -40 mmHg for five minutes each while shifting from foot to foot at 10-12 steps per minute. The body's circulatory system interprets the pressure differential between upper and lower body as a gravity-like force pulling the blood (and other liquids) down. Chibis data and biomed cardiovascular readings are recorded.]

As regularly each Saturday, Malenchenko and Lu completed the standard 3-hr. station cleaning, getting their home spick-and-span for the new callers. ["Uborka stantsii" focuses on removal of food waste products, cleaning of compartments with vacuum cleaner, wet cleaning of the Service Module (SM) dining table and other surfaces with disinfectants ("Fungistat") and cleaning of fan screens to avoid temperature rises.]

A 30-min. task of Ed Lu's today was to reboot all onboard PCS (portable computer system) machines, a regular weekly maintenance activity.

Yuri conducted the routine maintenance of the SM's SOZh environment control & life support system (including ASU toilet facilities) and performed the periodic maintenance/inspection of the BRPK air/water condensate separator, while Ed prepared the daily IMS "delta" file for automatic export/import to update the database.

The crew worked out with their regular physical exercise on TVIS treadmill and RED expander.

Ed and Yuri were commended on their well-executed EMU cooling line water sampling and purging in the Airlock yesterday. [The cooling lines on the station side were successfully re-iodinated. More EVA equipment work is scheduled for next week, viz., regular EMU battery maintenance and the R&R of the failed EMU gas trap.]

In one of the FGB module's two thermal loops, a pump package (4H3) has failed this week. The systems switched to pump 3H1 which is operating nominally. [MCC-Moscow is reportedly not concerned at this time since the system has "plenty of redundancy." There is another pump package on that loop and there is also a second thermal loop.]

Upcoming Soyuz Events:

7S docking: 10/20 (Monday), 3:20am Eastern, 11:20am Moscow;
6S undocking: 10/27 (Monday), 6:20pm Eastern, 2:20am (10/28) Moscow;
6S landing: 10/27 (Monday), 9:36pm Eastern, 5:36am (10/28) Moscow.

Weekly Science Update (Expedition Seven 24th): Words of commendation were uplinked by Lead Increment Scientist Vic Cooley to the crew for their contributions this week with the last HPA session of this Increment which they successfully completed. The crew was lauded for doing an outstanding job with all payloads throughout this Increment. "The Payloads community thanks you for your efforts".

GASMAP: Completed.

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

Ultrasound (USND): Completed.

Hand Posture Analyzer (HPA): The crew's efforts to quickly downlink the data allowed the PI (principal investigator) to begin data review the very same day, with preliminary analysis showing some very promising results. The HPA Team looks forward to capturing the last piece of data post flight.

In-Space Soldering Investigation (ISSE): Completed for this Increment.

Pore Formation and Mobility Investigation (PFMI): Completed for this Increment.

Space Acceleration Measurement System (SAMS): Ed Lu was thanked for his assistance with the SAMS battery troubleshooting. The SAMS battery is presently at 83%, down from 85% last week, with the ground monitoring the battery charge status. SAMS continues to operate nominally, and the team is looking forward to the upcoming 7S docking to measure the changes in CG (center of gravity) and vibratory environment.

Microgravity Acceleration Measurement System (MAMS): MAMS continues to measure the quasi-steady acceleration environment using the OSS sensor. HiRAP accelerometer downlink is off.

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

Investigating the Structure of Paramagnetic Aggregates from Colloidal Emulsions (InSPACE): Current test matrix is complete.

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

Cellular Biotechnology Support Systems (CBOSS): Completed for this Increment.

Earth Knowledge Acquired by Middle School Students (EarthKAM): Activities are completed for Increment 7.

Earth Science Toward Exploration Research (ESTER): Completed for this Increment.

Coarsening in Solid-Liquid Mixtures-2 (CSLM-2): Activities have been concluded for this Expedition.

Commercial Generic Bioprocessing Apparatus (CGBA): CGBA is maintaining a nominal temperature of 20°C. GCF (Granada Crystallization Facility) will remain in CGBA until returning on 6S.

Educational Payload Operations (EPO): Completed for this Increment.

Crew Earth Observation (CEO): An excellent image of the twin Pakistani cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi will be published on Earth Observatory this weekend. The image nicely contrasts the urban planning of the modern Islamabad and the ancient Rawalpindi side by side. The crew's last CEO target message for this increment will be on 10/19. No target lists are planned during 7S docking and crew rotation. The CEO team has enjoyed working with the Expedition 7 crew, having acquired an outstanding set of E
arth Observations with a unique emphasis and perspective. "We look forward to the opportunity in the near future to review it with you".

Today's optional CEO (crew earth observation) targets, limited in the current XPOP attitude by flight rule constraints on the use of the Lab nadir/science window, and including the targets of the Lewis & Clark 200-year memorial locations, were T/S Nicholas, Atlantic (Dynamic event. ISS track passed right over this well-formed, unusually late storm), Nihoa Reef, Pacific (nadir pass), Beijing, China (nadir pass), Tianjin, China (Nadir pass. Looking right for views of heavy smog haze reported from coastal ci
ties in the Shanghai region), Smog haze, N Chinese coast (Dynamic event. Looking right for views of heavy smog haze reported from coastal cities in the Shanghai region. Some of the most dramatic pictures of anthropogenic haze have come from NE China), Yellow River Delta (Nadir pass. Mapping swath along the rapidly changing coastlines was requested), Urumqui, China (nadir pass), Guilin, China (nadir pass), Guangzhou, China (looking a touch left), Macao, China (looking a touch left), Xianggang (Hong Kong)
, China (looking a touch left), Berlin, Germany (looking a touch left), and T/S Nicholas, Atlantic (Dynamic event. The ISS track passed over this well-formed, unusually late storm).

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/

U.S. and Russian Segment Status (as of 2:24pm EDT).

Environmental Control and Life Support (ECLSS) and Thermal Control (TCS):

Elektron O2 generator is powered On, 15A. Vozdukh CO2 scrubber is On (in Manual Mode 5/3). U.S. CDRA CO2 scrubber is in Standby. TCCS (trace contaminant control subsystem) is operating. MCA (major constituents analyzer) is off (in Life Extending Mode). BMP Harmful Impurities unit: absorbent bed #1 in Purify mode, bed #2 in Purify mode. RS air conditioner SKV-1 is On SKV-2 is Off.


SM Working Compartment: Pressure (mmHg) -- 742; temperature (deg C) -- 25.9; ppO2 (mmHg) -- data invalid; ppCO2 (mmHg) -- data invalid.
SM Transfer Compartment: Pressure (mmHg) -- 762; temperature (deg C) -- 20.8.
FGB Cabin: Pressure (mmHg) -- 772; temperature (deg C) -- 23.0.
Node: Pressure (mmHg) -- 759.16; temperature (deg C) -- 24.9 (shell); ppO2 (mmHg) -- n/a; ppCO2 (mmHg) -- n/a.
U.S. Lab: Pressure (mmHg) -- 760.88; temperature (deg C) -- 24.3; ppO2 (mmHg) -- n/a; ppCO2 (mmHg) -- n/a.
Joint Airlock (Equip. Lock): Pressure (mmHg) -- 761.08; temperature (deg C) -- 32.2; shell heater temp (deg C) -- 25.4, ppO2 (mmHg) -- n/a; ppCO2 (mmHg) -- n/a.
PMA-1: Shell heater temp (deg C) -- 24.0
PMA-2: Shell heater temp (deg C) -- 12.1.

(n/a = data not available)

Electrical Power Systems (EPS):

Both P6 channels fully operational. BGA (beta gimbal assembly) 2B and 4B both in Directed Position (non-suntracking).
SM batteries: Battery #7 is enabled and will be tracked for the next few weeks, still in slot #8; all other batteries (7) are in "Partial Charge" mode (batteries #1 and #3 are degraded).
FGB batteries: Battery #1 is off; all other batteries (5) are in "Partial Charge" mode.
Plasma Contactor Unit PCU-1 in Standby mode; PCU-2 in Standby mode.

Command & Data Handling Systems:

C&C-2 MDM is prime, C&C-1 is back-up, and C&C-3 is in standby.
GNC-1 MDM is prime; GNC-2 is Backup.
INT-2 is operating; INT-1 is Off.
EXT-2 is On (primary), EXT-1 is Off (both now upgraded to R3).
LA-1, LA-2 and LA-3 MDMs are all operating.
PL-1 MDM is Off; PL-2 MDM is Operational.
APS-1 (automated payload switch #1) and APS-2 are both On.
SM Terminal Computer (TVM): 2 redundant lanes (of 3) operational; string #2 dropped out 9/26.
SM Central Computer (TsVM): 3 redundant lanes (of 3) operational.

Propulsion System (PS):

Total propellant load available: 3891 kg (8578 lb) as of 10/16 [SM(755) + FGB(2784) + Progress M(352) + Progress M-1(0)]. (Capability: SM -- 860 kg; FGB -- 6120 kg).

Attitude Control Systems:

3 CMGs on-line (CMG-1 failed).
State vector source -- U.S. SIGI-1 (GPS)
Attitude source -- U.S. SIGI-1 (GPS)
Angular rate source -- RGA-1

Flight Attitude:

XPOP (x-axis perpendicular to orbit plane = "sun-fixed" [yaw: 0.5 deg, pitch: -6.9 deg., roll: 0 deg]), with CMG TA (thruster assist).

Communications & Tracking Systems:

FGB MDM-1 is powered Off; FGB MDM-2 is operational.
All other Russian communications & tracking systems are nominal.
S-band is operating nominally (on string 2).
Ku-band is operating nominally.
Audio subsystem is operating nominally (IAC-2 is prime, IAC-1 is suspect).
Video subsystem operating nominally.
HCOR (high-rate communications outage recorder) is operating nominally.

Robotics:

SSRMS/Canadarm2 based at MBS PDGF #2/LEE A, with Keep Alive (KA) power on both strings.
MBS: KA power on both strings.
MT: latched and mated at WS4.
POA: KA power on both strings.
RWS (robotics workstations): Lab RWS is On (DCP connected); Cupola RWS is Off.

ISS Orbit (as of this morning, 9:34am EDT [= epoch]):

Mean altitude -- 380.3 km
Apogee -- 384.7 km
Perigee -- 375.8 km
Period -- 92.1 min.
Inclination (to Equator) -- 51.63 deg
Eccentricity -- 0.0006569
Orbits per 24-hr. day -- 15.62
Mean altitude loss in last 24 hours -- 75 m
Revolutions since FGB/Zarya launch (Nov. '98) -- 28028
For more on ISS orbit and worldwide naked-eye visibility dates/times, see
http://www.hq.nasa.gov/osf/station/viewing/issvis.html


Jacques :-)

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