ENEIDE Progress Report No.2

Mission Information Report No. 2

Flight Day 3 (17 April 2005, GMT Day 107):

Biology
CSP: The transfer of the containers with the "Crickets in Space" for the
CRISP2 experiment from Soyuz to the Russian segment of the ISS and their
installation in the KUBIK incubator was carried out successfully as planned.
The ESA astronaut performed the required rotation of the egg-collectors.
KUBIK may require re-positioning in order to have a clearance of 20 cm for
ventilation on all sides.

TLF: The transfer of the Fischer Rat Thyroid Low Serum 5% experiment to the
other incubator for the Eneide mission, AQUARIUS-B, was performed as
planned. TLF is aimed at assessing the effects of microgravity and radiation
on in-vitro cultures of rat thyroid cells.

MIS: The "Microbial Life in Space" experiment was successfully transferred
from Soyuz to its requested location in the Russian docking and airlock
module Pirs. Microorganisms are well known for their capabilities to
withstand extreme environmental conditions such as elevated temperature,
high salinity, hydrostatic pressure, and toxic compounds. The exposure to
radiations, vacuum, electricity, and magnetic waves has been investigated in
the past, but still little information is available about the effects of the
space environment on micro-organisms. For the MIS experiment, different
microbial strains are flown in order to study the effect that space
radiation and the weightless environmental conditions onboard the ISS have
on the cultures. The experiment may improve our understanding on the basic
biology of microorganisms, particularly on their tolerance to the spacecraft
environment and on how the genetic material in the cells can be affected by
in-flight space conditions. The experiment can further provide a greater
understanding of the spacecraft environment itself.

VIN: The container with the "Vines in Orbit" experiment was transferred
successfully from Soyuz to the ISS. The ability to grow plants from seeds in
space is of increasing importance given the plans for long-term crewed
missions to the Moon and Mars. The aim of this experiment is to test the
survival and growth in space of tendril grafts from vines coming from
Tuscany and from Lazio. Tendrils are twisting, threadlike structures by
which a twining plant, such as a grape or cucumber, grasps an object or a
plant for support. Once back on the Earth, the tendrils will be implanted,
to test their growth. These will be compared to equivalent plants that were
treated in a similar fashion in parallel on the ground for reference
purposes.

Physiology
MOP: The required daily questionnaire for the "Motion Perception" (MOP)
experiment started on Flight Day 1 was completed as planned.
Technology

EST: The set-up for the "Electronics Space Test" (EST) experiment was
carried out as planned. This consisted of switching the power supply of the
device from battery power to ISS power. Over the past few years there have
been major technical improvements and reduction in size of electronic and
microelectronic devices for space applications. However, radiation resistant
devices for space applications can cost up to 1000 times more than similar
industrial components. The EST experiment shall demonstrate that industrial
components can be implemented in space, if they are adequately protected and
used correctly. It consists of a special radiation protective casing
containing an electronic subsystem, built from low-cost industrial
components. A positive outcome to this demonstration will lead to the
availability of future low cost off-the-shelf components for
microsatellites. To execute the EST experi-ment, the ESA astronaut pushes a
button on the experiment set-up once a day throughout the mission. The
pushbutton activation will cause the electronic log of date and time, and
the equipment reset in case of failures. The activation process also
initiates the automatic execution of hardware and software tests to verify
that a component is functioning correctly.

LAZ: The LAZIO experiment (LAZ) is meant to take a measurement of the
magnetic environment inside the ISS and its relationship with the particle
flux variations due to solar and geophysical phenomena. The experiment had
switched off unexpectedly after some hours of operations and the LAZIO
research team on the ground analysed the failure to determine the correct
recovery procedure to reactivate the experiment.
Education

BOP: The launch and return containers for the BOP experiment were transfered
to the Russian segment of the ISS and installed in the AQUARIUS-B incubator
as planned, i.e. as soon as possible after docking. AQUARIUS-B had been
previously activated by the Expedition 10 crew prior to the Soyuz docking,
in order to ensure 37 degree C operational temperature achieved by the time
of the BOP transfer. BOP stands for Bone Proteomics and is a student's
experiment which studies the molecular mechanisms that regulate the
physiology of human osteoblasts (bone forming cells) under weightless
conditions. The medium in the culture chambers of the experiment was changed
by Roberto Vittori and photos and video were taken of the hardware.


Flight Day 4 (18 April 2005, GMT Day 108):

Biology
AES: The experiment was activated as planned on Flight Day 4, with photos
taken of the hardware and the completion of the associated log sheet. The
"Agrospace Experiment Suite" experiment (AES) actually consists of two
separate experiments: an education oriented experiment Space Beans for
Students and a biology experiment Seedlings. Space Beans consists of
beans being germinated on the ISS at the same time as being germinated by
pupils in classrooms on Earth. The germination of seeds in space has been
previously demonstrated, but the aim of the Space Beans experiment is to
have a good involvement of pupils in the space mission and increase their
knowledge of space, both in terms of what the space environment is and in
what the potential applications of the space technology are. The germination
started when Roberto Vittori opened a water container inside a transparent
plastic bag. Every day, a digital photo of the germinating seeds will now be
taken. This will occur at the same time every day to show the germination
progress. The astronaut then fills in a simple data sheet, which answers
different questions every day relating to seed condition, and root and leaf
growth for every seed. The photos will be sent to Earth as soon as possible
and published on a web site. Participating pupils will carry out exactly the
same experiment on Earth at the same time as on the ISS, also taking photos
and filling out log sheets.

The "Seedlings" experiment of the Agrospace Experiment Suite is also related
to plant germination, but it looks at the practical aspects of food
production in space. Producing sprouts directly in the ISS may represent an
interesting opportunity to offer high-quality fresh food to the astronauts.
The objectives of the experiment are to evaluate the feasibility of
producing vegetable sprouts in space for food purposes and to study the
influence of weightlessness on germination, growth and the nutritional
quality of sprouts.
CRI: The egg collectors of the "Crickets in Space" experiment that were
opened on Flight Day 3 were closed again on Flight Day 4 and the cricket
containers filmed. The ESA astronaut counted the number of eggs produced,
but decided to keep the number secret until his return to Earth.

Physiology
MOP: The daily questionnaire for the "Motion Perception" experiment was
completed as planned.
NGF: The ESA astronaut reported that he had taken the first of the three
daily saliva samples.
Technology
EST: Set up the previous day, the "Electronics Space Test" experiment (EST)
was activated today and will run for the next five days.

HBM: The first session of the "Heart Beat Monitoring" experiment (HBM) was
completed successfully. The experiment will test the development of
intelligent clothing for astronauts, capable of monitoring their vital
functions using both wireless and non-wireless devices to allow free
movement in a closed orbiting environment without having to attach suction
pads, sticking plaster or gel to the skin.
LAZ: The cause of the power failure in the LAZIO experiment observed
previously has not yet been isolated. A fuse appears to have blown. A
radiogramme was transmitted from the ground to the ISS crew containing a
trouble-shooting procedure.

Education
ARS: Preparation and execution of the first ARISS event was performed very
successfully, with Roberto answering via amateur radio questions from school
children gathered in Civitavecchia, coming from the Gugliemo Marconi school
and the Einaudi Mattei school in Palmanova. The event, which took place in
the Gugliemo Marconi school, had the chance to host a honourable guest in
the person of the radio pioneer Gugliemo Marconi's own daughter. The Marconi
school used the radio amateur call sign IK0WGF, while Roberto Vittorio, as
mandatory, holder of a valid amateur radio license, used the call sign NA1SS
(the official call sign of the ISS) operated by IZ6ERU (Vittori's sign).


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Jacques :-)

www.spacepatches.info