ISS On-Orbit Status, 30-08-2003

ISS On-Orbit Status 30 Aug 2003

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

Progress 12P is closing in for tonight's rendezvous and docking. Capture at
the Service Module (SM) aft end port is now scheduled for 11:40pm EDT.
[Maneuver burn DV3 was performed last night, in two parts during Orbits 17
and 18 (DV3a at 10:39pm; DV3b at 11:23pm), followed by turning to solar
attitude and deactivation of the motion control system. On Orbit 19, this
morning at 12:56am, RGS 34 SHK (Russian ground station #34, Shelkovo)
performed a checkout of the Progress TORU (teleoperated approach and docking
system), testing the hand controllers, as they are in the SM, but without
actual jet firings. Data for the automated rendezvous will be uplinked
today on Orbits 30 and 31 (5:27pm and 6:57pm) as RGS come into sight. Then
follow the DV4 burn at 9:51pm, Progress Kurs-A activation and self-test at
9:59pm, and DV5 burn at 10:34pm. As Kurs-A and Kurs-P (on SM) confer and
"compare notes", three successive braking burns lead into flyaround mode
(400 m), stationkeeping (170 m), final approach (11:30p), and docking
(11:40pm).]

In preparation for the critical arrival, at 3:40am this morning the crew
conducted a 2-hr. training course on the TORU teleoperated control system
for Progress. [With the manual TORU mode, CDR Malenchenko can perform
necessary guidance functions from the SM via two hand controllers in the
event of a failure of the "Kurs" automated rendezvous and docking (AR&D) of
the Progress. 92 min after the failed docking, Yuri would control the cargo
ship's motions from a control panel, viewing the approach to the ISS on the
Simvol-TS screen as seen by the Klest-M television camera mounted on the
Progress. Remote TORU control from the ground is not available at this
point. Today's training covered a review of the applicable data files, math
modeling of the rendezvous, and a consultation with a ground instructor via
UHF and S-band. Simulated were all phases of rendezvous, flyaround, final
approach and docking, plus off-nominal situations like no comm in the
SM-to-12P or 12P-to-SM channels, loss of TV feed, display format hang-up on
the SM's Simvol-TS screen, and docking failure in TORU before capture.]

Yuri terminated the bake-out cycle on the BMP micropurification system's
channel 2, moding the channel back to Purify. This restored both filter
beds to Purify mode.

On the operational PCS (portable computer system) laptops in the station, Ed
performed the regular weekly maintenance reboot.

To help free tomorrow's schedule for unloading tasks, Malenchenko collected
the weekly data readings of the Service Module (SM)'s toilet flush counter
readings (with inspection of the SP urine collection and pretreat assembly)
and SVO water supply status counter readings, both for calldown to
MCC-M/TsUP,- a task usually performed on Sundays.

Science Officer Lu attended to the daily routine maintenance of the SM SOZh
life support system and prepared the daily IMS delta file for automatic
export/import to update the database.

Both crewmembers performed physical exercise, on TVIS (CDR) and RED (FE).

At 5:50am this morning, Yuri Malenchenko and Ed Lu participated in a live
interactive TV exchange with a VIP event, "Spaceflight a Journey through
Time", held by ESA and the German space agency DLR at
Markneukirchen/Vogtland, Germany, in observance of the 25th anniversary of
the first spaceflight of a German, East German Air Force officer Sigmund
Jähn (born in Markneukirchen in the former Eastern Zone). On August 26,
1978, Jähn launched on Soyuz 31 to the Salyut 6 space station as one of the
guest cosmonauts in the Soviet Intercosmos Program. [VIPs in attendance
today were Germany's President Johannes Rau, Science & Education Minister
Edelgard Bulmahn, ESA and DLR officials, and a number of former German and
Russian cosmonauts.]

Viewing angles were uplinked for covering tonight's 12P approach & docking
with two external TV cameras (ETVCG),- the S1 lower outboard camera at Port
3 (CP3) and the Lab Camera at Port 13 (CP13).

Correction to yesterday's report on 12P Manifest: Progress M-48 will
deliver three, not two, new 800A storage batteries (and one MIRT-3
charge/discharge current integrator). [Two of the batteries, each one with
a mass of 74kg, are for the SM, one is for the FGB.]

Progress 11P will undock September 4 at 3:41pm EDT.

Today's optional CEO (crew earth observation) targets, taking into account
the current LVLH attitude, and including the targets of the Lewis & Clark
200-year memorial locations, were Tashkent, Uzbekistan (nadir pass),
Bangkok, Thailand (nadir pass), Mekong River Delta (nadir pass over the
southern tip of the delta. Land use changes are of specific interest in the
breadbasket of Vietnam), Karachi, Pakistan (looking a touch left), Temple of
Artemis at Ephesus (looking right for the modern Turkish city of Selcuk at
the head of the bay), Damascus, Syria (nadir pass), Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
(looking right. This major desert city [4.5 million, expected to rise to
10.5 million by 2020] is fed mainly by desalinized water from the Persian
Gulf), and East Mediterranean dust (looking left towards the Gulf of Sidra
for plumes going out to sea). 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 4:00am EDT).

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

Elektron O2 generator is powered Off (O2 being supplied by Progress 11P).
Vozdukh CO2 scrubber is On (in Manual Mode 5/3). U.S. CDRA CO2 scrubber is
Off. TCCS (trace contaminant control subsystem) is operating. MCA (major
constituents analyzer) is operating. BMP Harmful Impurities unit: absorbent
bed #1 in Purify mode, bed #2 in Regeneration mode. RS air conditioner
SKV-1 is Off; SKV-2 is Off.

Electrical Power Systems (EPS):

Both P6 channels fully operational. BGA (beta gimbal assembly) 2B and 4B
both in tri-angle "blind" mode (non-solar tracking).
SM batteries: Battery #2 is failed and off; all other batteries (7) are in
"Partial Charge" mode; battery #1 is degraded.
FGB batteries: Battery #1 is disconnected; 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-1 MDM is prime, C&C-2 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-2 MDM is Off; PL-1 MDM is Operational.
APS-1 (automated payload switch #1) and APS-2 are both On.
SM Terminal Computer (TVM): 3 redundant lanes (of 3) operational.
SM Central Computer (TsVM): 3 redundant lanes (of 3) operational.

Propulsion System (PS):

Total propellant load available: 3657 kg (8062 lb) as of 8/28 [SM(755) +
FGB(2902) + Progress M(0) +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
Solar Beta Angle -- -19 deg (magnitude increasing)

Flight Attitude:

LVLH -YVV (local vertical/local horizontal = "earth-fixed": z-axis in local
vertical, -y-axis in velocity vector [yaw: -10 deg, pitch: -9.4 deg, roll: 0
deg]), with CMG/TA (thruster assist) Momentum Management.

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).
Video subsystem operating nominally.
HCOR (high-rate communications outage recorder) is operating nominally.

Robotics:

SSRMS/Canadarm2 based at MBS PDGF #1 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,6:42am EDT [= epoch]):

Mean altitude -- 382.4km
Apogee 387.4 km
Perigee -- 377.5 km
Period -- 92.2 min.
Inclination (to Equator) -- 51.63 deg
Eccentricity -- 0.0007276
Orbits per 24-hr. day -- 15.62
Solar Beta Angle -- -19 deg (magnitude increasing)
Mean altitude loss in last 24 hours -- 120 m
Revolutions since FGB/Zarya launch (Nov. '98) -- 27260
For more on ISS orbit and worldwide naked-eye visibility dates/times, see
http://www.hq.nasa.gov/osf/station/viewing/issvis.html



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Jacques :-)

Editor: www.spacepatches.info

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