International Space Station Expedition 10 Science Operations Status Report for the Week Ending April 29, 2005

International Space Station Expedition 10 Science Operations Status Report
for the Week Ending April 29, 2005

05.03.05


Steve Roy
Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala.
(Phone: 256.544.0034)
Status Report: 05-046


Expedition 10 Commander and NASA Science Officer Leroy Chiao and Flight
Engineer Salizhan Sharipov conducted their final session with the Advanced
Diagnostic Ultrasound in Microgravity (ADUM) experiment. Chiao and Sharipov
performed ultrasound bone scans on each other by taking turns as operator
and subject. The bone scans were taken of the shoulder, elbow, knee and
ankle, monitored remotely from the ground, and videotaped and photographed
for downlink.

While an ultrasound cannot image bone porosity itself, the ADUM team is
looking at the bone surface roughness as an indicator of bone density. Their
hypothesis is that during muscle atrophy the bones may become smoother as
fewer muscle and ligament attachment sites are required. Therefore by
monitoring the surface roughness of bones it may be possible to get some
indication of how much muscle has been lost and possibly how much bone has
been lost as well. If successful, in the future, this could lead to changes
in exercise protocols that could be adapted to individuals in near real
time.

For his Saturday Science activities, Chiao conducted a session with the
Miscible Fluids in Microgravity, or MFMG experiment. Fluids do not behave
the same on Earth as in the microgravity environment inside the orbiting
Space Station. This experiment studies how miscible fluids, or those that
completely dissolve, interact without the interference of gravity.

This test involved Chiao pulling tinted water from a syringe through a
drinking straw and into another syringe containing a mixture of honey and
water. The way the fluid interacted was both videotaped and photographed for
observation. This research could help scientists improve the way plastics
and other polymers are produced on Earth and in space. NASA's payload
operations team at the Marshall Center coordinates U.S. science activities
on Space Station.

NASA's payload operations team at the Marshall Center coordinates science
activities on Space Station.


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Jacques :-)

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