ISS On-Orbit Status 3/6/03<br /><br />All ISS systems continue to function nominally, except as noted previously<br />or below. Today Expedition 6 has been in charge of the Station for 100 days.<br /><br />After wake-up, the crewmates were congratulated on yesterday's successful<br />recovery of the station-wide OpsLAN (see below).<br /><br />After power-up of the SSRMS (space station remote manipulator system) by<br />MCC-H at 9:00am EST, CDR Ken Bowersox and FE-2/SO Don Pettit performed the<br />second part of this week's Robotics operations, viz., the planned survey of<br />the P1 truss segment, followed by minor troubleshooting on the Lab DCP<br />(display and control panel) Pause/Proceed switch. [Targets were two RBVM QD<br />(radiator beam valve module quick disconnect) thermal covers and the port<br />SVS (space vision system) target array. The surveys are to ensure that the<br />protective booties are properly in place, lest higher temperatures over<br />longer periods degrade the ammonia QD seals underneath. On ¾, Sox and Don<br />had finished the S1 survey early enough to perform the SSRMS walkoff and<br />base change to the Lab PDGF (power and data grapple fixture) for today. The<br />results of that S1 survey are still being assessed, but preliminary<br />indications are that two RBVMs may require additional inspection.]<br /><br />FE-1 Nikolai Budarin meanwhile continued de-installing and removing<br />no-longer-needed SUD motion control system components in the FGB "Zarya"<br />module to make room for stowage, this time two electronics blocks (M34-20-1<br />and 2). He then took digital photographs of the exposed area for later<br />downlink via OCA.<br /><br />Bowersox and Pettit completed another test activity of the HRF US (Human<br />Research Facility Ultrasound) program, a Space Medicine investigation using<br />an ultrasound/Doppler system to obtain images of internal organs of the<br />human body in zero-G. [After Dr. Peggy Whitson had conducted an operational<br />checkout of the system for medical contingencies on 9/13/02, including a<br />cardiac scanning which demonstrated the validity of remote guidance and<br />promising quality of downlinked data, today's activity was to validate a<br />specific zero-G cardiac scanning protocol based on terrestrial<br />echocardiography standards. This activity ensures the availability of<br />cardiac imaging for any future medical contingencies. The ultrasound<br />equipment is part of HRF Rack 1, launched on 5A.1 in March 2001. Its<br />applications include echocardiography, abdominal US (deep organ), vascular<br />US, muscle and tendon US, transcranial US and US contrast studies.]<br /><br />Budarin began the new phase of the Russian BIO-5 Rasteniya-2/Lada-2<br />("Plants-2") experiment which researches growth and development of plants<br />under spaceflight conditions. [Nikolai unstowed experimental seeds (acacia<br />leaf type pea) and planted them between wicks in a root tray. The hardware<br />was then powered up. Regular daily maintenance of the experiment includes<br />monitoring of seedling growth, humidity measurements and moistening of the<br />substrate, and photo/video recording.]<br /><br />Don Pettit completed the daily routine maintenance of the SM's SOSh life<br />support system, including ASU toilet facilities, and later prepared the IMS<br />inventory delta file for downlink.<br /><br />He and Bowersox filled out their weekly FFQ (food frequency questionnaire),<br />a special software log on the MEC (medical equipment computer) to track<br />nutritional intake.<br /><br />At 9:55am EST, ISS attitude control was handed over to the Russian MCS<br />(motion control system), which then (10:03am-10:18am) maneuvered the Station<br />from sun-fixed XPOP (x-axis perpendicular to orbit plane) to earth-oriented<br />LVLH TEA (local vertical/local horizontal torque equilibrium attitude).<br />Attitude control was then resumed by U.S. CMG (control moment gyro) momentum<br />management. [In the new LVLH attitude, U.S. GNC (guidance, navigation &<br />control) systems currently continue to be configured for Russian attitude,<br />angular rates, and state (position, velocity) sources. This is important<br />since in LVLH any aberrant control impulses generated due to the current RGA<br />(rate gyro assembly) "staleness" problem of the R3 software would be much<br />larger even than in XPOP and could possibly lead to loss of CMG attitude<br />control.]<br /><br />Houston and Moscow have agreed on a schedule for the U.S. GNC patch uplink<br />and the subsequent Service Module (SM) 7.01 software transition. [MCC-H will<br />receive the patch tomorrow (3/7) and perform uplink testing on Monday<br />(3/10). The onboard transition will occur as part of the nominally planned<br />RS handover and Progress reboost test scheduled for 3/11. TsUP/Moscow will<br />then resume the SM 7.01 transition on about 3/18.]<br /><br />Planning continues for the Stage EVA by Bowersox and Pettit on 3/20<br />(alternately, 3/25). [The 6.5-hr. spacewalk will focus on close inspections<br />and reconfigurations on the S0 and S1 truss segments, reconfiguration of CMG<br />hardware at the Z1 truss, installation of two more SPDs (spool positioning<br />devices) on jumper connectors, repositioning RBVM thermal booties,<br />installation of a light fixture on a boom stanchion on one of the two S1<br />CETA (crew equipment translation aid) railcarts (an activity not completed<br />during the last Stage EVA on 1/15), and some get-ahead tasks as time<br />permits.]<br /><br />Full functionality of the Station OpsLAN (operations local area network)<br />between U.S. (USOS) and Russian segment (RS) has been was restored. [Based<br />on intermediate screen capture files downlinked by Budarin, TsUP specialists<br />were able to determine that the configuration file on the SM's SmartSwitch<br />router (SSR, Russian: BRI) was incorrect, such that the ports where the SSC<br />(station support computer) laptops are connected were not enabled or<br />configured for use. A new config file was uplinked and successfully<br />installed in the SSR computer by the crew. The SM SSCs were then able to<br />establish a connection to the USOS file server PC. As of now, the SSC OpsLAN<br />is in a good configuration.]<br /><br />At 8:55am EST, MCC-H payload specialists conducted a teleconference with the<br />crew to discuss U.S. manifest priorities for 5S/Soyuz TMA-1 return, to<br />obtain crew input in the ongoing downmass planning. [Moscow expects total 5S<br />return capacity to be on the order of 30-50 kg. Houston was expecting more<br />and is working to confirm the real capability, as well as whether there is<br />any standard hardware that could be removed from 5S before return (e.g.<br />winter coats, etc). With worst-case capacity, U.S. allocation of downmass is<br />expected to be less than 10 kg. Our return priorities have been established<br />as: science first, then minimal environmental samples, then other hardware<br />necessary to troubleshoot or understand a technical problem, and finally<br />crew preference.]<br /><br />At 12:56pm EST, the crew participated in a 20-min. interactive educational<br />interview on NASA TV with students at Glenwood Elementary School in<br />Perrysburg, Ohio. [The school regularly televises morning announcements that<br />relate to space. Students in all grade levels are engaged in space related<br />activities, and the school's Computer Club was to videotape the program and<br />interview audience members, with the tape then to be distributed to other<br />schools within the district. NASA GRC (Glenn Research Center) sent a<br />representative to present student assemblies before the live program.]<br /><br />All crewmembers performed their regular daily physical exercise on TVIS<br />(treadmill with vibration isolation and stabilization), RED (resistive<br />exercise device), CEVIS (cycle ergometer with vibration isolation) and VELO<br />bike with load trainer. [On the VELO ergometer, loading control was found to<br />be intermittent during exercise yesterday. Budarin removed the control panel<br />cover and inspected the cabling but found no apparent cause. After closing<br />the cover, the ergometer performed nominally. In preparation for any future<br />re-occurrence, Nikolai located spare ergometer hardware in the RS.]<br /><br />Today's targets for the CEO (crew earth observations program) were<br />Industrialized Southeastern Africa (a stable, stagnant, summertime air mass<br />has settled over southern Africa. Subsidence and light winds have increase<br />air pollution over the industrialized Orange and Vaal River valleys. Looking<br />right of track to document this phenomenon), El Paso, Texas (for a good view<br />of old El Paso and the Rio Grande, the crew was to look just left of track),<br />La Paz (there may have been some afternoon cloudiness, but the crew was to<br />try for the Bolivian capital, southeast of Lake Titicaca and just left of<br />track), and Lake Poopo (the ISS had an excellent pass to map the Altiplano<br />Basin, with nadir views from Lake Titicaca to Lake Poopo).<br /><br />CEO images can be viewed at the website<br />http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov<br /><br />U.S. and Russian Segment Status (as of 12:54pm EST).<br /><br />Environmental Control and Life Support (ECLSS) and Thermal Control (TCS):<br />Elektron O2 generator is powered On (32 Amp mode). Vozdukh CO2 scrubber is<br />On (Manual mode 5). U.S. CDRA CO2 scrubber is Off. TCCS (trace contaminant<br />control subsystem) is operating. MCA (major constituents analyzer) is<br />operating. BMP Harmful Impurities unit: Absorbent bed #1 in Purify mode; bed<br />#2 in Purify mode. RS air conditioner SKV-1 is On; SKV-2 is Off.<br /><br />SM Working Compartment: Pressure (mmHg) -- 753; temperature (deg C) -- 27.4;<br />ppO2 (mmHg) -- 183.0; ppCO2 (mmHg) -- 2.3 (suspect).<br />SM Transfer Compartment: Pressure (mmHg) -- 751; temperature (deg C) --<br />20.3.<br />FGB Cabin: Pressure (mmHg) -- 752; temperature (deg C) -- 22.7.<br />Node: Pressure (mmHg) -- 741.98; temperature (deg C) -- 23.3 (shell); ppO2<br />(mmHg) -- n/a; ppCO2 (mmHg) -- n/a.<br />U.S. Lab: Pressure (mmHg) -- 744.01; temperature (deg C) -- 22.1; ppO2<br />(mmHg) -- 178.7; ppCO2 (mmHg) -- 4.5;<br />Joint Airlock (Equip. Lock): Pressure (mmHg) -- 744.11; temperature (deg<br />C) -- 20.9; shell heater temp (deg C) -- 21.4, ppO2 (mmHg) -- n/a; ppCO2<br />(mmHg) -- n/a.<br />PMA-1: Shell heater temp (deg C) -- 24.1<br />PMA-2: Shell heater temp (deg C) -- 17.2<br />(n/a = data not available)<br /><br />Propulsion System (PS): Total propellant load available [SM(820) + FGB(2753)<br />+ Progress(576)] -- 4149 kg (9147 lb) as of 2/27/03. (Capability: SM -- 860<br />kg; FGB -- 6120 kg).<br /><br />Electrical Power Systems (EPS):<br />Both P6 channels fully operational. Beta Gimbal Assembly (BGA) 2B and 4B<br />both in auto track (sun-following) mode.<br />SM batteries: All batteries (8) are in "Partial Charge" mode.<br />FGB batteries: Batteries #2 and #6 are offline (#6 is in Capacity<br />Restoration Mode/ROM); battery #5 is in "Cycle" mode; all batteries (3) are<br />in "Partial Charge" mode.<br />Plasma Contactor Unit PCU-1 and PCU-2 both in Standby mode.<br /><br />Command & Data Handling Systems:<br />C&C-1 MDM is prime, C&C-2 is back-up, and C&C-3 is in standby.<br />GNC-1 MDM is prime; GNC-2 is Backup.<br />INT-1 is operating; INT-2 is Off.<br />EXT-1 is On (primary), EXT-2 is Off.<br />LA-1, LA-2 and LA-3 MDMs are all operating.<br />PL-2 MDM is On (primary); PL-1 MDM is Off<br />APS-1 (automated payload switch #1) and APS-2 are both On.<br />SM Terminal Computer (TVM): 2 redundant lanes (of 3) operational. Lane 1 is<br />out of the set (as of 11/14/02).<br />SM Central Computer (TsVM): 2 redundant lanes (of 3) operational. Lane 1 is<br />out of the set (as of 3/2/03).<br /><br />Attitude Control Systems:<br />3 CMGs on-line (CMG-1 failed).<br />State vector source -- Russian<br />Attitude source -- Russian<br />Angular rate source -- Russian.<br /><br />Flight Attitude:<br />LVLH TEA (local vertical/local horizontal = "earth-fixed": z-axis in local<br />vertical, x-axis in velocity vector [yaw: -10 deg, pitch: -9.1 deg, roll: 0<br />deg]), with CMG/ TA (thruster assist) Momentum Management).<br />Solar Beta Angle: -10.6 deg (magnitude decreasing).<br /><br />Communications & Tracking Systems:<br />FGB MDM-1 is powered Off; FGB MDM-2 is operational.<br />All other Russian communications & tracking systems are nominal.<br />S-band is operating nominally.<br />Ku-band is operating nominally.<br />Audio subsystem operating nominally.<br />Video subsystem operating nominally (VTR1 is operable again).<br />HCOR (high-rate communications outage recorder) is operating nominally.<br /><br />Robotics:<br />SSRMS/Canadarm2 based at Lab PDGF with Keep Alive (KA) power on both<br />strings.<br />MBS: KA power on both strings.<br />MT: latched at WS4, with KA power.<br />POA: KA power on both strings.<br />RWS (robotics workstations): Lab RWS is Off; Cupola RWS is Off.<br /><br />ISS Orbit (as of this morning, 6:38am EST [= epoch]):<br />Mean altitude -- 389.8 km<br />Apogee -- 397.6 km<br />Perigee -- 381.9 km<br />Period -- 92.35 min.<br />Inclination (to Equator) -- 51.64 deg<br />Eccentricity -- 0.0011632<br />Orbits per 24-hr. day -- 15.59<br />Mean altitude loss in last 24 hours -- 190m<br />Solar Beta Angle -- -10.6 deg (magnitude decreasing)<br />Revolutions since FGB/Zarya launch (Nov. '98) -- 24498<br /><br />For more on ISS orbit and worldwide naked-eye visibility dates/times, see<br />http://www.hq.nasa.gov/osf/station/viewing/issvis.html