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01 July 2003

ISS On-Orbit Status 30 Jun 2003

Part 2 of 3

The CDR set up another operations and measurement session of the
Molniya-SM/LSO hardware from SM window #3, with the French-provided
EGE1 laptop.  Once Malenchenko started the recording session, the
payload works automatically until 1:00pm EDT on 7/3 (Thursday).
[Objective of Molniya-SM, similar to the French LSO experiment, is to
record storm phenomena and other related events in the Earth's
equatorial regions.  The experiment is controlled from the French
EGE-1 laptop, which needs to be loaded with orbital sighting
predictions using an up-to-date NORAD tracking TLE (two-line element)
provided by NASA.  Objective of LSO was to study rare optical
phenomena occurring in the upper layers of Earth's atmosphere,
so-called "sprites" (i.e., puzzling glow phenomena observed above
thunderstorm clouds).  LSO was originally part of Claudie Haigneré's
French "Andromeda" payload package of taxi mission 3S that could not
be performed as planned during Increment 4 due to an ISS flight
attitude conflict.]   Ed Lu collected and disposed of the off-limit
wipes which had been transferred by the crew from the Shuttle to the
station without proper safety clearance. Due to high levels of
ethanol in these wash and dry wipes, their use has been discontinued,
and Russian wet towels are used for the crew's personal hygiene needs
as alternatives.   [The source of the high content of the alcohol
ethanol detected in the ISS condensate was unknown until a recent
call-down by the crew concerning the "Wash N Dry Wipes", each of
which contains 0.5 grams of ethanol.  Usage of these wipes was
estimated to release at least 3 grams of ethanol into the ISS
environment per day. Without considering other potential sources of
alcohol, this usage greatly exceeds the ISS limit of 1 gram/day
maximum release of alcohol into the air, which was established to
meet requirements for the Russian SRV-K water processor (the
scheduled change-out times of its components are based on their
capacity for alcohols).] 

Yuri set up the test equipment for another session with the Russian
biochemical MO-10 "Hematokrit" assessment, scheduled for tomorrow.
[MO-10 regularly measures the hematocrit (red blood cell mass) value
of the blood. As a well-known phenomenon of space flight, red blood
cell mass {normal range: 30-45%} tends to go down over time.]

At 11:53am EDT, the crew conducted an interactive educational PAO
exchange with students at the National Educational Computing
Conference in Seattle, WA, where ISS Astronaut Don Pettit  supported
the launching of the new NASA Explorer Schools.  [The new initiative,
sponsored by NASA's Education Enterprise in collaboration with the
National Science Teachers Association (NSTA), establishes a
three-year partnership between the agency and 50 NASA Explorer
Schools' teams, consisting of teachers and education administrators
from diverse communities across the country, representing 30 states.]
 
Both crewmembers completed their daily 2.5-h program of physical
exercise, on TVIS treadmill, RED expander and, for Yuri, on the
Russian VELO cycle ergometer with load trainer.

Later today, at 5:15pm, a telecon will be arranged for the Honorable
Linda Lingle, Governor of Hawaii, to wish Science Officer Ed Lu Happy
Birthday. Ed celebrates his 40th birthday tomorrow, naturally wearing
an Aloha shirt (as will all of the MCC-H Flight Control Team), and in
his honor Governor Lingle has declared July 1 "Edward Tsang Lu Day"
in Hawaii. 

Last night's maneuver from sun-pointing XPOP (x-axis perpendicular to
orbit plane) attitude back to earth-oriented LVLH (local
vertical/local horizontal) was completed nominally by the SM
automated computer system, after control authority had been handed
over from the US motion control system.

SM batteries #1 and #3 are now showing degradation, with sharply
reduced capacity.  [The batteries were cycled and are operating
currently as stand-alones.  A decision to take them off-line for a
two-week storage period, then recharge and bring them back into the
loop is under discussion. The batteries have a certified lifetime of
two years but have reached only about half that period at present,
and it is hoped that they can be restored.  If not, there is still
Khrunichev's 800A unit from the FGB spares.  Besides #1 and #3,
battery #4 in the SM is definitely failed, but overall power balance
in the RS remains positive at this time.] 

Analysis continues on the ground on the ER2 AAA (EXPRESS Rack
#2/avionics air assembly) fan which exhibited current spikes and a
20-30 RPM increase in rotor speed.  The current plan is to keep ER2
up to support this week's checkout of a new ARIS (active rack
isolation system) remote console at JSC. 

At 9:00am EDT this morning, MCC-H began a 31hr. on-orbit thermal
characterization test on the station's S-band system, String 1.  [The
test involves powering BSP (baseband signal processor) and XPDR
(standard TDRSS transponder) heaters off and on again after some
time, to obtain temperature readings during various orbit times,
including recordings during LOS (loss-of-signal).]

Last Thursday, during the 20-min. live educational audio/video PAO
event with education specialists at NASA MSFC, Ku-band suffered
drop-outs due to a problem with a modulator (Modulator A) at NASA's
White Sands facility.  [The system failed over to Modulator B, which
performed nominally. Modulator A was reset and brought back online,
after which it also operated nominally. Cause of the anomaly is
unknown and under investigation.  The PAO event was impacted but
"weathered" the glitch.]

The MCC-H Flight Control Team, with U.S. SpaceCommand, continues to
monitor a conjunction (close encounter) with a Russian SL-8 rocket
body (object #7004), somewhat aggravated by last night's change in
flight attitude.  Time of closest approach (TCA) is currently
projected for 2:38am EDT on 7/2 (Wednesday) morning.  Predicted
radial miss distance at this time is 990 m. Further tracking updates
will have to be made before the need for a DAM (debris avoidance
maneuver) can be determined.  Decision deadline: tomorrow morning at
3:08am EDT.  Time of DAM ignition, if required: tomorrow night at
10:48pm EDT.

Today's CEO targets, no longer limited in the current LVLH attitude
and including the targets of the Lewis & Clark 200-year memorial
locations, were Rome, Italy (nadir pass.  The pass continued directly
down the boot of Italy), Lemhi Pass, Mont/Idaho (LEWIS & CLARK SITE:
Shooting mountain range crests [dark forest green, as opposed to
lighter, browner river valleys] at nadir and a touch right, and the
crew should have gotten this now-unused pass over the continental
divide.  The explorers crossed here into Idaho on August 12, 1805.
Lemhi Pass never came into general use for the westward migrations
since other lower passes exist), Harpers Ferry, WVA (LEWIS & CLARK
SITE:  This historic town is located at the confluence of the Potomac
and Shenandoah rivers where they break through the Blue Ridge
Mountains. Crew was advised to use the long lens for details of this
small target), Washington, D.C. (weather may have held up for views
of D. C.), Alexandria, Egypt (nadir and a touch left on Egypt's north
coast.  Pyramids also at nadir, just west of the Nile about 30 secs
later [Sergei's 400-mm shots of these small features were
instrumental in getting the 400/800 mm lens duo into current use].
This pass continued all the way down the Red Sea and over the Horn of
Africa), and Congo-Zimbabwe Aerosols (the pass overflew the center of
the long Witwatersrand complex of cities where winter smog from coal
fires has been substantially controlled in the last forty years.
Nevertheless, obliques in the region are sought, especially in the
winter season, with low sunset light). CEO images can be viewed at
the websites 

http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov

 - Continued -

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