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2\14 ISS On-Orbit Status 14-02-2003
Part 1 of 2

ISS On-Orbit Status 2/14/03

All ISS systems continue to function nominally, except as noted 
previously or below. Day 83 in space for Expedition 6.

The crew woke up to kudos for their great work with the SSRMS/robotarm
yesterday, and also for their success with the IMV (intermodular
ventilation) troubleshooting.

IMV Troubleshooting: After the crew's inspection of the Node aft port 
IMV fan air straightener and the removal of a large quantity of 
lint/dust from the conduit, Velocicalc measurements showed a 10-fold 
increase in airflow through the fan. Airflow between the Lab and the 
Service Module (SM) has since significantly increased, and the 
replacement of the Node fan is not now required. [Inspection and 
cleaning of the other fans followed yesterday, from the "job jar" task 
list, and the Lab aft port IMV valve and Node aft starboard IMV valve 
was performed today. To conclude the IMV troubleshooting, the crew 
today reconfigured IMV orifice plates in the Node to redirect the 
airflow from the Russian segment (RS) to the Lab, then blocked off the 
associated IMV ducts in the Node using two dust covers improvised from 
old ODF (operational data files) cardboard covers, in order to obtain 
optimum flow through to the Lab. This, in effect, mixes the Lab air 
first with the Node air, then exposes it to the RS air scrubbing 
system.  Future IMV maintenance ops will be expanded to include 
periodic cleaning of the newly identified problem areas.]

FE-1 Nikolai Budarin and CDR Ken Bowersox performed a checkout of the
Russian Orlan spacesuit electronics from the DC-1 module. After
reconfiguring ISS-internal communications assets for EVA mode, they 
first tested the Orlan's BRTA telemetry system, then its Korona-M 
radio system, using Multimeter (MMTs-01) resistance measurements for 
continuity and performance checks. Reconfiguration to nominal comm 
configuration followed at about 12:00pm EST. [During EVA-7, by Valery 
Korzun and Peggy Whitson on 8/16/02, communications interference was 
caused by a tone generated by the primary subset of the Korona-M radio 
system in the BRTA.]

Budarin changed out the F-V filter insert in the SM ECLS (environment
control and life support system) toilet system, a 30-min. task.

Bowersox switched the Lab CCAA (common cabin air assembly) back to the 
port air conditioner from the starboard unit. [Yesterday, he moded the 
port-CCAA to starboard (SB) because it had been operating for 33 days, 
the limit for continuous operation without a dryout. Since the SB-CCAA 
has exhibited frequent "WET" indications in the past, suggesting that 
water is passing through the heat exchanger into downstream ducting, 
operation of the port-CCAA is preferred until the root cause of this 
problem can be identified.]

The first CWC (contingency water container) load of US condensate 
water (20 L) was successfully processed in the recently upgraded 
Russian SRV-K water processing system. (TsUP/Moscow: "Keep fingers 
crossed").

Budarin performed the regular inspection of the BRPK air/condensate
separator unit in the SM.

FE-2/SO Don Pettit set up Russian SLM (sound level meter) equipment 
and took readings at 41 different locations in the Lab, Node, Airlock, 
FGB, Service Module (SM) and Docking Compartment (DC-1), following 
instructions uplinked overnight. The noise measurement data were then 
transferred to the MEC (medical equipment computer) and the SLM 
equipment was stowed.

CO2 Update: Pettit also collected his daily ppCO2 (carbon dioxide 
partial pressure) readings in Lab and SM, one in the morning, one in 
the evening, using the U.S. CDMK (CO2 monitoring kit). [As a direct 
result of the IMV improvement, ppCO2 in the Lab has now gone down to 
4.3 mmHg, with a delta-ppCO2 of 0.3 mmHg remaining between USOS (US 
segment) and RS. To improve crew living conditions, US goal is now to 
keep ppCO2 below 4 mmHg.  Vozdukh can not easily be pushed beyond its 
current efficiency, which is already "at almost maximum", according to 
RSC-Energia. Any near-term increase in CO2 reduction must be 
accomplished by the US CDRA (CO2 removal assembly), but this system 
also needs an IFM (in-flight maintenance).  Background: (1) Vozdukh 
has been operating on only two of its three adsorbent beds for a long 
time. To recover the failed third channel, replacement of vacuum valve 
package #3 is required, for which the current crew is not trained. It 
may also become necessary to replace the entire third adsorbent bed 
assembly. (2) Running Vozdukh with two beds in Manual mode, rather 
than the currently used Automatic mode (where switching is controlled 
by the GA/gas analyzer, itself suspect of being incorrect or not 
properly calibrated) requires replacement of the second channel's 
timing unit (delivered on Progress M-247/10P). Designers are being 
asked to consider clearing the crew for this IFM. (3) CDRA has a 
breach in its adsorbent beds which caused the recent air supply valves 
(ASV) stoppage.  After the successful recovery by Peggy Whitson on 
11/28 (installation of new ASV valves), its operation is kept at a 
minimum to avoid having it happen again. A spare valve set has been 
removed from the ground CDRA and is awaiting delivery to the station 
on the next Progress, after which full CDRA operations will resume.]

Pettit completed the weekly transfer of exercise data from the TVIS
treadmill, RED resistive exerciser and CEVIS cycle ergometer to the 
MEC for subsequent downlink.

Don also performed the daily routine maintenance of the SOSh life 
support systems in the SM, while Nikolai prepared the IMS database 
update file for export/downlink and Sox did the payload status checkup 
in the Lab (PCG-STES010).

Reboost Planning Update: Further analysis of the Progress reboost on 
2/11 showed a delta-V of 4.2 m/sec, instead of 6 m/sec planned. The 
shutdown of the thrusters after 1200 sec, instead of 1393 sec, was due 
to an operator oversight of not inhibiting an onboard calculation 
translating delta-V (meters/second) into burntime (seconds). But the 
premature shutoff is insufficient to explain the 1.8 m/sec underspeed, 
and further investigation is underway. Therefore, for the next 
reboost, Moscow will conduct a small pre-burn first, on 4/13, as a 
test. After its evaluation, the actual burn, scheduled for 4/15, will 
adjust the ISS phase angle for the launch of Soyuz 6S on 4/26 and the 
deorbit of the Expedition 6 crew in Soyuz 5S for landing in the 
northern landing area in Kazakhstan. To keep the 4/15 burn at a 
minimum, TsUP proposes an earlier reboost on 3/12. If we protect an 
ULF-1/STS-114 launch date of 6/15, optimum reboost scenario would be a 
5 m/sec burn on 3/12 and a 1-2 m/sec burn on 4/15. If, on the other 
hand, it has been established (not later than 3/5) that ULF-1 will not 
launch on 6/15, an optimum burn on 3/12 would be as much as 10 m/sec. 
Should ULF-1 then be rescheduled to 6/15 after all (decision not later 
than 1.5 months before), a penalty of 150 kg props would be incurred 
to bring the station down to a Shuttle-compatible altitude If this 
rescheduling does not happen, the 150 kg would be a gain. Ballistics 
teams at Moscow and Houston are continuing to study these critical 
options, with a decision needed not later than 3/5.

Avionics Update: Rev. 3 software transition is proceeding on schedule. 
A tagup with the crew was conducted today to discuss details of the 
protracted and involved process where ISS onboard computers are 
transitioned to a new software (s/w) load. [The first Russian patch on 
2/7 prepared RS computers to compensate for initial differences in 
USOS and RS s/w. After the routine cycling of RS laptops in the past 
two days, next step is the on-board transition of US computers, using 
the R3 files uplinked to the SSMMUs (solid state mass memory units) in 
the past few days. This transition will take place on 2/18-20. On 
2/25-26, special preparation and discussions with the crew are planned 
from TsUP, followed on 2/27 by upload of all display images/frames, 
requiring 4 hrs crewtime. Transition of the four Russian US-21 
matching units of the MCS (motion control system) is to follow on 2/28 
(first #1 & #3, later #2 & #4), again involving several hours of 
crewtime, including for installation of permanent jumper cables that 
are required to compensate for inherent incompatibilities of the new 
7.01 s/w with ECLS. The SM's Terminal (TVM) and Central (TsVM) 
computers will be rebooted on all three subsets on 3/3 and 
transitioned to 7.01 on 3/5, completing the operations. 3/6-7 are 
preserved as backup dates.]

(continued)

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