Updates ISS UPDATES

[Suzy]

Photo from the ISS of Soyuz TMA-02M descending through the atmosphere.

 

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NASA: Astronaut TJ Creamer Learns Space Station Science From the Ground Up

 

[Orbinaut Pete]

From ISS On-Orbit Status Report for 05/12/2011.

CDR Dan Burbank supported JAXA JEMRMS (Japanese Experiment Module Remote Manipulator System) ground-control activities by turning the MA (Main Arm) brake switch to Off and the EE (End Effector) Enable 1, 2 switches to the On position. [SSIPC (Space Station Integration & Promotion Center)/Tsukuba then conducted a video survey of JEMRMS hardware for the Demo #1 and Demo #2 activities. Demo #1 is scheduled tomorrow, also by ground control.]

 

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[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tV-cyS7iIe8"]Inside the ISS - YouTube[/ame]

 

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RIA Novosti: Russian woman cosmonaut may journey to space station:

A Russian female cosmonaut may fly to the International Space Station in 2013, Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) chief Vladimir Popovkin said on Wednesday.

Cosmonaut Yelena Serova, the first female cosmonaut of the post-Soviet era, should be trained and prepared for a flight lasting up to 170 days he said.

The flight could take place some time in 2013, as it takes 2½ years to prepare a crew, Alexei Krasnov, director of Roscomos manned flight programs, said.

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[Orbinaut Pete]

From ISS On-Orbit Status Report for 07/12/2011.

JEMRMS Demos:
JAXA/SSIPC (Space Station Integration & Promotion Center/Tsukuba) yesterday successfully ground-commanded two Demos with the JEMRMS (Japan Experiment Module Remote Manipulator System), mounted external to the Kibo JPM, the first Demo a wrist roll exercise, the second one a movement of the entire arm.

 

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NASA: Technology Innovation Magazine Highlights the International Space Station:

The International Space Station didn't just make the cover story of the latest publication of NASA's Technology Innovation magazine, the entire issue was devoted to this amazing feat of collaboration and technology.

With assembly complete, the station can now fulfill its purpose as a testbed for research, innovation and technology development in microgravity, according to Joseph Parrish, NASA's deputy chief technologist. In the "Upfront with…" introduction to the magazine, Parrish shared the importance investment plays in moving forward as a global leader in aerospace technology.

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SPACE.com: NASA Looks to 3D Printing for Spare Space-Station Parts:

Launch $1-billion-worth of spare parts to the International Space Station, and you can keep Earth's orbital outpost going for another decade. Send up some 3D-printing devices, and you invest in the ability to build everything on demand in space: space-station parts, astronaut tools, satellites, even spacecraft.

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[Orbinaut Pete]

From ISS On-Orbit Status Report for 08/12/2011.

Conjunction Notification:
Flight controllers are tracking a low-concern conjunction with Object 24286 (Pegasus rocket body) on Saturday, 12/10, at ~1:25 PM GMT, approximately 17.5 hrs after the reboost on Friday. This conjunction is of low concern for both the post-reboost and no-reboost trajectories for the ISS, being completely outside the larger screening box used by MCC-H for the reboost screening (2 km x 25 km x 25 km). The object is very well tracked and has a similar decay rate as ISS. Developments will be monitored and updates provided as needed.

 

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ESA: André is ‘go for launch’ and has arrived to Baikonur:

9 December 2011

ESA astronaut André Kuipers is now officially ready for liftoff on 21 December: he and his crewmates have passed their final exams and left for the launch site yesterday. Along with André’s plane, his PromISSe mission blog also took off yesterday.

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Spaceflight Now: Next space station trio counting down to blastoff

 

[SiberianTiger]

Photo from the ISS of Soyuz TMA-02M descending through the atmosphere.

The shoreline visible is most probably the Black Sea's coast. The cluster of lights near the image of the contrail must be Pyatigorsk - Yessentuki - Kislovodsk - Mineralnuye Vody resorts in Caucasus.

 

[Orbinaut Pete]

From ISS On-Orbit Status Report for 09/12/2011.

Amine Swingbed Deferral:
Yesterday's planned assembly & checkout of the Amine Swingbed hardware by CDR Dan Burbank could not be completed. During assembly, Dan had difficulties aligning and attaching the Controller unit to the Swingbed vacuum outlet. The purpose of the activity was to verify that the Amine Swingbed was not damaged during launch, compromising the sorbent bead containment, and to purge the ammonia that has built up within the hardware during its storage. Because assembly of the hardware took longer than planned and the ground commanding was sequenced at a specific time for commanding coverage, Ground controllers were not able to complete the commanding activities that needed to take place prior to the crew starting the bead check. Also, erroneous data from the Swingbed payload caused a false fire advisory in the US Lab. The hardware was partially disassembled and temporarily stowed in the PMM (Permanent Multipurpose Module). Specialists will develop a forward plan to complete the checkouts. [Background: The Amine Swingbed is a prototype of the CO2 and moisture control technology to be used in the Orion MPCV (Multi Purpose Crew Vehicle). It consists of two multilayer sorbent beds in one unit, with a single valve to alternate (“swing”) them between adsorbing from cabin air and desorbing to space vacuum. The system pulls air from the ISS atmosphere, dries it (and heats it) with a desiccant wheel, cools it back down, scrubs most of the CO2 and remaining water vapor out, then reheats the scrubbed air, rehumidifies it (and recools it) with the desiccant wheel, then returns the air to the cabin. Periodically (every 6 - 30 min) the sorbent beds are swapped to expose the freshly vacuum-desorbed bed to the process stream and start regenerating the CO2-laden bed. During bed swap transitions, additional air is saved by equalizing the bed about to be vented with a compressor-evacuated volume. This will be the first test of the Amine Swingbed payload. Its purpose is to determine if a vacuum-regenerated amine system can effectively remove carbon dioxide (CO2) from the ISS atmosphere using a smaller more efficient vacuum regeneration system. A similar technology (amine-based pressure swing adsorption) was used on the Shuttle Extended Duration Orbiter, in the form of the RCRS (Regenerative Carbon Dioxide Removal System). The Amine Swingbed payload uses an amine with a significantly greater capacity for CO2 than the RCRS. Amines are organic compounds and functional groups that contain a basic nitrogen atom with two “lone pair” electrons. They are derivatives of ammonia (NH3) wherein one or more of the hydrogen atoms (H) have been replaced by a substituent such as an alkyl or aryl group. Important amines include amino acids, biogenic amines, trimethylamine, and aniline. Inorganic derivatives of ammonia are also called ammonia, such as chloramine (NClH2).]

Reboost:
After handover of attitude control authority to the Russian MCS (Motion Control System) at 6:05 PM GMT, a one-burn reboost of the ISS will be performed today at 7:50 PM GMT using the two KD engines of the SM’s ODU (Integrated Propulsion System) for a burn duration of 1m 22s and a planned Delta-V of 1.05 m/s. Return of attitude control to US CMGs (Control Moment Gyroscopes) is scheduled for 8:40 PM GMT. The newly incorporated US SIGI (Space Integrated GPS/Inertial Navigation System) accelerometers will be used for the 2nd time for closed loop guidance of the reboost. Purpose of the reboost is to set up proper phasing for Soyuz TMA-03M/29S launch & rendezvous.

 

[Orbinaut Pete]

From ISS On-Orbit Status Report for 10/12/2011.

ISS Reboost Update:
A one-burn reboost of the ISS was performed yesterday as planned at 7:50 PM GMT using the two KD engines of the SM’s ODU (Integrated Propulsion System) for a burn duration of 1m 22s, achieving a Delta-V of 1.33 m/s (planned: 1.3 m/s), increasing mean altitude by 2.36 km (planned: 2.3 km). After the burn, ISS was at 393.1 km mean altitude, with 413.4 km apogee height and 372.8 perigee height. The purpose of the reboost, the 2nd of 2, was to set up proper phasing for the Soyuz TMA-03M/29S launch & rendezvous. This was also the 2nd time the US SIGI (Space Integrated GPS/Inertial Navigation System) accelerometers were used for closed loop guidance of the reboost, and all worked well. The reboost was within 3% of the target burn, i.e., an excellent performance. After the reboost, SM thrusters were again connected to the FGB propellant tanks to handle attitude control and desaturation firings.

 

[Orbinaut Pete]

From ISS On-Orbit Status Report for 11/12/2011.

CUCU Testing:
Ground-commanded loopback testing of CUCU (COTS UHF Communications Unit), to be used for the first SpaceX Dragon Demo in February next year, took place via S-band on 12/09 & 12/10 between 11:00 PM GMT and 3:00 AM GMT, performing transmit/receive tests between CUCU 1a and CUCU 1b. The goals of these tests were (a) to prove communications functionality over combinations of CUCU strings and ISS antennas as proved through demonstrating very low (<1e-05) BER (Bit Error Rate) in at least one transmit power setting, (b) to gather data that could potentially distinguish whether behaviours observed in the prior day's tests are indicative of CUCU-internal issues or issues with cabling or connectors downstream of CUCU transmitters, and (c) to characterize CUCU performance as a function of transmit power.

 

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ESA: ESA signs contract for Space Station support:

13 December 2011

ESA signed a two-year contract with Astrium on 13 December to provide Industrial Operations Team support to the Agency’s human spaceflight activities.

ESA's Director of Human Spaceflight and Operations, Thomas Reiter, and Chairman of the Board of DLR German Aerospace Center, Jan Woerner, joined Dr Michael Menking, Astrium’S Senior Vice President for Orbital Systems & Space Exploration, in Bremen, Germany, for the signing ceremony earlier today.

“In Astrium, ESA has found a reliable partner to serve as prime industrial contractor and consortium leader,” said Thomas Reiter.

“The company is uniquely placed to manage the operation and utilisation of the International Space Station through its experience in human spaceflight.

“By signing this initial contract today, Astrium has accepted the task of delivering services for the operation of the ISS during the period 2011/2012 for a fixed cost of €240 million.

Under the contract, Astrium will oversee an industrial consortium responsible for providing all services related to the European components of the International Space Station.

Astrium's responsibilities include mission control, astronaut training, maintenance and logistics, extensions for new space experiments, ground station operations, communication systems and data transfer.

ESA and Astrium have also agreed to implement a series of measures over the next few years aiming to reduce the costs of the programme by some 30% between now and 2016.

Aviation Week: Astrium Wins $310M Award to Manage ISS

 

[Orbinaut Pete]

From ISS On-Orbit Status Report for 13/12/2011.

Conjunction Advisory:
NASA/MCC-H is tracking a conjunction with Object 31894 (another Fengyun 1C satellite debris) with TCA (Time of Closest Approach) on Friday (12/16) at 12:17 AM GMT. The conjunction is currently classified as Medium Concern, primarily because of the smaller radial miss and larger uncertainties on the object. The latest update has moved the object outside the conjunction notification box, but due to the large uncertainties, NASA continues to gather tracking data on the object before standing down completely from Debris Avoidance operations.

 

[Orbinaut Pete]

From ISS On-Orbit Status Report for 14/12/2011.

Conjunction Advisory:
NASA/MCC-H is tracking a conjunction with Object 31894 (another Fengyun 1C satellite debris) with a TCA (Time of Closest Approach) on Friday (12/16) at 12:17 AM GMT. The conjunction is currently classified as Medium Concern, primarily because of the smaller radial miss and larger uncertainties on the object. The latest update has moved the object outside the conjunction notification box, but due to the large uncertainties, NASA continues to gather tracking data on the object. If required, a DAM (Debris Avoidance Maneuver) would have to be performed tomorrow at ~9:59 PM GMT, with Go/NoGo decision to be made tomorrow morning (~12:47 AM GMT).

 

[Orbinaut Pete]

From ISS On-Orbit Status Report for 15/12/2011.

CDR Dan Burbank spent several hours in the US Lab with the Robonaut equipment, first going through a procedures review, then assembling the robot payload. The planned operation and checkouts of Robonaut joints and force sensors in the arms & fingers were cancelled due to a fault message, with no time left for troubleshooting. Robonaut was disassembled, uncabled and restowed in its M-03 Bag. Further activities with Robonaut will not be scheduled until January. [PPFS (Portable Pulmonary Function System) hardware, which had been moved out of the way, was restored to nominal position.]

GHF Checkout:
JAXA reported yesterday that the extensive checkout of the GHF (Gradient Heating Furnace) payload on the Kobairo Rack in the Kibo JPM (JEM Pressurized Module), which began on 12/01, was successfully concluded. Checkouts for an experiment will start on 12/17 (Saturday).

Conjunction Update:
Latest tracking data show that the conjunction with Object 31894 (another Fengyun 1C satellite debris) with TCA (Time of Closest Approach) Saturday at ~12:17 AM GMT will have a large miss distance (~105 km) and an unofficial PC (Probability of Collision) of Zero. NASA Flight Controllers continue to monitor the object.

SpaceX Dragon Update:
CUCU (COTS UHF Communication Unit) test sessions for the Dryden Radio Frequency (RF) checkout with the upgraded CUCU on ISS were conducted last night and the night before. A backup capability, with better line-of-sight visibility, exists today. This is in support of the SpaceX Demo Launch planned currently for 02/07 next year. The SpaceX Dragon capsule will deliver pressurized and unpressurized cargo to ISS after launch from Cape Canaveral and then reenter for splashdown off the coast of California. If launched on 02/07, Fly-under will follow on 02/09, Berthing via SSRMS (Space Station Remote Manipulator System) on 02/10 and Unberth at 02/23 (work is underway to deconflict Dragon activities from the Russian EVA scheduled for 02/14). Eight demonstration objectives are defined for this mission and documented in Flight Rules. For Rendezvous & Berthing there will be a hold point at both 30m and 10m, with Go/No-go decision. The ISS crew starts monitoring at 1000m and takes action starting at 200m. Dragon has multiple abort capabilities, each made up of 2 types of burns - large delta-V aligned with X-axis and small delta-V in any body direction.

 

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SPACE.com: Astronauts 'Deck the Halls' of Space Station

 

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NASA: NASA 'Smart SPHERES' Tested Successfully on International Space Station

 

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