Contact
Steve Roy
Media Relations Department
(256) 544-0034
steve.roy@msfc.nasa.gov

Status Report: 01-347

INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION 
Expedition Three Science Operations

Weekly Science Status Report
Thursday, Nov. 8, 2001

Ground stations in Houston, Seattle, Cleveland and Birmingham commanded payloads and downlinked experiment data from the Space Station during the past week while the crew continued health and status monitoring of payloads and preparations for a spacewalk.

Seven hours of crew time are scheduled for payload activities this week, as the crew shifts their attention to the November 12 EVA.  As usual, the crew  is likely to complete more science activities from a list of optional items sent to the Space Station every week.  Ground commanding is concentrated into specific blocks of time this week with the Station in an orientation that prevents KU band communications coverage for parts of the operational day.

The Active Rack Isolation System ISS Characterization Experiment (ARIS-ICE) is continuing daily this week.  Stiffness tests using new power umbilicals and a variety of isolation tests were conducted to build composite ARIS isolation performance spectra for crew waking and sleep periods.  Scientists have concluded experimental power cables for EXPRESS Rack 2 — where ARIS is located — will transmit fewer vibrations to the rack than the baseline cables.  ARIS is an experimental vibration dampener, which consists of several “powered shock absorbers” used to negate accelerations caused by crew activities, moving equipment, docking spacecraft, etc.

The Experiment on Physics of Colloids in Space completed runs of 24 hours last Friday and 12 hours on Monday and Wednesday (November 5, 7), with another 24-hour run scheduled for today (November 8).  Scientists direct samples to be mixed, allowed to crystallize, and re-mixed while cameras and light-scattering lasers capture the growth process to learn how colloidal systems function.  The results have implications for many products and manufacturing processes on Earth.

 All three crewmembers conducted the weekly Crew Interactions experiment today, having completed last week’s questionnaires on Thursday and Friday.  This 20-minute computer-based survey attempts to identify and characterize important interpersonal and cultural factors that may affect the performance of the crew and ground support personnel during Station missions through factors like tension, cohesion and leadership roles.

Geographic locations for the Crew Earth Observations photography program this week included auroras expected to result from the high solar activity, the Nile river and associated agriculture, seasonal burning in southern Africa, forest health in the eastern United States, human development on the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers in Turkey, and snowfall in the Canadian Rocky Mountains.

The crew completed a documentary filming session with the DREAMTIME high definition television camera on Tuesday (November 6).  The activity was completed from the task list, adding more quality footage to document life aboard the orbiting facility.  The film products will be returned aboard Space Shuttle Endeavour in December.

Several other automated experiments continued to collect and transmit data during the past week.  The Dynamically Controlled Protein Crystal Growth experiment is progressing normally, and samples are entering the crystallization phase.  The camera system that allows experimenters on the ground to see their samples and control the crystallization process continues to capture images every 12 hours of Tray 2 samples and providing insights into Tray 1 crystallization.

The Microgravity Acceleration Measurement System continues to operate, collecting vibration data about the Station.  These data include measurements and impulses primarily from aerodynamic drag and gravity-gradient effects but will also capture any low-level propulsive events like gas or fluid venting overboard.  Other continuing automated experiments include Advanced Protein Crystallization Facility, and the Materials International Space Station Experiment.

Preparations continue for the transition from Expedition Three to Expedition Four later this month.  The crew will be moving the Bio Technology Refrigerator from EXPRESS Rack 1 to EXPRESS Rack 4, and Space Acceleration Measurement System hardware from Rack 2 to Rack 4.  Other upcoming preparations include programming ground and flight computers to operate new Expedition Four experiments.

Editor’s Note: The Payload Operations Center at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., manages all science research experiment operations aboard the International Space Station.  The center is also home for coordination of the mission-planning work of a variety of international sources, all science payload deliveries and retrieval, and payload training and payload safety programs for the Station crew and all ground personnel.