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ISS Science Summary: Week of June 23, 2008Expedition 17 Flight Engineer Greg Chamitoff conducted several science activities this week, including the set-up for a new physics experiment, SHERE (Shear History Extensional Rheology Experiment), in the Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG). Highlights of the week?s other science activities performed or monitored by the Expedition 17 crew are listed below.
TFS (Teaching From Space): Expedition 17 Flight Engineer Greg Chamitoff participated in an educational downlink with the TFS program which involved students from Kindergarten through 12th from the Burleson Independent School District, Burleson, TX. This event is part of the "All Systems Go" summer camp that focuses on science and technology. During this event, Chamitoff answered tough questions about life in space from students over a video and audio link from the ISS.
ISS-Acoustics (International Space Station Acoustic Measurement Program): Chamitoff conducted sound measurements throughout the modules of the ISS. The operational data will be used to ensure safe and habitable noise levels for crewmembers living and working aboard the ISS. Though not a payload, acoustics monitoring data is treated scientifically in its application to operation and design of both ISS and future space exploration vehicles.
Journals (Behavioral Issues Associated with Isolation and Confinement: Review and Analysis of ISS Crew Journals): Chamitoff continued to provide entries in his journal. These entries will be quantitatively analyzed as part of the Journals experiment, an analysis of the aspects of living and working in an isolated and confined environment for extended periods.
Sleep-Long (Sleep-Wake Actigraphy and Light Exposure during Spaceflight-Long): Chamitoff activated a replacement Actiwatch. The data collected by the Actiwatch is used to determine the affects of space flight and ambient light exposure on the sleep-wake cycles of the crewmembers during long-duration stays on the Space Station.
CEO (Crew Earth Observations): The Expedition 17 crew continues to collect images for the Earth observation program. Images captured over the past week included: Tigris-Euphrates Delta; Mt. Etna; and smoke from forest fires burning in the Pacific northwest. The CEO image of the week published on MASA Earth Observatory is Santorini caldera.[http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3img_id=18074 ]
TEPC (Tissue Equivalent Proportional Counter): Chamitoff relocated the TEPC sensors from the US Destiny Lab to the Service Module. TEPC is an automatic microdosimetry system that measures radiation levels using spectrometry. The data from TEPC is used to characterize the radiation environment onboard the ISS.
Voluntary Science:
SHERE (Shear History Extensional Rheology Experiment): As part of Voluntary Science this past week, Chamitoff set up the hardware in the Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG) for future experiment sessions. The objective for SHERE is to evaluate the effect of rotation (preshearing) on the stress and strain response of a polymer fluid (a complex fluid containing long chains of polymer molecules) being stretched in microgravity. Understanding the behavior of shearing on these complex fluids is important for development of containerless processing.
LOCAD-PTS (Lab-on-a-Chip Application Development-Portable Test System): To follow up on the previous week's Voluntary Science session, photos were taken of the samples. Preliminary results from the session include one swab that contained minimal amounts of glucan (polysaccharide found in cell walls of fungi). The amount of glucan is not harmful to the crew and is most likely the residue from cleaning.
Automated U.S. experiments (ongoing without crew efforts):
ANITA (Analyzing Interferometer for Ambient Air): While ANITA continues to sample the ISS environment, the files continue to experience issues downlinking to the ground teams. ANITA monitors low levels of potential contaminants in the ISS cabin atmosphere with a capability of simultaneously monitoring 32 different trace gases. The experiment tests the accuracy and reliability of this technology as a potential next-generation atmosphere trace-gas monitoring system for ISS and future spacecraft. This is a cooperative investigation with the European Space Agency.
MISSE-6A-and-6B (Materials on the International Space Station Experiment 6A and 6B): Located outside of the Columbus module, is receiving power and the experiments are ongoing. This multi-investigator experiment will evaluate the affect of the space environment on variety of exposed materials.
MAMS (Microgravity Acceleration Measurement System) MAMS continues to monitor vibrations experienced by the ISS. MAMS is activated periodically, usually during spacecraft dockings and thruster firings, to observe the vibration and acceleration on ISS.
Stability (Stability of Pharmacotherapeutic and Nutritional Compounds): This experiment is quantifying the breakdown of key drugs and vitamins that has been observed anecdotally on previous ISS missions. One (of four originally launched) identical packages of pharmaceuticals and foods remain inside the ISS, experiencing the internal environment. The last of four packages will be returned after additional on-orbit exposure.
Sonokard (Sonocard): Expedition 17 Commander Sergei Volkov and Flight Engineer Oleg Kononenko participated in their fifth session of Sonokard. The objective of this investigation is to test a new crew health monitoring system that utilizes a special sports shirt that contains a device in the pocket providing a method for acquiring physiological data without using direct contact on the skin.
ARISS (Amateur Radio on the International Space Station): Chamitoff conducted an amateur radio/ham radio session with students of Robinson Elementary School, Robinson, TX. Some questions the students asked included: "What countries are represented by the Space Station right now" and "Can you email or surf the web on the Space Station"
MTR-2 (Matroshka-2): Volkov and Kononenko took photos of the dosimeters and updated the software used to take measurements for the MTR-2 investigation. MTR-2 measures the radiation dose distribution of crewmembers inside ISS.
Earth Observations: Volkov and Kononenko completed photographic observations of Earth to be downlinked to the ground as part of the Russian Urugan (hurricane) Earth-imaging investigation, Diatomeya ocean observations program and Ekon environmental observation program. Some of the targets included: Galapagos Islands; Indian Ocean coastline; Newfoundland Island, North Atlantic; and the Venezuelan coastal areas
Automated International Partner experiments (ongoing without crew efforts):
EuTEF (European Technology Exposure Facility): Currently seven of the nine experiments are active that are housed on the EuTEF facility. One experiment (EUTEMP) is complete; troubleshooting the EVC (Earth-viewing camera) is ongoing. EuTEF is an external facility that houses a suite of experiments from a variety of scientific disciplines, including material science, physics and astronomy.
Solar (Sun Monitoring on the External Payload Facility of Columbus): Ground teams are trouble-shooting problems with commanding capability. Currently the SOLSPEC (SOLar SPECtral Irradiance Measurements), SOVIM (SOlar Variable and Irradiance Monitor) and SOLACES (SOLar Auto-Calibrating EUV/UV Spectrophotometers) instruments are in idle mode.
On the schedule for Chamitoff next week are Nutrition and Repository collections plus he continue to wear his Actiwatch for Sleep-Long and provide entries for Journals.
A session of 3D-Space (Mental Representation of Spatial Cues During Space Flight) is scheduled early in the week. This is a collaborative European Space Agency (ESA) and Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNES) experiment.
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