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Sunday -- off-duty day for CDR Whitson, FE-1 Malenchenko and FE-2 Tani except for housekeeping and voluntary work. Ahead: Week 15 of Increment 16. FE-2 Tani started out with the daily reading of SLEEP (Sleep-Wake Actigraphy & Light Exposure during Spaceflight) experiment data accumulated during the night on his Actiwatch, for logging and filling in questionnaire entries in the SLEEP session file on the HRF-1 laptop for downlink. The crew performed the regular weekly three-hour task of thorough station cleaning. ("Uborka", usually done on Saturdays, includes removal of food waste products, cleaning of compartments with vacuum cleaner, damp cleaning of the Service Module (SM) dining table, other frequently touched surfaces and surfaces where trash is collected, as well as the CDR's sleep station with a standard cleaning solution; also, fan screens and grilles are cleaned to avoid temperature rises. Special cleaning is also done every 90 days on the HEPA (high-efficiency particulate air) bacteria filters in the Lab.)
Whitson and Tani supported the second part of the Stbd SARJ (Solar Alpha Rotary Joint) inspection via ground control, by maneuvering the SSRMS (Space Station Remote Manipulator System) to the position for surveying the Datum A surface. (During each inspection, the SARJ was rotated using 12 degree directed positioning moves every 5 minutes (requires 8 orbits for a full 360 degree inspection). Meanwhile, ground analysis of the root cause of the roller surface failure continues. Power analyses for upcoming missions are scheduled to be completed over the next month. SARJ cleaning and lubrication techniques are being evaluated. A grease gun will be added to 1E manifest. ULF-2 manifest will likely have 12 TBAs (Trundle Bearing Assemblies) and 1 DLA (Drive Lock Assembly). Increment 18 and ULF-2 crew will receive training on outboard mode R&R and SARJ cleaning operations.) For the duration of the SSRMS inspection, Peggy kept the protective Lab science window shutters closed (~1:30pm-3:08am tomorrow morning). With the Elektron-VM O2 (oxygen) generator currently off, a 5-min cabin air refresh was to be performed by the FE-1 from Progress 27P storage (SrPK) as required. Tani performed his daily status check on the BCAT-3 (Binary Colloidal Alloy Test-3) science payload, running by itself in Node-2 since 12/13/07 (briefly interrupted for EVA-13 photo support). (The status check, conducted on the last image taken by the DCS 760 digital still camera which is controlled by EarthKAM software on an A31p laptop, is to verify proper image focus and camera alignment. The SSC (Station Support Computer) is taking photography of the phase separation occurring in the BCAT Sample 3, with the photo flash going off every half hour.) The FE-1 completed today's routine maintenance of the SOZh system (Environment Control & Life Support System, ECLSS) in the SM, including ASU toilet facilities systems/replaceables. In the U.S. Airlock, the CDR terminated EMU (Extravehicular Mobility Unit) battery charging in preparation for next week's EVA-14 (1/30). Later, at ~12:05pm EST, Whitson and Tani conducted a 45-min tagup with ground specialists to discuss their EVA-14 next week (1/30). Peggy took air samples for the periodic (currently daily) atmospheric status check for ppO2 (Partial Pressure Oxygen) and ppCO2 (pp Carbon Dioxide), using the hand-held CSA-CP (Compound Specific Analyzer-Combustion Products), CSA-O2 (CSA -Oxygen sensor) and CDMK (CO2 Monitoring Kit). Batteries were to be replaced if necessary. (Purpose of the 15-min activity is to trend with MCA (Major Constituents Analyzer), i.e., to correlate the hand-held readings with MCA measurements.) After assisting CDRA (Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly) activation yesterday in support of today's session with the SPHERES (Synchronized Position Hold, Engage, Reorient, Experimental Satellites) payload, which he had selected for his VolSci (Voluntary Weekend Science) program, Dan Tani had ~2.5 hrs for conducting another session with the payload. (Today's session concentrated on the ability of a single crewperson to deploy two satellites. Due to the different air flows introduced with the addition of Node-2, the former operational environment has changed, making multi-satellite deployments more challenging. The SPHERES experiment is a test bed for the development and testing of formation flying and other multi-spacecraft control algorithms. SPHERES, done first by Exp-13 FE-1 Jeff Williams, serves to mature autonomous satellite formation flight, rendezvous and docking algorithms in a long duration, microgravity environment. Dan set up the Work Area, dimmed GLAs (General Luminaire Assemblies), programmed & deployed two gas-propelled satellites (orange, red, blue), with five beacons, and used two PD-100 camcorders for video capture, changing the VTR tape as required. Per applicable Flight Rule, SPHERES operations have no CO2 (Carbon Dioxide) output constraints if the CDRA (CO2 Removal Assembly) is operating in dual-bed or single-bed mode. Should CDRA not work properly, ECLSS (Environmental Control & Life Support System) engineers will assess the ppCO2 flight rule requirement. The experiment run was time-critical since Ku-band is required for real-time video downlink.) Yuri Malenchenko had ~30 min to provide 'turn-on/turn-off' support to TsUP-Moscow for the ongoing testing (Test 1) of the ATV PCE (Automated Transfer Vehicle/Proximity Communications Equipment; Russian: MBRL). With the Elektron-VM O2 (oxygen) generator currently off, a 5-min cabin air refresh was to be performed by the FE-1 from Progress 27P storage (SrPK) as required. The crewmembers performed their regular 2.5-hr physical workout program (about half of which is used for setup & post-exercise personal hygiene) on the CEVIS cycle ergometer (CDR, FE-2), TVIS treadmill (FE-1), RED (CDR, FE-2) and VELO bike with bungee cord load trainer (FE-1). The crewmembers had their weekly PFCs (Private Family Conferences) via S-band/audio and Ku-band/MS-NetMeeting application (which displays the uplinked ground video on the SSC-9 laptop), Yuri at ~6:00am, Peggy at ~12:50pm, and Dan at ~2:19pm. Malenchenko had three new items on his discretionary 'time permitting' task list for today - the daily monitoring, picture-taking and downloading on the newly set up BIO-5 Rasteniya-2 ("Plants-2") experiment. (Rasteniya-2, researches growth and development of plants (peas) under spaceflight conditions in the Lada-12 greenhouse from IBMP (Institute of Bio-Medical Problems, Russian: IMBP). During its operation, the experiment requires regular daily maintenance of the experiment involving monitoring of seedling growth, humidity measurements, moistening of the substrate if necessary, and photo/video recording. During the duration of the BI O-5 experiment, students of the Moscow City Palace for Youth Creativity of the Meshchansky inter-regional center #15 in Moscow) and the Prince of Oldenburg Lyceum in St. Petersburg will be cultivating plants in parallel on the ground and conducting comparative observation of plant growth and development under gravity and zero-gravity conditions. They are receiving the photo images taken by Yuri.);
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