ISS Daily Summary Report – 9/17/2021

Payloads

Behavioral Core Measures (BCM): The crew set up the appropriate robotics hardware and performed the BCM testing. These sessions are nominally planned to be completed once per month, starting two weeks after a crewmember’s arrival on ISS. The Standardized Behavioral Measures for Detecting Behavioral Health Risks during Exploration Missions (Behavioral Core Measures, or simply BCM) experiment initially examined a suite of measurements to reliably assess the risk of adverse cognitive or behavioral conditions and psychiatric disorders during long-duration spaceflight, and evaluated the feasibility of those tests within the operational and time constraints of spaceflight for two crewmembers.

ESA Education Payload Operations (EPO) Blob: The crew concluded the Blob experiment run, which began earlier this week, and transferred the data. The goal of the Blob investigation is to observe the influence of microgravity on the Blob’s (a unicellular organism whose scientific name is Physarum polycephalum) behavior when it explores its environment or when it eats. A ground experiment takes place in schools and the results are compared against the results of the ISS conclusions. The final goal is to motivate students from France and other ESA Member States to study the Biological sciences.

Four Bed CO2 Scrubber (4BCO2): The crew continued with the installation of the 4BCO2 hardware by connecting power and data lines. 4BCO2 demonstrates a technology for removing carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere on a spacecraft. The technology is based on the current system in use on the ISS with mechanical upgrades in absorption beds, heater elements, and valves and use of an improved zeolite absorbent to reduce erosion and dust formation. A goal for next-generation systems is continuous operation for 20,000 hours without a failure, and this technology is a step toward that goal.

The ISS Experience: The crew relocated the EVA Z-Camera system and began the data transfer. The ISS Experience Z-Camera was most recently used to capture five events related to the United States On-orbit Segment (USOS) Extravehicluar Activity (EVA) on September 12th. The ISS Experience is a cinematic Virtual Reality (VR) series documenting life and research aboard the space station. Filmed over multiple months, the immersive VR series documents different crew activities from science conducted aboard the station to preparation for a spacewalk.

JEM Microbe: The crew gathered samples from five locations (plus a control sample) in support of the JEM Microbe investigation. Space habitation is a simple ecosystem that mainly consists of humans and microbes, and soon, plants. Microbes play important roles for the material cycles and human health, but sometimes cause hazardous infectious diseases. The Evaluation of Indoor Microbial Environment in JEM (JEM Microbe) investigation’s continuous microbiological monitoring provides greater insight on changes in microbial community structure during prolonged space habitation to reduce potential hazards for the crew and the infrastructure.

SoundSee Troubleshooting Operations and Stow: The crew installed the SoundSee hardware onto the Astrobee free-flier to enable troubleshooting.  Investigation of Deep Audio Analytics on the ISS (SoundSee Mission) tests monitoring of the acoustic environment using an audio sensor on Astrobee, a mobile robotic platform aboard the space station. Microphones collect acoustic information, and the Astrobee determines the sensor’s position. The system can detect anomalies in the sound of components inside a machine, providing autonomous monitoring of the health of infrastructure such as life support and exercise equipment.

Systems

Extravehicular Mobility Units (EMU) 3009/3015 Loop Scrub and Iodination: The crew performed EMU water loop scrubs and then acquired and tested water samples for conductivity on units 3009 and 3015. The crew then reconfigured the loop scrub hardware for iodination of EMU Ion Filter. EMU Loop Scrubs and Iodination are required preventive maintenance needed to remove any chemical and biological contaminants from the EMU transport loop and Ion Filters.

Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM) Ingress: Today, the crew ingressed the BEAM module and removed and backfilled items planned for disposal and return on Cargo Dragon SpaceX-23 (SpX-23). Additionally, the crew completed troubleshooting of the BEAM Wireless Temparature System WTS in attempt to recover failed temperature sensors; however, the troubleshooting was unsuccessful. In order to ingress into BEAM, ARED was folded up, and the BEAM Hatch was uninstalled to allow crew access. After the ingress, restow, and activities inside BEAM were completed, the BEAM Hatch was reinstalled and ARED was unfolded back into its nominal position.

Waste and Hygiene Compartment (WHC) Urine Receptacle (UR) and Insert Filter (IF) Remove and Replace (R&R): The crew completed routine maintenance to R&R the UR/IF. Following the R&R, the crew cleaned the WHC power supply, reactivated WHC, and performed a leak check to close out the activity.

Completed Task List Activities:

  • Record ESA PAO message

Today’s Ground Activities:
All activities are complete unless otherwise noted.

  • Structural Dynamics Measurement System (SDMS) Activation
  • Primary Power System (PPS) Plasma Contactor Unit (PCU) Activation
  • Mobile Servicing System (MSS) powerup
  • Mobile Transporter (MT) Translation

Look Ahead Plan

Saturday, September 18 (GMT 261)
Payloads:

  • ISS Experience SSD changeout
  • Rodent Research Experiment 1B
  • Veggie Monitoring

Systems:

  • Crew off-duty

Sunday, September 19 (GMT 262)
Payloads:

  • Astrobee prep
  • Rodent Research-Demo 1 crew review

Systems:

  • Crew off-duty

Monday, September 20 (GMT 263)
Payloads:

  • Astrobee hardware checkout
  • Biomole
  • CIR manifold bottle replace
  • DREAMS
  • EarthKAM setup in Node 2
  • Microbial Tracking 3
  • Plant Habitat-04 debris removal
  • Renewable foam
  • RR-D1

Systems:

  • IFM Thermal Amine Scrubber (TAS) Desiccant Wheel R&R
  • Environmental Health System (EHS) Coliform water processing
  • Dragon cargo ops
  • IFM Leak Kit Audit

Today’s Planned Activities:
All activities are complete unless otherwise noted.

  • HRF Generic MELFI Sample Retrieval And Insertion Operations
  • Behavioral Core Measures ROBoT-r Testing
  • Columbus Portable power Supply MkII Relocation
  • EPO Blob Hardware Deinstallation
  • ISS Experience EVA Z-cam Relocate to Node 2
  • Metal Oxide (METOX) Regeneration Termination
  • Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) Cooling Loop Maintenance Scrub Initiation
  • Astrobee Perching Arm Removal
  • In Flight Maintenance (IFM) Waste and Hygeine Compartment (WHC) Urine Receptacle (UR) and Insert Filter (IF) Remove and Replace
  • Dust Filer Transfer
  • JEM Microbe Sample MELFI Insertion
  • ARED Platform Partial Fold
  • Public Affairs Office (PAO) Event in High Definition (HD) – JEM
  • Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) Cooling Loop Maintenance Iodination
  • SoundSee Troubleshooting
  • Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM) Ingress
  • BEAM sensor power swap
  • BEAM Hardware Stow
  • Environmental Health System (EHS) – Microbial Air Sampler (MAS) Kit Sample Collection
  • Ultrasound 2 HRF Rack 2 Power On
  • BEAM MAS/SSK Sample Stow
  • Four Bed CO2 Scrubber Integration Hardware Installation
  • SOUNDSEE Stow
  • EVA Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) Cooling Loop Scrub Deconfiguration
  • BEAM sensor power reconfiguration
  • Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM) Node 3 Aft Stow
  • ARED Platform Unfold Back to Nominal Position
  • Health Maintenance System (HMS) Ultrasound 2 Scan
  • Health Maintenance System (HMS) – OCT2 Exam