Science Experiments in the ISS

[Norm Hartnett]

Like "how much $$$ we will manage to spend on water distillation apparatus and still manage to get it not work correctly"? Is water distillation such a breakthrough in science today?

About $185 million so far not counting two shuttle flights to test segments of the ECLSS, STS-89 and STS-107 nor the cost of STS-126 to bring the system up and the repair parts on STS-119.

Actually, yes, water distillation in micro gravity is breakthrough science. Think about it, distillation depends, in part, on convection and convection performance is gravity dependent. That's only one of several processes that are affected by gravity, there are, I believe several experiments examining fluid dynamics on going on ISS and fluid dynamics is critical to not only distillation but also filtration.

Here is a little thought experiment for you. Imagine building a still at home, now spin the still so that it works (hopefully) in micro gravity, now set it up so that it processes half a gallon a day, every day with little hands on help. Get the picture? Now tie your still into a urinal (which is sealed so you don't have globs of urine floating around) and some way of pumping the urine to your spinning still, add in a way of transferring wastewater from spacesuits, and then add in a dehumidifier that adds in yet more wastewater from the atmosphere. You will want to filter all these sources which means cleaning/changing filters regularly. OK, got all that working? Now you will want to take some of the cleaned water and, using electrolysis, produce oxygen.

This is only part of what the ECLSS does. It is hard core engineering and science and a functional system like this is vital to any exploration of space, either in LEO, on the way to other planets or, on other planets. This is the US's first attempt to build and deploy such a system.

Why is it important to have such a system working? If the current ECLSS system is successful it will reduce the consumables needed by the station by 15,000 pounds per year (for six crew). At about $2,500 per pound to LEO this works out to an annual savings of $37.5 million per year so the system would pay for itself in about five years. Of course, with our current capabilities, we would not be able to keep the station supplied with all this for the next five years in any case so the capability is really priceless.

Consider what the costs of getting that pound of consumables to the moon would be, let alone to Mars. This type of breakthrough science is what will make space exploration possible. It is what the ISS was built to do.

Sources;
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2006/30oct_eclss.htm
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/marshall/pdf/104840main_eclss.pdf
http://www.futron.com/pdf/resource_center/white_papers/FutronLaunchCostWP.pdf

[Riley1066]

Are the External Logistics Carriers still going to host two active science experiments, alongside the ORUs?

[eeergo]

Ok, some new science updates after all the Shuttle rush (and my own rush, which hasn't allowed me to follow the program as much as I'd have liked)

First a post with this week's developments. Much of the work is being performed by Koichi, who appears to be undertaking a major science effort (JAXA seems very focused in its science program) with lots of runs of different experiments. Even the Soyuz hatch opening had to be postponed so that he could finish a Dome-Gene run!

One of the experiments he's very active with is 3D-Space:

3-D SPACE:    First session for Koichi was successfully performed on 3/23.  “Thank you for alerting us before you began, that you had to attend to robotic operations during the experiment protocol.  We have confirmed with the scientist(s) that this has no consequences to the experiment objectives.  Also, ground teams greatly appreciated Koichi’s feedback at the end of the session about the digital table pen.”

He's also acting as the test subject for BioPhosphonates:

BISPHOSPHONATES:   “Koichi, thanks for completing your first in-flight pill ingestion.  Your only Bisphosphonates exclusive activities are the weekly pill ingestion.  The urine collection session will be completed as a data share with the Nutrition experiment.  Congratulations on being our first subject!”

This week's update in Dome-Gene:

DomeGene  (JAXA):   “DomeGene is going nominal, and we are looking forward  to the final process this Saturday.”

There appear to be some anomalies in BioLab (again?!?):

BIOLAB  (BLB):    Two anomalies are being investigated: 1) leak of the Life Support System (LSS) loop; 2) bad alignment of bellow door for Rotor B.

The Protein Crystallization experiment is proceeding quite smoothly:

EDR  (European Drawer Rack):    The rack is continuously active in support of the PCDF (Protein Crystallization Diagnostic Facility) experiment. EDR is providing power/data and temperature control (via cooling loop) to PCDF. Some initial glitches have been encountered with the EDR Video Management Unit (VMU), via which high-rate science data is routed and recorded (contingency imagery data storage). Science data is nevertheless transmitted to ground.

Some work on FSL, focusing on microaccelerations:

FSL  (Fluid Science Laboratory):    Microgravity measurements were successfully performed on 3/17 during the 15A docking and on 3/25 during the 15A undocking. Additional measurements are also planned on 3/28 for the Soyuz 18S docking.

As I'd noted before, GEOFLOW has been returned on Discovery after its anomaly earlier in the year. The physiology experiments (cardiovascular, SLEEP, Immune...) are drawing to a close with the end of Expedition 18.

SOLAR is continuing its observations when windows allow:

SOLAR  (Solar Monitoring Observatory):   The on-going Sun observation window started on 3/23, slightly later than predicted (i.e. on 3/22), due to high Yaw, Pitch, Roll angles for ISS. On 3/25, SOLAR platform was put in safing mode for the 15A undocking, and put back into Pointing Mode afterwards. No anomalies so far. The Sun observation window is expected to end on 4/2.

And two interesting updates on the status of LOCAD-PTS and all of Eu-TEF's payloads:LOCAD-PTS (Lab-on-a-Chip Application Development-Portable Test System):    “Mike, thanks for continuing support of LOCAD.  During STS-119, Sandy did a super job swabbing the EVA gloves. It was great to watch her swab the gloves as Swanny and Ricky came through the hatch, with Tony and Mike helping support.  This kind of procedure could help future crews perform valuable scientific tasks on the Moon and Mars.  The results were very interesting. Gloves were clean, ranging from 1 to 3 ng/ml glucan (a fungal molecule), well below the CEVIS (>100ng/ml) and WHC (66ng/ml). Patterns observed were remarkably consistent - a good reflection on your technique.  Swanny's gloves dropped from 3.11 ng/ml pre-EVA to 1.54 ng/mL post-EVA (50% drop); Ricky's gloves dropped from 3.13 pre-EVA to 1.26 ng/mL post-EVA(60% drop).  Swanny and Ricky touched many S6 sites which tested high for glucan at KSC before launch, such as the gap spanners and ECU/SSU shrouds, but much of the glucan may have been destroyed after a few days in space.  That information is very useful to us as we design strategies for Moon/Mars missions.  The observed drop from pre-EVA to post-EVA may be due to the low level of glucan already on the glove 'shaking loose' during EVA.  Our goal now is to develop a special swab that can be used during EVA, capped, stored in a tool bag, and then analyzed back inside.  This has been a valuable first step toward that goal.  Thanks again and great job!”

EuTEF (European Technology Exposure Facility):    On 3/20, the ISS Attitude was reoriented to support the deployment of the newly installed S6 Solar Array. This has caused a change of the thermal environment of the EuTEF platform, with a consequent automatic deployment of thermal protection (see status of EXPOSE below). The platform has again experienced a MIL Bus error on 3/21. After each MIL Bus occurrence, the instruments have to be reconfigured.-- DEBIE-2: the instrument continues to start generating empty science packets at regular intervals (of 30 to 34hrs). Science acquisition is pursued with regular power cycling of the instrument (work-around);-- DOSTEL: On-going science acquisition - nominal;-- EuTEMP: Currently inactive as planned;-- EXPOSE: on 3/20, the tray lids automatically closed as the temperature of the instrument reached the upper limit. The purpose of this automatic behaviour is to protect the exobiology samples from harsh temperatures. On 3/21, EXPOSE operators have successfully re-opened these lids via ground commanding.-- EVC: EVC instrument is too cold to be operated;-- FIPEX: weekly script has been successfully uplinked on 3/25.- MEDET: On-going science acquisition – nominal. On 3/24, some commanding was successfully performed to modify the acquisition parameters of the instrument.- PLEGPAY: Inactive, “Experiment 1” memory has been erased on 10/30/08.  Plasma generation capability was disabled;-- TRIBOLAB: Instrument in stand-by mode (SBM).

Finally, some miscellaneous updates on the most recent work on Russian payloads:

    *  BTKh-14 BIOEMULSION (insertion of Bioreactor in CRYOGEM-03),
    * BTKh-10 CONJUGATION (RECOMB-K activity),
    * BTKh-26 KASKAD (deactivation & stowage), and
    * TEKh-15 DAKON IZGIB (Bend) hardware (closeout activity).
[/i][/i]

[eeergo]

And now, a summary of the new experiments to be performed during Expedition 19/20, according to the Press Kit recently released. I will only list the additions, as many of the experiments are continuing from Exp 18. Links to the experiment site are provided on each name.

United States

-VO2max: cryptic name for a pretty standard experiment, focusing on the aerobic capacity of crewmembers when in long-duration flights.

-MCDA-FLEX: The long awaited flame extinguishing experiment continuing the use of the Combustion Rack started by SPICE.

-SNFM: Will monitor the behaviour of the computer network established over the last few years on ISS.

-SpaceDRUMS: To study material sciences in space, without the materials touching the walls (space is certainly cool!) Check the images on the experiment site, quite futuristic-looking

-TAGES: More Arabipdosis studies, now focusing on its perception of drought, light, temperature...

-LADA-VPU-P³R: Really cryptic name for a plant experiment in collaboration with Russia's incubator, for food growth in space.

-HREP-HICO: Earth observation experiment focusing on coasts.

-HREP-RAIDS: Termosphere and ionosphere observations, gaining more knowledge about these largely unknown reaches.

The Shuttle also has some experiments of its own, though they remain largely the same as in previous expeditions. There has been some talk in the recent mission, towards the end, about a so-called SIMPLEX burn. Well, it appears to be an experiment with radar detection of the OMS burns, similar to SEITE.

Some more experiments are on reserve too, but all of them have been performed during Exp18.

Russia

Many repeats too, but some new additions, where old experiments give way to newer ones:

- Vzaimodeystviye: Behavioural study focusing on the crew's interaction.

- Poligen: To be performed during the present crew rotation, to study a fly's genetic variances beneficial for spaceflight conditions.

- Seiner: To monitor fisheries (one would think by now automatic satellites would be able to do this, however...  pretty Cold War kind of experiment)

- Biorisk: New run of the famous exposure experiment.

- BIF: Research about microorganisms in space and their medical applications.

- Astrovakstina: E. Colli study with an antigen.

- Bacteriophages: As the name suggests, some research about the impact of spaceflight conditions on bacteriophages.

- Fizika-Obrazovanie: Educational experiment about not-so-trivial physical phenomena in orbit, with even a simulation of the vestibular channels in the human ear

- Kontur: Interesting study concerning teleoperation (through the Internet, it seems) of robotic mechanisms. I wonder what "Robotic arm" they will be controlling, given ERA is still not there... perhaps the Japanese? Or perhaps the US has some deal with the Russians to experiment with Canadarm2? One would think the Lunokhod rovers would have given the Russians enough practice with time-delay robotic operations

Overall, a slight decrease in experiments (compare Exp 18 and 19/20) but a great increase in sessions (from 218 to 330!)


Many more European and Japanese experiments, I'll comment on them another day when I find the time

[robertross]

Thanks DaviD. So many neat experiments. I need to find time to review them all!

It is great to see such enthusiasm from the crewmembers when performing these experiments. I'm really glad the Japanese are on board with the ISS (as a member), and also great to see Koichi taking it so seriously (as they all seem to).

I'm still disappointed to see these continuing errors with EuTEF's MIL bus. There has to be some interconnect issue or wiring failure. Darn it.

I am so pumped to see MCDA-FLEX results. These should be fascinating (and slightly scarry).

As for Seiner, this is more about exploiting the ocean resources for a diminishing food supply than anything else. If China was on board, it would have been one of the first experiments, methinks. A global reality: scarce commodities for a growing population. We are close to another drought cycle, with water shortages increasingly common, foodstuffs being threatened, and a global meltdown which will soon lead to crazy inflation. I call it the perfect storm.

Interesting on the Kontur experiment. It doesn't specify which arm, though it does mention "monoblock of ROBOTIK manipulator". I'm thinking it's the European arm, as they would want to do teleoperation of science experiments for the exposed facility, and it has a fixed point, whereas the Canadarm2 has no fixed point. Guess we'll find out soon enough!

[Danny Dot]

You guys keep feeding this thread with all this info.  This site should do all it can to get ISS up and running as the lab that can do things that can't be done on the Earth.  Now that we have the power and soon to have the people, lets crank up the science from ISS!!!

Danny Deger

[anik]

I wonder what "Robotic arm" they will be controlling, given ERA is still not there...

Manipulator of Rokviss experiment.

[robertross]

I wonder what "Robotic arm" they will be controlling, given ERA is still not there...

Manipulator of Rokviss experiment.

Ah, good man! Thanks.

[robertross]

You guys keep feeding this thread with all this info.  This site should do all it can to get ISS up and running as the lab that can do things that can't be done on the Earth.  Now that we have the power and soon to have the people, lets crank up the science from ISS!!!

Danny Deger

That's a good idea.

Calling Chris: We need to start a second header under the ISS section for experiments/science. 

[missinglink]

I read somewhere that one of the upcoming ISS experiments will be in the field of quantum mechanics, does anyone have more info on that?

[Norm Hartnett]

I read somewhere that one of the upcoming ISS experiments will be in the field of quantum mechanics, does anyone have more info on that?

Possibly http://www.infn.it/csn2/schede_2003/ams2_mor.htm?

[eeergo]

Ok, finally I got some time to complete the list of experiments planned for the Exp19-20 increment. So here we go with Europe's:

Europe

Lots and lots of experiments, with many new ones (only listing those), for this increment, possibly thanks to DeWinne's incorporation:

- ArtEMISS (algae development in microgravity)
- WAICO (as we know, the second run for finding out when plants start to feel gravity)
- YING (cell adhesion in zero-G)
- Colored fungi (as the name suggests, colored fungi growth)
- GENARA (study of gravity-dependent gene expression)
- Sample (sampling microbial growth in the ISS)
- Experiments using KUBIK (Gravigen: more plant growth; Polca: distribution of calcium in plant's roots depending on gravity levels)

Some Human Physiology experiments are follow-ons or repeats, to get as many sampling individuals as possible, but some are new:

- MOP (space sickness study)
- Muscle (study of a certain muscle that is suspected to atrophy in space)
- NeuroSpat (two experiments concerning visual and space perception, similar to 3DSpace)
- PADIAC (immunological study)
- EKE (aerobic capacity of astronauts)
- Thermolab (changes in body temperature distribution)
- EDOS, Otolith, Spin, Zag and Skin Properties are investigations to be performed before and after the space mission.

- New runs on GEOFLOW and Foam Stability (the only Fluid Sciences experiments)
- SODI experiments in the glovebox, concerning petroleum modelling and diffusion coefficients in microgravity.

- CETSOL & MICAST, to be performed after the Material Sciences Rack is delivered in STS-128, studying metal smelting in space (welcome addition after the prolific programmes in Salyut and Mir)

- Many ongoing radiation and educational experiments (more details about those in the Press Kit)

- The external experiments continue to be the same with EuTEF, EXPOSE-R and SOLAR.

Japan

First, let me note the new website JAXA has created devoted entirely to ISS science (something in which ESA is still VERY weak, as you can note by the lack of links to the experiments I provided above, as I couldn't find most of them easily) I've been able to find links to awesome explanations provided by JAXA; with the basics of the experiments I list below:

- Two experiments about Marangoni convection.
- FACET (which has started just two days ago), concerning growth of faceted crystals in organic solutions.
- Space Seed, to study plant growth (appears to be just a test-run experiment)
- RadSilk, to study adaptation to the space environment by silk worm eggs.
- Microbe-I, similar to Sample, to study microbial growth inside Kibo.
- JAXA PCG (protein crystal growth)

- External facilities to be delivered during STS-127, including MAXI (X-ray detector), SMILES (atmospheric observatory), SEDA-AP (particle, radiation and magnetic studies of the space environment)

-Some technology development trials concerning physiological experimental apparatus (dosimeters and electrocardiographs) and some educational experiments like ICE Crystals, Moon Score and Dewey's Forest (quite original and imaginative!)

I think there are still some experiments unlisted in the Press Kit but appearing in NASA's site, so not sure if those are reserve...

[eeergo]

Some new science updates for this week:Weekly Science Update (Expedition Nineteen -- Week 3) 

AgCAM (the camera experiment taking photos for agricultural purposes) is now installed in the Lab's window, see attached photo for reference.

"AgCam (Agricultural Camera):   “AgCam team reports your installation was successful and the system appears to be operating normally, except for a problem with measuring some of their Health and Status data.  They expect to be able to do some additional testing of the system from the ground, hopefully next week.  If that doesn't resolve the problem, we may need your assistance to help recover. More next week.”

BCAT appears to be exceeding expectations, with very precise criticality situations being managed by Barratt.

BCAT-3/4 (Binary Colloidal Alloy Test 3/4):   “We are particularly grateful to you, Dr. Mike, for your continued extra effort to make sure the setup is providing excellent images in the most challenging samples of BCAT4.  We are looking at phase separation closer to the liquid-gas critical point than we think anyone else has seen---which is evidenced by the fact that, three weeks into the run, we're only about halfway to complete separation.  As a result, the contrast within the sample itself is lower than anywhere else we have observed, increasing the need for greater precision and care in the photography, both in focusing, alignment and lighting.  You have risen to the challenge in an incredible way, delivering textbook-perfect photographs that are allowing us to observe structures that previously would not have been possible to see.  We very much appreciate your attention to these small, but ultimately crucial-to-our-science details.”

Some VolSci news:

VolSci Preview:   Two optional activities for the Voluntary Science program on 5/2 (Saturday) were suggested to Dr. Mike for his choice.    [The choices are: (1) BCAT (Binary Colloidal Alloy Test): Find & photograph crystals (different colors) in samples 8, 9 and 10, then set up image on sample 4, verify focus and take multiple flash angle photos of sample 4.  Next, homogenize sample 4 and take test photos. Sample 4 will run with automated EarthKAM photography for about 8 days.  (2) BISE (Bodies In the Space Environment): Relative Contributions of Internal and External Cues to Self – Orientation, During and After Zero Gravity Exposure.]

They're currently troubleshooting a leaky water valve in the combustion facility. When they finish, FLEX can begin:CIR (Combustion Integrated Rack):  “CIR has developed a maintenance procedure for the leaking water QD (quick disconnect) which involves isolating the QD from the system and exercising the poppets.  This will be executed in conjunction with the MDCA Fuel reservoir change out when all procedure sign-offs and scheduling are completed.  Once this is successfully completed, CIR will be able to perform the preparation steps to begin FLEX operations.”

Wakata has been performing some JAXA commercial and educational experiments that slipped from Exp18, like the clothing experiment.The latest flagship Japanese experiment, FACET, is proceeding well:FACET (JAXA):    “Beautiful facet crystal growth is observed.  We will finish the experiments using Cell1 after 8 more experiments.  We are planning a crew task to rotate the Experiment Cell to Start with Cell #2 which contains different composition of solution to explore more science.”

This Japanese-related tidbit is also quite interesting for us, armchair observers avid for nice, clean and detailed images HDTV System (JAXA):   To be launched by HTV1.

The latest protein crystallization cycle has ended a few days ago:
PCDF-PU (Protein Crystallization Diagnostic Facility - Process Unit):

Growth cycle, EP4 cycle3 which is being repeated with an adapted temperature profile.  The science team saw nucleation start at a higher temperature than predicted during the previous run of EP4 Cycle 3.  The new profile starts measurements at a higher temperature after dissolution.  This script also incorporates more gradual steps in temperature between different set points.  This cycle was expected to end on 4/24.

And, finally, some CEO news:

CEO (Crew Earth Observations):   “Through 4/22, the ground has received a total of 3,179 of ISS CEO imagery for review and cataloguing.  Many of the targets that we have requested thus far are quite challenging to locate the first time and the weather has been less than cooperative for us all this past week.  We are continuing to work to improve the content of our target requests to help you recognize the features we are seeking.  Please feel free to let us know if there is anything else we can do to assist you in this effort.  We have already noted that the quality and composition of your photos is very high and you have acquired many interesting photos.  NASA/JSC/PAO is using your recent photo of Chicago’s Midway Airport.  Meanwhile, your striking view of the flooding Bois de Sioux River on the North Dakota-Minnesota border will be published this weekend on NASA/GSFC’s Earth Observatory website.  The GMT Day 109 image centers on the twin-cities area of Wahpeton, ND and Breckenridge, MN with the area still under snow.  It nicely illustrates the extent of yet another round of severe flooding this season in the Red River watershed.  Nice shot!”[/i][/i][/i][/i][/i][/i][/i]

[eeergo]

Digging around a bit, I found these images showing the current crewmembers performing some of the experiments planned for this expedition. In the first one, you can see Barratt with the BISE experiment (spatial perception). The second shows Padalka with an educational experiment, the flying disk (or UFO  ) part of the Fizika-LT program. Finally, the last one shows Barratt stowing urine samples for the NUTRITION program.

[eeergo]

Digging around a bit, I found some nice images portraying the current crewmembers performing some of the experiments planned for this Expedition. In the first one, you can see Barratt with the Canadian BISE experiment, concerning visual spatial perception in space. The second shows Padalka with the Russian Fizika-LT educational experiment, specifically the flying disk part (aka UFO  ) Finally, the third one shows Barratt stowing urine samples in the MELFI for the NUTRITION program.