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UPDATE # 38 - February 15, 1998 PART 1: New web address for Space Team Online NEW WEB ADDRESS FOR SPACE TEAM ONLINE
The web address for Space Team Online has changed to http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/space This means that all of the underlying pages have also changed their URLs. Although the old address will continue to function, it might be best to create new bookmarks for your favorite STO pages. SPACE STATION VIDEOCONFERENCES
This week brings a live videoconference with key NASA Space Station people. The event is geared for students in grades 5-12 and takes place on February 19 (9:30 a.m. - 11:00 a.m. Pacific). A follow-up online chat is tentatively scheduled for February 23. The videoconference supports a broad range of educational goals. Students will learn about careers in scientific and technical fields and be able to talk to the people who are making the International Space Station a reality. Featured topics will include: * the latest robotics inventions * research in space about the human body * the way space suits work * studies in microgravity that may lead to new medical therapies on Earth Although the best broadcast quality will be obtained via satellite video feed, another option is to obtain the audio/video over the Internet. Opportunities to interact with the people in the program via Internet chat will be provided. Another videoconference on February 26 is geared for working professionals and may also interest college students. For more details, see this Learning Technologies Channel page: http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/ltc/sto/info.html We hope you'll mark your calendars for these special events. NEURON HEATS UP
You may already know that the next Space Shuttle mission, STS-90, is scheduled for an April launch. The sixteen day mission will study the brains and nervous systems of crickets, fish, mice, rats and astronauts. Besides Space Team Online, a separate Quest project called NeurOn is tracking this mission from a payload perspective. NeurOn will let you join the team readying the payload and handling all of the last minute problems just two hectic months before launch. The nitty- gritty of space life science research will be shared. As an example, two of the journals below (PART 5 and PART 6) were first published in NeurOn. Consider joining the NeurOn mail list to stay informed. Just send an email to: listmanager@quest.arc.nasa.gov. In the message body, write only these words: subscribe updates-nrn Also be sure to visit the NeurOn web site at: http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/neuron [Editor's note: Robert is an electronics engineer who designs electrical and electronic systems for robotic applications. Robert tries to use Commercial-Off-The-Shelf Systems (COTS) when possible. If no COTS items are available, then Robert and his team custom design and build what they need.] A ROBOT TO CLIMB ON CABLES
Robert Morrison http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/space/team/morrison.html Interviewer: Brandt Secosh February 3, l998 Why is the inspection of a cable so important? Systems at Kennedy Space Center rely on good cable, so inspection ensures that the will continue to function as they should. One cable-dependent system is the emergency egress system at each launch pad. In the event of a pre-launch disaster, this system provides the shuttles' crew with an escape route from the shuttle to a safe location. If a pre-launch disaster occurs, the crew would egress (i.e., exit during an emergency situation) from the shuttle down the Orbiter Access Arm (OAA). The OAA is located 195 feet above the ground. The OAA remains in its extended position, connecting the launch tower to the shuttle orbiter, until about seven minutes before launch. In an emergency, it can be mechanically repositioned in 15 seconds. Once the crew has exited the orbiter and escaped using the OAA, they would take a seat in one of seven emergency egress baskets. Each basket slides down a cable, 1200 feet in length, whisking the crew to safety to the ground below. A braking system catch net and drag chain slow and then halt the baskets sliding down the wire at about 55 miles per hour in about half a minute. Failure of one of these egress cables would likely result in fatality to the crew. The cables that the emergency basket rides on must be inspected for corrosion, lightning strikes, and other damage such as frayed or broken strands in the cable. CLIM is the robot that is used to assist in this inspection. CLIM starts its trek up or down the cable taking its commands from the operator by radio control. As CLIM proceeds along the cable, it sends real-time video images and data back to the operator. This data is used to determine if the cable is acceptable for use. Principally, CLIM reduces the risk to humans who previously had to ride the egress basket down the cable in order to inspect it. CLIM will also be used to inspect the lightning cables associated with each launch pad. Also, prior to each launch, the emergency egress system is load tested. To do this, an emergency egress basket is weighted and sent down the cable. An additional use for CLIM will be to tow a hoist cable down to the basket, along the egress cable, from the tower. The hoist cable is then attached to the egress basket and pulls the basket back up to the tower. Currently, CLIM cannot provide a complete solution for cable inspections. The only data it collects on a cable is the diameter by using a laser micrometer. One day, with the help of "smart software" such as fuzzy logic or Neural networks, CLIM may be able to identify cable failure points without the aide of a human operator. This goal will take a few years of research and effort but will eventually further reduce the costs and risks of performing a cable inspection. [Editor's note: Dave is a mission specialist, the Canadian Space Agency member of the Neurolab crew. Below you will find the descriptions from a photo journal he sent as he and the other astronauts train for STS-90. A pictorial version is available at: http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/neuron/team/journals/williams/01-12.html ] THE PACE BUILDS AS WE MOVE INTO THE "PRIME CREW" SPOT
Dave Williams http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/williams.html January 12-17, l998 The pace continues to build on STS-90 training as our crew recently moved into the "Prime Crew" spot following the successful launch of STS-89. We are now about ten weeks from launch and it seems as though there are so many things to do. Our training team has provided us with a number of excellent sims to prepare us for the mission to come. The launch date is currently holding for April 2 and, according to the Farmers Almanac (the same one that successfully predicted the recent ice storm), the weather should be good! This week focused on training for the Ames experiments. The payload crew started the week reviewing the Neuronal Plasticity experiments and continued throughout the remainder of the week with the Mammalian Development experiments. Training on the escher staircase and magic carpet experiments went really well. The JSC experiment training included reviewing the VEG experiment protocol and hardware, learning the malfunction procedures for the video equipment and practicing our IV insertion procedures. The primary JSC training activity was a flight day 15 simulation which started Wednesday morning at 7:15 and finished that evening at 19:00. During the simulation we perform every experiment activity as we would during the real mission. We also have a chance to sample our shuttle menu for that day to make sure that we are happy with our food selections. Rick Linnehan and I also had another NBL contingency EVA training session. I have included a panoramic shot of the NBL which is so large that we can train in the payload bay of the orbiter at one end of the pool while another group of astronauts works on the Space Station mock-up at the other end. Before every training session in the NBL we have a briefing poolside to review the lesson objectives and the procedures that we will be performing underwater in the suits. In this run we briefed hatch opening procedures if there were a malfunction of the hatch. The next photo shows Rick and me, with our instructor Stacie, reviewing the hatch of the airlock on one of the many mockups. We also practiced with the center line latch tools and the three point latch tool, both of which are used to hold the payload bay doors closed if there were a failure of any of the latches. During the underwater portion of the session, we practiced performing a manual alignment and stow of the Ku Band antenna. Following this, we winched in the payload bay doors to close them and attached both sets of latch tools. The next training goal was to take our partner and simulate the rescue of an incapacitated crew member. To do this we would both go to the aft end of the payload bay and then I would pull Rick along the 60 foot length of the sill with one hand stabilizing his body with the other. It was an interesting challenge maneuvering him into the airlock and tethering him in place so that I could get in and close the hatch. We then switched roles and my arms got a rest while Rick towed me in. The remainder of the week included training in the catching experiment, a review of our flight data file (checklists) and a 4 hour ascent simulation in the motion simulator. This session included 5 ascents during which we were given many orbiter malfunctions some of which required us to do a transatlantic abort or land in Bermuda. The week finished with my class 1 fit check in the extravehicular mobility unit (EMU) or spacesuit. This is the actual suit that I would use in the event of a contingency EVA and it is very important to verify fit and function thoroughly. The first picture was taken while I was performing the comm radio checks before donning my helmet. Once the function of the suit is verified, the mobility is verified by letting us walk in the suit while partially supported. The next slide was taken while I was walking over to the Boeing engineer to give a demonstration of my ability to balance on one foot and lean forward and backward. That is when you really learn about the importance of maintaining an appropriate center of gravity! [Editor's note: As a knowledge engineer, Dennis' job is to try to capture some of the expertise of the Sleep Team scientists in a computer program.] A TYPICAL DAY FOR A KNOWLEDGE ENGINEER
Dennis Michael Heher http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/neuron/team/heher.html Today is Wednesday, January 28, 1998. It has been, for the most part, a normal day with no surprises. When I was younger (okay, a lot younger), a surprise usually meant getting or doing something exciting and fun. Now, surprises at work can mean frantically writing a document of some sort that my manager needs as soon as possible (which means NOW) or finding out I get to travel somewhere, usually to Johnson Space Center (JSC) in Houston. But like I said, today did not have any surprises. Being a Wednesday, today was my turn to drop Leah and Patrick (my two kids) off at school. Also since it's a Wednesday, I carpooled into work today. I am lucky that a friend works nearby so we can occasionally share the long drive to and from work. It's 9:25 a.m. when I finally arrived at my office at NASA Ames Research Center. The first thing I always do when I get to work is check my email, and as usual, I had about seven or eight messages waiting for me to read. None of the messages required any action or response on my part, so I continue the work I was doing yesterday. My current job is developing a software program called Principal Investigator-in-a-Box, or PI-in-a-Box for short. This program will be used by the Neurolab crew during the instrumentation phase of the Sleep Experiment. The Sleep Experiment requires the crew to wear numerous electrodes which will measure all sorts of information about the human body while they are sleeping in microgravity. Putting all of the electrodes on, or instrumenting, takes a lot of work and it is crucial that these electrodes be put on properly. This is where PI-in-a-Box helps out. We, the developers of PI-in-a-Box here at Ames and at MIT, have tried to capture some of the expertise of the Sleep Experiment principal investigators (these are the scientists who've designed this experiment) and put this knowledge into a computer program. Every once in awhile, I stop my work to read and reply to email. Today the email came from the scientists and engineers at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), and from Brigham & Woman's Hospital (BWH), which is where the principal investigators for the Sleep Experiment are from. Some of the email is from the people at JSC who are helping us put this experiment together. At around 11:58 a.m., when I would rather be eating lunch or exercising, I got a phone call. This call is the "telecon," or teleconference, which happens at this time every other Wednesday and includes people from UCSD, BWH, JSC, and myself at Ames. Altogether, there are 15 of us joining in on the telecon and we discuss primarily the baseline data collection session (which is where the scientists collect data before the Neurolab flight) scheduled for next week and the MITS, or Mission Integrated Test Simulation, which will occur later in February. Having a telecon with 15 people usually lasts a long time, since everybody has something to say, and this telecon is no exception. At 1:38, or 1 hour 40 minutes after it started, the telecon is over. I ate a quick lunch at my desk and got back to what I was doing before the telecon. The afternoon is pretty quiet with only a single other phone call, a discussion with a colleague about the Neurolab mission, reviewing my travel plans for February, and a few more email messages. Since I carpooled today, it was important that I leave on time to pick up my friend. At 5:22 I turn off my computers and leave for the day. I can't wait to get home to see my wife and kids. Today was pretty much a typical day. When I don't have a telecon at lunch time, I try to either exercise at the fitness center here at Ames or go for a long run. Some days I'll have a meeting or two to attend, but I didn't today. For the most part, today was typical. STATUS OF COLUMBIA PROCESSING
Below, we'll provide some details about the post flight work being done after STS-87 and the subsequent processing of Columbia as it prepares to fly again as STS-90. These reports will contain jargon and unfamiliar terms; our intent is not to confuse you, but to provide a glimpse at all the steps involved. Detailed daily reports about Columbia's processing can be found at the NASA Shuttle Status web site at http://www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov/kscpao/status/status.htm Since the last updates-sto message, leak checks of Columbia's crew module and tunnel adapter were completed. The transfer tunnel's forward extension has been installed and ammonia system servicing is complete. The payload premate test is also complete. Technicians noted separated insulation on a piece of tubing in Columbia's midbody. Closeouts of midbody bay 7 was delayed one day while workers replaced the insulation. As a result, the Neurolab payload installation slipped, but was completed on February 12. Payload interface verification testing is scheduled for next week. Replacement of the bushings on the main engine heat shields is in work. Columbia's main engine heat shield attach point work continues with match drilling and other work today. Aft compartment close-outs are ongoing, and main engine installation is slated for next Thursday. With external tank and solid rocket booster close-outs nearing completion, ET/SRB mate is slated for Feb. 19. After a week of preparation, a pressure test of the orbiter's flash evaporator system was scheduled to take place Friday, February 13. STS-90 SCHEDULED OPERATIONAL MILESTONES (dates are target only): - Neurolab Interface Verification Test (Feb. 18) - Shuttle main engine installation complete (Feb. 19)
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