Space & Astronomy/Space and Astronomy (October 1993).iso/mac/TEXT/DAILY_1/920913.DFC

Text File | 1992-09-17 | 18KB | 392 lines

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13-Sep-92 Daily File Collection
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=--=--=START=--=--= NASA Spacelink File Name:6_2_2_39_12_6.TXT

STS-47 Mission Status Report #3


MISSION CONTROL CENTER
STS-47 Status Report #3

Saturday, September 12, 1992, 11:30 p.m.  CDT

Endeavour's Blue Team began its first full work shift in orbit about 7:30 p.m.
CDT as Mission Specialists Jay Apt, Jan Davis and Mae Jemison continued to
activate the Spacelab-J experiments.

The orbiter continues to function well on this, the 50th flight of the Space
Shuttle Program, with only minor difficulties being reported on spacecraft
systems.

Apt reported that the Get Away Special canisters in the payload bay had been
activated.  Endeavour is carrying nine canisters that will perform experiments
ranging from an analysis of biochemistry structures in microgravity sponsored
by the University of Kansas Space Program to a study of the behavior of bread
yeast sponsored by Spar Aerospace Ltd of Canada.

Flight controllers in Mission Control continued to cooperate with Payload
Operations Control Center engineers in trying to track down a water leak in
Spacelab rack 10.  The leak was discovered shortly after Payload Commander Mark
Lee entered the Space lab module to begin activation.  Lee cleaned up the water
and sent camcorder video to help troubleshooters in Houston and at Marshall
Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala.

Endeavour is circling the Earth every 90 minutes at 164 nautical miles and an
inclination of 57 degrees from the equator.  The crew reported a good Earth
observations photography pass paralleling the western coast of the United
States, including clear shots of San Francisco Bay.

The Red Team, made up of Commander Hoot Gibson, Pilot Curt Brown, Mark Lee and
Japanese Payload Specialist Mamoru Mohri, is scheduled to awaken about 4:15
a.m.  CDT. The Blue Team will begin its sleep shift about 9:30 a.m.


-END-
     Source:NASA Spacelink    Modem:205-895-0028  Internet:192.149.89.61
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=--=--=START=--=--= NASA Spacelink File Name:6_2_2_39_12_7.TXT

STS-47 MISSION CONTROL STATUS REPORT #4
Sunday, September 13, 1992, 6 a.m. CDT

  All systems aboard Endeavour continue to perform well, allowing payload crew
members to devote full attention to the science experiments in the Spacelab
module.

While Blue Team Mission Specialists Jan Davis and Mae Jemison worked in the
module, Jay Apt on the flight deck monitored all orbiter systems and took
photographs in support of the Earth observation program.

He reported good visibility of Mount Etna and Lake Djerid in Algeria. Apt said
he was not able to see any definition of Hurricane Iniki, which passed across
Hawaii Friday.

Apt also reported that the Shuttle Amateur Radio (SAREX) equipment appears to
be working well.  He checked the experiment after a pass over Japan and said
several transmissions were received in the computer database.

The Red Team made up of Hoot Gibson, Curt Brown, Mark Lee and Mamoru Mohri
awoke just after 4 a.m. today to begin its second day on orbit.

The only problems aboard Endeavour were a lost thruster jet on the tail of the
orbiter and a sluggish cooling unit for one of the hydraulic units.  Neither
anomaly impacts the duration of the mission, which is planned to end Saturday
with a landing at the Kennedy Space Center.

A small leak in the Spacelab module water loop system was isolated to a fitting
behind one of the experiment racks.  A possible maintenance procedure is being
worked in Huntsville and in Houston to fix the problem.

The water loop is used to cool experiments and is required for operation of
four experiment furnaces.  The remaining experiments are not affected by the
leak.

Endeavour is circling the Earth every 90 minutes in an orbit 166 by 162
nautical miles.  The attitude of the orbiter, called gravity gradient,
minimizes the number of jet firings so as not to disturb the experiments
ongoing in the Spacelab module.


-END-
     Source:NASA Spacelink    Modem:205-895-0028  Internet:192.149.89.61
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=--=--=START=--=--= NASA Spacelink File Name:6_2_2_39_12_8.TXT

SL-J Mission Status Report #02

6:00 a.m. CDT, September 13, 1992
00/20:40 MET
Spacelab Mission Operations Control
Marshall Space Flight Center
Huntsville, Alabama


NASA and the National Space Development Agency of Japan (NASDA),
have embarked on a joint mission of scientific discovery, called
Spacelab-J, aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour.  In addition to
gaining new knowledge through materials- and life-sciences studies,
Spacelab-J is a precursor to long-term microgravity research to be
conducted later this decade aboard Space Station Freedom, an
international project with the U.S., Japan, the European Space
Agency and Canada as partners.

The Blue Team, consisting of Mission Specialists Dr. Jay Apt and
Dr. Jan Davis, and Science Mission Specialist Dr. Mae Jemison,
began their first 12-hour shift. They modified experiment
procedures and rearranged their schedules to accommodate research
planned for later in the mission.  These experiments did not
require any of the furnaces affected by a leak in the rack 10
Materials Experiment Laboratory fluid loop.  The importance of
human presence in space is underscored as ground controllers are
planning to have a crew member troubleshoot the leak to restore
operation of the affected furnaces in rack 10.

The NASDA Materials Science Team at NASA's Spacelab Mission
Operations Control center in Huntsville, Ala., watched real-time
video images of the Gas Evaporation Facility experiment, conducted
by Jemison, in which metal filaments in glass bulbs were vaporized
by heating.  The resulting fine-powder coating the inside of the
bulbs will be studied upon return to Earth by principal
investigator Dr. Nobuhiko Wada of Nagoya University. Such powder is
used for coatings on magnetic and optical recording materials and
fluorescent screens.  Gravity affects the formation and
solidification of the particles; space-based processing may lead to
more uniformly distributed particle coatings that might improve
transmission properties.

Davis activated the Continuous Heating Furnace and initiated
several NASDA materials-science experiments designed to produce new
materials and develop new processing techniques.  One experiment
tried a method to make superior composite materials and another may
help scientists gain a better understanding of liquid-metal alloys.

Composite materials are stronger and lighter than conventional
materials such as wood.  When produced on Earth, processing
techniques designed to reduce gravity-induced settling may affect
their quality.  A clearer understanding of how component materials,
in this case aluminum and carbon fibers, arrange during the
formation of advanced composites, may lead to processing techniques
to produce materials suitable for space construction.

Dr. Takehiro Dan of the National Research Institute for Metals,
designed an experiment to learn more about how atoms in an alloy
composed of liquid metals, in this case silver and gold, distribute
when processed in low gravity.  Conducting such research in space
minimizes gravitational forces that lead to undesirable thermal
convection responsible for movement in liquid-metal alloys.
Davis processed these samples in the Continuous Heating Furnace.

Jemison made the first check of the Space Acceleration Measurement
System that collects data about the vibrations in Spacelab
throughout the mission.  This data helps scientists understand
experiment results in relation to when vibrations occur and gives
engineers information about how to build hardware and to plan
placement of sensitive experiments where they are least likely to
experience disturbances.

Life sciences research conducted by Davis and Jemison included
participation in an experiment to prevent or minimize space motion
sickness, which affects some space travelers.  The test subject
received biofeedback training, a method to gain conscious control
over supposedly involuntary bodily responses such as heart rate and
respiration.  The control subject did not receive biofeedback
training.  Both wear portable equipment during the first three days
of flight, except when sleeping, that records various physical data
for post-flight analysis at NASA's Ames Research Center.  This
research may help future space travelers adapt more quickly to
living and working in low gravity.

Jemison performed a portion of the Frog Embryology Experiment when
she injected four female frogs with a hormone to induce ovulation.
The frogs are expected to be producing eggs by Jemison's next
shift, at which time she will apply sperm and observe the
fertilization process under a microscope equipped with a video
camera.

Davis worked with fruit fly larvae in an experiment to learn more
about the effects of exposure to high-energy cosmic rays on living
organisms.  She also rotated fertilized chicken eggs that are kept
in the orbiter mid-deck.  The objective of this experiment is to
gain a better understanding of how bones develop and form during
spaceflight in preparation for longer missions.

During the next 12-hour shift, Mission Specialist Mark Lee and
Payload Specialist Mamoru Mohri will continue bone cell research,
check the response of carp fish to low gravity, and perform physics
research in a phenomenon known as Marangoni convection.
     Source:NASA Spacelink    Modem:205-895-0028  Internet:192.149.89.61
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=--=--=START=--=--= NASA Spacelink File Name:6_2_2_39_12_9.TXT

MISSION CONTROL STATUS REPORT #5
3:30 p.m. Central Daylight Time
6 a.m. Tokyo (Monday, Sept. 14, 1992)
Sunday, September 13, 1992


Space Shuttle Endeavour is operating well with science investigations
progressing as planned in the orbiting laboratory.

The Red Team made up of Hoot Gibson, Curt Brown, Mark Lee and Mamoru Mohri have
been working since about 7 a.m.  CDT. They are scheduled to hand over to the
Blue Team of Jay Apt, Jan Davis and Mae Jemison at 7:30 p.m.  CDT.

Endeavour is functioning almost without fault.  Only two problems occurred
early in the flight and are of no significance.  The first, a faulty steering
jet--one of 48 such jets on Endeavour--has been turned off and will not be
needed for the rest of the flight.  The second, a sluggish cooling unit on one
of three generators that power the hydraulics used by the shuttle during launch
and landing, is still being analyzed by engineers.  However, even at worst, it
would have no impact on the landing, which is planned for Saturday at Kennedy
Space Center.

A small leak in the Spacelab module water loop system was isolated to a fitting
behind one of the experiment racks.

About 4:20 p.m.  CDT today, Mark Lee and Curt Brown will go through a set of
leak repair procedures developed by ground control teams in Houston and
Huntsville. Engineers expect that tightening a loose fitting will stop the
leak and allow all the rack 10 experiments to be turned on.

The water loop is used to cool experiments and is required for operation of
four experiment furnaces.  The remaining experiments are not affected by the
leak.

Endeavour orbits the Earth every 90 minutes in a near-circular orbit of 165.6
by 164.3 nautical miles.  The attitude of the orbiter, called gravity
gradient, minimizes the number of jet firings so as not to disturb the
experiments sensitive to movement in the Spacelab module.

  * * *
     Source:NASA Spacelink    Modem:205-895-0028  Internet:192.149.89.61
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=--=--=START=--=--= NASA Spacelink File Name:6_2_2_39_4.TXT

STS-47 element set JSC-007 (orbit 20)

Date and time  09/13/92 13:51:50

STS-47
1 22120U 92 61  A 92257.79176088  .00200000  00000-0  26700-3 0    76
2 22120  57.0010 102.0829 0008665 281.3272  78.6804 15.89373550   205

Satellite: STS-47
Catalog number: 22120
Epoch time:      92257.79176088 -----> (13 SEP 92   19:00:08.14 UTC)
Element set:     JSC-007
Inclination:       57.0010 deg
RA of node:       102.0829 deg          Space Shuttle Flight STS-47
Eccentricity:     .0008665                SGP4 Keplerian Elements
Arg of perigee:   281.3272 deg         from NASA flight Day 2 vector
Mean anomaly:      78.6804 deg
Mean motion:   15.89373550 rev/day                 W5RRR
Decay rate:    2.00000e-03 rev/day~2      NASA Johnson Space Center
Epoch rev:              20

G.L.CARMAN


STS-47 FLIGHT DAY 1 STATE VECTOR


                              STS-47
                      FLIGHT DAY 1 STATE VECTOR
                         ON ORBIT OPERATIONS

                 (Posted 09/12/92 by Roger Simpson)

***NOTICE***THIS VECTOR WILL BE UPDATED MONDAY, 9/14/92***NOTICE***

The following vector for the flight of STS-47 is provided by NASA
Johnson Space Center Flight Design and Dynamics Division for use in
ground track plotting programs.  The vector is valid for flight day
one.  The vector represents the trajectory of Endeavour during on
orbit operations, after the OMS-2 maneuver.  Questions regarding
these postings may be addressed to Roger Simpson, Mail Code DM4, L.
B. J.  Space Center, Houston, Texas 77058, Telephone [phone].


Lift off Time : 1992/256/14:22:59.974
Lift off Date : 09/12/92

Vector Time (GMT) : 257/00:52:59.970
Vector Time (MET) : 000/10:30:00.000
Orbit Count : 7
Weight : 232265.0 LBS
Drag Coefficient : 2.00
Drag Area : 2751.0 SQ FT

     M50 Elements                           Keplerian Elements
-----------------------                 --------------------------
X    =    -5477293.5  FT                A          = 3611.8347 NM
Y    =    21227827.5  FT                E          = 0.0009500
Z    =     -302864.1  FT                I  (M50)   =  57.24985 DEG
Xdot = -13353.201626  FT/S              Wp (M50)   =   4.46876 DEG
Ydot =  -3143.647472  FT/S              RAAN (M50) = 104.97727 DEG
Zdot =  21317.573316  FT/S            / N (True)   = 354.59015 DEG
                           Anomalies  \ M (Mean)   = 354.60040 DEG

                                        Ha         = 165.76600 NM
                                        Hp         = 164.40900 NM


Mean of 1950 (M50)   : Inertial, right-handed Cartesian system whose
Coordinate System      origin is the center of the earth.  The epoch
                       is the beginning of the Besselian year 1950.
                       X axis: Mean vernal equinox of epoch
                       Z axis: Earth's mean rotational axis of epoch
                       Y axis: Completes right-hand system

A:    Semi-major axis
E:    Eccentricity                         N:    True anomaly
I:    Inclination                          M:    Mean anomaly
Wp:   Argument of perigee                  Ha:   Height of apogee
RAAN: Right ascension of ascending node    Hp:   Height of perigee


     Source:NASA Spacelink    Modem:205-895-0028  Internet:192.149.89.61
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=--=--=START=--=--= NASA Spacelink File Name:7_13.TXT

OFFERING IDEAS TO NASA


NASA Information Summaries
PMS-025 (Hqs)


October 1986


NASA encourages the submission of ideas which will be useful to the agency in
carrying out its missions.  This document provides information regarding
mechanisms available at NASA for obtaining consideration of ideas and answers
related questions frequently directed to the agency.

If you are interested in submitting an unsolicited proposal for research and
development to NASA, selling a product to NASA, or receiving solicitations from
NASA, you should direct your inquiry to the Director, Office of Small and
Disadvantaged Business Utilization, Code K, National Aeronautics and Space
Administration, Washington, D.C. 20546.  Two brochures are available.  One
provides guidance for the preparation and submission of unsolicited proposals.
The other, "Selling to NASA," contains detailed information on NASA's structure
and interests, the procurement process and how you can market your
capabilities.

If you are the owner of an issued U.S. patent, you may offer NASA a license in
the patented invention by writing to the Office of the Associate General
Counsel (Intellectual Property), at NASA Headquarters in Washington,D.C. 20546.
An investigation will then be made to determine the extent of NASA's interest.

In the event you have not received patent coverage for your invention, please
note that NASA provides patent services only for inventions made by its
employees or made in the performance of work under its contracts and grants.
Information about patents may be obtained by ordering the pamphlet entitled
"General Information Concerning Patents" from the U.S. Government Printing
Office, Superintendent of Documents, Washington, D.C. 20402-9325 and enclosing
a check or money order in the sum of $1.25.

If your idea is energy-related, you may wish to submit it to the National
Bureau of Standards (NBS) for a free and confidential evaluation.  Under Public
Law 93-577, NBS evaluates promising inventions, particularly those submitted by
individual inventors and small companies for the purpose of obtaining grants
from the Department of Energy.  An Energy-Related Evaluation Request form may
be obtained by writing to the Office of Energy-Related Inventions,National
Bureau of Standards, Gaithersburg, Maryland 20899, or calling [phone].

Thank you for your interest in NASA.
     Source:NASA Spacelink    Modem:205-895-0028  Internet:192.149.89.61
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