Microgravity Science Laboratory-1 Daily Science Update for
April 5, 1997Microgravity Science Laboratory-1 Daily Science Update for
April 5, 1997
6:30 a.m.
In contrast to Friday afternoon's roaring launch, activities aboard MSL-1 seemed quiet. In fact, the flight crew was busy setting up experiments for more than two weeks of round-the-clock science operations.
"We're just into activation so there's not much yet to discuss," said assistant mission scientist Patton Downey (profile)late Friday night.
Nevertheless, the flight crew was having a good time.
"It's very hard to stay out of this place," said mission specialist Janice Voss aboard Columbia as she prepared to end her shift Friday evening. "It's just so much fun working back here."
Voss had just finished activating the three Protein Crystal Growth experiments. In a note uplinked to the crew, scientists in MSFC's Spacelab control thanked Voss for her dedication in working into her sleep preparation period to finish the activation. She set up and activated the Handheld Diffusion Test Cells (HH-DTC) apparatus, while payload specialist Roger Crouch set up the Protein Crystallization Apparatus for Microgravity (PCAM) during the Blue Team's first shift.
Payload specialist Gregory Linteris set up the Vapor Diffusion Apparatus (VDA-2) when he came on duty early Saturday morning. About 3:30 a.m. CST, Linteris and mission specialist Don Thomas could be seen gingerly pulling the four VDA-2 trays out to photograph the 80 individual cells where protein solutions are extruded onto the tips of syringes where they will hang for the next two weeks.
The three PCG devices take different approaches to the same challenge - growing well-defined crystals of proteins so their structures can be x-rayed on Earth.
The two major furnaces aboard MSL-1 were prepared for operations. TEMPUS, the containerless electromagnetic levitation furnace, will begin its first experiments Saturday evening. From Friday afternoon through Saturday morning, Tempus's interior was pumped down to a vacuum, and its heaters and instruments warmed up, to ready it for a trial run about 6 p.m.
"This is a natural extension of what we do on the ground," said Dr. Merton Flemings, a TEMPUS co-investigator from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. TEMPUS allows scientists to study how metal alloys solidify without the sample being disturbed by contact with the container or convective flow, "something we're unable to do on the ground."
Japan's Large Isothermal Furnace was activated for its first experiment which should yield some data around 7 a.m. Saturday.
No work was done on the combustion experiments, which are scheduled to be started later on Saturday.
Meanwhile, the environment is monitored by four different sets of accelerometers
that measure everything from how much the crew and shuttle equipment vibrate
the lab module, to how much the shuttle is slowed by the gentle drag of
the upper edges of Earth's atmosphere. One of the sensors had to be unstuck
with a tap on its container.
END
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Author: Dave
Dooling
Curator: Bryan Walls
NASA Official: John M. Horack