- \n
- STS-131 LIVE UPDATES<\/li>\n
- L2 STS-131 Special Section<\/li>\n
- Click here to Join L2<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Both Solid Rocket Boosters (SRBs) are currently being evaluated at Port Canaveral, with no problems listed during their retrieval from the Atlantic. Current status notes that only three issues \u2013 known as \u201csquawks\u201d \u2013 were found during inspections, which is a very low number.<\/p>\n
\u201cSRB Retrieval Status: Open assessment is complete; three minor squawks,\u201d added the NASA Test Director (NTD) status report (L2) on Friday.<\/p>\n
Flight Day 6 is focusing on the transfers between Discovery, the recently installed MPLM (Multi-Purpose Logistics Module), and the ISS \u2013 with current status showing five percent of Leonardo\u2019s cargo has been moved on to Station, while 90 percent of middeck transfers have been completed.<\/p>\n
With no Focused Inspection (FI) required on Discovery, a large part of Flight Day 6 is being dedicated to transfer tasks, placing them in a good stance for the rest of the mission.<\/p>\n
NASA educational resources
<\/path>Space Shuttle <\/path>Spaceflight news subscription <\/path>\n (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/A39.jpg\" "\\"A3\\"")
In clearing the orbiter from a FI, the DAT engineers cleared the missing tile from the Rudder Speed Brake (RSB) as no concern for entry, while also taking time to evaluate a protrusion noted on Discovery\u2019s FRCS (Forward Reaction Control System).<\/p>\n\u201cSTS-131 \u2013 On-Orbit: The DAT has completed the assessment of the early mission imagery and has identified no Focused Inspection requirements,\u201d added NTD status. \u201cThe FRCS protrusion assessment resulted in NO concern for critical damage if liberated during entry.\u201d<\/p>\n
Overall, the vehicle is very clean, thanks again in part to the performance of External Tank ET-135, which suffered from very few areas of liberation, and more importantly \u2013 from a mitigation success standpoint \u2013 no significant intertank losses, as seen on Hi Res ET photography. An article will be published on the tank\u2019s performance, once official findings are produced.<\/p>\n
STS-131 Specific Articles: http:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/tag\/sts-131\/<\/p>\n
Docked Late Inspection (DLI) Plan:<\/p>\n
The MMT made the decision on Friday to extend Discovery\u2019s docked mission by one day, moving undocking to Flight Day 13. Such a decision was likely, following the failure of Discovery\u2019s Ku-band, and relation to Late Inspections.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/A261.jpg\" "\\"A26\\"")
While inspections can be carried out without Ku \u2013 as was the case with Flight Day 2\u2019s inspections \u2013 the vast amount of data requires the Ku\u2019s high bandwidth levels to send the imagery to the ground for the DAT engineers to inspect.<\/p>\nFD2\u2019s inspection data download was simply delayed by a day, prior to docking and the utilization of the Station\u2019s Ku assets, which aren\u2019t available once the orbiter undocks.<\/p>\n
The plan now calls for the inspections to be changed to a DLI (Docked Late Inspection) scenario, inserted on Flight Day 11, so that the ISS Ku band assets can be used to downlink the imagery.<\/p>\n
The MMT decision included such considerations as downlink rates of the imagery, time for ground assessment of the imagery, additional downlink requirements after a TPS repair (if required), clearances between robotic arms during the DLI, and Orbiter re-dock capability after separation from ISS.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/A49.jpg\" "\\"A4\\"")
With additional challenges noted for the positioning and translation of the Orbiter Boom Sensor System (OBSS) \u2013 relating to clearances between the boom\u2019s movements and the Japanese Pressurized Module (JPM) \u2013 managers have been busy drawing up plans for the DLI\u2019s procedures:<\/p>\n\u201cDue to the Ku failure, we are looking into performing late inspection prior to undocking. Structural interference from the ISS prevents running the standard FD 2 autosequences, so we will utilize docked inspection autosequences developed for STS-134\/ULF-6,\u201d noted one of several presentations on STS-131 DLI plan (L2).<\/p>\n
\u201cThese autosequences provide full LDRI (Laser Dynamic Range Imager) coverage of RCC (Reinforced Carbon Carbon), but limited IDC (Digital Camera) coverage (IDC data will not be collected).\u201d<\/p>\n
With changes to the inspection process, the DLI will take around one hour or so longer than standard Late Inspections \u2013 which are nominally carried out several hours after undocking.<\/p>\n
\u201cTiming: We estimate the surveys will take 5-6 hours to complete: STBD (Starboard): ~2.75 hrs. NOSE: ~1 hr. PORT: ~1.5 hr. If the attitude maneuvers are required (to and from +ZVV), each will require ~1 hr for attitude handovers and the maneuvers.\u201d<\/p>\n
Outlining the proposed procedure, a preliminary inspection plan was produced in the main DLI presentation, starting with the Starboard Wing.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/A56.jpg\" "\\"A5\\"")
\u201cSTBD Survey: The stbd survey is divided into two parts. In the first part, the SRMS (Shuttle Remote Manipulator System)\/OBSS reach over the PLB (Payload Bay) to scan the upper, forward, and some lower RCC zones \u2013 the MPLM must be berthed in the PLB for this. In the second part, the SRMS\/OBSS reaches under the PLB to scan some lower RCC zones,\u201d noted the presentation.<\/p>\n\u201cIn order to get full coverage, we will have to accept several close clearances between both the OBSS-RCC and SRMS-JPM. The minimum clearance expected between the SRMS and JPM is 19 inches with several points within 36 inches; SPDM camera two provides excellent views of this clearance.<\/p>\n
\u201cMinimum clearance between the OBSS and RCC is expected to be 42 inches with several good available views (RSC, RMS Elbow, etc). These tight clearances require the stbd survey be heavily segmented, with several pause points with LDRI pan\/tilt reconfigs as well as a few places where data is taken via a pan\/tilt survey.\u201d<\/p>\n
Once the Starboard wing survey is complete, clearances for the two additional elements of inspections \u2013 the Port Wing and the Nose Cap \u2013 are far less restricted.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/A66.jpg\" "\\"A6\\"")
\u201cNOSE & PORT Surveys: Both the nose and port surveys have the SRMS under the JPM. In the survey, the OBSS \u2018wraps\u2019 around the front of the vehicle and requires less than 5 ft clearance to completely survey the stbd side of the nose cap. The port survey requires less than 5 ft clearance to the port PLBD for some upper RCC surfaces.\u201d<\/p>\nWith the final plan to be sent up to the crew to allow for training briefs \u2013 which will include CGI videos of the projected paths the SRMS and OBSS will take \u2013 other considerations include the attitude of the ISS during the surveys, due to the potential of LRDI shutdowns caused by the sun shining into the sensor.<\/p>\n
\u201cOpen and Noteworthy Items: Lighting: Nominal surveys are done in an optimized attitude for lighting, but docked surveys are limited to the TEA (Torque Equilibrium Attitude) attitude,\u201d added the presentation.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn TEA attitude the sun may enter the LDRI FOV causing it to shut down (a self-protect feature). Any passes\/points where this may occur will have to be performed during a night pass. A maneuver to orbiter +ZVV may reduce the number sun violations. This needs to be assessed.\u201d<\/p>\n
A DLI has taken place before, when Endeavour\u2019s surveys were completed whilst docked to the ISS, due to clearance issues during the installation of the Japanese modules on Station. Following Endeavour\u2019s DLI on STS-123, the OBSS was left on the S1 truss, prior to being picked up by Discovery on the following mission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
With an additional docked day \u2013 already allowed for in the mission timeline options \u2013 now approved by the Mission Management Team (MMT), efforts on designing a preliminary plan for a Docked Late Inspection (DLI) have resulted in a 5-6 hour survey procedure, which is challenged by clearances of just 19 inches in areas between […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[9184,7935],"class_list":["post-40820","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-sts-131","tag-tps"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40820"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40820"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40820\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40820"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40820"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40820"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}