STS-107 Daily Science Report
January 21
The crew set up the Laminar Soot Processes-2
(LSP-2) apparatus in the Combustion
Module-2 (CM-2) and completed the first five tests that
yielded the soot-containing flames of the type sought for this
experiment. Test run # 6 is being rescheduled. The operations
team is planning to run three more samples within the next twelve
hours. LSP-2 generated several flames that met paradigm conditions.
The PI feels that the results should provide the data needed to
predict soot in practical combustors.
Critical Viscosity of Xenon-2
(CVX-2): All seems to be going well.
Right now, we're into our second critical period. The first critical
period was a repeat pass through the critical temperature (Tc)
of CVX five years ago. (The critical temperature is the point
at which a pure fluid can exist as both a liquid and a vapor in
the same container.) We wanted to see if we would get roughly
the same response out of the cell this time around before we went
into strictly CVX-2 test points. We've done some analysis of that
pass which is showing a favorable comparison. Everything looks
good through this second pass and the instrument is operating
fine. In this second pass, there are three individual ramps as
we approach the critical temperature. (A ramp is the period of
time it takes to slowly bring the Xenon up to its critical temperature.)
In each ramp, we’ll be changing the frequency and amplitude
of the viscometer (the small screen at the heart of the experiment).
The first ramp and second ramp are 11 hours each, and the third
ramp is 33 hours. We’ll ramp through the Tc to a point above
it and then we’ll slowly go down, before ramping up again
to our third pass through the Tc.
The SAMS
team reconfigured the data flow per the original configuration.
This was necessary because the change made earlier today resulted
in unusable data. Once back in original configuration, SAMS-FF
real-time data flow supported the first LSP-2 test run. Monitoring
of real-time displays during the LSP-2 test apparently showed
that the EORF (refrigerator/freezer) operation did not adversely
impact the flame. (See CM-2 above.) We provided snapshots of real
time displays to CM-2 for forwarding as “heads-up” to
the SOFBALL team, who will conduct
the next experiment in CM-2. We also participated in a telecon
with Paul Ronney, SOFBALL PI, to discuss acceleration environment
findings up to this point.
Mission Status Reports
January
31, 2003
January 30, 2003
January 29, 2003
January 28, 2003
January 27, 2003
January 26, 2003
January 25, 2003
January 24, 2003
January 23, 2003
January 22, 2003
January 21, 2003
January 20, 2003
