Subject: MIRNEWS.401
From: "C.M. vd Berg" <[email-masked]>
To: Multiple recipients of list <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 2 Jan 1998 11:27:15 -0500

MIRNEWS.401                             2 JANUARY 1998

Dear readers and users of my MIRNEWS-es: I wish you  and your family a
Happy and Prosperous  New Year  and  a lot of joy and successes  in our
mutual field of interest. 

MIR-routine:  In the period after the last MIRNEWS the situation on board
MIR was far from easy. After the  freon leak   the A.C. (BKV-3)  remained
switched off and the dehumidification of MIR's atmosphere was not
sufficient. To gather at least 2.5 liters of the normal 4 liters of
condensation the condensation regenerator in the Life Compartiment  of
Soyuz-TM26  was activated.   In cold areas of the complex there is an
enormous condensation. This condensation is almost reaching dangerous
levels. To obtain sufficient water from condensation the Life Compartment
of S-TM26 had to be cooled down. In this period the Elektrons did not work
due to repair work and so Lithium Perchlorate cartridges had to be burnt
for oxygen production.  The cosmonauts accomplished the repair of the
Vozdukh (CO2 scrubber) in the Base Block and as of 2.1.98 this system works
and helps a little bit to remove water-vapour to open space. 
There is also a lot of condensation in the cold Progress-M37 and the crew
deployed an air-hose to blow cool air from there into the Base Block.  In
the period between 27 and 30.12.97 MIR  remained continuously  in full
sunlight and the temperatures in the Base Block reached values above 30 dgs
C.  The cosmonauts did not complain about these inconvience and David Wolf
even stated that he likes high temperatures which give him more energy. 

Failuring Main Computer and Movements control system:

In the night from 1 to 2.01.1998 the SUD (movementscontrol) gave an alarm
and the Ts.V.M.-1 switched itself off. The cause was still unclear at
deadline of this report.  TsUP even thought that a virus played a part in
that. After a virusscan TsUP said there had not been a virus. The
cosmonauts recently had checked the Ts.V.M.-1 with an anti-virus program of
Nov. 97 and they did not find anything.  During passes in the morning of
2.1.98 TsUP asked the cosmonauts to suspend all activities and wait for
further instructions.  TsUP tried to use Telemetry for analysis, but they
only got incomprehensible data. The solarbatteries do not get the full
sunshine and the cosmonauts had to switch the lights out and use electric
torches.   For today   the repair work on the Elektrons has been cancelled.
 
Spacewalks (EVA-s):  

The first EVA (Solovyov and Vinogradov) is scheduled for 8.01.98 from
2320UTC (opening hatch between Scientific and instrument compartment  and
Airlock of  Module-D). This EVA will last appr. 5hrs 30 mins. 
If  Solovyov and Vinogradov  during that EVA accomplished the repair of 
the hatch of the air-lock  the second EVA (Solovyov and Wolf) might take
place on 14.01.98 from 2040UTC (opening hatch of air-lock of module-D.) 
Duration appr. 2 hrs. 

Chris van den Berg, NL-9165/A-UK3202