Plant Habitat: Today, the crew wrapped plant samples into foil packs and placed them into Minus Eighty Laboratory Freezer for ISS (MELFI)-3 and the Plant Habitat facility was cleaned. Plant Habitat is a fully automated facility conducting plant bioscience research on the ISS. The space environment is stressful for all living organisms. Understanding how plants respond will help crews on future missions successfully grow plants for food and oxygen generation. The Plant Habitat-1 investigation compares differences in genetics, metabolism, photosynthesis, and gravity sensing between plants grown in space and on Earth. This investigation is expected to provide key insights on major changes occurring in plants exposed to microgravity.

HTV Small Re-entry Capsule (HSRC): The crew completed Part 1 of the HTV Capsule Assembly including the assembly of the Cylindrical Support Cone Section, Capsule Plate Section and the acceleration/pressure data logger which was taped to the sample box lid. The HSRC is designed to return relatively small payloads to the ground. The HSRC is 840mm in diameter, 190kg in weight, and contains roughly 30L pressurized volume for sample return.

Plasma Kristall (PK)-4: The crew performed video setup and checkout, connected Gas Supply hoses (Argon and Neon) and verified valve functionality. PK-4 is a scientific collaboration between the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos), performing research in the field of “Complex Plasmas” which are low temperature gaseous mixtures composed of ionized gas, neutral gas, and micron-sized particles. The micro-particles become highly charged in the plasma and interact strongly with each other which can lead to a self-organized structure of the micro-particles – so-called plasma crystals. Experiments in the facility aim to study Transport Properties, Thermodynamics, Kinetics and Statistical Physics, and Non-linear waves and Instabilities in the plasmas.

H-II Transfer Vehicle 7 (HTV7) Departure Preparation: The crew reviewed HTV-7 departure materials including HTV Rendezvous Review and HTV Departure Review. They also completed Robotics Onboard Trainer (ROBoT) Release Session. Additionally, the crew removed the smoke detector from the vehicle prior to departure. HTV-7 is scheduled to unberth from the ISS on Wednesday, November 7.

Completed Task List Activities:

None

Ground Activities:

All activities are complete unless otherwise noted.

HTV Prep for Departure from N2N

Plant Habitat Facility Clean

Two Day Look Ahead:

Tuesday, 11/06:

Payloads:

LT PCG Transfer (JAXA)

HTV-SRC Assy and sample insert Part2 and 3 (JAXA)

PK-4 Experiment Runs (ESA)

Systems:

HTV SRC Assembly

HTV Cargo Transfer

HTV Vestibule Configure for Demate

Node2 CPA Install

Wednesday, 11/07:

Payloads:

HTV-SRC departure photo (JAXA)

VEG-03 Plant check (NASA)

BEST Sample retrieve and Experiment ops pt3 (NASA)

PK-4 Experiment runs (ESA)

Systems:

HTV Vestibule Configure for Demate

HTV/Node2 Vestibule Depress and Leak Check

HTV Departure/release

Today’s Planned Activities:

All activities are complete unless otherwise noted.