Skip to main content

Maintenance Work Area

The Maintenance Work Area (MWA) consists of three major components: MWA Work Surface Area (WSA), MWA Containment System, and MWA Utility Kit. Additionally, the MWA Utility Strip may be used in conjunction with the MWA Containment System.

  • The Maintenance Work Area (MWA) Work Surface Area (WSA) provides a rigid surface on which to perform maintenance tasks. The WSA consists of a folding table-like surface and two detachable arms.
  • The MWA Containment System is designed to contain small particles that may be generated during maintenance activities. The containment system can be attached to the WSA, tethered to the racks, or tethered to a crewmember.
  • The MWA Utility Kit provides accessory items to aid in the setup and utilization of both the MWA WSA and MWA Containment System.

The arms on the Work Surface Area (WSA) attach to the seat track, providing the work surface with a solid connection point. To aid in quick placement, each arm has a seat track locator. Once the arms are placed in the seat track, the handles can be rotated to lock the arms in position. The WSA has a positive locking mechanism and has been designed to preclude crew injury from sharp corners/edges, protrusions, and pinch points. If desired, the arms may be disconnected from the work surface and independently placed on the seat track. The WSA weighs 32.4 pounds and has a working bench area of 25 x 36 inches.

The MWA Containment System contains 4 glove ports, so that 2 crewmembers can work together if needed. There are also 2 utility ports, which can be utilized to provide power and data or a vacuum inside the containment system via the Electrical Pass Thru and Vacuum Pass Thru from the MWA Utility Kit. Air is allowed to pass into the containment system via a 40 micron mesh metal intake area. The containment system and its plugs have been designed to preclude crew injury from sharp corners/edges, protrusions, and pinch points. The MWA Containment System weighs 10 pounds and has a work volume of 34 x 24 x 26 inches.

BCAT

BCAT

Binary Colloidal Alloy Test (BCAT) The Binary Colloidal Alloy Test (BCAT) hardware supports four experiments. The first hardware, BCAT-3, consisted of three separate investigations, Binary Alloy (BCAT-3-BA), Critical Point (BCAT-3-CP) and Surface Crystallization (BCAT-3-SC), which were delivered to the International Space Station (ISS) during expedition 8. The next hardware, BCAT-4, consists of two separate investigations, … Read the rest ⇢

Binary Colloidal Alloy Test-3

Binary Colloidal Alloy Test-3

Binary Colloidal Alloy Test-3 (BCAT-3) The Binary Colloidal Alloy Test-3 (BCAT-3) hardware supported three investigations in which ISS crews photographed samples of colloidal particles (tiny nanoscale spheres suspended in liquid) to document liquid/gas phase changes, growth of binary crystals, and the formation of colloidal crystals confined to a surface. Colloids are small enough that in … Read the rest ⇢

Binodal Colloidal Aggregation Test-4

Binodal Colloidal Aggregation Test-4

Binodal Colloidal Aggregation Test-4 (BCAT-4) The Binodal Colloidal Aggregation Test (BCAT) hardware supports four experiments. The first hardware, Binary Colloidal Alloy Test – 3, consisted of three separate investigations, Binary Alloy (BCAT-3-BA), Critical Point (BCAT-3-4-CP) and Surface Crystallization (BCAT-3-SC), which were delivered to the International Space Station (ISS) during expedition 8. The next hardware, BCAT-4, … Read the rest ⇢

Binary Colloidal Alloy Test - 5

Binary Colloidal Alloy Test – 5

Binary Colloidal Alloy Test – 5 (BCAT-5) The Binary Colloidal Alloy Test – 5 (BCAT-5) hardware supports four investigations. Samples 1 – 5, the Binary Colloidal Alloy Test – 5: Phase Separation (BCAT-5-PhaseSep) will study collapse (phase separation rates that impact product shelf-life). In microgravity the physics of collapse is not masked by being reduced … Read the rest ⇢

Binary Colloidal Alloy Test-6

Binary Colloidal Alloy Test-6

Binary Colloidal Alloy Test-6 (BCAT-6) The Binary Colloidal Alloy Test-6, Phase Separation (BCAT-6), Phase Separation) experiments examine conditions that result in colloidal crystallization, melting, self-organization, and phase separation of colloidal systems. The evolution toward equilibrium through time is captured on the International Space Station (ISS) or with the accurate measurement of time frames correlated to … Read the rest ⇢

CFE
ISS Science Officer, Mike Fincke in the U.S. Lab aboard the International Space Station during Expedition 9 next to CFE-CL2.

CFE

Capillary Flow Experiment (CFE) The Capillary Flow Experiment (CFE) is a suite of fluid physics experiments whose purpose is to investigate capillary flows and phenomena in low gravity. The CFE data to be obtained will be crucial to future space exploration because they provide a foundation for physical models of fluids management in microgravity, including … Read the rest ⇢

CFE-2
ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst conducts a session with the Capillary Flow Experiment (CFE-2).

CFE, CFE-2

Capillary Flow Experiment, Capillary Flow Experiment – 2 The primary objective of Vane Gap (VG) experiments was to determine equilibrium interface configurations and critical wetting conditions for interfaces between interior corners separated by a gap. Secondary objectives were to determine critical wetting transient as well as validating numerical predictions of the large length scale discontinuous … Read the rest ⇢

NASA Image: ISS013E69250 - Astronaut Jeffrey N. Williams, Expedition 13 NASA space station science officer and flight engineer, works with the dust and aerosol measurement feasibility test (DAFT) in the Destiny laboratory of the International Space Station.
NASA Image: ISS013E69250 - Astronaut Jeffrey N. Williams, Expedition 13 NASA space station science officer and flight engineer, works with the dust and aerosol measurement feasibility test (DAFT) in the Destiny laboratory of the International Space Station.

DAFT

Dust and Aerosol Measurement Feasibility Test (DAFT) The Dust and Aerosol Measurement Feasibility Test (DAFT) was designed to ensure that a modified P-Trak—a key component of the forthcoming NASA Smoke Aerosol Measurement Experiment (SAME)—will perform properly in the unique environment of microgravity. If the P-Trak performs as expected, the device will be used in SAME … Read the rest ⇢

Hard to Wet
Hard to Wet Surfaces Sample Module.

Eli Lilly-Hard to Wet Surfaces

Hard to Wet Surfaces (Eli Lilly-Hard to Wet Surfaces) The Hard to Wet Surfaces (Eli Lilly-Hard to Wet Surfaces) investigation is simple, safe, and similar to the standard dissolution experiments run at Eli Lilly. Observing the performance of mini-tablet wetting and dissolution in a controlled situation in a vial helps to establish increased understanding of … Read the rest ⇢

pwm eatured

PWM

Plant Water Management (PWM) This project fundamentally explores the microgravity design space for a fully autonomous passive farming system in space. The technology demonstration is expected to further develop our fundamental understanding and physical models characterizing the interaction of microgravity passive water and nutrient delivery to various plant configurations. The phase change between water delivery, … Read the rest ⇢

Provide feedback