NASA engineers continue to troubleshoot a centrifuge motor problem in a new system being set up on the International Space Station to recycle astronauts' urine into drinking water. They are hopeful that a group of sensors showing the motor moving too slowly are the kind of minor glitch that is to be expected during the first installation of complex hardware in space.
But a prolonged delay figuring out how to resolve the problem could require Endeavour's 15-day mission to be extended for another day, something that was looking less likely because shuttle and station crews were working so far ahead of schedule.
Worst case, if the entire distillation assembly in which the motor is located needs to be replaced, it could take months to send up a new unit and secure the water samples Endeavour had hoped to take home.
"Without this, we can't get much farther, so we do need to figure this out before we proceed," said Courtenay McMillan, a space station flight director.
Meanwhile on the station, Expedition 18 crew member Sandy Magnus is continuing to hook up a component that would allow the station crew to test water quality on orbit, though more extensive analysis was planned on the ground. During a news conference this afternoon, mission commander Chris Ferguson said getting water samples home was his top priority, and he would extend the mission a day if necessary to get them.
"If we have to extend and extra day to do that, we certainly will," he said.
A decision on whether to extend the mission could come Saturday.
Saturday will also feature the mission's third of four planned spacewalks, and Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper and Steve Bowen have begun their preparations. They hope to complete the cleaning and lubrication of the joint that rotates the station's starboard solar wings like paddle wheels, a job expected to take seven hours -- the mission's longest spacewalk.
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