International Space Station (ISS) crewmates have been making lots of trips to the dump this week, transferring trash and junk into two automated cargo capsules to burn up during re-entry over the Pacific.

Russia's Progress M-64/29P undocked from the nadir port of the Zarya module on Sept. 1, and Europe's Jules Verne Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) is scheduled to follow on Sept. 5. Both vehicles will remain in orbit for a time before being commanded to re-enter.

The Progress resupply craft, which arrived at the station on May 16 with almost 3 tons of cargo, will continue to orbit with its load of trash until Sept. 9. Jules Verne will remain in orbit until Sept. 29, when it will be sent into the atmosphere with some 900 kilograms (2,000 pounds) of dry waste and 254 kilograms (560 pounds) of liquid waste the crew has transferred from the cluttered station.

Both spacecraft will use their time in free flight and re-entry to conduct scientific experiments. The Russian vehicle will continue the Plasma-Progress experiment started in September 2007 with Progress M-60.

Using ground-based radar at the Solar Terrestrial Physics Institute in the Siberian city of Irkutsk, Russian scientists will observe the plasma formations that arise when the Progress vehicle's thrusters fire while the spacecraft is in different attitudes. The goal is to obtain a better understanding of the plasma environment around the space station itself when it is reboosted using its own engines or those of visiting spacecraft.

The ATV reboosted the station four times during its five-month attached mission at the ISS and provided attitude control. On one occasion it also made a debris avoidance maneuver to dodge part of a Russian naval reconnaissance satellite (Cosmos-2421) that reportedly broke up in February.

When the ATV deorbits, two NASA aircraft will observe its descent over the Pacific with ultraviolet sensors, radar and spectrometry. The station crew also is tentatively scheduled to use the Russian Fialka instrument for ultraviolet and spectrometric observations of the ATV re-entry from above.