+John. Subscriber¹ Posted June 23, 2016 Subscriber¹ Share Posted June 23, 2016 15 minutes ago, Unobscured Vision said: You'd be surprised how much of an impact a "bad smell" will make on morale. No, it needs to be addressed by not being there. Ionic Air Purifier/Scrubber will help, but it's only part of the solution. Chemical air fresheners (Glade plug-ins, for example) will stress O2 Regeneration gear, so we can't use those. There's got to be a solution ... /thinks Sorted . Unobscured Vision and Emn1ty 2 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DocM Posted June 23, 2016 Share Posted June 23, 2016 (edited) You have to start out with the empty module having interior walls which are antimicrobial, which can be as simple as nanoparticles of silver, copper, or photocayalytic materials like TiO2 in the surface materials. Rinse, wash, repeat WRT equipment cases, coatings, fabrics etc. Reinforce this like SpaceX does on Dragon, medical centers and increasingly new construction: UV lights. Dragon has LED UV lights to keep the inside bug free, medical centers are starting to treat vacated rooms with UV before using them again, and UV LEDs in ductwork can kill all manner of bugs. Edited June 23, 2016 by DocM Unobscured Vision 1 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Mirumir Subscriber¹ Posted June 23, 2016 Subscriber¹ Share Posted June 23, 2016 20 hours ago, Unobscured Vision said: Not sure Putin would want a Trans Person on the ISS, though ... we know how he is about anyone "different". /a giant facepalm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unobscured Vision Posted June 24, 2016 Share Posted June 24, 2016 2 hours ago, Mirumir said: /a giant facepalm What? Calling a Spade a Spade. /shrug Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Draggendrop Veteran Posted June 24, 2016 Author Veteran Share Posted June 24, 2016 I am trying to type this, one day after knee surgery...bear with me.....(pun intended) First off....a Bob Ross moment.....all the little trees are getting along in the calm forest here... Back to science..... NASA International Space Station On-Orbit Status 22 June 2016 Astronaut Jeff Williams works on a pair of U.S. spacesuits inside the Quest airlock. NASA Quote Commander Jeff Williams continued the ongoing maintenance on U.S. spacesuits throughout the workday on Wednesday. Meanwhile, the Cygnus cargo craft from Orbital ATK re-entered the Earth's atmosphere completing one final experiment. Williams scrubbed cooling loops and collected water samples from inside U.S. spacesuits ahead of a pair of spacewalks planned for later this year. The main task planned for the first spacewalk will be installing an international docking adapter to the Harmony module. The second spacewalk will see the replacement of batteries as part of maintenance for the International Space Station's power system. Cygnus has been busy since its release from the station June 14 serving as a platform for science. Its first experiment saw a large fire set inside the vehicle helping scientists understand combustion in space. Earlier this week, a set of nanosatellites was released from Cygnus. Finally, as Cygnus broke apart during its re-entry recorders downlinked data providing insights into the behavior of spacecraft re-entering Earth's atmosphere. Quote Cygnus Re-entry: Cygnus re-entry burn was completed today at 7:45 AM CDT following unberth last Tuesday, June 14. - The NRCSD-E deployment planned for yesterday succeeded in deploying four of five LEMUR satellites. Several additional attempts were made to deploy the final satellite, but were not successful. Orbital-ATK has confirmed via imagery that the deployer's doors did not open. - Prior to unberth, the ReEntry Breakup Recorder- Wireless (REBR-W) was configured to activate upon sensing deorbit loads and transmit data automatically. The REBR team has not received data as expectedas of the writing of this report. REBR is a cost-effective system that rides a re-entering space vehicle, records data during the re-entry and breakup of the vehicle, and returns the data for analysis. Understanding how vehicles behave during atmospheric reentry gives future spacecraft developers unique information that can enhance design efficiencies and safety. 62P Thruster Test: Russian ground teams performed a thruster test on 62P. However, only the X axis thrusters fired, the Z and Y axis thrusters did not. Ground teams are investigating, and a re-test of the thrusters is expected on June 27. Following the 62P thruster test, Moscow experienced issues reintegrating the Progress into the control loop. The maneuver back to the Torque Equalibrium Attitude (TEA) was subsequently performed using thruster configuration SM411. Thruster configuration will remain SM411 until Moscow has a forward plan for reintegrating the Nadir Progress. In the meantime, a 62P prop purge is planned for tomorrow. Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) Maintenance: The crew spent most of his day performing the following activities to dump and fill EMU 3005, 3008 feedwater tanks to satisfy maintenance requirements for on-orbit stowage. Due to previous EMU off-nominal conditions, steps were included for trend tracking: - Obtain a feedwater sample from EMU 3005 water tanks for future ground analysis. - Initiate ionic and particulate filtration of the EMU and Airlock cooling water loops. - Iodinate EMU Ion Filters and complete a 2-hour EMU iodination. - Obtain a 250 mL sample of EMU cooling loop water to determine the effectiveness of the Ion Filter in scrubbing EMU and Airlock cooling water. 10 mL of the water sample will be used for a conductivity test. The remainder of the water will be returned to ground for chemical analysis. - Determine a conductivity measurement for EMU water samples. Each sample will be measured once and two readings will be recorded from the Liquid Conductivity Meter display. - Regenerate Metal Oxide (Metox) canisters by baking out CO2 in the Metox Regenerator oven. Station Support Computer (SSC) service pack installation: Ground controllers installed a new service pack on the SSCs onboard ISS. Node 3 MCA anomaly: This morning, Node 3 MCA experienced an ion pump current spike and shut down. A system restart recovered the MCA functionality. Quote Ground Activities All activities were completed unless otherwise noted. EMU ops support Nominal ground commanding Three-Day Look Ahead: Thursday, 06/23: Habitability, Microchannel Diffusion plate changeout Friday, 06/24: JEMAL pressurization, leak check, PBRE hardware stow Saturday, 06/25: Crew off duty QUICK ISS Status - Environmental Control Group: Component -Status Elektron - On Vozdukh - Manual [СКВ] 1 - SM Air Conditioner System ("SKV1") - On [СКВ] 2 - SM Air Conditioner System ("SKV2") - Off Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly (CDRA) Lab - Standby Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly (CDRA) Node 3 - Operate Major Constituent Analyzer (MCA) Lab - Idle Major Constituent Analyzer (MCA) Node 3 - Operate Oxygen Generation Assembly (OGA) - Process Urine Processing Assembly (UPA) - Standby Trace Contaminant Control System (TCCS) Lab - Off Trace Contaminant Control System (TCCS) Node 3 - Full Up http://spaceref.com/international-space-station/nasa-international-space-station-on-orbit-status-22-june-2016.html Space Station Live: Chasing a Dream video is 4:51 min. Quote Published on Jun 22, 2016 NASA Commentator Lori Meggs speaks with John Olson, the vice president for space systems for Sierra Nevada Corp., to learn more about its “Dream Chaser.” The company is making its dream a reality in partnering with NASA to advance the development of a commercial crew and cargo transportation system. Sierra Nevada Corp., SpaceX and Orbital ATK were selected by NASA for cargo missions to fly between 2019 and 2024. ------------------------ NASA Ignites Fire Experiment Aboard Space Cargo Ship Quote The first Spacecraft Fire Experiment (Saffire-I) was the beginning of a three-part experiment to be conducted over the course of three flights of Orbital ATK's Cygnus vehicle to investigate large-scale flame spread and material flammability limits in long duration microgravity. The Saffire-I experiment enclosure was approximately half a meter wide by 1 meter deep by 1.3 meter long and consisted of a flow duct and avionics bay. Inside the flow duct, the cotton-fiberglass blend burn sample measured 0.4 m wide by 1 meter long. When commanded by Orbital ATK and Saffire ground controllers operating from Dulles, Virginia, it was ignited by a hot wire. Previous to this experiment, the largest fire experiment that had been conducted in space is about the size of an index card. After the experiment was ignited, the Cygnus continued to orbit Earth for six days as it transmitted high-resolution imagery and data from the Saffire experiment. Following complete data transmission, the Cygnus spacecraft completed its mission with a destructive entry into the Earth's atmosphere. Saffire-I Experiment Burns in Space video is 0:19 min. http://spaceref.com/safety/nasa-ignites-fire-experiment-aboard-space-cargo-ship-1.html ------------------------------ New Solar System Internet Technology Debuts on the International Space Station Delay/Disruption Tolerant Networking NASA Quote This month, NASA took a major step toward creating a Solar System Internet by establishing operational Delay/Disruption Tolerant Networking (DTN) service on the International Space Station. The DTN service will help automate and improve data availability for space station experimenters and will result in more efficient bandwidth utilization and more data return. DTN works by providing a reliable and automatic "store and forward" data network that stores partial bundles of data in nodes along a communication path until the parts can be forwarded or retransmitted, then re-bundled at the final destination - either to ground stations on Earth, robotic spacecraft in deep space, or, one day, humans living on other planets. This differs from traditional Internet Protocols that require all nodes in the transmission path to be available during the same time frame for successful data transmission. Aboard the space station, DTN was added to the Telescience Resource Kit (TReK), a software suite for researchers to transmit and receive data between operations centers and their payloads aboard station. This service on the station will also enhance mission support applications, including operational file transfers. This first use of the service as an operational capability on a space mission marks the beginning of the space station as a node in the evolving Solar System Internet. In addition to use in space, DTN can benefit environments where communications are unreliable, such as disaster response areas. NASA worked closely with one of the "fathers of the internet," Dr. Vinton G. Cerf, vice president and chief internet evangelist for Google and a distinguished visiting scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, to develop DTN. Dr. Cerf sees extended benefits of this networking service that can be used here on Earth. more at the link... http://spaceref.com/nasa-hack-space/new-solar-system-internet-technology-debuts-on-the-international-space-station.html ------------------------- Space Research Ongoing as New Trio Awaits Launch Sunlight is pictured reflecting off Earth. NASA Quote Three Expedition 48 crew members are orbiting Earth awaiting the addition of a new trio preparing to join them next month on the International Space Station. As the new crew gets ready to head to the Baikonur Cosmodrome launch pad on Friday, the orbiting crew is conducting advanced science and maintaining the orbital lab systems. An upgraded Soyuz spacecraft, the Soyuz MS-01, will launch July 6 carrying cosmonaut Anatoly Ivanishin, NASA astronaut Kate Rubins and Japanese astronaut Takuya Onishi to their new home in space. They will join Commander Jeff Williams and cosmonauts Oleg Skripochka and Alexey Ovchinin completing the six-member Expedition 48 crew. Science continues on the station, as the crew performed some robotics work, checked out a microscope and sampled water for a microbe check. The Japanese robotic arm was put to work today attaching samples outside the Kibo lab module. An advanced microscope, the Light Microscopy Module, had its diffusion plates swapped out. Also, water samples were collected to check for quality. On the Russian side of the station, the cosmonauts explored how microgravity affects the human digestive system. They also continued more Earth photography to understand how natural and man-made changes affect the planet. https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacestation/2016/06/23/space-research-ongoing-as-new-trio-awaits-launch/ ------------------------- Astronaut Works Spacesuits as Cygnus Burns Up for Science Astronaut Jeff Williams works on a pair of U.S. spacesuits inside the Quest airlock. Credit: NASA TV Quote Commander Jeff Williams continued the ongoing maintenance on U.S. spacesuits throughout the workday on Wednesday. Meanwhile, the Cygnus cargo craft from Orbital ATK re-entered the Earth’s atmosphere completing one final experiment. Williams scrubbed cooling loops and collected water samples from inside U.S. spacesuits ahead of a pair of spacewalks planned for later this year. The main task planned for the first spacewalk will be installing an international docking adapter to the Harmony module. The second spacewalk will see the replacement of batteries as part of maintenance for the International Space Station’s power system. Cygnus has been busy since its release from the station June 14 serving as a platform for science. Its first experiment saw a large fire set inside the vehicle helping scientists understand combustion in space. Earlier this week, a set of nanosatellites was released from Cygnus. Finally, as Cygnus broke apart during its re-entry recorders downlinked data providing insights into the behavior of spacecraft re-entering Earth’s atmosphere. https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacestation/2016/06/22/astronaut-works-spacesuits-as-cygnus-burns-up-for-science/ ---------------------------- ---------------------------- Cygnus Cargo Craft closes out successful Mission with heavily-studied Re-Entry Photo showing the blazing re-entry of the Cygnus Orb-2 craft in 2014 – Photo: NASA/ESA Quote Orbital ATK’s Cygnus OA-6 spacecraft met its fiery end on Wednesday when re-entering over the Pacific Ocean to conclude a 91-day resupply mission to the International Space Station including a week-long free flight after undocking dedicated to the first large-scale combustion experiment conducted in space. Cygnus departed the Space Station on June 14 after an 80-day stay, dropping off 3,395 Kilograms of cargo and picking up 1,855 Kilograms of trash and no-longer needed items. Just a few hours after the spacecraft’s departure, the largest intentional fire to be lit in space was started aboard Cygnus as part of the Saffire-I combustion study that examined a realistic fire in the microgravity environment, looking at flame spread, temperatures, oxygen consumption and other properties to develop models for fire progression within a spacecraft, of relevance for the development of future fire safety systems. Quote To set up for a targeted destructive re-entry, Cygnus completed a small adjustment of its orbit, lowering itself into a 387 by 389-Kilometer orbit. Firing up its BT-4 main engine, Cygnus began slowing down to drop itself out of orbit and carefully place the point at which it would intercept the atmosphere, a) to move away from any populated areas or shipping routes and b) to make sure re-entry was visible to an airborne observation campaign. The spacecraft crossed the 80-Kilometer line at around 13:29 UTC, feeling the heat of re-entry. Still weighing in at over five metric tons, Cygnus slammed into the dense layers of the atmosphere where drag built up to a destructive force – first ripping off the spacecraft’s two circular solar arrays before triggering the onset of fragmentation of the spacecraft with the pressurized cargo module breaching, causing an explosive release of air. Just when Cygnus was ready to meet its fiery end, the REBR Instrument – Re-Entry Breakup Recorder – powered up to measure a number of parameters during the destructive end of the mission. REBR features a number of auxiliary sensors installed in different positions of the spacecraft to measure the thermal, acceleration, rotational and other stresses the vehicle experiences during its destructive re-entry process. This data is used to improve Re-Entry Simulation Models that show inaccuracies for the peak heating environment of re-entry. The parent unit of REBR has a mass of about 4 kilograms and is 31-centimeters in diameter. REBR consists of a sensor suite, a GPS receiver, temperature sensors, accelerometers and rate gyros, a pressure sensors, electronics, a commercially-available Iridium modem, a combination GPS/Iridium antenna, and batteries. Data collected during the high-speed re-entry and breakup is stored inside the REBR memory and after ejection of the recorder around 40 Kilometers in altitude, the recorder ‘phones’ home via the Iridium satellite constellation to transmit the acquired data prior to impact in the ocean. REBR & Auxiliary Sensors – Photo: NASA more at the link... http://spaceflight101.com/cygnus-oa-6-end-of-mission/ ---------------------- Yosemite National Park, California, USA 2016-06-23 Yosemite National Park is home to Half Dome, a mountain of exposed granite, and popular hiking spot. The National Park Service is celebrating their centennial this year. Credit Planet. https://www.planet.com/gallery/yosemite-20160620/ Jim K and Unobscured Vision 2 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Draggendrop Veteran Posted June 24, 2016 Author Veteran Share Posted June 24, 2016 As a carry on to a few posts ago....ISS End of life plans. The date of 2024 has been used, with a possibility of 2028, if maintenance is not to drastic. But we also have an issue, in common with all extreme outposts, including space, and that issue is abandonment. This will arise in instances of catastrophic failure and/or damage. The crew, hopefully, would have been evacuated and a decision made to repair the ISS or begin a plan of controlled de-orbit. This is an article from May 2016 which will help explain it better... NASA and Roscosmos discuss ISS suicide plunge requirements Quote ISS partners – NASA and Roscosmos – have conducted a bilateral Technical Interchange Meeting (TIM) to refine procedures relating to the disposal of the Station at the end of its service life, or in the event of an emergency. The deorbit burn capability – which won’t exist until at least 2017 – requires multiple docked vehicles firing in unison to push the Station to its fiery demise. ISS EOL: Providing the ISS can avoid a critical failure, the Station still has many years ahead of her before the day comes when a deorbit burn will be the only remaining option. The Station is expected to continue operations until at least 2024, a date that could be extended as far as 2028. However, the financial and logistical support from its international partners may eventually be overtaken by the condition of critical hardware required to keep the orbital outpost operational. Technical evaluations have shown the Station is likely to be able to press through to 2028, around the time NASA is expected to start dedicating major elements of its funding towards missions to Mars. While the hardware-limiting factor requires no immediate demand for a deorbit plan, an emergency scenario – where the Station becomes crippled and has to be evacuated – would potentially call for its disposal within a relatively short timescale. NASA’s Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel (ASAP) members have taken a keen interest in the safe disposal of the Station, known as the EOL (End Of Life) game plan. Back in 2013, the ASAP heard from (former) ISS Program manager Mike Suffredini, who described the evaluations on what would be an EOL scenario for the Station. “NASA now has a plan so that in the event the Station must be evacuated, there will be a 14-day period in which to make a decision on whether or not to bring the ISS down,” noted Mr. Suffredini at the time. “The Program is setting the contingency plan in place, although there is still a lot of work to be done.” That initial plan called for a period of 180 days to allow the Station to decay its path towards the deorbit altitude. During this period, Russia would launch two Russian Progress vehicles to autonomously transfer propellant to the Service Module thrusters and to prepare themselves to provide additional deorbit propulsion. However, further evaluations noted this was a simplified emergency plan and further considerations had to be made to ensure the huge structure would be destroyed over a safe area of ocean. Almost three years later, the ASAP heard of a new TIM-level meeting between NASA and Roscosmos, held at the Johnson Space Center (JSC) at the end of April. Quote Both agencies have created a co-written “Strategy Document” and a “Contingency Action Plan”, which they will continue to refine before signing a multilateral agreement on the EOL strategy. “The old adage of what goes up must come down is equally applicable to the ISS as it is to a baseball,” noted the ASAP at the latest meeting conducted at the Marshall Space Flight Center this week. “So by in large, preparing for the process we will undergo when EOL occurs – or how to respond in an emergency – we felt was extremely important.” Classing the TIM as a major milestone, the ASAP members were told that the two key partners – NASA and Roscosmos – are now in unison on the EOL requirements, while the other ISS partners have also agreed to the forward plan. Work that will be evaluated over the near-term include estimating the footprint size of the debris field, which will be better known per the final burn Delta-v parameters. The aim is to “minimalize” the potential of surviving debris impacting populated areas. Additional work is required on the attitude thrust control estimates, given attitude control will be a key player in the final moments of the ISS’ life. Other elements that were provided out of the TIM include a NASA requirement for the avionic systems to be in a working condition for at least six months after a crew evacuation. Also, work is being conducted on mitigating against onboard propellant “freezing” in the cargo area of the Station. Quote Multiple Russian vehicles will be involved with pushing the Station towards its demise, via the deorbit burn. Previous plans called for two Progress cargo vehicles and the Station’s own Service Module thrusters working together to shove the giant structure out of orbit towards entry interface. However, the inclusion of a Soyuz vehicle has also now been noted, not least based on the emergency scenario where the docked Russian vehicles at the time of the EOL call will be tasked with a major part of the deorbit requirement. Roscosmos has said it will aim to ensure additional Progress vehicles could be launched and docked to ISS following a contingency call, in tandem with any subsequent evacuation conducted via Soyuz. The Russians have noted they will implement certain software modifications necessary to allow integrated burns of multiple engines on ISS, as well as the final deorbit burn sequence from the Progress and potential Soyuz vehicles docked on the Station. at the time of any incident. Roscosmos will also conduct further analysis of the “dual-axis burn concept” that will be employed to deorbit the Station. This forward work will take some time to complete, meaning the ISS does not currently have the capability to safely deorbit. It is expected that gap in capability will be mitigated by September 2017. However, the ASAP are pleased by the progress made on a subject matter that has been on great interest to them for some years. https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2016/05/nasa-roscosmos-discuss-iss-suicide-requirements/ Changes will also be incorporated when SpaceX and Boeing are in the mix for crew evacuation....leaving attached Soyuz units for de-obit burns if required on short notice. This will be a plan that evolves with primary concern of crew safety followed by avoidance of populations on de-orbit of the ISS. ----------------- Doc made this post in the SpaceX thread, but I am repeating it here for a reason.... This plan is here..... http://www.geekwire.com/2016/private-space-station-nasa-suffredini/ It is basically a concept to see if NASA will allow a few modules attached to ISS prior to ISS shutdown, where upon, these new modules will be the core of a new commercial station in partnership with other ventures, such as Bigelow, Orbital ATK, etc. So far, as concepts go, we have a NASA unit, one by Boeing, one by Bigelow, one by Orbital, Axiom Space (above), a Russian concept and a new Chinese space station in the works. There is not a lot of money to go around, but I would think it likely that the Chinese, Russian and at least one and/or combination of the concepts will be built. I would also "put money on it" for SpaceX to build an orbital dockyard for fueling/cargo handling. Jim K 1 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Mirumir Subscriber¹ Posted June 24, 2016 Subscriber¹ Share Posted June 24, 2016 14 hours ago, Unobscured Vision said: What? Calling a Spade a Spade. /shrug Was that last sentence really necessary? Can we keep the science section free of political remarks? If you want to troll Putin or his policies, RWI is this way. Spoiler P.S. No one promoted the cultural diversity and defended the human rights in Russia in the last two decades to a greater extent than Putin did. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unobscured Vision Posted June 24, 2016 Share Posted June 24, 2016 Yes, @Mirumir. Yes it was. But I'll do as requested, since you asked nicely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Draggendrop Veteran Posted June 25, 2016 Author Veteran Share Posted June 25, 2016 ISS Daily Summary Report – 06/23/16 Quote Japanese Experiment Module (JEM) Airlock (JEMAL) Exposed Experiment Handrail Attachment Mechanism (ExHAM) #1-2 Operations: Following the JEM Remote Manipulator System (JEMRMS) Small Fine Arm (SFA) retrieval and detachment of 14 ExHAM #1 samples from the Handhold Experiment Platform last week, today the new samples were installed. ExHAM #1-2 is the first return and sample exchange mission of the 1-year exposed ExHAM #1 which contain 17 samples and 14 will be returned on SpX-9. ExHAM is a cuboid mechanism equipped with a fixture on the upper surface for grappling by the JEMRMS SFA, and has components on the under surface for attaching the ExHAM to the handrail on the JEM Exposed Facility. Microchannel Diffusion Glacier Sample Retrieve and Diffusion Plate Changeout: Samples were retrieved from the Glacier and temporarily stowed to allow the samples to thaw. The Diffusion Plate in the LMM (Light Microscopy Module) AFC (Auxiliary Fluids Container) was removed and exchanged with another plate. Microchannel Diffusion takes advantage of microgravity to study interactions of medicine, biology, computer science and many other fields that benefit from nanotechnology at slightly larger scales, providing a new understanding of particle flows at the nanoscale. Habitability Human Factors Directed Observations: The crew completed a Habitability session by recording and submitting a walk-through video documenting observations of an area or activity providing insight related to human factors and habitability. The Habitability investigation collects observations about the relationship between crew members and their environment on the International Space Station. Observations can help spacecraft designers understand how much habitable volume is required, and whether a mission’s duration impacts how much space crew members need. Microbial In-Flight Water Operations: On Tuesday the crew collected water samples to determine water quality onboard the ISS with the focus on microbial and coliform detection. Today he visually analyzed Coliform Detection Bags and Microbial Capture Devices following the required 48 hours of incubation. Quote Ground Activities All activities were completed unless otherwise noted. Nominal ground commanding Three-Day Look Ahead: Friday, 06/24: JEMAL pressurization, leak check, PBRE hardware stow Saturday, 06/25: Crew off duty, housekeeping Sunday, 06/26: Crew off duty QUICK ISS Status – Environmental Control Group: Component Elektron On Vozdukh Manual [СКВ] 1 – SM Air Conditioner System (“SKV1”) Off [СКВ] 2 – SM Air Conditioner System (“SKV2”) Off Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly (CDRA) Lab Standby Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly (CDRA) Node 3 Operate Major Constituent Analyzer (MCA) Lab Idle Major Constituent Analyzer (MCA) Node 3 Operate Oxygen Generation Assembly (OGA) Process Urine Processing Assembly (UPA) Standby Trace Contaminant Control System (TCCS) Lab Off Trace Contaminant Control System (TCCS) Node 3 Full Up https://blogs.nasa.gov/stationreport/2016/06/23/iss-daily-summary-report-062316/ Please excuse the formatting issues today...... ------------------------ NASA ISS Space to Ground Weekly Report - 24 June 2016 NASA ISS Space to Ground Weekly Report - 24 June 2016. NASA Quote NASA's Space to Ground is your weekly update on what's happening aboard the International Space Station. http://spaceref.com/international-space-station/nasa-iss-space-to-ground-weekly-report---24-june-2016.html Space to Ground: Touchdown!: 06/24/2016 video is 1:58 min. --------------------------- Cygnus Re-Entry captured on Video, On-Board Data Recorder fails Quote This week’s destructive re-entry of the Cygnus cargo craft after a successful mission to the Space Station was to be heavily studied from within the spacecraft and via an airborne campaign from below. While the scientists aboard the chartered aircraft captured excellent data and video of re-entry, the data recorder aboard the disintegrating vehicle failed to transmit data. analysis at the link... http://spaceflight101.com/cygnus-re-entry-captured-on-video-on-board-data-recorder-fails/ Cygnus OA6 Reentry video is 0:29 min. --------------------------- Next Station Crew Arrives at Launch Site Quote Three Expedition 48-49 crew members are at the Baikonur Cosmodrome awaiting the beginning of their mission in less than two weeks. Back inside the International Space Station, the orbiting crew is working on research hardware and conducting life science. Veteran cosmonaut Anatoly Ivanishin and first time space flyers Kate Rubins from NASA and Takuya Onishi from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency are at their launch site counting down to a July 6 launch. The new trio will launch aboard the upgraded Soyuz MS-01 spacecraft and take a two day trip before docking to the Rassvet module. Expedition 48 Commander Jeff Williams and cosmonauts Oleg Skripochka and Alexey Ovchinin will welcome their new crewmates July 9. After they dock and enter their new home, the new station residents will say hello to family and mission officials and then receive a safety briefing before kicking off their four-month mission. In the meantime, Williams stowed hardware that observed how gases and liquids flow through porous media. The hardware is part of the Packed Bed Reactor Experiment that may help engineers design more efficient life support systems benefiting future space missions. The two cosmonauts, Skripochka and Ovchinin, explored how plasmas behave when trapped in a magnetic field. The duo also looked at heart health in space and photographed Earth features to document natural and man-made changes. https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacestation/2016/06/24/next-station-crew-arrives-at-launch-site/ --------------------------- --------------------------- San Gabriel Complex Fires, California, USA 2016-06-24 Quote Bright-red fire retardant outlines the boundaries of the twin wildfires that make up the San Gabriel Complex in the mountains north of Los Angeles. The blazes began on June 20th, and had consumed 5,235 acres by June 23rd. RapidEye satellites collected the true-color image, along with a picture from early June for comparison. https://www.planet.com/gallery/san-gabriel-fires/ San Gabriel Complex , Before credit Planet San Gabriel Complex , After credit Planet Jim K and Unobscured Vision 2 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Draggendrop Veteran Posted June 28, 2016 Author Veteran Share Posted June 28, 2016 Crew Preps for Cargo Ship Maneuvers (From left) Expedition 48-49 crew members Kate Rubins, Anatoly Ivanishin and Takuya Onishi pose for a portrait in front the Soyuz MS-01 spacecraft they will launch in July 6. Credit: NASA/Alexander Vysotsky Quote A pair of Expedition 48 cosmonauts are getting a Progress cargo ship ready to undock and redock Friday morning before its ultimate departure Saturday night. The maneuver will test an upgraded telerobotically operated rendezvous system installed in the Zvezda service module after the Progress docked in December. The Progress 62 (62P) resupply ship will undock from the Pirs docking compartment, back away to a distance of about 200 meters, then move back toward Pirs and dock 34 minutes later. Finally, the 62P will complete its mission Saturday night when it undocks for good and burns up over the Pacific Ocean less than 4 hours later. Commander Jeff Williams checked out the Major Constituent Analyzer (MCA) inside the Destiny lab module. The MCA checks the quality and components of the International Space Station’s air. Williams also swapped out batteries on a device that listens for and detects air leaks among the background noise of the station’s systems and hardware. Back on Earth, the next crew members to launch to the station familiarized themselves with their Soyuz MS-01 spacecraft. Veteran cosmonaut Anatoly Ivanishin and first time astronauts Kate Rubins and Takuya Onishi are at the Baikonur Cosmodrome scheduled to launch July 6 to begin a four-month mission on the station. https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacestation/2016/06/27/crew-preps-for-cargo-ship-maneuvers/ -------------------- NASA TV to Air Russian Cargo Ship Movement at Space Station The unpiloted ISS Progress 62 Russian cargo ship is seen docked to the Pirs docking compartment of the International Space Station. The spacecraft launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan Dec. 21, 2015 and docked two days later. Credits: NASA Quote A Russian cargo ship currently docked to the International Space Station will undock for a short test flight on Friday, July 1. NASA Television coverage will begin at 1:15 a.m. EDT. The Progress 62 cargo ship will automatically undock from the Pirs Docking Compartment of the space station and manually be guided in to re-dock. The maneuver will begin with undocking at 1:36 a.m. and take approximately 30 minutes, with re-docking planned for 2:10 a.m. This activity will test a newly installed manual docking system inside the station’s Russian segment. The resupply ship will back away to a distance of about 600 feet (about 183 meters) from the station, at which point Expedition 48 cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Oleg Skripochka of the Russian space agency Roscosmos will take manual control of the spacecraft. They will use a workstation in the Zvezda Service Module to “fly” the Progress back to a linkup with Pirs. The system test will include verification of software and a new signal converter incorporated in the upgraded manual docking system for future use in both Progress and piloted Soyuz vehicles in the unlikely event the “Kurs” automated rendezvous in either craft encounters a problem. Progress 62 arrived at the station Dec. 23, 2015 with more than three tons of food, fuel and supplies, and will undock for the final time at 11:48 p.m. Saturday, July 2. The spacecraft, loaded with trash, will be deorbited by Russian flight controllers to burn up in the Earth’s atmosphere over the Pacific Ocean. Check out the full NASA TV schedule and video streaming information at: http://www.nasa.gov/nasatv https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-tv-to-air-russian-cargo-ship-movement-at-space-station --------------------------- Boeing Opens Training Facility for Commercial Crew Missions Quote Astronauts, engineers and trainers are expected to learn how to fly and operate Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft prior to launch inside a new training facility dedicated to the spacecraft now in development in partnership with NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. Called the Space Training, Analysis and Review facility, or STAR, the building opened June 21 a few miles from NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, training home of NASA’s astronaut corps as well as mission control. The STAR facility will be used in concert with other simulators that Boeing will base at Johnson. The simulators built to incorporate various aspects of launch, mission and landing will be used to train teams of astronauts and spaceflight specialists for flight tests and eventually operational missions to the International Space Station. The simulators also will be connected to training consoles at Mission Control to allow fully integrated simulations for the crew and flight controllers. Such simulations are valuable because expose crews and designers to a wide variety of experiences. “As a pilot, nothing beats being in a simulator and getting hands-on training to fly a vehicle,” said former space shuttle commander Chris Ferguson, now deputy program manager and director of Crew and Mission Operations for Boeing’s Commercial Crew Program. https://blogs.nasa.gov/commercialcrew/2016/06/27/boeing-opens-training-facility-for-commercial-crew-missions/ ----------------------- Russia's Plan To Spin Off a New Space Station From the ISS Anatoly Zak Quote The end of the International Space Station may not be the end after all. The potential breakup of an international alliance is now brewing, and no, we're not talking about Brexit. This one is happening above our heads. Russia's main contractor in human space flight just detailed its plans to separate the newest modules from the International Space Station (ISS) once the long-lived project comes to an end in the 2020s. It plans to build a new habitable base in Earth orbit called the Russian Orbital Station, or ROS. The outpost will include three modules initially, possibly joined by two more in the future. Russian plans to split the ISS have been circulating for years. Now, for a host of political, financial, and technical reasons, this isn't just a wild idea on paper anymore. An artist rendition of how the separation of the Russian newest modules from the ISS will look like in mid-2020s. Anatoly Zak Quote One more big problem for the space station is that Russian efforts to complete its segment of the ISS have been stalled for years, first by poor quality control and then by the financial crisis. This month, reports surfaced that the launch of the Multi-Purpose Module, or Nauka (Russian for "science"), had been pushed back by another six months to December 2017. Given the complexity of the 20-ton behemoth, one can bet there will be more delays before Nauka reaches the launch pad. It would make little sense to launch such an expensive spacecraft just few years before the ISS is scheduled to be retired and plunged into the ocean sometime in mid-to-late 2020s. But even with all their problems on the ground, Russians proved with the ISS (and previously with Mir) that their hardware can keep crews safe for in orbit for decades. Consider those two factors together and here comes the idea for the all-Russian Orbital Station. The Science and Power Module, NEM, is scheduled for launch in 2019 to give the Russian segment of the ISS the capability to function as a separate space station. Anatoly Zak Quote According to RKK Energia, the prime Russian contractor on the ISS, the new outpost would begin with the separation of the Nauka from the rest of the old station in mid-2020s. By that time, Nauka should have two even newer modules in tow. One would be the so-called Node Module, a tinker-toy-like component that could connect to six other modules, crew ships, cargo tankers, structural elements, you name it. The Node Module is already in RKK Energia's garage and ready to go within a few months after the Nauka. Next would be the new Science and Power Module (NEM) which, as it name implies, will finally give cosmonauts a state-of-the-art science lab and a pair of large solar arrays, making the Russian segment fully independent from the rest of the ISS in terms of power, communications, and other resources. The launch of NEM, currently promised as early as 2019, would set the stage for these three components to leave the ISS to form ROS. And then Russia could add on. Someday, Russian engineers hope, they will outfit the Russian station with its own inflatable habitat and with a roomy airlock for spacewalks. Crews could be delivered to the new station onboard veteran Soyuz spacecraft or by a new-generation transport ship, which is currently in development. Right now the future Russian station is only a plan, not an official strategy approved by the Kremlin. But Russian engineers want to make sure that the nation's cosmonauts have a destination in space in case all other options on the table do not pan out. Ironically, Russian space officials also left door open for other nations to join the project, an idea that so far has had a mixed reception at NASA and ESA. http://www.popularmechanics.com/space/a21543/russian-plan-new-space-station-iss/ ------------------------ Space Station View of the Full Moon Moonrise NASA Quote Expedition 48 Commander Jeff Williams of NASA took this photograph on June 21, 2016, from the International Space Station. He wrote: "A spectacular rise of the full moon just before sunset while flying over western China." http://spaceref.com/onorbit/space-station-view-of-the-full-moon.html ----------------------- PEAKE: SOYUZ BLOWING ITSELF APART, ‘EXCITING!’ Quote COLOGNE, Germany — On Tuesday, June 21, European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Tim Peake gave his first press conference three days after landing back on Earth in a Soyuz descent module. Peake gave a presentation at the European Astronaut Centre (EAC) in Cologne, Germany, where he provided details about his mission. EAC is the home base for all ESA astronauts. Peake, NASA astronaut Tim Kopra, and Russian cosmonaut and Soyuz commander Yuri Malenchenko landed in the Kazakhstan steppe on Saturday, June 18, in their Soyuz TMA-19M spacecraft after spending 186 days in space. “[T]he [Soyuz] spacecraft really does blow itself apart, which is really quite exciting to be in the center of this […],” Peake said, describing how the separation of the three modules that make up the Soyuz spacecraft during re-entry. “It does it with a number of pyrotechnic bolts that all go off one after the other […] and these bolts are only a few millimeters of metal away from your ear when they go off […].” When the capsule goes through Earth’s atmosphere it is slowed from orbital speeds to about 515 mph (829 km/h). Then, according to Peake, the most dynamic part of the landing happened—the deployment of the drogue parachute. “[Y]ou get about 20 seconds where the capsule is being completely flung around, and you just have to really hold on and wait for it all to stop,” Peake said. “[…] so I wasn’t even aware that the main chute had opened […] I was concerned and I looked across to Yuri, and he just sat there so relaxed and cool as he always is. I thought, well, if we didn’t have the main parachute opening, then he wouldn’t be looking as cool as that, […].” The landing brought Peake’s Principia mission to a successful conclusion—but the research continues. Peake was the eighth ESA astronaut to complete a long-duration mission in space. He is the third, after Germany’s Alexander Gerst and Denmark’s Andreas Mogensen, to fly directly to the European Astronaut Centre for medical checks and to be able to provide researchers with the chance to collect more data on how Peake’s body and mind had adapted to living in space. Peake spent his first night back on Earth at the Envihab facility of the DLR German Aerospace Center, where scientists have gathered to continue the science program, collecting data on Tim’s rehabilitation phase. http://www.spaceflightinsider.com/missions/human-spaceflight/peake-soyuz-blowing-itself-apart-exciting/ ----------------------- ---------------------------- Port of Long Beach, California, USA 2016-06-27 Rows and rows of colorful shipping containers await transit at the Port of Long Beach, one of the busiest container ports in the United States—second only to the Port of Los Angeles. credit Planet https://www.planet.com/gallery/long-beach-port-20160625/ Jim K and +Mirumir 2 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Draggendrop Veteran Posted June 28, 2016 Author Veteran Share Posted June 28, 2016 NASA International Space Station On-Orbit Status 27 June 2016 Quote A pair of Expedition 48 cosmonauts are getting a Progress cargo ship ready to undock and redock Friday morning before its ultimate departure Saturday night. The maneuver will test an upgraded telerobotically operated rendezvous system installed in the Zvezda service module after the Progress docked in December. The Progress 62 (62P) resupply ship will undock from the Pirs docking compartment, back away to a distance of about 200 meters, then move back toward Pirs and dock 34 minutes later. Finally, the 62P will complete its mission Saturday night when it undocks for good and burns up over the Pacific Ocean less than 4 hours later. Commander Jeff Williams checked out the Major Constituent Analyzer (MCA) inside the Destiny lab module. The MCA checks the quality and components of the International Space Station's air. Williams also swapped out batteries on a device that listens for and detects air leaks among the background noise of the station's systems and hardware. Back on Earth, the next crew members to launch to the station familiarized themselves with their Soyuz MS-01 spacecraft. Veteran cosmonaut Anatoly Ivanishin and first time astronauts Kate Rubins and Takuya Onishi are at the Baikonur Cosmodrome scheduled to launch July 6 to begin a four-month mission on the station. Quote Ultrasonic Background Noise Test (UBNT): The crew replaced batteries and transmitted data by closing out the Station Support Computer (SSC's) Distributed Impact Detection System (DIDS) software and removing the UBNT hardware. UBNT detects high-frequency sounds generated by hardware on the U.S.-built portions of the ISS. Identifying sources of noise will aid in development of a leak locating system which would detect the high-pitched sound of air leaking through a pressurized wall. To detect leaks, the system would have to differentiate between harmless background sounds and a potentially dangerous air leak. LAB Major Constituent Analyzer (MCA) Mass Spectrometer Assembly (MSA) Troubleshooting: In December 2014, the crew installed new Orbital Replacement Units ORU1, ORU2, and ORU8 in the Lab MCA. When the Lab MCA was restarted, there was no communication with ORU2. Today the crew attempted to isolate the problem to either ORU2 or the connector it mates with on the MCA drawer. The crew reported no visible damage to either side of the ORU2 connector interface. He performed resistance checks on sockets on the drawer side connector saver and found that four of the sockets tested had lower than expected resistances. To address one potential cause of this problem, the crew replaced ORU4, the Low Voltage Power Supply, and repeated the resistance check on the previously failed sockets. The resistances of the sockets did not change so the original ORU4 was reinstalled. The rack has been closed out with ORU2 and ORU8 uninstalled. Teams are meeting to discuss the forward plan. The Node 3 MCA is operating nominally. Remote Power Controller RPCM LA2A3B-G RPC 2 Trip: This morning the RPC that provides power to the Fluids Integrated Rack (FIR) Primary Power feed tripped. At the time of the trip, ground teams were activating FIR for science operations. The crew reported no smoke odor and Compound Specific Analyzer Combustion Products (CSA-CP) readings were zero. A current spike high enough to trigger an RPC trip was not visible in the 50 Hz Direct Current to Direct Current Converter Unit (DDCU) current data, however, it is possible that the current spike was rapid enough to not be sampled at 50 Hz. After analysis of the system showed that the suspect components would be isolated if the main power feed was not used, the rack was successfully repowered using the auxiliary power feed. The auxiliary power feed will allow the MicroChannel Diffusion to achieve their science goals, and troubleshooting on the main power feed will occur after that payload's objectives are complete. Quote Ground Activities All activities were completed unless otherwise noted. Nominal ground commanding Three-Day Look Ahead: Tuesday, 06/28: TM750 camcorder battery charge & recording, 3D Printing hardware gather/experiment setup/coupon retrievals Wednesday, 06/29: CBEF Incubator Unit cleaning, Mouse habitat IU installation, MSPR VRU SSD replacement Thursday, 06/30: SPHERES Docking Port test/maintenance run QUICK ISS Status - Environmental Control Group: Component - Status Elektron - On Vozdukh - Manual [СКВ] 1 - SM Air Conditioner System ("SKV1") - On [СКВ] 2 - SM Air Conditioner System ("SKV2") - Off Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly (CDRA) Lab - Standby Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly (CDRA) Node 3 - Operate Major Constituent Analyzer (MCA) Lab - Idle Major Constituent Analyzer (MCA) Node 3 - Operate Oxygen Generation Assembly (OGA) - Process Urine Processing Assembly (UPA) - Standby Trace Contaminant Control System (TCCS) Lab - Off Trace Contaminant Control System (TCCS) Node 3 - Full Up http://spaceref.com/international-space-station/nasa-international-space-station-on-orbit-status-27-june-2016.html --------------------------- 3-D Printer Work Ahead of Weekend Departure of Cargo Ship The Progress 62 cargo craft arrived at the International Space Station Dec. 23, 2015, and docked to the Pirs docking compartment. Quote Expedition 48 Commander Jeff Williams is conducting a 3-D printing experiment inside the Destiny laboratory module today. His crewmates, Flight Engineers Oleg Skripochka and Alexey Ovchinin, worked on a variety of Russian experiments and readied a cargo ship for departure. Williams gathered the 3-D Printing payload hardware and set up the gear in the Destiny lab’s Microgravity Science Glovebox. The 3-D Printing in Zero G is a demonstration experiment seeking to determine if a 3-D printer can work in outer space. In-space manufacturing may enable future crews to be less dependent on cargo missions for supplies. Skripochka checked equipment that is part of an experiment to determine the location of micrometeoroid impacts on the International Space Station. The duo started the day closing the hatch to the Progress 62 (62P) cargo ship and conducting leak checks. The 62P will undock from the Pirs docking compartment early Friday then redock 34 minutes later. The redocking will be done manually to test an upgraded telerobotically operated rendezvous system installed in the Zvezda service module. The 62P will finally undock Saturday night and re-enter Earth’s atmosphere for a fiery destruction less than four hours. https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacestation/2016/06/28/3-d-printer-work-ahead-of-weekend-departure-of-cargo-ship/ ------------------------ ---------------- NASA TV News Conference, Media Availability With Next Space Station Crew Quote WASHINGTON, June 28, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough and two Russian crewmates will answer questions about their upcoming mission on the International Space Station at a news conference, and be available for one-on-one interviews, Thursday, July 7, at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. The 2 p.m. EDT news conference will air live on NASA Television and stream on the agency's website. Kimbrough and cosmonauts Andrey Borisenko and Sergey Ryzhikov of the Russian space agency Roscosmos will launch to the space station Sept. 23 aboard the Soyuz MS-02 spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The trio will round out Expedition 49, and return to Earth in February as part of the Expedition 50 crew. B-roll video of crew training will air before the news conference, beginning at 1:30 p.m. Media who wish to participate by telephone should call Johnson's newsroom at 281-483-5111 no later than 1:45 p.m. Those following the briefing on social media may ask questions using the hashtag #askNASA. Interview opportunities also are available in person or by phone. To request credentials to attend in person, or to reserve an interview opportunity, reporters must contact Johnson's newsroom by 4 p.m. Tuesday, July 5. During their planned five and a half month mission, the station crew members will perform approximately 250 research investigations and technology demonstrations not possible on Earth in order to advance scientific knowledge of Earth, space, physical and biological sciences. Science conducted on the space station continues to yield benefits for humanity and will enable future long-duration human and robotic exploration into deep space, including the agency's Journey to Mars. Kimbrough, a retired Army Colonel, completed his first spaceflight in 2008 on space shuttle mission STS-126, when he spent almost 16 days helping expand the station's living quarters to accommodate a six-member crew. During those 16 days, he completed two spacewalks, logging 12 hours and 52 minutes outside the station. A native of Killeen, Texas, Kimbrough is a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and the Georgia Institute of Technology. He started working at Johnson as a flight simulation engineer on shuttle training aircraft before his selection to the astronaut corps in 2004. http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/prnewswire-space-news.html?rkey=20160628DC35585&filter=1639 ISS Flight Crew Assignments http://spaceflight101.com/iss/iss-crew-assignments/ ------------------------- Perfectly Parallel: Skywatcher Spots Milky Way and ISS Astrophotographer Hammad Iqbal took this image of a perfectly parallel pass of the ISS to the Milky Way from Doha, Qatar on May 6, 2016. Credit: Hammad Iqbal | Hammad Iqbal Photography Quote In the desert of Qatar, the ISS made a perfectly parallel pass to the vertically oriented Milky Way. Astrophotographer Hammad Iqbal took this image from Doha, Qatar on May 6, 2016. "The sky was crystal clear due to dry weather and with a red LED headlamp, a bit of fiery light painting around a tree made for a striking contrast between the foreground and background," Iqbal wrote in an email to Space.com. http://www.space.com/33124-perfectly-parallel-skywatcher-spots-milky-way-and-iss.html -------------------------- Vancouver, Canada 2016-06-27 Vancouver’s famous Stanley Park, one of North America’s largest urban parks, extends into the mouth of Burrard Inlet. credit Planet https://www.planet.com/gallery/vancouver-20160626/ ------------------------ Star Trek's Enterprise voyages from Smithsonian's basement to main floor Quote The model of the USS Enterprise, in the Smithsonian's collection since 1974, is getting restored and given a more prominent spot in the National Air and Space Museum. "Star Trek" was a TV series about boldly going "where no man has gone before," but a model of its titular spaceship has been stuck in the basement gift shop of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum since it was donated in 1974. That's changing Tuesday, when the ship will warp up to the main atrium, complete with a restored paint job. "It's been brought into the light because, over time, its historical significance has grown," museum conservator Malcolm Collum told the Washington Post in one of the great understatements of the 21st century. Quote The move comes just in time for the museum's 40th anniversary on July 1. http://www.cnet.com/news/smithsonian-moves-star-trek-enterprise-model-from-basement-to-main-floor/ Set course for the atrium! The Smithsonian Jim K and Unobscured Vision 2 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Draggendrop Veteran Posted June 30, 2016 Author Veteran Share Posted June 30, 2016 NASA International Space Station On-Orbit Status 28 June 2016 Outside their Cosmonaut Hotel crew quarters in Baikonur, Kazakhstan, Expedition 48-49 crewmembers Kate Rubins of NASA (left), Anatoly Ivanishin of Roscosmos (center) and Takuya Onishi of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (right) listen to remarks June 26 during the traditional raising of the American, Russian, Japanese and Kazakh flags. The trio will launch on July 7, Baikonur time, on the Soyuz MS-01 spacecraft for a planned four-month mission on the International Space Station. Credit: NASA/Alexander Vysotsky. Quote Expedition 48 Commander Jeff Williams is conducting a 3-D printing experiment inside the Destiny laboratory module today. His crewmates, Flight Engineers Oleg Skripochka and Alexey Ovchinin, worked on a variety of Russian experiments and readied a cargo ship for departure. Williams gathered the 3-D Printing payload hardware and set up the gear in the Destiny lab's Microgravity Science Glovebox. The 3-D Printing in Zero G is a demonstration experiment seeking to determine if a 3-D printer can work in outer space. In-space manufacturing may enable future crews to be less dependent on cargo missions for supplies. Skripochka checked equipment that is part of an experiment to determine the location of micrometeoroid impacts on the International Space Station. The duo started the day closing the hatch to the Progress 62 (62P) cargo ship and conducting leak checks. The 62P will undock from the Pirs docking compartment early Friday then redock 34 minutes later. The redocking will be done manually to test an upgraded telerobotically operated rendezvous system installed in the Zvezda service module. The 62P will finally undock Saturday night and re-enter Earth's atmosphere for a fiery destruction less than four hours. Quote 3D Printing in Zero-G Experiment Setup: Today, the crew set up the 3D Printer in the Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG) work volume. The payload ground team remotely operated the device to produce two 3D printed test coupons, and the crew removed and stowed each of them. The 3D Printing In Zero-G experiment demonstrates that a 3D printer works normally in space. In general, a 3D printer extrudes streams of heated plastic, metal or other material, building layer on top of layer to create 3 dimensional objects. Testing a 3D printer using relatively low-temperature plastic feedstock on the ISS is the first step toward establishing an on-demand machine shop in space, a critical enabling component for deep-space crewed missions and in-space manufacturing. Japanese Experiment Module (JEM) Airlock (JEM A/L) Operations: In preparation for tomorrow's EXHAM installation on the JEM Exposed Facility (JEF) the JEM A/L was depressurized and the crew performed a leak check and vented residual air. When venting was complete, the vent valve and JEM A/L backup manual valve were closed. Health Maintenance System (HMS) Crew Medical Officer (CMO) Training: The crew completed this refresher course on some of the equipment and procedures taught in the CMO classes covering crew illness and/or injury. Lessons include text, pictures and video detailing previously learned medical procedures and hardware. Quote Ground Activities All activities were completed unless otherwise noted. JEM A/L depress Nominal ground commanding Three-Day Look Ahead: Wednesday, 06/29: CBEF Incubator Unit cleaning, Mouse habitat IU installation, MSPR VRU SSD replacement Thursday, 06/30: SPHERES Docking Port test/maintenance run Friday, 07/01: 3D Printer Coupon prints and retrievals, ARED quarterly maintenance, T2 acoustic blanket install & SLM measurements QUICK ISS Status - Environmental Control Group: Component - Status Elektron - On Vozdukh - Manual [СКВ] 1 - SM Air Conditioner System ("SKV1") - Off [СКВ] 2 - SM Air Conditioner System ("SKV2") - On Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly (CDRA) Lab - Standby Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly (CDRA) Node 3 - Operate Major Constituent Analyzer (MCA) Lab - Idle Major Constituent Analyzer (MCA) Node 3 - Operate Oxygen Generation Assembly (OGA) - Process Urine Processing Assembly (UPA) - Standby Trace Contaminant Control System (TCCS) Lab - Off Trace Contaminant Control System (TCCS) Node 3 - Full Up http://spaceref.com/international-space-station/nasa-international-space-station-on-orbit-status-28-june-2016.html --------------------------- 3-D Print Tests Continue Before Spaceships Depart and Arrive The east coast states of Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts are pictured from the International Space Station. NASA Quote Three Expedition 48 crew members worked on a variety of science experiments today before this weekend’s cargo ship maneuvers. On the ground in Kazakhstan, another set of crew members is getting ready for a two-day trip to the International Space Station next week. Commander Jeff Williams worked on the 3-D Printing in Zero-G experiment inside the Destiny lab module’s Microgravity Science Glovebox. Ground controllers also remotely operated the experiment creating a pair of 3-D objects. NASA is demonstrating the ability to manufacture parts in space using a 3-D printer on the International Space Station. A Russian cargo ship, Progress 62, will back away from the Pirs docking port Friday morning before redocking 34 minutes later. Progress 62 will depart for the final time Saturday evening, re-entering the atmosphere a few hours later for a fiery destruction over the Pacific Ocean. The redocking maneuver will test an upgraded telerobotically operated rendezvous system (TORU) installed last year inside the Zvezda service module. Cosmonauts Oleg Skripochka and Alexey Ovchinin will test the new TORU and manually guide the cargo ship back to its port during the test. Normally, a Progress resupply ship performs automated rendezvous and docking maneuvers, but the TORU is used in the event of an emergency. Three Expedition 48-49 crew members are in the final days before a July 6 launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome to the space station. After launch, veteran cosmonaut Anatoly Ivanishin and first time astronauts Kate Rubins and Takuya Onishi will take a two-day ride to the station testing the new systems inside their upgraded Soyuz MS-01 spacecraft. https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacestation/ ------------------ An Orbital Sunset Seen From the International Space Station Earth sunset from the International Space Station. NASA astronaut Jeff Williams captured the photo's for this composite of the sun falling slowly across the oceans of our planet. JSC2016e073422 (06/08/2016) NASA http://spaceref.com/onorbit/an-orbital-sunset-seen-from-the-international-space-station.html -------------------------- ------------------ North Caucasus Agriculture, Russia 2016-06-28 Water from the Caucasus Mountains feeds these large-scale farms in Stavrapol Krai, Russia. The region’s temperate climate supports grape and grain crops. credit Planet https://www.planet.com/gallery/north-caucasus-agriculture-20160627/ +Mirumir 1 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Draggendrop Veteran Posted July 1, 2016 Author Veteran Share Posted July 1, 2016 NASA International Space Station On-Orbit Status 29 June 2016 In the Integration Facility at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, Expedition 48-49 crewmember Kate Rubins of NASA climbs aboard the Soyuz MS-01 spacecraft June 25 for a "fit check" dress rehearsal activity. Rubins, Anatoly Ivanishin of Roscosmos and Takuya Onishi of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency will launch on July 7, Baikonur time, on the Soyuz MS-01 spacecraft for a planned four-month mission on the International Space Station. Credit: NASA/Alexander Vysotsky. Quote Three Expedition 48 crew members worked on a variety of science experiments today before this weekend's cargo ship maneuvers. On the ground in Kazakhstan, another set of crew members is getting ready for a two-day trip to the International Space Station next week. Commander Jeff Williams worked on the 3-D Printing in Zero-G experiment inside the Destiny lab module's Microgravity Science Glovebox. Ground controllers also remotely operated the experiment creating a pair of 3-D objects. NASA is demonstrating the ability to manufacture parts in space using a 3-D printer on the International Space Station. A Russian cargo ship, Progress 62, will back away from the Pirs docking port Friday morning before redocking 34 minutes later. Progress 62 will depart for the final time Saturday evening, re-entering the atmosphere a few hours later for a fiery destruction over the Pacific Ocean. The redocking maneuver will test an upgraded telerobotically operated rendezvous system (TORU) installed last year inside the Zvezda service module. Cosmonauts Oleg Skripochka and Alexey Ovchinin will test the new TORU and manually guide the cargo ship back to its port during the test. Normally, a Progress resupply ship performs automated rendezvous and docking maneuvers, but the TORU is used in the event of an emergency. Three Expedition 48-49 crew members are in the final days before a July 6 launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome to the space station. After launch, veteran cosmonaut Anatoly Ivanishin and first time astronauts Kate Rubins and Takuya Onishi will take a two-day ride to the station testing the new systems inside their upgraded Soyuz MS-01 spacecraft. Quote Exposed Experiment Handrail Attachment Mechanism (ExHAM) #1-2 Operations: Following the JEMAL depressurization, venting, and leak check yesterday, today ExHAM was installed on the JEMAL Slide Table and extended to the JEM Exposed Facility (JEF) side. ExHAM is a cuboid mechanism equipped with a grapple fixture on the upper surface for the Kibo's robotic arm, Japanese Experiment Module Remote Manipulator System Small Fine Arm (JEMRMS SFA) for fixation to the handrail on the Kibo's EF. There are 7 loadable experiments on the upper surface and 13 on the side surfaces. Liberated particles: After ExHAM installation had already been completed but while the external cameras were still configured, loose particles were observed crossing the field of view of one of the cameras in the JEM EF area. The source of these particles is not known at this time. Ground teams are investigating. 3D Printing in Zero-G Experiment Operations: Following yesterday's activities to print the calibration and compression coupons in the Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG), today the ground team remotely operated the 3D printer to produce two more 3D printed test coupons, after which the crew removed and stowed them. The 3D Printing In Zero-G experiment demonstrates that a 3D printer works normally in space. A 3D printer extrudes streams of heated plastic, metal or other material, building layer on top of layer to create 3 dimensional objects. Testing a 3D printer using relatively low-temperature plastic feedstock on the ISS is the first step toward establishing an on-demand machine shop in space, a critical enabling component for deep-space crewed missions and in-space manufacturing. Quote Ground Activities All activities were completed unless otherwise noted. JEMAL/EXHAM ops Nominal ground commanding Three-Day Look Ahead: Thursday, 06/30: SPHERES Docking Port test/maintenance run Friday, 07/01: 3D Printer Coupon prints and retrievals, ARED quarterly maintenance, T2 acoustic blanket install & SLM measurements Saturday, 07/02: Crew day off, housekeeping QUICK ISS Status - Environmental Control Group: Component - Status Elektron - On Vozdukh - Manual [СКВ] 1 - SM Air Conditioner System ("SKV1") - Off [СКВ] 2 - SM Air Conditioner System ("SKV2") - On Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly (CDRA) Lab - Standby Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly (CDRA) Node 3 - Operate Major Constituent Analyzer (MCA) Lab - Idle Major Constituent Analyzer (MCA) Node 3 - Operate Oxygen Generation Assembly (OGA) - Process Urine Processing Assembly (UPA) - Standby Trace Contaminant Control System (TCCS) Lab - Off Trace Contaminant Control System (TCCS) Node 3 - Full Up http://spaceref.com/international-space-station/nasa-international-space-station-on-orbit-status-29-june-2016.html -------------------------------- Cosmonauts Rest Before Spacecraft Maneuver Test The Progress 62 cargo ship is pictured during its rendezvous before docking Dec. 23, 2015, to the Pirs docking compartment. Credit: @Volkov_ISS Quote Two cosmonauts are resting today before they test a new system by flying a cargo ship back to its port early Friday. Commander Jeff Williams spent the morning testing a pair of free-floating satellites known as SPHERES. Flight Engineers Oleg Skripochka and Alexey Ovchinin will test a new telerobotically operated rendezvous system also called the TORU. The duo will use the TORU to manually guide the Progress 62 cargo ship back to the Pirs docking port after it undocks Friday at 1:36 a.m. EDT. The redocking maneuver is planned to take 34 minutes and will be broadcast live on NASA TV beginning at 1:15 a.m. Williams cleaned the battery compartments of the SPHERES satellites and searched for the source of ultrasound noise affecting their performance. The tiny satellites are the size of bowling balls and are operated inside the space station to test formation flying techniques, control algorithms and other technology demonstrations. Middle school students on the ground also compete to test their satellite control algorithms using the SPHERES as part of the Zero Robotics competition. https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacestation/2016/06/30/cosmonauts-rest-before-spacecraft-maneuver-test/ --------------------------------- Progress MS set for Manual Undocking – Re-Docking Test on Friday Quote The Progress MS spacecraft, currently docked to the International Space Station, will back away from its Pirs docking port on Friday before closing in again for a re-docking to test out a new manual control system installed on ISS. Progress MS, the first in the improved line of MS spacecraft, launched on December 21, 2015 and arrived at ISS two days later, demonstrating the various MS upgrades during the flight to Station to prepare for the introduction of the same modernized systems on the crewed Soyuz spacecraft. Arriving just in time for the holidays, Progress MS delivered 2,400 Kilograms of food, fuel and supplies to the six ISS crew members. Friday’s undocking – re-docking test is part of the flight test program for the Progress MS inaugural mission, aiming to verify the functionality of the TORU Telerobotically Operated Rendezvous System. As part of the transition to the MS spacecraft, the TORU system on the ISS side required upgrading which needs to be tested in an operational environment. The test will verify the new TORU software on the Progress as well as a signal converter within the manual docking system for future use on Progress and Soyuz missions as a backup to the automated KURS rendezvous system. Completing the test with a Progress that is nearing the end of its mission eliminates the risk of losing valuable cargo should something go wrong during the test and providing the option of simply having Progress depart the vicinity of ISS in case of an off-nominal situation. more at the link... http://spaceflight101.com/progress-ms-set-for-manual-undocking-re-docking-test-on-friday/ -------------------------- NASA Television to Air Next International Space Station Crew Launch Quote WASHINGTON, June 30, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The next three crew members bound for the International Space Station are set to launch Wednesday, July 6. Live launch coverage will begin at 8:30 p.m. EDT on NASA Television and the agency's website. NASA astronaut Kate Rubins, cosmonaut Anatoly Ivanishin of the Russian space agency Roscosmos, and astronaut Takuya Onishi of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency will launch at 9:36 p.m. (7:36 a.m. Baikonur time, July 7) from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. All three will spend approximately four months on the orbital complex, returning to Earth in October. The trio will travel in an upgraded Soyuz spacecraft, testing modified systems for two days – and 34 Earth orbits – before docking to the space station's Rassvet module at 12:12 a.m. Saturday, July 9. NASA TV coverage of docking will begin at 11:30 p.m. Friday, July 8. Hatches between the Soyuz and station will be opened about 2:50 a.m. Saturday, when the newly arrived crew will be greeted by Expedition 48 Commander Jeff Williams of NASA and Flight Engineers Oleg Skripochka and Alexey Ovchinin of Roscosmos. NASA TV coverage of hatch opening and welcoming ceremonies will begin at 2:30 a.m. http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/prnewswire-space-news.html?rkey=20160630DC37907&filter=1639 ------------------------- ---------------------------- Look Out Below! Today is Asteroid Day On Asteroid Day, observed June 30, researchers around the world gather to discuss near-Earth objects like asteroids and efforts to avoid or lessen the danger of future impacts. Credit: Texas A&M Quote One hundred and eight years ago today (June 30), a massive object smashed down near the Podkamennaya Tunguska River in Siberia, causing a powerful explosion. On the anniversary of that event, which organizers call the largest impact in recent history, researchers all over the world are gathering to discuss asteroids and how to prepare for the next big impacts. The first Asteroid Day was June 30, 2015. This year, in a series of events that are streaming live to the public, researchers will discuss the history of asteroid impacts, the current state of research into near-Earth asteroids and the threat they could pose to Earth — plus what humanity can do about such threats. http://www.space.com/33308-today-is-asteroid-day.html Not sure what is where.........check the table out.... http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/ca/ ------------------------- THE SUN LOOKS LIKE A BILLIARD BALL Quote The sun has now been without spots for 7 consecutive days. Our star looks like an enormous yellow billiard ball. The last time sunspots vanished for a whole week was in Dec. 2010--a time when the sun was bouncing back from a long Solar Minimum. http://www.spaceweather.com/ http://www.solarham.net/ Unobscured Vision, Jim K and +Mirumir 3 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unobscured Vision Posted July 1, 2016 Share Posted July 1, 2016 Watching now. Draggendrop 1 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Draggendrop Veteran Posted July 1, 2016 Author Veteran Share Posted July 1, 2016 Same here...NASATV Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unobscured Vision Posted July 1, 2016 Share Posted July 1, 2016 Good grief, they need to apply some RCS balancing to those Soyuz's. That thing is all over the place. And someone needs to tell Ochinin to turn on the gyros. Dampen that motion already. Golly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Draggendrop Veteran Posted July 1, 2016 Author Veteran Share Posted July 1, 2016 This is a full manual docking (automated control and guidance shut down) as well as a signal conditioner checkout. For remote joystick control, it's not bad at all...it will do well in an emergency. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unobscured Vision Posted July 1, 2016 Share Posted July 1, 2016 Holy [snot], they can't finesse those things in more gently?? Darn thing was swinging around like a scythe. [expletive] torque could have ripped that module clean off the ISS. Good grief, Russians. 1/10m = 3 inches/second. Not exactly slow when you're hitting something with a minimum of 9,100 kg of mass behind it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Draggendrop Veteran Posted July 1, 2016 Author Veteran Share Posted July 1, 2016 Actually, I thought it went well. It just looks worse than it actually is. The thruster activation made the pin act like a swivel till damped. Once stable, hooks closed for hard seal and the test now done. In 36 hours, it will undock for burnup re-entry. Will post video when available, as well as the report on the thruster mixup malfunction (that is what exaggerated the oscillations.. Coverage done now..... ----------------------------- ISS Cosmonauts successfully guide Progress Cargo Craft during manual flying Exercise Quote The Progress MS cargo spacecraft was taken for a spin on Friday, undocking and backing away from the International Space Station and brought back in for re-docking under manual control as part of a test of the remote-controlled rendezvous system. Progress MS is the first of the new line of MS spacecraft to fly, having been launched on December 21, 2015 atop a Soyuz 2-1A rocket. Two days of extensive tests were carried out while Progress was en-route to ISS, demonstrating new features such as communications through Russia’s Luch Data Relay Satellites, autonomous orbit determination and a new Unified Command and Telemetry System. Russia’s space program has the big advantage of flying two very similar spacecraft to send crews and cargo into orbit, sharing a number of common systems and components, thus allowing modifications to be first demonstrated by the uncrewed Progress spacecraft before committing the crewed Soyuz to the same changes. Quote The undocking – re-docking test was part of the testing program, providing an opportunity to check out the Telerobotically Operated Rendezvous System (TORU) that allows the crew aboard ISS to assume control over the Progress and fly it in for a manual docking. As part of the MS transition, the flight software of Progress and Soyuz was modified, requiring validation of the upgrade and the test also checked a new signal converter installed on the ISS side after a TORU failure during the December docking of the vehicle. Quote A brief period of stationkeeping at 25 meters was used by Ovchinin to correct the alignment and zero-out any body rates before firing the DPO thrusters to initiate final approach at a speed of 0.15m/s. Contact and Capture was confirmed at 6:05 UTC after what appeared to be a very successful straight-out and straight-in maneuver of the Progress MS spacecraft. A small issue came up at the moment of docking when Progress incorrectly fired its DPO thrusters along the X and Y axes, creating a visible oscillation between Pirs and the spacecraft. Normally, only the X axis thrusters are fired to push Progress in at the moment of contact to engage capture latches. Why the Y thrusters were fired on Friday is under investigation. The docking probe was again retracted and hooks closed after relative motion had dissipated to establish a hard-mate between Progress and ISS for the remainder of its stay at ISS that will only last until Saturday night. more at the link... http://spaceflight101.com/progress-ms-re-docking-test/ +Mirumir 1 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DocM Posted July 1, 2016 Share Posted July 1, 2016 (edited) If they hadn't already manually driven one of these thing into a collision with MIR, and if the new Soyuz hasn't been delayed dilue to roll control problems in recent simulations, I'd not think much of this. WITH those issues in mind, I'd be crushing my chairs armrests. Unobscured Vision 1 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Draggendrop Veteran Posted July 1, 2016 Author Veteran Share Posted July 1, 2016 Today, in Canada, it is Canada Day.....another paid holiday with hot/luminous projectiles launched into the atmosphere. On that note, I will act as the devils advocate for international space peace. This post will cover the manual docking test carried out this morning. Note #1 The Mir collision occurred on the 25th of June, 1997. This was a manual docking test of the initial Progress M, 4 models ago. A lot was not stated in the mishap. The ground controllers countermaned requests from the astronauts and human error ensued. The automated system worked fine. this was a test of manual docking, where visibility of the progress was masked by a solar array, velocity was measured with a stop watch, a hand held range finder was used and astronaut exhaustion from a 12 day "sleep study', with an accidental nudge on the controllers arm by the NASA astronaut ...which ironically saved the MIR by having Progress hit the array sideways. By the time a velocity check was done, they knew the velocity was too high and attempted bypass trajectory. The main concern for the crew was for the NASA astronauts safety, and it took soyuz thruster manual ops to counter the spin and power was restored in 6 hours. This was a text book case of multiple errors which have been corrected for the industry. This incident has no bearing on events of last night. Note #2 The new MS series for Soyuz and Progress, use the same Kurs system for automated flight control, the difference being this MS system is digital as compared to the prior analogue system. This system works extremely well, and is very agile as demonstrated by many video's of autonomous mission profiles including planned ISS flight orbits. This is what makes the Soyuz able to do an under 6 hour launch to dock profile. Note #3 This Progress MS, launched in December, is the first MS and therefore tested on the Progress before use on the Soyuz. The automated system worked flawless. The issue was a quick check of the manual system where communication was lost and was switched back to auto quickly with no issues. The signal conditioner was changed out and the undock/dock test early this morning, was to retry the manual system. The test went well, with a short "ballistic line" entry but at contact, only the "x" axis thruster was to be used. The "y" axis thruster activated by accident, which gave the oscillation and it was immediately shut down by activation of the auto Kurs system. The sight camera, only a meter away, made the oscillation look bad, which it was not, as evidenced by the outside camera view...which I have attached. Note #4 The "y" thruster issue, in my opinion, is related to the roll control problem, which has been worked on for the Soyuz MS mission to be launched on July 6th. One will note that this mission will not take the usual 6 hour rapid path. This mission will be 2 days to enable testing of the system prior to docking. Roscosmos and NASA both have the "hand" on the "pulse" and are taking the safe approach. If a major concern was evident, it would not launch. I am also more than sure that the astronauts being launched are confident in the system, particularly the automated Kurs. Overall, the Kurs is a non issue. The manual robotic thruster control is the issue being worked on. This was a test of the system prior to the progress being released in another day, an opportunity to find issues, which it did and it that respect, a valuable test for data...no different than most other launchers testing when time available. -------------- initial arrival of the Progress MS in December..... Inaugural Progress MS arrives at ISS after smooth Docking for busy Cargo-Delivery Mission http://spaceflight101.com/progress-ms/progress-ms-successful-docking/ Quote Passing 15 Kilometers, Progress underwent the next round of KURS testing, this time performing a short test of the KURS system that confirmed that the data delivered by it was valid in a good Lock-On Mode. Next up was the TORU Command test from the Space Station in which Sergei Volkov switched the Progress to remote control for a moment to test out the rotational and translational hand controllers in the Service Module of ISS. TORU did not respond due to a communications issue and Progress had to approach ISS with no backup, relying on KURS to conduct an automated docking. http://spaceflight101.com/progress-ms/progress-ms-successful-docking/ ---------------------- Progress (for generic model changes) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progress_(spacecraft) -------------------- ISS Cosmonauts successfully guide Progress Cargo Craft during manual flying Exercise http://spaceflight101.com/progress-ms-re-docking-test/ Quote A small issue came up at the moment of docking when Progress incorrectly fired its DPO thrusters along the X and Y axes, creating a visible oscillation between Pirs and the spacecraft. Normally, only the X axis thrusters are fired to push Progress in at the moment of contact to engage capture latches. Why the Y thrusters were fired on Friday is under investigation. http://spaceflight101.com/progress-ms-re-docking-test/ --------------------- This one shows the exaggerated camera angle.... This is the full video, ending shows the oscillations ---------------------- Russian ISS docking system test doesn't go as planned Russian ISS docking system test doesn't go as planned. NASA Quote According to veteran Russian space program reporter Anatoly Zak an ISS test of the cosmonaut-operated docking system on the Progress 62 cargo spacecraft didn't quite go as expected earlier this morning. What was planned was for the Progress cargo spacecraft to automatically undock and move to a distance of 200 meters from the ISS. This is took place. Then it would approach the ISS and dock but under manual control. Quote According to Zak there was an issue with the cosmonaut-operated docking system and Russian mission control told them to switch back to automatic. Zak then states that there was an accidental firing of attitude-control thrusters. The Progress spacecraft pitched significantly before being righted. There's a reason these tests are performed. http://spaceref.com/international-space-station/russian-iss-docking-system-test-doesnt-go-as-planned.html --------------------------- Russian Cargo Ship Completes Successful Re-docking Test The Progress 62 cargo craft is seen moments after undocking and backing away from the Pirs docking compartment. Credit: NASA TV Quote The Russian ISS Progress 62 cargo ship re-docked to the International Space Station’s Pirs docking compartment at 2:05 a.m. EDT after a short test flight. The system test included verification of software and a new signal converter incorporated in the upgraded manual docking system for future use in Progress vehicles in the unlikely event the “Kurs” automated rendezvous system encounters a problem. Keep up with the International Space Station and its research and crews, at: http://www.nasa.gov/station https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacestation/2016/07/01/russian-cargo-ship-completes-successful-re-docking-test/ Overall, a test was performed for system capability, an issue was found, and it will be addressed. Kurs automated system works well, manual control needs a bit of work. +Mirumir, Unobscured Vision and Jim K 3 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unobscured Vision Posted July 1, 2016 Share Posted July 1, 2016 8 hours ago, DocM said: If they hadn't already manually driven one of these thing into a collision with MIR, and if the new Soyuz hasn't been delayed dilue to roll control problems in recent simulations, I'd not think much of this. WITH those issues in mind, I'd be crushing my chairs armrests. That's why I was getting Nellie about it. Even at 3m the Progress was looking quite unstable through the KURS camera. It was all over the place, and the Cosmonauts were constantly having to bump it back on-alignment. Just makes me nervous when there isn't supposed to be any random movement like that happening. Unless it was the Station that was moving ...? They were in Free-Drift mode ... hmm. Draggendrop 1 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim K Global Moderator Posted July 2, 2016 Global Moderator Share Posted July 2, 2016 23 hours ago, Draggendrop said: This one shows the exaggerated camera angle.... Holy crud ... that was some extreme angle of attack at the end. Unobscured Vision and Draggendrop 2 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DocM Posted July 2, 2016 Share Posted July 2, 2016 Rather less successful than the talking heads let on. There's an inquiry into why. ISTM this dovetails into why the new Soyuz docking system had control issues severe enough to cause a serious roll in simulations, causing its delayed launch. Unobscured Vision, Draggendrop and Jim K 3 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Draggendrop Veteran Posted July 2, 2016 Author Veteran Share Posted July 2, 2016 It has been a frustrating day having to read MSN articles and some comments from other forums on this undock/dock matter. A lot of details have been omitted or research neglected. What data is generally available? Here is a collection to help, although a thorough investigation will be needed. 1) Prior to undock, the ISS is put in free drift, standard practice to maintain relative motion between both bodies. Ironically, during this transition, the station GPS ring laser gyro output failed, but had no effect on the situation due to other systems signal validity. 2) The digital Kurs system was used with the docking of progress 62P when launched. Near the time of approach, a test was done with TORU for manual control, communications were lost and the system placed back in automatic for docking. What we don't know, is exactly when, and more importantly, where the automated system kicked in. Would this have been during a time when the roll issue would have been noticed. 3) Was the manual telemetry from the initial docking available to ISS while the LUCH sat relay did not work properly, forcing the switch to auto...appears that way. 4) The test undock was under control of KURS, the spring push from ISS worked and the Progress backed out to position...appears to be no issues here. 5) The Progress docking camera is for manual control, giving a cross hair target when close for the manual control operator. One can tell when in manual as the velocity telemetry is cut, but still relayed to the operator, where 0.12 m/s is standard hard dock entry. No issues with velocity. The progress camera exaggerates the cross hair alignment, even in automatic mode and will vary back and forth outside the boundary due to controlled damping which saves thruster fuel. I have noticed on many docking videos, that the control tightens up a bit in close proxiity, and will still usually show a cross hair error. This is just an aid to manual docking. 6) The alignment to the ISS was correct for entry. The "x" thruster is fired at hard dock to enable Progress latching. During the test, the thrusters fired too long, but may have been due to the "y" axis thrusters firing, when they were not to be used...This needs investigating and may have been the issue with simulated roll control issue on the ground. The issues are reported to have been corrected, we will see on the Soyuz two day test which is up shortly. It was the "y" axis thruster that caused the oscillations and why the system was put into auto, to enable stoppage of this activity in a quick manner. There are 2 joysticks, one to control inbound translation and another for roll control. In summary, the "y" axis thruster caused the oscillation issue prior to it being shut down by conversion to autonomous control. Velocity and trajectory were fine. Attached are the updates for today, some of which cover the statements that I have made above. A thorough investigation will determine the real issue and corrective measures taken. --------------------- ooops, I have to take off for a bit. When I get back, I will post the relevant updates for above and for todays activities..... +Mirumir 1 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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