Updates ISS UPDATES

[Capt_hensley]

This is a set of photos I'd like to see, should they be made public, please post a link here.

 

[Scruce]

Kuipers Hails Station's Science Research (NASAtelevision):

Aboard the International Space Station, Expedition 30 Flight Engineer Andre Kuipers of the European Space Agency discussed the work being conducted on the orbital laboratory and the European Columbus module during an in-flight event with European industry leaders and students gathered in Bremen, Germany, Jan. 25. Kuipers has been aboard the station since December and is in the midst of a five-month mission punctuated by scientific research.

 

[Cosmic Penguin]

Next crew flight to the ISS delayed by >1 month

Uh oh..... :uhh:

http://ria.ru/science/20120127/550312281.html

27/01/2012 15:49

MOSCOW, January 27 - RIA Novosti. Starting a new crew to the International Space Station (ISS) can be moved from March 30 to a later date because of the assumptions, according to preliminary data, negligence, when assembling capsule "Soyuz TMA-04M," the source told RIA Novosti in missile space industry.

"The launch will be postponed. Rather, from 30 March to late April, but more accurately it will be possible when the Commission on the landing vehicle is finished," - said the source. The source said the decision to postpone the official launch has not been made, but it will be done soon.

In connection with the planned transfer start a new expedition to stay current on the ISS crew will probably be extended. "This is a short expedition, so that their stay at the station, in principle, you can safely extend," - said the source.

He noted that an unacceptable leak checking lander "Union" leak was discovered during tests on Sunday.

"The reason most likely - the human factor in the assembly pnevmoshemy" - a spokesman said. According to sources, making the following re-entry capsule to RSC "Energia" will be accelerated, the work of the enterprise will be conducted in three shifts.

"And from that at which a defect, are specialists. The next apparatus, according to my sources, is already on the Keys to the test with him should be no problem", - concluded the source.

The technological cycle of re-entry vehicles on RSC "Energia" lasts from 40 days to two months.

However, the spokesman said that the transfer run from March to late April does not mean that the next manned launch after a pre-designated on 30 May, and will be rescheduled.

"It is not necessary that the next move will start. If the capsule will be ready, the next manned will in time", - concluded the source.

On a spacecraft "Soyuz TMA-04M" to the ISS Russian cosmonauts have to go Gennady Padalka and Sergei Revin, as well as American astronaut Joseph Acaba. Currently, the ISS crew works of the 30th expedition of Commander Daniel Burbank (USA) and flight engineers Shkaplerova Anton, Anatolii Ivanishin, Oleg Kononenko (all - Russia), Andre Kuipers (Netherlands) and Donald Pettit (USA).

The descent module to be used on Soyuz TMA-04M has failed in a vacuum test: the heat shield has ruptured. A new descent capsule will be needed to replace it, which means the next crew flight to the ISS will be delayed by at least one month (or even down into May) from the original March 30 date. The next flight after it will be delayed too.

 

[SiberianTiger]

It's not the end of world, actually. A replacement capsule might fit in, if it passed the pressurization test.

Having this in the row with other things that plague Russian space industry, but now with the manned programme in scope, is really embarrassing, anyway.

 

[SiberianTiger]

Also, according to the discussion at NK, this probably was not a manufacturing defect of Soyuz capsule, but mishandling or bad operation of the pressure test equipment (like pumping in too much pressure, leading to the shell's rupture). It's to be confirmed, however.

 

[orb]

Parabolic Arc: NASA Safety Panel Concerned About ISS Loss of Mission:

The Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel’s annual report includes a fascinating section about the risk of losing a mission related to the International Space Station (ISS).

“Analyses presented to the ASAP on several occasions, most recently in May 2011, stated that the probabilistic risk assessment (PRA) related to ISS Loss of Mission (LOM) was 1 in 55 for a 180-day mission. Since there are approximately 20 180-day missions in the currently projected ISS Program, this means that there is a greater-than-30-percent chance that the ISS could sustain a LOM sometime during its projected operating life,” ASAP wrote.

That’s a lot higher than you might think. And if it happened, the result could be quite dire.

“Should such an event occur, the result could arise that the ISS would have to be abandoned—potentially without the possibility of a return to nominal operation. Thus, a premature ISS de-orbit is one potential outcome. This can occur in either a controlled or an uncontrolled manner, with the latter clearly the more dangerous. While this possibility has been known for some time, NASA has not yet shared with the Panel an explicit plan to deal with this situation,” the report reads.

ASAP recommends that NASA begin immediate planning for various contingencies and that those plans be shared and coordinated with the other ISS partners.

{...}

NASA: Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel Annual Report For 2011 (PDF)

 

[SiberianTiger]

http://www.interfax.ru/news.asp?id=227968

Moscow January 27. INTERFAX.RU. Crewmembers of ithe ISS will have to stay in orbit for at least one month longer than they anticipated, told Interfax a source from Rocket&Space industry this Friday.

"The descent module from Soyuz TMA-05M was already produced and can be reinstalled to Soyuz TMA-04M. However, entailing tests will take about 50 days, and 40 more days are required to prepare the spaceship at Baikonur. Therefore, its launch is not possible before late April, and it means that the current expedition will have to stay 1 - 1.5 months longer at the ISS."

 

[NovaSilisko]

I really feel sorry for Roskosmos, they're having incredibly bad luck lately...

 

[SiberianTiger]

I really feel sorry for Roskosmos, they're having incredibly bad luck lately...

If Roskosmos employees mishandled test equipment, it's not called bad luck. It's, in fact, a big luck if an accident related to space really happens due to a "Bad Luck".

 

[NovaSilisko]

If Roskosmos employees mishandled test equipment, it's not called bad luck. It's, in fact, a big luck if an accident related to space really happens due to a "Bad Luck".

Good point...

 

[Orbinaut Pete]

At least the crew of Soyuz TMA-22 will get to fly a full duration increment, since they arrived at the ISS about 1.5 months late anyway, due to last year's Progress M-12M launch failure.

This incident however obviously raises further concerns about Russian hardware. This whole situation is starting to feel like a nightmare, one which is occurring at the worst possible moment (no more Shuttle, no commercial capability).

 

[SiberianTiger]

This incident however obviously raises further concerns about Russian hardware. This whole situation is starting to feel like a nightmare, one which is occurring at the worst possible moment (no more Shuttle, no commercial capability).

What I'm saying isn't nice for either of the ISS partners, but there's a reliable manned launch system that *almost* could take astronauts to the station and back...

 

[Orbinaut Pete]

From ISS On-Orbit Status Report for 27/01/2012.

FE-6 Don Pettit yesterday completed ARED (Advanced Resistive Exercise Device) main arm rope R&R (Removal & Replacement) with no issues. [During changeout, Don noticed that the exercise rope was significantly frayed; it was replaced as well. Ground engineers have requested photo of the rope damage to determine whether it is the old rope design or the new rope design. The new rope design should not fray.]

SSRMS LEE A Snare Photo Review:
Ground review of the SSRMS LEE A (Space Station Remote Manipulator System | Latching End Effector A) snare photos taken on 01/21 is complete. The quality was sufficient to determine that a single strand is broken and sticking out. The snare is still considered operational. However, for the wires that did not stick out, the image quality was insufficient to assess any additional damage. Ground engineers will revisit the request to remove the Cupola Window Scratch Pane for future LEE Snare photos. The LEE A Snare photos from 01/21 do not need to be repeated.

Conjunction Alert:
Flight Controllers are tracking a series of conjunctions with Object 30502 (Fengyun 1C Debris) with TCAs (Times of Closest Approach) ranging from 01/29, 2:07 AM GMT through 11:21 AM GMT. The first TCA occurs about 32 hours after the docking of Progress M-14M/46P. These conjunctions are still classified as a medium concern at this time due to: 1. the repeating nature of this object (due to the object having an orbital period that differs from that of the ISS by only a few seconds), 2. the continued active space weather which could cause large variations in predicted miss distances of this object, 3. the potential for docking perturbations to alter the miss distances slightly (however, this should be small since docking is being performed in TEA (Torque Equilibrium Attitude) and therefore there no large attitude maneuvers. During the undocking of Progress M-13M/45P this week, ISS only lost a few tens of meters of altitude, and 4. all of the above could cause some TCAs to come inside the notification that were previously outside the notification box and vice versa. Currently, there is an ISS reboost planned for 02/01. If the PC (Probability of Collision) exceeds the Flight Rule thresholds for performing a DAM (Debris Avoidance Maneuver), a DAM on 01/29 would replace the 02/01 reboost and therefore be cancelled. NASA and Russian Ballistics are recommending the possibility to perform the ISS reboost on 01/29 regardless of whether or not the PC exceeds the Flight Rule thresholds. This is due to the fact that the date for a possible DAM is very close to 02/02 and that this object has been notoriously difficult to track and predict well. During the conjunctions with this object earlier this week, the PC was still below the Flight Rule threshold at the time a Go/No-Go decision had to be made. Since the threshold had not been exceeded, a DAM was not pursued. Later, the PC exceeded the Red PC threshold and the possibility of placing the ISS crew in their Soyuz spacecraft was discussed. Eventually, the PC dropped below the Flight Rule threshold and this possibility was dropped.

 

[Orbinaut Pete]

From ISS On-Orbit Status Report for 28/01/2012.

DAM (Debris Avoidance Maneuver) + Reboost:
A DAM/reboost burn will be performed tonight at 11:50 PM GMT using the SM Main thrusters for 1m 4s. The purpose of the reboost is to avoid a series of conjunctions with Object 30502 (Fengyun 1C Debris), and to set up phasing for the future trajectory events. This reboost will replace the previously planned reboost on 02/01.

 

[orb]

RIA Novosti: Space Station’s Orbit Raised to Avoid Collision with Space Junk

Aviation Week: International Space Station Maneuvers to avoid Chinese Satellite Debris

SPACE.com: Space Station Dodges Debris From Destroyed Chinese Satellite

 

[Orbinaut Pete]

From ISS On-Orbit Status Report for 29/01/2012.

DAM (Debris Avoidance Maneuver) + Reboost:
The DAM/reboost burn was performed nominally last night at 11:50 PM GMT using the SM Main thrusters for 1m 4s. Achieved were a Delta-V of 1.11 m/s (planned: 1.0 m/s), increasing mean altitude by 1.90 km (planned: 1.75 km). After the burn, ISS was at 391.7 km mean altitude, with 404.8 km apogee height and 378.6 perigee height. The purpose of the reboost was to avoid a series of conjunctions with Object 30502 (Fengyun 1C Debris), and to set up phasing for the future trajectory events. This reboost replaced the previously planned reboost on 02/01.

Software Upgrading:
Today the ground temporarily deactivated the Node 2 CCAA (Common Cabin Air Assembly) in support of the N2-2 R3 software load. During this time the crew was "prime" for smoke detection in Node 2. Between 2:00 PM and 8:00 PM GMT, the ground is loading software to and transitioning the N2-2 EXT & N2-1 MDM (Multiplexer/Demultiplexer) computers. Tomorrow, the same will take place at these times for the S3-1 & P3-2 MDMs, as well as to the Backup EXT MDM.

Weekly Science Update (Expedition Thirty/Thirty-One -- Week 19).

STP-H3 (Space Test Program – Houston 3): The STP-H3 team is reviewing the video from the survey using the SSRMS on 01/19. The video did reveal damage to VADER Variable Emissivity Device #3 and further study might provide insight into what caused this damage. VADER is no longer doing any testing of the VEDs due to the discovery of the damage. VADER will evaluate whether any further testing of other VEDs can be done for scientific gain or would it be best to cease operations of this part of the experiment entirely. VADER will continue to characterize the performance of the Aerogel blanket attached to the backside. MHTEX is currently repriming the system to prepare for a new series of tests. Canary took data from the Progress M-13M/45P propellant purge and undocking events. Canary plans to collect data during the docking of Progress M-14M/46P later this week. DISC has taken more imagery this week and is processing images that were taken in previous weeks.

 

[orb]

RIA Novosti: Launch of Space Station Crews Delayed 45 Days

Universe Today: Amazing Panorama of Western Europe at Night from Space Station

Universe Today: Russia Confirms Delay for Next Soyuz Launches to ISS

 

[SiberianTiger]

According to NK forum (link), not just the descend module is going to be replaced at the damaged Soyuz TMA #704, but the whole spacecraft won't go to space and instead item #705 will be designated Soyuz TMA-04M (used to be TMA-05M).

Additionally, the poster informed that two people died from stress that followed test abnormality with #704. A rumor is, a master engineer of the vacuum chamber rig had a sudden lethal heart attack near the enterprise's guard desk after having a meeting with management.

 

[Orbinaut Pete]

According to NK forum (link), not just the descend module is going to be replaced at the damaged Soyuz TMA #704, but the whole spacecraft won't go to space and instead item #705 will be designated Soyuz TMA-04M (used to be TMA-05M).

Interesting - maybe this is being done to save time, since the TMA-05M SA now will not need to be de-integrated from the BO/PAO (assuming it was already integrated)?

Additionally, the poster informed that two people died from stress that followed test abnormality with #704. A rumor is, a master engineer of the vacuum chamber rig had a sudden lethal heart attack near the enterprise's guard desk after having a meeting with management.

Geez, I didn't know it was this bad. While of course my sympathies go out to the man's family, I hope this doesn't mean a further loss of experienced skills.

 

[Orbinaut Pete]

From ISS On-Orbit Status Report for 01/02/2012.

X2R11 Software Update:
The transitions to the new X2R11 software yesterday went very well, and the ground has completed all activities associated with the upgrade. [Yesterday, loading the S3-2 & P3-1 MDMs (Multiplexer/Demultiplexers) with S3P3 R4 was finished. Also, PMCU-1 (Power Management Controller-1), already loaded with the new PMCU R4 software, was swapped into primary. Finally, PMCU R4 was loaded to the PMCU-2 MDM.]