News Progress M-06M Updates

From NASA's ISS webpage:

Russian and US ISS program managers will meet the morning of Saturday, July 3 to assess the next docking opportunity, preliminarily identified as approximately 4:17 PM GMT on Sunday, July 4. The Progress will conduct two engine firings tonight and another tomorrow to be in position for the potential docking Sunday.
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The involved people report that there have been three failures in row: TV system, Kurs approach radar and TORU remote control. One guy describes the situation as 'unprecedented' and 'mystic'.
 
That's not unprecedented at all & could have ended with the ISS destroyed :rolleyes:

http://history.nasa.gov/SP-4225/multimedia/progress-collision.htm

The Kurs/TORU system is still far from perfection... An upgrade would be welcome. Or maybe they should use Orbiter as a remote control interface :hmm:

I hope the following attempt will succeed, spaceflight can't really afford any failures nowadays :(
 
The collision that happened did happen when a spacecraft was under someone's remote control and due to human error (both times the same human). Yesterday we had three system failures (and it did not result in a collision).
 
Yeah, looks like this time they aborted the procedure before the distance was critical (4 miles).

Looks like the comms & telemetry shut down completely for a moment. That's weird. Maybe a solar flare, a radio interference on the frequency or something like that ?
 
SiberianTiger said:
... or somebody forgot a wrench inside the propulsion module. :dry:
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Yeah. Its not good if it is left away. Maybe somebody shortened the Kurs system batteries.
 
the more MMC-M look into this the more this is looking like an errant command was sent from TORU during the TORU power up sequence. There was talk of an “cancel dynamic operations” command being sent during TORU power up. Ths is still under investigation.

note that the Progress approach path is, until the final minutes, always below the path of the ISS. That way, should anything like this happen it's on a safe escape route.
 
12 hrs ago the Progress was clearly visible about 1.5° ahead of the ISS, magnitude 0 (roughly 25° ahead from ground point of view when overhead).
 
It sounds to me like the Expedition 24 crew need to play more Orbiter!!! :rofl:

Actually, they already have a primitive version on board - I'd say that's Orbiter 2002! :lol:
iss020e016092.jpg

Hi-res version.

How's this for a simpit?! :P
s125e013050.jpg

Hi-res version.

---------- Post added at 02:38 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:22 PM ----------

BBC News: "Russian cargo ship 'under control' official says".
 
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The IMMT met this morning and gave GO to proceed with a docking of Progress M-06M on Sunday. As the cause is believed to be a faulty command from the TORU system in the Zvezda SM, TORU will not be activated for Sunday's docking attempt.

NASA TV coverage will begin at 1530 UTC(11:30 am EDT) with contact and capture scheduled for 1610 UTC(12:10 pm EDT). The IMMT will meet again Sunday to make a final review and determination of the Progress and ISS status prior to giving a final GO/NO-GO decision for the docking attempt.
 
From NASA's ISS webpage:

International Space Station Program officials from NASA and Roscosmos met Saturday morning and agreed to proceed toward a second docking attempt for the ISS Progress 38 cargo ship on Sunday, July 4, at approximately 12:10 PM EDT/4:10 PM GMT. They will meet again Sunday morning to reconfirm the status of the space station and spacecraft systems. NASA TV coverage of the second docking attempt for the Progress 38 cargo ship to the station will begin Sunday at 11:30 AM GMT/3:30 PM GMT.

The Progress 38 conducted two successful firings of its engines Friday night to put the craft in a parking orbit around 300 kilometers from the space station. Another engine firing is being conducted Saturday morning to start the process of returning the spacecraft back to the station for Sunday’s docking attempt.

Russian specialists told program officials the cause of Friday's aborted docking was what they termed a "cancel dynamic operations" command that instructed Progress' computers to fly the vehicle past the station on its final approach for docking, as it is intended to do if the internal guidance system receives conflicting commands or commands that do not comply with its pre-programmed commands.

The Russian flight controllers said the command to cancel was caused by the activation of the TV transmitter for the TORU manual rendezvous system in the Zvezda Service Module, which interefered with the Kurs automated rendezvous system. TORU is used to override Kurs, which Progress normally uses for docking, in the event Kurs experiences a problem. The TORU TV system is designed to provide a view of Zvezda's docking target to station Commander Alexander Skvorstov, if he had to operate a joystick in the service module to dock Progress manually.

The Russian flight control team has confirmed the Kurs system operated normally and did not fail, as was initially believed. Kurs uses radio beacon signals beamed back and forth between the approaching spacecraft and the space station to measure distance between the two vehicles and the rate of closure by Progress to Zvezda.

Russian officials said the TORU system will not be activated Sunday for the second docking attempt as a precautionary measure and expressed full confidence Sunday’s docking can be conducted without any further issue.

Overnight, Russian specialists conducted a successful test with both the prime and backup strings of the Kurs automated rendezvous system on both the Progress and Zvezda. Another test of both strings will be conducted Saturday night. A final test of the Kurs system, as is always conducted during the terminal phase of the rendezvous, will be performed about 50 minutes prior to docking when Progress is 15 kilometers from the station.

In the unlikely event the prime Kurs string of telemetry fails late in the rendezvous sequence on final approach, Kurs' backup string will take over through docking. If the second string should fail, an automatic abort would be triggered, and Progress would immediately halt its approach and back away from the station to a safe distance. Multiple docking attempts could be made if needed.

The Expedition 24 crew members onboard the space station were notified by the team in Mission Control in Houston that another docking attempt will be made Sunday. They have an off-duty day Saturday and will adjust their workday schedule to monitor the docking activities Sunday.
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---------- Post added at 08:09 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:51 PM ----------

Spaceflight Now: "Freighter's docking problem traced to interference".

---------- Post added at 08:16 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:09 PM ----------

From ISS On-Orbit Status Report for 03/07/2010:

Progress Update:
Progress M-06M/38P will make another rendezvous & docking attempt tomorrow (04/07) for Contact at ~4:17 PM GMT. [During yesterday's rendezvous, the automated KURS rendezvous sequence was aborted (cause currently under assessment) by the Progress MCS (Motion Control System) between two nominal burns (Impulse-4 & Impulse-5). 38P did not perform any abort burns since it was on a passively-safe flyby path from the outset (as per ballistic trajectory design). The vehicle performed two burns last night (02/07), one at 7:28 PM GMT (DO4) of 1.61 m/s delta-V, the other at 9:27 PM GMT (DO5) of 4.77 m/s. A third maneuver is planned for today in order to set up the proper trajectory conditions for tomorrow's docking attempt, for which ISS will be in the same configuration as for yesterday's docking (same attitude, same solar array & radiators positions).]

---------- Post added at 08:46 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:16 PM ----------

So far as I can tell, the chronological order of events that caused the abort was as follows:

• The TORU TV transmitter in the SM was activated by the crew, which interfered with the data being sent between the KURS-A on Progress and the KURS-P in the SM.

• The KURS-A on Progress interpreted this interference as conflicting commands to its pre-programmed commands, and so initiated the "cancel dynamic operations" command that instructed Progress to fly past the ISS.

The only question that remains is: Who turned on the TORU TV transmitter? :blink:

---------- Post added 4th Jul 2010 at 02:36 PM ---------- Previous post was 3rd Jul 2010 at 08:46 PM ----------

NASASpaceFlight: "LIVE: Russian Progress to make second docking attempt to ISS".

---------- Post added at 03:04 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:36 PM ----------

I'm not one to be superstitions, but I had a very strange dream about Progress last night! ;)

Progress was approaching its docking port on the ISS. The extended docking probe on Progress made contact with the docking drogue on the ISS. However, the probe failed to "capture" the drogue (i.e. latch onto it), and Progress rebounded off the drogue and went spinning away into space.

I never usually have dreams about space, even when I try! :P

But dreams don't mean anything.....right guys? :shifty:

*Disclaimer: If this actually occurs today, I will NOT be held responsible for predicting it but doing nothing about it! :lol:

---------- Post added at 04:54 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:04 PM ----------

Docking is now live on NASA TV.

---------- Post added at 05:21 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:54 PM ----------

Hoorah! Progress M-06M is docked to SM Aft! And that gentlemen, is how we do that! :thumbup:
 
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You wouldn't believe this! Minutes way from docking, my driver's ed teacher called to give me an oral quiz. I missed the contact and capture :@! But anyhow, it's there and it's working. Congratulations to the team :salute:!
 
From Florida Today:

A runaway supply ship that failed to dock at the International Space Station on Friday made good on a second attempt this afternoon. The robotic Russian-built cargo tug approached and made communication links with the space station around noon and docked at the orbiting outpost around 12:17 p.m. (You can watch ongoing coverage of the docking by clicking the NASA TV window to the right of this post). Launched Wednesday from the Russian space-launch base in Kazakhstan, the Progress spacecraft carrying 2.5 tons of food, water and supplies was about to begin the final stage of its rendezvous Friday when it lost its data connection to the station. The ship simply glided by the space station instead of docking. NASA said the spacecraft was about three kilometers away from the station when it passed by. Engineers in Russia and the United States analyzed the situation Friday afternoon and decided Saturday to try again today. If the supplies had been lost, NASA officials have said that there are enough supplies on board for the crew through October or maybe even November. Another Progress cargo shipment is due in September and a U.S. space shuttle is set to arrive in November.
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http://flametrench.flatoday.net/
 
From ISS On-Orbit Status Report for 04/07/2010:

Yest kasaniye! At 4:17 PM GMT, Progress M-06M/38P docked successfully to the SM (Service Module) Aft port under KURS autopilot control, followed by a final DPO post-contact thrusting burn, docking probe retraction and hook closure ("sborka") after motion damp-out while the ISS was in free drift for ~20 minutes (4:17 PM to 4:37 PM GMT). At "hooks closed" signal, the SM returned to active attitude control, maneuvering the ISS to LVLH (Local Vertical/Local Horizontal) TEA (Torque Equilibrium Attitude) at ~4:37 PM GMT. Control authority returned to US Momentum Management at ~6:10 PM GMT. Russian thrusters were disabled temporarily during clamps install and leak check (6:10 PM to 8:10 PM GMT). [This was the second docking attempt after Friday's aborted docking, now traced to an interruption of the TORU radio signal by the SM's Klest/Simvol television system. The dropout of the TORU teleoperated rendezvous & docking system then generated the command "cancel dynamic operations" which aborted KURS automatic rendezvous mode and switched Progress to a safe, passive flightpath, as designed. For today's docking, TORU, which is usually in "hot standby" mode during KURS-controlled dockings, was not activated.]

Before docking, FE-4 Wheelock shut down the amateur/ham radio equipment (~1:05 PM GMT) to prevent RF (Radio Frequency) interference with the Progress KURS radio control system. [The protective shutters of the Lab, Kibo & Cupola science windows were already closed last night.]

For monitoring 38P rendezvous & docking, CDR Skvortsov & FE-2 Caldwell-Dyson had set up the Ku-band video "scheme" for covering the Progress docking, activating the FGB (Functional Cargo Block) based A31p SSC (Station Support Computer) laptop for the TV conversion to NTSC & Ku-band of the RS (Russian Segment) video signal from the SONY HDV camera via the MPEG-2 encoder from FGB & SM, in order to downlink "streaming video" packets via US OpsLAN and Ku-band.

Approach & docking as seen from the +X (backward facing) SM TV camera was monitored by Skvortsov on the SSC1 laptop using the NVIEWER (NASA Viewer) software application.

Tracy Caldwell-Dyson worked with Skvortsov to tear down and remove the MPEG-2 "schemes" streaming video downlink setup, then deactivated the conversion A31p laptop in the FGB.

From ~6:10 PM to 7:25 PM GMT, the crew conducted the standard one-hour leak checking of the docking vestibule and fuel/oxidizer transfer line interface between Progress and SM Aft.

The Russian crewmembers then:
• Opened the hatches (~7:25 PM GMT) and installed the QD (Quick Disconnect) screw clamps (BZV) of the docking & internal transfer mechanism (SSVP) to rigidize the coupling (Sasha).
• Performed the standard air sampling inside Progress with the Russian AK-1M air sampler (Fyodor).
• Powered down Progress (~8:05 PM) and installed the ventilation/heating air duct (Sasha).
• Dismantled the docking mechanism (StM, Stykovochnovo mekhanizma) between Progress and the SM Aft port (~8:25 PM to 9:25 PM GMT) [the StM being the "classic" probe-and-cone type, consisting of an active docking assembly (ASA) with a probe (SSh), which fits into the cone (SK) on the passive docking assembly (PSA) for initial soft dock and subsequent retraction to hard dock. The ASA is mounted on the Progress' cargo module (GrO), while the PSA sits on the docking ports of the SM, FGB and DC-1].
• Worked in the 38P vehicle to install the electronic LKT local temperature sensor commutator (TA251MB) of the BITS2-12 onboard telemetry measurement system and its PZU-1M ROM (Read Only Memory), using recycled boxes from stowage (Fyodor).

---------- Post added at 08:48 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:39 PM ----------

BBC News: "Russian cargo ship docks with space station".

---------- Post added at 08:50 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:48 PM ----------

Here's the NASA TV docking video.​
 
I got an early-evening ISS pass - no trailing Progress this time! It's was fun to watch yesterday, but it's good to see it docked with the ISS.
 
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