Launch site:
Baikonur (Launch pad no. 1/5 45°55'12.85"N, 63°20'32.27"E)
The launch time is:
05 : 10 : 55 Baikonur 08.10.2010
03 : 10 : 55 Moscow Summer Time 08.10.2010
23 : 10 : 55 UTC October 7, 2010
7 : 10 : 55 p.m. EDT October 7, 2010
[eventTimer]2010-10-07 23:10:55?before|after;%dd% Days %hh% Hours %mm% Minutes %ss% Seconds %c%[/eventTimer] Soyuz TMA-M Launch
The expected docking time is:
04 : 02 ± 3 min Moscow Summer Time 10.10.2010
00 : 02 ± 3 min UTC October 10, 2010
8 : 02 p.m. ± 3 min EDT October 9, 2010
[eventTimer]2010-10-10 00:02:00?before|after;%dd% Days %hh% Hours %mm% Minutes %ss% Seconds %c%[/eventTimer] Soyuz TMA-M Docking
Planned Soyuz TMA-M's mission duration: 159 days
See crew information above
Spacecraft:
Soyuz TMA-M (AKA TMA-01M, but Energia insists it's a TMA-M, model id 11F732A47) (NASA: Soyuz 24S, serial #701)
Manufacturer:
Energia Rocket & Space Company
Mission:
- Flying the ISS Expedition 25/26 crew members aboard the ISS.
- Performing initial flight test of the 700'th series Soyuz vehicle.
- Working as part of the ISS complex for Expedition 25
An essay on differences between Soyuz TMA 200'th (11F732A17) and 700'th (11F732A47) series (
http://www.federalspace.ru/main.php?id=2&nid=12708)
Primary modifications
SUDN (Movement/Navigation System): 6 old instruments weighing 101 kg are replaced by 5 new oned weighing 42 kg. Power consumption lowered from 402 W to 105 W.
The new Movement/Navigation system exploits Central Computing Core with a bridging device; it has total mass 26 kg and consumes 80 W of energy. The Core's througput is 8 million computations per second, RAM volume is 2000 kBytes. Lifetime is considerably extended, which is now 35,000 hours. A 50% reserve of computation power is built in.
SBI (Onboard Information System): 30 old instruments weighing 70 kg are replaced by 14 new instruments weighing 28 kg, with all the information supply ability retained. A station information exchange mode introduced. SBI power consumption is lowered: for telemetry transmission more from 115 W to 85 W; for recording mode from 84 W to 29 W; for playback mode from 140 W to 85 W.
Secondary modifications
SOTR (Thermal Control System):
- Three heat sinks installed in the Propulsion Module to enable liquid cooling of SUDN CCC.
- Extension heat radiator can now accommodate new SUDN instruments located in the PM.
- New Electric Coolant pump with better throughput used.
- Replaced the liquid-to-liquid heat exchanger to enable better productivity for thermal balance holding work when stationed at launch position.
SUDN (Movement/Navigation System):
- DPO engines automatics module is reworked to accomodate the new onboard computers.
- Descent Module movement control software reworked.
SUBK (Onboard Equipment Control System):
- Reworked Command Processing Module and Command Matrix to enable new controlling logic for SUDN and SBI instrumentation.
- Replaced circuit protection automats in the high voltage communication circuits.
Crew's Control Panel:
- Introduced new software adapted for the new types of information supplied by the modified systems.
Improvements of the vessel's structure and interfaces with the ISS
- Marnesium alloy is replaced by Aluminium alloy for the instrumentation holding framework of the PM to simplify manufacturing.
- Double Multiplexed exchange interfaces to enable exchange between the vessel and RSOS ISS.
A chart that shows locations of the modified parts:
Achievements of upgrading
- 36 obsolete instruments are replaced by 19 new instruments.
- SUBK and SOTR can now accommodate the new instruments.
- The ship's strucure is redesigned to simplify manufacturing technology.
- The ship's mass decreased by 70 kg, which opens a possibility for further upgrading.
Flight Testing Program
Two 1st missions are regarded flight tests: Soyuz TMA-M and Soyuz TMA-02M.
The third mission (Soyuz TMA-03M) is a qualification test flight.
Each flight test must approve that:
- There's no change to performance of the vessel for the nominal flight profile;
- Off-nominal modes are tested;
- Manual Attitude change and keeping in discrete circuit in the orbital frame of coordinates works well;
- The vessel can perform the ISS flyaround when under manual control in discrete circuit;
- It's possible to perform orbital changes using four DPO engines.
The flight tests are to be performed together with the primary expedition delivery tasks according to the assigned mission program.
The spacecraft's mass is 7220.0 kg (TBD)
The Launch Vehicle's Flight Profile:
Operation|Flight time, sec
Lift-off|0.00
Escape tower's jettison|113.38
1st stage separation|117.80
Ship's fairing jettison|157.48
2nd stage separation|287.30
Tail adapter's jettioson|297.05
3rd stage's MECO|524.96
Ship's separation|528.26
1. Soyuz-FG's ascent chart
From here and on the times are given in Moscow Summer Time Zone
(UTC+4)
2. Initial orbit's parameters
The expected payload separation time: 03 h 19 m 43.26 s
||Soyuz TMA-M|The ISS
Orbit Parameter|Designation|Nominal value and tolerance limits|At the alignment orbit
Period|T, min|88.64 ±0.367|91.55
Inclination|i, degrees|51.67 ±0.058|51.66
Minimum altitude|h, km|200.0 ±7 -22|350.4
Maximum altitude|H, km|242 ±42|376.0
Phase angle between the space ship and the ISS is about 223 degrees.
Projected duration of the space ship at the nominal orbit is no less than 20 orbits (~30 hrs)
3. Transfer manoeuvres
(two days long approach scheme applied)
3.1. Orbit Phasing by the pre-calculated ballistic information
* 1st two-burn manoeuvre
Date|Burn at|Orbit #|Delta V, m/s|Burn duration, s|post-burn T,min|post-burn i,deg|post-burn h,km|post-burn H,km
08.10.10|06:51:07|3|9,30|24,1|88,94|51,65|216,3|247,7
08.10.10|07:19:567|3|23,26|57,9|89,75|51,66|237,2|295,9
* 2nd one-burn correction
Date|Burn at|Orbit #|Delta V, m/s|Burn duration, s|post-burn T,min|post-burn i,deg|post-burn h,km|post-burn H,km
09.10.10|03:48:25|17|2,00|29,0|89,81|51,64|241,7|297,2
3.2. Far range rendez-vous manouevering.
The input for the on-board rendez-vous system is given 3 hours before docking in form of state vectors of the spacecraft and the ISS.
Autonomous rendez-vous begin at 01:42:49
Assigned docking node "Russian +Y" directed MRM2 node
4. Close range rendez-vous and approach manoeuvres
Since 03:36:17 and till capture.
5. Docking to the ISS
On October 10, 2010 at 04 hrs 02 min 00 sec ±3 min.
BACKUP TIMES:
Launch: 10.10.2010, 02 hrs 22 min 41 sec
Docking: 12.10.2010, 03 hrs 19 ±3 min
The Approach Chart:
Launcher:
Soyuz-FG (model 11А511У-ФГ)
|"Soyuz-FG" launch vehicle is intended for injection of automatic spacecraft for national economy, scientific research ("Resurs-F1", "Resurs-F2", "Foton" spacecraft) and spacecraft for special purposes ("Kosmos"-series satellites) as well as manned and cargo spaceships according to the program of the International Space Station. In contrast to "Soyuz-U" launch vehicle modernized engines with heightened specific thrust on units of the 1-st and the 2-nd stages, developed for "Soyuz-2" launch vehicle, are used for "Soyuz-FG" launch vehicle for increasing load-carrying capacity. "Soyuz-FG" launch vehicle can be equipped with nose fairing of the following diameters: 2,7 m; 3,0 m; 3,3 m; 3,7 m.
Manufacturer:
Samara Space Centre
The vehicle's
reliability statistics according to
http://www.spacelaunchreport.com/reliability2010.txt:
Code:
================================================================
Vehicle Successes/Tries Realzd Pred Consc. Last Dates
Rate Rate* Succes Fail
================================================================
Soyuz-FG 22 22 1.00 .96 22 None 2001-
Weather forecast for Baikonur, Kazakhstan for October 8, 2010 (5 a.m.)
Time|Temps|Wind|Chill|Heat Index|UV Index|Dew Point|Relative Humidity|Precip|Snow|Clouds|Visibility|Wind|Weather
5 AM|+2°C|+1°C|+2°C|0|Low|-5.5°C|55%|0%|0%|59%|16 km|NNE 1.79 m/s|
P Cloudy
Sunrise/Sunset and associated twilight times for Baikonur on Friday, October 8, 2010
Times are local.
Event|Time
Astronomical twilight begins|06 : 15
Nautical twilight begins|06 : 49
Civil twilight begins|07 : 24
Sunrise|07 : 52
Transit (sun is at its highest)|13 : 33
Sunset|20 : 15
Civil twilight ends|20 : 43
Nautical twilight ends|21 : 17
Astronomical twilight ends|21 : 52
Watching the launch live
NASA TV - Windows Media
http://www.nasa.gov/55644main_NASATV_Windows.asx
NASA TV - Real Player
http://www.nasa.gov/ram/35037main_portal.ram
NASA TV - QuickTime
http://www.nasa.gov/qtl/151335main_NASA_TV_QT.qtl
NASA TV - Yahoo list
http://playlist.yahoo.com/makeplaylist.dll?id=1368163
NASA TV Schedule for October 7 (the times are in EDT):
October 7, Thursday
8 a.m. - Replay of Video File Feed of ISS Expedition 25 State Commission Meeting and Crew News Conference in Baikonur, Kazakhstan – HQ (Public and Media Channels)
10 a.m. - Replay of Video File Feed of ISS Expedition 25 State Commission Meeting and Crew News Conference in Baikonur, Kazakhstan – HQ (Public and Media Channels)
4 p.m. - Replay of Video File Feed of ISS Expedition 25 State Commission Meeting and Crew News Conference in Baikonur, Kazakhstan – HQ (Public and Media Channels)
5:30 p.m. - Video Feed of ISS Expedition 25 Pre-Launch Activities in Baikonur, Kazakhstan – JSC (Public and Media Channels)
6:15 p.m. - ISS Expedition 25 Soyuz TMA-01M Launch Coverage (via Baikonur (launch scheduled at 7:10 p.m. EDT) – JSC (Public and Media Channels)
10 p.m. - Video File Feed of ISS Expedition 25 Pre-Launch Activities, Launch and Post-Launch Interviews – JSC (Public and Media Channels)
TSENKI video streams (Russian + English, between UTC 20:10 (Oct 7) and UTC 0:10 (Oct 8) )
http://www.tsenki.com/broadcast/broadcast/
Vesti - High Quality (Russian)
http://www.vesti.ru/video1.asx?vid=onair
Vesti - Low Quality (Russian)
http://www.vesti.ru/video1.asx?vid=onair_low
Source References
http://astro.zeto.czest.pl
http://astronaut.ru
http://www.energia.ru
http://www.federalspace.ru
http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com
http://www.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru
http://www.mcc.rsa.ru
http://www.tvroscosmos.ru
http://www.nasa.gov
http://www.spacelaunchreport.com
http://www.intellicast.com/Local/Forecast.aspx
http://www.good-stuff.co.uk/suntimes/sunmap.php
---------- Post added at 19:02 ---------- Previous post was at 18:00 ----------
It's necessary to note that Alexander Kalery is in a way following steps of famous
Kostantin Feoktistov who took a seat on a maiden flight of a space ship much of his own design. Being an experienced technical specialist, Kalery was involved in developing the controlling software for the new Soyuz (
source) and is known as a seasoned programmer. Now it's his right and duty to perform live testing.
I can only wish that
would be merciful to him and his crew! :hail: