TerraN_EmpirE
Tyrant King
Dah,
gee when was the last landing and Launch of the X37B?... oh over a year now.
Russia conducts successful debut launch of Soyuz-2-1v
December 28, 2013 by Nathaniel Downes and Chris Bergin no alt
The new Soyuz-2-1v rocket has finally made its debut launch on Saturday. The secretive launch of the new Soyuz – that does not sport any of the boosters familiar to the other members of the Soyuz family – successfully lofted the Aist satellite and two SKRL-756 calibration spheres from launch pad 43/4 at the Plesetsk Cosmodrome, with launch occurring at 12:30 UTC on Saturday.
New Soyuz Launch Overview:
The Soyuz is one of the best known launch vehicles on the planet, with a rich history that ranges back into the early days of the space program,
The new vehicle is a member of the Soyuz-2 family, a direct descendant of the older and wildly successful Soyuz-U family of rockets.
Several variants of the Soyuz-2 family include the Soyuz-2-1a, an upgrade of the Soyuz-U with modern digital electronics and revised upper stage functions.
Soyuz-2-1b replaced the upper stage with a new unit, powered by an improved avionics suite and more powerful engine.
The Soyuz-ST – flown out of Kourou, French Guiana - provided a customized version of the Soyuz-2 for use by the European Space Agency (ESA).
For the 2-1v, the program is making a large change, replacing the 55 year old design for the first stage and its boosters. This initiative came after successful inaugural flight of the Soyuz-2-1b in 2008, with final approval granted for what is known as the Soyuz-2-1v program.
The Soyuz-2-1v marks an increase in the first stage diameter from 2 meters to 2.7 meters, and replaces the aged RD-108 with a new engine.
The vehicle will carry over the control and guidance systems from the Soyuz-2-1b and will interface with the already existing ground support equipment.
Per an array of presentations in the L2 Russian Section – L2 LINK - the vehicle stands 44 meters tall on the launch pad.
Replacing the legacy R-7 first stage and boosters, the new first stage sports a replacement engine, designated as the 14D15, built by the NK Engines Company.
Images of the engine show it is based on the NK-33, from Sergei Korolev’s ambitious moon rocket, the N-1.
Notably, Orbital’s Antares launch vehicle also utilizes engines derived from the NK-33 – the Aerojet-supplied AJ26-62.
While the Soyuz-2-1v uses one main engine – with a separate engine for vector and roll control – Orbital’s rocket utilizes two AJ-26′s together, in order to handle vector and roll control requirements.
This engine’s stats include a thrust rating listed at 1,545 KN (Sea Level), 1,720 KN (Vacuum), with a Thrust Specific Impulse of 297.6s (Sea Level), 331.2s (Vacuum), with a thrust range of 55 percent to 100 percent of rating.
Documentation also shows another engine on the core, the RD-0110R called the 14D24. The 14D24 handles the vector and roll controls for the first stage.
The stats for this engine include a thrust rating listed at 24.28 KN (Sea Level), 27.81 KN (Vacuum), with a Thrust Specific Impulse of 260.5s (Sea Level), 298.3s (Vacuum), while the dry weight of the engine is 425 kg, compared to 1,250 kg for the 14D15.
In addition, the new launch vehicle will debut with the new Volga insertion stage. Said to be cheaper than the Fregat stage currently in service, the Volga will cater for orbital insertion to orbits as high as 1700 km.
Built to endure up to 24 hours of operation – with multiple restart capability – the Volga is targeted at the largest base of Fregat customers on the Soyuz, those seeking mid to high orbits.
This unit has been developed internally by TsSKB, who are aiming to ensure the Volga will be compatible with the entire Soyuz-2 fleet of launch vehicles.
The company predicts it could replace the more expensive Fregat on half of missions it is currently used for.
The engine details for the Volga Upper Stage have not been disclosed at this time.
The most striking element for the Soyuz-2-1v is the removal of the distinctive boosters that are usually seen surrounding the core stage. However, careful examination of the booster reveals that there is still provision to add four boosters to the design as a potential upgrade path for the future.
Several concepts relating of this projected upgrade have appeared over the years, but have remained on the drawing board. One such upgrade is called the Soyuz-2-3, which sports boosters using the RD-0155 engine, RD-193 engine or RD-120 engine.
The design of these boosters have varied over time, but a model on display in Vienna shows a vehicle with four cylindrical boosters topped with a nose reminiscent of that found on the Energia.
Further evolution is noted in the notional Soyuz-3 project, which replaces the Soyuz-2 upper stage with a new unit, based on a Hydrogen-driven – as opposed to Kerosene – Soyuz-2 upper stage, using the new RD-0146 engine co-developed with Pratt & Whitney.
The first flight unit of the 1v was completed in 2012 and shipped to the launch site at Plesetsk.
The first test stage of the 1v was rolled out on January 6, 2011 from the Zagorsk testing facility in Peresvet Russia, just north of Moscow. It was then used for several engine tests relating to the fuel system, tank pressure testing, etc.
The first full-up firing of the complete first stage took place at the Zagorsk facility – which has been home for rocket stage testing since 1949, following the inaugural test of a Russian copy of the German V-2 rocket.
The launch of the new rocket had been delayed several times.
Several scrubs were incurred during recent days, with the Russian media twice claiming the mission had been moved into 2014, including on Saturday, right up to the moment the vehicle actually launched.
Little is known about the payloads that rode uphill on this debut launch, other than an Aist satellite was riding alongside two SKRL-756 calibration spheres.
Aist – a prototype spacecraft designed by the Rocket and Space Center and Samara State Aerospace University - will be launched on top of the upper configuration, while the two spheres will be placed on either side, below the Aist spacecraft.
The target orbit altitude for Aist is understood to be similar to the 575 km circular orbit of a previous Aist spacecraft launched by a Soyuz 2-1A earlier this year during the BION-M mission.
Successful spacecraft separation was achieved at 14:10 UTC.
(All images via L2 documentation and photo collections – Soyuz at Kourou via ESA. Vehicle on the pad via unknown source).
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Astronauts complete installation of new ISS Pump Module
December 23, 2013 by Pete Harding no alt
Two astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) have completed the replacement of a failed Pump Module outside the station. The spacewalk, designated US EVA-25, took place on the backbone of the hugely successful EVA-24, allowing for the completion of all spacewalk tasks in just two EVAs.
EVA-25 background:
Three EVAs were originally planned to Remove & Replace (R&R) the failed loop A Pump Module (PM) on the S1 Truss of the ISS – the first EVA to disconnect the failed PM from the ISS, the second EVA to remove the failed PM and replace it with a spare PM, and the third EVA to connect the spare PM and stow the failed PM.
Z11However, the first EVA (US EVA-24 on December 21) managed to not only disconnect the old PM, but also remove it from the ISS – essentially completing around half of the tasks originally scheduled for EVA-25.
This increased efficiency can be attributed to ammonia Quick Disconnect (QD) lines that were much easier to handle than they have been in the past for this EVA, which could be due to the fact that the pressure of the ammonia lines was reduced prior to the disconnection of the QDs.
Not only was more work completed than was scheduled, but EVA-25 was also around one hour shorter in duration than planned, since the EVA ended early due to spacewalker Rick Mastracchio apparently experiencing some discomfort inside his spacesuit.
While some media reports have claimed that water was found inside the spacesuit upon return to the Airlock, such reports are in fact false – instead it is believed that, upon return to the Airlock, a switch for a sublimator on Mastracchio’s suit was inadvertently activated, causing a water build-up on the suit.
A sublimator is a device which cools spacesuits in the vacuum of space by venting a small amount of cooling water into space, which in turn evaporates (since liquid water cannot exist in a vacuum, it evaporates from a solid into a gas in a process known as sublimation).
Via this process heat in the cooling water can be vented into space, thus providing cooling for the suit.
Click here for more EVA News Articles:
Luca's Faulty SuitHowever, the process will not work in a pressurised environment (such as the pressurised Airlock), and so when the sublimator was accidentally activated inside the Airlock, this caused water to build-up on the suit.
It is for this reason that EVA-26 was postponed by 24 hours, from its originally scheduled date of December 23, to today, in order to allow more time for suit drying.
It is also this reason that, for EVA-26, Mastracchio used EMU suit number 3011, whereas on EVA-25 he used EMU 3010.
This allowed time for EMU 3010 to fully dry out, since any residual water entering the vacuum of space could freeze and cause the sublimator to cease to function.
EVA-25 procedures:
US EVA-25 began slightly ahead of schedule at 11:53 AM GMT, and lasted seven and a half hours. The EVA crew were astronaut Mike Hopkins as EV-1 wearing EMU 3005, and Rick Mastracchio as EV-2 wearing EMU 3011.
Originally, Hopkins was planned to be EV-2 for EVA-25 and EV-1 for EVA-26, however since many EVA-26 procedures will now be performed on EVA-25, Hopkins took the EV-1 designation for EVA-25 in order to reduce the procedure changes needed.
While the original purpose of EVA-25 was to remove the failed PM from the truss and install the spare PM, since the failed PM was removed during EVA-24, instead EVA-25 focused on installing the new PM into the ISS, and also connecting its ammonia and electrical lines – a task originally planned for EVA-26.
Z3Thus, after egressing the Quest airlock, the two spacewalkers moved out to the Starboard 3 (S3) Truss, to External Stowage Platform-3 (ESP-3), which is the location of the spare PM that will be installed into the ISS in place of the failed PM that was removed from the S1 Truss on EVA-24.
Once at ESP-3, the two spacewalkers worked to remove Multi Layer Insulation (MLI) coverings from the spare PM, which was launched into space on the STS-127 mission in July 2009.
The duo began to disconnect four electrical connectors from the spare PM, and drove four bolts to remove the spare PM from its adapter plate housing on ESP-3.
The bolts – as can be expected – were slightly troublesome, requiring the torque multiplier on the Pistol Grip Tool (PGT) to allow for the spare PM to come free from ESP-3.
EV-1 Hopkins then attached a handling aid to the PM known as a “scoop”, and hitched a ride on the end of the Space Station Remote Manipulator System (SSRMS) over to the PM installation site at the S1 Truss, whereupon the spare PM was inserted into its slot inside the Truss structure itself.
Z8Four bolts were driven to attach the new PM to the ISS. At this point, the two spacewalkers began to mate the four ammonia QD jumpers to the new PM.
M1 provided no problems, before M2 required a little extra work to complete its mating to the PM. However, M3 took some time to be demated from the Jumper Box, requiring an array of tools – and some clever thinking on ground – before it too finally released.
At the same time, some ammonia flakes touched the EMUs of both spacewalkers, requiring some consideration on the decontamination procedures ahead of re-entering the Station.
After the electrical connections were also made – without issue – clean up tasks were the final element of the spacewalk.
Z7With the new PM installation e complete, ground controllers were able to turn it on and begin initial tests and commissioning, with a view to soon recovering full nominal cooling capability on loop A.
Ahead of loop A’s re-integration with the Interface Heat Exchangers (IFHXs), in order to allow for cooling of internal ISS equipment via loop A to resume, a “bump test” provided the initial confidence in the new system. A full checkout will take place later on Tuesday.
While a third EVA (EVA-26) was originally planned to connect the new PM and stow the failed PM, since the new PM should now be fully connected by the end of EVA-25, it will likely not be necessary to conduct EVA-26 immediately following EVA-25.
The only objective remaining should be to stow the failed PM, which is not a critical task.
Z6Instead, it is likely that the failed PM will remain attached to its current temporary stowage location on the Payload ORU Accommodation (POA) on the Mobile Base System (MBS) until at least January, whereupon a short EVA would be performed to transfer the failed PM to the previous home of the spare PM on ESP-3.
Leaving the failed PM on the POA long-term is not desired since engineers believe the failed PM could be re-used in the future, since only one small component inside it (the FCV – Flow Control Valve) is failed, and thus an external FCV could be fabricated in the future, and connected to the PM in order to return it to service.
For this reason, it is desirable to attach the failed PM to ESP-3, where it will have access to an MLI housing for protection from debris and electrical connections for heating, as no MLI protection or electrical power is available to the PM while on the POA.
(Images: via L2′s ISS Section – Containing presentations, videos, images and ongoing ISS status updates, with additional images NASA and CSA).
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SpaceX schedules next launch Friday
James Dean, Florida Today 7:54 a.m. EST December 30, 2013
The 5:50 p.m. ET launch will have about a 90-minute window.
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — SpaceX is targeting its first launch of 2014 for Friday
A Falcon 9 rocket is scheduled to blast off with Thaicom Plc's Thaicom 6 television satellite at 5:50 p.m. ET, the opening of a window that extends to 7:17 p.m.
SpaceX successfully completed a test Saturday that took the vehicle and launch pad systems through a full countdown short of firing the rocket's nine engines, according to SpaceX, a private space transport company founded in 2002 and based in Hawthorne, Calif.
The satellite operator Thaicom is a subsidiary of Shin Corp., the largest telecommunications company in Thailand.
The launch would be SpaceX's second from here of its upgraded Falcon 9 rocket and second of a commercial communications satellite to a geostationary orbit more than 22,000 miles above Earth, after the Dec. 3 launch of SES-8.
Built by Orbital Sciences Corp. and weighing about 7,300 pounds at launch, Thaicom 6 will provide satellite television service to South and Southeast Asia and southern Africa.
gee when was the last landing and Launch of the X37B?... oh over a year now.
kinda makes you wonder what that lonely X37B is up to up there....US Air Force's X37-B Secret 'Space Shuttle' Nears Year In Space
Huffington Post UK | Posted: 04/12/2013 13:58 GMT | Updated: 04/12/2013 14:02 GMT
A mysterious space craft built and launched by the US Air Force has now spent roughly a year in orbit around Earth - though no one knows what it's doing there.
The X37-B spy plane is an unmanned drone similar in outward appearance to the Space Shuttle, though much smaller and without the capacity to carry astronauts.
The 11,000-pound craft is only 29 feet long, 15 wide and about a quarter of the size of the now-retired Space Shuttle.
It has previously spent two long periods in orbit - the first mission (Orbital Test Vehicle 1) lasted for 225 days, and the second (OTV2) lasted 469 days.
The latest mission, OTV3, seems set to carry on that trend, having now spent just under 358 days in space since its launch atop an Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral on 11 December, 2012.
Astronomers across the globe have kept track of the plane throughout its mission, noting that it has fired its thrusters several times during the flight. But what exactly it's doing, and what its payload is meant to accomplish, is classified. Space.com has an entertaining report on the speculation.
Eventually it is assumed the X37-B will return to Earth via an automatic, guided landing to either the Vandenberg Air Force Base in California or NASA's Kennedy Space Centre.
