H-IIB Launch Vehicle
during test
Image Credit: JAXA
JAXA will broadcast the launch of the H-IIB F2 Launch Vehicle #2 with the KOUNOTORI 2 HTV from Tanegashima, Japan on Thursday January 20, 2011 starting at 2:30 p.m. Japan Standard Time (JST) for one and a half hours. NASA TV will start launch coverage via the JAXA broadcast feed on Jan 20 at 1 a.m. EST with launch scheduled 1:29 a.m. EST
JAXA will broadcast the final approach of the KOUNOTORI 2 HTV-2 to the ISS and capture by the SSRMS on Thursday January 27, 2011 from 7:50 p.m. JST for one hour. NASA TV will broadcast the grapple event on Thursday January 27, 2011 at 6 a.m. EST. The grapple operation on the ISS is scheduled to occur at 6:44 a.m. EDT
JAXA will broadcast the HTV-2 docking with the ISS Thursday January 27, 2011 from 10:30 p.m. JST for one hour. NASA TV will broadcast the Kounotori" HTV-2 Berthing event starting around 9:15 a.m. EDT through about 11:15 a.m. EDT. Berthing is scheduled to begin around 9:15 a.m. EDT
KOUNOTORI means "white stork".
The HTV will slowly approach from the nadir (bottom) side of the ISS (from the direction of Earth), and stop at a designated position, which is approximately 10 meters away. Once it is in position, the HTV will dock with the ISS. Rather than berthing in the traditional way, the HTV will come to a relative stop at a designated point, such described as "capture box" and the space station's robotic arm (SSRMS for Space Station Remote Manipulator System) will grab HTV's Grapple Fixture.
JAXA mage of HTV being grappled by ISS robotoic arm.
Image Credit: JAXA
Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) has released preliminary findings on the launch failure of GSLV-F06 flight of December 25, 2010.
The performance of the GSLV-F06 flight of December 25, 2010 (with GSAT-5P Satellite onboard) was normal up to 47.5 seconds from lift-off. The events leading to the failure got initiated at 47.8 seconds after lift-off. Soon, the vehicle started developing larger errors in its orientation leading to build-up of higher angle of attack and higher structural loads and consequently vehicle broke up at 53.8 seconds from lift-off (as seen visually as well as from the Radars).
As per the Range safety norms, a destruct command was issued from the ground at 64 seconds after lift-off. The flight was hence terminated in the regime of the First Stage itself.
Soon after this, Dr. Radhakrishnan, the Chairman ISRO constituted a Preliminary Failure Analysis Team under the chairmanship of former Chairman, ISRO Dr. G. Madhavan Nair, to conduct a preliminary analysis of the flight data, along with members of the Launch Authorisation Board, and Mission Readiness Review Committee as well as senior Project functionaries of GSLV Project and Experts.
The finding of the Preliminary Failure Analysis Team is that the primary cause of the failure is the untimely and inadvertent snapping of a group of 10 connectors located at the bottom portion of the Russian Cryogenic Stage. Some of these connectors carry command signals from the onboard computer residing in the Equipment Bay (located near the top of the vehicle) to the control electronics of the four L40 Strap-ons of the First Stage. These connectors are intended to be separated only on issue of a separation command at 292 seconds after lift-off. The premature snapping of these connectors has led to stoppage of continuous flow of control commands to the First Stage control electronics, consequently leading to loss of control and break-up of the vehicle. The exact cause of snapping of the set of connectors, whether due to external forces like vibration, dynamic pressure is to be analysed further and pin-pointed.
Chairman ISRO has now constituted a Failure Analysis Committee to (i) carry out an in-depth analysis of the flight data of GSLV-F06 as well as the data from the previous six flights of GSLV; (ii) establish reasons for the failure of GSLV-F06 flight and; (iii) recommend corrective actions on the GSLV vehicle including the remaining one Russian Cryogenic Stage. The Failure Analysis Committee chaired by Former Chairman ISRO Dr. G. Madhavan Nair has 11 Experts drawn from within ISRO and outside.
Chairman ISRO has also constituted a Programme Review and Strategy Committee to look into (i) the future of the GSLV Programme and assured launch for INSAT/GSAT Series, INSAT-3D as well as Chandrayaan-2 (ii) realization and operationalisation of indigenous Cryogenic Stage (iii) strategy for meeting the demands of communication transponders in the immediate future. Dr. K. Kasturirangan, former Chairman ISRO and presently Member of the Planning Commission will be chairing this seven member Committee.
These two Committees have been requested to submit their Reports by the end of January 2011. Subsequently, the Reports of these Committees will be presented to Eminent National Experts including Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, Prof. M.G.K. Menon, Prof. Yash Pal, Prof. U.R. Rao, Dr. K. Kasturirangan, Dr. G. Madhavan Nair, Dr. R. Chidambaram, and Prof. R. Narasimha.
Further, a Panel chaired by Dr. S.C. Gupta, former member of Space Commission will be guiding and facilitating an internal exercise by Chairman, ISRO, eliciting views from the ISRO community at all levels to gear up for the complex and challenging space missions ahead.
ISRO plans to complete these reviews and internal exercises by end of February, 2011.
Technicians in the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida are essentially done with the latest round of X-ray type image scans of space shuttle Discovery's external fuel tank.
The computed radiography images of all 108 support beams, called stringers, on the outside of the external tank’s intertank section, which technicians began taking Sunday, are being evaluated by engineers.
However, preliminary analysis indicates small cracks were detected on the tops of three stringers on panel 6, which is on the opposite side of the tank from Discovery. The newly detected cracks currently are under evaluation and there has been no decisions on what affect, if any, the these cracks will make on future plans.
The new data, along with previous testing and analysis, will help engineers and managers determine what caused other small cracks on the tops of two stringers during Discovery’s launch countdown on Nov. 5.
Space Shuttle Program managers are meeting this afternoon (December 30, 2010) to decide whether testing and analysis indicate modifications are needed on some of the stringers. If required, modifications would begin next Monday (Jan. 3, 2010).
X-ray radiography work on the external tank
Image Credit NASA
Artist rendering of Taurus II on the
launch pad at the Wallops Flight Facility Image Credit: Orbital
Artist rendering of Taurus II Launch Image Credit: Orbital
The second test 55-second test firing of the liquid-fueled Aerojet AJ26 engine at NASA's Stennis Space Center in Mississippi on December. 17, 2010. Test firing of 55 seconds on E-1 test stand and into 27-foot-deep flame deflector trench. One in sequence of development tests performed by NASA Stennis. Next hot fire test to verify tuning of engine control valves. Stennis has a long history of rocket engine testing going back through all the space shuttle engine tests and the Apollo Lunar program.
Taurus II
Two Aerojet AJ26 engines each with independent thrust vectoring will be used for first stage propulsion of Orbital Sciences Corp.'s Taurus II launch vehicle.The Aerojet AJ26 engine is an oxidizer-rich, staged-combustion LO2/Kerosene engine that achieves very high performance in a lightweight compact package. It is based on the NK-33 engine originally designed and produced in Russia for the Russian N1 lunar launch vehicle. Aerojet has developed and delivered over 1300 bipropellant engines typically using either monmethyl hydrazine (MMH) or hydrazine (N2H4) as fuel with nitrogen tetroxide (NOT) as oxidizer. Oxidizer and fuel streams meet and react to produce thrust. The Taurus II medium-class space launch vehicle is being developed to boost payloads into a variety of low-Earth and geosynchronous transfer orbits and to Earth escape trajectories. Taurus II will also be capable of supporting mid-inclination and polar orbiting spacecraft weighing 10,500 lbs. and 5,500 lbs., respectively.
Orbital Sciences Corporation
Orbital Sciences Corporation of Dulles, Va. is under a $1.9 billion commercial contract with NASA to provide eight cargo missions to the International Space Station from 2011 through 2015. NASA Stennis tests the rocket engines in the partnership agreement. The first Taurus II mission will be flown in support of NASA's Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) cargo demonstration to the International Space Station. Taurus II Initial Launch Capability (ILC) is expected in the third quarter of 2011.
Aerojet Engine History in the News
Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 were launched in 1977, and are the oldest operational spacecraft. At launch, each spacecraft carried two propulsion systems, a Delta-V system, including four 100 lbf and four 5 lbf monopropellant hydrazine thrusters made by Aerojet, and an attitude control system including 16 0.2 lbf monopropellant hydrazine thrusters. The Delta-V systems have long since been jettisoned, but the attitude control systems remain operational today. The 100 lbf thrusters are the original version of the thrusters intended for Orion’s crew module and the 0.2 lbf thrusters are the original version of the thrusters currently in use for the Global Positioning System Block IIR, and are similar to those newly in service for GPS Block IIF.
From the Earth to orbit about 400 kilometers. It is this distance that now separates families and friends of the astronauts. While they will work in space, on Earth they will have to wait. And the wait is always harder. Six months of weightlessness - 152 days apart.Occasional phone calls and conversations directly connected with the Mission Control Center. Brief e-mails - so in the future. And now, before the start, separated by thickglass, they are trying to convey your feelings to those who remain on Earth. Who waves his hand, who pulls a stuffed toy - a talisman, sends a secret, one they know the signs or just looking, mentally trying to convey their words to loved ones. Space, as a test of the senses. Separation, as a proof of love. What can be more than signs of love from outer space?
Includes video clips of Soyuz TMA-20 launch on Dec 17, docking with ISS, and news conference with some of the memorable moments, especially ISS Flight Engineer Catherine Coleman talking with her family. Watch how stuffed animals are used between the astronauts and family members, especially the smiles :))
Integrated Launch Vehicle (ILV)
Proton-M/Breeze M/KA-SAT
on Launch pad
Image Credit: Khrunichev
Roscosmos will launch Proton-M with Breeze M upper stage and Eutelsat's KA-SAT spacecraft Dec 27, 2010 at 00:51 Moscow time from launch complex 200 at Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan. TsENKI provides live TV and Internet broadcasts of space launches from Baikonur Cosmodrome. The launch will be televised on the internet at http://www.tsenki.com/broadcast/
Moscow Standard Time (MSK) is 3 hours ahead of UTC, or UTC+3. Launch time is Dec 26, 2010 21:51 UT. Integrated Launch Vehicle (ILV) = Proton-M with Breeze M upper stage and KA-SAT
KA-SAT deployed
KA-SAT is a high-capacity Ka-band multi-beam satellite owned by European Telecommunications Satellite Organization (Eutelsat) configured with over 80 spotbeams. Spot beams draw smaller cells on the ground (beam footprint) and more efficiently use satellite transmission power. KA-SAT will be parked in geo-synchronous obit at at 13° E (some references say 9 deg East) near three Eutelsat HOT BIRD Ku-band broadcasting satellites. KA-SAT was built by Astrium on the Eurostar E3000 platform and has a 15 year life expectancy. KA-SAT is the first European satellite that will operate exclusively in high capacity Ka-band frequencies. With its High Throughput of 70 Gbps, KA-SAT is ranked as the world's most powerful satellite. It will provide satellite-delivered broadband and data services across Europe and the Mediterranean Basin.
Spot Beam Earth Coverage over Europe with KA-SAT
Ka-band:
Downlink 27.5 GHz - 30.0 GHz
Uplink 17.7 GHz to 20.2 GHz
Proton-M Booster Rocket
Proton M Rocket Booster
Overall height 42.3 m (138.8 ft).
Three stages
Built by Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center
A Proton M/Breeze M stack was first launched on April 7, 2001
First stage
Length 21 m
Diameter 7.4 m
Six RD-276 engines
Thrust 11.0 MN (2,500,000 lbf).
central fuel tank containing the nitrogen tetroxide (NTO) oxidizer surrounded by six outboard fuel tanks containing Unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine (UDMH) hypergolic fuel
The first three stages of the Proton-M use a standard ascent profile to place the Breeze M upper stage with KA-SAT into a sub-orbital trajectory. Breeze M maneuvers the orbital unit to a circular parking orbit, then to an intermediate orbit, followed by a transfer orbit, and finally to a geostationary orbit.
Proton-M first stage showing six RD-276
engines and UDMG fuel tanks
surrounding central N2H2 oxidizer tank
Image Credit: Roscosmos
Set up of Proton-M with Breeze-M upper stage
and payload KA-SAT at Baikonur Cosmodrome,
Kazakhstan site 200 launch facility
YouTube Video by Roscosmos
Proton-M/KA-SAT Launch Team
Image Credit Khrunichev
