Outside view of the Mir space station. Credit: NASA
The interior of Russian space station Mir was not known for its pizazz — US astronaut Jerry Linenger called it “as drab as a Moscow winter” — and it ended up being crowded and cluttered with all sorts of unused equipment and old experiments. So, Mir was an unlikely place for an art exhibit … and perhaps why it was called an “art intervention” by one of the artists.
In the video above you can see a green “creature” floating freely in the Mir space station, — all angles and corners — gently brushing against spacesuits stashed in a corner. The video then shows it pivoting in the air, flashing red and green with people occasionally batting at it.
While the Russians were able to accept the angular sculpture, there were precautions to ensure that the paint would not produce toxic out-gasses or otherwise harm the astronauts, Woods added, saying the sculpture was even dunked in an alcohol solution prior to launch to remove any germs.
Then there was an entire art exhibition on station in 1995, called Ars Ad Astra. From 171 works submitted from all over the world, 20 were chosen for a ride into orbit with Thomas Reiter, a German astronaut. The crew then selected one to keep on display on the station, sending the rest of them back to Earth for exhibitions all over Europe.
The winner was “When Dreams Are Born”, an artwork from the United States’ Elisabeth Caroll Smith showing two children playing near a reflection of the moon in the water.
Information about the two art exhibits, which were co-ordinated by the Swiss O.U.R.S. Project, was displayed at the Canadian Space Society annual summit in Ottawa, Canada Nov. 14 to 15.
The International Space Station has also played host to several art projects, including this light show, a music video by Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield, and dinosaur crafting from NASA astronaut Karen Nyberg, among others.
Inside the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, engineers and technicians prepare the MAVEN spacecraft for encapsulation inside its payload fairing. Credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FL – MAVEN, NASA’s next spacecraft launching to the Red Planet in barely three days time on Nov. 18 seeks to unlock one of the greatest Martian mysteries; Where did all the water go ?
From the accumulated evidence so far scientists believe that billions of years ago, Mars was gifted with a thick atmosphere like Earth and liquid water flowed across the surface.
The Red Planet was far bluer, warmer, wetter and hospitable to life four billion years ago – truly a lot more Earth-like.
And then Mars lost its atmosphere starting somewhere around 3.5 to 3.7 Billion years ago. As the atmosphere thinned and the pressure decreased, the water evaporated and Mars evolved into the cold arid world we know today.
But why and exactly when did Mars undergo such a radical climatic transformation?
“Where did the water go and where did the carbon dioxide go from the early atmosphere? What were the mechanisms?” asks Bruce Jakosky, MAVEN’s Principal Investigator from the University of Colorado at Boulder
MAVEN is NASA’s next Mars orbiter and is due to blastoff on Nov. 18 from Cape Canaveral, Florida. It will study the evolution of the Red Planet’s atmosphere and climate. Universe Today visited MAVEN inside the clean room at the Kennedy Space Center. With solar panels unfurled, this is exactly how MAVEN looks when flying through space and circling Mars. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com
Although there are lots of theories, NASA’s MAVEN Mars orbiter – which stands for Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution – is the first real attempt to investigating these fundamental questions that hold the key to solving the Martian mysteries perplexing the science community.
“We don’t know the driver of the change,” explains Jakosky.
MAVEN Mated to Atlas. On Nov. 8,2013, NASA’s Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution, or MAVEN spacecraft, is hoisted to the top of a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket at the Vertical Integration Facility at Launch Complex 41. Credit: NASA/Kim ShiflettBy studying and understanding specific processes in the upper atmosphere of Mars, MAVEN’s seeks to determine how and why Mars atmosphere and water disappeared billions of years ago and what effect that had on the history of climate change and habitability.
“The major questions about the history of Mars center on the history of its climate and atmosphere and how that’s influenced the surface, geology and the possibility for life,” says Jakosky.
MAVEN is equipped with three instrument suites holding nine science instruments
MAVEN will focus on understanding the history of the atmosphere, how the climate has changed through time, and how that influenced the evolution of the surface and the potential for habitability by microbes on Mars.”
“That’s what driving our exploration of Mars with MAVEN,” said Jakosky
The 5,400 pound MAVEN probe carries nine sensors in three instrument suites.
MAVEN Spacecraft Positioned Atop Atlas V Rocket at Launch Complex 41 on Cape Canaveral. Credit: NASAThe Particles and Fields Package, provided by the University of California at Berkeley with support from CU/LASP and NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., contains six instruments to characterize the solar wind and the ionosphere of Mars. The Remote Sensing Package, built by CU/LASP, will determine global characteristics of the upper atmosphere and ionosphere. The Neutral Gas and Ion Mass Spectrometer, built by Goddard, will measure the composition of Mars’ upper atmosphere.
I personally inspected MAVEN inside the clean room at the Kennedy Space Center on Sept. 27 with fellow journalists when the solar arrays were fully unfurled.
The probe spanned 37 feet in length from wingtip to wingtip.
Since then MAVEN has been folded and encapsulated inside the payload fairing, transported to the pad at Launch Complex 41 and hoisted on top of the Atlas V rocket on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS) in Florida.
The $671 Million MAVEN spacecraft has been powered on and awaits liftoff.
MAVEN is the second of two Mars bound probes launching from Earth this November.
Learn more about MAVEN, MOM, Mars rovers, Orion and more at Ken’s upcoming presentations
Nov 14-20: “MAVEN Mars Launch and Curiosity Explores Mars, Orion and NASA’s Future”, Kennedy Space Center Quality Inn, Titusville, FL, 8 PM
Dec 11: “Curiosity, MAVEN and the Search for Life on Mars”, “LADEE & Antares ISS Launches from Virginia”, Rittenhouse Astronomical Society, Franklin Institute, Phila, PA, 8 PM
Main service gantry of the Angara pad in Plesetsk under construction in April 2013. Credit: Russian Ministry of Defense, via Russian Space Web.
Reports coming out of Russia say that two people were killed at the Plesetsk space launch facility last week while doing routine work cleaning out a propellant tank. The Russian newspaper Ria Novosti said that on November 9, 2013, two workers were killed and three others were hospitalized after being exposed to poisonous nitrogen vapors while doing maintenance at the facility. Officials from the Russia Defense Ministry were quoted as saying the accident appeared to have been caused by failure to follow safety regulations.
The Plesetsk cosmodrome is located in the northwestern Arkhangelsk province. The facility has been undergoing refurbishing to take over a majority of the launches as Russia looks to reduce reliance on the Baikonur cosmodrome, which it leases from the former Soviet nation of Kazakhstan.
Currently, Russia uses Plesetsk to test intercontinental ballistic missile and to launch satellites, but they are hoping to use new facilities by next year to test the Angara heavy rocket.
Ria Novosti said it was unclear what accounted for the delay between the incident and its announcement, “but sensitive military issues are typically kept highly confidential in Russia.”
Unfortunately, over 50 people have been killed at this launch facility since 1973. In June of 1973, 9 people were killed by an explosion of Cosmos-3M rocket; in March of 1980, 48 people were killed by an explosion of a Vostok-2M rocket with a Tselina satellite, during a fueling operation; and in October of 2002, a Soyuz-U carrying the ESA Foton-M1 project failed to launch and exploded, killing one.
Right now, just one-fourth of Russia’s launches occur from within Russia itself, but Russia’s Federal Space Agency hope to have nine-tenths of its space launches from Plesetsk and the Vostochny cosmodrome by 2030.
Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield appeared on Conan last night, and if you missed it here’s a clip in which Conan O’Brien asks Chris to answer one of his most nagging questions about life in orbit: “Do you guys do laundry in space? How do you take care of that issue?”
Like Conan, you might be surprised at his response! (Seen any “shooting stars” recently?)
“MOM is in normal health,” at this time according to the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) – which has now scheduled a supplementary main engine firing for early Tuesday (Nov. 12) to boost the crafts orbit the missing 20,000 km required.
Monday’s engine firing only raised MOM’s apogee (farthest point to Earth) from 71,623 km to 78,276 km compared to the originally planned apogee of about 100,000 [1 lakh] km), said ISRO in a press release.
This is the first serious problem to strike MOM in space. And it seemed clear to me something might be amiss when ISRO failed to quickly announce a successful completion of the 4th firing as had been the pattern for the initial three burns.
Trajectory graphic showing new supplemental 5th Midnight Maneuver thruster firing of ISRO’s Mars Orbiter Mission Spacecraft planned for Nov. 12 (IST) following the premature main engine shutdown during 4th orbit raising engine burn on Nov. 11. Credit: ISRO
The premature shutdown of the liquid fueled 440 Newton main engine “imparted an incremental velocity of 35 metres/second as against 130 metres/second originally planned,” ISRO stated.
That’s barely a quarter of what was hoped for.
“A supplementary orbit-raising operation is planned tomorrow (November 12, 2013) at 0500 hrs IST to raise the apogee to nearly 1 lakh [100,000] km.”
A series of six absolutely essential firings of the 440 Newton main engine – dubbed “midnight maneuvers” – had been originally scheduled by Indian space engineers.
The purpose of the “midnight maneuvers” is to achieve Earth escape velocity by gradually raising MOM’s apogee over several weeks, and set her on a trans Mars trajectory to the Red Planet, following the spectacular blastoff on Nov. 5 from India’s spaceport.
Graphic showing trajectory that had been planned for the Fourth Midnight Maneuver of ISRO’s Mars Orbiter Mission Spacecraft on Nov. 11 until early shutdown of the 440N liquid fueled main engine. Credit: ISRO
MOM was due to depart Earth’s orbit on Dec. 1 after accomplishing the 6th of the originally scheduled thruster firings – and begin a 10 month long interplanetary cruise to Mars.
MOM’s picture perfect Nov. 5 liftoff atop India’s highly reliable four stage Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) C25 from the ISRO’s Satish Dhawan Space Centre SHAR, Sriharikota, precisely injected the spacecraft into an initial elliptical Earth parking orbit of 247 x 23556 kilometers with an inclination of 19.2 degrees.
The 1st, 2nd and 3rd thruster firings were spot on and incrementally raised MOM’s apogee from 23556 km to 28814 km, 40186 km and 71,623 km respectively.
The next firing had been slated for Nov. 16.
Here’s how ISRO described the source of the main engine shutdown:
“During the fourth orbit-raising operations held today (November 11, 2013), the redundancies built-in for the propulsion system were exercised, namely, (a) energising the primary and redundant coils of the solenoid flow control valve of 440 Newton Liquid Engine and (b) logic for thrust augmentation by the attitude control thrusters, when needed.
However, when both primary and redundant coils were energised together, as one of the planned modes, the flow to the Liquid Engine stopped. The thrust level augmentation logic, as expected, came in and the operation continued using the attitude control thrusters. This sequence resulted in reduction of the incremental velocity.”
Artists concept shows Midnight Maneuver thruster firing of the liquid engine of ISRO’s Mars Orbiter Mission Spacecraft. Credit: ISRO
It is not known at this time how or whether the requirement for a supplemental “midnight maneuver” engine firing will affect the mission’s timing at Earth and its operations and longevity at Mars.
Why are the firings called midnight maneuvers?
“Firing has to happen near the perigee and in the visibility from ISTRAC ground stations. All these orbits have argument of perigee of ~285 deg. When all these constraints are put together, firings time will almost always fall in to midnights of Indian sub continent,” said ISRO in response to a readers inquiry.
In the latest update, ISRO reports: “After achieving an apogee of around 78,000 km in last night’s Maneuver, ISRO’s Mars Orbiter Mission Spacecraft is all set to reach the apogee of One lakh km in a supplementary maneuver scheduled for 5 AM tomorrow. [Nov 12].”
MOM was to arrive in the vicinity of Mars on September 24, 2014 when the absolutely essential Mars orbital insertion firing by the 440 Newton liquid fueled main engine will slow the probe and place it into a 366 km x 80,000 km elliptical orbit.
Clouds on the ground ! The sky seems inverted for a moment ! Blastoff of India’s Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) on Nov. 5, 2013 from the Indian Space Research Organization’s (ISRO) Satish Dhawan Space Centre SHAR, Sriharikota. Credit: ISRO
If all goes well, India will join an elite club of only four who have launched probes that successfully investigated the Red Planet from orbit or the surface – following the Soviet Union, the United States and the European Space Agency (ESA).
The low cost $69 Million MOM mission is the first of two new Mars orbiter science probes from Earth blasting off for the Red Planet this November.
Half a world away, NASA’s $671 Million MAVEN orbiter remains on target to launch in less than one week on Nov. 18 – from Cape Canaveral, Florida.
Both MAVEN and MOM’s goal is to study the Martian atmosphere, unlock the mysteries of its current atmosphere and determine how, why and when the atmosphere and liquid water was lost – and how this transformed Mars climate into its cold, desiccated state of today.
The MAVEN and MOM science teams will “work together” to unlock the secrets of Mars atmosphere and climate history, MAVEN’s top scientist Prof. Bruce Jakosky told Universe Today.
Stay tuned here for continuing MOM and MAVEN news and Ken’s MAVEN launch reports from on site at the Kennedy Space Center press center
Learn more about MAVEN, MOM, Mars rovers, Orion and more at Ken’s upcoming presentations
Nov 14-19: “MAVEN Mars Launch and Curiosity Explores Mars, Orion and NASA’s Future”, Kennedy Space Center Quality Inn, Titusville, FL, 8 PM
Dec 11: “Curiosity, MAVEN and the Search for Life on Mars”, “LADEE & Antares ISS Launches from Virginia”, Rittenhouse Astronomical Society, Franklin Institute, Phila, PA, 8 PM
Expedition 37's Fyodor Yurchikhin (Roscosmos), Karen Nyberg (NASA) and Luca Parmitano (European Space Agency) as their Soyuz TMA-09M spacecraft safely descends to Earth on Nov. 10, 2013. Credit: NASA/Carla Cioffi
“It’s only in the moment that you’re in your spacesuit, and that the hatches are closing, that you know that four hours later, you will be back on Earth.”
That’s European Space Agency astronaut Frank De Winne talking about the emotions an astronaut or cosmonaut feels as they leave the International Space Station in a Soyuz spacecraft. The new ESA video, posted above, shows just how hard the astronauts and ground teams have to work to make sure the spacecraft gets to the right spot.
From training, to calculating orbital trajectories, to making sure the landing site in Kazakhstan is free of debris, it’s easy to see how easily those landing teams get up to dozens and dozens of people.
The undocking itself can be complex; depending on which port the Soyuz is attached to, the International Space Station itself may have to change its position to make sure the spacecraft is in the right orientation to head back to Earth.
After navigating the hazards of space, sometimes the landing site can be treacherous as well. In Kazakhstan, the mounds of snow can build up in the area in the winter time; crews need to be prepared to retrieve the spacefarers in just about any weather condition.
The Soyuz TMA09 on the ground in Kazakhstan after returning home on Nov 11, 2013. Via Twitter.
Expedition 37 crew members Karen Nyberg of NASA, Fyodor Yurchikhin of the Russian Federal Space Agency and Luca Parmitano of the European Space Agency have returned to Earth from the International Space Station, landing at 9:49 p.m. EST Sunday, Nov. 10 (02:49 UTC, 8:49 a.m. Kazakhstan time, Nov. 11), after spending 166 days in space.
The crew brought with them an Olympic torch which was launched to the station Nov. 6 and taken on a spacewalk Saturday as part of the torch relay. The torch was not lit in space, but will be used to light the Olympic flame at the Fisht Stadium in Sochi, Russia, at the start of the 2014 Winter Games in February.
Nyberg, Parmitano and Yurchikhin arrived at the station in May, and during their extended stay in space orbited Earth 2,656 times and traveled more than 112 million km (70 million miles). Parmitano conducted a spacewalk in July, becoming the first Italian to walk in space.
The crew will undergo post-landing medical evaluations and then return to their respective countries.
Super Typhoon Haiyan over the Philippines on November 9, 2013 as imaged from Earth orbit by NASA Astronaut Karen Nyberg aboard the International Space Station. Credit: NASA/Karen Nyberg
Super Typhoon Haiyan over the Philippines on November 9, 2013 as imaged from Earth orbit by NASA Astronaut Karen Nyberg aboard the International Space Station.Category 5 killer storm Haiyan stretches across the entire photo from about 250 miles (400 kilometer) altitude. Credit: NASA/Karen Nyberg See more Super Typhoon Haiyan imagery and video below
[/caption]
NASA GODDARD SPACE FLIGHT CENTER, MARYLAND – Super Typhoon Haiyan smashed into the island nation of the Philippines, Friday, Nov. 8, with maximum sustained winds estimated at exceeding 195 MPH (315 kilometer per hour) by the U.S. Navy Joint Typhoon Warning Center – leaving an enormous region of catastrophic death and destruction in its terrible wake.
The Red Cross estimates over 1200 deaths so far. The final toll could be significantly higher. Local media reports today say bodies of men, women and children are now washing on shore.
The enormous scale of Super Typhoon Haiyan can be vividly seen in space imagery captured by NASA, ISRO and Russian satellites – as well as astronaut Karen Nyberg flying overhead on board the International Space Station (ISS); collected here.
As Super-Typhoon Haiyan moved over the central Philippines on Nov. 8 at 05:10 UTC/12:10 a.m. EDT, the MODIS instrument aboard NASA’s Aqua satellite captured this visible image. Credit: NASA Goddard MODIS Rapid Response Team
Super Typhoon Haiyan is reported to be the largest and most powerful storm ever to make landfall in recorded human history.
Haiyan is classified as a Category 5 monster storm on the U.S. Saffir-Simpson scale.
It struck the central Philippines municipality of Guiuan at the southern tip of the province of Eastern Samar early Friday morning Nov. 8 at 20:45 UTC (4:45 am local time).
As Haiyan hit the central Philippines, NASA says wind gusts exceeded 235 mph (379 kilometers per hour).
The high resolution imagery and precise measurements provided by the worlds constellation of Earth observing space satellites (including NASA, Roscosmos, ISRO, ESA, JAXA) are absolutely essential to tracking killer storms and providing significant advance warning to evacuate residents in affected areas to help minimize the death toll and damage.
More than 800,000 people were evacuated. The storm surge caused waves exceeding 30 feet (10 meters), mudslides and flash flooding.
NASA’s Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite captured visible, microwave and infrared data on the storm just as it was crossing the island of Leyte in the central Philippines, reports NASA – see image below.
NASA’s TRMM satellite data on Nov. 8 at 00:19 UTC showed Haiyan had a well-defined eye surrounded by a symmetric area of moderate rain (green ring with a blue center) with several rainbands wrapping in from the south (green arcs) while crossing the island of Leyte in the central Philippines. Credit: NASA/SSAI, Hal Pierce
TRMM data from rain rates are measured by the TRMM Precipitation Radar (PR) and TRMM Microwave Imager (TMI) and combined with infrared (IR) data from the TRMM Visible Infrared Scanner (VIRS) by science teams working at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.
Coincidentally NASA Goddard has just completed assembly of the next generation weather satellite Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) observatory that replaces TRMM – and where I inspected the GPM satellite inside the Goddard clean room on Friday.
“GPM is a direct follow-up to NASA’s currently orbiting TRMM satellite,” Art Azarbarzin, GPM project manager, told Universe Today during my exclusive clean room inspection of the huge GPM satellite.
NASA’s next generation Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) observatory inside the clean room at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. GPM is slated to launch In February 2014 and will provide global measurements of rain and snow every 3 hours – as a direct follow-up to NASA’s currently orbiting TRMM satellite; reaching the end of its usable lifetime.
Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com
“TRMM is reaching the end of its usable lifetime. GPM launches in February 2014 and we hope it has some overlap with observations from TRMM.”
“The Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) observatory will provide high resolution global measurements of rain and snow every 3 hours,” Dalia Kirschbaum, GPM research scientist, told me at Goddard.
GPM is equipped with advanced, higher resolution radar instruments. It is vital to continuing the TRMM measurements and will help provide improved forecasts and advance warning of extreme super storms like Hurricane Sandy and Super Typhoon Haiyan, Azarbarzin and Kirschbaum explained.
Video Caption: Super Typhoon Haiyan imaged on Nov 6 – 8, 2013 by the Russian Elektro-L satellite operating in geostationary orbit. Credit: Roscosmos via Vitaliy Egorov
The full magnitude of Haiyan’s destruction is just starting to be assessed as rescue teams reach the devastated areas where winds wantonly ripped apart homes, farms, factories, buildings and structures of every imaginable type vital to everyday human existence.
Typhoon Haiyan is moving westward and is expected to forcefully strike central Vietnam in a day or two. Mass evacuations are underway at this time
Super Typhoon Haiyan imaged by the Russian Elektro-L satellite operating in geostationary orbit. Credit: Roscosmos via Vitaliy EgorovSuper Typhoon Haiyan’s ocean surface winds were measured by the OSCAT radar scatterometer on the Indian Space Research Organization’s (ISRO) OceanSAT-2 satellite at 5:30 p.m. PST on Nov. 6. The colors indicate wind speed and arrows indicate wind direction. Credit: ISRO/NASA/JPL-Caltech
Astronauts from Expeditions 37, 38 and 39 during a rare space station press conference Nov. 8, 2013. Front row, left to right: NASA astronaut Karen Nyberg, Russian cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin and European Space Agency astronaut Luca Parmitano. Middle row, left to right: NASA astronaut Michael Hopkins, Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kotov and Russian cosmonaut Russian cosmonaut Sergey Ryazanskiy. Back row, left to right: NASA astronaut Rick Mastracchio, Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata and Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Tyurin. Credit: NASA TV (screencap)
Things are a little more crowded than usual in the International Space Station. For a few days, nine astronauts and cosmonauts are floating in the cramped quarters of the orbiting complex. Typical crew sizes range between three and six. How did the astronauts find room to work and sleep?
“One of the things we had to do was make space for them,” said European Space Agency astronaut Luca Parmitano in a rare press conference today (Nov. 8) from orbit, which included participation from Universe Today. He then explained a procedure where the astronauts swapped a Soyuz crew spacecraft from one Russian docking port to another a few days before Expedition 38/39’s crew arrived on board on Thursday. This cleared the way for three more people to arrive.
“We [also] had to adjust for emergency procedures. All of our procedures are trained and worked for a group of six. We had to work on a way to respond if something happened.” As for sleeping, it was decided the six people already on board, “as seniority, would stay in the crew quarters.” The newer astronauts have temporary sleeping arrangements in other modules until the ranks thin out a bit on Sunday.
So this works for a short while, but what about the long-term? Could the station handle having nine people there for weeks at a time, rather than six, and would there be enough science work to go around?
Luca Parmitano controlling the K-10 rover from space on July 26, 2013 in a test intended to see how well astronauts in a spacecraft can communicate with rovers on the surface. This information could be used for missions far in the future. Credit: NASA Television (screencap)
“I think, absolutely, moving to nine people is doable and in terms of the science would be fantastic,” NASA astronaut Karen Nyberg said. The station partners had experience with increasing crews before, she added, as for several years a regular space station rotation was only three astronauts during construction. Bumping up to the current maximum of six was a “big jump.”
“One of the things to be concerned about our environmental control system, our CO2 [carbon dioxide scrubbing] system … and also the consumables and the supplies we need,” she added. “Making up the science for us to do would be very doable. I think the hard part would be getting the systems to accommodate nine people.”
Parmitano, Nyberg and Russian cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin plan to return to Earth Sunday, but a busy weekend lies ahead. On Saturday, Roscosmos (Russian Federal Space Agency) flight engineers Oleg Kotov and Sergey Ryazanskiy of the Russian Federal Space Agency will start a spacewalk around 9:30 a.m. EST (2:30 p.m. UTC) if all goes to plan.
Expedition 38/39 poses with the Olympic torch that they brought into orbit with them in November 2013 as part of the relay for the 2014 Games in Sochi, Russia. From left, Koichi Wakata of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, Mikhail Tyurin of Roscosmos, and Rick Mastracchio of NASA. Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls
As part of the Olympic torch relay ahead of the Sochi games in 2014, they will briefly bring the Olympic torch outside with them, unlit, before doing some outside maintenance.
“After the photo opportunity, Kotov and Ryazanskiy will prepare a pointing platform on the hull of the station’s Zvezda service module for the installation of a high resolution camera system in December, relocate … a foot restraint for use on future spacewalks and deactivate an experiment package,” NASA stated in a Thursday press release.
Several journalists were unable to ask questions during the NASA portion of the press conference, which included participation from countries covered by NASA, the European Space Agency, the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency and Roscosmos (the Russian Federal Space Agency).
“We had a failure in a crucial component in the phone bridge,” NASA spokesman Kelly Humphries told Universe Today following the media event. They don’t know what component failed, but most of the journalists were unable to hear the moderator or the astronauts.
“A piece of equipment picked the wrong time to fail,” Humphries said
NASA will do a thorough investigation before holding another event like this to make sure it works for everyone.
Inside the Operations and Checkout Building high bay at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, a crane moves the service module for the Orion spacecraft toward a lift station where it will be mated to the spacecraft adapter cone. Photo credit: NASA/Jim Grossmann
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FL – All of the key hardware elements being assembled for NASA’s new Orion spacecraft launching just under one year from now are nearing completion at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) – at the same time as a crucial and successful hardware test in California this week helps ensure that the Exploration Flight Test-1 (EFT-1) vehicle will be ready for an on-time liftoff.
Orion is NASA’s first spaceship designed to carry human crews on long duration flights to deep space destinations beyond low Earth orbit, such as asteroids, the moon, Mars and beyond.
In a major construction milestone, Orion’s massive Service Module (SM) was hoisted out from the tooling stand where it was manufactured at the Operations and Checkout Building (O & C) at KSC and moved to the next assembly station where it will soon be mated to the spacecraft adapter cone.
The SM should be mated to the crew module (CM) by year’s end, Orion managers told Universe Today during my recent inspection tour of significant Orion hardware at KSC.
“We are working 24 hours a day, 7 days a week,” said Jules Schneider, Orion Project manager for Lockheed Martin at KSC, during an exclusive interview with Universe Today inside the Orion clean room at KSC. “We are moving fast!”
The three panels or fairings encapsulating a stand-in for Orion’s service module successfully detach during a test Nov. 6, 2013 at Lockheed Martin’s facility in Sunnyvale, Calif. Image Credit: Lockheed Martin
“We are bringing Orion to life. Lots of flight hardware has now been installed.”
And on the other side of the country, the Service Module design passed a key hurdle on Wednesday (Nov. 6) when the trio of large spacecraft panels that surround the SM were successfully jettisoned from the spacecraft during a systems test by Lockheed Martin that simulates what would happen during an actual flight several minutes after liftoff.
“Hardware separation events like this are absolutely critical to the mission and some of the more complicated things we do,” said Mark Geyer, Orion program manager at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. “We want to know we’ve got the design exactly right and that it can be counted on in space before we ever launch.”
Orion crew capsule, Service Module and 6 ton Launch Abort System (LAS) mock up stack inside the transfer aisle of the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida. Powerful quartet of LAS abort motors will fire in case of launch emergency to save astronauts lives. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com
Lockheed Martin is the prime contractor for Orion and responsible for assembly, testing and delivery of the Orion EFT-1 spacecraft to NASA that’s slated for an unmanned test flight targeted to lift off from Cape Canaveral, Florida in September 2014.
The CM rests atop the SM similar to the Apollo Moon landing program architecture.
However in a significant difference from Apollo, the Orion fairings support half the weight of the crew module and the launch abort system during launch and ascent. The purpose is to improve performance by saving weight thus maximizing the vehicles size and capability.
The SM also provides in-space power, propulsion capability, attitude control, thermal control, water and air for the astronauts.
At Lockheed Martin’s Sunnyvale, California facility a team of engineers used a series of precisely-timed, explosive charges and mechanisms attached to the Orion’s protective fairing panels in a flight-like test to verify that the spacecraft can successfully and confidently jettison them as required during the ascent to orbit.
The trio of fairing panels protect the SM radiators and solar arrays from heat, wind and acoustics during ascent.
The three panels or fairings encapsulating a stand-in for Orion’s service module successfully detach during a test Nov. 6, 2013 at Lockheed Martin’s facility in Sunnyvale, Calif. Image Credit: Lockheed Martin
“This successful test provides the Orion team with the needed data to certify this new fairing design for Exploration Flight Test-1 (EFT-1) next year. The test also provides significant risk reduction for the fairing separation on future Orion manned missions,” said Lance Lininger, engineering lead for Lockheed Martin’s Orion mechanism systems in a statement.
This was the 2nd test of the fairing jettison system. During the first test in June, one of the three fairing panels did not completely detach due to an interference “when the top edge of the fairing came into contact with the adapter ring and kept it from rotating away and releasing from the spacecraft,” said NASA.
Inside the Operations and Checkout Building high bay at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, a crane moves the service module for the Orion spacecraft toward a lift station where it will be mated to the spacecraft adapter cone. Photo credit: NASA/Jim Grossmann
2013 has been an extremely busy and productive year for the Orion EFT-1 team.
“There are many significant Orion assembly events ongoing this year,” said Larry Price, Orion deputy program manager at Lockheed Martin, in an interview with Universe Today at Lockheed Space Systems in Denver.
“This includes the heat shield construction and attachment, power on, installing the plumbing for the environmental and reaction control system, completely outfitting the crew module, attached the tiles, building the service module and finally mating the crew and service modules (CM & SM),” Price told me.
Technicians work inside the Orion crew module being built at Kennedy Space Center to prepare it for its first power on. Turning the avionics system inside the capsule on for the first time marks a major milestone in Orion’s final year of preparations before its first mission, Exploration Flight Test 1 Credit: Lockheed Martin
The two-orbit, four- hour flight will lift the Orion spacecraft and its attached second stage to an orbital altitude of 3,600 miles, about 15 times higher than the International Space Station (ISS) – and farther than any human spacecraft has journeyed in 40 years.
