Cygnus Orb-1 (CRS1) - Antares-120 - MARS LP-0A - 09.01.2014 18:07 UTC

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http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/672214main_1-Hartman_July12_NAC_Final_508.pdf

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[Salo]

12 сентября.

[Salo]

Четвёртый квартал:
http://www.orbital.com/Antares-Cygnus/

Antares Post-Flight Analysis Results - Flawless Launch Confirmed; Company Updates COTS Demonstration Mission Schedule

May 2013
...
Meantime, the Antares production team will keep pressing forward on the third Antares rocket that will launch the first of eight Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) missions. The CRS-1 mission is slated to take place in the fourth quarter of this year. For the CRS-1 mission, both AJ26 engines for that rocket have been fully tested and are already at Wallops. In addition, the two major components of the Cygnus spacecraft to be used for CRS-1 are complete and will be mated and integrated at Wallops this fall. The Service Module is fully tested and ready to be shipped to Wallops from Orbital's Dulles manufacturing facility, and the Pressurized Cargo Module is also complete and awaiting shipment to Wallops from Thales Alenia's plant in Turin, Italy.

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anik пишет:
Саффредини: запуск демонстрационного "Лебедя" планируется на 12 сентября.

Ранее на эту дату был назначен CRS1. Логично предположить, что этот пуск теперь ушел на 5 декабря.

[Salo]

Уже восьмое декабря.

[Salo]

http://www.spacenews.com/article/civil-space/35980planet-labs-unveils-plan-to-launch-28-nanosats-on-antares-1st-cargo-run#.Uc009tiBXTo

Planet Labs Unveils Plan To Launch 28 Nanosats on Antares' 1st Cargo Run
By Debra Werner | Jun. 26, 2013

SAN FRANCISCO — Planet Labs is seeking to revolutionize the Earth imaging industry with a constellation of 28 nanosatellites designed to offer frequent, low-cost images of any point on the globe. By providing high-resolution imagery, quickly and inexpensively, the company's founders hope to expand dramatically the customer base for Earth imagery and the use of that information to address humanitarian, environmental and business concerns.

"We are motivated to make information about the changing planet available to all people, especially the people who need it the most," said Robbie Schingler, co-founder of the company previously known as Cosmogia Inc. "The imagery could be used by anyone who cares about changes in land use over time."

After fending off media queries for months, executives of the San Francisco-based startup revealed plans June 26 to launch in December a constellation of 28 cubesats designed to provide imagery with a resolution of three to five meters. The constellation, known as Flock-1, is scheduled to fly on the first of eight Orbital Sciences Corp. cargo transportation flights to the international space station as part of NASA's Commercial Resupply Services program.

In 2012, Planet Labs raised $13 million in venture capital funding for its Earth-imaging constellation fr om investment firms, including Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Capricorn Investment Group, O'Reilly AlphaTech Ventures, Founders Fund's FF Angel, Innovation Endeavors, Data Collective and First Round Capital, company officials said.

Planet Labs founders, Schingler, William Marshall and Chris Boshuizen, are physicists and entrepreneurs who previously worked for NASA. Schingler served as the chief of staff in NASA's Office of the Chief Technologist from June 2010 to October 2011. Marshall and Boshuizen worked in the NASA Ames Research Center's small spacecraft office wh ere they helped to create PhoneSat, a project designed to test whether commercial smartphone components could be used in place of traditional space-qualified hardware.

Unlike PhoneSat, Planet Labs develops its own technology. However, company engineers draw on recent breakthroughs in commercial communications and computing technology. "We are trying to leverage the billions of dollars companies have spent miniaturizing electronics to advance satellite systems," Marshall said.

While much of the hardware Planet Labs plans to fly in its cubesat constellation does not have a lengthy spaceflight heritage, company executives said the constellation gains its resilience from its size. By design, it includes more satellites than necessary to provide global coverage.

The large size of Flock-1 also eliminates the need to task satellite cameras to obtain imagery of specific regions to satisfy customer demand. In the course of routine operations, Planet Labs will collect frequent imagery of latitudes within 52 degrees of the equator, an area that covers the vast majority the world's population and agricultural regions. Company officials declined to specify how frequently they plan to publish updated imagery.

Planet Labs officials are quick to point out that in spite of the large number of spacecraft they plan to launch, they are taking pains to ensure their cubesats do not aggravate the problem of space debris. "We factored this into our design from the first day," said Marshall, who conducted orbital debris research while working at NASA. "Our constellation flies very low and far away from congested areas in space. We have the ability to move to avoid a potential conjunction. And the satellites will disintegrate into the atmosphere in singles of years to avoid becoming space debris."

Flock-1 satellites are scheduled to occupy a 400-kilometer, circular orbit at an inclination of 52 degrees relative to the equator. That location allows onboard cameras to obtain higher resolution imagery and to transmit more data than would be possible if the miniature spacecraft operated in higher orbits, Schingler said.

Planet Labs currently has 33 full-time employees. The staff is comprised primarily of engineers who previously worked at NASA, Space Exploration Technologies Corp., Space Systems/Loral, United Technologies Corp.'s Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne, Google Inc. and Facebook Inc., Schingler said.

[G.K.]

В плане американских пусков появились Flock-1 (x28) Что-нибудь известно, что это за ведро мелкоспутников?

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Вроде 28 таких (или очень похожих    ) спутников
Реально в тройном формфакторе 3U весом около 6 кг. Прототипы запускали дважды, хотят еще парочку запустить, до Флоков.
Amateur beacon transmissions on 145.825MHz will commence upon deployment of the satellites and a half-duplex, spread spectrum radio in the 2.4 GHz ISM band will be used for main payload downlink and telecommand uplink.
The dimensions of the spacecraft are consistent with CubeSat and P-POD standards. It is a single unit with the dimensions of 10 cm X 10 cm X 30 cm. The total mass is about 5kg.
The satellite contains the following systems:
Command & Data Handling
Command and data handling is controlled by the single board computer. Additionally there will be a discrete watchdog board that will be able to reboot the flight computer in the event of errors.
Power Subsystem
The bus provides central power control through a power supply to the camera, the flight computer and the magnetorquers. The power supply regulates the voltages and ensures a stable power supply to each component. Power storage is provided by 8 Lithium-Ion cells, providing 20Ah of charge at full capacity.
The batteries will be recharged by mounted Triangular Advanced Solar Cells (TASC).
Attitude Determination and Control Subsystem attitude has an attitude determination system and will be controlled by a magnetorquers. The B-dot controller makes use of the B field to reduce the angular rate of the satellite. In this control mode, therefore behaves as a permanent magnet, remaining locked and axis aligned to the earth's magnetic field will be nadir pointing twice per orbit. The alignment of the magnetic field is known to about 1 degree at any point.
Communications Subsystem
The communication subsystem consists of a VHF radio beacon for transmitting telemetry and an S-band frequency hopping spread spectrum modem for two-way communication and as the primary radio for data downloading. After powering up, the first mission event is to transmit telemetry data over the VHF beacon. The beacon will transmit health packets (including temp/power supply/current/RSSI/solar vector/acceleration) at 1200 baud AFSK approximately every 30 seconds. The beacon can transmit at up to 1W and will use a quarter wave monopole antenna cut from tape measure. The S-band radio will operate in the 2.4 GHz ISM band at a wireless link rate of 115 kbps using a patch antenna.

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http://www.orbital.com/Antares-Cygnus/

Cargo Module for Cargo Delivery Mission Shipped from Italy
July 2013

The Cygnus Pressurized Cargo Module (PCM) that will be used  to transport supplies to the International Space Station under Orbital’s  Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) contract with NASA later this year was  shipped from the Thales Alenia Space production facility in Turin, Italy on  July 17, 2017. This is the second PCM  transported to the Wallops Island, VA launch site. At the NASA Wallops Flight Facility, the PCM  will be loaded with cargo and mated to the Cygnus Service Module (SM). The  first PCM, to be utilized in the Commercial Orbital Transportation System  (COTS) demonstration mission was loaded mated to its Cygnus Service Module earlier  this year. (Thales Alenia photos)

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http://ru.flightaware.com/live/flight/VDA2946/history/20130717/1800Z/CYQX/KWAL

http://hamptonroads.com/2013/07/photos-spacecraft-part-lands-wallops-flight-center

Photos | Spacecraft (part) lands at Wallops Flight Center   

A Pressurized Cargo Module for Orbital Sciences Corp.'s Cygnus spacecraft arrived at NASA Wallops Flight Center via an Antonov An-124 aircraft Wednesday, July 17, 2013. The An-124 is the world's second largest operating cargo aircraft. Over the next few months, Orbital's engineering team will load it with supplies bound for the International Space Station and will integrate it with the spacecraft's service module which houses the spacecraft's avionics, propulsion and power systems.


Customs, security and NASA officials drive out to meet the Antonov An-124 aircraft shortly after it arrived at NASA Wallops Flight Center on Wednesday, July 17, 2013. (Randall Greenwood | The Virginian-Pilot)                                           

            
The Pressurized Cargo Module for Orbital Sciences Corp.'s Cygnus spacecraft arrived at NASA Wallops Flight Center via an Antonov An-124 aircraft Wednesday, July 17, 2013. (Randall Greenwood | The Virginian-Pilot)

   
NASA Wallops Operations Safety Supervisor Bonnie Maxfield and Orbital Sciences Spacecraft Intergration Manager Dan Wiles watch the Cygnus spacecraft come off the plane at NASA Wallops Flight Center via an Antonov An-124 aircraft Wednesday, July 17, 2013. (Randall Greenwood | The Virginian-Pilot)

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http://www.orbital.com/Antares-Cygnus/

Second PCM Arrives at Wallops

Photos of the arrival of the Cygnus Pressurized Cargo Module to be used in the delivery of cargo to the International Space Station later this year in the first operational cargo delivery mission under the Commercial Resupply Service (CRS) agreement with NASA. (NASA photos)

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http://www.nasa.gov/content/media-advisory-space-station-cargo-carrier-arriving-july-17-at-nasa-wallops-0/#.Ueh3wKzzPTo

Media Advisory: Space Station Cargo Carrier Arriving July 17 at NASA Wallops
July 16, 2013

WALLOPS ISLAND, VA – As part of NASA's ongoing effort to deliver supplies to the International Space Station (ISS) using commercially-developed space systems, the second Pressurized Cargo Module (PCM) for Orbital Sciences Corp.'s Cygnus spacecraft is schedule to arrive at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility July 17 to begin processing.  The PCM being delivered will be used for the first of Orbital's eight operational cargo delivery missions to the ISS under the Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) contract with NASA. This first contracted cargo flight will follow Orbital's demonstration mission to the space station, which is scheduled for mid-September.


Cygnus in the processing facility at Wallops.
Image Credit: Patrick Black

The Cygnus PCM is schedule to arrive around 6 p.m., via an Antonov An-124 aircraft.  The An-124 is the world's second largest operating cargo aircraft.  It is being shipped fr om the Thales Alenia Space's facility in Turin Italy, wh ere it is manufactured under a subcontract from Orbital.

The Cygnus PCM will be unloaded from the An-124 and delivered to the Payload Processing Facility at NASA Wallops.  Over the next few months, Orbital's engineering team will load it with supplies bound for the ISS and will integrate it with the spacecraft's service module which houses the spacecraft's avionics, propulsion and power systems. Orbital builds and tests the service module at it Dulles, Va., manufacturing facilities and ships the completed unit to Wallops for integration with the PCM.

Orbital is currently scheduled to launch its first Cygnus mission to the ISS under the Commercial Orbital Transportations Services (COTS) development program in September with the first complete Cygnus that is already at Wallops awaiting integration with Orbital's Antares rocket.  All of Orbital's ISS cargo resupply missions will occur from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport's pad 0A at Wallops.

Media wanting to cover the arrival of the Cygnus pressurized cargo module should contact Keith Koehler via email or at 757-824-1579 by 10 a.m. July 17.

Information on the Cygnus spacecraft is available on the Internet at: http://www.orbital.com/Antares-Cygnus/

\Information on NASA's commercial space transportation efforts is available on the Internet at: http://www.nasa.gov/exploration/commercial/index.html

Keith Koehler
Wallops Flight Facility
757-824-1579

[Lanista]

Все-таки лебедь с приросшим бочонком выглядит очень страшно.

[Salo]

ATV и HTV Вас не пугают?

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Salo пишет:
ATV и HTV Вас не пугают?

Неее.... У этих бочонки визуально интегрированы и нет страха быть оторванным... Но если посмотреть на их концепции и вариации    , так просто разгул гефирофобных идей.  

[Lanista]

Salo пишет:
ATV и HTV Вас не пугают?

Я про логотип

[Salo]

Chris Bergin: NASA planners switch next SpaceX Dragon mission to 2014
http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2013/08/nasa-planners-switch-spacex-dragon-mission-2014/

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http://www.spacenews.com/article/launch-report/37077pressure-mounts-on-orbital-sciences-with-spacex-likely-unavailable-for

Pressure Mounts on Orbital Sciences with SpaceX Likely Unavailable for December Cargo Run
By Dan Leone | Sep. 5, 2013
 

Orbital is slated to carry nonessential cargo to ISS in order to prove the company is ready to begin service under the eight-flight, $1.9 billion Commercial Resupply Services contract it signed with NASA in 2008. Credit: NASA photo
 
   WASHINGTON — Orbital Sciences Corp., which is preparing to send its Cygnus cargo freighter to the international space station (ISS) for the first time later this month, was put on notice Sept. 4 by a NASA official who said the Dulles, Va., company could be needed for another cargo run as soon as December because Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) — the agency's other cargo-delivery contractor — likely will not be ready to fly.

Спойлер

Orbital is slated to launch Cygnus Sept. 17 fr om the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at NASA's Wallops Island Flight Facility in Wallops Island, Va. It will be Cygnus' maiden flight and the sophomore effort for its Antares carrier rocket, which flew successfully in its own demo mission April 21. Orbital is slated to carry nonessential cargo to ISS in order to prove the company is ready to begin service under the eight-flight, $1.9 billion Commercial Resupply Services contract it signed with NASA in 2008.
SpaceX also got a delivery contract from NASA in 2008: a 12-flight deal worth $1.8 billion. The Hawthorne, Calif., company already has made two of those runs, the second of which wrapped up in March. Since then, SpaceX has been working on a more powerful variant of the Falcon 9 rocket that launched those missions, as well as an enhanced version of its Dragon space capsule.
That work will keep SpaceX from returning to ISS in 2013, said Michael Suffredini, NASA's ISS program manager at the Johnson Space Center in Houston.
"I would not expect them to be ready in December, or even January time frame," Suffredini said during a Sept. 4 press briefing from Johnson.
SpaceX spokeswoman Christina Ra, reached by email Sept. 4, had no immediate comment."
Par for the course during the development of a new launch vehicle, SpaceX ran into delays with its so-called Falcon 9 1.1, which is slated to debut Sept. 14 from the Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The rocket will not carry Dragon on that launch, but a Canadian space weather satellite called Cassiope and several ride-along payloads.
Should Orbital be called upon to make its first contracted cargo run in December, it could mean turning around its launch pad, rocket and spacecraft in just under three months. Back in 2012, SpaceX flew its first contracted cargo run about four months after successfully completing the same type of demonstration mission Orbital will attempt Sept. 17 from the Virginia coast.
In April, Mike Laidley, Orbital's program director for Antares, said the minimum turnaround time between Antares missions is about one month.
Even if both SpaceX and Orbital should be unavailable in December, Suffredini said ISS is well provisioned and could ride out a missed delivery.
The Ukrainian-built core-stage of each Antares rocket uses two AJ-26 engines, Soviet-vintage, kerosene-fueled engines from a failed Russian Moon exploration program that have been upgraded, refurbished and rebadged by Aerojet Rocketdyne of Sacramento, Calif. Antares' upper stage is powered by a solid motor provided by ATK Aerospace of Magna, Utah. Cygnus, which is assembled by Orbital at its Dulles campus is built around a pressurized module provided by Italy's Thales Alenia Space.
Frank Culbertson, the former NASA astronaut who now runs Orbital's Advanced Programs Group, said the company already has all the hardware it needs to put together an Antares-Cygnus stack for a December cargo run. Most of that is standing by at Wallops, with the exception of the Cygnus power module that would be used for that flight, and Antares' solid-fueled second stage.
All told, and excluding the stack to be launched Sept. 17, Orbital has in the United States three rockets worth of hardware standing by, and three Cygnus power modules in varying stages of assembly, Culbertson said. Thales Alenia is now working on the eighth Cygnus pressurized cargo module and has others in storage in Italy awaiting shipment. There is one pressurized cargo module standing by at Wallops, Culbertson said.
Meanwhile, Suffredini took time on the Sept. 4 conference call to highlight NASA's expectation that both of its cargo-delivery contractors establish reliable service in the near future.
"It's time for us really to start having flights on a regular basis," Suffredini said.
"I'm looking for this next year, 2014, to be the year when we fully settle in, wh ere we have regular Orbital flights and regular SpaceX flights and we actually see them, give or take, within a few weeks of when we expect to have them."
SpaceX and Orbital are under contract for cargo runs through 2016. NASA is expected to seek bids for a second round of commercial cargo delivery service late this year or early in 2014.

[свернуть]

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https://twitter.com/OrbitalSciences/status/384342873942294528

Orbital Sciences ‏@OrbitalSciences Culbertson: first CRS mission as early as December for #Antares and #Cygnus to #ISS

 29 сентября 13 в 8:44 утра

https://twitter.com/OrbitalSciences/status/384343980097671168

Orbital Sciences ‏@OrbitalSciences @NASA's Lindenmoyer: Orbital is good to go for December slot to #ISS for first #CRS mission with #Cygnus and #Antares 

 29 сентября 13 в 8:48 утра