Cygnus COTS Demo - Antares-110 - 18.09.2013 - Wallops/MARS LP-0A

[che wi]

Cygnus approved for next Rendezvous Attempt with ISS on Sunday
http://www.spaceflight101.com/antares---cygnus-orb-d-mission-updates.html

NASA has approved the Cygnus spacecraft for a re-rendezvous with the International Space Station following an extended free flight to allow teams to solve a GPS data discrepancy issue that was observed during the first rendezvous attempt.

Спойлер

"The Cygnus spacecraft remains healthy in-orbit, with all major onboard systems performing as expected. Over the past several days, the Cygnus engineering team has developed, validated and uploaded the one-line software "patch" that resolved the GPS data roll-over discrepancy that was identified during the initial approach to the ISS last Saturday," Orbital Sciences said in a statement.

Correcting the data discrepancy (explained in detail in our last mission upd ate below) was a simple task and only required one simple modification of the software.

This patch was designed last weekend and Orbital ran a series of regression tests and simulations to verify that the patch solved the problem and did not have any unexpected adverse effects. Meanwhile, Cygnus was placed in an orbit about 4 Kilometers higher than ISS to allow the Station to move away - giving the Soyuz TMA-10M spacecraft sufficient space to complete its Rendezvous & Docking early on Thursday.

Additionally, Cygnus had to be moved to large distance to ISS because the implementation of the software patch required a reset of the flight computers on the spacecraft. NASA & Orbital wanted to perform that rese t at a great distance to ISS to be on the safe side. The patch was uplinked to Cygnus Wednesday night and a series of verifications were made by Orbital's Mission Control Team in Dulles.

[свернуть]

With the software modification complete, Cygnus executed an engine burn to enter a parking orbit, flying 2,400 Kilometers behind ISS - waiting for the green light to begin its rendezvous early on Sunday. Late on Thursday, Cygnus performed the first of a series of Delta-v burns to modify its orbit in preparation for the re-rendezvous.

Also, the spacecraft repeated its Active Abort Demonstration that had already been completed shortly after orbital insertion as part of the Orb-D demonstrations. Repeating the test was not a requirement by NASA, but was used to verify that the software patch did not have any effects on the vehicle's control system.

The approval for the rendezvous was given on Friday when the International Space Station Mission Management Team met to discuss the status of the Cygnus spacecraft and assessed the software patch that was implemented. No issues were noted and Orbital Sciences is now pressing ahead with the next rendezvous attempt. "Program personnel are well-rested and fully prepared for Sunday's approach and rendezvous," Orbital noted.

The current timeline shows the first Cygnus rendezvous burn on Sunday morning just after 7:00 UTC ahead of Capture at 11:15 UTC. A final timeline will be posted here tomorrow.

[Дем]

Судя по онлайн-данным - Cygnus поехал в сторону МКС. догонит примерно через полсуток.

[Salo]

http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/MM_NTV_Breaking.html#.UkZp_3-jZsh

September 29, Sunday
    4:30 a.m. - Coverage of Orbital Sciences/Cygnus Cargo Ship Rendezvous, Grapple and Berthing to the ISS (Grapple scheduled at 7:15 a.m. ET) - JSC (All Channels)
    1 p.m. - Orbital Sciences/Cygnus Post-Berthing News Conference - JSC/Dulles, Va. (All Channels)

[Salo]

Начало трансляции по NASA TV в 12:30 ЛМВ.
Захват ожидается в 15:15 ЛМВ.

[Salo]

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/antares/cots1/launchmanifest.html

Cygnus launch cargo
SPACEFLIGHT NOW
Posted: September 14, 2013

NOTE: On its first test flight to the International Space Station, the Cygnus spacecraft will launch with 1,543, or 700 kilograms, pounds of cargo and supplies. The mission is considered a demonstration flight by NASA, and none of the cargo is essential.

Launch Cargo    1,543 pounds
Total cargo (1,543 pounds)

 M-02 bag, Crew Provisions/CCP (162.19 pounds)

 M-02 bag, OFK/ODF/MISC HDWR (145.68 pounds)

 M-01 bag, Crew Provisions/Camera Light Pan-Tilt Assembly Box (179.08 pounds)

 M-01 bag, Crew Provisions (122.73 pounds)

 M-02 bag, Hygiene Towels/Nitrile Gloves (116.36 pounds)

 M-02 bag, OFK/BOBs (199.01 pounds)

 M-02 bag, Printer and PS120 Hardware (188.91 pounds)

 M-02 bag, Bag BOBs (13) (158.29 pounds)

 M-02 bag, Bag BOBs (12) (154.48 pounds)

 M-02 bag, BOBs (12) (116.03 pounds)

Data source: Orbital Sciences Corp.

[Salo]

http://www.spacenews.com/article/civil-space/37413cygnus-now-set-for-sunday-berthing-at-iss
Cygnus Now Set for Sunday Berthing at ISS
By Dan Leone | Sep. 27, 2013

 If the plan holds, Cygnus would be grappled by the international space station's robotic arm shortly after 7 a.m. Sunday. Credit: Orbital Sciences artist's rendering

WASHINGTON — Orbital Sciences Corp.'s supply-laden Cygnus tug is now scheduled to make its first delivery to the international space station (ISS) early Sunday morning (Sept. 29), several hours before rival cargo-delivery contractor Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) conducts an important but unrelated demonstration mission of its own.
Cygnus, which launched Sept. 18 on its first and only NASA-sponsored demonstration mission, originally was scheduled to arrive last Sunday (Sept. 22) at the ISS but a miscommunication between the spacecraft and the station forced flight controllers to abort the rendezvous. After initially planning to try again Tuesday (Sept. 24), NASA and Orbital Sciences decided to stand down for the Wednesday (Sept. 25) launch and arrival of Russian Soyuz capsule carrying three fresh crew members to the ISS and target a Cygnus rendezvous instead for no earlier than Saturday (Sept. 28)
Orbital Sciences spokesman Barry Beneski emailed reporters Thursday (Sept. 26) that the Cygnus engineering team had developed, validated and uploaded a one-line software patch to fix the "GPS data discrepancy rollover" that prompted last weekend's abort. With all major systems performing as expected, Cygnus began a series of thruster burns late Thursday night to put it on track for a Sunday arrival.
"Orbital and NASA are currently discussing the best rendezvous opportunity, with the current trajectory plan supporting Sunday morning, September 29 as the next opportunity to rendezvous and approach the ISS," Beneski wrote. "This schedule is still subject to final review and approval by the NASA and Orbital teams."
Assuming the plan holds, NASA TV will begin its coverage of the rendezvous operation at 4:30 a.m. EDT. Beneski told SpaceNews Friday that Cygnus would be grappled by the station's robotic arm shortly after 7 a.m. and painstakingly maneuvered into position with the docking port on the station's Harmony module.
"That assumes nominal operations," Beneski said. "Then it's this glacial process, as I understand it, to bring the spacecraft into the berthing port and then the astronauts actually have to bolt it in. I think there are 16 bolts they mechanically attach. It's at that point, when it's attached, when we and NASA can say it's done, it's berthed."
Once Cygnus is attached to the station, astronauts will unload a cache of noncritical cargo. The barrel-shaped spacecraft is scheduled to remain attached to the station for about 30 days. After that, the trash-laden tug will depart from the outpost, re-enter Earth's atmosphere and burn up over the Pacific Ocean.
A successful Cygnus mission will clear the way for Orbital Sciences to begin regular deliveries to ISS under an eight-flight, $1.9 billion contract it got from NASA in 2008. SpaceX, which got an 18-month head start on its NASA-funded demonstration effort, has made two deliveries under its 12-flight, $1.6 billion contract and is currently expected to make its third delivery flight in early 2014.
In the meantime, SpaceX is focused on successfully demonstrating its upgraded Falcon 9 rocket and launching its first commercial communications satellites to geostationary transfer orbit. Falcon 9 v1.1's maiden launch had been scheduled to lift off Sept. 15 from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., carrying Canada's experimental Cassiope space weather satellite, but problems observed during a pre-launch static fire test and range conflicts prompted SpaceX to postpone the launch two weeks. As of Friday, launch was slated to happen between noon and 2 p.m. EDT.  Sunday.
Cygnus was launched Sept. 18 by its Antares carrier rocket from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport, a state-operated facility at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.

[KBOB]

Sunday, September 29
08:30 UTC (4:30 a.m. EDT: Cygnus rendezvous, grapple and berthing coverage begins on NASA Television.
11:15 UTC (7:15 a.m. EDT): Grapple of Cygnus by International Space Station's Canadarm2 robotic arm
 13:15 UTC (9:15 a.m. EDT): Cygnus berthing to Earth-facing port of Harmony node begins
 17:00 UTC (1 p.m. EDT): Cygnus Post-Capture News Conference

Read more: http://www.universetoday.com/105073/watch-live-on-september-29-orbitals-cygnus-capsule-rendezvous-with-iss/#ixzz2gFjEs6v3

[Salo]

https://twitter.com/OrbitalSciences/status/384117176296562688

Orbital Sciences ‏@OrbitalSciences #Cygnus spacecraft performing well. On track for rendezvous and capture tomorrow a.m. Currently 198 km behind #ISS, closing at 25 kph

 3:47 AM - 29 Sep 13

https://twitter.com/OrbitalSciences/status/384118373346713600

Orbital Sciences ‏@OrbitalSciences Current schedule for #Cygnus capture by #ISS robotic arm, assuming "nominal" operations (yes, we do love that word!) is approx. 7:15 am EDT

  3:52 AM - 29 Sep 13

https://twitter.com/OrbitalSciences/status/384124611216306176

Orbital Sciences ‏@OrbitalSciences   The software "patch" that we uploaded to #Cygnus has worked. Good relative GPS solution established with #ISS. #cotsdemo doing well.

  4:16 AM - 29 Sep 13

[LL_]

Дистанция примерно 80 км.

[Salo]

http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=32952.msg1102200#msg1102200

Targeteer пишет Today at 03:11 AM:
The SSRMS is inspecting the Common berthing mechanism

Targeteer пишет Today at 03:20 AM:
inspection is complete

[LRV_75]

Давай, малыш, поаккуратнее

[Grumant]

Радуют в теме редкие русские фразы

[Salo]

Пишите чаще!

[LL_]

20 км.

[Salo]

http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=32952.msg1102202

psloss пишет:
 Today at 06:26 AM
Karen Nyberg just called down a good morning and CapCom (sounds like Cady Coleman to me) says everything looks good, on track for capture. Nyberg said they'll talk again in about an hour and a half.

dsmillman пишет:
 Today at 06:26 AM
MCC-H just told Karen Nyberg that everything is looking good and they are on track for capture this morning. They will speak again during the morning DPC.

[Salo]

http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=32952.msg1102256#msg1102256

psloss пишет:
 Today at 07:49 AM
Morning DPC started...Cygnus about 7 km behind and a few minutes from ADV-2 burn (which would establish the 1.4 km 'racetrack' below Station).

(While continuing with DPC, Cady Coleman noted that the ADV-2 burn was in progress...may be complete before the end of the Houston part of the DPC.)

dsmillman пишет:
 Today at 07:51 AM
ADV-2 burn underway.

psloss пишет:
 Today at 08:03 AM
Sounds like it was only Houston for the DPC...maneuvering to capture attitude early (no exercise beginning at 0808 GMT) and another note that the current predicted capture time would be 2 seconds before sunset, so there were extra notes for lighting conditions. (This might become somewhat moot if things run a little long...)

[Space Alien]

Orbital Sciences ‏@OrbitalSciences
Cygnus is currently about 6 km behind and 1.4 km below the ISS

[Space Alien]

NASA TV включилось   .

[Salo]

https://twitter.com/OrbitalSciences/status/384231980285837312

Orbital Sciences ‏@OrbitalSciences   Next major event for #cotsdemo mission is the ADV3 burn at 4:34 which brings #Cygnus much closer to the station

  11:23 AM - 29 Sep 13

[Space Alien]

Cygnus has accomplished 6 of the 10 demonstrations required to approach and berth with the ISS