Cygnus OA-8 (CRS-8 ) - Antares-230 - MARS LP-0A - 12.11.1017 12:19 UTC

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Свободен!
 

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12/06/2017 16:12

Cygnus release confirmed. The robotic arm is backing away from the commercial supply ship after releasing its grasp at 8:11 a.m. EST (1211 GMT) while the station orbited 257 miles over the Atlantic Ocean off the east coast of Brazil.

The cargo craft will next conduct a series of separation maneuvers to exit the station's vicinity.

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Orbital ATK‏Подлинная учетная запись @OrbitalATK 25 мин назад

Release confirmed! #Cygnus is now on its way to complete its secondary mission #OA8

23 мин назад

#Cygnus departure burn has begun as the spacecraft moves away from @Space_Station, removing more than 6,400 pounds of disposable cargo

19 мин назад

#Cygnus departure burn is complete

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Orbital ATK‏Подлинная учетная запись @OrbitalATK 4 мин. назад

#OA8 has been a record-breaking mission for #Cygnus, removing the largest amount of disposable cargo from @Space_Station & is now set to deploy 14 cubesats

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Chris B - NSF‏ @NASASpaceflight 19 мин. назад

There she goes. Gracefully departing the KOS (Keep Out Sphere).

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Chris B - NSF‏ @NASASpaceflight 28 мин. назад

RELEASE! OA-8 Cygnus departing the ISS. 11 mins past the hour. ARTICLE: "Flawless" OA-8E Cygnus departs ISS for 12 days of free-flight activities - https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2017/12/flawless-oa-8e-cygnus-iss-activities/ ...

By Chris Gebhardt (@ChrisG_NSF) ...

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"Flawless" OA-8E Cygnus departs ISS for 12 days of free-flight activities

December 6, 2017 by Chris Gebhardt

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https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacestation/2017/12/06/astronauts-command-robotic-arm-to-release-cygnus-cargo-craft/

Mark Garcia
Posted on December 6, 2017

Astronauts Command Robotic Arm to Release Cygnus Cargo Craft


The Cygnus cargo craft is seen from an International Space Station video camera moments after it was released from the Canadarm2 robotic arm. Credit: NASA TV

After delivering almost 7,400 pounds of cargo to support dozens of science experiments from around the world, the Orbital ATK Cygnus cargo spacecraft has departed the International Space Station. At 8:11 a.m., Expedition 53 Flight Engineers Mark Vande Hei and Joe Acaba of NASA gave the command to release Cygnus.

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On Tuesday, Dec. 5, ground controllers used the Canadarm2 robotic arm to detach the Cygnus spacecraft from the Earth-facing side of the station's Unity module. The spacecraft, which arrived at the station Nov. 14, then maneuvered above the Harmony module to gather data overnight that will aid in rendezvous and docking operations for future U.S. commercial crew vehicles arriving for a linkup to Harmony's international docking adapters.

Experiments delivered on Cygnus supported NASA and other research investigations during Expedition 53, including studies in biology, biotechnology, physical science and Earth science.

Later today, Cygnus will release 14 CubeSats from an external NanoRacks deployer. Cygnus also is packed with more than 6,200 pounds of trash and other items marked for disposal during its destructive reentry Monday, Dec. 18.

The Cygnus launched Nov. 12 on Orbital ATK's upgraded Antares 230 rocket from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia for the company's eighth NASA-contracted commercial resupply mission.

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https://www.orbitalatk.com/news-room/release.asp?prid=312

Orbital ATK's Cygnus Spacecraft Departs International Space Station, Begins Secondary Mission in Space

Mission Marks First Time Cygnus to Host Science Experiments While Attached to Space Station

"S.S. Gene Cernan" Now Set to Deploy Record Number of Cubesats

Dulles, Virginia 06 December 2017 – Orbital ATK (NYSE: OA), a global leader in aerospace and defense technologies, today announced that its Cygnus™ spacecraft, following a highly successful stay as a part of the International Space Station, has departed from the station to begin the next phase of its mission. The "S.S. Gene Cernan" is now set to deploy a record number of cubesats in orbit before reentry into the Earth's atmosphere. The OA-8 mission marks the fourth time that Cygnus has been used for NanoRacks cubesat deployments during its secondary payload mission phase.

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Cygnus departed from the International Space Station at 8:11 a.m. EST, one day after being unberthed by the station's robotic arm and conducting a test for NASA while still grappled. The spacecraft spent 22 days at the orbiting laboratory before leaving with approximately 6,400 pounds (2,900 kilograms) of items for disposal, marking the largest amount of material removed by Cygnus during its cargo resupply missions. During this period, Cygnus also acted as an extension of the space station for the first time by successfully supporting science experiments inside the cargo module while docked to the laboratory.

"Our stay at the International Space Station proved to be extremely productive and further demonstrated expanded capabilities for Cygnus beyond our core functions of delivery and disposal," said Frank Culbertson, President of Orbital ATK's Space Systems Group. "Cygnus performed flawlessly as an in-orbit science platform while attached to the space station for the first time. Our work continues as we now begin the next phase of the mission to deploy a record number of cubesats."

The OA-8 mission began on November 12 when Cygnus launched aboard an Orbital ATK Antares™ rocket at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility.  Upon arrival at the orbiting laboratory, Cygnus delivered approximately 7,400 pounds (3,350 kilograms) of cargo and science experiments to the astronauts, marking Orbital ATK's eighth operational mission to the International Space Station.

Now, the "S.S. Gene Cernan" will use a NanoRacks cubesat deployer to release a record 14 cubesats into orbit. Eight of the cubesats will join Spire Global's commercial weather satellite constellation for global ship tracking. The NanoRacks manifest also includes cubesats from NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab. Additionally, AeroCube B/C consists of two water-based propulsion satellites assembled by the Aerospace Corp. for NASA's Optical Communications and Sensor Demonstration, or OCSD, marking the first propulsive satellites to deploy from the Cygnus spacecraft.

The OA-8 mission is expected to end on December 18 when Cygnus will execute a safe, destructive reentry into Earth's atmosphere over the Pacific Ocean. Stay informed with real-time updates on the science experiments aboard Cygnus through Orbital ATK's Twitter account: https://twitter.com/OrbitalATK.

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https://spaceflightnow.com/2017/12/06/cygnus-cargo-craft-released-from-space-station-setting-up-for-cubesat-deployments/

Cygnus cargo craft released fr om space station, setting up for CubeSat deployments
December 6, 2017 Stephen Clark


The Cygnus supply ship was released from the space station's robotic arm Wednesday. Credit: NASA TV/Spaceflight Now

An Orbital ATK Cygnus cargo craft departed the International Space Station on Wednesday, heading for a higher orbit to deploy 14 CubeSats and an eventual de-orbit burn to dispose of more than 6,200 pounds of trash and other unneeded equipment packed by the station's crew.

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Under the command of Expedition 53 flight engineer Mark Vande Hei, the space station's Canadian-built robotic arm released the unpiloted supply ship at 8:11 a.m. EST (1311 GMT) Wednesday as the vehicles soared 257 miles over the Atlantic Ocean east of Brazil.

The crew sent a command for Cygnus to fire its thrusters and exit the space station's vicinity a few minutes later.

"I want to congratulate everybody involved in this outstanding Cygnus mission," said Joe Acaba, a station flight engineer. "A lot of people put lots of time, talent and dedication into this, and it was a huge honor for all of us on the space station to be able to participate in it."

A bigger engine firing later Tuesday is expected to send the Cygnus, christened the SS Gene Cernan after the late Apollo astronaut, into a slightly higher orbit for deployment of 14 CubeSats for Spire Global, NASA, the Naval Postgraduate School, Naval Research Laboratory, and Asgardia, an organization that aims to become the first nation state in space.

The CubeSats should be deployed by Wednesday evening, U.S. time, according to Henry Martin, the mission manager for NanoRacks, a Houston-based company which accommodates small satellites on space station resupply missions.

The CubeSats range in size from a bit larger than a Rubik's Cube to a loaf of bread, and they are mounted inside an external deployer provided by NanoRacks attached outside the Cygnus spacecraft.

Eight of the CubeSats will join Spire Global's commercial weather satellite network, which derives humidity and temperature profiles by measuring GPS navigation signals passing through Earth's atmosphere.

Two AeroCube satellites assembled by the Aerospace Corp. for NASA's Optical Communications and Sensor Demonstration, or OCSD, mission will test high-speed laser communications and an innovative water-based propulsion system to maneuver in close proximity to one another.

"Our primary mission for OCSD is to demonstrate laser communications by using a laser on the spacecraft to downlink data to our optical ground station on Mt. Wilson in California," said Richard Welle, Aerospace senior scientist and one of the principal investigators for OCSD. "This is the first CubeSat laser communications system that will demonstrate an optical downlink. This compact laser package with its potential for much higher rates proves a promising future for CubeSat-scale laser communications."

The ISARA CubeSat developed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory will study the performance of an integrated solar array and radio antenna and a compact suite of three visible and infrared cameras that could be employed on future weather satellites.

The Naval Postgraduate School's PropCube 2 CubeSat is also slated for deployment from Cygnus in December to measure disturbances in the ionosphere, an upper layer of Earth's atmosphere.

The Cost-effective High E-Frequency Satellite, or CHEFSat, from the Naval Research Laboratory will help engineers gauge the performance of a consumer-grade radio frequency device in space.

The first satellite for Asgardia, an organization that aims to become the first nation state in space, was also launched Sunday. The group was created by Igor Ashurbeyli, a Russian scientist, and the Asgardia 1 satellite hosts a 500-gigabyte solid state drive containing files and data uploaded by the organization's supporters, or citizens.

Two other CubeSats launched with the Cygnus spacecraft were transferred into the space station to be released from the lab's own deployer last month.

Once the CubeSats are released into orbit, Orbital ATK controllers in Dulles, Virginia, will oversee a series of de-orbit burns to drop the Cygnus spacecraft's orbit back into Earth's atmosphere Dec. 18 to burn up with around 6,200 pounds (2,800 kilograms) of cargo and trash tagged for disposal.

The Cygnus cargo carrier lifted off Nov. 12 from Wallops Island, Virginia, aboard an Antares rocket, then completed an automated rendezvous and approach with the space station two days later.

The station crew unloaded 7,118 pounds (3,229 kilograms) of supplies and experiments from the Cygnus spacecraft's Italian-built pressurized logistics module, then replaced the cargo with trash during its 22-day stay at the complex.

Engineers at NASA's mission control center in Houston removed the Cygnus spacecraft from its attach point on the station's Unity module Tuesday, then maneuvered the Cygnus on the robotic arm a few feet from another berthing port on the station's Harmony module, wh ere crew capsules from Boeing and SpaceX are expected to dock once they are ready to begin flying astronauts into orbit.

Engineers used the Cygnus spacecraft to simulate the presence of a commercial crew craft at Harmony's space-facing port and check to ensure it does not block GPS navigation signals from reaching the space station.

The Cygnus mission is the eighth commercial logistics flight to the space station managed by Orbital ATK under contract to NASA.

The station crew is now preparing for the arrival of a Dragon capsule from SpaceX, NASA's other commercial cargo transportation provider. The SpaceX resupply mission is scheduled to launch from Cape Canaveral on Dec. 12, and reach the space station three days later.

Outgoing station commander Randy Bresnik and crewmates Sergey Ryazanskiy and Paolo Nespoli are also set to leave the outpost Dec. 14 to head for landing in Kazakhstan aboard the Soyuz MS-05 crew capsule. The station's busy December will continue with the launch of three new crew members Dec. 17 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, followed two days later by their docking.

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CRS OA-8: S.S. Gene Cernan Cygnus departs ISS

SciNews

Опубликовано: 6 дек. 2017 г.

(5:12)

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Space Station Crew Bids Farewell to U.S. Commercial Cargo Spaceship

NASA Video

Опубликовано: 6 дек. 2017 г.

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Spire‏ @SpireGlobal 1 ч. назад

Almost every day at Spire is fun, but these are the kind of days that we truly enjoy (and always hold our breath a little)! Image courtesy Spire's @jenny_barna