Cygnus NG-11 (CRS-11) - Antares 230 - MARS LP-0A - 17.04.2019, 20:46 UTC

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04/17/2019 18:49 Countdown begins Stephen Clark

The countdown began on time to begin final preps for today's 4:46 p.m. EDT (2046 GMT) blastoff of the 14-story Antares rocket from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.

The Antares rocket will be powered up in the next hour or so, and the launch team is going through a checklist of testing to ensure all systems are in good shape. The launch pad is also scheduled to be evacuated of all personnel early in the countdown sequence.

The call-to-stations for the engineers on the launch team occurred shortly before 11:30 a.m. EDT (1530 GMT), with voice checks and opening of the prelaunch checklist at 11:46 a.m. EDT (1546 GMT).

Propellant loading should begin around 90 minutes prior to liftoff.

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Во дают!!!

Chris G - NSF‏ @ChrisG_NSF 9 мин. назад
Per NASA, #Antares launch time had moved by a few seconds (again) to 16:46:07 EDT (2046:07 UTC).
#Cygnus #NG11 #RogerChaffee

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04/17/2019 19:01 Stephen Clark

Northrop Grumman shortened the countdown for today's launch as the team streamlines their launch preparations. The abbreviated countdown timeline allows for extra time for technicians to load time-sensitive cargo into the Cygnus supply ship, an activity that was completed over night at Wallops before the Antares rocket was raised vertical.

The countdowns before past Antares missions started 6 hours, 15 minutes, before liftoff. Today's countdown is five hours in length.

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04/17/2019 19:44 Stephen Clark

All personnel are evacuating the launch pad and are at a nearby fallback area, clearing the way for the launch team to begin powering up the vehicle for pre-launch testing.

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04/17/2019 19:49 Stephen Clark

The launch team has powered up the Antares and Cygnus vehicles for systems checks.

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https://spaceflightnow.com/2019/04/16/northrop-grumman-introducing-new-capabilities-on-cygnus-cargo-craft/

Northrop Grumman introducing new capabilities on Cygnus cargo craft
April 16, 2019 | Stephen Clark


File photo of a Cygnus supply ship departing the International Space Station on Northrop Grumman's 10th cargo mission Feb. 8. Credit: NASA

The next Cygnus resupply mission to the International Space Station set for liftoff Wednesday from Virginia's Eastern Shore will introduce new capabilities for the commercial cargo freighter, including a longer operating life enabled by fuel-saving gyroscopes to support an extended mission months after the spacecraft departs the International Space Station, Northrop Grumman officials said.

The Cygnus supply ship is set for liftoff at 4:46 p.m. EDT (2046 GMT) Wednesday from launch pad 0A at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport, located at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility on Virginia's Eastern Shore. A two-stage Antares rocket will power the Cygnus spacecraft into orbit on the first leg of a journey to the space station set to conclude with the supply ship's capture with the lab's Canadian-built robotic arm around 5:30 a.m. EDT (0930 GMT) Friday.

Northrop Grumman is the prime contractor on the Antares rocket and Cygnus spacecraft programs, and company officials said Tuesday that the mission set for launch Wednesday — the 11th Cygnus resupply flight under a $2.89 billion contract with NASA — will debut several new capabilities allowing the cargo craft to accommodate more science experiments, and potentially missions into deep space in support of NASA's moon landing ambitions.

A package of four control moment gyroscopes are installed aboard the Cygnus spacecraft for a demonstration after the supply ship completes its cargo delivery at the space station. Using momentum to manage the spacecraft's pointing, or attitude, the four spinning gyroscopes will reduce the Cygnus spacecraft's consumption of liquid propellants, which feed thrusters normally used to change the supply ship's orientation.

The innovation will allow the Cygnus spacecraft to remain in orbit for up to a year. Cygnus missions have previously lasted no more than three or four months.

The extended mission will only begin after the Cygnus supply ship departs the space station in July, completing the spacecraft's primary objective. The Cygnus mission, designated NG-11, will blast off with 7,575 pounds (3,436 kilograms) of cargo, including new flying robots that could help astronauts with chores on the space station, medical experiments, and 40 mice to be studied by astronauts and researchers to examine how their immune systems cope with the conditions of spaceflight.

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Powered by two kerosene-fueled Russian RD-181 main engines and a U.S.-built solid-fueled Castor 30XL upper stage, the Antares rocket will place the Cygnus spacecraft into orbit around nine minutes after liftoff, kicking off the freighter's pursuit of the space station.

After Friday's arrival, the station crew will unpack around 6,971 pounds (3,162 kilograms) of food, crew provisions and science experiments from the Cygnus spacecraft's pressurized cargo module, built by Thales Alenia Space in Italy, then repack the ship with trash before its departure in late July.

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After release from the station's robotic arm, the cargo craft will boost itself into a higher orbit for deployment of several CubeSats, similar to maneuvers accomplished by previous Cygnus missions. But instead of commanding the spacecraft to plunge back into the atmosphere for a destructive re-entry, Northrop Grumman ground controllers will begin the extended mission experiment.

"We'll use the control moment gyros to control the spacecraft attitude, as opposed to fuel," said Frank DeMauro, vice president and general manager of Northrop Grumman's space systems division.


Four control moment gyroscopes, and their associated power and control electronics, are housed in a 17-inch (43-centimeter) cube package on the Cygnus spacecraft's service module. Credit: Northrop Grumman

Northrop Grumman officials previously said the extended mission demo could last a year, but DeMauro said the mission's duration will depend on when engineers accomplish all their objectives.

"How long we go really will depend on when we achieve our goals for the extended mission (demonstration)," DeMauro said.

"We want to accomplish a couple of things," he said. "First, we want to show how the spacecraft works with the CMGs (control moment gyroscopes) and demonstrate that our platform can use CMGs — not only our platform but other Northrop Grumman spacecraft platforms.

"The second thing we want to do is show that the avionics can run for extended period of time," DeMauro said. "We've typically run them for several months as we've gone through testing, and then in orbit they run for three to four months, depending on how long we're in orbit. This time, we want to demonstrate an even longer period of time that the computers run error-free, and that the attitude control system works just as expected."

The control moment gyroscopes were built by Honeywell, using new miniaturized technology that could be used on future small satellites.

Northrop Grumman wants to keep the NG-11 Cygnus spacecraft in orbit through the launch of the company's next resupply mission to the space station, designated NG-12, currently scheduled for October.

Officials want to offer the Cygnus spacecraft as a hosting platform for science and technology experiments after it leaves the space station. DeMauro said the Cygnus spacecraft provides a smooth microgravity environment for research in orbit, even better than the space station, which has disturbances from the movement of crew members and other external influences. The use of gyroscopes will make for more pristine microgravity conditions, eliminating impulses from thruster firings to change the ship's orientation.

"The idea is that for future missions, we can outfit Cygnus to have the extended duration, and then after we complete the primary mission, offer this extended duration to either the government or commercial entities," DeMauro said in an interview Tuesday with Spaceflight Now. "We want to give them enough time in orbit that isn't restricted by when the next mission goes up, so having the ability to fly two Cygnus (spacecraft) in orbit at the same time is critical."

Like past Cygnus missions, the spacecraft will re-enter the atmosphere and burn up over the Pacific Ocean once the extended duration demonstration is complete.

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The NG-11 mission is the last Cygnus flight under Northrop Grumman's first cargo transportation contract with NASA, a deal originally signed in 2008. The company has a follow-on Commercial Resupply Services, or CRS-2, contract for at least six additional Cygnus missions through 2024, beginning with the NG-12 mission later this year.

"Our push is to offer NASA increased science capability on each mission," DeMauro said.


The modified payload fairing of Northrop Grumman's Antares rocket features a removable top to give workers access to the Cygnus spacecraft for late cargo loading at the launch pad. Credit: Northrop Grumman

For the first time, ground teams at Wallops planned to load time-sensitive cargo into the Cygnus spacecraft at the launch pad Tuesday night, less than 24 hours before liftoff. Northrop Grumman developed a new mobile clean room to be positioned over the Antares rocket's payload shroud, with the launcher lowered back to a horizontal position following preliminary pre-launch checkouts.

Technicians removed the top of the payload fairing and opened the Cygnus hatch to allow teams to load the enclosure containing the rodent research experiment. The NG-11 mission marks the first time a rodent research payload has flown aboard a Cygnus supply ship, following multiple missions on SpaceX's Dragon cargo capsule.

The NG-11 mission will also debut a new navigation system on the Antares rocket, ahead of additional launcher upgrades coming with the first CRS-2 mission later this year.

Engineers will beef up the Antares rocket's structure for the next mission to allow the first stage's twin RD-181 engines to fly at full throttle as the launcher flies through the most extreme period of aerodynamic pressure, or Max-Q, after liftoff. The engines are currently throttled back to around 70 percent power to ease the passage through Max-Q.

Northrop Grumman is also removing some unnecessary insulation from the Castor 30XL upper stage, and switching from a three-piece fairing adapter to a lighter structure. Future Antares rockets will also fly with two fewer helium pressurization bottles in the first stage, hardware that data from previous launches indicated was not required. The changes will increase the mass of payloads the Antares rocket can loft into orbit.

"That will enable us to pack even more cargo into the cargo modules," DeMauro said. "We've made some more modifications to be able to pack it more efficiently. That will be able to give us another 10 percent or so more cargo in the same volume."

The Cygnus team has taken a step-by-step approach with upgrades since the spacecraft's inaugural mission.

Since the Antares rocket and Cygnus spacecraft's first missions in 2013, engineers from Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems — previously known as Orbital Sciences and Orbital ATK — have introduced a larger Thales-built cargo module and debuted new RD-181 engines for the Antares first stage. Officials replaced the Antares rocket's original AJ26 first stage engines after one of the powerplants failed on a 2014 launch, destroying a Cygnus spacecraft heading for the space station and damaging the launch pad at Wallops Island.


Artist's concept of a Gateway station near the moon using Cygnus-derived modules. Credit: Northrop Grumman

DeMauro said the expanded performance and longer lifetime of the newest generation of Cygnus supply ships positions the spacecraft for more demanding missions in the future, including flights into deep space to support NASA's plans to build a mini-space station called the Gateway in lunar orbit, with a goal set by the Trump administration of landing astronauts on the moon as soon as 2024.

"Going out to cislunar space will be a little bit different," DeMauro said. "So we've looked at the avionics upgrades required for the higher radiation environment, different communications systems, docking versus berthing systems."

Northrop Grumman has a NASA contract to develop a habitat concept based on the Cygnus design, which could be attached to NASA's Gateway around the moon to provide living quarters for astronauts. Lunar landers could be staged at the Gateway for trips to and from the moon's surface.

"We think we're in a good place to offer NASA a proven, yet upgraded technology suite on a Cygnus-class vehicle to provide all sorts of services out in cislunar space, whether it's habitats, logistics services, science and utilization services, as well as even power and propulsion systems out there. Cygnus is a stepping stone from that point of view," DeMauro said.

The Cygnus spacecraft set for launch Wednesday is named the "S.S. Roger Chaffee" after the late astronaut who perished in the Apollo 1 fire at Cape Canaveral in 1967.

"Given that Lt. Cmdr. Chaffee never made it into space, which was his dream, we decided to name this vehicle the S.S. Roger Chaffee in his honor," DeMauro said. "It's something that's very special to us, and it's very special to his family, and to all of the team."

Members of the Chaffee family will attend Wednesday's launch from Wallops Island.

"That's just something that makes this extra special, so we're looking forward to seeing them here," DeMauro said.

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04/17/2019 20:07 Stephen Clark

The propellant loading sequencer has been initiated, beginning steps to ready the Antares rocket and ground systems for filling of the first stage with liquid propellants later in the countdown.

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ТБМ  :!:  

Chris G - NSF‏ @ChrisG_NSF 4 мин. назад

So even though the launch window opens at 16:46:07 EDT, Antares teams have just confirmed that the optimum launch time today (and what they will target) is: 16:48:36.33 EDT (2048:36.33 UTC )
#Antares #Cygnus #NG11 #NASA @northropgrumman/QUOTE]

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https://spaceflightnow.com/2019/04/17/antares-launch-timeline-on-the-ng-11-mission/

Antares launch timeline on the NG-11 mission
April 17, 2019 | Stephen Clark


Credit: Orbital ATK

Northrop Grumman's Antares rocket will deliver a Cygnus supply ship into orbit Wednesday to begin a day-and-a-half pursuit of the International Space Station.

The rocket's two RD-181 engines will ignite around 3.7 seconds before liftoff from pad 0A at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport, a complex owned by the state of Virginia at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility.

Launch is timed for 4:46 p.m. EDT (2046 GMT) Wednesday.

The first stage's two RD-181 engines will power up to 864,000 pounds of thrust and burn for 3 minutes, 35 seconds, to accelerate the rocket to more than 8,750 mph (3.9 kilometers per second) and an altitude of around 61 miles (99 kilometers), then separate from the upper stage's Castor 30XL motor about six seconds later.

The launch, known as NG-11 in Northrop Grumman's station resupply manifest, will be the fifth Antares mission using new, more powerful RD-181 engines, which the company ordered from the Russian engine-builder NPO Energomash to replace decades-old Russian-built AJ26 engines blamed for an Antares rocket crash seconds after liftoff in October 2014.

Once the first stage finished its job on the NG-11 launch the Antares rocket's 12.8-foot-diameter (3.9-meter) diameter payload shroud will jettison in two halves at around T+plus 4 minutes, 11 seconds. An interstage adapter that connected the first and second stages will separate at T+plus 4 minutes, 16 seconds.

The launcher's Castor 30XL solid-fueled upper stage will ignite at T+plus 4 minutes, 24 seconds, and generate up to 104,300 pounds of thrust during a burn lasting approximately 2 minutes, 42 seconds. The second stage motor will burn out at approximately T+plus 7 minutes, 6 seconds, then deploy the Cygnus spacecraft at around T+plus 9 minutes, 6 seconds.

The spacecraft's two cymbal-shaped electricity-generating solar arrays will unfurl in a fan-like motion around two hours into the mission, and the ship's thrusters will begin fine-tuning its approach to the space station with a series of course-correction burns, setting up for a laser-guided final approach Friday.

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04/17/2019 20:25 Stephen Clark

A team of technicians is being dispatched to the Antares launch pad to work on an issue involving the rocket's transporter, erector and launcher system. Countdown remains on track for liftoff at 4:46pm EDT (2046 GMT).

Chris G - NSF‏ @ChrisG_NSF 7 мин. назад

Issue with TEL will require Red Team to go back to the pad and perform ~15mins op. Launch team is still progressing with no discussed impact to launch at this time.
#Antares #Cygnus #NG11 #NASA @northropgrumman

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Chris G - NSF‏ @ChrisG_NSF 5 мин. назад

RF open loop and transmitter checks being done now instead of waiting as Red Team reviews procedures they'll go once they get to the pad.
#Antares #Cygnus #NG11 #NASA @northropgrumman

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04/17/2019 20:52 Stephen Clark

The red team has completed work on the transporter, erector and launcher system at pad 0A. The technicians are now back out of the pad.

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Chris G - NSF‏ @ChrisG_NSF 1 мин. назад

Red Team has COMPLETED their task and cleared the pad. "We are good to proceed at this time." Helium initiation in 30-ish minutes. All systems GREEN at this time!
#Antares #Cygnus #NG11 #NASA @northropgrumman

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Northrop Grumman's CRS-11 Mission: What's on Board?

NASA

Опубликовано: 17 апр. 2019 г.

What's on the next cargo mission launching to the International Space Station? Over 7,600 pounds of science, research and supplies for the astronaut crew are packed on board Northrop Grumman's Cygnus spacecraft. It's set to launch aboard an Antares rocket on April 17 at 4:46 p.m. EDT.

(5:02)

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NanoRacks‏Подлинная учетная запись @NanoRacks 4 ч. назад

In the external #Cygnus deployer we have AeroCube 10A & B, and Seeker/Kenobi - Kenobi being the hosted payload that will stay inside the deployer, running communication channels for the Seeker #CubeSat


4 ч. назад

For our @Space_Station #CubeSat deployment, we are launching: IOD-1 GEMS, EntrySat, KRAKSat, Swiatowid, Aeternitas, Ceres, & Libertas!

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04/17/2019 21:37 Stephen Clark

A series of slew, or steering checks, of the Antares rocket's propulsion system has been accomplished.

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04/17/2019 21:56 Stephen Clark

The countdown has entered a pre-planned built-in hold. An upd ated status on the countdown from Northrop Grumman launch conductor Adam Lewis shows the Antares rocket, the Cygnus spacecraft and the Wallops range are all "green" at this time for liftoff at 4:46:07 p.m. EDT (2046:07 GMT).

The Cygnus spacecraft se t for launch aboard the Antares rocket is named the S.S. Roger Chaffee in honor of the late astronaut who perished in the Apollo 1 fire at Cape Canaveral in 1967.

The S.S. Roger Chaffee is packed with 6,971 pounds (3,162 kilograms) of supplies and experiments heading to the International Space Station. Here's a breakdown of the cargo manifest provided by NASA:

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• 3,459 pounds (1,569 kilograms) of science investigations
• 2,065 pounds (936 kilograms) of crew supplies
• 1,384 pounds (628 kilograms) of vehicle hardware
• 77 pounds (35 kilograms) of Northrop Grumman hardware
• 53 pounds (24 kilograms) of spacewalk equipment
• 10 pounds (5 kilograms) of computer resources
  

The Cygnus supply ship is expected to remain berthed at the International Space Station's Unity module until late July, when it will be released by the station's robotic arm.

The automated cargo carrier, loaded with trash after its departure from the station, will fire its engine to climb into a higher orbit roughly 300 miles (500 kilometers) above Earth to deploy multiple CubeSats, then begin an extended flight in orbit lasting through the end of the year to demonstrate the Cygnus spacecraft's long-duration mission capability.

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04/17/2019 22:04 Stephen Clark

The launch weather office reports good conditions this afternoon at Wallops Island, Virginia. There is a 0 percent chance of weather prohibiting launch today.

At launch time, the forecast calls for high thin cirrus clouds, good visibility, winds from the east-northeast at 14 knots, and a temperature of 58 degrees Fahrenheit. The maximum upper level winds will be 91 knots at 35,000 feet.

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Chris G - NSF‏ @ChrisG_NSF 2 мин. назад

Antares launches to the Space Station have to launch southeast from Virginia - a major visual change from Florida's northeast launches to Station. But for the same reason: to avoid land overflight.
#Antares #Cygnus #NG11 #NASA @northropgrumman (: GoISSWatch app)