STP-02: DSX + попутчики - Falcon Heavy - Kennedy LC-39A - 25.06.2019, 06:30 UTC

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Идентифицирован 15-й объект запуска (2019-036P)

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http://www.planetary.org/blogs/jason-davis/ls2-sail-deploy-scheduled.html

Jason Davis • July 19, 2019

LightSail 2 Sail Deployment Scheduled for Tuesday

The Planetary Society's LightSail 2 spacecraft is almost ready to go solar sailing.

Mission officials today cleared the spacecraft for a possible sail deployment attempt on Tuesday, 23 July 2019, during a ground station pass that starts at roughly 11:22 PDT (18:22 UTC). A backup pass is available the following orbit starting at 13:07 PDT (20:07 UTC). These times may change slightly as new orbit predictions become available.

Live sail deployment coverage will be available at planetary.org/live. A video and audio stream from mission control, located at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in California, will be available during ground station passes. Rolling updates will also be posted on the page for context.

On 17 July, flight controllers placed LightSail 2's attitude control system into solar sailing mode for a second time, allowing it to track the Sun and make two 90-degree turns into and away from the solar photons. When the solar sail has been deployed, these turns will raise one side of the spacecraft's orbit.

An initial review of data from the test showed LightSail 2 performed as expected. A more thorough review is scheduled for Saturday, and on Sunday, the spacecraft will be placed in solar sailing mode a third time as a final verification that it is ready for sail deployment.


The Planetary Society
PACIFIC OCEAN AND MEXICO FROM LIGHTSAIL 2
This image of Earth, which shows the Pacific Ocean with Baja California and Mexico on the right, was captured by LightSail 2 on 18 July 2019 at 21:45 UTC while the spacecraft was in range of its ground station at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in California. Though LightSail 2's altitude is only 720 kilometers, its 185-degree, wide-angle camera lenses allow it to capture horizon-to-horizon Earth imagery.

Even at an altitude of 720 kilometers, the spacecraft's boxing ring-sized solar sail creates atmospheric drag, which limits the time LightSail 2 can raise its orbit to about 1 month. As one side of its orbit raises, the other side will dip lower into the atmosphere until drag overcomes the force from solar sailing. Therefore it is essential that the spacecraft's attitude control system is functioning as expected prior to sail deployment.

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Jason Davis‏ Подлинная учетная запись @jasonrdavis 2 ч. назад
The #LightSail2 team is on console this morning at the Cal Poly CubeSat lab. Live coverage begins at 11:20 PDT, sail deployment pass begins at 11:40 PDT. Watch: http://planetary.org/live

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Jason Davis ‏Подлинная учетная запись @jasonrdavis 18 мин. назад
#LightSail2 ground pass 1 complete. All critical pre-sail deployment tasks successful, including TLE upload. Spacecraft is currently go for solar sail deployment during the next pass, which begins at about 11:40 PDT (18:40 PDT).

18:40 UTC (21:40 ДМВ)

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Planetary Society‏ Подлинная учетная запись @exploreplanets 19 мин. назад
Sail deployment is a manual, two-step procedure initiated by the ground systems team. First, the team must "arm" the sail for deployment, and then send the command to deploy the sail. If all goes well, telemetry should show motor counts increasing.


14 мин. назад
In the frame now, from left to right: Barbara Plante, Boreal Space; Alex Diaz, Ecliptic Enterprises Corporation; Stephanie Wong (and daughter), Ecliptic; Justin Foley, NASA JPL; John Bellardo, Cal Poly; Dave Spencer, Purdue; Bruce Betts, TPS; Jennifer Vaughn, TPS

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Planetary Society‏ Подлинная учетная запись @exploreplanets 13 мин. назад
AOS. Cal Poly is receiving signals from #LightSail2.


10 мин. назад
Solar sail successfully armed for deployment.


9 мин. назад
Sail deployment command now being sent by John Bellardo of Cal Poly.


7 мин. назад
MOTOR ON. Telemetry shows #LightSail2's sail deployment motor is active.

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Planetary Society‏ Подлинная учетная запись @exploreplanets 6 мин.6 минут назад
DEPLOYMENT COMPLETE! Telemetry shows motor has reached target count!



4 мин. назад
All indications are that #LightSail2 has deployed its solar sail as planned. We will now confirm deployment was successful by downloading imagery.

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 Planetary Society‏ Подлинная учетная запись @exploreplanets 19 мин. назад
#LightSail2 pass 3 is complete. The spacecraft was successfully commanded into solar sailing mode, and the momentum wheel spun up as expected! The team was not able to get image thumbnails down. They will try during today's final pass starting at 15:11 PDT.

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 Planetary Society‏ Подлинная учетная запись @exploreplanets 1 ч. назад
The fourth and final #LightSail2 ground station pass of the day is complete. The spacecraft spent 1 orbit in solar sailing mode, and all of its major systems were reporting nominally.

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Planetary Society‏ Подлинная учетная запись @exploreplanets 1 ч. назад
A preliminary look at attitude control system data showed the solar sail was angled to within 30 degrees of its expected orientation—a promising early sign the spacecraft is tracking the Sun properly. Only the Cal Poly ground station was in range during this pass.



1 ч. назад
LightSail 2 did not rise far above the horizon, and communications performance with the spacecraft was lower than previous passes, possibly due to the orientation of the spacecraft during the pass and the presence of the newly deployed solar sail.



1 ч. назад
The team was not able to download image thumbnails and will try again tomorrow. Our website is still having problems; thanks so much for your patience and stay tuned for more updates!

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Planetary Society ‏Подлинная учетная запись @exploreplanets 34 мин. назад
Great news, everyone: We downloaded partial imagery from #LightSail2 this morning, and  confirmed the solar sails are fully deployed! We'll be completing image downlink next, and will issue a full story that includes the pics

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Идентифицирован 16-й объект запуска

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http://planetary.org/blogs/jason-davis/ls2-deploys-sail.html

Jason Davis • July 24, 2019

LightSail 2 Successfully Deploys Solar Sail

The Planetary Society's LightSail 2 spacecraft has successfully deployed the large, aluminized Mylar sail it will use to raise its orbit solely with sunlight.

Flight controllers at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in California commanded the spacecraft to deploy its solar sails yesterday at about 11:47 PDT (18:47 UTC). Images captured during the deployment sequence and downloaded today show the 32-square-meter sail, which is about the size of a boxing ring, deploying as the spacecraft flew south of the continental United States.


The Planetary Society
LIGHTSAIL 2 DURING SAIL DEPLOYMENT SEQUENCE
This image was taken during the LightSail 2 sail deployment sequence on 23 July 2019 at 11:48 PDT (18:48 UTC). Baja California and Mexico are visible in the background. LightSail 2's dual 185-degree fisheye camera lenses can each capture more than half of the sail. This image has been de-distorted and color corrected.


The Planetary Society
LIGHTSAIL 2 SAIL DEPLOYMENT FROM CAMERA 1
View of the deployment of half of LightSail 2's square sail from Camera 1, which happened on 23 July 2019 at 18:47 UTC. The animation runs at about 100 times actual speed.


The Planetary Society
LIGHTSAIL 2 SAIL DEPLOYMENT FROM CAMERA 2
View of the deployment of half of LightSail 2's square sail from Camera 2, which happened on 23 July 2019 at 18:47 UTC. The animation runs at about 100 times actual speed.

New feature: Download all raw imagery from LightSail 2 here!

Sail deployment marks a major milestone for the LightSail 2 mission, which aims to demonstrate solar sailing as a viable method of propulsion for CubeSats—small, standardized satellites that have lowered the cost of space exploration.

"Yesterday, we successfully set sail on beams of sunlight," said Bill Nye, CEO of The Planetary Society. "Thanks to our team and our tens of thousands of supporters around the world, the dream started by The Planetary Society's founders more than 4 decades ago has taken flight."

Bruce Betts, Planetary Society chief scientist and LightSail program manager, added, "We're ecstatic! The mission team has worked for years to get to this moment when we can start solar sailing."



Following the start of sail deployment on 23 July, telemetry from LightSail 2 showed the spacecraft's small motor was rotating properly, extending four, 4-meter cobalt-alloy booms from their central spindle. The booms unwind like carpenter's tape measures and are attached to 4 triangular sail sections that together form the square solar sail.

Though the motor activity itself was a good indicator of success, confirmation that the sails deployed successfully was only possible via imagery from LightSail 2's dual cameras. The cameras have 185-degree fields of view, and together can image the entire sail from the main LightSail bus, which is about the size of a loaf of bread.

"The successful deployment of the solar sail and the onset of sail control completes our critical post-launch phase," said LightSail 2 project manager David Spencer. "Now we are prepared for the solar sail's mission, to track how the orbit changes and evaluate solar sailing performance."

The deployment milestone comes 4 weeks after LightSail 2 launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket, and 3 weeks after the Georgia Tech student-built Prox-1 spacecraft deployed LightSail 2 into orbit. The mission team spent a week checking out the spacecraft's systems before rescheduling sail deployment to allow extra time for testing and tuning the attitude control system.

Preliminary data shows LightSail 2 is already turning its solar sail broadside to the Sun once per orbit, giving the spacecraft a gentle push no stronger than the weight of a paperclip. Solar photons have no mass, but they have momentum, and as they reflect off the solar sail, some of that momentum is transferred and creates thrust. While this thrust is slight, it is continuous and over time will raise LightSail 2's orbit.


Josh Spradling / The Planetary Society
LIGHTSAIL 2 ORBIT RAISING
This animation shows how LightSail 2 raises its orbit by making two 90-degree turns each orbit. As the spacecraft approaches the Sun, it turns the sail edge-on to avoid getting pushed by solar photons. As it moves away from the Sun, it turns perpendicular to incoming sunlight, giving it a push that gradually raises its orbit.

The orbit-raising portion of the mission will last about 1 month. LightSail 2 does not have the capability to circularize its orbit—as one side of the spacecraft's orbit raises due to solar sailing, the other side will dip lower into Earth's atmosphere, until atmospheric drag overcomes the slight force from solar sailing. LightSail 2 is expected to reenter the atmosphere in roughly 1 year.

[CharlesGraix CharlesGraixMF]

кафе в бибирево в Москве цены

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Идентифицированы ещё два объекта запуска - GPIM (44342) и CP-9 LEO (44360)

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https://spacenews.com/air-force-experimental-satellite-billed-as-the-largest-unmanned-structure-in-space/

Air Force experimental satellite billed as the 'largest unmanned structure in space'
by Sandra Erwin — July 24, 2019


The Air Force Research Laboratory's Demonstration and Science Experiments, or DSX, spacecraft in the final preparation stages before shipment to Cape Canaveral, Fla. for launch on a Space X Falcon Heavy rocket. Credit: Air Force

The DSX satellite will collect data that will be used to study the radiation environment in space.

WASHINGTON — An Air Force satellite spanning nearly the length of a football field was successfully deployed on July 12, the Air Force Research Laboratory announced on Wednesday.

AFRL's demonstration and science experiments, or DSX, will collect data that will be used to study the radiation environment in space. DSX was the largest of the 24 satellites that a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket launched on June 25 fr om Cape Canaveral, Florida. The vehicle delivered 24 satellites into four different orbits.

DSX was designed and built at AFRL's Space Vehicles Directorate at Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico.

Col. Eric Felt, director of the space vehicles directorate, said the satellite is conducting new research to "advance understanding of the Van Allen radiation belts and their effect on spacecraft components." In a news release, Felt said DSX will conduct on-orbit experiments for at least a year.

"The Air Force is interested in operating satellites in the region where DSX is collecting data," said James McCollough, DSX principal investigator. This experiment will help study the environment, he explained. "This is a region where Very Low Frequency radio waves strongly interact with electrons that are hazardous to spacecraft." DSX can actively transmit VLF signals to study their influence on the electron population, he said. "This will allow a more thorough understanding of a key process governing the radiation environment."

Lt. Col. James Caldwell, DSX mission director, said the satellite is currently in "launch and early operations" wh ere an operations team works with scientists and engineers to perform checkouts on various satellite components, deploy the antenna booms and prepare for data collection within the Van Allen radiation belts.

On July 12, the longer pair of the 80-meter antenna booms (about 262 feet) was successfully deployed as the largest unmanned structure ever in space, said Jeffrey Christmas, DSX program manager. He explained that the long antenna allows DSX to transmit the VLF radio waves that will be used in  experiments.

Felt said AFRL plans to share the results of the research with the public, through its website and social media platforms.

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http://4pda.ru/2019/07/28/359635/

Американцы вывели на орбиту крупнейший в мире спутник
28.07.19 | joker.sib

Ежегодно с Земли запускаются в космос десятки спутников различных типов. Несмотря на разную начинку, это в большинстве случаев компактные устройства, плотно «упакованные» в ракету-носитель. Но даже в космической отрасли случаются исключения из правил: пресс-служба военно-воздушных сил США объявила о запуске на орбиту самого большого в истории объекта, созданного человеком.



Ключевым отличием спутника ВВС США под названием DSX от большинства аналогов стали его размеры: при развёртывании на земле площадь его поверхности заняла бы целое футбольное поле. Аппарат с 82-метровыми антеннами предназначен для изучения радиационной обстановки в космосе и её влияния на компоненты космических кораблей. DSX стал самым большим из 24 спутников, выведенных на орбиту с помощью ракеты Falcon Heavy компании SpaceX.

«Военно-воздушные силы заинтересованы в использовании спутников в регионе, где DSX собирает данные. Радиоволны очень низкой частоты сильно взаимодействуют с электронами, опасными для космического корабля. Работа DSX поможет более глубоко понять ключевой процесс, регулирующий радиационную среду: длинная антенна позволяет аппарату передавать радиоволны VLF, которые будут использоваться в экспериментах», — отметил главный исследователь проекта Джеймс МакКоллоу.

По словам директора лаборатории ВВС США Эрика Фельта, миссия спутника DSX продлится около года, после чего планируется обнародовать результаты исследования через веб-сайт ведомства и социальные сети.

Источник: spacenews.com

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LightSail2

 Planetary Society‏ Подлинная учетная запись @exploreplanets 60 мин. назад
MISSION SUCCESS!

We just raised our orbit around Earth using sunlight alone, something that's never been done before.

#LightSail2 is now the highest performing solar sail to date and it's 100% crowdfunded by our members and backers!

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http://www.planetary.org/blogs/jason-davis/lightsail-2-successful-flight-by-light.html

Jason Davis • July 31, 2019
LightSail 2 Spacecraft Successfully Demonstrates Flight by Light

Years of computer simulations. Countless ground tests. They've all led up to now. The Planetary Society's crowdfunded LightSail 2 spacecraft is successfully raising its orbit solely on the power of sunlight.

Since unfurling the spacecraft's silver solar sail last week, mission managers have been optimizing the way the spacecraft orients itself during solar sailing. After a few tweaks, LightSail 2 began raising its orbit around the Earth. In the past 4 days, the spacecraft has raised its orbital high point, or apogee, by about 2 kilometers. The perigee, or low point of its orbit, has dropped by a similar amount, which is consistent with pre-flight expectations for the effects of atmospheric drag on the spacecraft. The mission team has confirmed the apogee increase can only be attributed to solar sailing, meaning LightSail 2 has successfully completed its primary goal of demonstrating flight by light for CubeSats.

"We're thrilled to announce mission success for LightSail 2," said LightSail program manager and Planetary Society chief scientist Bruce Betts. "Our criteria was to demonstrate controlled solar sailing in a CubeSat by changing the spacecraft's orbit using only the light pressure of the Sun, something that's never been done before. I'm enormously proud of this team. It's been a long road and we did it."

The milestone makes LightSail 2 the first spacecraft to use solar sailing for propulsion in Earth orbit, the first small spacecraft to demonstrate solar sailing, and just the second-ever solar sail spacecraft to successfully fly, following Japan's IKAROS, which launched in 2010. LightSail 2 is also the first crowdfunded spacecraft to successfully demonstrate a new form of propulsion.

"For The Planetary Society, this moment has been decades in the making," said Planetary Society CEO Bill Nye. "Carl Sagan talked about solar sailing when I was in his class in 1977. But the idea goes back at least to 1607, when Johannes Kepler noticedthat comet tails must be created by energy fr om the Sun. The LightSail 2 mission is a game-changer for spaceflight and advancing space exploration."

On Monday, LightSail 2 sent home a new full-resolution image captured by its camera during solar sail deployment. The perspective is opposite to last week's full-resolution image and shows the sail more fully deployed. LightSail 2's aluminized Mylar sail shines against the blackness of space, with the Sun peeking through near a sail boom.


The Planetary Society
LIGHTSAIL 2 DURING SAIL DEPLOYMENT SEQUENCE (CAMERA 1)
This image was taken during the LightSail 2 sail deployment sequence on 23 July 2019 at 11:49 PDT (18:49 UTC). The sail is almost fully deployed here and appears warped near the edges due to the spacecraft's 185-degree fisheye camera lens. The image has been color corrected and some of the distortion has been removed. The Sun is visible at center, and pieces of spectraline, which were used to hold LightSail 2's solar panels closed, can be seen at 5 o'clock and 7 o'clock.

The mission team will continue raising LightSail 2's orbit for roughly a month, until the perigee decreases to the point where atmospheric drag overcomes the thrust fr om solar sailing. During the orbit-raising period, the team will continue optimizing the performance of the solar sail.

"We've been working since sail deployment to refine the way the spacecraft tracks the Sun," said LightSail 2 project manager Dave Spencer. "The team has done a great job getting us to the point wh ere we can declare mission success. Moving ahead, we're going to continue working to tune the sail control performance and see how much we can raise apogee over time."

One such refinement involves LightSail 2's single momentum wheel, which rotates the spacecraft broadside and then edge-on to the Sun each orbit to turn the thrust from solar sailing on and off. Momentum wheels can "saturate," hitting predefined speed limits, after which they are no longer effective at rotating the spacecraft. Most spacecraft use chemical thrusters to desaturate momentum wheels; LightSail 2 relies on electromagnetic torque rods, which orient the spacecraft by pushing against Earth's magnetic field.

LightSail 2's momentum wheel currently reaches its saturation lim it a couple of times per day, and desaturating the wheel temporarily takes the spacecraft out of its proper orientation for solar sailing. The mission team already applied a software update that increased the time between saturation events, and is also working to automate the desaturation process. Both refinements should result in improved solar sailing performance.


The Planetary Society
LIGHTSAIL 2 ORBIT APOGEE AND PERIGEE SINCE LAUNCH
This chart shows LightSail 2's orbit apogee and perigee since launch. From 26 July to 30 July, the spacecraft raised its orbital high point, or apogee, by about 2 kilometers. A PDF version of this chart is available.

After LightSail 2's month-long orbit raising phase, the spacecraft will begin to deorbit, eventually reentering the atmosphere in roughly a year. The aluminized Mylar sail, about the size of a boxing ring, may currently be visible for some observers at dusk and dawn. The Planetary Society's mission control dashboard shows upcoming passes based on user location, and includes a link to a page that highlights passes when the sail is more likely to be visible.

Roughly 50,000 Planetary Society members and private citizens from more than 100 countries, as well as foundations and corporate partners, donated to the LightSail 2 mission, which cost $7 million from 2009 through March 2019.

"LightSail 2 proves the power of public support," said Planetary Society COO Jennifer Vaughn. "This moment could mark a paradigm shift that opens up space exploration to more players. It amazes me that 50,000 people came together to fly a solar sail. Imagine if that number became 500,000 or 5 million. It's a thrilling concept."


The Planetary Society
LIGHTSAIL 2 SAIL DEPLOYMENT THUMBNAILS (CAMERA 1)
These images show the progression of LightSail 2's solar sail deployment sequence, which began on 23 July 2019 at 18:47 UTC. They are all thumbnail images from Camera 1 with an original resolution of 120 by 90 pixels and have been de-distorted and color-corrected. The first 13 frames were taken at intervals of 10 seconds; the remaining ones at intervals of 30 seconds.


The Planetary Society
LIGHTSAIL 2 SAIL DEPLOYMENT THUMBNAILS (CAMERA 2)
These images show the progression of LightSail 2's solar sail deployment sequence, which began on 23 July 2019 at 18:47 UTC. They are all thumbnail images from Camera 2 with an original resolution of 120 by 90 pixels and have been de-distorted and color-corrected. The first 13 frames were taken at intervals of 10 seconds; the remaining ones at intervals of 30 seconds.

The Planetary Society shares LightSail program data with other organizations so that solar sail technology can be applied to future space exploration missions. The Society presented initial LightSail 2 results this week at the 5th International Symposium on Solar Sailing in Aachen, Germany. Results are also being shared with NASA's NEA Scout mission, which is launching a solar sail-powered CubeSat to visit a near-Earth asteroid as early as next year.

LightSail 2 is one of several Planetary Society science and technology projects that aim to advance space science and exploration. Earlier this month, NASA chose PlanetVac, a Society-funded technology built by Honeybee Robotics that simplifies the process of collecting samples from other worlds, to fly to the Moon as part of the agency's Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program.

The LightSail program began in 2009 under the direction of Planetary Society co-founder Louis Friedman, following the launch of Cosmos 1, the world's first solar sail that did not reach orbit. Friedman and Society co-founders Carl Sagan and Bruce Murray championed the idea of solar sailing more than 4 decades ago with a proposed solar sail mission to Halley's Comet.

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 Jonathan McDowell‏ Подлинная учетная запись @planet4589 2 ч. назад
I am not seeng the claimed orbit raising in the data.  I see the normal orbit decay, but an increase in eccentricity presumably caused by the sail - so yes apogee is going up, but perigee is going down even faster.



2 ч. назад
Here is Lightsail-2 average height vs time. Sail deploy was day 204.





2 ч. назад
Here is eccentricity





2 ч. назад
Apogee and perigee






Jason Davis‏ Подлинная учетная запись @jasonrdavis 1 ч. назад

В ответ @b0yle @ChrisDMarshall и еще 3
Yes that's correct. For simplicity the plan was never to circularize the orbit, only to raise apogee by thrusting on one side of the orbit, which also drops perigee.