2017年11月21日12时50分，我国在太原卫星发射中心用长征六号运载火箭，成功将吉林一号视频4、5、6三颗卫星送入预定轨道。 ...[/QUOTE] [QUOTE]В 12:50 21 ноября 2017 года Китай успешно запустил из Космического центра Тайюань три спутника Цзилинь № 4, № 5 и № 5 на орбиту с использованием ракеты-носителя Long March 6.[/QUOTE]
Видео без регистрации [QUOTE][url=https://twitter.com/cnspaceflight] [IMG]https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/602776373103431680/NMt3T8dr_bigger.png[/IMG] [B]ChinaSpaceflight[/B] @[B]cnspaceflight[/B][/url] [url=https://twitter.com/cnspaceflight/status/932851149668892673]3 мин. назад[/url]
[SIZE=6][COLOR=#EE105A][B]Khrunichev Space Center: Successful Hot-fire Test of Angara 1.2 Service Module Conducted[/B][/COLOR][/SIZE]
The propulsion system of the light-weight Angara 1.2 Launch Vehicle Service Module, manufactured by the Khrunichev Space Center (part of ROSCOSMOS State Corporation), completed successful hot-fire testing at the Federal State Enterprise "Rocket & Space Industry Research & Test Center" (RSI RTC) test facility (Peresvet, Moscow Region).
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The hot-fire tests are the most important and final stage of ground based propulsion system tests prior to flight testing.
During the tests, specialists fr om the Salyut Design Bureau (a subdivision of Khrunichev Space Center) performed comprehensive checks of the propulsion system components on a test stand. RSI RTC personnel assured safe testing conditions and processed the test results expeditiously.
The positive results of the tests verified the propulsion system's operational readiness as well as the validity of the chosen design and procedural solutions. Based on the propulsion system tests performed on the test stand, the propulsion system has been approved for development and flight testing as part of the flight-ready Service Module.
The detachable Service Module is part of the 2nd Stage of the two-stage Angara 1.2 Launch Vehicle and is designed to inject the SC into its target orbit. The Service Module includes four 40 kgf 11D458 thrusters and fourteen 1.3 kgf 17D58E thrusters.
In November of 2016 thermal vacuum tests of the Service Module were successfully completed on the VK600/300 RSI RTC stand. During the tests the temperature modes of the Service Module wh ere tested in a cold & black space environment.
This image is from Cassini's final observation of Saturn's icy moon Rhea (949 miles or 1,527 kilometers across) on May 2, 2017. The spacecraft was at the time high above the plane of Saturn's rings, looking down at Rhea's northern hemisphere. The northern rim of the giant Tirawa impact basin can be seen along the limb at left. (For a high-resolution view of Rhea, see [url=https://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/resources/2886/]Rhea: Full Moon[/url]; Tirawa is the large basin at the one o'clock position in that view.)
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The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera at a distance of approximately 230,000 miles (370,000 kilometers) from Rhea. Image scale is 1.2 miles (2 kilometers) per pixel.
The Cassini spacecraft ended its mission on Sept. 15, 2017.
The Cassini mission is a cooperative project of NASA, ESA (the European Space Agency) and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colorado.
For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit [url]https://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov[/url] and [url]https://www.nasa.gov/cassini[/url]. The Cassini imaging team homepage is at [url=http://ciclops.org/]http://ciclops.org[/url].
Original 219 KB image/tiff [url=https://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/system/downloadable_items/1140_PIA21354_full.tif][SIZE=5][COLOR=#00AEEF][B]DOWNLOAD[/B][/COLOR][/SIZE][/url][/QUOTE]
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Best Telescope:Телескоп Гершель,OWL, JWST, greatest views
[SIZE=6]NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope Completes Final Cryogenic Testing[/SIZE]
The vault-like, 40-foot diameter, 40-ton door of Chamber A at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston was unsealed on November 18, signaling the end of cryogenic testing for NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope.
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[url=https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/jwst_end_of_cryo_test.jpg][IMG WIDTH=985 HEIGHT=699]https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/styles/full_width/public/thumbnails/image/jwst_end_of_cryo_test.jpg?itok=ysGOX0gT[/IMG][/url] [SIZE=3][COLOR=#ACACAC]NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope sits inside Chamber A at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston after having completed its cryogenic testing on Nov. 18, 2017. This marked the telescope’s final cryogenic testing, and it ensured the observatory is ready for the frigid, airless environment of space.[/COLOR] [B][I]Credits: NASA/Chris Gunn[/I][/B][/SIZE]
The historic chamber’s massive door opening brings to a close about 100 days of testing for Webb, a significant milestone in the telescope’s journey to the launch pad. The cryogenic vacuum test began when the [url=https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2017/nasa-closes-chamber-a-door-to-commence-webb-telescope-testing]chamber was sealed shut[/url] on July 10, 2017. Scientists and engineers at Johnson put Webb’s optical telescope and integrated science instrument module (OTIS) through a series of tests designed to ensure the telescope functioned as expected in an extremely cold, airless environment akin to that of space.
“After 15 years of planning, chamber refurbishment, hundreds of hours of risk-reduction testing, the dedication of more than 100 individuals through more than 90 days of testing, and surviving Hurricane Harvey, the OTIS cryogenic test has been an outstanding success,” said Bill Ochs, project manager for the James Webb Space Telescope at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “The completion of the test is one of the most significant steps in the march to launching Webb.”
These tests included an [url=https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2017/aligning-the-primary-mirror-segments-of-nasa-s-james-webb-space-telescope-with-light]important alignment check[/url] of Webb’s 18 primary mirror segments, to make sure all of the gold-plated, hexagonal segments acted like a single, monolithic mirror. This was the first time the telescope’s optics and its instruments were tested together, though the instruments had previously undergone cryogenic testing in a smaller chamber at Goddard. Engineers fr om Harris Space and Intelligence Systems, headquartered in Melbourne, Florida, worked alongside NASA personnel for the test at Johnson.
“The Harris team integrated Webb’s 18 mirror segments at Goddard and designed, built, and helped operate the advanced ground support and optical test equipment at Johnson,” said Rob Mitrevski, vice president and general manager of intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance at Harris. “They were a key, enabling part of the successful Webb telescope testing team.”
The Webb telescope team persisted with the testing even when Hurricane Harvey slammed into the coast of Texas on Aug. 25 as a category 4 hurricane before stalling over eastern Texas and weakening to a tropical storm, where it dropped as much as 50 inches of rain in and around Houston. Many Webb telescope team members at Johnson endured the historic storm, working tirelessly through overnight shifts to make sure Webb’s cryogenic testing was not interrupted. In the wake of the storm, some Webb team members, including team members from Harris, volunteered their time to help clean up and repair homes around the city, and distribute food and water to those in need.
“The individuals and organizations that have led us to this most significant milestone represent the very best of the best. Their knowledge, dedication, and execution to successfully complete the testing as planned, even while enduring Hurricane Harvey, cannot be overstated,” said Mark Voyton, James Webb Space Telescope optical telescope element and integrated science instrument manager at Goddard. “Every team member delivered critical knowledge and insight into the strategic and tactical planning and execution required to complete all of the test objectives, and I am honored to have experienced this phase of our testing with every one of them.”
Before cooling the chamber, engineers removed the air from it, which took about a week. On July 20, engineers began to bring the chamber, the telescope, and the telescope’s science instruments down to cryogenic temperatures — a process that took about 30 days. During cool down, Webb and its instruments transferred their heat to [url=https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2017/how-does-nasa-s-webb-telescope-stay-cool-in-chamber-a]surrounding liquid nitrogen and cold gaseous helium shrouds[/url] in Chamber A. Webb remained at “cryo-stable” temperatures for about another 30 days, and on Sept. 27, the engineers began to warm the chamber back to ambient conditions (near room temperature), before pumping the air back into it and unsealing the door.
“With an integrated team from all corners of the country, we were able to create deep space in our chamber and confirm that Webb can perform flawlessly as it observes the coldest corners of the universe,” said Jonathan Homan, project manager for Webb’s cryogenic testing at Johnson. “I expect [Webb] to be successful, as it journeys to Lagrange point 2 [after launch] and explores the origins of solar systems, galaxies, and has the chance to change our understanding of our universe.”
While Webb was inside the chamber, [url=https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2017/keeping-nasa-s-james-webb-space-telescope-in-the-dark]insulated from both outside visible and infrared light[/url], engineers monitored it using thermal sensors and specialized camera systems. The thermal sensors kept tabs on the temperature of the telescope, while the camera systems tracked the physical position of Webb to see how its components very minutely moved during the cooldown process. Monitoring the telescope throughout the testing required the coordinated effort of every Webb team member at Johnson.
“This test team spanned nearly every engineering discipline we have on Webb,” said Lee Feinberg, optical telescope element manager for the Webb telescope at Goddard. “In every area there was incredible attention to detail and great teamwork, to make sure we understand everything that happened during the test and to make sure we can confidently say Webb will work as planned in space.”
In space, the telescope [url=https://nasa.tumblr.com/post/166574134169/why-webb-needs-to-chill?linkId=43755997]must be kept extremely cold[/url], in order to be able to detect the infrared light from very faint, distant objects. Webb and its instruments have an operating temperature of about 40 Kelvin (or about minus 387 Fahrenheit / minus 233 Celsius). Because the Webb telescope’s [url=https://jwst.nasa.gov/miri.html]mid-infrared instrument (MIRI)[/url] must be kept colder than the other research instruments, it [url=https://jwst.nasa.gov/cryocooler.html]relies on a cryocooler[/url] to lower its temperature to less than 7 Kelvin (minus 447 degrees Fahrenheit / minus 266 degrees Celsius).
To protect the telescope from external sources of light and heat (like the Sun, Earth and Moon), as well as from heat emitted by the observatory, a five-layer, [url=https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2016/the-complex-material-engineering-of-nasas-webb-telescope-sunshield/]tennis court-sized sunshield[/url] acts like a parasol that provides shade. The sunshield [url=https://jwst.nasa.gov/sunshield.html]separates the observatory[/url] into a warm, sun-facing side (reaching temperatures close to 185 degrees Fahrenheit / 85 degrees Celsius) and a cold side (minus 400 degrees Fahrenheit / minus 240 degrees Celsius). The sunshield blocks sunlight from interfering with the sensitive telescope instruments.
Webb’s combined science instruments and optics next journey to Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems in Redondo Beach, California, wh ere they will be integrated with the spacecraft element, which is the combined sunshield and spacecraft bus. Together, the pieces form the complete James Webb Space Telescope observatory. Once fully integrated, the entire observatory will undergo more tests during what is called "observatory-level testing." This testing is the last exposure to a simulated launch environment before flight and deployment testing on the whole observatory.
Webb is expected to launch from Kourou, French Guiana, in the spring of 2019.
The James Webb Space Telescope, the scientific complement to NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, will be the premier space observatory of the next decade. Webb is an international project led by NASA with its partners, ESA (European Space Agency) and CSA (Canadian Space Agency).
For more information about the Webb telescope visit: [url=http://www.webb.nasa.gov/]www.webb.nasa.gov[/url] or [url=http://www.nasa.gov/webb]www.nasa.gov/webb[/url]
[B][I]By [url=mailto:eric.s.villard@nasa.gov]Eric Villard[/url] [url=https://www.nasa.gov/goddard]NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center[/url][/I][/B]
Aboard the International Space Station, Expedition 53 Commander Randy Bresnik and Flight Engineer Mark Vande Hei of NASA discussed life and research on the orbital laboratory during an in-flight educational event Nov. 20 with students at the Southside Elementary School in Lebanon, Tennessee.[/QUOTE][url]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjW2pfltx5U[/url][VIDEO WIDTH=480 HEIGHT=360]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjW2pfltx5U[/VIDEO] (20:43)
[url]http://www.floridatoday.com/story/tech/science/space/2017/11/20/spacex-launch-secret-zuma-mission-hold-until-after-thanksgiving/880972001/[/url] [QUOTE][SIZE=6][B]SpaceX launch of secret Zuma mission on hold until after Thanksgiving[/B][/SIZE] [SIZE=3][url=http://www.floridatoday.com/staff/10179/james-dean/][B]James Dean[/B][/url], [B]FLORIDA TODAY[/B] [COLOR=#ACACAC]Published 3:17 p.m. ET Nov. 20, 2017 |[/COLOR] [COLOR=#898989][B]Updated 3:56 p.m. ET Nov. 20, 2017[/B][/COLOR][/SIZE]
SpaceX's launch of a secret U.S. government mission from Kennedy Space Center won't happen until after Thanksgiving.
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Beyond that, the mystery surrounding the mission called Zuma, which was postponed last week, is only deepening.
SpaceX's only statement, issued last Thursday, said it had put the launch on hold so teams could review an issue uncovered during tests of Falcon rocket nose cones, or payload fairings, that were performed recently for another customer.
"We will take the time we need to complete the data review and will then confirm a new launch date," the statement said.
[COLOR=#FFF100]The Air Force's 45th Space Wing has no launch scheduled on the Eastern Range until Dec. 4[/COLOR], when SpaceX tentatively plans to launch a Dragon capsule carrying International Space Station supplies for NASA.
Dragons don't fly with the fairings that cover satellites on top of a rocket, so that mission might not be affected by the issue SpaceX is studying now.
[COLOR=#ED008C]Meanwhile the Wing on Monday started a nearly two-week maintenance period that was scheduled to shut down the range through Dec. 1.[/COLOR]
SpaceX would not be able to launch during that stretch unless the maintenance is interrupted. Such work has been delayed in the past to accommodate launches.
[COLOR=#EE105A]Further clouding the outlook for Zuma are news reports that the launch contract, booked by Northrop Grumman on the government's behalf, required a liftoff by Nov. 30.[/COLOR]
[COLOR=#FFF100]That would leave SpaceX only a short window after Thanksgiving to pull off a launch, if the range is available.[/COLOR]
Northrop and SpaceX would not confirm the reported deadline.
"We continue to work with SpaceX on the launch," a Northrop Grumman spokesman told FLORIDA TODAY on Monday.
So the mission's status remains uncertain.
The only public information about Zuma indicated a spacecraft would be delivered to low Earth orbit, launching on a northeasterly trajectory inclined about 50 degrees relative to the equator.
SpaceX planned to land the Falcon booster back at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.
Amateur satellite trackers speculated that Zuma might be a follow-up to a classified National Reconnaissance Office mission SpaceX launched earlier this year, since Zuma appeared to be following a similar flight profile.
In that case, Zuma might be an experimental spacecraft testing technologies for observing rendezvous operations between spacecraft.
Some have gone as far as to suggest that there really is no Zuma mission — that the pre-launch preparations were an exercise to prove SpaceX's ability to fly on short notice.
SpaceX put a Falcon 9 on the pad at KSC and test-fired its main engines on Nov. 11. The rocket went vertical again before last week's planned launch attempts, but has since returned to its hangar.
Under that scenario, the payload fairing tests SpaceX cited might merely be an excuse to stand down from a launch that was never really going to happen.
Time will tell if SpaceX confirms a new launch date for the mission after the holiday.
Apart from Zuma and the ISS resupply mission targeted for early December, SpaceX has at least one other launch scheduled before the end of the year, of commercial satellites from California.
The company's 16 launches this year already are its most in a calendar year, tying rival United Launch Alliance's high mark in 2009.
[/QUOTE][url=https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%94%D0%B5%D0%BD%D1%8C_%D0%B1%D0%BB%D0%B0%D0%B3%D0%BE%D0%B4%D0%B0%D1%80%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%B8%D1%8F]Справка[/url][QUOTE][B]День благодарения[/B] ([url=https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%90%D0%BD%D0%B3%D0%BB%D0%B8%D0%B9%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%B8%D0%B9_%D1%8F%D0%B7%D1%8B%D0%BA]англ.[/url] [I]Thanksgiving Day[/I]) — государственный праздник в [url=https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A1%D0%A8%D0%90]США[/url], отмечается в четвёртый четверг ноября в США.[/QUOTE]В 2017 г. - 23 ноября.
[QUOTE][url=https://twitter.com/NASASpaceflight] [IMG]https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/829884026/091004-780610_bigger.jpg[/IMG] [B]Chris B - NSF[/B] @[B]NASASpaceflight[/B][/url] [url=https://twitter.com/NASASpaceflight/status/932700750521749505]2 ч. назад[/url]
ARTICLE: Orion spacecraft enjoying calmer seas ahead of All-Hands review - [url=https://t.co/G1WoECy54t]https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2017/11/orion-spacecraft-calmer-seas-all-hands-review/ …[/url] [IMG]https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DPGcUc-XcAEYj6C.jpg[/IMG]
[url]https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacex/2017/11/20/spacex-crs-13-launch-targeted-no-earlier-than-dec-4/[/url] [QUOTE][SIZE=3][url=https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacex/author/aheiney/][COLOR=#ACACAC]Anna Heiney[/COLOR][/url] [COLOR=#ACACAC]Posted on November 20, 2017[/COLOR][/SIZE]
[SIZE=6]SpaceX CRS-13 Launch Targeted No Earlier Than Dec. 4[/SIZE]
NASA commercial cargo provider SpaceX is targeting its 13th commercial resupply services mission to the International Space Station for [COLOR=#FFF100]no earlier than [B]2:53 p.m. EST[/B][/COLOR] Monday, [COLOR=#FFF100][B]Dec. 4[/B][/COLOR]. The Dragon spacecraft will spend about a month attached to the space station.[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE][url=https://twitter.com/NASAGoddard] [IMG]https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/900017986215436289/yjd89SG3_bigger.jpg[/IMG] [B]NASA Goddard[/B]Подлинная учетная запись @[B]NASAGoddard[/B][/url] [url=https://twitter.com/NASAGoddard/status/932672870181998593]4 ч. назад[/url]
Hooray! Our [url=https://twitter.com/NASASun]@[B]NASASun[/B][/url] mission, [url=https://twitter.com/hashtag/Dellingr?src=hash]#[B]Dellingr[/B][/url], is now in low-Earth orbit! It was deployed via the [url=https://twitter.com/NanoRacks]@[B]NanoRacks[/B][/url]' [url=https://twitter.com/hashtag/NRCSD?src=hash]#[B]NRCSD[/B][/url] on [url=https://twitter.com/Space_Station]@[B]Space_Station[/B][/url] . [url=https://t.co/b4q9Whx36x]http://go.nasa.gov/2hOUOSq[/url]
[QUOTE][url=https://twitter.com/NASASpaceflight] [IMG]https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/829884026/091004-780610_bigger.jpg[/IMG] [B]Chris B - NSF[/B] @[B]NASASpaceflight[/B][/url] [url=https://twitter.com/NASASpaceflight/status/932709669986062337]59 мин. назад[/url]
And there's NASA confirming the [B]December 4[/B] target for CRS-13. SLC-40 returns to action with the [COLOR=#F16522]NET [B]November 29 Static Fire[/B][/COLOR]. Brand new TEL will debut. [IMG]https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DPGmYAZWAAAVQd6.jpg[/IMG][/QUOTE][url]https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacex/2017/11/20/spacex-crs-13-launch-targeted-no-earlier-than-dec-4/[/url][QUOTE][SIZE=3][url=https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacex/author/aheiney/][COLOR=#ACACAC]Anna Heiney[/COLOR][/url] [COLOR=#ACACAC]Posted on November 20, 2017[/COLOR][/SIZE]
[SIZE=6]SpaceX CRS-13 Launch Targeted No Earlier Than Dec. 4[/SIZE]
NASA commercial cargo provider SpaceX is targeting its 13th commercial resupply services mission to the International Space Station for [COLOR=#FFF100]no earlier than [B]2:53 p.m. EST[/B][/COLOR] Monday, [COLOR=#FFF100][B]Dec. 4[/B][/COLOR]. The Dragon spacecraft will spend about a month attached to the space station.[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE]Liss пишет: А что это у нас в Атлантике топится -- третья ступень? [/QUOTE]И примыкающая область [QUOTE][B]TTZP[/B]
[B]A1711/17[/B] - THE RUSSIAN FEDERAL SPACE AGENCY PLANS TO LAUNCH MISSILE ON 28 NOVEMBER 2017. ALTERNATE LAUNCH DATES ARE: 29, 30 NOVEMBER AND 01 DECEMBER 2017. MISSILE FRAGMENTS WILL HAVE AN IMPACT AREA BOUNDED BY THE FOLLOWING COORDINATES: [B]103400N 0462318W,[/B] 181324N 0444500W, 191830N 0433124W, [B]105518N 0452154W,[/B] 103400N 0462318W. IMPACT AREA WILL BE CLOSED DURING THIS PERIOD. CHANGES TO THE SCHEDULE WILL BE PROMULGATED. FOR FUTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: AFTN: UUUWYWYX FAX: 7 495 6010797 E-MAIL: SYNNIKOV AT MATFMC.RU ORLOV UNDERBAR OI AT MATFMC.RU. SFC - UNL, 28 NOV 05:30 2017 UNTIL 01 DEC 07:00 2017. CREATED: 20 NOV 17:33 2017[/QUOTE]
[url]https://spaceflightnow.com/2017/11/20/nasa-expects-first-space-launch-system-flight-to-slip-into-2020/[/url] [QUOTE][SIZE=7][B]NASA expects first Space Launch System flight to slip into 2020[/B][/SIZE] [SIZE=3][B][url=https://spaceflightnow.com/2017/11/][COLOR=#ACACAC]November 20, 2017[/COLOR][/url] [url=https://spaceflightnow.com/author/stephen-clark/][COLOR=#ACACAC]Stephen Clark[/COLOR][/url][/B][/SIZE]
[IMG WIDTH=676 HEIGHT=380]https://assets.cdn.spaceflightnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/18034949/block1_night_mf_bkdrop_adj.jpg[/IMG] [SIZE=3][B]Artist’s illustration of the Space Launch System on launch pad 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Credit: NASA[/B][/SIZE]
The maiden unpiloted flight of NASA’s Space Launch System, a heavy-lift human-rated rocket and one of the agency’s core programs, [COLOR=#ED008C][B]will likely not be ready for takeoff until 2020[/B][/COLOR], officials said recently.
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NASA officials until earlier this year aimed to launch the first SLS test flight in late 2018, but the space agency acknowledged in April that the huge super-booster’s first flight would be delayed until at least 2019.
After a multi-month assessment of the program’s recent progress, managers set a best-case launch target in December 2019. But engineers expect more development delays to materialize over the next couple of years during full-scale assembly and testing of the rocket’s core stage and the Orion spacecraft slated to ride it on a round-trip flight to lunar orbit and back to Earth.
Officials now expect the Space Launch System, Orion capsule and ground systems to be ready for the maiden flight — named Exploration Mission-1 — by June 2020. There is still some hope EM-1 could be ready sooner.
“While the review of the possible manufacturing and production schedule risks indicate a launch date of June 2020, the agency is managing to December 2019,” said acting NASA Administrator Robert Lightfoot. “Since several of the key risks identified have not been actually realized, we are able to put in place mitigation strategies for those risks to protect the December 2019 date.”
A report by the Government Accountability Office released in April underlined several technical and schedule concerns responsible for EM-1’s launch delay: A missed delivery date for the European-made service module set to power NASA’s Orion crew capsule, snags in the welding of parts of the SLS core stage due to low weld strength, and a tornado that struck a production site in New Orleans in February.
NASA concurred with the report’s findings and set out to establish a new target launch date.
The Trump administration also directed NASA early this year to study the feasibility of putting astronauts on EM-1, which will be the first launch of the SLS and the second flight of an Orion spacecraft, but the first with Orion’s European-built power and propulsion module. NASA announced in May that EM-1 will remain an uncrewed test flight.
[IMG WIDTH=675 HEIGHT=1013]https://assets.cdn.spaceflightnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/18041141/maf_20170915_p_lh2_flight_tank_lift_-171.jpg[/IMG] [SIZE=3][B]NASA has completed major welding for the liquid hydrogen tank for the first Space Launch System mission at the agency’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans. The tank was the final piece of flight hardware completed for the deep-space rocket’s first mission. All five of the structures that will be joined to form the 212-foot-tall core stage, the backbone of the SLS rocket, are built. The liquid hydrogen tank measures more than 130 feet tall, comprises almost two-thirds of the core stage and holds 537,000 gallons of liquid hydrogen cooled to minus 423 degrees Fahrenheit. Credits: NASA/MSFC/MAF/Jude Guidry[/B][/SIZE]
Manufacturing of the SLS core stage at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans picked up pace this year, and all major structural components of the stage have completed fabrication in a giant 170-foot-tall (52-meter) welding device specially built for the Space Launch System.
The liquid hydrogen tank — stretching more than 130 feet (39 meters) long — takes up most of the core stage. The SLS main stage also comprises a liquid oxygen tank, an aft engine section, an intertank section and a forward skirt.
The welding techniques to fuse segments of the SLS core stage proved challenging. A misalignment of the giant weld tool at Michoud halted core stage manufacturing in 2014 and 2015, and engineers had to resolve concerns about the thickness of the aluminum welds.
The SLS core stage will use the thickest structures ever assembled using friction stir welding, a process that uses heat from friction to forge materials together without melting them.
The Boeing contractor team in charge of the SLS core stage manufactured several test articles before pressing on with welding of tanks destined to fly on EM-1. Technicians finished welding of EM-1’s liquid hydrogen tank in September, marking the completion of all five pieces of the first core stage.
The next step will be outfitting the pieces with plumbing, wiring, avionics, orange foam for thermal protection, and four RS-25 main engines left over from the space shuttle program. The five components will be assembled to create the 212-foot-tall (64-meter) core stage.
“The big items are done, and the team is focused on the intricate details of outfitting the flight hardware to perform specific tasks for the most powerful rocket in the world,” said Chad Bryant, the SLS core stage manufacturing lead at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. “When assembled, the core stage will stand taller than a 20-story building and include hundreds of cables for everything from data collection to propulsion systems.”
Strength checks of SLS tank test articles will push the structures to their limits using two new test stands at Marshall in the coming months.
“The majority of work on NASA’s new deep space exploration systems is on track,” NASA said in a statement. “The agency is using lessons learned from first time builds to drive efficiencies into overall production and operations planning.”
Officials have established new production performance milestones to ensure the quality of future SLS core stage builds, and NASA and ESA have re-planned the schedule for the Orion service module to account for late deliveries.
In its maiden flight configuration, named Block 1, the heavy-lifter will be able to haul up to 77 tons (70 metric tons) of cargo to low Earth orbit, more than double the capacity of the most powerful launcher flying today — United Launch Alliance’s Delta 4-Heavy.
The Block 1 version of SLS will fly with an upper stage propelled by an Aerojet Rocketdyne RL10 engine, based on the Delta 4’s second stage.
SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket, which could fly for the first time before the end of this year, will come in just shy of the SLS Block 1’s capacity, assuming the commercial space company gave up recovering its booster stages.
NASA plans to introduce a bigger four-engine second stage on the EM-2 launch, a configuration of the SLS named Block 1B. EM-2 will be the first SLS/Orion mission to carry astronauts to the vicinity of the moon, and is scheduled for launch around 2023, the agency said.
By the end of the the current fiscal year on Sept. 30, 2018, NASA will have spent $23 billion on the SLS, Orion and associated ground systems, with $15 billion of that investment coming since 2012, according to a NASA inspector general report released in April.
Those figures are on top of expenditures made by NASA on the Orion capsule, ground equipment and heavy-lift launcher concepts during the Constellation moon program, an initiative dating back to the George W. Bush administration that was canceled by President Obama in 2010 after cost overruns.
NASA is working on a concept called a Deep Space Gateway, a mini-space station that could be positioned orbit around the moon, to serve as a staging point for future government and commercial landing sorties to the lunar surface. If approved and funded, the first piece of the deep space station could be launched with EM-2 in 2023.
[url]https://spaceflightnow.com/2017/11/20/nasa-expects-first-space-launch-system-flight-to-slip-into-2020/[/url] [QUOTE][SIZE=7][B]NASA expects first Space Launch System flight to slip into 2020[/B][/SIZE] [SIZE=3][B][url=https://spaceflightnow.com/2017/11/][COLOR=#ACACAC]November 20, 2017[/COLOR][/url] [url=https://spaceflightnow.com/author/stephen-clark/][COLOR=#ACACAC]Stephen Clark[/COLOR][/url][/B][/SIZE]
[IMG WIDTH=676 HEIGHT=380]https://assets.cdn.spaceflightnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/18034949/block1_night_mf_bkdrop_adj.jpg[/IMG] [SIZE=3][B]Artist’s illustration of the Space Launch System on launch pad 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Credit: NASA[/B][/SIZE]
The maiden unpiloted flight of NASA’s Space Launch System, a heavy-lift human-rated rocket and one of the agency’s core programs, [COLOR=#ED008C][B]will likely not be ready for takeoff until 2020[/B][/COLOR], officials said recently.
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NASA officials until earlier this year aimed to launch the first SLS test flight in late 2018, but the space agency acknowledged in April that the huge super-booster’s first flight would be delayed until at least 2019.
After a multi-month assessment of the program’s recent progress, managers set a best-case launch target in December 2019. But engineers expect more development delays to materialize over the next couple of years during full-scale assembly and testing of the rocket’s core stage and the Orion spacecraft slated to ride it on a round-trip flight to lunar orbit and back to Earth.
Officials now expect the Space Launch System, Orion capsule and ground systems to be ready for the maiden flight — named Exploration Mission-1 — by June 2020. There is still some hope EM-1 could be ready sooner.
“While the review of the possible manufacturing and production schedule risks indicate a launch date of June 2020, the agency is managing to December 2019,” said acting NASA Administrator Robert Lightfoot. “Since several of the key risks identified have not been actually realized, we are able to put in place mitigation strategies for those risks to protect the December 2019 date.”
A report by the Government Accountability Office released in April underlined several technical and schedule concerns responsible for EM-1’s launch delay: A missed delivery date for the European-made service module set to power NASA’s Orion crew capsule, snags in the welding of parts of the SLS core stage due to low weld strength, and a tornado that struck a production site in New Orleans in February.
NASA concurred with the report’s findings and set out to establish a new target launch date.
The Trump administration also directed NASA early this year to study the feasibility of putting astronauts on EM-1, which will be the first launch of the SLS and the second flight of an Orion spacecraft, but the first with Orion’s European-built power and propulsion module. NASA announced in May that EM-1 will remain an uncrewed test flight.
[IMG WIDTH=675 HEIGHT=1013]https://assets.cdn.spaceflightnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/18041141/maf_20170915_p_lh2_flight_tank_lift_-171.jpg[/IMG] [SIZE=3][B]NASA has completed major welding for the liquid hydrogen tank for the first Space Launch System mission at the agency’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans. The tank was the final piece of flight hardware completed for the deep-space rocket’s first mission. All five of the structures that will be joined to form the 212-foot-tall core stage, the backbone of the SLS rocket, are built. The liquid hydrogen tank measures more than 130 feet tall, comprises almost two-thirds of the core stage and holds 537,000 gallons of liquid hydrogen cooled to minus 423 degrees Fahrenheit. Credits: NASA/MSFC/MAF/Jude Guidry[/B][/SIZE]
Manufacturing of the SLS core stage at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans picked up pace this year, and all major structural components of the stage have completed fabrication in a giant 170-foot-tall (52-meter) welding device specially built for the Space Launch System.
The liquid hydrogen tank — stretching more than 130 feet (39 meters) long — takes up most of the core stage. The SLS main stage also comprises a liquid oxygen tank, an aft engine section, an intertank section and a forward skirt.
The welding techniques to fuse segments of the SLS core stage proved challenging. A misalignment of the giant weld tool at Michoud halted core stage manufacturing in 2014 and 2015, and engineers had to resolve concerns about the thickness of the aluminum welds.
The SLS core stage will use the thickest structures ever assembled using friction stir welding, a process that uses heat from friction to forge materials together without melting them.
The Boeing contractor team in charge of the SLS core stage manufactured several test articles before pressing on with welding of tanks destined to fly on EM-1. Technicians finished welding of EM-1’s liquid hydrogen tank in September, marking the completion of all five pieces of the first core stage.
The next step will be outfitting the pieces with plumbing, wiring, avionics, orange foam for thermal protection, and four RS-25 main engines left over from the space shuttle program. The five components will be assembled to create the 212-foot-tall (64-meter) core stage.
“The big items are done, and the team is focused on the intricate details of outfitting the flight hardware to perform specific tasks for the most powerful rocket in the world,” said Chad Bryant, the SLS core stage manufacturing lead at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. “When assembled, the core stage will stand taller than a 20-story building and include hundreds of cables for everything from data collection to propulsion systems.”
Strength checks of SLS tank test articles will push the structures to their limits using two new test stands at Marshall in the coming months.
“The majority of work on NASA’s new deep space exploration systems is on track,” NASA said in a statement. “The agency is using lessons learned from first time builds to drive efficiencies into overall production and operations planning.”
Officials have established new production performance milestones to ensure the quality of future SLS core stage builds, and NASA and ESA have re-planned the schedule for the Orion service module to account for late deliveries.
In its maiden flight configuration, named Block 1, the heavy-lifter will be able to haul up to 77 tons (70 metric tons) of cargo to low Earth orbit, more than double the capacity of the most powerful launcher flying today — United Launch Alliance’s Delta 4-Heavy.
The Block 1 version of SLS will fly with an upper stage propelled by an Aerojet Rocketdyne RL10 engine, based on the Delta 4’s second stage.
SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket, which could fly for the first time before the end of this year, will come in just shy of the SLS Block 1’s capacity, assuming the commercial space company gave up recovering its booster stages.
NASA plans to introduce a bigger four-engine second stage on the EM-2 launch, a configuration of the SLS named Block 1B. EM-2 will be the first SLS/Orion mission to carry astronauts to the vicinity of the moon, and is scheduled for launch around 2023, the agency said.
By the end of the the current fiscal year on Sept. 30, 2018, NASA will have spent $23 billion on the SLS, Orion and associated ground systems, with $15 billion of that investment coming since 2012, according to a NASA inspector general report released in April.
Those figures are on top of expenditures made by NASA on the Orion capsule, ground equipment and heavy-lift launcher concepts during the Constellation moon program, an initiative dating back to the George W. Bush administration that was canceled by President Obama in 2010 after cost overruns.
NASA is working on a concept called a Deep Space Gateway, a mini-space station that could be positioned orbit around the moon, to serve as a staging point for future government and commercial landing sorties to the lunar surface. If approved and funded, the first piece of the deep space station could be launched with EM-2 in 2023.
[QUOTE][url=https://twitter.com/NASASpaceflight] [IMG]https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/829884026/091004-780610_bigger.jpg[/IMG] [B]Chris B - NSF[/B] @[B]NASASpaceflight[/B][/url] [url=https://twitter.com/NASASpaceflight/status/932685474317074433]43 мин. назад[/url]
Uh oh, Irene Klotz ([url=https://twitter.com/Free_Space]@[B]Free_Space[/B][/url]) is saying [COLOR=#ED008C]Zuma has been delayed until at least December[/COLOR]. [url=https://t.co/g42K7Fmh9n]http://aviationweek.com/awinspace/spacex-classified-zuma-launch-delayed-until-least-december …[/url] - and that'll feed down into Falcon Heavy's schedule.[/QUOTE]
[url]https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacestation/2017/11/20/beam-prepped-for-cargo-cubesats-deployed-and-leg-muscles-scanned/[/url] [QUOTE][SIZE=3][url=https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacestation/author/magarcia/]Mark Garcia[/url] [COLOR=#ACACAC]Posted on November 20, 2017[/COLOR][/SIZE]
[SIZE=6]BEAM Prepped for Cargo, CubeSats Deployed and Leg Muscles Scanned[/SIZE]
[url=https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacestation/wp-content/uploads/sites/240/2017/11/blog_iss053e215850.jpg][IMG WIDTH=900 HEIGHT=506]https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacestation/wp-content/uploads/sites/240/2017/11/blog_iss053e215850.jpg[/IMG][/url] [SIZE=3][COLOR=#ACACAC][I]A deployer mechanism attached to the outside of the Kibo lab module ejects a CubeSat into Earth orbit.[/I][/COLOR][/SIZE]
An experimental module attached to the International Space Station is being prepared for upcoming cargo operations. Tiny research satellites were also ejected from the orbital lab while a pair of [url=https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/expedition53/index.html]Expedition 53[/url] crew members scanned their leg muscles today.
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BEAM, officially called the [url=https://www.nasa.gov/content/bigelow-expandable-activity-module]Bigelow Expandable Activity Module[/url], is being outfitted this week for future stowage operations. Excess gear, including inflation tanks and dynamic sensors, used during its [url=https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacestation/2016/05/28/beam-expanded-to-full-size/]initial expansion[/url] back in May of 2016 is being removed to make room for new cargo. BEAM’s old gear and trash will now be stowed in the [url=https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacestation/2017/11/14/robotic-arm-reaches-out-and-grapples-cygnus/]Cygnus resupply craft[/url] for disposal early next month.
The Kibo lab module from the [url=http://global.jaxa.jp/]Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency[/url] was the site for the deployment of several CubeSats Monday morning. A mechanism attached to the outside of Kibo ejected the CubeSats that will orbit Earth and provide insights into [url=https://www.nasa.gov/centers/ames/engineering/projects/ecamsat]antibiotic resistance[/url], [url=https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/cubesat/missions/asteria.php]astrophysics[/url] and “[url=https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/2518.html]space weather[/url].” More CubeSats will be deployed Tuesday.
Flight Engineers [url=http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Human_Spaceflight/Astronauts/Paolo_Nespoli]Paolo Nespoli[/url] and [url=http://www.gctc.ru/main.php?id=207]Sergey Ryazanskiy[/url] spent Monday exploring how the lack of gravity affects leg muscles. Nespoli strapped himself into a specialized exercise chair and attached electrodes to his leg with assistance from Ryazanskiy. The [url=https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/738.html]Sarcolab-3[/url] experiment uses measurements from an ultrasound device and magnetic resonance imaging to observe impacts to the muscles and tendons of a crew member.
[QUOTE][url=https://twitter.com/NanoRacks] [IMG]https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/930132714996621313/8EKs2vRJ_bigger.jpg[/IMG] [B]NanoRacks[/B]Подлинная учетная запись @[B]NanoRacks[/B][/url] [url=https://twitter.com/NanoRacks/status/932658907004141568]6 мин. назад[/url]
That's a wrap for today! We have our third deployment today complete - [url=https://twitter.com/NASAGoddard]@[B]NASAGoddard[/B][/url]'s [url=https://twitter.com/hashtag/Deillingr?src=hash]#[B]Deillingr[/B][/url] is now in low-Earth orbit, deployed via the [url=https://twitter.com/hashtag/NRCSD?src=hash]#[B]NRCSD[/B][/url] on [url=https://twitter.com/Space_Station]@[B]Space_Station[/B][/url] at [COLOR=#37B44A][B]17:02:02 GMT[/B][/COLOR].[/QUOTE]
