Russian Space Program: News & Discussion #1

PapaDragon wrote:Progres cargo craft ran into problems. Craft ended up in higher orbit than normal. Telemetry lost (I think). Ground crews working on it.

Russian speakers might update us later, I hit a language barrier

MOSCOW, April 28. /TASS/. The docking of the launched on Tuesday morning Progress M-27M cargo spacecraft to the International Space Station (ISS) has been indefinitely postponed, a rocket and space industry source told TASS.

"The spacecraft is currently very quickly and uncontrollably turning on its axis, one turn in just several seconds. The Mission Control Centre’s commands are not reaching the spacecraft and telemetric data are also transmitted erratically," the source said.
"The docking, originally planned for Aril 30, has been postponed indefinitely," he said.

TASS

Well thats a damn shame.

I'd post a link/vid if I was able to (account limitations). It's easy to find though.

They stating possible damage to antenna....

Mission Control may try to stop rotation of Progress spacecraft tonight

MOSCOW, April 28. /TASS/. Mission Control Center near Moscow will make another attempt tonight to establish contact with the cargo spacecraft Progress M-27M and to use a remote control mode of operation in order to stop the spacecraft’s erratic rotation, a source in the space rocket industry has told TASS.
"Experts have now paused attempts to contact the spacecraft. The first communication session is due on Wednesday, at 03:50 Moscow time. It will last about 15-16 minutes. It is not ruled out specialists will use the teleoperated mode of control to stop spacecraft’s rotation, although the chances of success are few, because the direction of rotation remains unclear. As soon as it has been established, teleoperated mode of control will be employed," the source said.
TASS has no official confirmation yet.
Earlier, the close-up and docking navigation system Kurs and the onboard video camera were switched on.
The Soyuz-2.1a rocket with a Progress spacecraft blasted off from the Baikonur space site in Kazakhstan on Tuesday morning. Soon it turned out that telemetry from it was not available and the spacecraft itself had entered an undesignated orbit. A source in the space industry told TASS that without correcting the orbit the spacecraft might be lost.

TASS

OK 3 hours to go for the first contact!

Decision Time for Progress Cargo Vessel Before Complete Radio Contact Lost

A decision on the different variants of the Progress cargo vessel docking with the International Space Station (ISS) needs to be made by late Tuesday afternoon, according to a source in the space rocket industry.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — A decision on the different variants of the Progress cargo vessel docking with the International Space Station (ISS) needs to be made by late Tuesday afternoon before the vessel loses complete contact by Russian radio systems, a source in the space rocket industry told RIA Novosti.

“After the Progress [cargo vessel] makes its fifth Earth orbit, in accordance with its trajectory, it will leave the radio contact zone with Russian ground systems, so a decision by specialists in regard to the flight program to the ISS must be developed before 5:00 p.m. Moscow time [14:00 GMT],” the source said.

Ground systems at Mission Control outside Moscow have so far been unable to receive the ship's telemetry, though they do see the actual vessel as it passes through the contact zone.

International Space Station (ISS)
Russian Mission Control Adjusts ISS Orbit to Avoid Space Junk Collision
The Progress cargo vessel has so far crossed the contact zone during two Earth orbits since its launch with no results.

At 10:10 a.m. Moscow time (07:10 GMT) a Soyuz-2.1a carrier rocket blasted off from the Baikonur Space Center in Kazakhstan with 2.5 tons of cargo for the ISS.

Afterwards the Progress cargo vessel's telemetry was unable to be received in full and Mission Control decided to use a 48-hour docking regime. The ship was originally scheduled to dock with the ISS later on Tuesday at 4:07 p.m. Moscow time (13:07 GMT).

The Progress cargo vessel is carrying fuel, oxygen, food and scientific equipment for the crew working at the ISS.

The current ISS crew comprises Russian cosmonauts Anton Shkaplerov, Mikhail Kornienko and Gennady Padalka, US astronauts Terry Virts and Scott Kelly, and European Space Agency’s astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti.

Read more: http://sputniknews.com/science/20150428/1021476776.html#ixzz3Ydyd1cjV

What's up with this? CNN ( i know the reputation of the media) is claiming
that RUssia space program have been slashed by 35% over the next decade.. is that
is true? or what it is ? What the Russian government really told about the cuts in their
space program?

Economic crisis hits at heart of Russia's pride: Its space program.

http://money.cnn.com/2015/04/27/news/economy/russia-space-crisis-cosmodrome/

It seems that it's spinning.

Vann7 wrote:

What's up with this?  CNN (  i know the reputation of the media) is claiming
that RUssia space program have been slashed by 35% over the next decade.. is that
is true?  or what it is ?  What the Russian government really told about the cuts in their
space program?

Economic crisis hits at heart of Russia's pride: Its space program.

http://money.cnn.com/2015/04/27/news/economy/russia-space-crisis-cosmodrome/

Read through the thread.  CNN is over exaggerating.  While there are cuts, a huge portion of it is either the introduction of a new heavy lifter which Angara will do fine for, and some reductions in satellite launches.  Important programs like the Nuclear Engine, re-creation of Mir (or at least working on another space station) and other projects are still ongoing.  If you look at it through per year, cuts are not really that much, but looks big in the end.

The bigger news is that Roscosmos is getting merged with the rocket organizations and will be one entity. This could greatly increase their budget overall and help streamline projects.

Talks are also going with the Chinese for more cooperation in Space. I love NASA, and all it has achieved, but I don't think they are a viable future for the Russian Federal Space Agency in the next few decades.
The Chinese are rapidly playing catch-up, and it won't be long until they will have matched up with NASA and Roskosmos. I think Russia would be smart to try and join in on the fun. Aren't they building/developing a super-heavy rocket? I do think both nations augment each other.

Perhaps we'll see an Angara/Soyuz/Proton launching from the new Hainan Cosmodrome, with a Long March rocket standing in the background.

Hmm... Interesting... 

I myself am not a fan of the Chinese rockets and their space program together, but co-operation with Roscosmos could be a win-win for both parties. China gets more advanced technology, and Russia gets more affordable launches along with the possibility of an Angara pad in China.

They are still decades behind either Russia or the US when it comes to their space program... And when their launches go wrong, they go REALLY wrong.

Mike E wrote:Hmm... Interesting... 

I myself am not a fan of the Chinese rockets and their space program together, but co-operation with Roscosmos could be a win-win for both parties. China gets more advanced technology, and Russia gets more affordable launches along with the possibility of an Angara pad in China.

They are still decades behind either Russia or the US when it comes to their space program... And when their launches go wrong, they go REALLY wrong.

I don't think they are actually.

China has shown rapid progress in the last two decades, nearly mirroring the Soviet and American achievements of the past. Over the last years their manned program has done just as much as the Russian program. (Although on a much smaller scale). The Tiangong-1 seems like a succes, the Tiangong-2 will be just like the Salyuts and in a few years time the Chinese will have a Mir clone with the Tiangong-3.
The development of the Long March 5 rockets is going as planned and in the near future they will also have a new heavy Long March 7 launcher.

Their unmanned program is also seeing huge signs of progress. They are rapidly matching up to the point we haven't surpassed in a long time. The American program of the 70's and the Soviet program of the 80's are the bar, and at the moment we are also decades behind.

Progress sure, but that doesn't mean they have caught up. It will be a matter of years before they hit the great tech-stall that the rocket-engineering sector has been in for years now.

Mike E wrote:Progress sure, but that doesn't mean they have caught up. It will be a matter of years before they hit the great tech-stall that the rocket-engineering sector has been in for years now.

Lets hope for them they don't waste the future of their program on something crap like the Space Shuttle or the country dissolves around them. (Soviet-Union).

Voskhod wrote:

Mike E wrote:Progress sure, but that doesn't mean they have caught up. It will be a matter of years before they hit the great tech-stall that the rocket-engineering sector has been in for years now.

Lets hope for them they don't waste the future of their program on something crap like the Space Shuttle or the country dissolves around them. (Soviet-Union).

True true... I'm excited for new 3-D printed engines, it will be very interesting to see how they perform. A state-college (aka in my state) will be launching a test rocket with such an engine this June, I might go check it out.

Haha you got me there Tes . Nice video .

Russian Space Cameras

Morpheus Eberhardt wrote:Russian Space Cameras

Nice find, thanks.

Will upvote when i can.

Vann see teshub link above .

Russia’s Progress space freighter helps adjust ISS orbit





Russia’s Progress M-26M cargo spaceship has adjusted the International Space Station (ISS) orbit by two kilometers (1.2 miles), the Mission Control Center outside Moscow said on Wednesday.
"The correction has been completed," a spokesman said.
The spaceship’s engines worked for 736 seconds giving an impulse of 1.34 metres per second to the station. As a result of the maneuver, the altitude of the ISS orbit was raised by 2.13 kilometers and reaches 400 kilometers on average.
The orbit adjustment comes to ensure the conditions for landing of the Soyuz TMA-15M spacecraft that is due on May 14. Earlier reports said the maneuver could be cancelled or postponed following the accident involving the Progress space freighter.
The Progress M-27M cargo spacecraft was launched on April 28 from the Baikonur space center, in Kazakhstan, on a Soyuz carrier rocket. The spacecraft entered an unexpected orbit and communication with it was lost. After several unsuccessful attempts to put it under control, specialists agreed that docking it to the ISS would be impossible.


http://tass.ru/en/non-political/793149

max steel a link for you here...  
Shows a new Scientist technique to test images relation with its environment and detect
the real distance of things  to know if real or fake. Oh what a surprise what they found.
super imposed background images on official apollo moon images. here
who will have guessed it..    that was only one quick example of many others of the inspection of Official images through a new developed scientific method for distance correlation
with things. and here the happiest man on earth ,... life.. ,   Oh yeah im must be a conspirational nut.. How dare anyone question any claim by countries who never lie on anything.specially after valid information exist ,that strongly suggest something different happened there. I must be a troll indeed.  


anyway more on topic.. very good news.. and about time.  

Roscosmos to Organize New Mars Probe in 2024 After Faulty Mission

The Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) plans to launch a new sample soil expedition to Mars’ satellite Phobos, according to a draft of Russia's new space program for 2016-2025 unveiled on Monday. Under the document, the Mars-Grunt (Soil) expedition is planned for 2024 to deliver soil samples from the Martian moon Phobos to the Earth. The project is estimated at 10.3 billion rubles ($198 million). This sum is twice as large as the amount stipulated in the draft federal space program prepared last year.

Roscosmos plans a new interplanetary expedition after a failure of its previous Phobos mission.

The Phobos-Grunt interplanetary probe was launched into a near-Earth orbit on November 9, 2011. The probe was expected to reach the Mars orbit and simultaneously land a module on Mars’ natural satellite Phobos for exploration and the delivery of soil samples to the Earth.

However, the interplanetary probe was unable to reach the trajectory of its flight to Mars due to an engine failure and stayed in the near-Earth orbit.

The probe's debris fell to the Earth on January 15. According to Russia’s Defense Ministry, the Phobos-Grunt probe’s fragments that did not burn in the dense layers of the atmosphere fell into the Pacific Ocean 1,250 km (777 miles) west of Wellington Island (Chile).

http://www.astrowatch.net/2015/05/roscosmos-to-organize-new-mars-probe-in.html

This mission indeed will be interesting but wish it was more earlier.. no idea why so long for a second try. If Russia stopped wasting so much money in useless things they don't need ,like mistrals or FIFA or maintaining in service obsolete soviet warships ,they will have already enough money for a more active role in space and at very least a couple or more exploration missions with Rovers to planets ,moons and mars. All those things truly help the Technology Industry  of Russia and its economy.

Russia to Launch US Comms Satellite Into Space

Russia will launch a US communications satellite from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan this year, the government said in a statement on Monday.

The Intelsat DLA-2 satellite, also known as Intelsat 31, will be put into orbit by Russia’s Proton Breeze M launch vehicle.

The 6 metric ton probe will provide in-orbit protection services for the DIRECTV Latin America Direct-to-Home (DTH) television platform, a leading DTH digital television services operator in Latin America.

This will be the 11th ILS Proton launch for Intelsat and the 5th mission to support DIRECTV.

The launch will consolidate Russia’s position on the global space services market and promote international cooperation in space exploration, the government statement said.

Read more: http://sputniknews.com/russia/20150511/1021985708.html#ixzz3Zpdpd8pA

Proton Rocket Malfunction

0620 GMT (2:20 a.m. EDT)
Russia's RIA Novosti news agency reports an "emergency situation" occurred during the launch sequence, and quotes a space industry source who says the Mexsat 1 satellite is likely to be lost

Space Flight Now

0628 GMT (2:28 a.m. EDT)

Interfax reports an emergency occurred 500 seconds into the flight during the Proton's third stage burn, adding debris could have impacted near the city of Chita in Siberia.

What a surprise... Hurry up and kill the Proton. It's better to delay and lose a few deals than it is to see them up flames, literally.