Russian Space Program: News & Discussion #4

Scorpius wrote:

Russian_Patriot_ wrote:
Zarya - Dawn
Rassvet - Sunrise

I have never understood why the Russian word zarya is being hurried to translate as dawn. The etymology of the word implies the time before sunrise, when the sun has not yet appeared above the horizon. So, first zarya, then sunrise. The translation of "daybreak" or "morning" (may be) is more suitable here.

MOSCOW, July 27 - RIA Novosti. Several emergency situations arose on the Nauka multipurpose laboratory module during its flight to the International Space Station (ISS), but Russian specialists managed to cope with most of them, Alexander Khokhlov, a member of the North-Western Organization of the Russian Federation of Cosmonautics, told RIA Novosti.

The Nauka module was launched from the Baikonur cosmodrome on July 21 by the Proton-M launch vehicle . Space for Nauka on the ISS was occupied by the Pirs module, whose undocking was planned on July 23, but was postponed three times and took place on July 26. Officially, the reasons for the transfer of this operation were not disclosed. At the same time, Roskosmos reported on the regular corrections of the Nauka orbit and the successful test of the Kurs rendezvous system.

"I am aware of several abnormal situations onboard Nauka during the flight to the ISS. After the module was put into orbit, there were some remarks about the operation of the infrared vertical sensors, because of which Nauka had to be oriented in space with the help of star sensors," he said.

According to him, the experts were worried about the unopened antenna of the Kurs rendezvous system, which was later revealed. The expert also noted that not the first time passed the test of the Kurs system itself, which will be used in the approach and docking of Nauka to the ISS.

“But the most difficult emergency situation was the problem with the propulsion system of the module. As a result, we had to change the entire flight trajectory of Nauka to the ISS, since it was not immediately possible to use the main correction and rendezvous engines, and at first the module's orbit was lifted with the help of small docking and stabilization engines. ", - said Khokhlov.

However, he added that the specialists of the Rocket and Space Corporation Energia, the Khrunichev Space Center and the Mission Control Center near Moscow managed to cope with most of the emergency situations , and now Nauka continues to approach the ISS.

On Saturday, Roscosmos announced that the next corrections of the module's orbit are scheduled for July 27. Its docking with the ISS is expected on July 29.

Nauka began to be built in 1995 as a ground backup for the first module of the ISS Zarya. In 2004, it was decided to save money on the creation of a new compartment for the Russian segment of the station and to convert the "backup" into a full-fledged flight module. Its launch was originally planned for 2007, but was postponed for a total of 14 years due to financial and technical reasons.

In "Science" there is a sleeping place for an astronaut, a toilet, systems for the regeneration of oxygen from water and water from urine, workplaces for conducting experiments. It is also equipped with an airlock for carrying out the scientific equipment outside the station and the European remote manipulator ERA.

Scorpius wrote:if such a situation occurred with the American module , the entire mediaspace would be clogged with pretentious statements about NASA's professionalism, coping with the most difficult failures. But as soon as it concerns Russia, the media are only interested in failures and failures. Evaluate the level of mentions of "Science" in the media a couple of days ago and now. It's just that a couple of days ago there was a chance of a mission failure, and now with every passing minute, confidence in a successful outcome is increasing.

owais.usmani wrote:https://ria.ru/20210727/nauka-1743020153.html

MOSCOW, July 27 - RIA Novosti. Several emergency situations arose on the Nauka multipurpose laboratory module during its flight to the International Space Station (ISS), but Russian specialists managed to cope with most of them, Alexander Khokhlov, a member of the North-Western Organization of the Russian Federation of Cosmonautics, told RIA Novosti.

European Space Agency Confirms There Were Problems With Russia's Nauka Module

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 28th July, 2021) Several problems were registered at Russia's multipurpose laboratory module Nauka during its flight to the International Space Station (ISS), but now everything is fine and it will dock as scheduled, the European Space Agency (ESA) confirmed on Wednesday.

The Nauka module was launched from the Baikonur spaceport on July 21 and is scheduled to dock with the ISS on Thursday. Alexander Khokhlov, a member of the Russian Federation of Cosmonautics, told Sputnik about some emergency situations on the module, noting that the experts managed to fix most of the problems.

"As expected, Nauka deployed its solar panels and antennas about 13 minutes after launch, and the eight-day journey to the Space Station began.

However, soon after missing telemetry was reported at the mission control centre in Moscow, Russia. The glitch was detected when the spacecraft did not complete its first burn, aimed at raising its orbit. During the whole week, flight engineers have been busy running critical propulsion tests and carrying out orbital corrections ... The uncertainty was intensified by the troubleshooting of the Kurs rendezvous system on Nauka," ESA said in a press release.

Eventually, "hectic days" culminated with the assurance that the spacecraft could reach the ISS relying on its own power and navigation systems, ESA added.