Russian Space Program: News & Discussion #4

flamming_python wrote:Why explain with sabotage what you can easily describe instead with incompetence. Occam's razor.

I can very easily imagine a programming error that would lead to the Nauka firing its engines when its connected to the ISS. Maybe it did its own calculations for the necessary inclination and that happened to be out of alignment with the ISS's one. Maybe they sent a bunch of commands earlier on the Nauka trying to engage its engines when it was still on the way to rendevous, commands that were postponed then by the onboard system but then suddenly activated when the Nauka docked and all of its subsystems started interfacing with the ISS.
Having worked in software development for years, I can tell you that even with all the best testers, Q&A process in the world, even doing all the maths and going through all the possibilities - bugs are pretty much unavoidable when it comes to complex systems. There will be conditions, rules, etc... written earlier that are then suddenly fired in situations you did not anticipate, as you add to the system or link it to another one. You will also get emergent behaviors of a sort, seemingly simple code and routines by themselves but leading to quite unexpected behavior when they operate together.
This goes for pretty much any software.
For something as critical as space systems, you should build it so that that there are always overrides, redundancies and limitations to the damage that any mistaken command or bug can do. That's basically your main defense.

Really you don't need sabotage to explain this
It all fits perfectly into Roscosmos's modus operandi to date

But I suspect that such situations happen often enough with any space agency. It's really about the redundancies built in and the speed and skill with which ground control is able to correct the situation that counts.
They got the module there, and managed to recover from the very last drama that happened after the docking as well. This is already a big achievement.

yep..

as experienced in the area of programming , is very easy to make mistakes , and provoke the engines to restart , out of timing . this however shows , there was no good supervision and the code
not properly tested and verified .  Who ever program the engines , needs to be fully aware of the engineering side the international space station , the big NO's , and how the ISS operate . the problems it faced , etc.. in other words , the ideal person to program the new space module thrusters , had to be someone who commanded the ISS before and understand well the proper way it works.

At the same time , it shouldn't be ignored , the drilled holes in the Russian module from the inside ,and later covered the hole with glue , this was a true act of sabotage ,a real criminal act , and the only thing in question , is not if this was sabotage , it was.. but instead ,who was behind it.?

And the main theories ,most possible are either someone who assemble the module on earth did it , or else it was NASA astronauts who did it , when the russians were not inside , like in a space walk.
my bet is ,it was NASA astronauts who did it to send a message to putin ,psicological warfare, that not even in space they will be safe.  but if it was done by roscosmos staff , then it was a western intel operation , that bribed with a lot of money ,a demotivated , low paid technician ,to do it.

The message to learn is ...
Corruption and Sabotage happens , happens in any place , when there is incompetence , low supervision and poor leadership. One of the most important jobs of a leader ,skilled manager or competent supervisor is to identify those ,that are not productive , not doing well their job , and showing signals of not taking seriously their job and either remove them , or motivate them to become more efficient and more productive.  Is a motivational issue .  when morale is low , (always consequence of poor leadership) ,then easy money/bribery can motivate people to do illegal or even criminal things.

When there is incompetence at the top , and poor leadership , this cause lot of problems in the
entire chain of command and any project they doing , and nothing surprise me about Russia , because the top manager there is the most incompetent idiot , that russia had since gorvashev was in power.

just recently , days ago , sputnik revealed ,that the top chief , of the company building hypersonic missile for the military ,was arrested by the russian spy agencies , for passing secrets of the hypersonic tech to foreigners..   then who is to blame for this?  the one who hired that person that did not identified on time , the kind of manager they had , at the top agency of the military , building hypersonic weapons.

Corruption when it happens is always consequence of failure on those above them. for lack of supervision and lack of leadership. Russia #1 problem , is that it is ruled by mediocre leaders ,like putin is , that are highly insecure and that don't understand at all , what leadership really is.  Good leaders , always can identify other good leaders like him , and put them to work in the most ideal places. Good leaders also are experts in identifying those they can't trust , those that are lying , (understand well body language) and they have no problem in finding the right people ,for each place of trust and managing.  The difference a good leader can do , versus a bad one , is night and day difference in any job or any project. You can lose wars , for bad leadership alone.

https://ria.ru/20210814/nauka-1745717294.html

MOSCOW, August 14 - RIA Novosti. Mass failures of the systems of the Nauka module, which arose after it was put into low-earth orbit and threatened a serious emergency, were eliminated thanks to the continuous work of ground specialists for eight days, the revision of the module's flight task and the creation of an emergency working group of the best experts in the industry, RIA told RIA News source in the rocket and space industry.

The Nauka module was launched from the Baikonur cosmodrome on July 21 by the Proton-M carrier rocket and on July 29 it moored to the Zvezda module of the ISS Russian segment .

"The main problems of the first two days of the flight of the Nauka module were: the failure of the flight program and the operation of one of the fuel valves, the problem of transmitting the command package on board from the ground measuring complexes, the absence of a signal from two sensors of the infrared vertical and from one of the two star sensors. of the main operational control group Vladimir Solovyov immediately reported on the critical situation to the general director of the Roscosmos state corporation, the chairman of the state commission for launching the module, Dmitry Rogozin. From that moment, the control of the module's flight passed into the hands of the state commission, "the agency's interlocutor said.

To restore stable communication with the module, engineers of the Russian Space Systems holding were promptly dispatched to all ground measuring points, who coped with the task of stable transmission of commands to the module and receiving telemetric information from it (data on the state of Nauka systems), the source said.

According to him, given that the module was at a low altitude after launching into orbit, on July 22, first test, then regular switching on of the module's correcting and propulsion engines were carried out promptly in order to raise Nauka to a safe orbit.

The next day, by decision of Rogozin, a working group was created, which was entrusted with saving the long-awaited module. The group was headed by Sergey Kuznetsov, General Designer of the Salyut Design Bureau (part of the Khrunichev Center) . The team included the best specialists: representatives of the Keldysh Center, TsNIIMash, enterprises-developers of all systems and complexes of "Science".

"The recommendations of the working group became mandatory for the main operational control group at the Mission Control Center. Together, the control group, the working group and the leadership of the state commission were able to quickly revise the flight mission and fend off multiple failures," the source said.

Starting from July 25, the main and backup sets of the Kurs rendezvous and docking system were successfully tested, the fuel reserves required for the rendezvous were recalculated, a new docking scheme was calculated taking into account the strength of the station and the module (the maximum docking speed was limited to 8 cm per second). rendezvous, the stable operation of both star sensors, responsible for the exact orientation of the "Science", was restored.

"All representatives of the state commission, including Rogozin, were at the workplace almost around the clock. Thanks to the well-coordinated work of specialists, it was possible to quickly solve the problem of restoring the operability of the fuel system and the control system of the module and to carry out its successful docking in automatic mode," the interlocutor said.

Earlier, Alexander Khokhlov, a member of the northwestern organization of the Russian Federation of Cosmonautics, told RIA Novosti that several abnormal situations occurred on Nauka during the flight to the ISS, but Russian specialists managed to cope with most of them. According to him, among the problems were remarks about the operation of the infrared vertical sensors, the antenna of the Kurs rendezvous system that did not open at first, the test of the Kurs system itself, which was not carried out the first time, and a "severe emergency" with the propulsion system. A number of these failures were subsequently confirmed by the European Space Agency.

Nauka began to be built in 1995 as a ground backup for the first Zarya ISS module. 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.

Earlier Rogozin called the days of the Nauka module flight to the ISS the most difficult and happiest days of his life. In addition, he promised to present to the awards all specialists who showed their high professionalism and strong-willed qualities during the preparation of the module for launch and during the flight itself.

Rogozin is getting pissed. They are finally making comments about the crazy drill lady. MSM is flipping out. In this case I don't think Rogozin is lying. Some weird stuff went on with the drill hole and more I dig into it I'm more convinced the lady went hysterical.

Speaking about sabotage.. the hole drilled incident , is far from over.

Russia space agency doubles down , and demanded a lie detector test of NASA astronauts.
but they refused..

the cosmonauts already agreed to the test , only nasa astronauts refused it..
if there is nothing to hide , why refuse cooperation in the investigation of what happened
in the space station?  

NASA astronauts reject lie detector test in Soyuz MS-09 spacecraft hole probe — source

https://tass.com/science/1325247


This is why....

Absolutely nothing surprise me from the west .

is an international criminal very powerful institution what Russia is facing.


Even under Trump presidency ,they admit how bad it is ..
it was mike pompeyo who told ..


Mike Pompeo About them system he worked :
"i was  a CIA director ...We lied, We cheated, We stole .we have entire training courses .....
it reminds you of the glory of the american experiment.... "

they even feel proud of cheating , lying and stealing ..and he even told , what i suspected ,
entire courses of how to be better at cheating ,stealing and deceiving and killing too  



This is why i was saying , the west are not fools , they are corrupt yes ,but also brilliant .
and they are masters in destruction and creating chaos and in overthrowing governments ,
masters in sabotage too.. and russia thanks to putin is a punching bag of the west.

The Russian space module was sabotage by NASA , this is what even russia top space chief strongly hints , and nobody have questioned his claims ,in the entire russian government ,and for me , it is very clear , that they went that far , only to annoy Russia ,psicological warfare , to send the message that russia will not be safe , not even in space ,to watch their back ,and for me is clear they will not stop at that drilled hole incident and they will instead continue pushing their hostilities to a new level.

And in my opinion russia needs to be very careful in space , they will love to kill a cosmonaut in space and make it look like an accident. so biological weapons or radiation weapons , could be used against them. And the only one to blame for any cosmonaut killed will be putin , because that weak imbecile behaves like business as usual ,when the nation is facing war  .  Russia needs its own space station now , and not in the year 2025 .. and or move to the chinese space station. Otherwise he will be responsible for the death of any cosmonaut by sending them into a dangerous place  .
So now is the best time , for russia to split and divorce any cooperation in space , the west will never
accept an outdated and weak ,insecure and dumb russia as equals. There is no benefits at all for them ,in developing any good relation , because now that they have their own space rockets , they need nothing from Russia ,other than it cease to exist. So keeping the space station cooperation is a mistake , they need to abandon the ISS and build their own and deploy weapons in space to defend not only their space station ,but protect their rockets too , from being attacked. Russia will need to militarize space , there is no other way , and not doing it , means allowing the west to deny space to russia ,because they are militarizing space already.

Russia needs a true leadership to take control over their nation and fight back (with alternative / superior business)  those nations seeking to destroy it ,  to make Russia great again.

NASA astronauts reject lie detector test in Soyuz MS-09 spacecraft hole probe — source


https://tass.com/science/1325247

Roscosmos and Tunisia intend to cooperate in the field of manned space exploration. 

On Friday, August 13, 2021, a working meeting was held in Moscow between Dmitry Rogozin, General Director of Roscosmos State Corporation, and Mohamed Frikha, General Director of Telnet Holding in Tunis, with the participation of Tarak bin Salem, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Tunisia to the Russian Federation.

President of the Republic of Tunisia Qais Said also took part in the remote meeting, giving a high assessment of Russian-Tunisian cooperation in the field of space and noting that Russia and Tunisia have great opportunities for implementing mutually beneficial joint projects.

During the meeting, the parties discussed prospects for Russian-Tunisian cooperation in the field of manned space flights, in particular, the Tunisian side's intentions to train and launch a female cosmonaut into space.

The meeting resulted in the signing of a joint Memorandum of Understanding on bilateral cooperation in the field of manned space flights.

Source: 

The launch price of the MLM-U "Science", which no one sees:
The deputy general designer of RSC Energia, Alexander Kuznetsov, who led the preparation of the module" Science "for launch, was hospitalized again, a source in the rocket and space industry told RIA Novosti.
According to another source, Kuznetsov was admitted to the hospital for the first time on August 2 — a few days after the Science docking with the ISS. Then he suffered a stroke, provoked by enormous stress while working on the launch of the module, but he was on the mend, the agency interlocutor said.
He noted that Kuznetsov, along with other specialists and members of the state commission, spent all eight days of the module's flight in the Mission Control Center, practically without leaving the room.

Roscosmos has handed over the lander of the Soyuz MS14 manned spacecraft for placement in the museum and educational complex of the project "Attraction".


It was on this ship that the Skybot F-850, an anthropomorphic rescue robot "F.E.D.O.R.", which was developed by the Magnitogorsk company NPO Android Technology, flew.


The lander will take its rightful place in the interactive exhibition of the Center for Space Robotics of the museum and Educational complex of the project "Attraction", which is being created on the initiative of Viktor Rashnikov, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Magnitogorsk Metallurgical Combine LLC, with the support of the Government of the Chelyabinsk Region.

owais.usmani wrote:

https://twitter.com/katlinegrey/status/1428669244846354432

Apparently, internal checks began after problems with Nauka and they decided to postpone the launch...

Russian cosmonauts spacewalk postponed to September 3 and 9.

Russian cosmonauts Oleg Novitsky and Pyotr Dubrov will go on a spacewalk a day later than planned, at the request of American partners. This was reported to TASS in the press service of Roscosmos on Tuesday.

"The extra-ship activities of Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Novitsky and Pyotr Dubrov, previously planned for September 2 and 8, 2021, have been postponed to September 3 and 9" – the state corporation noted.

As specified in Roscosmos, the transfer was required "at the request of American partners in the International Space Station program."

The main task will be devoted to the integration of the multi-purpose laboratory module Nauka into the International Space Station and the implementation of the planned stages of deployment of all the functionality of the Russian module.

Source: 

The orbit of the biological satellite "Bion-M" No. 2 can be changed

Roscosmos CEO Dmitry Rogozin said that the launch of the satellite is planned at the turn of 2023-2024

KUBINKA / Moscow region /, August 24. / TASS /. The orbit into which the biological satellite "Bion-M" No. 2 will be launched may be changed. This was announced in an interview with TASS by the general director of the state corporation Dmitry Rogozin at the International military-technical forum "Army-2021".

“Yes, indeed, on Friday we discussed the fate of Bion-2. And I think that before sending people into an orbit of 97-98 degrees, we need to see how it will work on living things,” Rogozin said.

The head of Roscosmos recalled that earlier the Institute of Biomedical Problems of the Russian Academy of Sciences proposed to raise the orbit of the apparatus to 800 km and make it circular at an inclination of 51.6 degrees. Such a proposal, Rogozin is convinced, makes sense for the next stage - studying the impact of radiation belts when crossing them on the way to the Moon.

“Now we are interested in work in a near-earth orbit, but in a different, in fact, polar inclination. To extend the time spent by astronauts in orbit, we must understand what the radiation load on them will be, so as not to cause significant damage to their health. To do this, we will conduct an experiment on "Ark" / "Bion", - explained the general director of the state corporation.

According to Rogozin, Bion-M number 2 will be launched at the turn of 2023-2024.

"Bion" is a series of domestic spacecraft for biological research. In particular, scientists are interested in the effect of radiation and weightlessness on living organisms. The main object of research in the framework of the Bion-M projects is mice. Also, flies, plants and microorganisms should go into orbit with the help of the apparatus. The first such device, called "Kosmos-605", was launched in 1973. In 2013, the first satellite from the Bion-M series was launched into orbit. Then, mice, Mongolian gerbils, geckos, snails, plants and colonies of various microorganisms visited space.

https://tass.ru/kosmos/12207163

AFK structure buys 71% of the manufacturer of nano-and microsatellites "Sputniks". 

Sitronics Group, part of AFK Sistema, received 71.06% of Sputnix LLC , a private manufacturer of nano-and microsatellites, according to data from the SPARK-Interfax system.

Sitronics JSC became a part of the company's capital on August 23, while the remaining 28.94% of the company is distributed among six individuals.

The press service of Sitronics confirmed to Interfax that the group entered the capital of Sputnix, without disclosing the financial terms of the transaction. The company added that in the future, the share of Sitronics in Sputnix may be increased.

Sputnix specializes in the production of satellites weighing from 1 to 200 kg, components and platforms of small spacecraft, ground-based equipment for testing and testing small spacecrafts, ground-based satellite stations, and equipment for aerospace education.

The company was registered in 2011. LLC's revenue in 2020 totaled RUB 108.33 million, net profit - RUB 42.96 million.

"The global market for nanosatellites and microsatellites will grow rapidly in the next few years. The demand for services and services based on satellite data will only grow, and to a greater extent for commercial companies. We plan that the acquisition of Sputnix will allow us to enter the international market of small spacecraft and take a significant share of the Russian market" – Alexey Katkov, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Sitronics Group and Managing Partner of Sistema, said through the press service.

Nikolai Pozhidaev, President of Sitronics, said that the deal provides the group with "an advantage in creating new services for the Russian market, reducing the share of dependence on foreign suppliers of space data."

Through the transaction, Sitronics plans to provide digital services based on data from low-orbit satellites for a wide range of government and business customers - it is about further development of solutions in the field of maritime navigation and navigation; introduction of geoanalytics and space monitoring services to solve problems related to climate change control, detection of forest fires, illegal logging, assessment of atmospheric pollution, monitoring of agricultural land, etc.

Sitronics Group implements integrated solutions for the "smart city" and security, as well as deals with the digitalization of strategic sectors of the economy, shipping, marine navigation, manufactures IT and telecom equipment, develops IoT systems and software. The Group's revenue in 2020 was RUB 29.5 billion, with an effective 100% ownership interest in AFK Sistema.

Source: 

Spektr-RG observatory finds remains of a supernova in an unexpected place. 

The Spektr-RG orbiting observatory has for the first time detected the remains of a thermonuclear supernova that exploded not inside the Milky Way disk, but at a great distance above it. Thanks to this, astronomers can better learn the history of the chemical evolution of the outskirts of galaxies, Institute of Space Research of the Russian Academy of Sciences writes. 

"It is hoped that a detailed study of the gas in the central part of the supernova remnant will reveal accumulations of iron ions with the mass of the Sun, which were synthesized during the thermonuclear explosion and death of the white dwarf. Perhaps we will be able to understand how and for how long this "iron" plasma mixes with the environment" Rashid Sunyaev, scientific director of the Russian part of Spektra-RG, said. 

Analyzing data from the Spektr-RG orbiting observatory, Sunyaev and his colleagues discovered one of the most unusual traces of a type 1 supernova explosion in the Milky Way. Such supernovae occur as a result of the merger of white dwarfs with other stars.

In the process of such a merger, a powerful thermonuclear explosion occurs, which destroys both stars and "sows" the surrounding space with gold, iron and other heavy elements. Such events are relatively rare, so most of the known traces of supernovae of the first type astronomers recorded outside the Milky Way.

In one of the photos of Spektra-RG, astronomers found an unusually large luminous round object. Its apparent radius is about eight times that of the Moon. After analyzing its properties and structure, astrophysicists came to the conclusion that it is a nebula located at a distance of 10 thousand light-years from the Sun. It was formed as a result of a type I supernova explosion about 40 thousand years ago. The object was named G116.6-26.1.

As noted by Sunyaev and his colleagues, scientists rarely discover such ancient supernova remains, since they usually have time to cool down and disperse during this time. In addition, this object was located far beyond the disk of the Milky Way, at a distance of 4 thousand light-years from its plane. Previously, astronomers have not found the remains of supernovae in this part of space.

Therefore, the discovery of G116.6-26.1 provides a unique opportunity to study how the outskirts of the Milky Way are arranged, and to find out the properties of local gas reserves while observing how the shock wave generated by the thermonuclear explosion of a white dwarf interacts with them. These observations, as noted by Sunyaev, have already led to unexpected and interesting discoveries.

"It is striking that the exposed supernova remnant is not visible in the radio beams. This means that a shock wave in the hot plasma of the Galactic outskirts accelerates cosmic rays very inefficiently. After all, most of the old supernova remnants in the plane of our Galaxy were discovered by their radio emission" – the mission leader summed up.

Source: 

Roscosmos enterprise will test elements of a nuclear tug on the ISS in 3-4 years. 

The Keldysh Research Center (part of Roscosmos) plans to test a drop cooler-radiator for the Zeus nuclear tug on board the International Space Station (ISS) in 2024-2025. This was announced to TASS by the company's General Director Vladimir Koshlakov at the Army-2021 International Military-Technical Forum.

"In 2024-2025, an experiment is planned" – Koshlakov said, answering the question when the Kaplya-2 (Eng: Drop-2) experiment is planned.

According to the general director of the company, the project documentation has already been developed. Now the Keldysh Center is starting to produce models and scientific equipment for conducting experiments in the multi-purpose laboratory module "Nauka". The experiment, the CEO specified, is not a long one. "The droplet generation system will start working , and its efficiency and functionality on large-sized spacecraft will become clear" – he concluded.

In December last year, it became known that Roscosmos and Arsenal Design Bureau signed a contract for the development of an advance project of the nuclear tug "Nucleon", which will be used for flights to deep space. The contract value is more than 4.17 billion rubles. It was concluded on December 10. The end date of the contract execution is July 28, 2024.

Source: 

Presentation of the first satellite "AgroSAT", developed by a company from the Rostov region, in Rostov-on-Don. 

The first photos of our beautiful planet from the new porthole of the new Russian module "Nauka".

At the Vostochny cosmodrome, the second stage of mounting the launch table for the Angara heavy-class launch vehicle — the installation of the launch complex's power frame – has begun