View Full Version : Russia Launches ISS Module
Russia launches its largest space module to ISS
The Russian multifunctional Nauka (Science) module was successfully launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan to the International Space Station (ISS), Russia's state space corporation Roscosmos said Wednesday.
The Proton-M carrier rocket with the Nauka module was launched at 5:58 p.m. Moscow time, Roscosmos said in a statement.
It added that the Nauka module is scheduled to dock with the Zvezda module at the ISS in 8 days on July 29.
sangiovese.
22nd Jul 2021, 17:15
I watched the ISS fly over last night chased by two objects. One I guess was the Russian module, any ideas on the other object?
wiggy
22nd Jul 2021, 21:02
One guess would be the spent upper stage assuming the module had already separated from it, but given that the new module isn’t meant to dock with the ISS until 29 July I wouldn’t expect it and the ISS to be very adjacent ATM.
meleagertoo
22nd Jul 2021, 21:03
You guess.
My satellite tracking app made no mention of the Nakua module. I too saw a satellite apparenty 'following' the iSS but it didn't seem to be on anywhere near the same orbit - I think this may be the same effect as "eye-witnesses" reporting near-misses between arliners.
The sky is stuffed-full of satellites, you will often see one apparently 'following' another.
wiggy
23rd Jul 2021, 06:23
The site I use (Heavens-above) hasn’t got Nauka or any other object related to the launch in it’s catalogue yet.
At this stage in proceedings I wouldn’t expect it to be very obviously in trail or in close proximity of the ISS, but who knows….
wiggy
23rd Jul 2021, 12:07
According to at least one of the apps currently (roughly Friday midday UTC) Nauka is lagging the ISS by about 90 degrees of longitude, central angle, which equates to about 10000 km or over 20 minutes difference in terms of time between them crossing the sky from a fixed observing point.
FWIW the vehicle has also carried out a couple of small engine burns and more are planned which would potentially introduce some small errors in observing predictions until the number crunching catches up with any changes in orbital parameters..
From Roscosmos:
” Thursday, July 22, 2021, the Nauka Multipurpose Module Flight Control Group specialists at Moscow Mission Control Center conducted two correction maneuvers of the module that had launched to the International Space Station the previous day.
The first maneuver took place at 15:07 UTC with the module engines burn for 17.23 seconds giving an impulse of 1 m/sec. The second burn for 250.04 seconds took place at 17:19 UTC with an impulse of 14.59 m/sec.
Orbit parameters after two burns:
Orbital period: 90.17 minutes;
Orbit inclination: 51.64 degrees;
Perigee altitude: 230.43 km;
Apogee altitude: 364.86 km;
Thus, the telemetry confirmed the module propulsion unit operability. Additional burns for further orbit correction are scheduled for July 23. The Pirs module is to undock from the ISS and deorbit on Saturday, July 24.”
treadigraph
23rd Jul 2021, 14:39
I was fortunate enough to see the Shuttle chasing the ISS about 15 years ago thanks to somebody on here giving a "heads up". It was about 3 mins behind and was a very small dot, certainly when seen from South London!
BirdmanBerry
24th Jul 2021, 14:09
You guess.
My satellite tracking app made no mention of the Nakua module. I too saw a satellite apparenty 'following' the iSS but it didn't seem to be on anywhere near the same orbit - I think this may be the same effect as "eye-witnesses" reporting near-misses between arliners.
The sky is stuffed-full of satellites, you will often see one apparently 'following' another.
I saw 2 objects too, both appeared to be directly following the ISS path over and not far behind. I thought of the Russian module and I would have thought it would be a hell of a coincidence for them to be on the same trajectory if they were just satellites?
wiggy
24th Jul 2021, 15:04
Some of the apps/predictors have caught up with the Nauka data and FWIW this evening we get a visible pass of Nauka and then the ISS…but there’s a roughly 25 min time difference between the two transits - certainly ATM the two objects are thousands of km from each other.
Maybe the two vehicles were ( relatively) close together in space flight terms when the Russian vehicle was injected into orbit and due to the difference in orbital elements the two vehicles have separated over the last few days which would be an interesting way to arrange things…..
The launch time for Nauka is available so if I have time later I'll look and see I can find out where the ISS was at that time - that should help provide something close to a definitive answer...
Thirsty
24th Jul 2021, 16:30
Was that the one that had some problems with engine failure, and has a time window of less than three days to have the problem fixed before plunging to earth?
NSFW: Go to Google translate and select Dutch to English translation and type "Nauken"!!!
What the rocket controller said...
I watched the ISS fly over last night chased by two objects. One I guess was the Russian module, any ideas on the other object?
Made me think of this:
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/572x400/6207460_orig_7e7fe830cfb87546dcca92059c69ee9faba5b327.jpg
Wiki description of the problems after launch and the planned burns to correct the orbit and RV…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nauka_(ISS_module)#Transit_Phase_and_docking
wiggy
24th Jul 2021, 18:03
On checking there have been reports on that both the module and the final rocket stage were seen in close proximity in the day or two after the launch, however no mention of them in turn being seen in close proximity/trail of the ISS….
The one or two apps available that allow retrospective calculation of the position of ISS position seem to show that the station was behind Nauka, in fact over north east Africa, at around the time the module achieved orbit but I can’t ATM vouch for the accuracy of those applications….
sangiovese.
24th Jul 2021, 18:18
On checking there have been reports on that both the module and the final rocket stage were seen in close proximity in the day or two after the launch, however no mention of them in turn being seen in close proximity/trail of the ISS….
The one or two apps available that allow retrospective calculation of the position of ISS position seem to show that the station was behind Nauka, in fact over north east Africa, at around the time the module achieved orbit but I can’t ATM vouch for the accuracy of those applications….
fascinating and thanks all. I might’ve been very fortunate to see it
wiggy
24th Jul 2021, 18:32
Keep seeking and yee shall find, at last, some form of confirmation…..this from a spaceflight forum used by some very geeky but credible and knowledgeable people on this sort of thing, some of whom are or were rocket scientists..(if I’d been smarter I would have remembered it’s existence and gone there earlier).
21st July -
I can confirm the absence of maneuvers today. I just saw the ISS, the Proton 3rd stage and Nauka pass through the night sky only seconds apart.
Page 7 of this thread..
https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=51889.120
:ok: (https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=51889.120)
From the last page of the thread linked above…
https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=51889.msg2266393#msg2266393
Okay, I read the N+1 article, and here's what I understood: telemetry information shows that due to increased pressure the bellows of the fuel tanks have ruptured (yeh, the same bellows that were contaminated and cleaned for years). This caused some of the fuel to leak. A a result, N+1 reports, Nauka may not have enough fuel to dock to the ISS. We hope this is only a telemetry error, not a real issue.
https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=51889.msg2266396#msg2266396
If the bellows have indeed burst, would that be end of mission?
Regardless of any other method to move Nauka to the ISS (RCS thrust, dock a Progress to use as a tug and push it up, etc), if there is now no barrier between the fuel, oxidiser, and the pressurisation system, and no way to drain the propellant tanks - which would normally be purged via pressurant pushing on the bellows, just dumping pressurant into the tanks without them could cause a bubbly mix of propellant to remain in the tanks rather than venting - attaching Nauka to the ISS would mean attaching two containers with a large volume of uncontrolled hypergolic propellants.
treadigraph
24th Jul 2021, 20:40
I just saw ISS pass overhead while still reasonably light - looked away then looked again and there did appear to be something very close behind it - stray reflection on me specs perhaps? I nipped inside and upstairs with me bins for a closer look, by which time it was halfway across Germany, and hard to keep still enough to see clearly. I'll try and take another look on its next pass.
Edit: nothing noticeable on the next pass though there is some very thin patchy cloud about which dimmed it a bit.
wiggy
25th Jul 2021, 06:34
I just saw ISS pass overhead while still reasonably light - looked away then looked again and there did appear to be something very close behind it
There’s an undocking due of a secondary unmanned vehicle - was planned for yesterday but timings got a bit flexible due to the nuaka problems and haven’t had time yet to catch up with what has gone on with that.
(edit to add just checked and I gather that undocking of the Pir module has been delayed again, until Monday, so you didn’t see that)
FWIW the likes of the Heavens-above prediction site above had Nuaka crossing European skies last night about 25 minutes or so ahead of the ISS.
That ties in with other apps which yesterday PM had Nauka as the leader of the pair so to speak, by about 10000 km..
(been overcast here last two night..grrrr)
DuncanDoenitz
25th Jul 2021, 09:29
In general, I thought that objects intended to rendezvous with the ISS would appear to approach from in-advance, rather than from the rear. In order to "pursue" the ISS, it would have to first achieve ISS-orbital-velocity plus overtake-velocity, which will clearly consume more energy. By initially positioning itself in front of the ISS, it only as to achieve orbital velocity as the ISS catches up to it. Similarly, on undocking, it will appear to lag the ISS's orbit.
Obviously, I'm not the proverbial scientist .....
treadigraph
25th Jul 2021, 09:40
I think it must have been some kind of visual anomaly rather than a second object. To be honest I didn't really expect to see the ISS, it can't have been more than half an hour after sunset. If it's clear this evening I'll have another look...
wiggy
25th Jul 2021, 09:58
In general, I thought that objects intended to rendezvous with the ISS would appear to approach from in-advance, rather than from the rear. In order to "pursue" the ISS, it would have to first achieve ISS-orbital-velocity plus overtake-velocity, which will clearly consume more energy. By initially positioning itself in front of the ISS, it only as to achieve orbital velocity as the ISS catches up to it. Similarly, on undocking, it will appear to lag the ISS's orbit.
Obviously, I'm not the proverbial scientist .....
Not sure if there's a ISS traditional way of doing this but the general answer is that it depends because there are various ways of doing this... putting the active vehicle into a lower orbit and approaching the passive vehicle from below/behind is one popular option but putting the active vehicle in a higher orbit than the target and then when appropriate descending from that to approaching the target from above is another
The permutations are almost endless.
i should add that what we're seeing here in the way of maneuvering is a bit atypical- Normal resupply missions/re-crewing missions to the ISS don't usually hang around in orbit for 8 days prior to docking...I haven't followed this in great detail but it looks like Nauka was put in an orbit that allows the Russians to road test it, so to speak, for few days before committing to going anywhere near ISS.
TURIN
25th Jul 2021, 21:35
Due over UK about 2245z tonight. Bit cloudy though so slim chance.
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/1080x1920/screenshot_20210725_223323_1630e87ffdba1c2502af16eac9ed87f4f c7976ca.png
treadigraph
25th Jul 2021, 21:53
Cloudy here too, I'm going to turn in...
TURIN
26th Jul 2021, 01:30
Well I got a good sighting of the ISS but nothing before or after.
wiggy
26th Jul 2021, 06:40
FWIW according to several sources, including the space flight forum mentioned upthread, the two vehicles are now almost literally half the globe apart.
Fingers crossed we get clearer skies where I am tonight, in Europe, and in anticipation I just checked the “heavens-above” predictions.
It is calculating that there’s more than 20 minutes between the transit times of the two objects. Given that both Nuaka and the ISS are in orbits with periods of or slightly greater than 90 minutes that would tend to confirm the magnitude of the separation.
https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=23444.msg2267627#msg2267627
Looking at the TLE's and Jonathan's image, I think we have a few days of coasting:…..
Nauka should be gaining 15.661-15.488 = ~0.173 of a revolution a day; if I'm reading the image correctly, it's is a little more than half an orbit behind, so at this rate it will catch up in somewhere around 3 days. Somewhat consistent with the next maneuver being on July 27th…..
wiggy
26th Jul 2021, 09:05
That analysis from that forum makes sense to me, hopefully the major systems checks are done, it’s now a long game of catch up..
wiggy
26th Jul 2021, 21:14
Hurrah…a good old fashioned non virtual real “spot” at last…..:ok:
Nauka just went past shortly before 2300 local, on the schedule and on the predicted track that the heavens-above website had calculated, about 35 minutes after the ISS….(yep, pretty much half a world behind the ISS…)
Pretty cruddy skies (southern France) with cirrus around and some light pollution to the north so it wasn’t the easiest spot, even with binoculars.
As you’d expect because of relative size it’s nowhere near as bright as the ISS, from where I was it tracked through the constellation of Cassiopeia and was about the same brightness as the top left star of the “W”, epsilon Cassiopeia, which gave it a apparent magnitude on this transit of about +3….middlingly bright, nowhere as obvious as the ISS usually is.
sfm818
27th Jul 2021, 01:28
Progress MS-16 (With Pirs module attached) were de-orbited the other day, and Canadarm-2 used to inspect Zvezda docking port for Nauka arrival on Thursday.
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/882x649/img_20210727_020259_61059a56c8ead03e48387902d28541e916a74088 .jpg
wiggy
28th Jul 2021, 19:08
This evening Nauka will only 7 minutes or in trail of the ISS (cloudy again here so won’t see it), so catching up fast.
Docking planned for tomorrow afternoon, around 1324 UTC.
Thirsty
29th Jul 2021, 17:07
To follow on with the thread..
After much tweaking and adjustments, the module has successfully docked to the ISS, using automated control (the English commentator mistakenly saying the final few moments were manually controlled).
I suspect the sigh of relief and exhales of air was global, many instruments and experiments relying on the success of this mission, a very long time in the making.
Twas better viewed on the Internetz than with binoculars.
Next I think it is off to the moon with Luna-25. Subject of another thread on humanity reaching past the skies, to go boldly where they have not gone before.
wiggy
29th Jul 2021, 17:43
Twas better viewed on the Internetz than with binoculars.
Darned yoof of today..”everything’s better on TV” :rolleyes::E
I think I might have struggled to see today’s event through bins though and I do agree the TV footage was indeed mighty spectacular….
sfm818
29th Jul 2021, 20:16
It's all hands on deck this evening. Uncommanded thruster activity from Nauka (apparently propellant now exhausted) crew ordered to close hatch and shutter windows, and station temporarily placed into free drift. Starliner launch may be delayed.
TURIN
29th Jul 2021, 20:58
Bloody hell! That sounds dodgy.
I refer you to post #16, reference leaky seals.
Root cause or something different*? If so, it would seem someone took a chance. I imagine questions will be being asked….
https://www.pprune.org/space-flight-operations/641745-russia-launches-iss-module.html#post11084439
* https://arstechnica.com/science/2021/07/russian-module-suddenly-fires-thrusters-after-docking-with-space-station/
wiggy
30th Jul 2021, 15:46
Story of what went on last night, seems to be, as I understand it, open to correction etc.
Immediately on docking Nauka’s attitude control system was meant to have been in effect disabled TFN. Initially that seemed to have happened.
Well after docking, for some reason (software fault onboard/on ground?) Nauka’s attitude control system became active again and there then began an attitude tug of war as Nauka decided it wanted to point in a certain direction and the ISS, not wanting to budge, fought back using the attitude control system on one of the other docked vehicles.
Battle finally ended when Nauka’s system was shut down /? ran out of fuel.
In public statements Russians are being somewhat blasé about what happened…don’t see need for enquiry.
NASA not saying much in public….being diplomatic…in public…
Less Hair
1st Aug 2021, 19:35
Is it just me or did Nauka's skin look like already being damaged on ISS arrival? Like having had some overheat event or similar?
Like here, look at the lower left hand side please:
https://www.businessinsider.com/russia-nauka-science-module-docking-to-space-station-2021-7
Just found a diagram - the area I think you are referring to is according to some diagrams occupied by some of the attitude control thrusters ..it’s mostly recessed, irregular in profile, and covered in a thermal blanket of some sort so it’s not a rigid panel, and there are a few nozzles sticking out through the blanket…, there certainly appears to be some discoloration, perhaps due to thermal effects or chemical effects but no idea if it was expected - wouldn’t be completely surprised if it was normal.
There still some debate going on about the attitude excursions that went on post docking……………