Russia Launches ISS Module

[ORAC]

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.]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

Originally Posted by meleagertoo

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]

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]

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...

[IFMU]

Originally Posted by sangiovese.

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:

[ORAC]

Wiki description of the problems after launch and the planned burns to correct the orbit and RV…

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nauka_...se_and_docking

[wiggy]

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.]

Originally Posted by wiggy

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]

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

[ORAC]

From the last page of the thread linked above…

https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/in...393#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/in...396#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]

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]

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]

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]

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...