Catch-up

The Phobos-Grunt space probe that failed to leave Earth orbit was not recoverable and re-entered the atmosphere on 15 January of this year. Very disheartening! Though they apparently want to try again, from 2018 onwards.

Boris Chertok, the Russian rocket designer who worked with Sergei Korolyov, died on 14 December 2011; if he had made it to his next birthday (1 March) he would have been 100! Sadly he died while Russia’s program is moribund and no return to greatness in sight.

China launched its first woman, Liu Yang, (or Yang Liu in English order) into space last weekend on June 16. She was part of a crew of 3 on Shenzhou 9 (others were Jing Haipeng and Liu Wang). They docked with the mini-space lab Tiangong-1 (launched last September) two days later. More data at: NASASpaceflight.com, Xinhuanet Shenzhou 9 special, Spacefacts, Spaceflight Now, Space.com infographic, Wikipedia.

Phobos in trouble

The Phobos-Grunt («Фобос-Грунт») probe was launched on 8/11 at 20:16 GMT and it made it into Earth orbit … but the thrusters that were to send it onto a Mars trajectory failed to fire for as yet-unknown reasons – either due to a software or hardware malfunction – so it is currently stuck in orbit. There are 2 weeks to find a solution, then the launch window closes. If it is a hardware failure the mission is over; if it is software-related the technicians might be able to radio up corrective commands. The mission failure will be a dismal blow to the Russian unmanned space program, of which this is the first probe to be sent up in over 15 years; there likely won’t be another as Russia does not have the will or funding for such programs that the USSR era did.

Reports: NASAspaceflight.com (and forum thread), Orbiter forum thread, RussianSpaceWeb, Space.com.

Progress success

Progress M-13M/45 launched on 30/10 and docked to the Pirs module of the ISS on 2/11 with no anomalies, a great relief to everyone! The crew will get some iPads (lucky them!). (NASASpaceflight.com: “Progress successfully docks to ISS; stage set for return of manned Soyuz flight”.) The next crew to launch in November will be ISS-29/30.

The Mars-500 experiment ends this week, 4 November! The crew seem to have survived with their sanity intact :-).

China’s launch of the Tiangong 1 space station module on 29/9 was successful. On 31/10 Shenzhou 8 was launched, an unmanned version of the capsule, and remotely docked to Tiangong on 2/11.

The Phobos-Grunt probe is set to launch next week, 8 or 9 November, if there are no delays – the launch window is from 5-25 November, otherwise there are another 2 years or so until the next Mars launch opportunity. It has what appears to be an official website.

I decided not to buy the Spaceflight issues mentioned last entry as they were speculative only, and the magazine too expensive.

Left behind

“Cosmonaut: Russia falling behind in space race”, MSNBC.com, 20/11. Cosmonaut Mikhail Tyurin is concerned at Russia’s tardiness of developing a new spacecraft, and that it will fall behind other countries and become irrelevant. Cosmonaut Pavel Vinogradov voiced similar concerns last year (18/5/2008 entry), about Russia being relegated to a space tourist taxi service.

He said officials’ talk of using the ship to fly to the International Space Station, and then the moon and Mars, are unfeasible. “One vehicle can’t be both a steamroller and a Formula One racer,” he said.

[…]

Tyurin said that work on the prospective ship has proceeded slowly, with engineers continuing to argue over such basic things as whether the new spacecraft should come back using parachutes, like the Soyuz, or land like a plane, similar to the U.S. shuttles.

[…]

But Tyurin warned that the failure to develop new space technologies would relegate Russia to a secondary role in the near future. “Very soon, no one will need the Russian space program,” he said. “Our partners already have got all they could from us. They won’t take us into the future.”

“Russian room ready for space station launch”, MSNBC.com, 9/11. On the new Russian module, Poisk, launched 2 weeks ago.

“Industry Insiders Foresaw Delay of Russia’s Phobos-Grunt”, Spacenews.com, 5/10. Article by Anatoly Zak on why the Phobos probe has been delayed until 2011: more equipment testing is needed, the onboard flight control system wasn’t ready, nore are ground control facilities.

“Russian Cosmonaut’s Blog Much Funnier Than NASA”, Wired.com, 18/9. On Maksim Suraev’s blog (at Roskosmos and translated into English).

Not exactly what you’d find NASA astronauts like Mike Massimino writing about, and that’s exactly what makes the reflections worth reading. We tend to receive our vision of space exploration through the American lens, so it’s great to get some outside perspective on what’s going on up there. And Suraev’s site really feels like someone’s blog.

Modules named

Via Anik at NASASpaceflight.com, the modules have been officially named, listed in launch order:

1. МИМ-2/MIM-2/MRM-2 – «Поиск»/Poisk/“Search” (launch 15/8/2009)
2. МИМ-1/MIM-1/MRM-1 – «Рассвет»/Rassvet/“Dawn” (8/4/2010)
3. МЛМ/MLM/MLM – «Наука»/Nauka/“Science” (December 2011)

“Russia celebrates half a century since touching the moon”, Energiya/RT, 14/9. It is 50 years since an unmanned Soviet spacecraft, Luna-2, landed on the lunar surface.

“Crunch time for Russia Mars probe”, BBC News, 14/9. Roskosmos was to decide whether the Phobos-Grunt probe should be delayed until the 2011 launch window; it confirmed this on the 16th as the flight control systems need more testing to confirm reliability. Disappointing, but better safe than sorry.

A PDF document, “ISS Program International Cooperation, Paris, June 17, 2009” (500 KB), can be downloaded from NASA; it is a Russian Powerpoint plan of future developments, reproduced below:

Head of Russian Federal Space Agency – ISS Program International Cooperation – Paris, June 17, 2009

1. Roscosmos View On NASA Current Plan For Human Space Flight

• Critical to the ISS program implementation are the issues of technical and transportation support (crew rotation, crew rescue, cargo delivery, etc.).
• Roscosmos welcomes NASA endeavor to speed up the development of the new piloted transportation system “Orion” and the new launch vehicle “ARES-1”.
• Successful implementation of Commercial Orbital Transportation Services for the ISS would allow to streamline technical and transportation support of the station and to make it more systematic and stable.
• NASA human space flight program looks quite balanced and promising to us.

2. Cooperation with NASA in ISS Program

• Roscosmos-NASA cooperation over recent years has provided the following results:
  • After Columbia accident in 2003 the permanent crew presence on the ISS was ensured and maintained;
  • The ISS international crews rotation has been conducted including rescue capability in case of contingency situations; the ISS cargo delivery and utilization has been ensured taking into account the planned Space Shuttle retirement in 2010;
  • ISS US Segment deployment has been completed;
  • The launch of Soyuz TMA in May 2009 increased the ISS crew up to six persons.
• Cooperation experience accumulated by Roscosmos and NASA allows us to proceed to the next stage of ISS utilization: a full-scale implementation of the national programs of scientific experiments in space and ISS utilization as an international space laboratory.

3. Desirability of ISS Operation Beyond 2016

• Completion of the ISS US segment deployment as well as Roscosmos plans to additionally equip the ISS Russian segment in the nearest future will significantly increase the ISS scientific potential.
• By 2015 the ISS will have the unique capabilities for scientific research in space, engineering development and implementation of humanitarian, educational and commercial projects.
• Taking into account these circumstances, as well as recommendations approved at June 2008 meeting of Heads of Agencies Roscosmos considers it expedient to prolong the ISS utilization term up to 2020 at the minimum.

4. Russia Future Plans For Human Space Flight Program

• The prospective plans for the Russian human space flight are determined by the Federal Space Program of Russia for the period from 2006 to 2015, the Concept of Russian Human Space Flight Development till 2020 and a number of other documents.
• The main objectives of the future human space flights are:
  • Exploration and efficient utilization of the near Earth space.
  • Study and exploration of the Moon, Mars and deep space in order to resolve global problems on the Earth and in space and to generate new knowledge for the benefit of the humankind.
• In order to achieve the above mentioned goals we expect to make the following steps in the timeframe till 2020:
  • Complete the assembly of the ISS Russian Segment and to continue its utilization in full configuration;
  • Provide the creation of the prospective crew transportation system based on a new generation piloted spacecraft;
  • Build and prepare for operation the first elements of the orbital assembly experimental piloted space complex by the end the ISS life cycle;
  • Develop elements, technologies and key systems of prospective interplanetary complexes for missions to the Moon and Mars, and develop new means and methods of biomedical support to ensure long-term human space flights, including the interplanetary flights, and so on.

5. Future Interaction With NASA In Space Exploration

• The experience gained by Russia, US and Europe in the area of piloted space complexes and their long-term utilization, including the ISS activities, allows us to proceed to the implementation of the larger-scale projects, in particular, the development of piloted spacecraft for missions to the Moon and Mars.
• Roscosmos supports the necessity of involving technical and scientific potential of other countries for such large-scale projects implementation.
• Russia finds acceptable those projects which ensure equal rights of partners who will share the obtained results and also Russia’s participation in the development of critical elements (launch vehicles, power propulsion systems, technologies and experience of long-term crew life support in space).
• In this connection Roscosmos considers it expedient to establish the international joint expert group to conduct comprehensive analysis of integration feasibility in the sphere of space exploration.

6. What has Roscosmos learned from the ISS partnership?

• Apparently, the ISS lessons show that any critical element in the project should have a backup (should be redundant). As a rule, such elements include launch vehicles, crew and cargo transportation spacecraft and Mission Control Centers.
• During the utilization phase the redundancy should be provided by various modules and project elements for the specific functions such as habitation, power supply and, partly, the payload complexes and systems.
• The ISS could serve as a unique test stand for developing advanced technologies. This process has already started and will expand as we accumulate more experience and capabilities for autonomous stay on the ISS.
• The ISS lessons show that educational and public outreach activities are very important for attracting the young people’s interest to space.
• The ISS international management structure has already demonstrated its success. It would make sense to apply this experience to other big international projects.

7. How would you characterize the Russian obligations and that of the US to the ISS in terms of its operational life?

• The main tasks of Russia and the US at this point are as follows:
  • maintenance of operation of the ISS Russian and US Segments for implementation of the national programs of space experiments and research;
  • fulfillment of mutual obligations under existing international arrangements;
  • maintenance of ground infrastructure for the ISS nominal operation;
  • transportation and technical provision of the ISS according to the agreements achieved with NASA in view of the Shuttle retirement in 2010;
  • participation in managing the ISS program (the ISS coordination boards and groups);
  • provision of the ISS efficient utilization.
• We believe that the Unites States, as the main coordinator of the project, will promote stable and planned implementation of the ISS program, including the transportation and technical provision of the station, the required conditions for the crew presence onboard, improvement of the station control structure, etc.

8. How does ISS and its extension past 2015 connect to Russia's future plans for human and robotic exploration beyond low-Earth orbit?

• By the end of the ISS life cycle Roscosmos plans to develop and prepare for operation the first elements of the orbital assembly experimental piloted space complex which will become a basis for engineering development for future human missions to Mars beyond 2030.
• It is impossible to create such a complex without a preliminary testing of its elements in space and verification of engineering solutions and technologies.
• The ISS operation experience demonstrates that the station utilization allows to solve the unique tasks of extending the life of both the station elements and the automatic space instruments (space telescopes, etc) in autonomous flight. This adds another good argument in favor of the ISS program extension till 2020 and beyond.

Accompanying diagrams:

Phobos-Grunt on schedule

According to Anatoly Zak who was at the Paris Air and Space Show on 15 June, and who spoke to the head of NPO Lavochkin Georgii Poleshyuk, the components of the Phobos-Grunt, «Фобос-Грунт» probe were being integrated, beginning 20 June. The probe’s main propulsion unit is the most complex and critical element. Everything will be transported to Baikonur Cosmodrome in September of this year.

Progress M-02M undocked from the ISS (Pirs docking module) on 30/6 for autonomous flight tests of its systems; it will redock on 2/7.

From NK №789:

19/06/2009 / 08:46 – The economic crisis could derail the creation of a new Russian cosmodrome

The economic crisis could prevent modernisation of the Russian space-rocket industry, and also disrupt the establishment of our own “window” in space – the Vostochnyi, Восточный cosmodrome, Vitalii Davidov declared on Thursday.

According to him, last year’s re-financing of the industry has dramatically increased.

“Before it was one per cent, and in order to re-branch had about 70 years, starting this year, especially for the next year we have planned investments in retooling the industry, which should have been raised by 15% -20% of the overall funding level,” said the official, speaking at a meeting of the working group on innovative legislation in the Presidential Administration of the Russian Federation.

He noted that the same magnitude of re-financing was needed during the implementation of programs for the Soviet space shuttle Buran in the late 1980s.

But Davydov fears that the crisis could disrupt plans for re-equipment: “What happened at the end of last year, this crisis, we thought it would not affect our plans, but today we realize it is not possible. This is a significant impact on our plans, especially in terms of security, including independent access to space, the development of the new cosmodrome on the territory of Russia,” said the Roscosmos Deputy.

Sergei Krikalyov’s photo has at last appeared on the Gagarin Cosmonauts’ Training Center website (the Russian version so far), so he must now have officially assumed command. According to Anik, he left the Cosmonauts’ Group of RSC Energiya on 27 March 2009.

Digital Soyuz and other news

My main website, SuzyMcHale.com, is still not online (server failure). Hopefully back soon…?

“Russia’s Dark Horse Plan to Get to Mars”, James Oberg, Discovery Magazine, 21/5. On the Phobos-Grunt mission. Another article at IEEE Spectrum by Anatoly Zak is “A Russian Return to a Martian Moon”, June 2009. The Chinese microsatellite that will ride onboard is to be delivered to the probe manufacturer, NPO Lavochkin in Russia, on 17 June.

Soyuz TMA-15 launched last week (27/5) with Expedition 20, so there is now a crew of 6 onboard the ISS for the first time, all from the different space agencies involved.

Contradicting earlier media reports, Roscosmos representatives said that there are no plans to disconnect the Russian segment of the ISS from 2015 and turn it into an autonomous space station. Instead, there are plans to extend the lifetime of the ISS as much as its technical capabilities will allow.

From NK №786:

02/06/2009 / 00:05 – Russia has no plans to disconnect its segment of the ISS after 2015

Roscosmos has no plans to disconnect the Russian segment of International Space Station from the U.S. and create an autonomous station from 2015. “There are no plans for disconnecting us from the ISS. On the contrary, we have a plan for extending the operation of the Station, as far as its technical capabilities will allow,” said Aleksei Krasnov, the supervisor of manned programs at Roscosmos, on Friday at a news conference at TsUP mission control center.

“There is no reason to have the segments of the ISS partner countries taken apart,” added, in turn, the president of Rocket-Space Corporation Energiya, Vitalii Lopota.

They commented on reports by some Russian and foreign media that Russian specialists are discussing the possibility of removing the ISS Russian segment in the event that other participating countries of the project did not prolong the operation of the station until 2020. According to current plans, the ISS is planned to be in use up to 2015.

At the same time, A. Krasnov noted that even before the deorbiting of the station Mir, the possibility of using part of its modules as part of the International Space Station was explored. It is a similar situation in the case of the ISS.

“We do not exclude that we will explore the possibility of using the modules of the ISS assembly, consisting of orbital research complex in low orbit that would allow the Russian space program to develop further,” said Aleksander Krasnov.

Earlier, representatives of Roscosmos has been reported on the possibility of construction in orbit from 2020, a new space station that would become an orbital plant for the production of unique materials, as well as a trans-shipment base on the way to the Moon and Mars.

A ceremony was held for the lowering of the TsPK flag, but it attracted little official or media interest (the translation is a bit incoherent):

02/06/2009 / 00:05 – In Star City the unit banner has been farewelled

On 29 May 2009 in the town of Star City a farewell ceremony was held for the banner, writesYurii Baturin. The famous Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, established in 1960 as a military unit, was eliminated in accordance with a governmental order (№1435 from 1/10/2008). In its place there will be a new organization to train cosmonauts, but as a civilian federal government budgetary institution.

A monument to Yuri Gagarin Cosmonauts Alley to put members of the part. There were present family members of the military and the center, many with children. We cosmonaut veterans shed copious tears. And now, the last solemn march. Then the photographs of the flag. The standard-bearers probably have, as expected, began packing the banner for shipment, and the assembly did not disperse, but remembered, remembered… The mood for all was sad.

Representatives of NASA and the European space agency paid a tribute of respect to the banner and TsPK. But no-one from the Military-air forces command attended the farewell ritual. And after all the military unit as the Center of preparation of cosmonauts of the Air Forces was formed and for half a centur has made considerable glory for this kind of Armed forces of the country. There was nobody from the Ministry of Defence, nor from the Joint Staff, as if only an ordinary battalion of air field service was being disbanded. And this is a unique military division. It was not counted a significant event and in Russian Space Agency, under whose command TsPK now falls. Usually, generals from the Air Forces, and the management of the Federal Space Agency liked to address Star City from a podium and say high words to the heroes of space. Now words for some reason were not found, probably, it was difficult to look in the faces of the gathered. Probably, such a general lack of official attendance was an indirect recognition of the inaccuracy of the decision to reform TsPK.

Unfortunately, the press, except Novoi, «Новой» and Cosmonautics News, «Новостей космонавтики», has not been interested. There was no TV (possibly because there were no space tourists – a favourite central theme of space reportings).

Maybe this was for the better: no hypocrisy, had only their own flag.

Cosmonaut Aleksandr Kaleri will be the first to command the new digital Soyuz in September 2010, along with Cosmonaut Oleg Skripochka and the American astronaut Scott Kelly. (Sergei Krikalyov was at one time to be the first to pilot the digital version, but he now has other duties.) From NK №785:

28/05/2009 / 17:15 – Cosmonaut Kaleri will test the new Soyuz version

Flight tests of the “digital” piloted ship Soyuz are entrusted to the experienced Russian cosmonaut Alexander Kaleri.

“Flight of the first ship in the new Soyuz series, which is equipped with a digital control system, is scheduled for September of next year. Cosmonaut Alexander Kaleri has been entrusted to pilot the ship, having had experience of four space flights,” the space-rocket industry interlocutor said. According to him, the appointment of the flight commander was preceded by a long dispute about who to entrust the management of the new machine.

Experience in piloting of the Soyuz ships was the basic requirement during selection of candidates. “On the list were many surnames, but eventually Kaleri was appointed as the commander of the ship,” the agency interlocutor said.

In the crew of the “digital” Soyuz, the Russian cosmonaut Oleg Skripochka and the American astronaut Scott Kelly are appointed as flight engineers.

In April, 2008 the president of Rocket & Space Corporation Energiya, Vitalii Lopota during a scientific conference in Moscow said that the first “digital” Soyuz would go to space in the spring of 2009. But the launch did not take place in the announced time. In connection with necessity of carrying out of additional tests of the ship, the launch was delayed to autumn of 2010.

According to V. Lopota, installation of digital systems on the piloted ship Soyuz will require a crew of one professional cosmonaut, instead of two, as now. In that case, two nonprofessional cosmonauts can fly at once.

The modernisation of spaceships, according to V. Lopota, will bring Russian astronautics to a new technological level and to raise the safety of space flight. For the docking of the new ship to the International Space Station it is planned to use the standard scheme of docking. “We cannot afford to risk anything. Even though the ship systems were analogue, and are now digital. In no event will use of the new modernised systems change the planned algorithm,” said V. Lopota. The docking of the ship to the ISS will continue under the standard scheme, that is on the second day of flight, he has added. Visually, the president of RSC Energiya admitted, the digital Soyuz will not differ from previous versions of the ship.

The basic difference of the new ships is in the digital control systems. The control system of movement and system of onboard measurements has undergone modernisation. Innovations have allowed to increase speed and to lower weight of equipment. In contrast with the previous version, the digital cargo ship is capable to take aboard on 80 kg of more cargo, than its predecessors.

Past glories

“Can a Space Museum Help Russia Get Its Glory Back?”, TIME, 17/5. The Memorial Museum of Cosmonautics in Moscow reopened after 3 years of renovations. (Its website still is not online yet, though.) There is a relevant thread at NASASpaceflight.com. I found this comment by a visitor insightful:

Wandering past model rockets, orange cosmonaut suits emblazoned with red U.S.S.R. emblems and a diorama of happy cosmonaut mannequins sitting around a campfire next to a crashed space capsule waiting for pickup, Lynn Nordstrom of Albuquerque, N.M., and her two sons – in Moscow for the Eurovision song contest – say they are enjoying their visit. But “after looking at this, I’m afraid of the Egypt syndrome, where all you do is talk about how great you used to be,” Nordstrom says. “The museum is terrific, but you need to look to the future. My whole youth was spent hearing about the U.S.S.R. making advances in science and us always feeling like we were behind.” Now, with a revamped museum, a new rocket program and possibly a new space base, it’s Russia that’s trying to catch up.

This comment, in a scene from a story I’m writing, makes much the same point:

“Our space program has endured much since the Fall,” the General Designer continued with passion – they all knew what he referred to: the disastrous and traumatizing collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. “Our once-great space program is now reduced to providing Soyuz taxi rides for foreign astronauts and bored wealthy space tourists! The first General Designer, Sergei Korolyov, would be horrified. We get little mention in the foreign media – all attention is on NASA, and also China as the next upcoming space power.” The others nodded and murmured in agreement.

“This is our chance to regain some of that glory before we fade into obscurity, looking back nostalgically at the greatness that once was.”

From NK №782 – another assertion that the Phobos-Grunt, «Фобос-Грунт» probe really will launch this year:

12/05/2009/20:15 – There are no doubts as regards the date of the launch of the “Fobos-Grunt” probe, says Roskosmos

There are no doubts as regards the date of the launch of the “Fobos-Grunt” probe. The assistant to the head of the Federal Space Agency Roskosmos, Anatoly Shilov, asserted this today at a press conference.

He has reminded that according to the plan, Fobos-Grunt should start in the second half of October 2009. Another similar launch window will open only in 2011. Earlier, some in the mass-media reported about possibility of carrying over of the launch date to then.

“We are making all efforts to ensure that this launch will take place according to plan,” Shilov said. “While all turns out. Today such fears are not present.”

The Russian automatic interplanetary station is intended for researching Phobos, the companion of Mars , and delivery of soil samples back to Earth.

Some in the NSF.com Phobos-Grunt thread feel that it is better for the launch to be delayed and thus ensure everything is working right, rather than rush for a launch this year. It would be extremely disheartening for the first Russian probe launch in 13 years to end up like Mars-96!

Grumpy Old Moonwalker

As reported at NASA Watch, former Moonwalker Harrison “Jack” Schmitt resigned from the Planetary Society, apparently miffed over the direction their goals have taken (as stated in this press release): namely, focus on a manned mission to Mars first (rather than the Moon) as a goal, and strive for international co-operation. These are laudable goals in my opinion (the Moon has been landed on and is rather boring anyway – unless there happen to be mysterious alien monoliths to be discovered!), but it’s brought out the Cranky Conservatives in the comments, who are paranoid and insular, and are horrified at the prospect of co-operating with “them foreigners”. I posted a somewhat irate comment:

He’s a cranky old conservative with outdated, insular views (like some of the posters above :-P ). I’d love to see an INTERNATIONAL Mars mission!! [From an exasperated 38-year-old female :-)]

He also thinks global warming a hoax, which doesn’t say much for his scientific credibility.

One would think that the humbling experience of seeing the Earth from the Moon would have broadened his views, but apparently not.

I would, in fact, rather have seen an international Mars mission launched, rather than the ISS project, but too late for that now.

“40 Years Later, It’s Moon Race 2.0”, TIME magazine, 13/11. The media seems obsessed to a tedious degree with the prospect of a “space race”. Nations new to spaceflight are sending out space probes, namely India (who landed a probe last week from the Chandrayaan-1 Moon satellite) , China and Japan. Russia barely gets a mention except as providers of the Soyuz taxi service to the ISS; a sad contrast to the Soviet era.

“Russian ISS spacecraft producer Energia gets $106 mln loan”, RIAN, 17/11. Energiya managed to get bank credit to allow them to construct more Soyuz and Progress spacecraft (2.9 billion rubles for a period of up to 12 November 2010).

“A Russian resurgence? (part two)”, The Space Review, 17/11.

I neglected to mention that this blog is now just over 2 years old! Not that it is hugely popular…

My Firefox browser is currently reporting the Russian Federal Space Agency site as an attack site, possibly through third-party applications (a reason not to use these):

Malicious software is hosted on 3 domain(s), including mmcounter.com, yanndex.su, ff-freehosting.com. 2 domain(s) appear to be functioning as intermediaries for distributing malware to visitors of this site, including yanndex.su, mmcounter.com.

Hope they fix that soon! Considering it’s an official government site, it is rather poor!

Toilet troubles

Expedition 17 has been having some trouble with the toilet (ASU) in the Zvezda Service Module malfunctioning! It’s been fairly reliable for many years (as far as I know), but has developed some mechanical problems (noted in this NASASpaceflight.com thread):

Russian ASU malfunction: While using the ASU toilet system in the SM, the crew heard a loud noise and the fan stopped working. After some troubleshooting the crew reported that the air/water Separator (MNR-RS) was not working. The crew then replaced the separator with a spare unit but reported afterwards that the ASU lacked suction. The crew next replaced the F-V filter insert, which provided good suction for a while but again exhibited weak suction. TsUP/Moscow instructed the crew to deactivate the ASU and use the toilet facility in the Soyuz spacecraft. (21 May ISS Daily Report)

The Soyuz toilet provides some backup and if all else fails:

Yes, the toilet is working again – but we are holding our breath. There were some spare parts but I do not think they came on the ATV. When this breaks down there is a toilet in the Soyuz but it has limited functionality and is not popular among the crew. There are also Apollo bags (developed on Apollo, just a basic bag). Not very pleasant.

They got the ASU partially working but then it stopped again. Update from the 25/5 ISS Daily Report:

The decision was made today to have the crew R&R the MNR (Micropump Separator) with the last spare they had onboard. Preliminary indications are that the R&R of the MNR has fixed the problem, although specialists continue to monitor the situation. Preparations are in work to fly a replacement MNR on 1J if requested.

There was also a spill of Freon coolant:

The Freon spill (~600 g) occurred on 29/4 after the replacement of the SKV-2 air conditioner compressor. To clean up quickly, the Russian BMP (Russian Harmful Impurities Removal System) was moded to regenerate its absorbent beds every 5 days instead of the regular 20 days. Freon-218 (Octafluoropropane/C3F8, Russian: Khladon) is safe (low toxicity, perhaps some irritation) and noncorrosive if not heated above ~600°C. Primary hazard is oxygen displacement, as witness the Ozone Layer, but there is not enough C3F8 on board the ISS to significantly deplete any atmospheric oxygen.

Replacement parts were sent up on the recent Progress M-64:

Part of its cargo complement includes replacement freon and parts to hopefully allow repair of the Service Module thermal system. If successful, the Russian segment can once again collect condensate and process water to use in the Elektron to provide O₂.

The Mars Phoenix Lander successfully landed yesterday at 23:38:44 UTC, (Melbourne time today at 9:38 a.m.) or 23:53:44 UTC as recorded on Earth – it takes 15 minutes for signals to travel from Mars to Earth at their current distance (30 minutes there and back). It was launched on 4 August last year, so that is over 9 months to travel to Mars. Russia has no involvement in the mission – their unmanned space exploration program has been dismally absent since the failed 1996 Mars 96 mission.

The main official sites for the lander are at NASA and the University of Arizona. Some images have been sent back but rather disappointingly they are black-and-white. I wonder why a true-color camera that would record colors as humans would see them has not been included on any mission? There is a color-calibration tool which gives an approximation of the colors.

The NASASpaceflight.com forum just changed over to new updated forum software. They managed it much better than the botched Space.com changeover in February – the awful unusability of the latter’s forum software is beyond belief! It is slow, needs Javascript to display at all and the URLs of pages are hideously long; the complaints from users have been endless. I rarely post or visit there now.

Anniversaries

Today is 50 years since the launch of Sputnik.

In that BBC article it is noted that the Russian space program “have been given $12bn (£6bn) to spend over the next decade – a small amount compared with NASA’s budget but enough for the Russians to have ambitious plans.” NASA’s budget for one year is about $16 billion.

More articles from the past couple of weeks:

“Russia aims for new far east space launch pad by 2020”, The Raw Story, 21/9; RIAN 26/9.

From Novosti Kosmonavtiki news №655:

25/09/2007/00:01: The head of Roskosmos is convinced that it is necessary to more actively involve young cosmonauts from the Russian force

The leader of the Roskosmos Federal Space Agency, Anatolii Perminov, is convinced of the necessity of more actively involving young cosmonauts from the Russian force. About this he stated on Thursday during the traditional tea drinking with the prime and duplicating crews of the 16th Expedition to the ISS, reports ITAR- TASS.

After noting that the “Cosmonaut Training Center and Rocket & Space Corporation Energiya insure themselves by sending experienced cosmonauts into orbit,” Perminov added: “but I always support those who have yet to fly, since I have no doubts that the young will manage.”

In the Russian group about two dozen astronauts have sat “on the replacement bench” for 10 years or more. They are habitually refered to as “young”, but most of these guys are over 30 years old.

But this 16th expedition, which starts on 10 October, will be very difficult; therefore it is good that an experienced crew flies, Perminov believes.

The next paying space tourist to go up will be Richard Garriott, in October 2008. He has a rather formidable CV, and is the son of former NASA astronaut Owen Garriott. Though as pointed out by a NASA Watch reader, he will be the second 2nd-generation astronaut to launch – Sergei Volkov (son of Aleksandr) will launch in April 2008 – not the first as reported by Space Adventures. He is also the creator of a rather nice-looking MMORPG called Tabula Rasa (I have been admiring the graphics on the site and wishing I could design things like that).

“Game guru going into space”, Cosmic Log entry, 28/9.

“50 years after Sputnik, Russia revives space ambitions”, Space Daily, 30/9.

As Russia commemorates the 50th anniversary on Thursday of the launch of Sputnik 1 and the start of the Space Race, there is a sense of cautious optimism among its space scientists, says Igor Lysov, an expert with monthly magazine Space Industry News. Next year, state spending on space is projected to equal about 1.5 billion dollars (one billion euros). As Lysov observes: “That’s 11 times less than the financing for NASA but 10 times better than the financing for the Russian space programme a decade ago.”

[…]

Nonetheless, uncertainty remains due to funding problems and Russia’s difficulties countering a brain drain of its most talented scientists, says the head of spacecraft designer RKK Energia, Leonid Gorshkov. “Even if commercial projects help us survive, the development of the space programme is impossible without state support,” said Gorshkov.

“The discovered space”, RIA Novosti, 3/10.

2007 sees four space related anniversaries: 150 years since the birth of Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, the theoretician of cosmonautics, who translated the bold dream of space flight into maths; 110 years since the birth of Alexander Chizhevsky, the founder of geliobiology, a new field of research into the influence of solar and geomagnetic activity on living beings; 100 years since the birth of Sergei Korolyov, who put cosmonautics on a practical plane, and 50 years since the start of the space era, ushered in by the launch of the Earth’s first artificial satellite.

“Russian science to ride on NASA probes”, MSNBC.com, 3/10. Plans for Russian science instruments to be installed on NASA probes to the Moon and Mars. The Russian unmanned exploration program seems to only exist in this form now – hitching rides on others’ spacecraft.

Found an article, “What’s Wrong With Libertarianism”, while wandering around the Hard Science Fiction site. There seem to be many people in the space community who proscribe these views (the ones who optimistically believe the private space industry will take over from governments in exploring space). I find Libertarianism a detestable philosophy – my view is that corporations and business cannot be trusted to ensure the public good – that is why we have governments.

An example of the space Libertarians is the Space Liberates Us! site (found via NASA Watch, who posted about a contributor who died). There is a place for private space exploration (mainly near-Earth space tourism), but I don’t believe it will ever replace government-funded programs.

Mars reality show

Mixed messages on Russian space tourism at Personal Spaceflight; commentary on this article, “A journey to space is not a jaunt to the Caribbean”, at RIA Novosti. It is a bit hard to figure out the author’s opinion in the second article, though he remarks:

I am no judge of the future tourist’s professional training or the value of his scientific program “in the interests of several space agencies.” But one thing is clear: the Russian-U.S. manned program, which just now pulled out of its critical nosedive with tremendous pain, and which is the only one in the world except for China’s, badly needs experienced and practiced professionals rather than amateurs.

As I have said many times before, Russia should prioritize sending up its own professional cosmonauts rather than space tourists. Roskosmos seems eager to fly up the paying guests of other countries, but this is demoralizing for its own cosmonauts (the Cosmonaut Group only has two flight opportunities a year – one seat per Soyuz flight).

Another article at RIAN (29/12/2006) reports that five volunteers were chosen for the Mars-500 experiment, to begin later this year. No names have been released yet. Be interesting to follow this and see how the crew cope with being locked up for a year-and-a-half! Maybe I should have volunteered (I have spent years as a semi-recluse already) but my embarrassing lack of any qualifications would preclude this. It sounds like it will be a real endurance test, though! And it will hopefully be more successful than the previous experiment in 1999 (Sphinx-99), described in this James Oberg article, “Violence and Sexual Assault in ‘Space’ ”.

The International Space Station Heads of Agencies met at ESA Headquarters on 23 January to review the status of the program. (Mr. NASA Watch was of the opinion it was a Yawn from Paris.)

NASA Cassini Image: The Greatest Saturn Portrait …Yet at Spaceref. Russia, sad to say, has never achieved anything like this.

James Oberg asks, “What suit do you wear to a spacewalk?” at MSNBC.com, looking at the advantages and disavantages of the U.S. and Russian Orlan spacesuits on the ISS. The U.S. EMUs have more technological advantages, such as live helmet cameras, but are somewhat more complicated to put on.

Worth visiting is Ivan Safronov’s Space Video Archive, with lots of videos and films to download. One is the Nedelin disaster video (a screenshot is below, with the arrows pointing to the burning people fleeing) on the Unique Footage page. Russian Space Web has a page about the disaster (as does Wikipedia), which I think is still the worst in the history of rocketry.

A more recent disaster was the Brazilian rocket explosion in 2003 where 21 people were killed (incinerated).