22.11.2021

The latest Cygnus cargo ship departed the International Space Station Saturday (Nov. 20) after sending a haul of cargo to the orbiting crew. 

The Northrop Grumman NG-16 resupply vessel was released from the grip of the station's robotic arm at 11:01 a.m. EST (1601 GMT) by a command from NASA's Mission Control Center in Houston as both spacecraft sailed high over the South Pacific Ocean. The Cygnus spacecraft floated away from the International Space Station under the supervision of Matthias Maurer, an astronaut of the European Space Agency on the station's Expedition 66 crew.

Cygnus will spend several weeks in space before being directed to re-enter the atmosphere on Dec. 15. During that time, ground controllers will deploy the Kentucky Re-Entry Probe Experiment, the latest in a series of autonomous experiments that run during the last few weeks of Cygnus missions. 

This new experiment will "demonstrate a thermal protection system for spacecraft and their contents during re-entry in Earth's atmosphere, which can be difficult to replicate in ground simulations," NASA said in a statement.

Cygnus arrived at the ISS on Aug. 12 hauling its biggest delivery yet, with four tons of stuff. The Cygnus supply ship was christened the S.S. Ellison Onizuka in honor of the first Asian American astronaut Ellison Onuzuka, who was killed along with six others in the Challenger shuttle disaster in 1986.

The spacecraft arrived with more than 8,200 lbs. (3,720 kilograms) of supplies, equipment and experiments, the biggest ever cargo delivery to the station by a Cygnus spacecraft. The delivery included new hardware, a carbon dioxide scrubber for ensuring breathable air, and equipment for the station's upgraded solar arrays. Experiments included a slime mold (a brainless blob) and two payloads to examine human muscle cells in space.

The mission was the 15th operational resupply launch to the space station by Northrop Grumman since 2014. Earlier launches were overseen by Orbital Sciences and Orbital ATK, which Northrop Grumman later acquired. 

"The Cygnus system has evolved from being just a cargo delivery service to a high performing science platform," said Northrop Grumman's Steve Krein, vice president, civil and commercial space, tactical space systems, said in a statement. "We continue to develop these capabilities to include the installation of environmental control systems and other upgrades to support the lunar orbiting Habitation and Logistics Outpost, or HALO." 

The HALO project is a habitation module for NASA's planned Gateway space station around the moon for future Artemis astronauts. Northrop Grumman is using its experience with Cygnus to design the HALO module. 

The next U.S. cargo ship to visit the space station will be a SpaceX Cargo Dragon spacecraft, which is slated to launch in late December.

Quelle: SC

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Versatile Cygnus spacecraft functions as cargo vehicle and mobile

laboratory

Northrop Grumman Corporation’s (NYSE: NOC) Cygnus spacecraft left the International Space Station today to begin the next phase of the NG-16 mission. Cygnus was released by the station’s robotic arm at 11:01 a.m. ET, carrying more than 7,500 pounds of disposable cargo. Cygnus will remain in orbit for approximately four weeks to carry out the secondary phase of the mission.

After departure, Cygnus will perform secondary mission objectives including the Kentucky Re-Entry Probe Experiment (KREPE). This payload will ride with Cygnus during reentry and will be used to demonstrate a thermal protective system for spacecraft and their contents during re-entry in Earth’s atmosphere, which can be difficult to replicate in ground simulations.

“The Cygnus system has evolved from being just a cargo delivery service to a high performing science platform,” said Steve Krein, vice president, civil and commercial space, tactical space systems, Northrop Grumman. “We continue to develop these capabilities to include the installation of environmental control systems and other upgrades to support the lunar orbiting Habitation and Logistics Outpost, or HALO.”

The NG-16 Cygnus spacecraft was launched on Aug. 10 aboard Northrop Grumman’s Antares rocket, carrying more than 8,100 pounds of scientific research, supplies and equipment to the astronauts living on the station. The vehicle has been berthed with the orbiting laboratory since Aug. 12.

Details about the mission, and more information on Ellison Onizuka, are available on Northrop Grumman’s website.

Northrop Grumman is a technology company, focused on global security and human discovery. Our pioneering solutions equip our customers with capabilities they need to connect, advance and protect the U.S. and its allies. Driven by a shared purpose to solve our customers’ toughest problems, our 90,000 employees define possible every day.

Quelle: Northrop Grumman Corporation

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Cygnus cargo freighter ends mission at International Space Station

A Northrop Grumman Cygnus supply ship departed the International Space Station Saturday after a three-month stay, heading off on the final phase of its mission to deploy a U.S. military tech demo payload and re-enter the atmosphere to dispose of 7,500 pounds of trash.

The unpiloted cargo freighter was unberthed from the space station’s Unity module early Saturday using the lab’s Canadian-built robotic arm. Ground controllers commanded the arm to position the Cygnus spacecraft below the station, then sent the order to release the cargo ship at 11:01 a.m. EDT (1601 GMT).

Snares at the end of the arm opened, allowing the Cygnus spacecraft to begin floating away. Thrusters on the Cygnus supply ship fired to propel the craft farther from the space station. Within a half-hour, Cygnus was on a safe trajectory away from the station, allowing ground teams at Northrop Grumman in Virginia to begin an extended mission for the spacecraft.

The Cygnus cargo ship, named the S.S. Ellison Onizuka after one of the astronauts who died on the space shuttle Challenger, arrived at the space station Aug. 12 with more than 8,000 pounds of supplies, equipment, and experiments. The freighter launched Aug. 10 on top of an Antares rocket from Wallops Island, Virginia.

The mission is Northrop Grumman’s 16th resupply flight to the International Space Station under contract to NASA.

Astronauts inside the space station unpacked the cargo delivered by the Cygnus spacecraft, then replaced it with trash tagged for disposal.

The Cygnus cargo ship’s extended mission will run through Dec. 15, when the spacecraft will perform a deorbit burn to reenter the atmosphere and burn up over the South Pacific Ocean.

Before its destruction, the spacecraft will deploy a small experimental payload for the U.S. military’s Space Development Agency and Missile Defense Agency.

The Prototype Infrared Payload, or PIRPL, experiment has collected data from a mounting fixture on the outside of the Cygnus spacecraft. Before the ship plunges back into the atmosphere, Cygnus will release the PIRPL payload to conduct standalone observations using its infrared sensor.

The infrared data will help engineers designing the next generation of missile tracking satellites. The technology demonstration will help future U.S. military satellites better detect and track hypersonic missiles, like the ones China and Russia have recently tested.

Northrop Grumman developed and flew the PIRPL payload on the Cygnus spacecraft under a $13.8 million contract from the Space Development Agency.

One of the final experiments of the Cygnus mission will be a test of heat shield technology using three small capsules stowed inside the Cygnus spacecraft.

When the Cygnus breaks apart during re-entry, the capsules will plunge deeper into the atmosphere protected by heat shields made of different types of materials.

Led by engineers at the University of Kentucky, the experiment will collect data from sensors embedded in each capsule’s heat shield. The measurements will be transmitted back to the science team via the Iridium satellite network.

The developers of the re-entry experiment say the data will help validate computer models used in spacecraft design.

“The Cygnus system has evolved from being just a cargo delivery service to a high performing science platform,” said Steve Krein, vice president of civil and commercial space in Northrop Grumman’s tactical space system business unit. “We continue to develop these capabilities to include the installation of environmental control systems and other upgrades to support the lunar orbiting Habitation and Logistics Outpost, or HALO (on NASA’s Gateway lunar space station).”

Quelle: SN