This morning, at around 1:30 a.m. EDT, Cygnus established direct data contact with the ISS and found that some of the data received had values that it did not expect, causing Cygnus to reject the data. This mandated an interruption of the approach sequence. Orbital has subsequently found the causes of this discrepancy and is developing a software fix. The minimum turnaround time to resume the approach to the ISS following an interruption such as this is approximately 48 hours due to the orbital mechanics of the approach trajectory.
Orbital Sciences has confirmed that this morning, around 1:30 a.m. EDT, its Cygnus spacecraft established direct data contact with the International Space Station (ISS) and found that some of the data received had values that it did not expect, causing Cygnus to reject the data. This mandated an interruption of the approach sequence. Orbital has subsequently found the causes of this discrepancy and is developing a software fix. The minimum turnaround time to resume the approach to the ISS following an interruption such as this is approximately 48 hours due to orbital mechanics of the approach trajectory.
Quelle: NASA
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Update: 23.09.2013
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Cygnus In-Orbit Update
7:45 a.m. Sunday, September 22, 2013
Following the discovery of a data format discrepancy between an on-board International Space Station (ISS) navigation system and a similar system on Cygnus at around 1:30 a.m. this morning, today's rendezvous with the station was postponed. At this time, NASA and Orbital are developing a detailed plan for a second rendezvous attempt early Tuesday morning.
A software update has been developed and will be tested on a ground-based simulator during the day on Sunday. Upload to Cygnus and in-orbit testing of the software "patch" is planned for Sunday night and into Monday morning. Once this has been accomplished and verified, the current plan is for Cygnus to begin a second rendezvous approach late Monday night, with final approach to the ISS and grapple taking place early Tuesday morning. The Cygnus spacecraft remains healthy, with all major subsystems operating as expected.
Quelle: Orbital
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Update: 24.09.2013
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Cygnus In-Orbit Update
Monday, September 23, 2013
This morning, Orbital and NASA together decided to postpone the approach, rendezvous, grapple and berthing operations of the Cygnus cargo logistics spacecraft with the International Space Station until after the upcoming Soyuz crew operations are complete. The Soyuz crew is due to arrive at the ISS very late on Wednesday, September 25. The earliest possible date for the next Cygnus approach and rendezvous with the ISS would be Saturday, September 28. An exact schedule will be determined following the successful completion of Soyuz operations.
Over the past 24 hours, the Orbital team developed and tested a software fix for the data format mismatch that necessitated a postponement of the first rendezvous operation that was scheduled for the early morning of September 22. However, that process, together with the impending Soyuz crew operations, resulted in a tight schedule to the point that both Orbital and NASA felt it was the right decision to postpone the Cygnus approach and rendezvous until after Soyuz operations.
"This new schedule will allow the Orbital operations team to carefully plan and be well-rested before restarting the critical final approach to the space station. Meanwhile, Cygnus has all the resources needed to remain in orbit for an extended period of time," said Mr. Frank Culbertson, Orbital's Executive Vice President and General Manager of its Advanced Programs Group.
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Update: 27.09.2013
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Commercial capsule Cygnus on track to dock with International Space Station on Sunday
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HOUSTON, Texas - The first docking of a second commercial space company with the International Space Station is now expected to take place perhaps as soon as Sunday morning, according to Orbital Sciences Inc.
Orbital launched its Cygnus capsule Sept. 18 in an attempt to join SpaceX as the only other commercial company to successfully dock with the space station as part of a NASA program to turn the tasks of transporting supplies and crews to the ISS to private businesses.
The docking was delayed Sunday when Cygnus and the space station had communication issues because of software problems. NASA also decided to wait until after a new crew arrived at the space station on Wednesday.
Orbital said today that the spacecraft is functioning well, the communication issues have been resolved and final discussions over the next attempt at rendezvous are taking place with NASA.
NASA TV will broadcast the rendezvous operations, including approach, grapple and installation beginning at 4:30 a.m. (EDT) on Sunday morning. It will also be available on the NASA website.
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Cygnus In-Orbit Update
Thursday, September 26, 2013
The Cygnus spacecraft remains healthy in-orbit, with all major onboard systems performing as expected. Over the past several days, the Cygnus engineering team developed, validated and uploaded the one-line software "patch" that resolved the GPS data roll-over discrepancy that was identified during the initial approach to the ISS last Saturday.
Orbital and NASA are currently discussing the best rendezvous opportunity, with the current trajectory plan supporting Sunday morning, September 29 as the next opportunity to rendezvous with and approach the ISS. This schedule is still subject to final review and approval by the NASA and Orbital teams.
The Cygnus spacecraft is currently holding at about 2,400 km behind the ISS. Later this evening, Cygnus will perform the first of a series of thruster burns to begin the journey back towards the ISS to be in the right position for a rendezvous as early as Sunday morning.
Since its launch from Wallops Island, VA on September 18 aboard our Antares rocket, the Cygnus mission operations team has been monitoring the spacecraft 24/7 with two operational teams - the blue team and the green team -- pulling alternate shifts. Program personnel are well-rested and fully prepared for Sunday's approach and rendezvous. NASA TV will broadcast the rendezvous operations, including approach, grapple and installation beginning at 4:30 a.m. (EDT) on Sunday morning.
Quelle: Orbital
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Update: 28.09.2013
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Cygnus Now Set for Sunday Berthing at ISS
Orbital Sciences Corp.’s supply-laden Cygnus tug is now scheduled to make its first delivery to the international space station (ISS) early Sunday morning (Sept. 29), several hours before rival cargo-delivery contractor Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) conducts an important but unrelated demonstration mission of its own.
Cygnus, which launched Sept. 18 on its first and only NASA-sponsored demonstration mission, originally was scheduled to arrive last Sunday (Sept. 22) at the ISS but a miscommunication between the spacecraft and the station forced flight controllers to abort the rendezvous. After initially planning to try again Tuesday (Sept. 24), NASA and Orbital Sciences decided to stand down for the Wednesday (Sept. 25) launch and arrival of Russian Soyuz capsule carrying three fresh crew members to the ISS and target a Cygnus rendezvous instead for no earlier than Saturday (Sept. 28)
Orbital Sciences spokesman Barry Beneski emailed reporters Thursday (Sept. 26) that the Cygnus engineering team had developed, validated and uploaded a one-line software patch to fix the “GPS data discrepancy rollover” that prompted last weekend’s abort. With all major systems performing as expected, Cygnus began a series of thruster burns late Thursday night to put it on track for a Sunday arrival.
“Orbital and NASA are currently discussing the best rendezvous opportunity, with the current trajectory plan supporting Sunday morning, September 29 as the next opportunity to rendezvous and approach the ISS,” Beneski wrote. “This schedule is still subject to final review and approval by the NASA and Orbital teams.”
Assuming the plan holds, NASA TV will begin its coverage of the rendezvous operation at 4:30 a.m. EDT. Beneski told SpaceNews Friday that Cygnus would be grappled by the station’s robotic arm shortly after 7 a.m. and painstakingly maneuvered into position with the docking port on the station’s Harmony module.
“That assumes nominal operations,” Beneski said. “Then it’s this glacial process, as I understand it, to bring the spacecraft into the berthing port and then the astronauts actually have to bolt it in. I think there are 16 bolts they mechanically attach. It’s at that point, when it’s attached, when we and NASA can say it’s done, it’s berthed.”
Once Cygnus is attached to the station, astronauts will unload a cache of noncritical cargo. The barrel-shaped spacecraft is scheduled to remain attached to the station for about 30 days. After that, the trash-laden tug will depart from the outpost, re-enter Earth’s atmosphere and burn up over the Pacific Ocean.
A successful Cygnus mission will clear the way for Orbital Sciences to begin regular deliveries to ISS under an eight-flight, $1.9 billion contract it got from NASA in 2008. SpaceX, which got an 18-month head start on its NASA-funded demonstration effort, has made two deliveries under its 12-flight, $1.6 billion contract and is currently expected to make its third delivery flight in early 2014.
In the meantime, SpaceX is focused on successfully demonstrating its upgraded Falcon 9 rocket and launching its first commercial communications satellites to geostationary transfer orbit. Falcon 9 v1.1’s maiden launch had been scheduled to lift off Sept. 15 from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., carrying Canada’s experimental Cassiope space weather satellite, but problems observed during a pre-launch static fire test and range conflicts prompted SpaceX to postpone the launch two weeks. As of Friday, launch was slated to happen between noon and 2 p.m. EDT. Sunday.
Cygnus was launched Sept. 18 by its Antares carrier rocket from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport, a state-operated facility at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.
Quelle:Spacenews
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Update: 17.00 MESZ
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Cygnus Rendezvous and Capture Programming Schedule
The full schedule of the Cygnus rendezvous, grapple and berthing activities includes (all times are Eastern):
Sunday, September 29
4:30 a.m. - Cygnus rendezvous, grapple and berthing coverage begins
7:15 a.m. - Grapple of Cygnus by International Space Station's Canadarm2 robotic arm 9:15 a.m. - Cygnus berthing to Earth-facing port of Harmony node begins ~11:20 a.m. - Cygnus berthing complete (2nd stage capture)
1 p.m. - Cygnus Post-Capture News Conference
Joint news conference will take place at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston and NASA Headquarters in Washington. Media may participate by telephone by contacting Johnson's newsroom at 218-483-5111 no later than 15 minutes prior to the start of the briefing.
Quelle: NASA
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Update: 29.09.2013
Ankunft von Cygnus bei ISS / Frams NASA-TV LIVE
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Quelle: NASA
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Update: 17.10.2013
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Orbital's Cygnus team has updated its thruster burn schedule for the spacecraft's controlled reentry into Earth's atmosphere. Following its unberthing and departure from the ISS on October 22 at approximately 6:00 a.m. and 7:30 a.m. respectively, Cygnus is now expected to reenter the atmosphere on October 23rd at approximately 2:18 p.m. (eastern) over the Pacific Ocean east of New Zealand.
Quelle: Orbital
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Update: 18.10.2013
Vorbereitung für Cygnus Abflug von ISS
Attached to the Harmony node, the first Cygnus commercial cargo spacecraft built by Orbital Sciences Corp., in the grasp of the Canadarm2, is photographed by an Expedition 37 crew member on the International Space Station.
The Expedition 37 crew aboard the International Space Station focused Thursday on preparations for the upcoming departure of two cargo ships. The robotic unberthing of Orbital Sciences’ Cygnus resupply ship on Tuesday will mark the start of several weeks of unusually busy vehicle traffic at the orbiting complex.
Flight Engineers Luca Parmitano and Karen Nyberg spent much of their day in space conducting a round of on-board training to review the procedures for using the station’s robotic arm to detach Cygnus from the Earth-facing port of the Harmony node on Tuesday and release it for a destructive re-entry in the Earth’s atmosphere. The two astronauts used the arm to capture Cygnus back on Sept. 29 when it delivered around 1,300 pounds of cargo during this inaugural demonstration flight.
With Cygnus’ cargo of crew supplies and experiments having been fully unloaded, Nyberg and Flight Engineer Mike Hopkins spent some time Thursday refilling it with trash and other unneeded items for disposal.
Meanwhile, Flight Engineer Oleg Kotov installed and connected a control panel to monitor the departure of the European Space Agency’s Automated Transfer Vehicle-4 (ATV-4), which is set to undock from the aft port of the Zvezda service module on Oct. 28 after more than four months at the station. Like Cygnus, the ATV-4 will be de-orbited for a fiery demise over the Pacific Ocean.
The departure of ATV-4 will clear the way for Nyberg, Parmitano and Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin to relocate their Soyuz 35 from its docking port on the Rassvet module to the newly vacated Zvezda port on Nov. 1.
Less than a week later on Nov. 7, three new station crew members -- NASA astronaut Rick Mastracchio, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Koichi Wakata and Soyuz commander Mikhail Tyurin of the Russian Federal Space Agency – will launch aboard their Soyuz 37 spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome and dock to Rassvet about six hours later.
For four days, nine astronauts and cosmonauts will live and work together aboard the station before Yurchikhin, Nyberg and Parmitano make their final farewells and board their Soyuz for the return to Earth after more than five months in space. Their departure will mark the end of Expedition 37 and the beginning of Expedition 38 under the command of Kotov.
The Expedition 37 crew members also tackled a number of scientific experiments Thursday, continuing their support of station research as they had throughout the recent U.S. government shutdown.
Hopkins performed an ultrasound on Nyberg for the Spinal Ultrasound investigation. Medical researchers have observed that astronauts grow up to three percent taller during their long duration missions aboard the station and return to their normal height when back on Earth. The Spinal Ultrasound investigation seeks to understand the mechanism and impact of this change while advancing medical imaging technology by testing a smaller and more portable ultrasound device aboard the station.
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Flight Engineer Karen Nyberg enters data into a computer near the Microgravity Science Glovebox in the Destiny laboratory of the International Space Station.
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Quelle: NASA
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Update: 19.10.2013
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NASA TV Coverage Set Cygnus and ATV Departures, Soyuz Launch Preparations
NASA Television will provide live coverage of the departure of the newest U.S. commercial cargo spacecraft to deliver supplies to the International Space Station and undocking of the fourth European Space Agency cargo vehicle.
Coverage for departure of the Cygnus spacecraft begins at 7 a.m. EDT Tuesday, Oct. 22. The spacecraft has been attached to the space station since Sept. 29 on a demonstration cargo resupply mission by Orbital Sciences Corp. of Dulles, Va.
Coverage for departure of the fourth European Space Agency (ESA) Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV-4) cargo spacecraft begins at 4:45 a.m. Monday, Oct. 28.
Cygnus delivered about 1,300 pounds (589 kilograms) of cargo, including food, clothing and student experiments to the Expedition 37 crew aboard the space station. Future flights of Cygnus will significantly increase NASA's ability to deliver new science investigations to the only laboratory in microgravity.
Astronauts will load Cygnus with items no longer needed and detach the spacecraft from the station's Harmony module using the orbiting complex's robotic arm. The crew will release Cygnus at 7:30 a.m. Orbital engineers then will conduct a series of planned burns and maneuvers to move Cygnus toward a destructive re-entry in Earth's atmosphere Wednesday, Oct. 23.
Cygnus was launched on the company's Antares rocket on Sept. 18 from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport Pad-0A at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.
Orbital is the second of NASA’s two partners taking part in the agency's Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program. The goal of COTS is to develop safe, reliable and cost effective cargo transportation systems. Following a successful demonstration mission, the company is poised to begin regular resupply missions.
The ATV-4 spacecraft, named Albert Einstein by ESA in honor of the 20th century theoretical physicist and icon of modern science, launched atop an Ariane 5 rocket from Kourou, French Guiana June 5. The spacecraft docked to the aft port of the Russian Zvezda Service Module June 15, delivering more than 7 tons of supplies.
ATV-4 also will be loaded with items no longer needed aboard the space station. The spacecraft will back away from the station to a safe distance for an engine firing that will enable it to make a planned destructive return through Earth's atmosphere Sunday, Nov. 2.
Preparations also are under way for launch of a new expedition crew to the space station. Launch is scheduled for 11:14 p.m. EDT Wednesday, Nov. 6, from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. New video of launch preparations will begin airing on NASA Television Oct. 22.
Quelle: NASA
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Update: 22.10.2013
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NASA Television will provide live coverage of the departure of the newest U.S. commercial cargo spacecraft to deliver supplies to the International Space Station and undocking of the fourth European Space Agency cargo vehicle.
Coverage for departure of the Cygnus spacecraft begins at 7 a.m. EDT Tuesday, Oct. 22. The spacecraft has been attached to the space station since Sept. 29 on a demonstration cargo resupply mission by Orbital Sciences Corp. of Dulles, Va.
Coverage for departure of the fourth European Space Agency (ESA) Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV-4) cargo spacecraft begins at 4:45 a.m. Monday, Oct. 28.
Cygnus delivered about 1,300 pounds (589 kilograms) of cargo, including food, clothing and student experiments to the Expedition 37 crew aboard the space station. Future flights of Cygnus will significantly increase NASA's ability to deliver new science investigations to the only laboratory in microgravity.
Astronauts will load Cygnus with items no longer needed and detach the spacecraft from the station's Harmony module using the orbiting complex's robotic arm. The crew will release Cygnus at 7:30 a.m. Orbital engineers then will conduct a series of planned burns and maneuvers to move Cygnus toward a destructive re-entry in Earth's atmosphere Wednesday, Oct. 23.
Quelle: NASA
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Update: 22.10.2013 / 21.55 MESZ
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Cygnus Commercial Cargo Craft Completes Historic First Flight to Space Station
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The Cygnus commercial resupply craft departed the ISS this morning (Oct. 22) to complete its maiden voyage after being released from Canadarm2 by station astronauts. Credit: NASA TV
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Commercial space took another major leap forward this morning, Oct 22., when the privately developed Cygnus cargo vehicle undocked from the International Space Station on its historic maiden flight and successfully completed a highly productive month long stay during its demonstration mission – mostly amidst the US government shutdown.
The Cygnus was maneuvered about 10 meters (30 feet) away from the station and held in the steady grip of the stations fully extended robotic arm when astronauts Karen Nyberg and Luca Parmitano unlatched the arm and released the ship into free space at 7:31 a.m. EDT today – signifying an end to joint flight operations.
The next Cygnus resupply vessel is due to blast off in mid-December and is already loaded with new science experiments for microgravity research and assorted gear and provisions.
After the Expedition 37 crew members quickly pulled the arm back to a distance 1.5 meters away from Cygnus, ground controllers issued a planned “abort” command to fire the ships thrusters and safely depart from the massive orbiting lab complex.
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Space Station robotic arm releases Cygnus after detachment from the ISS Harmony node. Credit: NASA TV
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“It’s been a great mission. Nice work today!” radioed Houston Mission Control at NASA’s Johnson Space Center.
The vehicles were flying over the Atlantic Ocean and off the east coast of Argentina as Cygnus left the station some 250 miles (400 km) overhead in low Earth orbit.
The event was carried live on NASA TV and Cygnus was seen moving rapidly away.
Barely five minutes later Cygnus was already 200 meters away, appeared very small in the cameras view and exited the imaginary “Keep Out Sphere” – a strictly designated safety zone around the million pound station.
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Cygnus commercial cargo craft rapidly departed the ISS this morning (Oct. 22) after release from the Canadarm2 robotic arm. Station modules visible at bottom. Credit: NASA TV
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The Cygnus resupply ship delivered about 1,300 pounds (589 kilograms) of cargo, including food, clothing, water, science experiments, spare parts and gear to the six person Expedition 37 crew.
After the crew unloaded all that cargo, they packed the ship with 2,850 pounds of no longer needed trash.
On Wednesday (Oct. 23), a pair of deorbit burns with target Cygnus for a destructive reentry back into the Earth’s atmosphere at 2:18 p.m. EDT, to plummet harmlessly into the Pacific Ocean.
Cygnus was developed by Orbital Sciences Corp. with seed money from NASA in a public-private partnership between NASA and Orbital Sciences under NASA’s COTS commercial transportation initiative.
SpaceX Corp. was also awarded a COTS contract to develop the Dragon cargo carrier so that NASA would have a dual capability to stock up the station.
COTS was aimed at fostering the development of America’s commercial space industry to deliver critical and essential supplies to the ISS following the retirement of the Space Shuttle program.
“Congratulations to the teams at Orbital Sciences and NASA who worked hard to make this demonstration mission to the International Space Station an overwhelming success,” NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said in a statement.
“We are delighted to now have two American companies able to resupply the station. U.S. innovation and inspiration have once again shown their great strength in the design and operation of a new generation of vehicles to carry cargo to our laboratory in space. Orbital’s success today is helping make NASA’s future exploration to farther destinations possible.”
America completely lost its capability to send humans and cargo to the ISS when NASA’s space shuttles were forcibly retired in 2011. Orbital Sciences and SpaceX were awarded NASA contracts worth over $3 Billion to restore the unmanned cargo resupply capability over 20 flights totally.
Cygnus was launched to orbit on its inaugural flight on Sept. 18 atop Orbital’s commercial Antares rocket from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility on the Eastern shore of Virginia.
The initially planned Sept. 22 berthing of the spacecraft at a port on the Earth facing Harmony node was delayed a week to Sept. 29 due to an easily fixed communications glitch. It was no worse for the wear and performed admirably.
“Antares next flight is scheduled for mid December,” according to Frank Culbertson, former astronaut and now Orbital’s executive Vice President responsible for the Antares and Cygnus programs.
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After launching to orbit atop the Antares rocket on Sept. 18, the first ever Cygnus cargo spacecraft chased the ISS and docked on Sept 29. Here is full scale, high fidelity mockup of Cygnus to give a feel for its size being similar to a small room.
