Author Topic: LIVE: Tianzhou-1 - CZ-7 (Y2) - WSLC, LC201 - April 20, 2017 (11:41 UTC)  (Read 101752 times)

Offline Olaf

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http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2017-03/04/c_136101226.htm
China's 1st cargo spacecraft to make three rendezvous with Tiangong-2

Offline Galactic Penguin SST

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2017-03/04/c_136101226.htm
China's 1st cargo spacecraft to make three rendezvous with Tiangong-2

Not only 3 rendezvous and dockings, but also 3 separate tests of the fuel transfer system as well. TZ-1 will remain docked with TG-2 for a total of 2 months, with another 3 months' time flying solo.

In other news, the CZ-7 rocket has left the plant for Wenchang yesterday. Interestingly a regular cargo ship is being used instead of the special rocket transport ships the Chinese have.....  ;)

Video of the ship leaving Tianjin port: http://tv.cntv.cn/video/C10166/7c7d9c7ce1f7451ca83d5bece42c9be7
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Chang Zheng-7 (Y2) for the Tianzhou-1 launch arrived today at Wenchang.

Offline linxiaoyi

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[Map] Long March VII rocket arrived in Wenchang launch site can launch cargo spacecraft
http://www.spaceflightfans.cn/10764.html
Video:http://tv.cntv.cn/video/C10616/1e823f932e1e4be2aa6bcef0161ab2f5
« Last Edit: 03/11/2017 06:06 am by linxiaoyi »
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Offline Galactic Penguin SST

According to https://twitter.com/cnspaceflight/status/840490961268482048 rumors point to launch planned on April 23 at 10:20 UTC (can someone check if the orbital plane of TG-2 does cross Wenchang at that time?)

There will be cubesat deployer on board TZ-1 with at least 1 cubesat to be released during the mission.
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Offline Nordren

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Offline Phillip Clark

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I think I might be right here, but will Tianzhou docking with Tiangong 2 be the first time that a significantly heavier spacecraft has been the active partner in a docking operation?
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Offline EgorBotts

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I think I might be right here, but will Tianzhou docking with Tiangong 2 be the first time that a significantly heavier spacecraft has been the active partner in a docking operation?

Automated/unmanned, probably.
 
Apollo + APAS was way heavier than Soyuz in the 1975 rendez-vous, and it was the active part for the two docking operations performed during the mission.
Besides, Shuttle would have been heavier than Mir in 1995, no?

Offline Phillip Clark

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I think I might be right here, but will Tianzhou docking with Tiangong 2 be the first time that a significantly heavier spacecraft has been the active partner in a docking operation?
Automated/unmanned, probably.
 Apollo + APAS was way heavier than Soyuz in the 1975 rendez-vous, and it was the active part for the two docking operations performed during the mission.
Besides, Shuttle would have been heavier than Mir in 1995, no?

Good point about Soyuz and Apollo.   As for the shuttle orbiter and the Mir complex, I don't think that the ratio of the two masses was as great as that of Tiangong 2 and Tianzhou 1 which is approaching 2:1.
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Offline luhai167

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Some images of TZ-1 (and what looks like a Shenzhou orbital module?) in ChinaSpaceFlight's twitter:


https://twitter.com/cnspaceflight/status/831085372687781888


Arrived Feb 3rd in Hainan, mid-March scheduled for the CZ-7 carrier.

That thing is probably the pressurized compartment of the 2nd TZ unit - wrong launch site for Shenzhou I'm afraid. ;)

Launch is scheduled for mid-late April.

There are speculations that these are modules for the Chinese space telescope.





http://www.popsci.com/chinas-answer-to-hubble-telescope


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Offline limen4

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As far as I understand from the illustrations the planned sequence of joint TG-2 andTZ-1 flight activities is:
1. Launch of TZ-1
2. First docking with TG-2
3. Undocking of TZ-2 and flying around TG-1
4. Second docking with TG-2
5. Undocking of TZ-1
6. Third docking (a rapid one) with TG-2
7. Joint orbit change
8. Undocking of TZ-1 and separate flying

Offline Phillip Clark

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Cross-posting from the Tiangong 2 thread.

During April 4-6 the orbit of Tiangong 2 was raised from 92.12 min, 374-382 km to 92.26 minutes, 379-391 km which is slightly above the 46-circuits repeating orbit period.

Presumably this is in preparation for the Tianzhou 1 launch - still scheduled for April 23?
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Offline linxiaoyi

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Cross-posting from the Tiangong 2 thread.

During April 4-6 the orbit of Tiangong 2 was raised from 92.12 min, 374-382 km to 92.26 minutes, 379-391 km which is slightly above the 46-circuits repeating orbit period.

Presumably this is in preparation for the Tianzhou 1 launch - still scheduled for April 23?

According to speculation here, in 23 April 19:40
http://www.spaceflightfans.cn/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/148990140.jpg
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Offline Steven Pietrobon

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According to speculation here, in 23 April 19:40
http://www.spaceflightfans.cn/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/148990140.jpg

Is that UTC or local? That image shows a date and time of 22 April 14:16:27. Assuming that is the local launch time, that gives a launch date and time of 22 April 06:16:27 UTC.
« Last Edit: 04/09/2017 05:58 am by Steven Pietrobon »
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Offline SmallKing

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Roll-out on 17th, launch on 20th
Very accurate information below

http://bbs.9ifly.cn/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=89195&mobile=0
« Last Edit: 04/09/2017 06:52 am by SmallKing »
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Offline Phillip Clark

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Roll-out on 17th, launch on 20th
Very accurate information below
http://bbs.9ifly.cn/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=89195&mobile=0

Like most people on here, I cannot read Chinese.   So am I right in reading a launch time of 22:00 on April 20th, Beijing Time?   That time seems to be rather "rounded".
I've always been crazy but it's kept me from going insane - WJ.

Offline SmallKing

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Roll-out on 17th, launch on 20th
Very accurate information below
http://bbs.9ifly.cn/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=89195&mobile=0

Like most people on here, I cannot read Chinese.   So am I right in reading a launch time of 22:00 on April 20th, Beijing Time?   That time seems to be rather "rounded".
That's end time of rocket party. In the likely scenario, Roll-out should be on 17th morning, and Launch in 19:40:45 20th, backup window on 23th, according to some calculation here

http://bbs.9ifly.cn/forum.php?mod=redirect&goto=findpost&ptid=68618&pid=535438
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Offline Phillip Clark

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Roll-out on 17th, launch on 20th
Very accurate information below
http://bbs.9ifly.cn/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=89195&mobile=0
Like most people on here, I cannot read Chinese.   So am I right in reading a launch time of 22:00 on April 20th, Beijing Time?   That time seems to be rather "rounded".
That's end time of rocket party. In the likely scenario, Roll-out should be on 17th morning, and Launch in 19:40:45 20th, backup window on 23th, according to some calculation here
http://bbs.9ifly.cn/forum.php?mod=redirect&goto=findpost&ptid=68618&pid=535438

April 20 and 23 fit with the Tiangong 2 orbit repeating every 46 circuits - just less than three days.
I've always been crazy but it's kept me from going insane - WJ.

Offline Galactic Penguin SST

The times above are local time, so T-0 will be around 11:40 UTC for April 20 and 10:18 UTC for April 23.
I'll translate the calculations for these co-planar launch times made at a Chinese spaceflight forum later.
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