LIVE: Zenit-2SB launch with Phobos-Grunt - November 8, 2011

[pargoo]

     Does the international cooperation involved - okay, it's mostly China, but you know what I mean - mean real/hi-res launch pics, or just the usual postage-stamps?

[woods170]

     Does the international cooperation involved - okay, it's mostly China, but you know what I mean - mean real/hi-res launch pics, or just the usual postage-stamps?

The latter. No hi-res out of the official channels such as Roscosmos and the likes is to be expected.
If ESA or NASA had been involved this might have been different. Oh well.. Maybe one of the Russian forum members will be out there with a camera. Maybe...

[Jason1701]

     Does the international cooperation involved - okay, it's mostly China, but you know what I mean - mean real/hi-res launch pics, or just the usual postage-stamps?

The latter. No hi-res out of the official channels such as Roscosmos and the likes is to be expected.
If ESA or NASA had been involved this might have been different. Oh well.. Maybe one of the Russian forum members will be out there with a camera. Maybe...

Strange. Their rollout videos are always amazing.

[anik]

I'm still quite confused of the name of the launch vehicle

Zenit-2SB41.1 two-stage rocket plus Fobos-Grunt satellite equals Zenit-2FG (or Zenit-2SLB, but not Zenit-3F) rocket.

[snowhole]

I'm still quite confused of the name of the launch vehicle

Zenit-2SB41.1 two-stage rocket plus Fobos-Grunt satellite equals Zenit-2FG (or Zenit-2SLB, but not Zenit-3F) rocket.

Cheers for the clarification!

[pargoo]

     The latter. No hi-res out of the official channels such as Roscosmos and the likes is to be expected.
    If ESA or NASA had been involved this might have been different. Oh well.. Maybe one of the Russian forum members will be out there with a camera. Maybe...

    That sucks majorly!!!!  This is a mouth-watering mission.  Personally, I doubt they'll succeed, but having said that I don't want to jinx them.  Color close-ups of Phobos...yum-mee!

[Liss]

I'm still quite confused of the name of the launch vehicle

Zenit-2SB41.1 two-stage rocket plus Fobos-Grunt satellite equals Zenit-2FG (or Zenit-2SLB, but not Zenit-3F) rocket.

Cheers for the clarification!

The idea is that '3' requires some third stage in addition to basic Zenit-2SB type vehicle. In the case of Fobos-Grunt, there is no third stage per documentation, even if Fobos-Grunt ADU propulsion unit is a clone of Fregat.

[Chandonn]

... Personally, I doubt they'll succeed, but having said that I don't want to jinx them...

I'll be happy if the Martians don't shoot this one down too, as they have so many in the past decades...   

[cd-slam]

Dear people who spell Fobos-Grunt as Phobos-Grunt. YOU are the worst! Leave it as Fobos-Grunt or translate it into Phobos-Soil, Phobos-Ground, Phobos-Dirt, .......

And if saying the name out loud, please pronounce 'u' in "Grunt" as the "oo" in "moon": it sounds so much better and is more faithful to the Russian pronunciation.

For those who don't know Russian, the Latin pronunciation will suffice.

I agree. The English meaning has a much better "Home Improvement" connotation. Go Fobos-Grunt!

[Satori]

At http://phobos.cosmos.ru/index.php?id=618&L=2 it is said that "After 2.5 hours flight (1.7 revolutions) at this based orbit the main propulsion system will be switch on to transfer the spacecraft into the elliptical orbit (250 km x 4150...4170 km), period 2,2 hours. After 2.1 hours (1 revolutions) 2-nd engine burn will transfer the spacecraft into an interplanetary Earth-Mars trajectory." But on http://sci.esa.int/science-e/www/object/index.cfm?fobjectid=49084 is said that "At launch, the spacecraft will be inserted into a 200-km circular orbit around Earth with an inclination of 51.8 degrees. After four hours of flight (2.8 revolutions) in this orbit, the propulsion system will be switched on to transfer the spacecraft into an elliptical orbit (230 x 11100 km, period 3.65 hours) from where it is transferred onto a trajectory to Mars."

Can someone explain which one is correct?

[Cbased]

User "Vovan" from NK forum started very interesting commentary:
http://www.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=10631&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=2385

in 2 words: Everything is OK, on schedule.
Waiting for a Government comission decision at 6pm local (Baikonur) time

[Space Pete]

What's the launch time in GMT? Thanks.

[ugordan]

Isn't it 20:16 GMT?

[Space Pete]

Isn't it 20:16 GMT?

Yup - just found 3:16 PM EST on another site - which I make to be 8:16 PM GMT.

Cool, that means I can watch it.

[Juggernaut]

Hello,

please, do you know if there is a website with broadcast "live" of the launch? if yes can you post the link?

thanks a lot in advance!

Cheers

[Hidestar]

http://www.tsenki.com/en/broadcast/

[Satori]

Isn't it 20:16 GMT?

Yup - just found 3:16 PM EST on another site - which I make to be 8:16 PM GMT.

Cool, that means I can watch it.

Plan of Russian Launches thread http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=26990.15

[Stan Black]

I'm still quite confused of the name of the launch vehicle

Zenit-2SB41.1 two-stage rocket plus Fobos-Grunt satellite equals Zenit-2FG (or Zenit-2SLB, but not Zenit-3F) rocket.

Cheers for the clarification!

The idea is that '3' requires some third stage in addition to basic Zenit-2SB type vehicle. In the case of Fobos-Grunt, there is no third stage per documentation, even if Fobos-Grunt ADU propulsion unit is a clone of Fregat.

 So what is unique about this rocket that makes it a Zenit-2SB41?

[JimO]

Observers are still being recruited to watch the two Fregat burns. Not all of them are on Earth. More to come.

[knotnic]

At http://phobos.cosmos.ru/index.php?id=618&L=2 it is said that "After 2.5 hours flight (1.7 revolutions) at this based orbit the main propulsion system will be switch on to transfer the spacecraft into the elliptical orbit (250 km x 4150...4170 km), period 2,2 hours. After 2.1 hours (1 revolutions) 2-nd engine burn will transfer the spacecraft into an interplanetary Earth-Mars trajectory." But on http://sci.esa.int/science-e/www/object/index.cfm?fobjectid=49084 is said that "At launch, the spacecraft will be inserted into a 200-km circular orbit around Earth with an inclination of 51.8 degrees. After four hours of flight (2.8 revolutions) in this orbit, the propulsion system will be switched on to transfer the spacecraft into an elliptical orbit (230 x 11100 km, period 3.65 hours) from where it is transferred onto a trajectory to Mars."

Can someone explain which one is correct?

I think the one from the phobos.cosmos.ru page is right, at least according to the TLEs they're giving on another page on that site which they've been publicizing to get people to observe the burns.

There are 2 engine burns.  It is launched into a near-circular orbit.  The 1st burn (after 1.7 orbits) raises the apogee to 4150 km.  The 2nd burn, which occurs near perigee just about 1 orbit later, is the escape burn. 

The only place I could find the 11000 km value with a quick google search is a presentation from 2009 (http://www.jamesoberg.com/presentation.pdf).  So it's out of date.