Author Topic: LIVE: Zenit-2SB launch with Phobos-Grunt - November 8, 2011 (Read 662989 times)

yaroslav · « **Reply #340 on:** 11/08/2011 08:11 pm »

short version from http://www.vesti.ru/doc.html?id=624396

cro-magnon gramps · « **Reply #341 on:** 11/08/2011 08:13 pm »

Schedule EST

The spacecraft's main propulsion unit, or MDU, ignites at 2255 GMT (5:55 p.m. EST) for a burn lasting nine-and-a-half minutes to raise the apogee, or high point, of its orbit to an altitude of more than 2,500 miles.
2 minutes later Auxiliary Fuel Tanks Separation

After coasting through space for two hours, Phobos-Grunt's MDU ignites again at 0102 GMT Wednesday (8:02 p.m. EST Tuesday) to accelerate the spacecraft on an escape trajectory toward Mars.

18 minutes later MDU shuts down
Phobos-Grunt reaches an interplanetary trajectory at 0120 GMT Wednesday (8:20 p.m. EST Tuesday) following the second burn of the main propulsion unit. The probe will reach orbit at Mars in October 2012.

Svetoslav, I'll be looking for your updates

Cheers

Gramps

PS going to do my own wall poster with the important milestones for the next few years

Don't want to forget this bird

kaptein80 · « **Reply #342 on:** 11/08/2011 08:22 pm »

Hi,

Thanks to the translator, amazing jobb!! I watched the live transmittion via http://www.tsenki.com/ but since I do not understand russian I was just sitting and watching the transmittion but after the channel was shutdown I found out this web page!! so THANKSS!!!!! Now I wanna learn russian!!

Svetoslav · « **Reply #343 on:** 11/08/2011 08:25 pm »

I am not a Russian speaker - but Russian is close to all Slavic languages, and the narrator was loud and clear.

Yaroslav is also from Ukraine and their mother language is Ukrainian (Ukrainska mova), but I guess they can speak Russian very well.

tehwkd · « **Reply #344 on:** 11/08/2011 08:36 pm »

If you missed it: Launch of Zenit-2SB carrying Fobos-Grunt & Yinghuo-1. [LONG VERSION]

Space Pete · « **Reply #345 on:** 11/08/2011 08:38 pm »

Quote from: JimO on 11/08/2011 03:46 pm

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

From ISS On-Orbit Status Report for 08/11/2011.

FOBOS-GRUNT Launch:
If everything goes as planned, Russia will launch its FOBOS-GRUNT (Phobos-Soil) probe to Mars tonight at 7:16pm EST on a Zenit-2SB/Fregat rocket. The Phobos Sample Return Mission PhSRM, which is also carrying a Chinese Mars satellite, Yinghuo-1, a 2nd Chinese experiment, and an experiment of the U.S. Planetary Society, will land on the Martian moon and return a soil sample (~200g) to Earth. It will also study Mars from orbit, including its atmosphere and dust storms, plasma and radiation environment. The return vehicle is scheduled to arrive back on Earth in August 2014. The spacecraft will be inserted into a 207 x 347 km elliptical orbit inclined 51.4 deg. After 2.5 hrs flight (1.7 revs) the main propulsion system will be ignited to transfer the spacecraft into an elliptical orbit of 250 km x 4150 (...4170) km, with a period of 2.2 hrs. After 2.1 hrs (1 revolution), a 2nd engine burn for TMI (Trans-Mars Injection) at 8:04:06pm EST will transfer the spacecraft into an interplanetary Earth-Mars trajectory.
The ISS crew will be able to view PhSRM tonight, starting at ~7:58pm, at a range of 3248 nmi., with the spacecraft and its exhaust plume in sunlight for the entire duration of the viewing opportunity and the ISS in eclipse (darkness). If successful, Russia is back in the business of planetary exploration. Let’s all wish them well! Godspeed, Fobos-Grunt!

sewand · « **Reply #346 on:** 11/08/2011 08:45 pm »

Good luck Fobos-Grunt! It's a very ambitious and interesting mission.

Blackstar · « **Reply #347 on:** 11/08/2011 08:45 pm »

Many years ago (mid-1990s) I was at a conference where somebody from Ukraine showed a video of the Zenit launch preparations. They were then starting to market it for western launches. The Americans--including some people who worked on US launch vehicle operations--were all amazed at how automated everything was. They just press a few buttons and the vehicle rolls out to the pad and connects itself. They have people to monitor what is happening, but it was a lot different than US launch preparations.

yaroslav · « **Reply #348 on:** 11/08/2011 08:50 pm »

Quote from: Svetoslav on 11/08/2011 07:38 pm

I will be on-line. You can rely on me.

thanks

e of pi · « **Reply #349 on:** 11/08/2011 08:57 pm »

Quote from: Space Pete on 11/08/2011 08:38 pm

Quote from: JimO on 11/08/2011 03:46 pm
Observers are still being recruited to watch the two Fregat burns. Not all of them are on Earth. More to come.

From ISS On-Orbit Status Report for 08/11/2011.

FOBOS-GRUNT Launch:
If everything goes as planned, Russia will launch its FOBOS-GRUNT (Phobos-Soil) probe to Mars tonight at 7:16pm EST on a Zenit-2SB/Fregat rocket. The Phobos Sample Return Mission PhSRM, which is also carrying a Chinese Mars satellite, Yinghuo-1, a 2nd Chinese experiment, and an experiment of the U.S. Planetary Society, will land on the Martian moon and return a soil sample (~200g) to Earth. It will also study Mars from orbit, including its atmosphere and dust storms, plasma and radiation environment. The return vehicle is scheduled to arrive back on Earth in August 2014. The spacecraft will be inserted into a 207 x 347 km elliptical orbit inclined 51.4 deg. After 2.5 hrs flight (1.7 revs) the main propulsion system will be ignited to transfer the spacecraft into an elliptical orbit of 250 km x 4150 (...4170) km, with a period of 2.2 hrs. After 2.1 hrs (1 revolution), a 2nd engine burn for TMI (Trans-Mars Injection) at 8:04:06pm EST will transfer the spacecraft into an interplanetary Earth-Mars trajectory.
The ISS crew will be able to view PhSRM tonight, starting at ~7:58pm, at a range of 3248 nmi., with the spacecraft and its exhaust plume in sunlight for the entire duration of the viewing opportunity and the ISS in eclipse (darkness). If successful, Russia is back in the business of planetary exploration. Let’s all wish them well! Godspeed, Fobos-Grunt!

I would love to see those pictures/video! What an amazing vantage point on this flight!

Blackstar · « **Reply #350 on:** 11/08/2011 09:20 pm »

Here is one of the videos they showed before launch, which shows the vehicle being wheeled out to the pad:

JimO · « **Reply #351 on:** 11/08/2011 09:41 pm »

Quote from: cro-magnon gramps on 11/08/2011 08:13 pm

2 minutes later Auxiliary Fuel Tanks Separation

Don't count this dull-sounding maneuver out as the source of an astonishing sky apparition. The post-sep propellant dump, especially on Molniya-orbit insertions, has created a short-lived dim spherical cloud larger than the moon, moving across the skies of Chile, Argentina, and Uruguay, a dozen times or so in past decades [whenever the burn happened to occur just after local sunset].

Different booster, different ground track, different illumination conditions -- but potentially similar visual effects. Especially if the tank is tumbling as it vents, creating not a symmetric cloud but a spiralform apparition.

And no, nobody who EVER saw these past apparitions EVER suspected it was an EARTH spacecraft causing them. Just the opposite...[sigh].

JimO · « **Reply #352 on:** 11/08/2011 09:46 pm »

Good to see the space cat is out of the bag re the ISS observations. I was relaying messages back and forth for the last three days between friends old and new, tried and true, to facilitate this, and it now may actually happen. Mostly we left upper management out of the loop.

On the Russian side, is there any indication that IKI asked TsUP-M to have Volkov try to see it, or didn't they think to ask?

Svetoslav · « **Reply #353 on:** 11/08/2011 09:55 pm »

Too bad. Novosti Kosmonavtiki appears offline and this is my best source for news...

yaroslav · « **Reply #354 on:** 11/08/2011 09:55 pm »

btw, it is a time for the first burn of the Fobos-Grunt powerplant

JimO · « **Reply #355 on:** 11/08/2011 09:59 pm »

We should be into the first on-orbit burn, crossing the Chile coast near Concepcion, then across to north eastern Brazil. It could be a long time before we hear about any ground sightings, but it will take only half an hour to get confirmation from Moscow that the burn went well.

Then we can monitor live ISS A/G as Mike [and maybe Sergey] report live on what THEY are seeing for burn-2.

yaroslav · « **Reply #356 on:** 11/08/2011 10:06 pm »

23:05:18.253 - UTC time for powerplant shutdown

yaroslav · « **Reply #357 on:** 11/08/2011 10:07 pm »

23:07:17.145 - UTC time for fuel tank separation

pippin · « **Reply #358 on:** 11/08/2011 10:08 pm »

Quote from: Liss on 11/08/2011 07:55 pm

Schedule (UTC):
22:56 First ignition of ADU (for 570 sec)
23:07 Tank jettison
01:03 Second ignition of ADU (for 1061 sec)

Tank jettison? I thought this ADU is essentially a Fregat? Since when does Fregat have jettisonable tanks? Any details on this? I mean: I don't see how this could even work with Fregat's overlapping tanks spheres.
Or is this the additional ring shown in one of the videos?

Svetoslav · « **Reply #359 on:** 11/08/2011 10:10 pm »

The first burn should have been completed, but still can't confirm it... Novosti-kosmonavtiki is down and Roscosmos hasn't updated main page