Author Topic: ISS RS: Nauka Multipurpose Laboratory Module-Upgrade (MLM-U) General Updates and Discussion Thread  (Read 802811 times)

Offline Bob Shaw

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Considering how old ISS already is, I'd recommend incorporating Nauka into the plans for Gateway so Russia can get the most bang out of their rubles.

Surely the more likely solution is to launch it to the Chinese station instead?

Offline IanThePineapple

If it launches in 2019, it will have at least 5-9 years of operation on the Station (Based on the confirmed up-to-2024 commitments and the proposed 2028 extension). It seems worth it to me, unless it continues getting delayed.

How about launching it to the new Chinese ISS or the Gateway? I don't know, and not much is known about them yet either. A bit too early to say.
« Last Edit: 05/29/2018 10:26 pm by IanThePineapple »

Offline Targeteer

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http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Possible_launch_date_of_Russias_Nauka_module_to_ISS_999.html

...Meanwhile, the launch of Russia's MLM Nauka to the ISS may be postponed until 2020 from 2019, a source at the Baikonur cosmodrome told Sputnik...

Source: Sputnik News
Best quote heard during an inspection, "I was unaware that I was the only one who was aware."

Offline Phosphorus

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Is the Proton launcher for MLM manufactured, and sitting somewhere, waiting for the go-ahead to fly?
Or is it still to be built?

With the upcoming retirement of Proton:
https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=17568.msg1833077#msg1833077

I'm curious to know if the launcher for MLM is already in existence, or is part of the final batches to be built?
Ceterum autem censeo Moscoviae esse delendam

Offline woods170

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Is the Proton launcher for MLM manufactured, and sitting somewhere, waiting for the go-ahead to fly?
Or is it still to be built?

With the upcoming retirement of Proton:
https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=17568.msg1833077#msg1833077

I'm curious to know if the launcher for MLM is already in existence, or is part of the final batches to be built?

The only part of the launcher for MLM that is know to actually exist is the fairing. That is because the fairing is a special build. Some of the protrusions of the MLM stick slightly outside the payload envelope, notably where the European Robotic Arm (ERA) is attached to the module. To make room for those protrusions a part of the "skin-on-stringers" construction of the fairing was modified.
Seen from the outside the fairing for MLM looks no different from a regular one, but internally it is different in a few places.

Offline russianhalo117

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Is the Proton launcher for MLM manufactured, and sitting somewhere, waiting for the go-ahead to fly?
Or is it still to be built?

With the upcoming retirement of Proton:
https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=17568.msg1833077#msg1833077

I'm curious to know if the launcher for MLM is already in existence, or is part of the final batches to be built?

The only part of the launcher for MLM that is know to actually exist is the fairing. That is because the fairing is a special build. Some of the protrusions of the MLM stick slightly outside the payload envelope, notably where the European Robotic Arm (ERA) is attached to the module. To make room for those protrusions a part of the "skin-on-stringers" construction of the fairing was modified.
Seen from the outside the fairing for MLM looks no different from a regular one, but internally it is different in a few places.
Every launcher to date that has been assigned to MLM has been flown upon reaching the end of its useful certified life by flying other government payloads. MLM will now have to use a newer Phase-IV as its previous assigned launcher is now launching Blagovest n.º 13L this year (2018: November - Kosmos (Blagovest n.º 13L) - Proton-M/Briz-M - Baikonur (or 2019)). Other wise it will have to wait for Vostochny Site-1A Pad 1 (1A/1) to be finished and launch on Angara-A5M or Angara-A5V.
« Last Edit: 06/26/2018 05:25 pm by russianhalo117 »

Offline woods170

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Every launcher to date that has been assigned to MLM has been flown upon reaching the end of its useful certified life by flying other government payloads. MLM will now have to use a newer Phase-IV as its previous assigned launcher is now launching Blagovest n.º 13L this year (2018: November - Kosmos (Blagovest n.º 13L) - Proton-M/Briz-M - Baikonur (or 2019)). Other wise it will have to wait for Vostochny Site-1A Pad 1 (1A/1) to be finished and launch on Angara-A5M or Angara-A5V.

Given recent remarks from Mr. Rogozin it is becoming ever more likely that MLM and the Node Module will never launch at all.

Quote from: Matthew Bodner
The most curious part of Rogozin’s interview with RIA Novosti concerned Russia’s still-unfinished segment of the International Space Station. Three modules have for years now sat in various stages of completion on Russian production floors, subject to mishaps and delays. Rogozin said the five existing modules have been stuck in a prolonged phase of testing.

“I have set a goal to put the Russian segment of ISS into operation,” Rogozin said, using obfuscated bureaucratic prose. What that means wasn’t immediately clear, but Pavel Luzin, an independent Russian space policy analyst, suggests it means Roscosmos is giving up on adding new modules and must use its segment of the station “as is.”

Rogozin said “generally, we will give up all experiments developed over the past 10 years, since they have lost all relevance.”
« Last Edit: 06/27/2018 06:52 am by woods170 »

Offline Stan Black

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Is the Proton launcher for MLM manufactured, and sitting somewhere, waiting for the go-ahead to fly?
Or is it still to be built?

With the upcoming retirement of Proton:
https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=17568.msg1833077#msg1833077

I'm curious to know if the launcher for MLM is already in existence, or is part of the final batches to be built?

The only part of the launcher for MLM that is know to actually exist is the fairing. That is because the fairing is a special build. Some of the protrusions of the MLM stick slightly outside the payload envelope, notably where the European Robotic Arm (ERA) is attached to the module. To make room for those protrusions a part of the "skin-on-stringers" construction of the fairing was modified.
Seen from the outside the fairing for MLM looks no different from a regular one, but internally it is different in a few places.
Every launcher to date that has been assigned to MLM has been flown upon reaching the end of its useful certified life by flying other government payloads. MLM will now have to use a newer Phase-IV as its previous assigned launcher is now launching Blagovest n.º 13L this year (2018: November - Kosmos (Blagovest n.º 13L) - Proton-M/Briz-M - Baikonur (or 2019)). Other wise it will have to wait for Vostochny Site-1A Pad 1 (1A/1) to be finished and launch on Angara-A5M or Angara-A5V.

The Proton rockets used to launch W7 and Yahsat-1B both were previously assigned to MLM Nauka.

http://www.zakupki.gov.ru/223/purchase/public/purchase/info/documents.html?noticeId=2405815
https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=17568.msg1088974#msg1088974

Offline Nicolas PILLET

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Guys, we have reached T minus one year !

I think it is the first time (probably not the last) in MLM history !
Nicolas PILLET
Kosmonavtika : The French site on Russian Space

Offline a2soup

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Guys, we have reached T minus one year !

I think it is the first time (probably not the last) in MLM history !

Reading back through this thread I find that the launch date was officially scheduled for December 2013 as late as June 2013 (see pages 15 and 16). So unfortunately not the first time we've reached MLM T- 1 year, and I agree almost certainly not the last.

« Last Edit: 11/11/2018 11:12 pm by a2soup »

Offline SciNews

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Images from The star named ISS

Offline Tomness

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http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Possible_launch_date_of_Russias_Nauka_module_to_ISS_999.html

...Meanwhile, the launch of Russia's MLM Nauka to the ISS may be postponed until 2020 from 2019, a source at the Baikonur cosmodrome told Sputnik...

Source: Sputnik News

Crew 1 mission NET August 2019 is currently planned to be on Dragon

USCV-1 launch is planned on October 2, 2019.

If the schedules hold, hopefully they figure something out for the Russian Crew Members & they dont have to bunk in a lab.

Offline Olaf

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Online zubenelgenubi

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The launcher for MLM leaves Moscow on December,5.
https://ria.ru/20181206/1547480277.html

Destination: Baikonur? For launch processing?
Support your local planetarium! (COVID-panic and forward: Now more than ever.) My current avatar is saying "i wants to go uppies!" Yes, there are God-given rights. Do you wish to gainsay the Declaration of Independence?

Offline Olaf

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The launcher for MLM leaves Moscow on December,5.
https://ria.ru/20181206/1547480277.html

Destination: Baikonur? For launch processing?
Google translation
Quote
The composition should arrive at the spaceport in a week. After that, the rocket will be unloaded in the assembly and test building No. 50 of the site 92A of the cosmodrome and transferred to storage mode, ”said the source.
The immediate preparation for the launch of the Proton-M launch vehicle, as planned, will begin in early October, 2019. According to the plans, the sending of a new module to the ISS is scheduled for November 8, 2019.

The ISS module is scheduled to be delivered to the cosmodrome at the beginning of 2019, and for approximately 8 months it will be upgraded and checked at the cosmodrome.

Offline Svetoslav

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« Last Edit: 01/11/2019 06:19 pm by Svetoslav »

Offline Sesquipedalian

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Offline B. Hendrickx

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http://tass.com/science/1048982

Quote
MOSCOW, March 16. /TASS/. A new multifunctional laboratory module Nauka (Science), which is expected to be launched to the International Space Station in 2020, will be transported from Moscow’s Khrunichev space research center to the RSC Energia for pre-flight tests in August, Dmitry Rogozin, chief of the Russian space agency Roscosmos, wrote on his official Twitter account on Saturday.

"The multifunctional laboratory module Nauka will leave the workshops of Khrunichev center this August and will be taken to RSC Energia [the Korolev Rocket and Space Corporation] to undergo pre-flight tests," Rogozin wrote.

he decision was made at a meeting with chief designers, he added. "The work on the multifunctional laboratory module has been put back on track," he said.

Development of the Nauka module began back in 1995. It was initially planned to be launched to the ISS as a Zarya substitute. The launch was repeatedly suspended. In December 2013, the module was sent back to the Khrunichev research center due to a problem in the engine system. The Khrunichev Center and RSC Energia have teamed up to work on the module.

Earlier, Rogozin said that the launch of the module was scheduled for summer of 2020.

The Nauka module has a launch weight of over 20 tonnes and can accommodate up to 3 tonnes of scientific equipment. The module is designed to provide a docking port for Soyuz and Progress spacecraft, ensure the pumping of fuel from Progress spacecraft’s fuel tanks to the ISS and take care of the station’s roll control with the help of engines. The module is also expected to generate oxygen for six people and regenerate water from urine.


https://tass.ru/kosmos/6225559
This TASS report, published only in Russian, says the move to RKK Energiya is necessary to outfit Nauka with brand new propellant tanks which are to be built by NPO Lavochkin. TASS quotes an anonymous source in the space industry as saying that they will be "90 percent similar in design and dimensions" to the propellant tanks of Lavochkin's Fregat upper stage. It was deemed impossible to decontaminate Nauka's original propellant tanks, which were also found to have small cracks. According to TASS' source, the decision to replace them with new tanks was made during a meeting chaired by Dmitriy Rogozin last Saturday.



Offline a2soup

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TASS quotes an anonymous source in the space industry as saying that they will be "90 percent similar in design and dimensions" to the propellant tanks of Lavochkin's Fregat upper stage.

This is very interesting, and I don't understand it at all. Going on info from russianspaceweb, Fregat has large spherical propellant tanks while Nauka's are very long and cylindrical. Leaving aside obvious questions of fit, Nauka's tanks store the fuel in an unusual flexible bellows structure, presumably to allow the repeated refueling cycles that are one of the module's primary functions. It's not clear how simple spherical pressure vessels will have the same capability.

Isn't this unique, specialized tank design why they spent years attempting literal rocket surgery? If it is possible to simply swap the tanks for a drastically different design, why did it take them over 5 years to make the decision to do so? It's not like the Russian space industry has a lack of functional propellant tanks in production... Is there something I'm missing here? Is the anonymous source just garbled or confused?

Online Johnnyhinbos

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TASS quotes an anonymous source in the space industry as saying that they will be "90 percent similar in design and dimensions" to the propellant tanks of Lavochkin's Fregat upper stage.

This is very interesting, and I don't understand it at all. Going on info from russianspaceweb, Fregat has large spherical propellant tanks while Nauka's are very long and cylindrical. Leaving aside obvious questions of fit, Nauka's tanks store the fuel in an unusual flexible bellows structure, presumably to allow the repeated refueling cycles that are one of the module's primary functions. It's not clear how simple spherical pressure vessels will have the same capability.

Isn't this unique, specialized tank design why they spent years attempting literal rocket surgery? If it is possible to simply swap the tanks for a drastically different design, why did it take them over 5 years to make the decision to do so? It's not like the Russian space industry has a lack of functional propellant tanks in production... Is there something I'm missing here? Is the anonymous source just garbled or confused?
At the risk of sounding like a amazing people, I think the answer to your question can be found in one word. SpaceX. With reusable rocket tech, and pulling off a basically flawless DM-1 mission, including an impeccable docking - something the Russians made such a fuss over- it would seem like SpaceX is singlehandedly (with NASA’s help) making a mockery of the Russian space program. Rogozin is probably somewhat, er, displeased and is kicking some Russian butt to do something, anything, comparatively speaking, this is low hanging fruit...
John Hanzl. Author, action / adventure www.johnhanzl.com

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