Come on, nobody looked for the extra dracos in the trunk during dragon separation when the s2 cameras were looking in the trunk?
Taipei, Nov. 5 (CNA) "Onglaisat," a satellite co-developed by Taiwan and Japan, was successfully launched into space Tuesday (Taipei time) aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from the United States, according to the Taiwan Space Agency (TASA).The small cube satellite, or CubeSat, is scheduled to reach the International Space Station (ISS) and be deployed into a 410-kilometer low Earth orbit in approximately one month to begin its test mission, according to TASA in a statement.During the six-month mission, Onglaisat will be utilized to validate the key technologies of the newly developed remote sensing system, said TASA, which is part of Taiwan's National Science and Technology Council.TASA said that Onglaisat, launched into space from Cape Canaveral, Florida, aboard SpaceX's CRS-31 resupply mission, will also test high-resolution data collection and image compression technologies it developed in collaboration with the Taiwan Semiconductor Research Institute.
Quote from: acsawdey on 11/05/2024 04:33 amCome on, nobody looked for the extra dracos in the trunk during dragon separation when the s2 cameras were looking in the trunk?Thursters are the (nominal) ones close to the trunk, but they're not ON the trunk itself, they're as always on the reentry capsule.
Quote from: eeergo on 11/05/2024 02:19 pmQuote from: acsawdey on 11/05/2024 04:33 amCome on, nobody looked for the extra dracos in the trunk during dragon separation when the s2 cameras were looking in the trunk?Thursters are the (nominal) ones close to the trunk, but they're not ON the trunk itself, they're as always on the reentry capsule.Also, for some reason, starting with CRS-29 we have not gotten S2 camera views of Dragon separation - only a Dragon trunk camera view.
More than just a deborbit capabilityBut there's another important element of this week's Draco demonstration. Notably, the primary means of maneuvering the International Space Station—both to periodically raise its altitude and avoid collisions with space debris—comes from the Russian segment of the station and the Progress spacecraft.Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, tensions between the United States and Russia have increased, and this has strained the relationship between NASA and its counterpart Roscosmos. Engineer to engineer, the working relationship remains good, but at higher diplomatic levels there are definitely concerns.With regard to space station relations, the public war of words has quieted down since Dmitry Rogozin was sacked as director general of Roscosmos in July 2022. However, there remains the threat that an escalation in the war might necessitate a breaking of the bond between Russia and the United States in space, or Russian officials could decide the partnership is no longer working for them. Additionally, Russia has only committed to flying the station through 2028, two years fewer than NASA's goal of 2030.Northrop Grumman and NASA have previously demonstrated the capability of the Cygnus cargo spacecraft to provide propulsive capabilities for the space station, but Dragon is more useful in that one or more of the vehicles is almost always attached to the space station. Therefore, should the Russian side of the space station go dark or even be separated from the Western side of the facility, NASA would have a fighting chance to keep the station flying on its own.