LIVE: H-IIB launch with HTV-3 - July 21 - Berthing with ISS - July 27, 2012

[Space Pete]

Starting a thread for HTV-3 updates.

HTV-3 arrived at Tanegashima Space Center on 12th August (photos attached).

Berthing coverage begins here:
http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=26703.195

[Space Pete]

The first modules of KOUNOTORI 3 (HTV3) have arrived at TNSC
Last Updated: December 14, 2011

Before dawn on August 12, the Pressurized Logistics Carrier (PLC), the Unpressurized Logistics Carrier (ULC), and the Propulsion Module of the H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV3), KOUNOTORI 3, have arrived at the Tanegashima Space Center (TNSC).

Around noon on August 9, a ship loaded with the modules of KOUNOTORI 3 (HTV3) set sail from the port of Nagoya, has arrived at the Shimama harbor of Tanegashima island. The modules were transported via a truck on the island and brought in TNSC. The modules are to be inspected.

The remaining modules, the Avionics Module and the Exposed Pallet (EP), are scheduled to arrive at TNSC sequentially.

http://iss.jaxa.jp/en/htv/mission/htv-3/news/htv3_rikuage.html

[Fuji]

Avionics Module is arrived at TNSC on Jan. 15.

2nd photo is Multi-mission Consolidated Equipment (MCE) open to the media on Dec. 9.
MCE is a EF Payload will be carryed aboard the HTV3.

[Prober]

thank you for the pics Fuji.

Been curious about the solar power cells located around the HTV.    Do you have any idea how much power they produce, what type are they?

[AnalogMan]

Been curious about the solar power cells located around the HTV.    Do you have any idea how much power they produce, what type are they?

HTV uses triple junction solar cells (InGaP/GaAs/Ge) mounted in 57 Solar Array Panels.  Total area of the panels is about 35m² (although some of that area is used up by panel mounting mechanics and clearance gaps between individual cells)

Tricky to work out power delivered, but during phasing & rendezvous parts of the mission, solar power is supplemented by non-rechargeable primary cells.  When attached to the ISS (where HTV can draw power from the station) average power consumption is about 2.4kW.

If you are on L2 the HTV Systems Manual is available at:
http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=18286.0

[Prober]

Been curious about the solar power cells located around the HTV.    Do you have any idea how much power they produce, what type are they?

HTV uses triple junction solar cells (InGaP/GaAs/Ge) mounted in 57 Solar Array Panels.  Total area of the panels is about 35m² (although some of that area is used up by panel mounting mechanics and clearance gaps between individual cells)

Tricky to work out power delivered, but during phasing & rendezvous parts of the mission, solar power is supplemented by non-rechargeable primary cells.  When attached to the ISS (where HTV can draw power from the station) average power consumption is about 2.4kW.

If you are on L2 the HTV Systems Manual is available at:
http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=18286.0

Thx great info

Well worth the cost of L2 Subscription
Shameless plug

[Fuji]

You can see the J-SSOD (JEM-Small Satellite Orbital Deployer) information here.
http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=24308.msg854545#msg854545

[Fuji]

@Astro_Box

SCAN leaves Glenn RC on 13 Feb headed direct to Japan and will launch on Japanese H-II rocket for robotic installation onto the ISS truss.

[Space Pete]

Looks like there will be a launch slip for HTV-3 to the second half of July, due to the Soyuz TMA-05M launch delay.

The date of the launch of a second ship, Soyuz TMA-05M, with the crew of Expedition 32/33 is due to be announced next week after the issue “is aligned with the launch of a third Japanese cargo ship of the HTV family,” Krasnov said.

“One thing is clear now, namely, that the Russian manned ship will start off earlier than the Japanese cargo craft – most probably in mid-July,” he said.

http://www.itar-tass.com/en/c154/333136.html

[Space Pete]

RELEASE : 12-005
 
Media Invited to see Space Hardware Bound for Japan
 
CLEVELAND -- NASA's Glenn Research Center will host a media event at 10:30 a.m. on Friday, Feb. 10, to showcase a new communications testbed to be installed on the International Space Station.

The testbed, due to launch from Japan later this year, is called the SCaN Testbed, or the Space Communications & Navigation Testbed. It will be the first space hardware to provide an experimental laboratory to demonstrate many new capabilities, including new communications, networking and navigation techniques that utilize Software Defined Radio technology. The SCaN Testbed includes three such radio devices, each with different capabilities. These devices will be used by researchers to advance this technology over the Testbed's five year planned life in orbit.

"A Software Defined Radio is purposely reconfigured during its lifetime, which makes it unique," says Diane Cifani Malarik, project manager for the SCaN Testbed. This is made possible by software changes that are sent to the device, allowing scientists to use it for a multitude of functions, some of which might not be known before launch. Traditional radio devices cannot be upgraded after launch.

By developing these devices, future space missions will be able to return more scientific information, because new software loads can add new functions or accommodate changing mission needs. New software loads can change the radio's behavior to allow communication with later missions that may use different signals or data formats.

During the event, reporters at Glenn's Power Systems Facility will have the opportunity to tour the High Bay Clean Room in which the Testbed is located and see the Telescience Support Center, from which Glenn employees will control and monitor the Testbed once it's installed on station.

Additionally, reporters will be able to speak with Badri Younes, deputy associate administrator of NASA's Space Communications & Navigation Program and Glenn project managers and researchers who have been involved in the multi-year project.

After the event, the SCaN Testbed will be prepared for shipping to the Tanegashima Space Center in Japan on Feb. 13, to begin processing for the scheduled launch this year aboard a Japanese H-IIB Transfer Vehicle.

For more information about the SCAN Testbed, visit:
http://spaceflightsystems.grc.nasa.gov/SpaceOps/CoNNeCT

For more information about Glenn, visit:
http://www.grc.nasa.gov


http://www.nasa.gov/centers/glenn/news/pressrel/2012/12-005_japan.html

[anik]

I was told July 18 is the launch date.

[Space Pete]

RELEASE : 12-007
 
NASA Glenn Completes Space Hardware for Launch to International Space Station
 
CLEVELAND -- New and improved ways for future space travelers to communicate will be tested on the International Space Station, after a launch later this year from Japan. The SCaN Testbed, or Space Communications and Navigation Testbed, was designed and built at NASA's Glenn Research Center over the last three years.

The SCaN Testbed will provide an orbiting laboratory on space station for the development of Software Defined Radio (SDR) technology. These systems will allow researchers to conduct a suite of experiments over the next several years, enabling the advancement of a new generation of space communications.

The main advantage of SDRs is that they are reconfigurable in orbit, and can be modified and upgraded to meet future communication needs for spacecraft after launch. The SCaN Testbed will be the first hardware to demonstrate capabilities provided by SCRs in the realistic environment of space, including the new communications, networking and navigation techniques that will be used on future space missions.

"The SCAN Testbed will take space communications to a higher level," said John Sankovic, chief of Glenn's Space Operations Project Office. "It will advance communication, navigation and network technologies to reduce mission risks and enable future mission capabilities."

The SCaN Testbed is a complex space laboratory, comprised of three SDRs, each with unique capabilities aimed at advancing different aspects of the technology. Two SDRs were developed under cooperative agreements with General Dynamics and Harris Corp., and the third was developed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Pasadena, Calif. JPL also provided the five-antenna system on the exterior of the Testbed, used to communicate with NASA's orbiting communications relay satellites and NASA ground stations across the United States.

NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md., developed communications software that resides on the JPL SDR.

Glenn led the design, development, integration, test and evaluation effort and provided all the facilities needed to fabricate, assemble and test the SCaN Testbed, including a flight machine shop, large thermal/vacuum chamber, electromagnetic interference testing with reverberant capabilities, a large clean room and multiple antenna ranges, including one inside the clean room.

Glenn also will be the hub of mission operations for the SCaN Testbed, with high-speed ties to NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala. for real-time command and telemetry interfaces with space station. NASA Johnson Space Center's White Sands Test Facility, Las Cruces, N.M. and Goddard's Wallops Flight Facility, Wallops Island, Va., will provide Space Network and Near Earth Network communications.

The SCaN Testbed will launch to space station on Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency's H-IIB Transfer Vehicle (HTV-3) and be installed by extravehicular robotics to the ExPRESS Logistics Carrier-3 on the exterior truss of space station.

The SCaN Testbed will join other NASA network components to help build capabilities for a new generation of space communications for human exploration.

For print quality images of the SCaN Testbed, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/glenn/news/pressrel/2012/12-007_addm.html

For more information about Glenn, visit:
http://www.grc.nasa.gov

For more about the International Space Station research and technology demonstrations, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/station


http://www.nasa.gov/centers/glenn/news/pressrel/2012/12-007_station.html

[Fuji]

Exposed Pallet (EP) is arrived at TNSC on Feb. 21.

[Fuji]

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) may handle the entire launch operation for Japan’s H-IIB rocket on behalf of JAXA from next flight (H-IIB F-4).

Mitsubishi Heavy To Launch Japanese Rocket
http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/story_channel.jsp?channel=space&id=news/awx/2012/03/01/awx_03_01_2012_p0-431196.xml&headline=Mitsubishi%20Heavy%20To%20Launch%20Japanese%20Rocket

[Prober]

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) may handle the entire launch operation for Japan’s H-IIB rocket on behalf of JAXA from next flight (H-IIB F-4).

Mitsubishi Heavy To Launch Japanese Rocket
http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/story_channel.jsp?channel=space&id=news/awx/2012/03/01/awx_03_01_2012_p0-431196.xml&headline=Mitsubishi%20Heavy%20To%20Launch%20Japanese%20Rocket

In Japan is this viewed as a move toward "Commercial Space" like it is in the USA?

or is MHI moving away from "contractor" services.

[Fuji]

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) may handle the entire launch operation for Japan’s H-IIB rocket on behalf of JAXA from next flight (H-IIB F-4).

Mitsubishi Heavy To Launch Japanese Rocket
http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/story_channel.jsp?channel=space&id=news/awx/2012/03/01/awx_03_01_2012_p0-431196.xml&headline=Mitsubishi%20Heavy%20To%20Launch%20Japanese%20Rocket

In Japan is this viewed as a move toward "Commercial Space" like it is in the USA?

or is MHI moving away from "contractor" services.

H-IIA is already transferd launch services from JAXA to the MHI.
These movement is similar to the ULA or Arianspace 

[anik]

According to Spaceflight Now, the launch is planned on July 21st.

[robertross]

According to Spaceflight Now, the launch is planned on July 21st.

SO from your previous note of July 18th now to the 21st.

Can we get official confirmation as the reason for the slip?

[Fuji]

Media invited MHI for H-IIB F-3 rocket pre-shippment event.
The rocket will be shipped Tanegashima March 14.
Good photos released here.
http://www.sacj.org/openbbs/


To robertross
  H-IIB F-3 official launch date is not determined yet.
July to Sep. window is the official information  

[robertross]

To robertross
  H-IIB F-3 official launch date is not determined yet.
July to Sep. window is the official information  

That's a BIG window!! 

Thanks