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LIVE: Orbital Cygnus ORB-D RNDZ and BERTHING (ATTEMPT 1) UPDATES
by
Chris Bergin
on 22 Sep, 2013 00:28
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#1
by
Chris Bergin
on 22 Sep, 2013 00:30
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#2
by
Chris Bergin
on 22 Sep, 2013 00:43
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OK - NASA TV coverage begins at 3:30 am Central.
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#3
by
AnalogMan
on 22 Sep, 2013 01:13
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NASA TV schedule (all times EDT)
September 21, Saturday9 p.m. - Orbital Sciences/Cygnus Post-Launch News Conference - HQ (All Channels)
September 22, Sunday4:30 a.m. - Rendezvous, Grapple and Berthing Coverage of the Orbital Sciences/Cygnus Spacecraft to the ISS (Grapple scheduled approximately 7:25 a.m. EDT) - JSC (All Channels)
1 p.m. - Orbital Sciences/Cygnus Post-Berthing News Conference - JSC/Dulles (All Channels)
http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html
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#4
by
Targeteer
on 22 Sep, 2013 04:05
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Range is under 100 km according to the cygnus mission viewer
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#5
by
Targeteer
on 22 Sep, 2013 04:56
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75 km
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#6
by
Targeteer
on 22 Sep, 2013 05:38
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60 km
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#7
by
Targeteer
on 22 Sep, 2013 05:50
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55 km
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#8
by
Targeteer
on 22 Sep, 2013 05:59
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50 km
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#9
by
Targeteer
on 22 Sep, 2013 06:24
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40 km
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#10
by
Targeteer
on 22 Sep, 2013 06:48
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30 km
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#11
by
Targeteer
on 22 Sep, 2013 07:00
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25 km
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#12
by
Targeteer
on 22 Sep, 2013 07:12
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20 km, no word from the crew yet on a tally ho
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#13
by
Targeteer
on 22 Sep, 2013 07:27
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15 km, the crew is up but have not responded to the first call from MCC-H of the morning
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#14
by
Targeteer
on 22 Sep, 2013 07:31
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aborted rendezvous due to differential GPS problems
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#15
by
dsmillman
on 22 Sep, 2013 07:32
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ISS crewed just notified that Cygnus rendezvous aborted. No attempt until Tuesday. Problem with GPS.
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#16
by
Targeteer
on 22 Sep, 2013 07:48
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crew was advised of closest approach on the R-bar which will be 4 km
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#17
by
Chris Bergin
on 22 Sep, 2013 07:54
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Morning. Thanks for the early coverage guys - as much as I didn't expect some bad news already. We'll dig into what's gone wrong here.
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#18
by
Targeteer
on 22 Sep, 2013 07:58
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Discussion between CAPCOM and Karen mentioned something about the two vehicles analyzing differential GPS differently/incompatibly if I recall correctly
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#19
by
psloss
on 22 Sep, 2013 08:14
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Not much to add, but we did get an email a few minutes ago saying that there would be a statement posted to the 'microsite' soon. (
http://www.orbital.com/Antares-Cygnus/)
(And just saw a
Tweet went out from Orbital noting the 48-hr delay "due data link issue between the spacecraft and station during #cotsdemo".)
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#20
by
psloss
on 22 Sep, 2013 08:25
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Update posted:
http://www.orbital.com/Antares-Cygnus/Excerpt:
This morning, at around 1:30 a.m. EDT, Cygnus established direct data contact with the ISS and found that some of the data received had values that it did not expect, causing Cygnus to reject the data. This mandated an interruption of the approach sequence. Orbital has subsequently found the causes of this discrepancy and is developing a software fix.
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#21
by
Chris Bergin
on 22 Sep, 2013 08:26
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Not sure if NASA TV will still go live in five mins - even if it's a short update now - or not at all.
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#22
by
Chris Bergin
on 22 Sep, 2013 08:41
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#23
by
Chris Bergin
on 22 Sep, 2013 10:17
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NASA giving the ISS crew an off duty day. Cygnus on Tuesday and next crew preps Wednesday.
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#24
by
psloss
on 22 Sep, 2013 10:27
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NASA giving the ISS crew an off duty day. Cygnus on Tuesday and next crew preps Wednesday.
Any word on what the last day to complete the rendezvous and berthing is before it would have to move to the other side of the Soyuz?
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#25
by
psloss
on 22 Sep, 2013 11:20
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#26
by
Jarnis
on 22 Sep, 2013 13:06
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Following the discovery of a data format discrepancy between an on-board International Space Station (ISS) navigation system and a similar system on Cygnus at around 1:30 a.m. this morning, today's rendezvous with the station was postponed. At this time, NASA and Orbital are developing a detailed plan for a second rendezvous attempt early Tuesday morning.
A software update has been developed and will be tested on a ground-based simulator during the day on Sunday. Upload to Cygnus and in-orbit testing of the software "patch" is planned for Sunday night and into Monday morning. Once this has been accomplished and verified, the current plan is for Cygnus to begin a second rendezvous approach late Monday night, with final approach to the ISS and grapple taking place early Tuesday morning. The Cygnus spacecraft remains healthy, with all major subsystems operating as expected.
source:
http://www.orbital.com/Antares-Cygnus/Edit: source fixed some punctuation errors, so re-copypasted
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#27
by
Targeteer
on 22 Sep, 2013 14:01
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Karen is disassembling the HCP with MCC-H approval and returning it to the JEM.
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#28
by
Targeteer
on 22 Sep, 2013 14:18
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15 km, the crew is up but have not responded to the first call from MCC-H of the morning
This call turned out to be the rendezvous abort notification. Interestingly, CAPCOM stated "no hurry, at your convenience." It was before the DPC which usually denotes the start of MCC interaction with the crew.
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#29
by
Targeteer
on 22 Sep, 2013 14:27
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CAPCOM stated to Luca there will be an update on Cygnus status for the crew during the evening DPC.
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#30
by
Lurker Steve
on 22 Sep, 2013 14:59
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Karen is disassembling the HCP with MCC-H approval and returning it to the JEM.
MCC is in Dulles, not Hawthorne, correct ??
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#31
by
StarryKnight
on 22 Sep, 2013 15:02
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MCC-H = Houston (JSC)
MCC-D = Dulles
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#32
by
Targeteer
on 22 Sep, 2013 16:51
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#33
by
Silmfeanor
on 22 Sep, 2013 16:57
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http://cesium.agi.com/cygnus/
is NOT real time data--it currently shows Cygnus at 25 meters under ISS 
This was known all along. it runs on "nominal mission data" - ie a set of perfectly executed manouvres right on time. The website does not, and never has, received real-time telemetry.
But if you want to continue this, better move to discussion thread instead of updates.
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#34
by
rickl
on 22 Sep, 2013 17:29
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Heavens Above is now showing Cygnus ahead of the ISS. Is it going to go around and catch up to it again?
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#35
by
jcm
on 22 Sep, 2013 17:36
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My calculations suggest the 4 km flyby of ISS happened at 0845 UTC approximately.
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#36
by
Orbiter
on 22 Sep, 2013 17:39
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Heavens Above is now showing Cygnus ahead of the ISS. Is it going to go around and catch up to it again?
I'd imagine Cygnus will have to raise its altitude to allow the ISS to go ahead of it, then lower its altitude again to catch up on Tuesday.
http://cesium.agi.com/cygnus/
is NOT real time data--it currently shows Cygnus at 25 meters under ISS
Still thinks grappling and berthing occurred as scheduled this morning.
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#37
by
dsmillman
on 22 Sep, 2013 19:14
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ISS crew was just told that MCC-H is still planning toward a Tuesday (9/24) rendezvous and berthing. However, a Tuesday rendezvous is not definite yet.
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#38
by
Targeteer
on 22 Sep, 2013 19:15
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No confirmation of re-attempt on Tuesday yet from the DPC.
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#39
by
Jim
on 22 Sep, 2013 22:09
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Karen is disassembling the HCP with MCC-H approval and returning it to the JEM.
MCC is in Dulles, not Hawthorne, correct ??
The facility in Hawthorne is MCC-X. Sometimes they are a little too cute.
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#40
by
psloss
on 22 Sep, 2013 22:27
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No confirmation of re-attempt on Tuesday yet from the DPC.
Given the situation, I wouldn't be surprised if this goes back to the IMMT tomorrow, assuming the team(s) are ready to proceed.
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#41
by
Targeteer
on 22 Sep, 2013 22:32
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I think this is short of confirming an attempt on Tuesday but it explains the 48 hour delay
Cygnus Rendezvous Delayed 48 Hours. Orbital Sciences has confirmed Sunday morning, around 1:30 a.m. EDT, its Cygnus spacecraft established direct data contact with the International Space Station (ISS) and found that some of the data received had values that it did not expect, causing Cygnus to reject the data. This mandated an interruption of the approach sequence. Orbital has subsequently found the causes of this discrepancy and is developing a software fix. The minimum turnaround time to resume the approach to the ISS following an interruption such as this is approximately 48 hours due to orbital mechanics of the approach trajectory. - courtesy of NASA; more:
http://www.nasa.gov/content/cygnus-rendezvous-delayed-48-hours
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#42
by
psloss
on 22 Sep, 2013 22:40
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I think this is short of confirming an attempt on Tuesday but it explains the 48 hour delay
Cygnus Rendezvous Delayed 48 Hours. Orbital Sciences has confirmed Sunday morning, around 1:30 a.m. EDT, its Cygnus spacecraft established direct data contact with the International Space Station (ISS) and found that some of the data received had values that it did not expect, causing Cygnus to reject the data. This mandated an interruption of the approach sequence. Orbital has subsequently found the causes of this discrepancy and is developing a software fix. The minimum turnaround time to resume the approach to the ISS following an interruption such as this is approximately 48 hours due to orbital mechanics of the approach trajectory. - courtesy of NASA; more: http://www.nasa.gov/content/cygnus-rendezvous-delayed-48-hours
That's using some of the same words as the first Orbital update on their microsite this morning.
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#43
by
Chris Bergin
on 22 Sep, 2013 22:54
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#44
by
Chris Bergin
on 22 Sep, 2013 23:18
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And a final revision of the article above now live thanks to Pete....who helped despite being on holiday! What a legend!
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#45
by
dsmillman
on 23 Sep, 2013 08:42
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This mornings' ISS DPC indicates that the software patch has not yet been uplinked to Cygnus. Also Cygnus is an orbit above the ISS to position itself to start the rendezvous tonght.
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#46
by
Targeteer
on 23 Sep, 2013 13:49
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The crew was just advised to cancel several Cygnus related events and there was mention of more cancellations tomorrow.
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#47
by
Chris Bergin
on 23 Sep, 2013 13:51
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The crew was just advised to cancel several Cygnus related events and there was mention of more cancellations tomorrow.
Well that seems to rule out a Tuesday attempt. We'll see if there's confirmation coming.
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#48
by
psloss
on 23 Sep, 2013 14:08
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Are you saying current efforts have failed? Put pay - not a very american phrase.
Answered my own question, looked in British dictionary. Failed
They may need more time and there's not much before the Soyuz rendezvous, which takes priority. That doesn't necessarily mean the efforts have failed.
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#49
by
Targeteer
on 23 Sep, 2013 14:13
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The crew was just advised to cancel several Cygnus related events and there was mention of more cancellations tomorrow.
Karen stated she literally had nothing left to do the rest of the day. Cygnus events were evidently being saved for the end of the workday to allow time for the Cygnus reprogramming and approval process to work.
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#50
by
psloss
on 23 Sep, 2013 14:16
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Orbital confirms Tuesday is off on microsite.
http://www.orbital.com/Antares-Cygnus/Excerpt:
This morning, Orbital and NASA together decided to postpone the approach, rendezvous, grapple and berthing operations of the Cygnus cargo logistics spacecraft with the International Space Station until after the upcoming Soyuz crew operations are complete. The Soyuz crew is due to arrive at the ISS very late on Wednesday, September 25. The earliest possible date for the next Cygnus approach and rendezvous with the ISS would be Saturday, September 28. An exact schedule will be determined following the successful completion of Soyuz operations.
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#51
by
Chris Bergin
on 23 Sep, 2013 14:20
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#52
by
newpylong
on 23 Sep, 2013 14:20
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Good test of on-orbit activities/duration anyway...
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#53
by
Targeteer
on 23 Sep, 2013 15:11
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Bruce Manners (NASA COTS Proj Exec) is being interviewed on the daily ISS update. Confirms earliest date is Saturday and mentions getting rest for personnel in orbit prepping for Soyuz docking and ground personnel working on fault resolution and solution approval
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#54
by
John44
on 23 Sep, 2013 17:08
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#55
by
Targeteer
on 23 Sep, 2013 18:59
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No Cygnus updates from the evening DPC. The crew will be conducting some EMU HUT work tomorrow as an added task due to the delay.
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#56
by
Kabloona
on 23 Sep, 2013 20:25
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In a NASA Spaceflight.com article (http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2013/09/cygnus-cots-graduation-iss-berthing/), it describes the following approach to solving the GPS problem between ISS and Cygnus:
"The simple fix is to add “1024″ (the difference in week numbers between the 1980 and 1999 ephemeris) to the data received from the PROX system, which only requires modification of a single instruction in the Cygnus software."
However, is it really that simple? There have been 13 leap seconds between 1980 and 1999. Slapping a 1024 week offset on the code does not strike me as a very precise solution.
There's an excellent discussion of the differences, including the leap second issue, which Orbital is no doubt aware of, here:
http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=31845.msg1099999#msg1099999Meanwhile, let's keep this thread open for updates only.
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#57
by
russianhalo117
on 23 Sep, 2013 22:21
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NET Saturday. Huge weekend coming up!
Latest Rev:
http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2013/09/cygnus-cots-graduation-iss-berthing/
Here is official NASA Public Announcement:
LINK:
http://www.nasa.gov/content/cygnus-rendezvous-postponed-to-no-earlier-than-saturday/index.html#.UkC96xajT8sCygnus Rendezvous Postponed to No Earlier Than Saturday
Sept 23, 2013
Managers from Orbital Sciences and NASA decided Monday morning to postpone the approach, rendezvous, grapple and berthing operations of Orbital's Cygnus cargo logistics spacecraft with the International Space Station to no earlier than Saturday, Sept. 28. Cygnus' rendezvous now will follow the launch and arrival of three crew members of Expedition 37/38 on Wednesday, Sept. 25. Michael Hopkins of NASA and Oleg Kotov and Sergey Ryazanskiy of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) will depart from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 4:58 p.m. EDT and arrive at the space station at 10:47 p.m.
Orbital has confirmed that over the past 24 hours, the Orbital team developed and tested a software fix for the data format mismatch that necessitated a postponement of the first rendezvous operation that was scheduled for the early morning of Sunday, Sept. 22. However, that process, together with the impending Soyuz crew operations, resulted in a tight schedule to the point that both Orbital and NASA felt it was the right decision to postpone the Cygnus approach and rendezvous until after Soyuz operations.
An exact schedule for Cygnus will be determined following the successful completion of Soyuz operations. For the latest information about Cygnus and Orbital's demonstration cargo resupply mission, visit Orbital's page at:
http://www.orbital.com/Antares-CygnusExpedition 37 crew members aboard the space station now will have an off-duty day in advance of a busy week ahead. This includes Tuesday's Cygnus rendezvous, followed by preparations for the arrival of three new crew members Wednesday. Michael Hopkins of NASA and Oleg Kotov and Sergey Ryazanskiy of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) will depart from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 4:58 p.m. EDT aboard a Soyuz spacecraft.
Cygnus launched Wednesday aboard an Antares rocket at 10:58 a.m. EDT from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia after a 24 hour delay due to poor weather preventing its roll-out to the launch pad.
It has several demonstration objectives it must complete before NASA approves its capture by the Canadarm2 and its berthing to the Harmony node. The Cygnus has already achieved three of its demonstration objectives during its first two days in orbit. The vehicle first demonstrated its position and control ability, or its ability to orient itself in space; second, the vehicle turned off its engines and operated while in free drift; third, Cygnus conducted a demonstration abort maneuver.
› View Cygnus mission briefing graphics
› Read about Cygnus’ launch
Before any new cargo craft can approach and rendezvous with the station for the first time it must meet a set of objectives to prove its capabilities before it is finally captured or docked. The resupply craft is followed closely by mission controllers on its way to the station. When the spacecraft reaches certain points along its trajectory the flight director polls mission controllers before giving the “go/no-go” decision to proceed to its next point.
As Cygnus meets its demonstration objectives and moves closer to the space station, Expedition 37 Flight Engineers Luca Parmitano and Karen Nyberg will be watching and working in tandem with Mission Control. Parmitano will be in the cupola at the Canadarm2 controls monitoring its approach. Nyberg will be his back up at the secondary robotics workstation inside the Destiny laboratory.
When Cygnus meets its final demonstration objective of pointing a tracking laser at a reflector on the Kibo laboratory it will move to its capture point about 10 meters from the station. Cygnus will turn off its thrusters, operating in free drift, and Parmitano will maneuver the Canadarm2 to grapple and capture the new resupply craft.
After capture, Parmitano will operate the Canadarm2 to move Cygnus and attach it to the Harmony node. The hatches to Cygnus are planned to be opened following leak checks and power connections.
Orbital Sciences is the second company to send a commercial cargo craft to the space station. SpaceX was the first company to send its own cargo ship with two successful commercial resupply missions and two demonstration missions under its belt.
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#58
by
Chris Bergin
on 25 Sep, 2013 08:29
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Now aiming for Sunday RNDZ and Berthing, per L2's rolling coverage for this mission.
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#59
by
Chris Bergin
on 25 Sep, 2013 21:17
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MMT on Friday to decide when the next attempt can take place, per NASA TV just now.
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#60
by
Hog
on 25 Sep, 2013 21:19
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Cygnus currently trailing ISS by 933 miles(1500kms).
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#61
by
Chris Bergin
on 26 Sep, 2013 02:09
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PAO Josh via his Soyuz coverage notes Sunday morning is now the NET. MMTs to decide if it's possible.
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#62
by
StarryKnight
on 26 Sep, 2013 15:27
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Software was successfully patched last night on all flight computers. The team is looking at Sunday 9/29 at about 7:15 AM EDT for capture, pending IMMT approval.
Could be a busy day in the space business with this, Falcon 9 v1.1 launch, and Proton launch.
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#63
by
psloss
on 26 Sep, 2013 15:57
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Software was successfully patched last night on all flight computers. The team is looking at Sunday 9/29 at about 7:15 AM EDT for capture, pending IMMT approval.
Thanks for the updates.
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#64
by
StarryKnight
on 26 Sep, 2013 17:19
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Cygnus performed a delta-v burn a little while ago and is now "parked" abuot 2400 km behind the ISS. The team will be repeating the abort demonstration later today that they did last week. This is not required since that demo was alredy performed successfully. But they are using this as further validation that the updated software did not accidently mess anything up.
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#65
by
Chris Bergin
on 26 Sep, 2013 18:01
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Orbital confirm the change to Sunday - pending MMT:
http://www.orbital.com/Antares-Cygnus/Cygnus In-Orbit Update
Thursday, September 26, 2013
The Cygnus spacecraft remains healthy in-orbit, with all major onboard systems performing as expected. Over the past several days, the Cygnus engineering team has developed, validated and uploaded the one-line software "patch" that resolved the GPS data roll-over discrepancy that was identified during the initial approach to the ISS last Saturday.
Orbital and NASA are currently discussing the best rendezvous opportunity, with the current trajectory plan supporting Sunday morning, September 29 as the next opportunity to rendezvous and approach the ISS. This schedule is still subject to final review and approval by the NASA and Orbital teams.
The Cygnus spacecraft is currently holding at about 2,400 km behind the International Space Station. Later this evening, Cygnus will perform the first of a series of thruster burns to begin the journey back towards the ISS to be in the right position for a rendezvous as early as Sunday morning.
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#66
by
Chris Bergin
on 27 Sep, 2013 14:39
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Just waiting for IMMT approval now. They started the meeting 90 minutes ago.
New article, with help from Martin (MP99) and others when approval is confirmed.
There will be a new thread for Sunday.
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#67
by
StarryKnight
on 27 Sep, 2013 15:25
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IMMT approval has been granted. Green light given for rendezvous on Sunday morning.
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#68
by
psloss
on 27 Sep, 2013 15:28
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IMMT approval has been granted. Green light given for rendezvous on Sunday morning.
Thanks. Do you know/can you say approx. what time the RGPS demo would be attempted on Sunday morning (GMT)?
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#69
by
Chris Bergin
on 27 Sep, 2013 15:31
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Green light......
IMMT approval has been granted. Green light given for rendezvous on Sunday morning.
Ahh! You're fast!
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#70
by
Chris Bergin
on 27 Sep, 2013 15:32
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#71
by
dsmillman
on 27 Sep, 2013 16:02
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#72
by
StarryKnight
on 27 Sep, 2013 16:21
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IMMT approval has been granted. Green light given for rendezvous on Sunday morning.
Thanks. Do you know/can you say approx. what time the RGPS demo would be attempted on Sunday morning (GMT)?
They're hoping to verify that the patch is working sometime Saturday evening. That is several hours sooner than the demo requires. But the hope is that the PROX link can close when the spacecraft is much further way ( >200 km) so they will know long before it is needed.
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#73
by
Chris Bergin
on 27 Sep, 2013 17:34
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Because one should always remember nothing is actually official until NASA or a company say it is:
Orbital Sciences @OrbitalSciences 3
#Cygnus plan to rendezvous and berth with #ISS on Sunday morning reviewed and approved. @NASA TV begins at 4:30 a.m. for #cotsdemo mission
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#74
by
Lee Jay
on 27 Sep, 2013 17:52
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#75
by
Targeteer
on 27 Sep, 2013 19:00
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CAPCOM just passed word of the IMMT approval to the crew and that ingress would be Monday at 1000 GMT. CAPCOM described it as a birthday present to Luca.
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#76
by
Targeteer
on 28 Sep, 2013 19:26
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From the evening DPC, CAPCOM reports all on track for Cygnus grapple tomorrow.
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#77
by
Chris Bergin
on 28 Sep, 2013 20:09
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Excellent. Thanks for keeping track on that side of things!
New thread within the hour for the business end of berthing.
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#78
by
Chris Bergin
on 28 Sep, 2013 21:53
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