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#400 by Chris Bergin on 15 Dec, 2015 19:11
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And that's the end of the event. Blimey, that was more emotional than I thought it would be!
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#401 by Ohsin on 15 Dec, 2015 19:12
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Who are those people in the photos on the back wall?
Coverage back.
Korolev.
And Gagarin. -
#402 by Chris Bergin on 15 Dec, 2015 19:12
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Great coverage from all! Many thanks!
And of course Pete's amazing feature article as the backbone:
http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2015/12/soyuz-tma-19m-launch-landmark-uk-spaceflight/ -
#403 by Star One on 15 Dec, 2015 19:12
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Who are those people in the photos on the back wall?
Coverage back.
Korolev.
Thank you. -
#404 by Space Pete on 15 Dec, 2015 19:13
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And there we have it - the Brits have arrived on the ISS!
What a great day. -
#405 by Duds on 15 Dec, 2015 19:20
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Nice one. Congratulations
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#406 by arachnitect on 15 Dec, 2015 19:20
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TASS: radio-interference from nearby #Cygnus spacecraft caused rendezvous system failure at #SoyuzTMA19M arrival.
https://twitter.com/RussianSpaceWeb/status/676851338395918337
That was the response I expected from the Russians...
Maybe something has been lost in translation? The phrasing suggests active radio interference (unlikely), but bigger Cygnus at Node 1 could be interfering with Kurs system. -
#407 by AJA on 15 Dec, 2015 19:21
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TASS: radio-interference from nearby #Cygnus spacecraft caused rendezvous system failure at #SoyuzTMA19M arrival.
https://twitter.com/RussianSpaceWeb/status/676851338395918337
Deke Slayton's using his own antenna to communicate with the ground? Hasn't it been configured to use ISS power and data already? -
#408 by Chris Bergin on 15 Dec, 2015 19:28
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Blimey! Even the Queen's getting in on it all!
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#409 by mtakala24 on 15 Dec, 2015 19:41
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Deke Slayton's using his own antenna to communicate with the ground? Hasn't it been configured to use ISS power and data already?
It might be reflection of the KURS system's radiowaves too. Can't remember the frequency ranges right now to see if it is actually possible. -
#410 by Alpha Control on 15 Dec, 2015 19:45
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Blimey! Even the Queen's getting in on it all!
That's wonderful. A great day for Britain! I loved the shot I saw of all the excited school kids at the science center, watching the launch this morning.
I wonder if any televised chats are scheduled between Her Majesty and Major Peake during his mission? That would be historic! -
#411 by Space Pete on 15 Dec, 2015 20:06
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RAF Fylingdales were tracking the rendezvous from Yorkshire!
@RAFFylingdales:Quotegood work @RoyalAirForce Fylingdales #Soyuz and @Space_station before docking with @spacegovuk @astro_timpeake
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#412 by Rocket Science on 15 Dec, 2015 20:16
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Congrats on a great ride uphill today and to NSF for the excellent coverage. I will humbly second "The Royals" to one of their own with a well done Tim! Best of luck on station and a shout out to all our British friends here on the "Home of Spaceflight".
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#413 by Nicolas PILLET on 15 Dec, 2015 20:21
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Vladimir Solovyov, former cosmonaut and flight director in TsUP, told media that rumors about Cygnus interferences are "completely stupid".
http://ria.ru/space/20151215/1342697380.html
According to him, Kurs-A system stopped at a distance of 16 meters. Analysis is still in progress. -
#414 by John44 on 15 Dec, 2015 20:23
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Expedition 46-47 - Soyuz TMA-19M Hatch Opening and Other Activities
http://www.space-multimedia.nl.eu.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=9710 -
#415 by yg1968 on 15 Dec, 2015 20:51
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It's also available here with less static and NASA PAO commentary:
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#416 by InfraNut2 on 15 Dec, 2015 21:10
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Vladimir Solovyov, former cosmonaut and flight director in TsUP, told media that rumors about Cygnus interferences are "completely stupid".
http://ria.ru/space/20151215/1342697380.html
According to him, Kurs-A system stopped at a distance of 16 meters. Analysis is still in progress.
Yes, rumors about Cygnus radio interference are "completely stupid" as he said. At best it is just yet another example of Russian journalists or managers presenting a rumor or theory as established fact, or a preliminary proposal as a if it were an approved and financed plan. Hope it was just ignorance or sloppiness and not a mean-spirited blame-game move...
Even the theory is highly implausible as explained below.Deke Slayton's using his own antenna to communicate with the ground? Hasn't it been configured to use ISS power and data already?
It might be reflection of the KURS system's radiowaves too. Can't remember the frequency ranges right now to see if it is actually possible.
That is in fact the least implausible theory of cygnus interference I can think of. A false echo confusing Kurs is not unthinkable, like unplanned-for japanese retro-reflectors confused the first dragon rendezvous until compensated for. But would there not have been a similar problem with the PMM then? Also I think I remember seeing somewhere that KURS use an active transponder on the ISS side and do not rely on passive reflections. If that is true, it is highly unlikely that a passive reflection from Cygnus could have been strong enough to confuse KURS (unless the design is flawed).
Primarily, I think ISS planners are highly unlikely to have ignored any chance of radio interference and made procedures to turn off all potentially interfering transmitters, if any. (Like they do for the Amateur radios, IIRC)
Also Cygnus has hardline comm (probably redundant), and I think the PROX system probably have been turned off. I think it also has a way lower frequency and low power, so interference would not be possible anyway, unless the KURS radio receivers had some serious design weakness.
The cygnus S-band transceiver has a little more power and is likely less far away in frequency, but not enough that interference is in any way likely unless KURS is flawed. Also it is likely turned off, either permanently or temporarily for the docking, for the reasons above. Also there are other S-band antennas active all the time on ISS (for voice and telemetry), not much farther away, so any group of competent engineers would have thought this theoretical problem through a long time ago, and made the necessary evaluations to make sure it had no potential to become a real problem.
All in all, it looks like the theory is very close to completely busted.
edits: minor adjustments to text, added illustration picture
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#417 by Moe Grills on 15 Dec, 2015 21:20
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Quote
That's wonderful. A great day for Britain! I loved the shot I saw of all the excited school kids at the science center, watching the launch this morning.
I wonder if any televised chats are scheduled between Her Majesty and Major Peake during his mission? That would be historic!
I wouldn't be surprised. But I think Prince William (a helicopter pilot in his own right) will probably get the royal assignment.
What I wonder is: Will Major Tim Peake be knighted (if Mick Jagger can be knighted...)? Or simply be awarded an OBE? Is it true that Helen Sharman was awarded an OBE back in the 90's? -
#418 by Targeteer on 15 Dec, 2015 21:21
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It would be very interesting to hear the conversations on the MCC-Houston loop as the Soyuz approached and was obviously not aligned properly...
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#419 by ZachS09 on 15 Dec, 2015 21:33
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Congrats on another well-done docking to the ISS!
