Why would this [SDS/Dragons] be facing the velocity vector?
At first blush that would seem to be the direction of least debris flux.
(snip)
I would think crossing orbits (polar, for instance) would be greatest debris impact risk (and the highest relative velocity).
Good point on the risk and velocity, but wouldn't those impact on the sides?
Why would this [SDS/Dragons] be facing the velocity vector?
At first blush that would seem to be the direction of least debris flux.
(snip)
I would think crossing orbits (polar, for instance) would be greatest debris impact risk (and the highest relative velocity).
Good point on the risk and velocity, but wouldn't those impact on the sides?
Forward quarters, since sum of velocity vectors involved. Descending polar plus ascending ISS would put peak velocity particles on leading face.
[LASP : August 4, 2017] TSIS shipped to Kennedy Space Center for upcoming launchA solar instrument package designed and built by LASP, considered a key tool to help monitor the planet’s climate, has arrived at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida for a targeted November launch.
The instrument suite is called the Total and Spectral solar Irradiance Sensor (TSIS-1) and was built for NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. The contract value to LASP is $90 million and includes the dual instrument suite and an associated ground system to manage TSIS mission operations.
photo credit: TSIS-1 is shown here inside a clean room at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. (Courtesy LASP/Tom Sparn)
Leadup to the previous post
lasp.colorado.edu/home/blog/2017/08/04/tsis-shipped-to-kennedy-space-center-for-upcoming-launch/
TSIS shipped to Kennedy Space Center for upcoming launch
Posted August 4th, 2017
TSIS-1 is shown here inside a clean room at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. (Courtesy LASP/Tom Sparn)
A solar instrument package designed and built by LASP, considered a key tool to help monitor the planet’s climate, has arrived at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida for a targeted November launch.
The instrument suite is called the Total and Spectral solar Irradiance Sensor (TSIS-1) and was built for NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. The contract value to LASP is $90 million and includes the dual instrument suite and an associated ground system to manage TSIS mission operations.
TSIS-1 will launch on a commercial SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket in a Dragon capsule for delivery to the International Space Station (ISS). From there it will monitor the total amount of sunlight hitting Earth, as well as how the light is distributed among the ultraviolet, visible, and infrared wavelengths.
“We need to measure both because both affect Earth’s climate,” said Dong Wu, the TSIS-1 project scientist at NASA Goddard.
LASP Atmospheric Scientist Peter Pilewskie, lead mission scientist on the project, said TSIS will continue a 39-year record of measuring total solar radiation, the longest continuous climate record from space.
“These measurements are vital for understanding the climate system because the sun is the source of virtually all of Earth’s energy,” said Pilewskie, also a CU Boulder faculty member in the Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences. “How the atmosphere responds to subtle changes in the sun’s output helps us distinguish between natural and human influences on climate.”
Overall satellite measurements of the sun from space have shown that changes in its radiation over time—during periods of both high and low solar activity—is only about 0.1 percent. While scientists believe changes in solar output cannot explain Earth’s recent warming, a longer dataset could reveal greater swings in solar radiation.
TSIS-1 is comprised of the Total Irradiance Monitor, or TIM, which measures the total solar irradiance that is incident at the outer boundaries of the atmosphere; and the Spectral Irradiance Monitor, or SIM, which measures solar spectral irradiance (SSI) from 200 nm to 2400 nm (96 percent of the TSI). (Courtesy LASP)
TSIS consists of two instruments, including the Total Irradiance Monitor (TIM), which measures the total light coming from the sun at all wavelengths, said Pilewskie. The second LASP instrument, the Spectral Irradiance Monitor (SIM), will measure how the light from the sun is distributed by wavelength and absorbed by different parts of the planet’s atmosphere and surface.
One reason the SIM instrument is important is because measurements of the sun’s UV radiation are critical to understanding the condition of Earth’s protective ozone layer.
The TSIS instrument suite will be operated remotely from the LASP Space Technology Building in the CU Research Park.
The project involved about 30 scientists and engineers at LASP during its peak, as well as 10 additional support personnel from Colorado and about 10 more from outside of Colorado, said TSIS-1 Project Manager Brian Boyle of LASP. The mission, slated to run at least five years, also has involved about 15 to 20 CU-Boulder undergraduate and graduate students to date.
LASP has made solar radiation measurements from orbit on seven missions since 1975, including the $100 million SORCE satellite designed, built, and controlled from campus.
With OA-8 reportedly looking to go up in October or November, will this push CRS-12 back? Or would both missions go up in the same month?
With OA-8 reportedly looking to go up in October or November, will this push CRS-12 back? Or would both missions go up in the same month?
Cygnus and Dragon have launched a couple weeks apart before, it's not a big deal.
http://spacenews.com/teledyne-brown-offers-iss-platform-for-testing-spacecraft-parts-in-orbit-before-flying-them-for-real/
Teledyne Brown Engineering plans to install a hyperspectral imager built by the German Aerospace Center, DLR, in the firm’s International Space Station observatory in March.
DLR’s Earth Sensing Imaging Spectrometer will be the first payload tested on the Multi-User System for Earth Sensing (MUSES), Teledyne Brown’s external Earth-facing platform that traveled to the space station in June inside a SpaceX Dragon cargo capsule.
This presentation from February says that
[MUSES] Instruments launched in “soft stowage”
DESIS
•Critical Design Review completed June 2016
•Planned launch on SpaceX-13, Q4, 2017
•DESIS commissioning during Q1/Q2,2018
Does anyone know if that is still the plan?
However, as this is an extended duration Cygnus mission, will NASA delay this 1) so will they have the requirement for two missions at the same time, and 2) berthing port capacity?
around early December (from CRS-12 pre-launch press conference)
[SpaceNews] 3-D printing and in-orbit manufacturing promise to transform space missionsQ: What is the latest on your [Made In Space] optical fiber campaign?
A: It’s going really well. The flight unit is built and we are scheduled to fly on a [SpaceX] Dragon this year. We have produced fiber in our facility on the ground and are looking forward to flying that. We will be flying the payload multiple times on multiple flights because the focus is on making the minimum viable product that is scalable.
This is a fully robotic capability. The astronauts just plug it in. We send the signal for it to go. It pulls the fiber and monitors diameter. When it’s done, it can switch over to another free form, that’s the starting material we use, and produce more fiber without any special environment on the ISS, without significant crew involvement other than installation. ...
The article also mentions a failed protest Made In Space filed against a NASA SBIRS award to another company working on manufacturing fiber in space. The decision said Made In Space didn't have standing to protest the award. The GAO decision can be found here:
https://www.gao.gov/products/B-414490#mt=e-report
I guess this would be on CRS-13?
The Engine announces investments in first group of startups
Analytical Space, founded by Harvard Business School graduates, aims to make downloading satellite data much faster. Every few hours, terabytes of data are collected by orbiting satellites, but downloading that data is becoming very costly and complex. The startup is building small satellite relays that use laser communication to enable continuous high-speed wireless connectivity between space and ground. The startup is now preparing to launch its first pilot on a SpaceX craft from the International Space Station later this year.
People can have varying definitions of "working hard"...
Tweet from LASP TSIS
The TSIS engineers are working hard today as we continue software testing with the ISS simulator.
People can have varying definitions of "working hard"...
Tweet from LASP TSIS
The TSIS engineers are working hard today as we continue software testing with the ISS simulator.
I think the guy in the lower left is checking NSF on his phone
I wondered what was so interesting on that phone!
I wondered what was so interesting on that phone!
He's watching himself on the internet link to the camera feed.
