Posted on 07/24/2021 7:22:38 AM PDT by BenLurkin
The first glitch in Nauka’s journey happened yesterday, when the spacecraft didn’t complete its first orbit-raising burn. This meant that the uncrewed Nauka wasn’t on track to actually intercept the ISS, which it’s scheduled to dock with on Thursday, July 29. The problem was attributed to a software issue in a computer aboard Nauka, which prevented the spacecraft’s main engines from firing. Nauka’s team was able to manage a remote course correction, but a second bout of course corrections were deemed necessary, and scheduled for today. One early report from journalist Anatoly Zak indicated that one of the spacecraft’s engines sputtered back to life in a mission. The “backup engine seems to have fired fine,” said Jonathan McDowell, an astrophysicist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, in an email today, though he added that the status of the engines was not yet certain and it would likely be a few hours before a new dataset from Nauka verified the situation.
The thrusters are just one piece of the engineering puzzle, so the new module is hardly home free. Nauka’s also been having issues with one antenna and its docking target, and its uncertain how those issues will affect docking attempts, SpaceNews reported. “Apparently there is still an issue with the Kurs rendezvous system, and that is pretty critical for docking,” McDowell said, adding that the spacecraft’s TORU system—which allows the astronauts aboard the ISS assist with the docking—is working normally.
(Excerpt) Read more at gizmodo.com ...
This thing has been trouble it’s whole life . https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtSmFsPbT-g
When is it scheduled to crash into the space station?
Interesting.
Chinese hackers?
The Russians need to hire one of the Bidet spinmeisters.
A crash would become an “undocumented landing”.
Ctl-alt-del
Nauka & New Shepard Fly To Space - What Do They Have In Common?
July 21, 2021
Scott Manley
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtSmFsPbT-g
Boeing software?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.