Orbital 1 Launch Status: To allow additional time for ground specialist to continue to work the ETCS Loop A issues the Orb-1 Launch date has changed from December 18th (CST) to December 19th (CST). External Thermal Control System (ETCS) Loop A Status: ETCS Loop A is operating, however due to a bias on the flow …
Watch closely and you will see the International Space Station, or ISS, cross the disk of the gibbous moon. Traveling at more than 17,000 mph, the ISS occasionally appears to pass in front of the moon or sun. These events go largely unnoticed, however, because viewers have to be along a very narrow path on Earth, …
External Thermal Control System (ETCS) Loop A Status: Overnight ground specialist power cycled the ETCS Loop A Pump Control Valve Package (PCVP), which includes the Flow Control Valve (FCV), in an attempt to correct the FCV position error. The ETCS has been repowered, however the FCV position error has not been corrected. ETCS Loop A …
How do you launch a satellite into space? It isn’t easy. The simple answer would be to build one, place it on a rocket, and shoot it off. But building and launching satellites turns out to be exceedingly complicated things to do. They’re highly complex machines, requiring profoundly precise levels of craftsmanship, not to mention […]
It’s that Time of Year Monarch butterflies congregate in central Mexico every winter. Sandhill cranes stop at a small section of the Platte River in Nebraska every spring. And earth and planetary scientists congregate in San Francisco each December. More than ten thousand people converged on Moscone Center this week for the the fall meeting […]
External Thermal Control System (ETCS) Loop A Status: ETCS Loop A is still operating without full temperature control. The Loop A Interface Heat Exchangers (IFHX) are still bypassed and isolated, preventing internal heat rejection on loop A. ETCS Loop B continues to operate nominally. Due to the loss of heat rejection for the N2 Moderate …
External Thermal Control System (ETCS) Loop A Shutdown: This morning, ETCS Loop A shut down due to under temperature Fault Detection Isolation and Recovery (FDIR). Ground specialist have repowered the Loop A pump and is currently cooling external loads at this time. However, the Flow Control Valve (FCV) is not operating as expected and the Loop …
Proximity Communications System (PROX) Checkout: Following yesterday’s successful checkout of PROX String “B”, Flight Engineer (FE)–3 Hopkins worked with ground teams in order to checkout PROX String “A”. Cygnus Launch Commit Criteria Flight Rules require verification of two fully functional ISS PROX equipment strings prior to launch. Synchronized Position Hold, Engage, Reorient, Experimental Satellites (SPHERES) …
Cygnus Hardware Command Panel (HCP) and PROX Checkout: This morning, Flight Engineer (FE)–3 Hopkins assembled the HCP and routed power and data cables from JEM to the Cupola. Later in the day, he worked with ground teams in order to checkout the HCP and string “B” of the Proximity Communications System (PROX). PROX is a …
