Next up providing all continues to go well will be the removal from ISS of the twenty year old Pirs module by Progress MS-16, taking it to its fiery destruction.
 
Pirs will vacate the space station attached to the uncrewed ISS Progress 77 spacecraft, which is scheduled to undock at 9:15 a.m. Friday, July 23. Live coverage on NASA Television, the NASA app, and the agency’s website will begin at 8:45 a.m. A few hours later, Progress’ engines will fire in a deorbit maneuver to send the cargo craft and Pirs into a destructive reentry in the Earth’s atmosphere over the Pacific Ocean. Deorbit and reentry will not be covered on NASA TV.

 
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"Cascade of Opportunities". Scientist appreciates the launch of the module "Science" to the ISS

20:05 07/21/2021

The Nauka laboratory module has been successfully launched into orbit; its docking with the ISS is scheduled for July 29. Nathan Eismont, a leading researcher at the Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, spoke on Sputnik radio about the significance of this event for Russian science.

The Nauka multifunctional laboratory module has been successfully launched by the Proton-M carrier rocket into near-earth orbit, RIA Novosti reported .

Docking of Nauka with the ISS is scheduled for July 29.

The construction of the module began in 1995, the launch was scheduled for 2007, but it was not possible to complete the production on time and the start was postponed for many years.

Nathan Eismont, a leading researcher at the Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, assessed the significance of the launch of the Russian scientific module of the ISS on the air of Sputnik radio.

"The significance of this launch, it seems to me, is even greater than many people think ... The presence of such a module will make it possible to carry out observations, experiments are much more effective than if it would have had to launch separate automatic spacecraft for this," said Nathan Eismont.

According to him, we are talking about both applied science and fundamental research.

"For example, observations related to the search and study of exoplanets (planets outside the solar system - ed.). This has now received tremendous development in the world, but we are lagging behind here, because there were no appropriate instruments. Now such opportunities appear. This is only one example, and here is a whole cascade of such opportunities that the Science module will provide, "said Nathan Eismont.

The module "Science" has a sleeping place for an astronaut, a toilet, oxygen and water regeneration systems, workplaces for conducting experiments. The module is equipped with an airlock and an ERA European remote manipulator.

Currently, the Russian segment of the ISS includes five modules: the Zarya functional cargo block (launched in 1998), the Zvezda service module (2000), the Pirs docking compartment (2001), and Poisk small research modules (2009 ) and "Dawn" (2010).

 
Want to update your desktop wallpapers? A set of photos of the Proton-M with the #Nauka laboratory module launch.

Some more statistics and fancy figures: today’s launch was the 111st for the modernized variant of Proton rocket.

View: https://twitter.com/roscosmos/status/1417937495426273288

View: https://twitter.com/katlinegrey/status/1418027736187211777


Ok, guys, my source says, that the Kurs antenna was opened yesterday evening. There are some other issues, but they are working on it; there’s nothing irreparable with #Nauka.
 
The Russian Science module (MLM-U), which was successfully launched yesterday from the Baikonur cosmodrome and launched into target orbit, faced malfunctions in the fuel system, N + 1 source in the rocket and space industry reported. To raise the orbit and approach the ISS, Science must turn on the engines four times, due to the failure, the module may not have enough fuel for all maneuvers, he said. The press service of Roscosmos reported that there are no new data on the condition of MLM yet, information about the first attempt to turn on the engines may come after 15:00.

The Science module, which was originally created as a backup of the Dawn module, should become the main platform for scientific experiments under the Russian program. It was supposed to fly to the station back in 2009, but the launch was repeatedly postponed for several reasons. The main one that caused the longest delay was a production defect, which caused metal chips to be in the fuel system. Removal of it from tanks and pipelines turned out to be a difficult technological task, we told about it in more detail in the big material "Fateful chips".


The reason for the appearance of chips was partly the very design of the tanks: inside them there were thin steel "harmonicas" - bellows, which in weightlessness provide pressure in the tanks. After long attempts to get rid of chips, specialists decided that they would not create problems if the tanks did not need to be refilled, and this operation was not required after the module reached the ISS.

According to a source N + 1, according to telemetry information, the fuel system created too high a pressure, causing bellows to break and the fuel leaked into the gas cavity behind the bellows membrane. This means that some of the fuel may not get into pipelines and engines, which in turn jeopardizes the ability to fly to the ISS. On the other hand, the source notes that similar telemetry data may cause failures in the fuel system valve system.

According to him, the situation remains unclear, some time ago the engines were switched on board the module for the first time, but whether the switching on was normal is still unknown.

Indirect confirmation of problems with MLM can be information about the transfer of the "Pierce" undocking from the docking unit where the module will be docked. It was originally planned for Friday night, now, judging by the crew's negotiations, it can be postponed until Saturday.

 
Hope everything turns out okay in the end, it would be a shame to lose the module.
Just a shame that the so called Heavy Kosmos got abandoned in Russia long ago as I think that might have been the only vehicle with the ability to shunt something with the mass of Nakua.
 
According NasaSpaceFlightForum, Anatoly Zak and Twitter

Has Nakua serious issues:
Main Propulsion system not operational
Multiple RCS thrusters reporting errors
IR Sensor not working ?
If Antenna for Rendezvous and Docking have deployed, is unclear for moment.

now Nauka use it Backup Propulsion System to rase it's orbit for approach to ISS

Souce:

View: https://twitter.com/Cosmic_Penguin/status/1417906872539959302
 
View: https://twitter.com/roscosmos/status/1418285213814296577


Roscosmos said:
After analyzing telemetry received from the #Nauka module, rocket and space industry specialists decided to schedule the #Pirs module deorbit for Saturday, July 24.

View: https://twitter.com/roscosmos/status/1418287587467350019


Roscosmos said:
Тестовое включение двигательной установки модуля #Наука и импульс формирования орбиты отработаны штатно.

Translation:

The test firing of the propulsion system of the #Science module and the orbit formation impulse worked normally.
 
Some Good news
Nauka is moving higher

the not so good news
seem they use DTS thruster instead the DKS main engines
that indicate the long engine burn of 250 sec

E67HffmXsAEUJ0V


View: https://twitter.com/roscosmos/status/1418310481517989893
 
Experts have worked out test corrections of the orbit of the "Nauka" module

07/22/2021 23:25

On Thursday, July 22, 2021, specialists of the flight control group of the multipurpose module "Nauka" in the Moscow Region Mission Control Center conducted two corrective maneuvers of the module launched the day before to the International Space Station.

The first maneuver took place at 18:07 Moscow time, when the engines of the module were turned on for 17.23 seconds. The impulse value was 1 m / s. The second switching on of the engines took place at 20:19 Moscow time and lasted 250.04 seconds. The impulse was 14.59 m / s.

Orbital parameters after two impulses:

Orbital period : 90.17 min;

Orbit inclination : 51.64 degrees;

Minimum orbital altitude : 230.43 km;

Maximum orbital altitude : 364.86 km.

Thus, the telemetry data confirmed the operability of the module's propulsion system. The next pulses for further orbit building are scheduled for tomorrow, July 23rd. Undocking and flooding of the Pirs module is scheduled for Saturday 24 July.

 
They managed to get the main engine going. The past manoeuvres had been done by thrusters not the main engine.


22:12 23 July 2021

Cosmonautics22:12 23 July 2021Complexity 1.9
Module "Science" was able to start the main engines

NASA

The Russian module "Science", which was launched on July 21 from the Baikonur cosmodrome, and encountered malfunctions in the fuel system, managed to turn on the main engines - DCS (correction and stabilization engines), which should ensure the autonomous flight of the module to the International Space Station. Anatoly Zak, the creator of the RussianSpaceWeb website, reported on the successful test activation of DKS with reference to his sources, this information was confirmed by N + 1 source in the industry. Roskosmos has not yet confirmed the data on the start of the engines.

MLM "Science" was launched on July 21, but soon after the launch into space, the module began to have problems with the fuel supply system to the main engines. On the evening of July 22, Roskosmos reported that Nauka was able to start the engines, which made it possible to increase the perigee of the orbit from 190 to 224 kilometers. However, by the nature of the operation of the engines, it became clear that the orbit correction was carried out on auxiliary engines for docking and stabilization of the traffic police (we talked about them in more detail in our blog “What engines did Science turn on?” ).

However, on the evening of July 23, the main engines were turned on for the first time on board the Nauka. There is no data on the starting time of the engines and how long they have operated, but the N + 1 source reported that the increment in the module's speed was approximately 7 meters per second.

Shortly before this, another source told N + 1 that the specialists had managed to bring all six tanks on board the Nauka into working order, where the fuel and oxidizer for the propulsion system are stored. At the same time, the DPS engines were launched again, which made it possible to raise the perigee and apogee of the orbit.

Initially, "Nauka" was a backup of the first module of the ISS "Zarya", but then it was decided to make a new module from it for the Russian segment of the station. The launch of the module into space was repeatedly postponed, the fault of which was the metal shavings found in the fuel system. You can read more about this in the material "Rock shavings" .

Alexander Voytyuk

 
According Roscosmos
Nauka makes good and will do two engine burns on 24 July to get closer to ISS

According Anatoly Zak
Ground team is work on issue with Automatic docking system
who depending on source, is not operational or report errors...
 
According Roscosmos
Nauka makes good and will do two engine burns on 24 July to get closer to ISS

According Anatoly Zak
Ground team is work on issue with Automatic docking system
who depending on source, is not operational or report errors...
I saw something about them troubleshooting the Kurs automatic docking system.
 

On Friday, July 23, 2021, specialists of the flight control group of the multipurpose module "Nauka" at the Mission Control Center of TsNIIMash (part of the State Corporation "Roscosmos") conducted two corrective maneuvers of the module launched on Wednesday to the International Space Station.

The next pulses for further orbit alignment are scheduled for July 24th.
 
Does Anatoly Zak report every error that potentially crops up? Does he work for some western NGO or something? Well it is good to hear the inside scoop. Wish we could get that kind of thing from within China's aerospace industry and infrastructure.
 
Module "Science" was put into the calculated orbit.

Module "Science" was launched into the calculated orbit after correction

MOSCOW, July 24 - RIA Novosti. The multifunctional laboratory module "Science", after the orbit corrections carried out on Saturday, entered the calculated flight trajectory, said the head of Roscosmos Dmitry Rogozin in his Telegram .

"At 17.20.47 and 17.54.20 Moscow time, a two-pulse correction of the MLM Nauka orbit was carried out on the main correction and rendezvous engine number 1. The parameters of the MLM Nauka orbit correspond to the calculated ones," he wrote.

The day before , the Mission Control Center twice adjusted the flight altitude of the Nauka multifunctional laboratory module, and the first maneuvers were carried out on the 22nd. The module docking to the ISS is planned for July 29.

Earlier in a number of Russian and foreign online media there was information about the malfunctions of the module's systems.

 

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