|
|
Thread Tools | Display Modes |
#1
|
|||
|
|||
ISS orbit correction canceled after engine malfunction
Kreydenko: "Several minutes after switching them on, four developed a
faulty 'pulsation' and all the engines were switched off automatically..." This sure looks like an engine 'mini-pogo' hardware issue, from that verbal description (through a translator, admittedly) NASA, meanwhile, at its daily ISS report on 'NASA TV' (13:00 gmt) attributes the shutdown to the loss of communications between the thrusters and the Russian guidance computers... The shutdown, according to the TV commentator, was a normal response to the absence of reliable data from the engines, NOT a reflection of trouble with the engines themselves. It would be nice for NASA to get its story consistent with the Russian version, but that'll take some time. Meanwhile, John Phillips remains the ONLY member of the Soyuz TMA-6 crew who has NOT publicly given his version of the apparent 'depressurization anaomaly' on the Soyuz descent last week. Krikalyov and Olsen have candidly spoken out -- Phillips remains silent. Are NASA experts really as clueless as this, or is it a negotiations strategy over the commercial Soyuz seats negotiations? --- JimO comments...... Moscow ITAR-TASS in Russian 0910 GMT 19 Oct 05 Moscow, 19 October: Russia's space agency Roskosmos has urged people not to dramatize the situation surrounding the cutting out of the Progress freighter's engines while correcting the International Space Station's orbit. "The station's orbit is not in a critical state, there is enough fuel," the official spokesman of the Federal Space Agency Roskosmos, Konstantin Kreydenko, told an ITAR-TASS correspondent today. He recalled that the adjustment of the orbit was intended to prepare the station for future dockings with Progress cargo craft, the first of which is to be launched from Baykonur on 21 December. "We have more than enough time to calmly find out what went wrong and caused several engines to fail aboard the Progress M-54 which is docked to the station, and to carry out another readjustment," Kreydenko said. Out of 28 thrusters used for orientation aboard the cargo craft, eight were involved in the manoeuvre, he said. "Several minutes after switching them on, four developed a faulty 'pulsation' and all the engines were switched off automatically," the Roskosmos spokesman said. A special commission from Mission Control Centre is now working to find out the cause of the malfunction. "When the commission finishes its work, a decision will be taken on a new date for the manoeuvre. We will definitely raise the station's orbit. If need be, this operation can be performed by the Progress's main propulsion engines instead of the thrusters," Kreydenko said. |
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
Orbital Mechanics | JOE HECHT | Space Shuttle | 7 | July 21st 04 09:27 PM |
The Apollo FAQ (moon landings were faked) | Nathan Jones | Misc | 8 | February 4th 04 06:48 PM |
The Apollo Moon Hoax FAQ v4.1 November 2003 | Nathan Jones | Misc | 20 | November 11th 03 07:33 PM |
SMART-1 Is One Month In Orbit | Ron Baalke | Astronomy Misc | 2 | October 30th 03 09:05 PM |
Ed Lu Letter from Space #6 | Jacques van Oene | Space Station | 0 | July 4th 03 11:10 AM |