International – Page 117 – SpacePolicyOnline.com

Technical Problem Delays Russian Proton Launch-UPDATE

By Marcia Smith | Posted: December 26, 2011 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: December 26, 2011 4:34 pm ET

UPDATE: This story has been updated to indicate that the launch vehicle has been rolled back from the launch pad.

Russia delayed the launch of Europe’s SES-4 communications satellite today because of technical problems with the Proton rocket.

Russia has experienced an unusual number of rocket problems in the past 12 months, starting with the failure of a Proton last December that doomed three GLONASS navigation satellites. Five more failures since then have stranded spacecraft in transfer orbits or not gotten them into orbit at all, including a cargo spacecraft headed to the International Space Station, the Phobos-Grunt Mars probe, and just three days ago, a military communications satellite. A variety of launch vehicles and upper stages from different manufacturers have been involved.

Russia’s news agency ITAR-TASS reported Monday afternoon Eastern Standard Time that the rocket “has been removed from the launch site in order to replace some of the instruments and run additional checks.” A new launch date was not announced.

This is a commercial launch for International Launch Services (ILS), a U.S.-based company that sells launches on the Proton. SES-4 belongs to Luxembourg-based satellite operator SES.

The satellite was originally built for New Skies, which was headquartered in the Netherlands, and carried a New Skies designation — NSS-14. SES acquired New Skies in 2005.

Last Updated: Dec 26, 2011 4:34 pm ET

Russia Suffers Another Soyuz Rocket Failure

By Marcia Smith | Posted: December 23, 2011 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: December 23, 2011 1:09 pm ET

Russia reportedly has suffered another launch failure today of a Soyuz rocket that was intended to place a military communications satellite into orbit.

This version of the Soyuz rocket, Soyuz-2, is slightly different from the Soyuz U rocket that failed in August dooming the Progress M-12M cargo spacecraft. One of the uses of the version that failed today is putting satellites into highly elliptical orbits that have long dwell times over the north pole. These launches take place from the Plesetsk launch site near the Arctic Circle.

The Soviet Union pioneered the use of this type of orbit early in the space program because it is advantageous for communications in northern latitudes where most of the country is located. The communications satellites placed into this orbit for decades were called Molniya (lightning) and the orbit took that name — a Molniya orbit — with an apogee of about 40,000 kilometers and a perigee of less than 1,000 kilometers. Molniya orbits now are used by different countries primarily for communications and early warning missions.

Russia’s military Molniya satellites are being replaced by a new version, Meridian, and that was the payload today. According to RussianSpaceWeb.com, the third stage of the Soyuz shut down 421 seconds into the flight and the latest reports indicate “a possible bulging of the combustion chamber No. 1, leading to its burn through and a catastrophic fuel leak.” That website cites Russian news service Interfax as estimating the “financial loss from the accident could reach two billion rubles.”

This is Russia’s fifth launch failure in 2011, a surprising number given the usual reliability of Russian rockets. The other four were GEO-IK2, a Rokot launch vehicle with a Briz upper stage that left the spacecraft stranded in transfer orbit; Express AM-4, a Proton-Briz combination that left the spacecraft in transfer orbit; Progress M-12M, a Soyuz U-Fregat combination that did not attain orbit; and Phobos-Grunt, a Zenit-Fregat combination that left the spacecraft stranded in Earth orbit instead of on a Mars trajectory.

Last Updated: Dec 23, 2011 1:09 pm ET

Soyuz TMA-03M Docks, Hatches Open

By Marcia Smith | Posted: December 23, 2011 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: December 23, 2011 1:35 pm ET

Russia may have suffered another launch failure today, but on a better news front, the Soyuz TMA-03M spacecraft successfully docked with the International Space Station (ISS).

The three Soyuz TMA-03M crew joined the three current residents of the ISS, restoring the space station to its full complement of six. Soyuz TMA-03M docked at 10:19 am EST and the hatches between the Soyuz and the ISS opened at 12:43 pm EST. The six crew members include three Russians, two Americans, and one European. To keep up with who’s on board the ISS and what they are doing, visit NASA’s ISS website.

Russia has a launch vehicle named Soyuz (Union), and a spacecraft named Soyuz, which can be confusing. The Soyuz spacecraft is launched by a Soyuz launch vehicle, adding to the confusion. The Soyuz TMA-03M spacecraft was launched by a Soyuz-FG launch vehicle. It is somewhat different than the Soyuz-2 that failed today and somewhat different than the Soyuz-U that failed in August. However, because of the similarities among the vehicles, following the August failure Russia delayed further launches of the Soyuz-FG until they were certain that the Soyuz-FG was safe to fly. It is too early to know if today’s launch failure will affect future crew launches to the ISS.

Last Updated: Dec 23, 2011 1:35 pm ET

New ISS Crew Set to Dock Friday Morning

By Marcia Smith | Posted: December 22, 2011 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: December 22, 2011 5:49 pm ET

The three crew currently aboard the International Space Station (ISS) will get an early Christmas present Friday morning — three more crew members, restoring the space laboratory to its full complement of six.

NASA’s Don Pettit, Russia’s Oleg Kononenko, and Europe’s Andre Kuipers (from the Netherlands) are scheduled to dock with the ISS about 10:22 am EST. They will join NASA’s Dan Burbank and Russia’s Anton Shkaplerov and Anatoly Ivinishin, who boarded the ISS last month.

Burbank got another special treat yesterday, witnessing a comet streak by in the sky. He took stunning video of it — and of the ISS becoming illuminated at orbital sunrise — that is available on NASA’s website.

Last Updated: Dec 22, 2011 5:49 pm ET

Soyuz TMA-03M Launches

By Marcia Smith | Posted: December 21, 2011 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: December 21, 2011 8:25 am ET

UPDATE: On-time launch at 8:16 am EST.

ORIGINAL STORY: The launch of Soyuz TMA-03M continues on schedule for launch at 8:16 am EST (7:16 pm local time in Kazakhstan).

NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) are providing live coverage of the launch. The three astronauts aboard the spacecraft are NASA’s Don Pettit, ESA’s Andre Kuipers, and Russia’s Oleg Kononenko.

If all goes according to plan, they will dock with the ISS in two days (December 23) at 10:22 am EST.

Last Updated: Dec 21, 2011 8:25 am ET

Next ISS Crew Ready for Launch Wednesday Morning

By Marcia Smith | Posted: December 20, 2011 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: December 20, 2011 5:23 pm ET

Preparations remain on target for the launch of three new crew members for the International Space Station (ISS) on Wednesday, December 21, at 8:16 am EST.

Three men — one each from the United States, Russia and the Netherlands — are scheduled to blast off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan aboard the Soyuz TMA-03M spacecraft at that hour (7:16 pm local time at Baikonur). If all goes according to plan, they will dock with the ISS two days later, joining the three crew members already aboard and restoring the ISS to its usual six-person crew complement.

NASA TV plans to cover the launch live beginning at 5:45 am EST.

Last Updated: Dec 20, 2011 5:23 pm ET

SpacePolicyOnline.com Unveils Revamped Website

By Marcia Smith | Posted: December 19, 2011 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: December 19, 2011 1:48 pm ET

Today marks the launch of our revamped website. The event should be seamless, but if you encounter any difficulties, please let us know at info@spacepolicyonline.com or marcia.s.smith@gmail.com.

WHAT WE KEPT

Based on the many positive comments we’ve received over the past two years, we’ve kept the same look and feel. Our web address is the same and if you are getting our RSS feed nothing should change. You will still be able to access all the free content to which you are accustomed — our objective, non-partisan reporting and analysis; handy fact sheets, hearing and meeting summaries; lists of GAO, NRC and other reports of interest; and a listing of events of interest to the space policy community.

WHAT’S NEW

SHARE YOUR VIEWS: You can now post comments using Disqus. We encourage debate, but ask that everyone keep his or her remarks professional and dignified. Passion is OK, vitriol – no. As we state at the bottom of the Disqus comment box, SpacePolicyOnline.com has the right (but not the obligation) to monitor comments and to remove any materials it deems inappropriate.
SIGN UP FOR A DAILY EMAIL NOTIFICATION: As requested, you can now sign up for daily emails to keep apprised of new stories that we’ve posted. In the blue bar at the top of our home page, click the envelope icon and enter your email address. We don’t do anything with your email address; this service is provided automatically through Feedburner.
SEARCH MORE EASILY: Our search box is in the same place (top right), but the search engine recognizes longer strings of characters, making searching much easier.
VIEW EVENTS OF INTEREST AS A LIST: We’ve replaced the calendar on our home page with a list of upcoming events, but if you liked the calendar format, you can still see one by clicking on the “full calendar with filters” link at the bottom of the list.
SHARE USING EMAIL, SOCIAL MEDIA AND OTHER TOOLS: You can now easily share our stories with others via Twitter, Facebook and other e-tools. We’ve also made it easier for you to follow us on Twitter or Facebook by using the now-familiar icons on the top right of the home page. If you don’t use Twitter yourself, you can see what we are tweeting and retweeting right there on our home page. Twitter is a terrific news feed and we find lots of interesting tweets by others to retweet and bring to your attention, so please check our “Twitter widget” throughout the day.
ADVERTISE ON SPACEPOLICYONLINE.COM: Contact us at info@spacepolicyonline.com for details.

WHAT’S COMING

Soon we will be offering premium reports for purchase on a per-report basis or by subscription. Building on the tradition of Congressional Research Service (CRS) reports that SpacePolicyOnline.com founder and editor Marcia Smith wrote for more than three decades, our premium reports will provide objective and non-partisan information and analysis about commercial, military and civil space policy and programs in the United States and around the world. Stay tuned for details!

We’re excited about the new site and hope you are, too. With best wishes to you and yours for happy holidays and a sparkling New Year!

Marcia Smith and Laura Delgado

Last Updated: Dec 19, 2011 1:48 pm ET

Europe Suspends Efforts to Contact Phobos-Grunt

By Marcia Smith | Posted: December 3, 2011 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: December 5, 2011 6:13 pm ET

The European Space Agency (ESA) has suspended its attempts to contact Russia’s Phobos-Grunt spacecraft, but remains ready to resume assistance if the situation changes.

ESA has been using ground stations in Australia and the Canary Islands to help Russia contact the probe, stranded in Earth orbit since its launch on November 8. The Fregat upper stage that should have sent the probe on its way to Mars did not fire for unknown reasons. The probe deployed its solar panels, and ESA successfully contacted the probe last week, but nothing more has been heard from it since.

Phobos-Grunt (Phobos-soil) was intended to return a sample of the Mars moon Phobos to Earth as well as deploy a small Chinese spacecraft to orbit Mars. The window for a two-way mission to Mars has closed, although theoretically if contact was reestablished and the problem resolved, it could still make a one-way trip to Mars. The Earth and Mars are properly aligned in their orbits around the Sun every 26 months for spacecraft to travel between them.

If contact cannot be restored, the spacecraft will reenter Earth’s atmosphere sometime early next year.

Last Updated: Dec 05, 2011 6:13 pm ET

UPDATED: Events of Interest: Week of December 5-9, 2011

By Marcia Smith | Posted: December 3, 2011 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: December 5, 2011 6:18 pm ET

The following events may be of interest in the coming week. For more information, check our calendar on the right menu or click the links below. The House and Senate both are in session this week.

Monday-Friday, December 5-9

American Geophysical Union (AGU) annual fall meeting, San Francisco (a list of NASA sessions and events is available on NASA’s website)

Tuesday, December 6

Women in Aerospace, Space Telescopes: Today, Tomorrow and Beyond, 2325 Rayburn House Office Building, 12:00-2:00 pm EST
United Launch Alliance (ULA) Celebrates Its Fifth Anniversary, National Press Club, Hoelman Lounge, Washington, DC, 12:30-1:30 pm
HSS&T hearing on James Webb Space Telescope, 2318 Rayburn House Office Building. 2:00 pm (note the time change)

Thursday, December 8

Space Security and National Security: CISSM Forum featuring Amb. Greg Schulte, Deputy Asst Sec of Defense for Space Policy, University of Maryland, room 1203 Van Munching Hall, College Park, MD, 12:15 – 1:30 pm

Friday, December 9

NASA Future Forum 2, Museum of Flight, Seattle, Washington, 9:00 am – 12:30 pm PST (noon-3:30 pm EST)

Last Updated: Dec 05, 2011 6:18 pm ET

Update on Russia, China and India: Presentation to the APL/NASM Space Policy & History Forum

By Marcia Smith | Posted: December 2, 2011 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: December 7, 2011 11:32 am ET

Editor’s Note: My Powerpoint slides from yesterday’s meeting at the Applied Physics Lab (APL) in Laurel, MD are nowposted for anyone who is interested.

My talk was the second in a new series of forums sponsored by the National Air and Space Museum’s (NASM’s) Space History Division and APL. The series seeks to stimulate dialogue on a topic of interest and is a discussion more than a lecture. I posed three questions and then provided background to set the stage. The questions were:

Are we too dependent on Russia?
Should we cooperate with China?
Could regional rivalry between India and China spur a new arms race in space?

It was a fun and lively discussion — thanks to everyone who came!

Roger Launius of NASM and Nathan Bridges of APL, the co-creators of the series, announced that the next will be in March at Lockheed Martin’s Global Vision Center in Crystal City, VA. Exact date, topic and speaker will be announced later.

Marcia Smith

Category: International