|
|
|
|
Wiring short caused Sea Launch engine shutdown BY JUSTIN RAY SPACEFLIGHT NOW Posted: October 7, 2004 The international Sea Launch group expects to resume commercial satellite deployment missions by year's end now that investigators have concluded their inquiry into a troubled June flight.
Ground controllers were able to maneuver Telstar 18 into geostationary orbit and salvage the craft's entire 13-year life expectancy. But the incident forced Sea Launch to suspend missions until the upper stage problem could be identified and fixed. On Thursday, Sea Launch announced that a wiring problem on the Block DM-SL triggered a short that disrupted the transmission of data from fuel sensors during the mission and caused the stage to run out of propellant during the launch. "Immediately following the mission, Sea Launch partner RSC Energia appointed a commission in Moscow to investigate a premature shutdown of the Block DM-SL upper stage. RSC Energia was able to recreate the anomaly on the ground in full scope, matching the flight telemetry data from the Telstar 18 mission," Sea Launch said in a press statement. "The commission identified the most probable cause as a short in the onboard cable network. This short introduced electrical interference in the circuits that transmit liquid oxygen and fuel flow rate data to the main engine control system. "The main engine control system performed nominally, given the distorted data it received from the flow rate sensors. As a result of the main engine control system acting upon the distorted data, the Block DM-SL consumed more fuel than planned and prematurely shut down due to fuel depletion." Sea Launch's own Independent Review Board has unanimously approved the commission's findings and recommended corrective actions, officials said Thursday. The Independent Review Board was chaired by Kirk Pysher, vice president and chief systems engineer for Sea Launch, and included the Sea Launch partners, independent reviewers, subject matter experts and customer representatives, the press statement said. Sea Launch indicated that corrective actions to prevent a re-occurrence of the wiring short have been developed and verified through testing. "The (Independent Review Board) has confirmed the corrective actions are appropriate and will increase the overall Block DM-SL reliability through increased fault tolerance during flight and pre-launch screening for defects. It also confirmed the Block DM-SL is ready for return to flight," Sea Launch said. The next launch is targeted for early December when the Intelsat Americas 8 communications satellite is hauled into space to serve North and South America. Originally known as Telstar 8, this Loral Space and Communications craft and four others already in orbit were acquired by Intelsat earlier this year. Sea Launch has conducted 14 missions beginning with a demonstration flight in 1999. The group has experienced one outright launch failure -- in 2000 -- when the second stage malfunctioned, causing the rocket and its ICO mobile communications satellite to fall into the Pacific. |
|
|
|
Apollo 11 special patch Special collectors' patch marking the 35th anniversary of the historic Apollo 11 moon landing is now available.U.S. - U.K. - E.U. - Worldwide Inside Apollo mission control
An insider's view of how Apollo flight controllers operated and just what they faced when events were crucial.U.S. The ultimate Apollo 11 DVD This exceptional chronicle of the historic Apollo 11 lunar landing mission features new digital transfers of film and television coverage unmatched by any other.U.S. - U.K. - E.U. - Worldwide Next ISS crew
Own a little piece of history with this official patch for the International Space Station's Expedition 11 crew. We'll ship yours today!U.S. Current Shuttle Mission Patch The official embroidered patch for shuttle Endeavour's flight to finish building Japanese section of the space station.Hubble Patch The official embroidered patch for mission STS-125, the space shuttle's last planned service call to the Hubble Space Telescope, is available for purchase.Ares Patch The Ares Project will develop two new rockets to launch astronauts back to the Moon under NASA's Vision for Exploration. The Ares 1 will employ a single space shuttle solid rocket booster to loft the Orion crew capsule. The gigantic Ares 5 will haul the equipment and cargo needed for such lunar voyages. This is the Ares emblem.![]() Project Orion The Orion crew exploration vehicle is NASA's first new human spacecraft developed since the space shuttle a quarter-century earlier. The capsule is one of the key elements of returning astronauts to the Moon.Fallen Heroes Patch Collection The official patches from Apollo 1, the shuttle Challenger and Columbia crews are available in the store.Soviet Space For the first time ever available in the West. Rocket & Space Corporation Energia: a complete pictorial history of the Soviet/Russian Space Program from 1946 to the present day all in full color. Available from our store.U.S. - U.K. - E.U. - Worldwide Viking patch This embroidered mission patch celebrates NASA's Viking Project which reached the Red Planet in 1976.U.S. - U.K. - E.U. - Worldwide Apollo 7 DVD For 11 days the crew of Apollo 7 fought colds while they put the Apollo spacecraft through a workout, establishing confidence in the machine what would lead directly to the bold decision to send Apollo 8 to the moon just 2 months later.U.S. - U.K. - E.U. - Worldwide Gemini 12 Gemini 12: The NASA Mission Reports covers the voyage of James Lovell and Buzz Aldrin that capped the Gemini program's efforts to prove the technologies and techniques that would be needed for the Apollo Moon landings. Includes CD-ROM.U.S. - U.K. - E.U. - Worldwide |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
MISSION STATUS CENTER INDEX | PLUS | NEWS ARCHIVE | LAUNCH SCHEDULE ASTRONOMY NOW | STORE ADVERTISE © 2009 Spaceflight Now Inc. |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||