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  [Discuss] Nauka multi-purpose lab module

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Author Topic:   [Discuss] Nauka multi-purpose lab module
Robert Pearlman
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Posts: 46914
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999

posted 07-29-2021 11:00 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
This thread is intended for comments and questions about Russia's Nauka multi-purpose laboratory module (MLM), now docked to the International Space Station.

MSS
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From: Europe
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posted 07-29-2021 11:00 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for MSS     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Docking time was 08:29:06 a.m. CDT (1329:06 GMT/UTC).

SpaceAngel
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From: Maryland
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posted 07-29-2021 11:06 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for SpaceAngel   Click Here to Email SpaceAngel     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Now that MLM has arrived to the ISS, when will the crew be outfitting the module with the airlock, radiator and European Robotic Arm?

SkyMan1958
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posted 07-29-2021 11:57 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for SkyMan1958   Click Here to Email SkyMan1958     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Congratulations to the Russians! I hope the Nauka works well for them, and that much fine research is conducted aboard it.

Robert Pearlman
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From: Houston, TX
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posted 07-29-2021 12:23 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Flight controllers are currently troubleshooting an issue with unexpected thruster burns from the newly-arrived Nauka MLM that have thrown the space station out of attitude by about 45 degrees.

The station's cosmonauts were in the process of tying the Nauka's computer systems into the Zvezda service module when the thrusters on the MLM began firing at 12:45 p.m. EDT (1645 GMT).

Thrusters on the Zvezda service module (SM) and the Progress MS-17 cargo craft are being used to counter the errant MLM firings to restore attitude control.

Right now, the SM thrusters are effectively countering the MLM thrusters. We think at this rate it's going to take us about 20 minutes or so to get back in attitude control...

Robert Pearlman
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From: Houston, TX
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posted 07-29-2021 12:32 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Attitude control has been regained.
We can report that the MLM thrusters are no longer firing. We're back in attitude control, rates are stable.
There is no indication as of yet what triggered the errant MLM firings, but Russian flight controllers expect to be able to disable those thrusters when the space station next passes over ground relays.

Telemetry does not indicate any damage to the station, although flight controllers asked the crew to look for any debris or signs of issues. The crew said they could not see anything untoward out the windows.

SpaceBram
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posted 07-30-2021 04:27 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for SpaceBram   Click Here to Email SpaceBram     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Audio and timeline of the incident can be found here:

Robert Pearlman
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posted 07-30-2021 10:33 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
According to RSC Energia, "a short-term software failure" led to "a direct command [being] mistakenly implemented to turn on the [MLM's] engines" to withdraw from the space station, which is why it began firing its thrusters.

Expedition 65 cosmonauts Oleg Novitskiy and Pyotr Dubrov are now working with Russian flight controllers to monitor the venting of the MLM's fuel and oxidizer lines. As a precaution, some of the hatches on the U.S. side of the station were closed during the venting.

Later today, work is expected to resume on balancing the pressure inside the Nauka module to match that of the space station before the hatch leading into the MLM is opened.

Robert Pearlman
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From: Houston, TX
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posted 07-30-2021 12:53 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Update from Roscosmos (via Twitter):
The hatches between the Nauka module and the ISS are open!

The Nauka Multipurpose Laboratory Module and the International Space Station became one. In any minute, our crew is to move to the habitable part of the instrument-pressurized compartment of the new Russian module.

Robert Pearlman
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posted 07-31-2021 01:13 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
From Expedition 65 flight engineer Thomas Pesquet (via Twitter):
We opened the hatch to MLM yesterday! It's pointing towards Earth so mostly it will be down for us on space station: doesn't it look like a submarine hatch?

Robert Pearlman
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posted 08-17-2021 05:06 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
From Expedition 65 flight engineer Thomas Pesquet with the European Space Agency (via Twitter):
Join me on a tour of the International Space Station's newest (and possibly most dramatic) module — MLM.

Robert Pearlman
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posted 08-21-2021 06:10 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Update from Oleg Novitskiy (via Twitter):
Today we have opened a window of the Nauka Multipurpose Laboratory Module!

Soon there will be photos of the Earth from a new angle from the Russian segment of the space station.

Robert Pearlman
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From: Houston, TX
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posted 08-23-2021 09:39 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
From Expedition 65 flight engineer Oleg Novitskiy (via Twitter):
[A] short video of how we opened the window of the Nauka Multipurpose Laboratory Module, as well as fascinating views of the Earth.

Do you recognize these places? Our journey begins!

Robert Pearlman
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From: Houston, TX
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posted 08-30-2021 12:14 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Former cosmonaut Vladimir Solovyov, who today is head of the Russian segment on the International Space Station, spoke with RIA Novosti about the Nauka thruster issue (machine translated from Russian):
When the module was pulled by the hooks of the docking station, I realized that they would not let it go anywhere and, frankly, invited some colleagues to have tea in my office. I emphasize tea.

An hour and a half later we went to the control room, where it turned out that there was a sign of “withdrawal” in the on-board computer of the module, there was no sign of "coupling." This means that the "brains" of the machine believe that it is in autonomous flight: "How is it, I am still flying, and you have already tied me up." A paradoxical situation arose when our module, despite the fact that it was docked, was pulled together by hooks, each withstands eight tons per rupture, but nevertheless an autonomous flight program operates in the module's software. As a result, the computer issued the command "withdraw" and the engines worked for seven seconds.

Isn't it seven seconds, isn't it 45 minutes?

This is the first time. The second time they worked as they should (laughs).

After the first inclusion, we thought, because the situation was completely incomprehensible to us, from the realm of fantasy. But the problem was not only turning on the engines. During the flight to the ISS, the Nauka solar batteries generated four times more energy than the module required to maintain the systems in operation - 200 amperes/hour at a flow rate of 50 amperes/hour. But after the first switching on of the Nauka engines, six orbits (nine hours - ed.) Were waiting for us in the shadow zone. And the module was not connected to the ISS unified electrical system.

For the shadow section, all the systems of the module would be de-energized, and we would not be able to control it. Therefore, we needed to switch to common power supply from the ISS, so that the module and the station were connected in terms of energy.

I had to act in time trouble. Everything was complicated by the fact that there was an old control system in the module, which already worked with difficulty on the first day ... I was an active astronaut when such machines were used. The oldest blocks of the Nauka control system were manufactured in Soviet Union in 1986-1990.

There was not much time left before entering the shadow, and there were few control sessions through the ground measuring points, there was no time left for ground training of commands, so we had to immediately send commands on board. The main task was to combine the power systems of the module and the ISS. And in the last communication zone, during the last session, we managed to bypass the no-coupled mode.

It was dashing: to scratch your left ear with your right hand - to electrically combine the module with the station, although Nauka understood that it was mechanically disconnected.

At night they have already begun to figure out how to correct the "brains" of "Nauka" so that it understands that it is in a coupled state. Now we do not know grief, all our computers are united, for communication we use a satellite control loop.

That is, the problem was not in some sensor, which did not show that there was a docking?

The problem was a complex software that had a bug. It was impossible to catch it in our ground models.

After turning on the Nauka engine and turning the ISS, the American colleagues got scared. How reasonable was their fear? As far as I understand, the greatest danger was for the solar array drives, the teeth of which could be damaged by the load during an unplanned maneuver.

An hour after what happened, I talked with my colleague Joel Montalbano, the ISS program manager at NASA , whom I have known since 1993. I asked him about solar panels. He reassured me that the impact was two times less than the limit. He and his flight control team believe that nothing terrible has happened. Well, it turned around, so what?

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