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Aviation History
2003
2003 - 0444.PDF
SPACEFLIGHT CO-OPERATION VLADIMIR KARNOZOV / MOSCOW & TIM FURNISS / LONDON Russia to strengthen ISS support More flights could follow US/Russian talks on taking "urgent steps" to keep International Space Station operational Russia will fly an extra Progress unmanned resupply craft to the International Space Station (ISS) this year, in addition to three Soyuz crew vehicle and three Progress flights. Eight Progress/Soyuz flights are planned for 2004. Rosaviakosmos general director Yuri Koptev has met Russian presi dent Vladimir Putin to discuss additional funding following the grounding of NASA's Space Shuttle fleet. Putin has agreed with US president George Bush that "the two countries shall take urgent steps to keep the ISS operational". Debris was coming off the Space Shuttle Columbia as it crossed the California coast, more than 6min before the orbiter broke up over Texas, investigators confirm. Analysis of images of the re-entry suggests the parts were small and may not have survived re-entry, says Columbia accident investiga tion board member James Hallock. The first unusual telemetry indi cation was received while Columbia was above the Pacific, just over 7min before the vehicle broke up during re-entry on 1 February. Trajectory analysis is under way in a bid to locate early debris in southern California and northern Arizona. The board believes a breach in the thermal-protection system allowed superhot plasma to enter the left wing. According to the lat est timeline, Columbia had just entered the region of peak re-entry heating when the first temperature rises were recorded in the left main landing gear (MLG) wheel well (all times GMT): 13.44.09 Entry interface: height 395,01 Oft; speed Mach 24.56 13.50.53 Start of peak heating region (243,048ft, M24.12) 13.52.17 Unusual temperature rise on left MLG brake line sensor on wheel "It is crucial for us to find a way out of the current situation with the station," Koptev says, adding that additional spacecraft flights in 2004 is "the necessary condition". NASA has asked for pricing on additional Progress and Soyuz flights, but is barred by law from providing funding to Russia. The Progress that docked this month has fired its engine to raise the ISS orbit by 10km (6 miles). The station has sufficient propellant to remain in stable orbit at least a year without Shuttle support, NASA says, and a permanent crew can be well inboard sidewall (236,791ft, M23.58) 13.52.41 Unusual temperature rise on two brake line sensors, one on strut facing MLG door (234,928ft; M23.4) 13.52.59-13.53.36 Over 37s, five temperature sensors associated with left elevons drop off line. Sensor wiring is routed along outboard side of MLG wheel well, before crossing in front of well and into fuselage 13.53.46 Temperature rise rate on brake line sensor on strut facing left MLG door changes from 1.4°F/1 min to 5.5°F/min and increases until loss of signal (230,203ft, M22.86) 13.54.10 Third left MLG brake line sensor shows unusual temperature increase (228,460ft, M22.64) 13.54.20 Start of slow aileron trim change as flight control system coun teracts increasing drag on left side of the orbiter (time is approximate) 13.54.22 Two temperature sensors on fuselage side above left wing show unusual increases of 7.6°F/min (mid) and 5.5°F/min (aft) 13.54.24-13.55.12 Over 48s, three left MLG temperature sensors show unusual readings 13.55.21 Telemetry indicates increased aerodynamic drag (224,002ft, M21.92) 13.55.41 Sensor on left mid-fuselage maintained "as long as necessary" with Progress/Soyuz flights. Water is critical, as it was mostly carried into orbit by Shuttles. NASA says a three-man crew cannot be supported beyond June with planned Progress flights, the next of which is in June. A Soyuz "taxi" flight planned for April may be changed to a crew exchange mis sion, with a two-man crew taking over to conserve water. The present three-man crew would return in the Soyuz lifeboat attached to the ISS. This would reduce the station's capability, as a side begins unusually high (2.6°F/min) temperature rise (222,821ft, M21.69) 13.56.03 Left lower wing-skin temper ature trends down, indicating potential sensor or wiring damage (sensor drops off line at 13.57.28) 13.56.16-13.58.16 Over 2min, seven left MLG sensors show increased temperature rise rates 13.56.24 Left upper wing-skin temper ature trends down, indicating potential sensor or wiring damage (sensor drops off line at 13.57.43) 13.56.30-13.56.55 Flight control sys tem performs first of four planned roll reversals to bleed off energy 13.57.19-13.57.24 Anomalous read ings from two left outboard MLG tyre pressure sensors 13.57.35 Start of roll trim on elevons (216,845ft, M20.31) 13.58.03 Start of "sharp" aileron trim increase (time is approximate) 13.58.32-13.58.54 Over 22s, left MLG two-man crew could not operate the ISS and run experiments. Koptev declines to confirm whether Russia's space tourist flights will be postponed indefi nitely. "If we cancel two visitors' flights to the station, then we'll lose $45 million, which is already taken account of in the financial plans for this year," he says. Rosaviakosmos and the European Space Agency have agreed further European astronaut missions on Soyuz flights to the ISS. The accord may lead to Soyuz launches from Kourou, French Guiana, by 2006. tyre pressure and wheel temperature sensors drop off line 13.58.39-13.58.56 Columbia's back up computer alerts crew to loss of tyre pressure data 13.59.06 Downlock sensor indicates left MLG deployed, but uplock sensor indicates no change. NASA says downlock indication was erroneous (204,336ft, M18.68) 13.59.30 Two right yaw thrusters fire to help eievons keep orbiter on course (200,767ft, M18.16) 13.59.31 Maximum observed elevon deflection: left up 8.11°, right up 1.15° 13.59.32 Maximum observed aileron trim (-2.3°). Loss of all signals NASA has recovered an extra 5s of data received following loss of communication with the orbiter. This shows the third and fourth yaw thrusters firing as the flight control system struggled to counteract increasing drag on the left side. INVESTIGATION GRAHAM WARWICK / WASHINGTON DC Columbia's break-up began over California ORBITER COLUMBIA FLIGHT TRACK UPDATE 13:52:00 13:53:00 13:54:00 13:55:00 13:56:00 13:57:00 13:58:00 13:59:00 14:00:00 I 'l ' ' ' ' •A-L1.1 I ' ' • ' I ' I I" 'I— www.fliqhtinternational.com FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 25 FEBRUARY - 3 MARCH 2003 25
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