Launch News (Failure) Phobos-Grunt and YingHuo-1 atop Zenit-2 on November 8/9, 2011

[orb]

RIA Novosti: Last attempt to contact Phobos-Grunt - European Space Agency:

MOSCOW, November 22 (RIA Novosti) – Stations of the European Space Agency located in South America, Australia and the Canary Islands will try on Tuesday night to establish contact with the Phobos-Grunt unmanned spacecraft that is stranded at a low-Earth orbit after launch, the managing directorate of the European Space Agency (ESA) said.

“The ESA team will make the last attempt to establish contact with Phobos-Grunt using the ESA tracking station network ESTRACK,” the official microblog of the directorate said .

Earlier, the stations located in Kourou (French Guiana), in Australia and the Canary Islands tried to receive signals from the apparatus Phobos-Grunt.

{...}

SPACE.com: Time Running Out to Save Russian Mars Moon Probe

Discovery News: 'Little Chance' of Saving Stranded Mars Probe

 

[DaveS]

Breaking news: ESA's ESTRACK station Perth, Australia picks up signal from Phobos-Grunt: http://twitter.com/#!/esa/status/139246438801620992

 

[Artlav]

According to RIA, a command was sent to activate carrier wave transmission, and there was an immediate response. No actual data was received yet.

Not dead yet?

EDIT: Link - http://www.ria.ru/science/20111123/495706634.html

 

[Cosmic Penguin]

Breaking news: ESA's ESTRACK station Perth, Australia picks up signal from Phobos-Grunt: http://twitter.com/#!/esa/status/139246438801620992

Wow. Of the dozens of scenarios I have thought of for the destiny of P-G, this is not on my list. :blink:

Has the Mars transfer window closed for P-G yet? Even if yes, maybe the Russians can boost it to a higher orbit and wait for late 2013....

 

[SiberianTiger]

No, I refuse to believe it.

:rofl:

http://www.esa.int/esaCP/index.html

ESA tracking station receives signal from Russia's Phobos Mars mission

23 November 2011 On Tuesday, 22 November at 20:25 UT, ESA's tracking station at Perth, Australia, established contact with Russia's Phobos-Grunt spacecraft. This was the first signal received on Earth since the Mars mission was launched on 8 November. ESA teams are working closely with engineers in Russia to determine how best to maintain communications with the spacecraft. More news will follow later.

http://www.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=843728#843728

"We just sent up a command to switch on the carrier wave, and it complied."

 

[Artlav]

What does closing of the window mean in energy budget terms?
It won't have enough fuel to reach Phobos?
Or the return capsule won't make it back to Earth?
Getting to Mars should still work, and there are bound to be some correction reserves?

 

[SiberianTiger]

By the way, the 2nd stage of the Zenit rocket has reentered last night over North Australia:

https://www.space-track.org/perl/tip_msg.pl?id=37873

Report Date/Time	      2011-11-22 19:08:00 GMT
Predicted Decay Time	  2011-11-22 18:44:00 GMT  +/- 1 Minutes
Predicted Decay Location  14° S, 133° E
Direction	              descending
Inclination	              51.4°
Revolution Number	      222
High Interest Object	  Y
Final Report

 

[SiberianTiger]

What does closing of the window mean in energy budget terms?
It won't have enough fuel to reach Phobos?
Or the return capsule won't make it back to Earth?
Getting to Mars should still work, and there are bound to be some correction reserves?

IF it's possible to boost into 10000 x 10000 orbit to remove reentering possibility for good, I'd call that a success.

 

[IronRain]

From the ESA website:

ESA tracking station establishes contact with Russia's Phobos Mars mission

ESA's tracking station at Perth, Australia, established contact with Russia's Phobos-Grunt spacecraft. This was the first signal received on Earth since the Mars mission was launched on 8 November. ESA teams are working closely with engineers in Russia to determine how best to maintain communication with the spacecraft. More news will follow later.

 

[SiberianTiger]

Well, I think if control over the bird can eventually be reestablished, even in the case the main propulsion module is completely defunct, the minimum achievement can be controlled deorbiting. I have done a simple calculation that proven that if attitude thrusters of the cruise module work (and they should be, given the spacecraft can maintain its sun-facing attitude), their action can be enough to make a controlled reentry in a chosen area.

Its RCS thrusters are positioned as in the picture:

Each of the 4 assemblies has one 11D457F engine and one 17D58EF engine facing -X axis:

These engines are normally used for ullage of propellants before the main propulsion unit's start. However, their performance is enough to deliver few tens of m/s delta-V even to a completely fueled spacecraft (given that their own reserves are not yet sucked to the bottom).

The figures are:

To lower current perigee to 85 km, subtraction of 77 m/s in Apogee is required;

RCS fuel reserve 185.6 kg
RCS oxidizer reserve 343.4 kg
We have:
4 * 11D457F (4 * 53.9 N (5.5 kg of force), 290 kg of force*s/kg)
4 * 17D58EF (4 * 12.45 N (1.27 kg of force), 260 kg of force*s/kg)
The sum of thrust is 265.4 N, the weight-averaged ISP is 284.37.

Out of which, consumption of 360 kgs of propellants is required over a 386 seconds long retro burn.

If only that is possible.

edit:
with oxidizer/fuel ratio 1.85 (as in the scan), amount of propellants required:
fuel: 126.3 kg
oxidizer: 233.7 kg

 

[agentgonzo]

What does closing of the window mean in energy budget terms?
It won't have enough fuel to reach Phobos?
Or the return capsule won't make it back to Earth?
Getting to Mars should still work, and there are bound to be some correction reserves?

I assumed that the closing of the window meant that the energy budget to do a transfer to Mars, insertion and landing on Phobos had increased so much that there was not sufficient delta-V remaining for the return trip.

The change of a month's time shouldn't affect the trajectory sufficiently to mean it can't reach Mars or land on Phobos.

 

[SiberianTiger]

I assumed that the closing of the window meant that the energy budget to do a transfer to Mars, insertion and landing on Phobos had increased so much that there was not sufficient delta-V remaining for the return trip.

One crazy possibility: what if landing on Deimos would fit into the restricted delta-V budget?

 

[IronRain]

Spaceflight Now: It's alive! Russia's Phobos-Grunt probe phones home

The European Space Agency announced Wednesday a ground station in Australia heard signals from Russia's marooned Phobos-Grunt Mars mission, but prospects are fading for the probe to reach the Red Planet as scheduled next year.

A tracking station in Perth succeeded in contacting Phobos-Grunt, a 29,000-pound, truck-sized probe designed to retrieve samples from the largest moon of Mars and return them to Earth.

Officials have been unable to contact Phobos-Grunt since a problem prevented the craft from exiting Earth orbit and accelerating toward Mars after liftoff Nov. 8.

Russia sought help from ESA, which maintains a network of radio stations around the world. ESA's Perth station heard a signal from Phobos-Grunt at about 2025 GMT (3:25 p.m. EST) Tuesday, the space agency announced. It was one of four communications attempts Tuesday.

There has been no contact with Phobos-Grunt since then, according to Rene Pischel, head of ESA's permanent office in Moscow.

"The next communication session is being prepared for tonight," Pischel told Spaceflight Now. "It will be also from Perth."

Pischel said "no meaningful telemetry" was received from Phobos-Grunt, adding there was only an acquisition of a radio signal from the orbiting spacecraft.

{...}

 

[N_Molson]

Good ! Now the first task, if still possible, would be to get it out of that dangerousely low orbit. After that, lunar orbit would be a very decent downgraded objective given the state of the mission :yes:

 

[SiberianTiger]

http://chel.kp.ru/online/news/1025332

23.11.2011 17:22

Specialists from a ESA space communication station in Perth, Australia, will do five attempts to download telemetry from Russian Phobos-Grunt interplanetary probe tonight and on Thursday's morning.

We will make five attempts to download a telemetry from Phobos-Grunt. 1st try at 00:25 MSK (20:25 UTC), 2nd at 01:57 MSK (21:57 UTC), 3rd at 03:32 MSK (23:32 UTC), 4th at 08:14 MSK (04:14 UTC), and 5th at 09:49 MSK (05:49 UTC). Each one is limited to 6-7 minutes, said a ESA representative.
.

 

[tl8]

So the Western Australians are more than just miners. Oh wait, sample return...

For those wondering, WA is UTC+8hrs

 

[orb]

Universe Today: Contact Established with Phobos-Grunt Spacecraft — Can the Mission Go On?:

{...}

Before contact was made, some reports said that if contact was made by November 24, the mission could proceed as planned, while other experts were saying that the launch window to complete the sample return mission closed on November 21.

But yet, a mission leaving from Earth orbit well into December might still succeed.

{...}

The launch window for an Earth-to-Mars trajectory actually would allow Grunt to reach Mars and Phobos, if communication were restored, say two or three weeks from now. In such a case, however, the collection of regolith on the Phobosian surface would take place after that window has closed for the capsule to launch back to Earth. This is why people are saying that the window for Phobos-Grunt will close this Thursday.

{...}

So, when is the free return window actually ending then?

 

[SiberianTiger]

So, when is the free return window actually ending then?

What do you mean, free return? The probe was supposed to stay few years in Mars' orbit until a TEI opportunity appears.

 

[orb]

What do you mean, free return? The probe was supposed to stay few years in Mars' orbit until a TEI opportunity appears.

I assumed it from this statement:

the collection of regolith on the Phobosian surface would take place after that window has closed for the capsule to launch back to Earth

:shrug:

 

[SiberianTiger]

I assumed it from this statement::shrug:

Well, I think it's a kind of problem to be pondered over later when basic things about the spacecraft's state and usability are made clear.