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

[Artlav]

Hope, my dear friends.
It's not dead yet.

 

[SiberianTiger]

Pass time predictions for the deep space communication station in Ussuriysk (Galenki):

Location      : Ussuriysk (131.7572° E, 44.0244° N)
Time zone     : UTC
Search period : 2011-11-09 08:12:09 - 3 days
                2011-11-12 08:12:09
Conditions    : Maximum sun elevation = None
                Minimum sat elevation = 1 deg
                Illumination NOT required

Time                Satellite              Azm  Elv  Mag Range S.Azm S.Elv
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
2011-11-09 14:13:22 #37872               207.0  1.0  ecl  1586 337.9 -61.3
2011-11-09 14:16:40 #37872               138.4 17.3  ecl   640 339.5 -61.5
2011-11-09 14:20:05 #37872                71.1  1.0  ecl  1656 341.2 -61.8

2011-11-09 15:46:37 #37872               259.7  1.0  ecl  1612  25.1 -60.9
2011-11-09 15:50:09 #37872               337.4 28.8  ecl   452  26.7 -60.6
2011-11-09 15:53:54 #37872                54.3  1.0  ecl  1715  28.5 -60.3

2011-11-09 17:20:58 #37872               295.0  1.0  ecl  1668  59.7 -49.3
2011-11-09 17:24:17 #37872               357.2 12.6  ecl   876  60.6 -48.8
2011-11-09 17:27:47 #37872                58.4  1.0  ecl  1777  61.6 -48.2

2011-11-09 18:54:51 #37872               306.8  1.0  ecl  1729  81.2 -33.5
2011-11-09 18:58:31 #37872                16.8 18.8  ecl   714  81.9 -32.8
2011-11-09 19:02:24 #37872                85.3  1.0    ?  1848  82.6 -32.1

2011-11-09 20:28:18 #37872               299.2  1.0  ecl  1780  97.6 -16.7
2011-11-09 20:32:20 #37872               211.4 68.0    ?   301  98.3 -16.0
2011-11-09 20:36:38 #37872               127.3  1.0    ?  1902  99.0 -15.2

We should wait for at least first of these periods. Even if it's in safe mode, the power supply has a chance of being Ok.

 

[SiberianTiger]

For now, it's a...

 

[Ripley]

Official note on the project site:
http://phobos.cosmos.ru/index.php?id=285&L=2

Dear Colleagues !

We need your support in the project "Phobos-Soil", because:
Two ignitions of Phobos-Grunt engine unit are planned to put spacecraft onto interplanetary mission to Mars. But unfortunately in both cases the operation of spacecraft engine is invisible from Russian ground stations..............snip

:facepalm:

Bad news!! Let's hope for the best.
Quoted text from SiberianTiger's link was already on that website one or two days before launch.

 

[Wishbone]

Bad news!! Let's hope for the best.
Quoted text from SiberianTiger's link was already on that website one or two days before launch.

Which makes it even stranger. One would have thought that ballistics and comms schedule would be worked out well in advance. Since all uplinked commands are blackboxed, we may soon learn if it was the uplink glitch that caused that.

 

[N_Molson]

Russian Mars mission halted by glitch in low Earth orbit

BY STEPHEN CLARK
SPACEFLIGHT NOW
Posted: November 8, 2011

Russia's Phobos-Grunt mission, an audacious effort to retrieve samples from a Martian moon, is stranded in low Earth orbit following a successful liftoff Tuesday from Kazakhstan, according to Russian reports.

Two rocket burns were supposed to propel the massive probe on a course toward Mars late Tuesday, but indications are the engine firings did not occur, according to Vladimir Popovkin, head of the Russian space agency.

The revelation came after a successful blastoff on top of a Zenit 2FG rocket at 2016 GMT (3:16 p.m. EST). Phobos-Grunt and an attached rocket pack separated from the booster about 11 minutes later.

Radar trackers did not detect Phobos-Grunt in the expected orbit after it was supposed to fire engines nearly three hours after liftoff. The burn was timed to occur over South America and out of range of Russian ground stations, which are limited in coverage over Europe and Asia.

"We had a difficult night, and we could not locate the spacecraft for a long time," Popovkin said in a report by the Russian Novosti news agency. "We now have its position. It was found that the propulsion system failed. There was neither the first nor the second burn."

Popovkin said the spacecraft may not have issued the command for a specially-designed rocket system to ignite, adding such an issue was foreseen during the development of the mission. He also suggested there could have been a problem with the craft's orientation and switching from sun-tracking to star-tracking, according to the Novosti report.

A subsequent story in Novosti late Tuesday night said such a problem could be due to software or hardware issues. If it was a software glitch, the odds of recovery are good, while a hardware anomaly could have more dire consequences for the mission, the report said.

A senior manager at NASA's Deep Space Network said there is no agreement between the United States and Russia for tracking of the launch sequence with the network's powerful communications antennas around the world. The antennas could be made available if Russia requests aid, the mananger said.

Engineers are evaluating whether the spacecraft can be recovered in time to upload fresh commands to attempt more engine burns to aim for Mars. According to Popovkin, ground teams have three days to try to devise a new program for the burns toward Mars.

Because it didn't fire its engines as scheduled Tuesday, Phobos-Grunt still has a full load of propellant to get to Mars if engineers can find the cause of the problem and fix it.

In a report by the Interfax news agency, Popovkin said he would not describe the mission as a failure yet.

After initially reaching an elliptical orbit a few hundred miles above Earth, Phobos-Grunt was supposed to fire its main propulsion unit twice, first to raise its altitude, then to inject itself on a trajectory to escape Earth.

Neither burn occurred, meaning the spacecraft is probably still circling Earth at altitudes between 120 miles and 215 miles. The orbit was supposed to have an inclination angle of about 51.4 degrees to the equator.

The first rocket firing was supposed to raise Phobos-Grunt's maximum altitude to more than 2,500 miles. A second burn would have accelerated the spacecraft beyond escape velocity, the relative speed needed to overcome the influence of Earth's gravity and head for Mars.

Phobos-Grunt should have been on an Mars-bound trajectory at 0120 GMT (8:20 p.m. EST).

The $163 million mission's propulsion system is derived from the Fregat upper stage, a hydrazine-fueled space tug that often places satellites in high-altitude orbits above Earth. The Fregat has never been used on an interplanetary mission before.

The Fregat-based main propulsion unit was supposed to stay attached to Phobos-Grunt for course correct maneuvers and a critical braking burn to arrive in orbit around Mars in October 2012.

After getting to Mars, the probe was supposed to jettison the propulsion unit and deploy China's Yinghuo 1 orbiter, which rides piggyback on Phobos-Grunt for the journey there.

By early 2013, Phobos-Grunt was scheduled to approach Phobos and study the moon with remote sensing instruments, giving Russian scientists data needed to select a landing site.

Using a laser altimeter and radar navigation sensor, Phobos-Grunt was expected to descend to the surface of the moon in February 2013. Because of the weak gravity field at Phobos, the probe must make a gentle landing with little margin for error.

After scooping up rock with a robot arm and placing the samples in a canister, Phobos-Grunt's return capsule was designed to depart the moon and target a landing back on Earth in August 2014 with nearly a half-pound of soil.

After sending its samples back to Earth, Phobos-Grunt's core spacecraft was supposed to remain on Phobos for a continued science mission for up to a year.

 

[SiberianTiger]

http://phobos.cosmos.ru/index.php?i...ead&cat_uid=1&conf_uid=1&thread_uid=21&page=3

A telemetry had been received. Attitude keeping works. At present, the spacecraft is out of our visibility zone. We'll wait for telemetry feed at 21:30 Moscow (17:30 UTC). Then we'll know what's the problem.

 

[Urwumpe]

I bet the problem is a damaged pressure transducer.

 

[N_Molson]

Attitude keeping works.

That was my biggest point of concern, the most critical thing. Good news.

 

[SiberianTiger]

I bet the problem is a damaged pressure transducer.

Why do you think so?

 

[Urwumpe]

Why do you think so?

When engines fail to ignite, it usually boils down to sensor problems, for example contamination. Pressure transducers are generally pretty easily disturbed, the chamber pressure readings are for example strain sensors on the combustion chamber external wall.

A valve could also be stuck, but this is much less likely to happen as a sensor problem early in flight. Sensor problems can for example already be caused by the spacecraft getting charged slightly different in space by solar wind as expected.

 

[SiberianTiger]

Official acknowledgment of the situation:

http://www.federalspace.ru/main.php?id=2&nid=18227

Google tran:

On the situation with the spacecraft "Phobos-Grunt"
:: 11/09/2011

November 9 launch vehicle "Zenit-2SB" was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome and brought to the reference orbit automatic interplanetary station "Phobos-Grunt."

The first data of the flight timeline and held two communication session indicated that the spacecraft is operating normally, the flight goes according to plan.

At entry sustainer propulsion system to move the spacecraft "Phobos-Grunt" with the reference orbit to a hyperbolic escape trajectories emergency situation has occurred, engines were not included. At this point, the spacecraft was out of sight of ground stations tracking.

Currently defined all the parameters of the spacecraft motion.

Given the low orbit satellites, receiving telemetry from it may not be earlier than 23 hours Moscow time (enter the zone of radio visibility). According to the results of processing and data analysis will be prepared and laid on board the necessary programs and settings to re-enable the main engines.

Adjusted analysis of the orbital parameters and energy supply on board showed that these commands must be issued within 2 weeks.

Press Secretary of the head of Russian Federal Space Agency

 

[SiberianTiger]

When engines fail to ignite, it usually boils down to sensor problems, for example contamination. Pressure transducers are generally pretty easily disturbed, the chamber pressure readings are for example strain sensors on the combustion chamber external wall.

A valve could also be stuck, but this is much less likely to happen as a sensor problem early in flight.

Makes sense, but at present most blame is put upon guidance system which supposedly failed to orient the spacecraft prior to the 1st boost.

 

[SiberianTiger]

Chinese commenters are angry about the news of the PhG problems (stucking Chinese spacecraft from proceeding):

1.俄罗斯你要是聪明的话，就把大推力火箭技术转让给中国吧，你现在已经不行了。
2.毛子靠不住，必须自力更生
3.俄国人就是不靠谱…
4. 中国现在还没有大推力火箭发射器，所以才借用别人的发射，不过好像我国正在加紧大推力运载火箭的研发
5. 俄故意搞出来的。就像去年帮韩国发射“法老号”一样。怎么老失败？不知道太空产品贵吗？太空垃圾还少吗？

Google:

1 Russia if you're smart enough to put high-thrust rocket technology to China it, and you have to die.
2 Westerner unreliable, must be self-reliant
3 is that the Russians do not fly ...
4 China is not yet high-thrust rocket launchers, so only borrow someone else's launch, but it seems our country is stepping up the development of high-thrust rocket
5 out of Russia deliberately engaged. Like last year, to help South Korea launch of the "Pharaon" the same. How old fail? Space product you do not know it? Space junk there?

 

[N_Molson]

Well, they can send their own rockets & probes to Mars now, if they are not happy.

 

[Ghostrider]

Why stop at rockets? They can make their own Phobos. I bet it would be cheaper than the original, even if a little less durable.

 

[SiberianTiger]

http://www.vesti.ru/doc.html?id=625364&cid=7

09.11.2011 14:46
Phobos-Grunt's main engine will be test fired tonight

First attempt to start the propulsion unit of the "Phobos-Grunt" interplanetary probe that had failed to eject onto a Mars-bound trajectory, will commence tonight, reports ITAR-TASS.

A source from rocket&space industry said: "We plan the first attempt to start the propulsion unit of the "Phobos-Grunt" interplanetary probe for 21:16 Moscow time (17:16 UTC)". Specialists say the spacecraft will be situated in a best point of its orbit for a proper boosting burn.

 

[SiberianTiger]

I'd say, this is right through the pass above telemetry receiving stations at Baikonur and Ulan-Udeh:

 

[PeterRoss]

There is some saying about control system failure:

http://www.interfax.ru/politics/news.asp?id=215916

Although it may be some random babble (since the source of these words aren't identified), there are also these words:

Специалисты предупреждали, что система управления межпланетной станции до конца не доработана. Риск неудачи из-за ее нештатной работы был очень высок.

Specialists warned that control system isn't developed to completion. That made failure highly probable.

I wonder wasn't it the real meaning behind Popovkin's words about that 'it was foreseen in the design of the project' :facepalm:

 

[astrosammy]

I'd say, this is right through the pass above telemetry receiving stations at Baikonur and Ulan-Udeh:

I've found the TLE, but am unable to get them into Orbitron. Could you post the file?