Shenzhou 7 mission thread

[MajorTom]

The video is quite interesting...the guys seem very comfortable. They wave often. But I wonder if their waving is synchronized with the periods of lighter acceleration?

I simulated the CZ-2F add-on's launch profile to follow very closely that given by this website...see the timetable of events down the page:

http://www.sinodefence.com/strategic/launchvehicle/cz2f.asp

Also, the vehicle's masses, ISP, burn times and thrust levels are all as accurate as I could get them. So I suppose the following might be fairly close to reality:

Launch Phase------------ Time Period ---- Acceleration felt
Launch with boosters ----- 0-140 s --------- 1.0 to about 3.8 g's
Core stage after boosters - 140-164 s ------- 2.3 to about 2.8 g's
Stage 2 main engine ------ 164-460 s ------- 0.8 to 4.4 g's
Stage 2 verniers only ----- 460-580 s ------- 0.3-0.4 g's
Spacecraft separation ---- 580 s ------------ 0.0 g's

...so you'd expect there to be a small drop in acceleration at t=140 s, then a big one at t=164. Then a slow build up to high g's, followed by a very big drop at 460 s. I'm going to study the video again to see if I can see any such effect. Hopefully these don't occur when the screen is filled with that colorful static.

MT

Edit: Ah, sure enough: Siberian Tiger's vid shows mission control, which has screens showing the booster separation then stage 1 separation, alongside a real time image of the Taikonauts. Sure enough, the guys start waving the moment after stage 2 lights...when the accel. is just 0.8 g's. Ahh, comfy.

 

[tblaxland]

...

Great numbers and analysis MT!

 

[Belisarius]

http://www.thespacereview.com/article/1137/1
CTRL+F "talisman" with no quotes. I think that's it.

Someone else posted this article a while back so I can't take full credit for finding it.

Yep, it's a talisman which also has a functional purpose, to give a rough indication of acceleration and when the craft reaches freefall. They should have furry dice in the Shuttle.

BTW, I wrote the article and I'm dying to find out more details about the taikonauts and their traditions, customs and superstitions. I particularly would like to know what the talisman is. It looks like a key. Anyone know?


-----Posted Added-----


A nice article in People's Daily about life on board the Shenzhou (edited down, but I didn't correct the Chinglish)

"Nutritionists and cooks have prepared 80 foods, from Kung Pao Chicken and deshelled shrimp to frozen dry fruits, for the trio of Zhai Zhigang, Liu Boming and Jing Haipeng, according to Chen Bin, who is in charge of food supply to the astronauts...

The food heater on board has a stronger electricity supply than that on Shenzhou-6 as it is connected to the main power supply, which will make sure their rice can be fully cooked, Chen said. The foods are kept in retort pouches. "We have tried to make them taste like stir-fried dishes they have on the earth," Chen said. As the astronauts will stay in an environment with low pressure, they should not eat foods that produce gas after being digested, such as milk and soy bean, Chen said. "Meat and egg are better."

Even they have a good appetite, the astronauts, however, can not eat as much as they can. Each of them will have 1.2 kg of food every day. And the supply can last five days. Also, they will have to eat by turns and it will take half an hour to heat the foods for one person. "As astronauts have a longer stay in the space, foods will be a good way to relieve their pressure. We plan to add snacks in the future," Chen said.

Furniture and interior decoration are also of considerate designs. White and light brown are the main colors inside the spaceship. "Tests show that this two colors are the mildest and least likely to harm human eyes," said Yu Jin, spaceship engineer in charge of interior decoration. The three chairs for astronauts are painted in light grey, covering up their original metal material.

All equipment and wires, including food heater, toilet, sleeping bags and air tanks, are hidden inside the wall, which makes the module neat and tidy. The astronauts need not look up and down to watch the screens nor sit up to work on the panel. Two suits for space walk, fixed on the bracket, take up one third of the whole space inside the vessel. But the astronauts still have enough room to move.

No toilet was on board of the previous two manned spaceships. The men had to wear diapers. But this time a toilet is set up. The toilet seat is tailor-made to astronauts' figure and it also includes a separate urinal."

http://english.people.com.cn/90002/95532/95545/6506490.html

Meanwhile...

"Astronauts began to unpack and assemble the indigenous Feitian extra-vehicular activity (EVA) suit at 10:20 a.m. Friday in preparation for the first spacewalk."

No details on when the EVA is programmed, but it's clearly imminent. [EDIT] NOT! Programmed for Saturday afternoon, Beijing time.

 

[SiberianTiger]

Sheng Zhou vs Soyuz capsule size comparison

 

[Belisarius]

Phoney news stories from China

Hey, Tiger, nice pic. So it really is quite roomy compared to Soyuz.

Here's a report from the Guardian that says the Xinhua agency faked a story dated Sept 27 and posted it on their site yesterday by mistake.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/feedarticle/7826249

 

[SiberianTiger]

Here's a report from the Guardian that says the Xinhua agency faked a story dated Sept 27 and posted it on their site yesterday by mistake.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/feedarticle/7826249

Good thing they did not post the story they had prepared to use in case of the crew's fatality by mistake. :lol:

 

[Belisarius]

Nothing much going to happen today, then:

"Astronauts aboard the Shenzhou VII spacecraft, China's third manned spaceship, began to assemble the suit and test its obturation and
functions Friday in preparation for the first spacewalk, planned for Saturday afternoon"

http://www.cctv.com/english/special/techmax/20080926/105835.shtml

 

[tblaxland]

...assemble the suit and test its obturation...

I've learnt my word for the day. I thought this was a mistranslation of "operation", but no:
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/obturation

 

[Belisarius]

Yeah, I suppose if it didn't exist we'd have to call it "sealed-upness" or something. Who'd have thought we'd be learning English from a Chinese government website?

 

[pete.dakota]

Watching the launch yesterday, I learnt what 'normalcy' met. I mean, I figured what its meaning was. But it seemed to me to be of those words that sound made up. Guess I'm too used to hearing 'nominal'.

 

[Belisarius]

Actually, "normalcy" is a made-up word. US President Warren Harding invented it around 1925 because he couldn't remember the correct word - normality.
Stick with nominal - it sounds cleverer.

 

[MajorTom]

Hey, Tiger, nice pic. So it really is quite roomy compared to Soyuz.

Here's a report from the Guardian that says the Xinhua agency faked a story dated Sept 27 and posted it on their site yesterday by mistake.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/feedarticle/7826249

This just in:

"Tomorrow's EVA was a success..."

 

[Missioncmdr]

This just in:

"Tomorrow's EVA was a success..."

And yesterday, the launch will happen. :lol:

 

[Belisarius]

EVA slated for 16.30 Beijing tme, 08.30 GMT, 10.30 Central Europe, 04.30 EDT

"China will broadcast live the nation's maiden spacewalk slated for 4:30 p.m. Saturday, according to Wang Zhaoyao, spokesperson with the manned space program. The spacewalk, or extra-vehicular activity (EVA), will last about 30 minutes, he said at a press conference in Beijing Friday."

http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90781/90876/6507151.html

So far there are no premature reports of EVA success at Xinhua


-----Posted Added-----


LATEST:
"Two Chinese taikonauts have moved from re-entry module of Shenzhou-7 spacecraft to its orbital module, starting preparations for China's first space walk. Two crew members are testing the functions of the control panels and charging the EVA (extra-vehicular activities) space suit. After re-entry module hatch to be closed behind them, the taikonauts will put on extravehicular activity (EVA) space suits."

FLASH: SHENZHOU-7 ORBITAL MODULE HATCH OPENED, SPACEWALK ABOUT TO START (16:42)

Still no sign of the promised live video on CCTV


-----Posted Added-----


FLASH: TAIKONAUT ZHAI WAVING CHINESE NATIONAL FLAG FROM SPACE (17:02)

FLASH: CHINESE TAIKONAUT GREETS WORLD, CHINESE PEOPLE FROM SPACE (17:00)

 

[Notebook]

BBC link:-

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7637818.stm

N.

 

[Woo482]

is this the 3rd country to do a EVA ?

 

[Belisarius]

is this the 3rd country to do a EVA ?

Yep. Other nationalities have done EVAs with the US and Russia, of course, but they were passengers.


-----Posted Added-----


Here's a YouTube vid of the EVA

 

[simcosmos]

Hi MajorTom, All

Going a little back, about CZ-2F ascent talks:

Yep, I agree that the taykonauts "waving is synchronized with the periods of lighter acceleration" (if remembering well, they were a little more quiet closer to main engine cut-off moment)

It is also interesting to replay the live video - from launch to orbital insertion - and, at the same time, to pay close attention at MET vs Mission Control calls for the major events (that man very enthusiastically noticing those events: abort tower jettison, booster separation, core shutdown / separation, upper stage ignition, fairings jettison, main engine cut-off, upper stage verniers cut-off / spacecraft separation).

Still related with the ascent, it is kind of funny to compare one of the outputs (from Virtual Mission Control) that I have produced back in December - when was implementing updated Vinka multistage.dll powered CZ-2F and related ascent guidance - and confirm that despite there are a few simplifications here and there, such months old virtual telemetry offers a good match with reality (attaching below a small part of that older telemetry – Velocity versus Time – with an equivalent graphic from the live CCTV Shenzhou-VII ascent feed).

The CZ-2F could still be improved in a number of ways (in particular the upper stage performance) either using multistage2.dll or other tools but the best would be perhaps to code a custom dll for the launcher, if possible

António

edit: hummm, the .gif image that I'm trying to attach is being automatically converted to .jpeg on upload (?)

 

[GregBurch]

Here's a YouTube vid of the EVA

YouTube - ä¸*国神舟7å�·å®‡èˆªå‘˜å‡ºèˆ±æˆ�功ï¼�ï¼�ï¼�

As someone whose life has been connected to space and China for a long, long time (I first went to China in 1979), looking at this is, well ... awesome. Sometimes I think I just dreamed about that country I visited just 30 years ago ....

 

[astrosammy]

WOW! Who said that "Made in China" is always bad :lol:?