Hmm...!? I thought Gagarin's silver sphere flew just over a year ago with some animals to space? (with, um, not that good results) How come we got YET ANOTHER one in Baikonur in 2014, of all years of the century? Maybe someone is filming a movie about Korolev, Gagarin et al.?
Well, the answer is nope! And this time animals aren't the main actor of this flight either. Foton-M #4 is the newest spacecraft in the long line of hundreds that flew since the iconic Vostok in the early 1960s.
While very similar in structure to the Bion-M #1 that flew last year, there's one major difference: the experiments carried on board are mostly related to material sciences and microgravity research (although several biological experiments are still on board). And unlike the Bion line, the Foton (photon) line of recoverable microgravity science spacecraft has not seen a gap lately, with the last 3 flights being in 2002, 2005 and 2007 (of which the 2002 flight is most remembered by the explosion it caused :facepalm.
Unlike these few flights, however, the European Space Agency isn't on board and all of the experiments are from Russian institutions. Like Bion-M #1 last year, Foton-M #4 will boost itself to the planned 575 km, 64.9 degree orbit, where it will stay for 2 months with the 22 experiments on board running. In late September it will de-orbit and land in the Ural mountains for recovery. :tiphat:
Launch location:
Baikonur Launch pad no. 31/6 45°59'46.16"N, 63°33'51.29"E
Time Zone | Australia - Sydney/AEST | Baikonur (UTC+6) | Moscow / MSKS (UTC+4)/ | Universal / UTC | Washington / EDT Launch time: |06:50:00|02:50:00|00:50:00|20:50:00|16:50:00
on: | Jul. 19, 2014 | Jul. 19, 2014 | Jul. 19, 2014 | Jul. 18, 2014 | Jul. 18, 2014
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[highlight][eventTimer]2014-07-18 20:50:00?before|after;%dd% Days %hh% Hours %mm% Minutes %ss% Seconds %c%[/eventTimer] Foton-M 4 Launch[/highlight]
Live Coverage Of The Launch:
TSENKI video streams (Russian + English)
http://www.tsenki.com/broadcast/broadcast/
PAYLOAD
Foton-M 4 spacecraft
Spacecraft Overview
In many ways unique to the Russian space program, the Foton spacecraft is very similar to the Bion series of satellites, which also built around a retrievable spherical capsule attached to a service module. However unlike Bion, whose scientific program focuses on biological research, the Foton's experiments center around material science, even though both projects have some overlap. Experiments onboard Foton and Bion can be initiated before launch or after reaching orbit and they can run either fully automatically during the entire mission or with some monitoring and even control via Russian ground stations. Bion and Foton spacecraft use basic architecture first developed in the USSR for the launching a single pilot into orbit under the Vostok project.
According to Roskosmos, a total of 850 kilograms of scientific instruments for 22 experiments would be carried during the Foton-M4 mission, including up to 600 kilograms of payloads inside the pressurized descent module and remaining 250 kilograms attached to its exterior and exposed to the vacuum of space. The biological payload will include five geckoes, flies, seeds of plants and microorganisms.
According to the leading project scientist in the Foton and Bion programs A. Sychev from Moscow-based Institute for Medical and Biological Problems of Space Flight, IMBP, experiments onboard Foton-M4 will help to understand the effects of space flight on the human body and to develop methods of protecting cosmonauts. "Ultimately, this new data is necessary to support human expansion beyond Earth into deep space," Sychev said.
Although Foton-M No. 4 formally continues the Foton-M series, the spacecraft's design resembles primarily the Foton-M1 vehicle, which was destroyed in a launch accident in 2002. However, Foton-M4 does not have a life-support system, which was present on the M1 spacecraft. On Foton-M4, live organisms will be consuming air in the pressurized capsule without replenishment.
However, for the first time, Foton-M4 was designed to operate for 60 days, thanks to solar panels capable of recharging onboard batteries and providing more power to onboard equipment.
Foton-M4 will be also equipped with a modified service module and with the new liquid-propellant orbit-correction engine. It will be used to boost the apogee (highest point) of the initial parking orbit to 575 kilometers, providing the lower level of microgravity for onboard experiments.
In addition to scientific payloads, the descent module contains support equipment, including command and control radio system, the telemetry system, flight control computers and the power-supply system.
The service module contains the propulsion system and rechargeable batteries.
The first Foton satellite was launched in 1985 and spent 13 days in orbit. A total of 12 Foton missions lasting from 13 to 18 days were conducted until 1999. Foreign participants were able to join Foton missions beginning with the launch of Foton-5.
Foton-M
Picture:
|
Customer:
|- Roscosmos
Prime contractor:
|- Samara Space Centre (Energia Holding enterprise)
Mass at Separation:
|- 6840 kg
Stabilization:
|- 3 axis stabilized
Dimensions:
|- ?
Batteries:
|- 1.4 kW average (0.9 kW available by science experiments)
Life time:
|- 60 days
Weight of science experiments and payloads:
|- 850 kg (650 kg in return module)
Temperature in descent module:
|- 17-28 deg. Celsius
Operation orbit:
|- 575 km circular orbit, inclination 64.9 degrees
Launch Vehicle:
Soyuz-2.1a
Prime contractor:
|- Samara Space Centre (Energia Holding enterprise)
GRAU Index:
|- 14A14
Height:
| 51.1 mDiameter:
| max 10.3 mLiftoff mass:
| 313 metric tonnesPayload mass:
| up to 6830 kg (a launch to LEO from Plesetsk)1st stage (boosters B, V, G, D):
|- 4 X RD-107 engines
- Propellants (T-1 Kerosene and LOX)
- Thrust/ISP in vacuum - / 320.2 s
- Thrust/ISP at sea level 85.6 tonnes / 263.3 s
2nd stage (core A):
|- 1 X RD-108 engine
- Propellants (T-1 Kerosene and LOX)
- Thrust/ISP in vacuum 94 tonnes / 320.6 s
- Thrust/ISP at sea level 80.8 tonnes / 257.7 s
3rd stage (block I):
|- 1 X RD-0110 engine
- Propellants (T-1 Kerosene and LOX)
- Thrust/ISP in vacuum 30.38 tonnes / 326 s
Payload Fairing:
|- Diameter 3.2 m
- Length 8.4 m
The launch vehicle's reliability standings
According to http://www.spacelaunchreport.com/log2014.html#rate:
Code:
================================================================
Vehicle Successes/Tries Realzd Pred Consc. Last Dates
Rate Rate* Succes Fail
================================================================
Soyuz 2-1a 2 2# 1.00 .75 2 None 2004-
# Does not include one successful suborbital Soyuz 2-1a test
flight performed in 2004.
Weather forecast for Baikonur, Kazakhstan for July 19, 2014 (3 a.m.)
Clear skies. Low 21C. Winds light and variable.
3 AM|23°C|8°C|38%|0%|2%|1005 hPa|NNW 8 km/h|
Source References
http://www.russianspaceweb.com/foton_m4.html
http://www.federalspace.ru/20669/
http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com
http://www.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru
http://www.tvroscosmos.ru
http://www.tsenki.com
http://www.spacelaunchreport.com
http://english.wunderground.com/q/locid:KZXX0055