Phobos-Grunt Options

[Ulysses]

Who knows good Russian here?

ТМИ идет
пошел заряд АБ
есть ПСО
есть СОлнце

Source: http://phobos.cosmos.ru/index.php?id=388&a...p;thread_uid=21

Looks like Trans-Mars Injection was achieved.

[ugordan]

Looks like Trans-Mars Injection was achieved.

I should hope not because it's too early for that.

That segment you quoted appears to be talking about vehicle state after initial parking orbit injection, as per a translation on NSF.com:

we getting TMI
AB(storage batteries) went to charge mode
we have PSO(constant solar orientation)
We have Sun

Which was preceded by :

Spacecraft is practically on the nominal orbit after separation from Zenit launcher!

[Ulysses]

I should hope not because it's too early for that.

That segment you quoted appears to be talking about vehicle state after initial parking orbit injection, as per a translation on NSF.com:


Which was preceded by :

Thanks ugordan, I did mess up the timeline there! But the lack of updates is a bit annoying. What does TMI stand for in this case, any clue? Telemetry?

[ugordan]

Thanks ugordan, I did mess up the timeline there! But the lack of updates is a bit annoying. What does TMI stand for in this case, any clue? Telemetry?

Telemetry information, I guess. I was tempted to say Trans-Mars Injection, but it was spelled TMI in Russian as well so I guess not...

[Ulysses]

Telemetry information, I guess. I was tempted to say Trans-Mars Injection, but it was spelled TMI in Russian as well so I guess not...

Did a little search and a Powerpoint presentation showed up, which also mentioned ESA involvement in the data communication. So telemetry seems to be right.

FSA Report.

(Slide 7)

[Ulysses]

Seesat-L report

Phobos-Grunt - serious problem reported
From: Ted Molczan (ssl3molcz@rogers.com)
Date: Wed Nov 09 2011 - 00:05:16 UTC


I have just received word from the project that there seems to be a serious problem.

After the planned first burn of the engine, the spacecraft was not found in the predicted orbit. Alternative radar
observations preliminarily show that there are two objects in the orbit with parameters the same as before the planned
engine burn. Observers are requested to attempt to discover the spacecraft in the initial LEO parking orbit.

This is the official pre-launch estimated TLE of the LEO parking orbit:

1 55500U 11000A 11312.95486111 -.00010748 00000-0 -11606-4 0 14
2 55500 51.4279 0.6058 0106375 25.7555 298.8256 15.98414689 33

I imagine that one of the two objects seen on the radar could be the final stage of the booster. Accurate descriptions
and counts of the number of objects seen, as well as position and time would be useful.

Ted Molczan

[Hungry4info]

Phobos-Grunt - serious problem reported
http://www.satobs.org/seesat/Nov-2011/0069.html

After the planned first burn of the engine, the spacecraft was not found in the predicted orbit. Alternative radar
observations preliminarily show that there are two objects in the orbit with parameters the same as before the planned
engine burn. Observers are requested to attempt to discover the spacecraft in the initial LEO parking orbit.

Edit: scooped.

[Guest_Oersted_*]

[tolis]

Shades of Mars 96..

[Ulysses]

And no telemetry.

http://phobos.cosmos.ru/index.php?id=388&a...d=21&page=2

Tweet:

RussianSpaceWeb Anatoly Zak
Phobos-Grunt circles Earth in the state of virtual informational blackout: russianspaceweb.com/phobos_grunt_l… Roskosmos and Co. asleep at the wheel?
38 seconds ago

[nprev]

Damn.

[Syrinx]

:sad banana:

[tolis]

Pity. I imagine if there was one mission in the entire russian space program
that failure would not have been tolerated, it was this one.

T.

[Ulysses]

Via www.nasaspaceflight.com

U.S. DSN's Goldstone Antenna Complex received one ping from Spacecraft. SC performed TM downlink via all available channels, this is indicating an anomaly detected by SC computer. Roscosmos inserted an SC slew commanding sequence in the flight program to point the SC's antennas toward the North (to be pointing at U.S., European, Russian ground stations) in the event of a problem before the burn(s) so that data can be more quickly obtained. This allows them to analyze the data and try again another day since MDU is completely powered by SC's solar panels. Goldstone DSN is indicating that SC is in a contingency safe mode. Contact was lost at planned LOS (with no first burn) and was not picked up by Europe's first tracking station. Sun pointing for solar panels may not have been established before battery charging was commenced by flight computer.

[Hungry4info]

Someone at the NASASpaceflight forum indicated that
"U.S. DSN's Goldstone Antenna Complex received one ping from Spacecraft. SC performed TM downlink via all available channels, this is indicating an anomaly detected by SC computer. Roscosmos inserted an SC slew commanding sequence in the flight program to point the SC's antennas toward the North (to be pointing at U.S., European, Russian ground stations) in the event of a problem before the burn(s) so that data can be more quickly obtained. This allows them to analyze the data and try again another day since MDU is completely powered by SC's solar panels. Goldstone DSN is indicating that SC is in a contingency safe mode. Contact was lost at planned LOS (with no first burn) and was not picked up by Europe's first tracking station. Sun pointing for solar panels may not have been established before battery charging was commenced by flight computer. "

So maybe Fobos-Grunt is alive, even if in a contingency mode.