ISS Cosmonauts Repair Small Air Leak in Soyuz Capsule

International Space Station Configuration as of Aug. 22, 2018: Three spaceships are docked at the space station including the Progress 70 resupply ship and the Soyuz MS-08 and MS-09 crew ships.  Credit: NASA

Ken Kremer  --   SpaceUpClose.com  --   30 August 2018

CAPE CANAVERAL, FL – A pair of Russian cosmonauts serving aboard the International Space Station (ISS) repaired a small air leak discovered earlier today on one of two Russian Soyuz spacecraft attached to the orbiting laboratory complex.

“The International Space Station’s cabin pressure is holding steady after the Expedition 56 crew conducted repair work” on the orbital section of the Soyuz MS-09 capsule.

The cosmonauts rubbed epoxy into the hole with gauze and effectively plugged the Soyuz leak.  

The small leak was found in “a hole about two millimeters in diameter in the orbital compartment, or upper section, of the Soyuz MS-09 spacecraft attached to the Rassvet module of the Russian segment of the station,” NASA said in a statement.

The leak was noticed by mission controllers at about 7 p.m. EDT Wednesday, Aug. 29. 

The Soyuz MS-09 spacecraft is pictured moments after docking to the space station’s Rassvet module on June 8, 2018 with new Expedition 56 crew members Soyuz Commander Sergey Prokopyev of Roscosmos, flight engineer Serena Auñón-Chancellor of NASA, and flight engineer Alexander Gerst of ESA (European Space Agency).  Credit: NASA

The orbital section is the forward compartment of the Soyuz and does not return to land on Earth. 

The Expedition 56 Russian crewmates led by Soyuz commander Sergey Prokopyev of Roscosmos completed the repair after Russian mission controllers found a “tiny leak” and minor reduction of the stations air pressure that was “traced to the Russian segment of the orbital complex.”

“Flight controllers at their respective Mission Control centers in Houston and Moscow worked together with the crew to effect a repair option in which Soyuz commander Sergey Prokopyev of Roscosmos used epoxy on a gauze wipe to plug the hole identified as the leak source. 

“As the teams were discussing options, flight controllers in Moscow performed a partial increase of the station’s atmosphere using the ISS Progress 70 cargo ship’s oxygen supply.”

Russian space officials, including veteran cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev (left) and Roscosmos chief Dmitry Rogozin (center), discuss the pressure leak at Russia’s mission control center in Korolev, Russia. Credit: Roscosmos

Meanwhile NASA flight controllers in Houston will continue to “monitor the station’s cabin pressure in the wake of the repair.”

“Meanwhile, Roscosmos has convened a commission to conduct further analysis of the possible cause of the leak.”

NASA says the crew was never in any danger and that “no further action was contemplated for the remainder of the day.”

Teams will re-evaluate the situation in the morning as the crew sleeps overnight.  

“All station systems are stable and the crew is planning to return to its regular schedule of work on Friday.”

The Soyuz MS-09 spacecraft has been joined to the station since it arrived and docked at the Rassvet module on June 8, 2018 with the new Expedition 56 crew members Soyuz Commander Sergey Prokopyev of Roscosmos, flight engineer Serena Auñón-Chancellor of NASA, and flight engineer Alexander Gerst of ESA (European Space Agency).

 Expedition 56 crew

The six person Expedition 56 crew is comprised of station Commander Drew Feustel, Flight Engineers Ricky Arnold and Serena Auñón-Chancellor of NASA, Alexander Gerst of ESA (European Space Agency) and Oleg Artemyev and Sergey Prokopyev of the Russian space agency Roscosmos.  

Early today the crew had gathered  in the Russian segment of the station to conduct extensive checks to find the leak and discovered it was on the Russian side of the orbital outpost.

Watch for Ken’s continuing onsite coverage of NASA, SpaceX, ULA, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Orbital ATK and more space and mission reports direct from the Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida and Wallops Flight Facility, Virginia.

Stay tuned here for Ken's continuing Earth and Planetary science and human spaceflight news: www.kenkremer.com –www.spaceupclose.com – twitter @ken_kremer – email: ken at kenkremer.com

NASA’s InSight Lander Passes Halfway Point to Mars

This artist's concept shows the InSight spacecraft, encapsulated in its aeroshell, as it cruises to Mars and Nov. 26, 2018 touchdown at Elysium Planitia.  Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Ken Kremer  --   SpaceUpClose.com  --   24 August 2018

CAPE CANAVERAL, FL –  NASA's InSight lander marked a major milestone when it cruised past  the halfway point on its interplanetary voyage enroute to the Red Planet. on the agency’s unprecedented mission to elucidate the “vital signs” of the Red Planet.

NASA announced that the InSight spacecraft is healthy and reached the halfway point to Mars on Aug. 6. 

“All of its instruments have been tested and are working well,” NASA officials announced.

“As of Aug. 20, the spacecraft had covered 172 million miles (277 million kilometers) since its launch 107 days ago.”

The probe has another 98 days and another 129 million miles (208 million kilometers) to go before its planned touch down in Mars' Elysium Planitia region, where it will be the first mission to study the Red Planet's deep interior.

NASA’s Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport (InSight) Mars mission launched on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket in the dead of night at 7:05 a.m. EDT (4:05 am PDT) Saturday from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California.

This long-exposure image (24 seconds) was taken by Instrument Context Camera (ICC) of NASA’s InSight Mars lander. The image shows some of the interior features of the backshell that encapsulates the spacecraft. The backshell carries the parachute and several components used during later stages of entry, descent, and landing. Along with the heatshield, the backshell protects NASA’s InSight Mars lander during its commute to and entry into the Martian atmosphere. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Nearly 7 months after liftoff the landing is scheduled for Nov. 26, 2018 at Elysium Planitia at around 3 p.m. EST (noon PST).  The location is about 375 miles away from Gale Crater - where NASA's Curiosity rover landed in 2012. 

In the intervening time between launch and landing the team is checking out the spacecraft and science instruments as well as rehearsing and rechecking all the procedures for the critical ‘do or die’ landing day and the ‘6 Minutes of Terror’ involving all phases of Entry, Descent and Landing (EDL).

“InSight's seismometer, which will be used to detect quakes on Mars, received a clean bill of health on July 19. The SEIS instrument (Seismic Experiment for Interior Structure) is a six-sensor seismometer combining two types of sensors to measure ground motions over a wide range of frequencies. It will give scientists a window into Mars' internal activity,” NASA said in a statement.

"We did our final performance checks on July 19, which were successful," said Bruce Banerdt, principal investigator of InSight from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California.

“The team also checked an instrument that will measure the amount of heat escaping from Mars. After being placed on the surface, InSight's Heat Flow and Physical Properties Package (HP3) instrument will use a self-hammering mechanical mole burrowing to a depth of 10 to 16 feet (3 to 5 meters). Measurements by sensors on the mole and on a science tether from the mole to the surface will yield the first precise determination of the amount of heat escaping from the planet's interior. The checkout consisted of powering on the main electronics for the instrument, performing checks of its instrument sensor elements, exercising some of the instrument's internal heaters, and reading out the stored settings in the electronics module.”

“The third of InSight's three main investigations -- Rotation and Interior Structure Experiment (RISE) -- uses the spacecraft's radio connection with Earth to assess perturbations of Mars' rotation axis. These measurements can provide information about the planet's core.”

Artist's rendering of the NASA's Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport (InSight) lander on Mars launching on May 5, 2018 from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif .  Credits: NASA

The team has also checked out the landers cameras as well. They also used the Instrument Context Camera (ICC) to take a 24 second long long-exposure spacecraft selfie inside of the spacecraft's backshell.

"If you are an engineer on InSight, that first glimpse of the heat shield blanket, harness tie-downs and cover bolts is a very reassuring sight as it tells us our Instrument Context Camera is operating perfectly,” said InSight Project Manager Tom Hoffman from JPL.

“The next picture we plan to take with this camera will be of the surface of Mars."

If all goes as planned, the camera will take the first image of Elysium Planitia minutes after InSight touches down on Mars.

InSight is funded by NASA’s Discovery Program of low cost, focused science missions along with the science instrument funding contributions from France and Germany.

Watch for Ken’s continuing coverage of NASA, ULA, SpaceX, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Orbital ATK and more space and mission reports direct from the Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida and Wallops Flight Facility, Virginia.

Stay tuned here for Ken's continuing Earth and Planetary science and human spaceflight news: www.kenkremer.com –www.spaceupclose.com – twitter @ken_kremer - ken at kenkremer.com

VP Pence Calls for Permanent US Presence at the Moon and Crewed Lunar Outpost by 2024 in Rousing Speech at Johnson Space Center

Vice President Mike Pence speaks at NASA's Johnson Space Center, Aug. 23, 2018 in Houston, Texas about the future of human space exploration and the agency’s plans to return to the Moon as a forerunner to future human missions to Mars.  Credit: NASA/Joel Kowsky

Ken Kremer  --   SpaceUpClose.com  --   23 Aug 2018

CAPE CANAVERAL, FL –  In a rousing speech at the Johnson Space Center (JSC) in Texas, Thursday, Vice President Mike Pence called on NASA to establish a permanent presence at the moon and place a crew at humanity’s first ever lunar orbiting outpost by 2024 followed eventually by manned missions to Mars.

“This time has come, we really believe, for the United States of America to take what we have learned over these so many decades, put your ingenuity and creativity to work, and establish a permanent presence around and on the moon," said VP Mike Pence, during an Aug. 23 speech today at JSC.

Pence leads the recently reconstituted National Space Council, and clearly has an interest in space. Although his speech was short on specifics and funding announcements, the overall thrust was very positive for the space community after a long period of lack of funding and enthusiasm, sometimes seeming indifference by several recent US Presidents. 

Pence made his remarks Thursday, Aug. 23, to at a packed auditorium full of JSC workers, astronauts as well as NASA and government officials.   

He said that NASA SLS heavy lift rocket and Orion crew capsule would be fully funded. 

The next Americans who set foot on the Moon will start their journey by stepping through the NASA Orion hatch. And this extraordinary spacecraft will one day bridge the gap between our planet and the next."

Artists concept of NASA’s Lunar Gateway visited by Orion crew vehicle. Credit: NASA

In a major course change from the Obama Administration, the Trump Administration has redirected NASA to focus its human spaceflight efforts on returning Americas to the Moon in the next decade as the top priority as soon as possible. 

This became US national space policy when President Trump signed Space Policy Directive-1. 

“We're also renewing our national commitment to discovery and to exploration, and to write the next great chapter of our nation's journey into space.  That's why, last December — 45 years almost to the minute since Jack Schmitt and Gene Cernan landed on the moon — President Donald Trump signed Space Policy Directive-1.” 

“It is now the official policy of the United States of America that we will return to the moon, put Americans on Mars, and once again explore the farthest depths of outer space,” Pence stated. 

“We're going to do it.  We're going to do it.”

“Furthermore, Pence asked space agency workers to rededicate themselves to the task of making “NASA awe the world with our daring heroes, with our discoveries, and with our relentless determination to bring new horizons and new vistas within the reach of mankind.”

Specifically he mentioned NASA proposed lunar space station called the Lunar Orbital Platform- Gateway.

Pence said the a crew should be launched by 2024 and that $500 million in funding was provided by the Administration to get the ‘Gateway’ hardware off the drawing board, built by American industry and onto a rocket. 

“We're only a few short years away from launching the gateway's first building blocks into space, turning science fiction into science fact.  And our administration is working tirelessly to put an American crew aboard the Lunar Orbital Platform before the end of 2024,” Pence elaborated.  

“Men and women of the Johnson Space Center: It's not a question of if; it's just a question of when”

"Last year, NASA began to work with American innovators to design Gateway's unique electrical propulsion system. We're working with the Congress to provide an unprecedented $500 million to move the Lunar Orbital Platform from proposal to production," he said. 

“Now, we're on the cusp of a new golden age of exploration.  I believe it with all my heart.  And we've got the courageous astronauts that are ready to lead us there again.”

“As NASA continues to push back the borders of this still-new frontier, we will empower America's private pioneers as well to cultivate the vast expanses that we've already explored.  We'll ensure that American security in space is attended to as well.”

Pence said its time to look up and criticized the Obama Administration cancellation of the Constellation Program started by the Bush Administration which would have sent American’s back to the Moon by 2020. 

He cited a quote from the movie Interstellar.

“We used to look up at the sky and wonder at our place in the stars. Now, we just look down and worry about our place in the dirt.”

“That’s not how Americans think,” Pence said. “Truthfully, that kind of thinking led people in the past to even cancel the Constellation program. That would have put Americans back on the moon by 2020 and set the stage for exploration of Mars and beyond. That decision was a mistake.”

Pence also praised the work of the International Space Station. 

“The International Space Station has been an unqualified success.” 

He also praised NASA commercial crew efforts by SpaceX and Bosing to restore the US capability to launch Americans to space once again from US soli after a long hiatus since the shuttle retirement in 2011.

“Soon and very soon American astronauts will return to space on American rockets launched from American soil.”

SpaceX Crew Access Arm walkway for NASA astronauts boarding commercial Crew Dragon capsule for missions to the International Space Station is lifted with cranes and installed into position to the top of Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center- as seen on Aug. 20, 2018. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/spaceupclose.com

Just this week SpaceX installed the Astronaut walkway at Launch Complex 39A which will be a bridge for crews to board the Crew Dragon capsule for mission to the ISS stating in 2019 - see my articles and photos. 

SpaceX Crew Access Arm walkway for NASA astronauts boarding commercial Crew Dragon capsule for missions to the International Space Station is lifted with cranes and installed into position to the top of Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center- as seen on Aug. 20, 2018. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/spaceupclose.com

Pence concluded with an exhortation to space workers to redouble their efforts with the support of the American people.

“Go forth and meet that destiny together and do what Americans have always done, let’s seize it with ingenuity and courage, let’s seize it with faith. You can be confident the American people have faith in you.”

Watch for Ken’s continuing onsite coverage of NASA, SpaceX, ULA, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Orbital ATK and more space and mission reports direct from the Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida and Wallops Flight Facility, Virginia.

Stay tuned here for Ken's continuing Earth and Planetary science and human spaceflight news: www.kenkremer.com –www.spaceupclose.com – twitter @ken_kremer – email: ken at kenkremer.com

Dawn Gathers More Spectacular Close Up Imagery of Ceres Bright Spots as Mission Nears Conclusion

Wide view high resolution mosaic of the side by side Cerealia Facula (left) and Vinalia Faculae (right) features shows the famous bright spots of salt deposits inside Occator Crater on Ceres. It is based on images obtained by NASA's Dawn spacecraft in its second extended mission, from an altitude as low as about 21 miles (34 kilometers) since June 2018. This stitched mosaic reveals the intricate pattern between bright and dark material across these flow features, which scientists will use to infer the history of this area, in particular the role of the fractures in the exposure of bright salts onto the surface.  Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA/Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/Marco Di Lorenzo

Ken Kremer  --   SpaceUpClose.com  --   21 August 2018

CAPE CANAVERAL, FL –  NASA’s groundbreaking Dawn spacecraft continues to gather additional spectacular close up imagery of the remarkable and famous bright spots and craters on dwarf planet Ceres as the mission nears the conclusion of its amazing 11-year trek.

The bright spots are mostly composed of sodium carbonate and ammonium chloride that somehow spouted as slushy brines and leaked their way to the surface forming impressive and unique salt mounds and spots on the rugged Cerean surface. 

The famous and mysterious brights spots of Occator Crater are a particular focus of Dawn’s last orbits zeroing in on the Cerealia Facula and Vinalia Faculae fracture features of salt deposits.

The pair of prominent spots looked like a pair of eyes staring out eerily from Ceres surface from a distance before Dawn achieved orbit back in 2015. 

The imaging team of Ken Kremer and Marco Di Lorenzo has combined the new individual images of  taken by Dawn’s framing camera into a series of mosaics for Space UpClose - see above and herein.

This mosaic of a prominent mound located on the western side of Cerealia Facula showing famous bright spots of salt deposits inside Occator crater was newly obtained by NASA's Dawn spacecraft on June 22, 2018 from a record low altitude of about 21 miles (34 kilometers) above Ceres, colorized mosaic.  Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA/Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/Marco Di Lorenzo

Dawn is currently flying around Ceres in a highly elliptical orbit and enjoying huge success in its second extended mission - as it captures the highest resolution images ever taken of the dwarf plant as well as the final series of close up imagery and spectral data on its elemental and chemical composition with a trio of science instruments.  

The new imagery reveals new insights into the origin and evolution of the mysterious alien world – which is the largest object located in the main Asteroid Belt between Mars and Jupiter.  

This context collage shows the location of a prominent mound of the famous bright spots of salt deposits located on the western side of Cerealia Facula (upper & lower right) and Vinalia Faculae (lower left) and inside Occator crater (upper left) on dwarf planet Ceres. Newly obtained highest ever resolution images were taken of the bright salt deposits inside Occator by NASA's Dawn spacecraft on June 22, 2018 from a record low altitude of about 21 miles (34 kilometers) above Ceres, colorized mosaics.  Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA/Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/Marco Di Lorenzo

"The new images of Occator Crater and the surrounding areas have exceeded expectations, revealing beautiful, alien landscapes," said Carol Raymond of JPL, principal investigator of the Dawn mission.

Occator Crater is an impact crater measuring 57 miles (92 kilometers) across and 2.5 miles (4 kilometers) deep.

This context collage shows the location of a prominent mound of the famous bright spots of salt deposits located on the western side of Cerealia Facula (top right) inside Occator crater (left) on dwarf planet Ceres. Newly obtained highest ever resolution images were taken of the bright salt deposits inside Occator by NASA's Dawn spacecraft since June 2018 from a record low altitude of about 21 miles (34 kilometers) above Ceres, colorized mosaics.  Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA/Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/Marco Di Lorenzo

"Ceres' unique surface appears to be shaped by impacts into its volatile-rich crust, resulting in intriguing, complex geology, as we can see in the new high-resolution mosaics of Cerealia Facula and Vinalia Faculae."

This second extended mission also marks Dawn’s final orbit and eternal resting place - ranging from a high of about 2,500 miles (4,000 kilometers) and diving down to only 22 miles (35 kilometers) about once per day.   For context that’s about three times the altitude of a passenger jet routinely flying on Earth.

The long-lived spacecraft reached this final orbit in early June and is gathering exquisitely detailed imagery and collecting high resolution spectral composition measurements involving gamma ray and neutron spectra, infrared and visible spectra, and gravity data. 

Dawn’s observations focus on the area around Occator and Urvara craters, with “the main goal of understanding the evolution of Ceres, and testing for possible ongoing geology.”

“NASA’s Dawn spacecraft reached its lowest-ever and final orbit around dwarf planet Ceres on June 6 and has been returning thousands of stunning images and other data,” NASA said in a statement.

“Besides the high-resolution images, the spacecraft is collecting gamma ray and neutron spectra, infrared and visible spectra, and gravity data. The observations focus on the area around Occator and Urvara craters, with the main goal of understanding the evolution of Ceres, and testing for possible ongoing geology.” 

This context collage displays locations of a variety of bright spots of salt deposits and mounds inside Occator crater on dwarf planet Ceres. Newly obtained highest ever resolution images were taken by NASA's Dawn spacecraft since June 2018 from a record low altitude of about 21 miles (34 kilometers) above Ceres.  Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA/Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/Marco Di Lorenzo

The fuel supply of hydrazine is very low and could run out anytime over the next few months - between now and October. 

Engineers can’t say precisely how long since there is no fuel gauge in the storage to measure what remains. Its all based on mission long calculations of fuel expenditures – which is an imprecise art.  

“Within a few months, Dawn is expected to run out of a key fuel, hydrazine, which feeds thrusters that control its orientation and keeps it communicating with Earth. When that happens, sometime between August and October, the spacecraft will stop operating, but it will remain in orbit around dwarf planet Ceres,” according to NASA. 

It reached orbit around Ceres in 2015 and has gathered hundreds of thousands of images and measurements ever since.  

“At Ceres, the spacecraft discovered brilliant, salty deposits decorating the dwarf planet like a smattering of diamonds. The science behind these bright spots is even more compelling: they are mainly sodium carbonate and ammonium chloride that somehow made their way to the surface in a slushy brine from within or below the crust.” 

Occator Crater, measuring 57 miles (92 kilometers) across and 2.5 miles (4 kilometers) deep, contains the brightest area on Ceres. This region has been the subject of intense interest since Dawn's approach to the dwarf planet in early 2015.  Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA

The new data will help scientists piece together the relationships between bright and dark materials on the floor of Occator Crater. It exhibits impact processes, landslides and cryovolcanism the source of the bright spots.

"Observations, modeling and laboratory studies helped us conclude that the bright spots are either formed by impacts interacting with the crust, or that a reservoir of briny melt contributed to their formation," said JPL Dawn scientist Jennifer Scully, in a statement concerning data presented at recent the Committee on SPAce Research (COSPAR) July 2018 meeting in Pasadena.

Dawn is the first spacecraft to orbit two worlds – enabled only by its unique ion propulsion thruster system which is vastly more powerful than chemical thrusters.

The spacecraft first studied Vesta for 14 months, the second most massive asteroid in 2011 and 2012. 

"Dawn's unique mission to orbit and explore two strange new worlds would have been impossible without ion propulsion," said Marc Rayman of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, who has served as Dawn's mission director, chief engineer and project manager. 

"Dawn is truly an interplanetary spaceship, and it has been outstandingly productive as it introduced these fascinating and mysterious worlds to Earth."

Dawn was built by Orbital ATK, now Northrup Grumman and launched on a ULA Delta II rocket from Florida. It swung by Mars before arriving at its first target, Vesta, the second most massive object in the asteroid belt. 

Watch for Ken’s continuing onsite coverage of NASA, SpaceX, ULA, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Orbital ATK and more space and mission reports direct from the Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida and Wallops Flight Facility, Virginia.

Stay tuned here for Ken's continuing Earth and Planetary science and human spaceflight news: www.kenkremer.com –www.spaceupclose.com – twitter @ken_kremer – email: ken at kenkremer.com

NASA’s Parker Solar Probe Marks 1st Post-Launch Milestones with Course Correction & Instrument Deployments

The United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket launches NASA's Parker Solar Probe to touch the Sun and dive into the corona, Sunday, Aug. 12, 2018, at 3:31 a.m. EDT from Space Launch Complex 37 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida. From camera at pad. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/spaceupclose.com

Ken Kremer  --   SpaceUpClose.com  --   21 August 2018

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FL – NASA’s Parker Solar Probe has accomplished its first major post-launch milestones by completing its first trajectory correction maneuver thereby putting it on course to “touch the sun” as well as starting the first instrument deployments – to start her 7 year journey of science and discovery to elucidate our origins billions of years ago.

First up was the instrument deployments - which are critical towards carrying out the spacecrafts full commissioning and operations.

“We will be working 24/7 to get the instruments ready and commissioned in time for the 1^st Venus flyby and 1^st solar perihelion,” Nicky Fox, project scientist at APL, told Space UpClose in a post launch interview at the Kennedy Space Center. 

"They will all be functioning."

Beginning barely two days after the magnificent Aug. 12, 2018 launch on a ULA Delta IV rocket from Cape Canaveral the car sized Parker Solar Probe “achieved several planned milestones toward full commissioning and operations,” announced mission controllers at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, or APL, in Laurel, Maryland, in a statement.

These include deployment of the high-gain antenna and starting the power up of the first of the four on-board science instruments suites, namely the FIELDS investigation.

“On Aug. 13, the high-gain antenna, which Parker Solar Probe uses to communicate high-rate science data to Earth, was released from locks which held it stable during launch. Controllers have also been monitoring the spacecraft as it autonomously uses its thrusters to remove (or “dump”) momentum, which is part of the flight operations of the spacecraft. Managing momentum helps the spacecraft remain in a stable and optimal flight profile,” said NASA officials. 

All four instrument suites need to be powered up and tested during the commissioning phase to ensure their successful operation.

This must happen quickly because the first Venus flyby is slated for Oct. 3, 2018, at 4:44 a.m. EDT and the first perihelion flyby of the Sun on Nov. 5, 2018, at 10:27 p.m. EST (Nov. 6, 2018, at 03:27 UTC).

“The spacecraft will use Venus to slightly slow itself and adjust its trajectory for an optimal path toward first perihelion of the Sun on Nov. 5, 2018.” 

FIELDS was the first Parker instrument to begin deployments. 

“The FIELDS investigation, which consists of the most elements, went first. It was powered up on Aug. 13 for two activities. First was the opening of the clamps which held four of the five FIELDS antennas stowed during takeoff. These antennas will be deployed roughly 30 days after launch, and they will stick out from the corners of the spacecraft’s heat shield — called the Thermal Protection System — and be exposed to the harsh solar environment. Second, the spacecraft’s magnetometer boom was fully deployed. This boom contains three magnetometers and a fifth, smaller electric field antenna, all part of the FIELDS suite. Further instrument check-outs and deployments are scheduled in the coming days for the spacecraft.”

Illustration of NASA’s Parker Solar Probe’s trajectory through the inner solar system following Aug. 12, 2018 launch from Cape Canaveral, FL. Credit: NASA/JHUAPL

The first trajectory correction maneuver (known as TCM-1) was conducted Monday Aug. 20, 2018 at 6:07 a.m. EDT.

“Parker Solar Probe successfully completed its first trajectory correction maneuver (known as TCM-1), achieving a near-perfect firing of its propulsion system and putting the spacecraft on course to “touch” the Sun. This maneuver sets up the orbital geometry that will allow Parker Solar Probe to come within about 3.83 million miles (8.86 solar radii) of the Sun’s surface on its closest approach in 2024,” said NASA.

“Following launch at 3:31 a.m. EDT on Aug. 12, the spacecraft control team at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, or APL, in Laurel, Maryland, analyzed Parker Solar Probe’s position and quickly developed a re-optimized trajectory to place it in the best path for the seven Venus gravity assist maneuvers and 24 solar orbits that the mission will make. Re-assessing a spacecraft’s trajectory after launch is a normal step, as the mission team is then able to accurately track the spacecraft’s actual speed, direction and position to create a more precise trajectory plan.”

“Spacecraft controllers at the mission operation center initiated the two-part TCM-1 beginning at 6:00 a.m. EDT on Aug. 19 with a 44-second burn of the engines. The majority of the engine firing, which lasted just over seven minutes, began at 6:00 a.m. EDT on Aug. 20.”

“TCM-1 is one of the critical events of the mission and a major mission milestone,” said Parker Solar Probe mission design and navigation manager Yanping Guo, from APL. “In the future, we only need to fine-tune the trajectory periodically, and no major adjustments or large maneuvers will be required unless something unusual happens. In short: We are on our way to touch the Sun!”

“The team completely nailed this maneuver,” said APL’s Andy Driesman, Parker Solar Probe project manager. “Execution of the burn was exceptional, measuring at less than 0.2 percent magnitude error—which translates to a 0.3 standard deviation, or sigma, from optimal. We had defined success for TCM-1 as up to 3 sigma, which really illustrates how phenomenally this was executed.”

As of 12:00 p.m. EDT on August 20, Parker Solar Probe was 5.5 million miles from Earth, travelling at 39,500 miles per hour.

NASA’s daring Parker Solar Probe mission will fly at never before attained speeds through the hellish atmosphere of our Sun’s corona for the first time in human history.

Parker will travel at unprecedented speeds of up to 430,000 MPH, some 700,000 kph as at swings by the sun 24 times over the next 7 years via orbits shaped by 7 flybys of Venus.  

Streaking to the Sun!! NASA’s Historic Parker Solar Probe is on its way to ‘Touch the Sun’ for the first time in November 2018 in this long duration streak shot taken after 3:31 AM EDT blastoff Aug. 12, 2018 from Launch Complex 37 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida. The probe is healthy and power positive after delivery to space by United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/spaceupclose.com

The mission began with a dazzling middle-of-the-night blastoff of the mighty Delta IV Heavy rocket in the wee hours of Sunday morning, Aug. 12 – and delivered the car sized spacecraft to its intended trajectory towards Venus and the Sun.

The 23-story tall triple barreled United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket successfully launched at 3:31 a.m. EDT Aug. 12 from the Florida Space Coast and put on a brilliant display of fire power with 2.1 million pounds of thrust spewing forth from the trio of liquid oxygen/liquid hydrogen RS-68A main engines that quickly turned night into day a few hours before Sundays natural sunrise under nearly cloud-free skies.

Ignition of all three RS-68A main engines – Up Close view - as NASA’s Parker Solar Probe is propelled to study and fly through our Sun's corona atop the United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket launched Sunday, Aug. 12, 2018, at 3:31 a.m. EDT from Launch Complex 37 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/spaceupclose.com

Check out our Space UpClose gallery of photos and videos. Plus my BBC TV World News prelaunch interview. 

Here’s my Parker launch video from a remote camera set at pad 37:

Video Caption: Launch of NASA’s Parker Solar Probe on United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket on Aug. 12, 2018, at 3:31 a.m. EDT from Launch Complex 37 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida on humanity’s 1^st mission to our sun that will fly through the sun’s atmosphere or corona - as seen in this remote camera video taken at the pad. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/spaceupclose.com 

Here’s my BBC TV World News Pre-Launch interview:

Watch for Ken’s continuing onsite coverage of NASA, SpaceX, ULA, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Orbital ATK and more space and mission reports direct from the Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida and Wallops Flight Facility, Virginia.

Stay tuned here for Ken's continuing Earth and Planetary science and human spaceflight news: www.kenkremer.com –www.spaceupclose.com – twitter @ken_kremer – email: ken at kenkremer.com