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ExoMars 2016: on its way to Mars!

Frida Space

By Frida Space
in Science & Spaceflight

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sgt_flyer

sgt_flyer

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Posted (edited)
3 hours ago, cantab said:

Good to see a safe launch and ExoMars almost on its way now. ESA don't really have the same quality of coverage SpaceX and NASA do though. I want telemetry dang it!

A few neat things I caught from this morning's video. The brief clip of the assembly was cool, I saw how careful and delicate even a simple operation like fitting the fairing is. It's something games like KSP don't really convey - for us it's just design, click, launch.

Also they mentioned - and we saw in the video - that the rocket is "free standing". I don't know if it has any physical link to the ground, but it's certainly a far cry from the complex clamp and support systems we see on many other launchers. I wonder why the Russians chose that approach - is it related to Proton's conception as an ICBM?

the electric umbilicals / fuel lines connections come from below the rocket on the proton :) they are retracted after ignition (when they detect that the rocket has started to move) in special protective housings in the pad :) - it allows them to drain the fuel even in case of an abort just a few seconds before liftoff, without having to roll the service tower back in place :)

http://www.russianspaceweb.com/baikonur_proton_tech.html

Edited by sgt_flyer
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Frida Space

Frida Space

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Fourth and final burn should be finishing now, 12 minutes 29 seconds after it began. However, due to the stage currently being over the Great Lakes and therefore over the horizon for Roscosmos' antennas, it will take a while to confirm the burn.

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Hcube

Hcube

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1 minute ago, Frida Space said:

Fourth and final burn should be finishing now, 12 minutes 29 seconds after it began. However, due to the stage currently being over the Great Lakes and therefore over the horizon for Roscosmos' antennas, it will take a while to confirm the burn.

I'm really surprised that there's no way to relay signal from just the other side of the planet. Aren't there any antennas that can be used there ? Or a satellite network ? Pretty astonishing for me that they have to wait for the rotation of the earth to get that signal.

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Frida Space

Frida Space

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1 hour ago, Hcube said:

I'm really surprised that there's no way to relay signal from just the other side of the planet. Aren't there any antennas that can be used there ? Or a satellite network ? Pretty astonishing for me that they have to wait for the rotation of the earth to get that signal.

ESA has stations in Africa, Spain, Argentina, Australia... so it can get 24 hour coverage. I don't think Roscosmos has such global coverage

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DECQ

DECQ

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2 minutes ago, Hcube said:

I'm really surprised that there's no way to relay signal from just the other side of the planet. Aren't there any antennas that can be used there ? Or a satellite network ? Pretty astonishing for me that they have to wait for the rotation of the earth to get that signal.

... :)

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Frida Space

Frida Space

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1 hour ago, InsaneDruid said:

First breeze in outer space! Oh.. and that mars mission is also going well ;)

 

And, I guess, first Briz to reach Mars! Although shortly after s/c separation, it will complete two manoeuvres to avoid collisions with the probes and Mars :)

Update:

AND WE HAVE SPACECRAFT SEPARATION!! Now 76 minutes of silence!

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DECQ

DECQ

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16 minutes ago, Hcube said:

I'm really surprised that there's no way to relay signal from just the other side of the planet. Aren't there any antennas that can be used there ? Or a satellite network ? Pretty astonishing for me that they have to wait for the rotation of the earth to get that signal.

Finally, after so many years of Russians send a spacecraft to Mars ...
Good luck to the ESA, is a very ambitious and interesting project.

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KAL 9000

KAL 9000

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I'm ashamed to admit this... But I actually jumped up and yelled "YEE-HAW!" when I heard that separation was successful. TGO/Schiaparelli EDL are on their way to Mars!

Edited by KAL 9000
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Frida Space

Frida Space

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1 hour ago, Ten Key said:

Thanks for the updates Frida. Congratulations on the successful launch, and on your 1000th post. It was a good one. :) 

Didn't even know! Ahaha thank you! And even better news: solar deploys are arrayed!

Well, I should maybe type slower next time. ^Solar arrays are deployed!

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Frida Space

Frida Space

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1 hour ago, lugge said:

I watched the conference and the launch on live stream, very well done!

However, is there a video with the "highlights" like stage separations and transfer burns?

Unfortunately the cloud cover made the rocket disappear after a few seconds. And the Briz-M burns occured so far away from Earth that nothing more than computer animations and renderings are available. I'm not sure whether there are highlights from mission control either (so far, the best I've seen on Russian launches is a camera pointing towards the big screen in front of the engineers and flight controllers). The only highlight from mission control I'm aware of is from ESOC and is the TGO AOS.

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