Prisma & Picard (Dnepr launched on June 15, 2010)

[Zipi]

Launch time: 14:42 GMT (10:42 am EDT)
Launch site: Yasny, Russia

An ISC Kosmotras Dnepr rocket will launch the Sweden's Prisma demonstration mission, including two satellites that will rendezvous and fly in formation using new and inexpensive technologies. The French space agency's Picard satellite will also launch to study the sun. Delayed from March 9, April 6, April 13 and June 3.

Picard Wikipedia Article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PICARD_(spacecraft)
CNES Picard Page: http://smsc.cnes.fr/PICARD/
Prisma Wikipedia Article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prisma
Prisma Satellites: http://www.prismasatellites.se/?sid=9028
Swedish Space Corporation Prisma Page: http://www.ssc.se/?id=7611

Picard Satellite

Prisma Satellites

Dnepr Launch Vehicle

ISC Kosmotras Dnepr Launch Vehicle Page: http://www.kosmotras.ru/en/rn_dnepr/
ISC Kosmotras Dnepr Program Page: http://www.kosmotras.ru/en/program_dnepr/
Astronautix Dnepr Infos: http://www.astronautix.com/lvs/r36m.htm#Dnepr
Dnepr Wikipedia Article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dnepr_rocket
NPO InterCoS Dnepr LV Page: http://www.npointercos.jp/DneprLV.html

Ejection from silo/canister

GAS generator ejects Dnepr out from its silo or canister.

First Stage

One RD-264 engine burning N[sub]2[/sub]O[sub]4[/sub]/UDMH

Astronautix RD-264 Page: http://www.astronautix.com/engines/rd264.htm

Second Stage

One RD-0255 engine burning N[sub]2[/sub]O[sub]4[/sub]/UDMH

Astronautix RD-0255 Page: http://www.astronautix.com/engines/rd0255.htm
RD-0255 Manufacturer KBKhA: http://www.kbkha.ru/?lang=en

Third Stage

One RD-869 engine burning N[sub]2[/sub]O[sub]4[/sub]/UDMH

Astronautix RD-869 Page: http://www.astronautix.com/engines/rd869.htm
RD-869 Designer Yuzhnoye: http://www.yuzhnoye.com/?lang=en

Yasny Launch Base

ISC Kosmotras Yasny Launch Base Page: http://www.kosmotras.ru/en/yasniy/
Yasny Launch Base Wikipedia Article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dombarovskiy
Russianspaceweb Yasny Page: http://www.russianspaceweb.com/dombarovskiy.html
Astronautix Yasny Page: http://www.astronautix.com/sites/domvskiy.htm
NPO InterCoS Yasny Page: http://www.npointercos.jp/Yasny.html
Google Maps Link: http://maps.google.com/maps?t=h&q=50.8, ... 27788&z=16

 

[EarthlingX]

Re: June 15, Dnepr - Prisma & Picard

Not many launches from Yasny, nice.

 

[Zipi]

Re: June 15, Dnepr - Prisma & Picard

Just how cool a launch vehicle can be? :shock:

Yes I know this is an old ICBM, which makes its coolness somehow ankward, but still this is cool:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsJ8bbjcJ6E[/youtube]

Look right after 2min and you see how the nose cone works right after launch in original ICBM configuration. There are so many details and visible actions happening with this launch vehicle at launch time... Like gas generator based ejection from the silo, main engine shield ejection with small rocket motor, backwards firing upper stage, etc...

 

[EarthlingX]

Re: June 15, Dnepr - Prisma & Picard

Part 2. :

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEa0FXBjLas[/youtube]

 

[EarthlingX]

Re: June 15, Dnepr - Prisma & Picard

www.spaceflightnow.com : Prisma satellites will begin high-flying dance next week

Posted: June 7, 2010

BY STEPHEN CLARK

Two Swedish satellites are snugly packed inside the nose of a Ukrainian rocket for blastoff next week, when the duo will commence a risky test of new formation-flying and rendezvous technologies on a shoestring budget.

The Prisma mission carries a smorgasbord of payloads from across Europe, including autonomous rendezvous technology from Sweden, a GPS system from Germany, a radio frequency instrument from France, and a vison-based navigation sensor from Denmark.

"Prisma is really a Christmas tree of different demonstrations," said Staffan Persson, the Prisma project manager from Swedish Space Corp. "Everybody should have something out of the mission as early possible. There's sort of an early harvest strategy involved here, and then we go to more and more advanced exercises."

Over the course of 10 months, the two spacecraft will repeatedly approach one another testing each of the relatively low-cost technologies.

"The priority is to demonstate autonomous formation-flying, meaning that we regard these two satellites as one entity," Persson said. "So they are supposed to keep a fixed position relative to each other without ground control in the loop."

Swedish Space Corp. built the satellites for the Swedish National Space Board. The mission cost Sweden about $50 million, but that figure doesn't include contributions from European partners.

"This choice of formation-flying was made because it was an an area nobody [has tried before], at least not with the precision that's going to be shown with the Prisma satellites," said Christer Nilsson, Prisma program manager at the Swedish space agency.

"We wanted to provide this technology demonstration platform for instruments that needed to be tested for future missions," Nilsson said. "There was a lot of discussion in Europe at the European Space Agency and bilaterally that there were very few opportunities to fly components and instruments. There was really a need for in-orbit demonstrations."

...

The larger Prisma satellite also features two experimental thrusters burning green propellant based on ammonium dinitramide. The non-toxic fuel is more environmentally-friendly and efficient than hydrazine propellant used on most satellites.

"It is a one-to-one switch with hydrazine, and you get a little bonus on top of it. It's a fuel that actually can be flown on regular aircraft," Nilsson said, referring to the green propellant's lighter transportation restrictions. "It has a much more benign composition than hydrazine."

...

 

[Zipi]

Re: June 15, Dnepr - Prisma & Picard

Livestream: http://www.rymdkanalen.se/live
Mission Events: http://www.prismasatellites.se/prismaenglish

orb has posted some info to Orbiter Forum: http://www.orbiter-forum.com/showthread.php?t=16333
(SiberianTiger probably posts something extra to this topic as well)

 

[EarthlingX]

Re: June 15, Dnepr - Prisma & Picard

Livestream: http://www.rymdkanalen.se/live
Mission Events: http://www.prismasatellites.se/prismaenglish

orb has posted some info to Orbiter Forum: http://www.orbiter-forum.com/showthread.php?t=16333
(SiberianTiger probably posts something extra to this topic as well)

Stream is alive, about 30 min to launch.

 

[EarthlingX]

Re: June 15, Dnepr - Prisma & Picard

15 min to launch.

http://www.orbiter-forum.com/showthread.php?t=16333

French live launch coverage will be here: http://www.mativi-toulouse.fr/live/

 

[EarthlingX]

Re: June 15, Dnepr - Prisma & Picard

3 min to launch.

 

[EarthlingX]

Re: June 15, Dnepr - Prisma & Picard

13 min after launch, everything seams to be 'nominal', 'ok' and such.

There was only telemetry info and computer animation, no live video :|

 

[EarthlingX]

Re: June 15, Dnepr - Prisma & Picard

946 sec, PRISMA separation confirmed.

 

[Zipi]

Re: June 15, Dnepr - Prisma & Picard

Spaceflight Now's launch article: http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n1006/15dnepr/

Controllers established communications with the Prisma spacecraft at 1614 GMT (12:14 p.m. EDT) as it passed over a Swedish ground station. Prisma officials say their satellites are performing flawlessly, and the solar panels have been unfurled.

 

[js117]

Re: SB&T From Around The World Updates

Ex-'Satan' rocket launches three European micro-satellites

by Staff Writers
Paris (AFP) June 15, 2010
A former Soviet SS-18 intercontinental missile lofted a trio of European micro-satellites into space on Wednesday, including a satellite to monitor the Sun's impact on climate change, France's National Centre for Space Studies (CNES) said.
The Russian-Ukrainian Dnepr lifted off at 1442 GMT from Yasny, southern Russia, the CNES said in a press release issued in Paris.

Its triple payload included a 150-kilo (330-pound) French satellite called Picard that will scrutinise the Sun for changes that could affect Earth's climate system.

More than 80 percent of current climate change is attributable to greenhouse gases that trap solar heat, leaving variations in solar output as the other big contributor.

Picard, named after a 17th-century French astronomer who investigated solar activity, will orbit at an altitude of 725 kilometres (453 miles), the CNES said.

It carries a telescope that will take images of the Sun in five wavelengths, and two other instruments to measure the Sun's energy output.

The other passengers aboard the Dnepr were the satellites Mango and Tango, under a Swedish Space Corporation project called Prisma.

They will test new sensors and navigation technologies designed to enable satellites to rendezvous or fly in formation in space.

The SS-18 was code-named "Satan" by NATO in the Cold War's heyday. In the 1990s, a number of the missiles were converted so that they could carry small civilian payloads into low Earth orbit.


The link http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Ex-Sa ... s_999.html

 

[EarthlingX]

Re: SB&T From Around The World Updates

Probably more appropriate thread for the above post :

SDC thread : June 15, Dnepr - Prisma & Picard

{MW EDIT: Good suggestion, I have moved it}

 

[EarthlingX]

Re: June 15, Dnepr - Prisma & Picard

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6ytQfkL_1A[/youtube]

 

[Zipi]

Re: June 15, Dnepr - Prisma & Picard

Prisma has appeared to Heavens-Above: http://www.heavens-above.com/satinfo.aspx?SatID=36599

Also Picard has appeared to Heavens-Above: http://www.heavens-above.com/satinfo.aspx?SatID=36598

 

[Zipi]

I added Picard to my previous post.

 

[joetraff]

Superb posts.
A must read for newbies like me.

 

[EarthlingX]

http://www.spaceflightnow.com : Sweden's Prisma satellites go their separate ways

BY STEPHEN CLARK
SPACEFLIGHT NOW

Posted: August 11, 2010

Two small Swedish satellites split apart Wednesday, commencing several months of trials in orbital formation flying and rendezvous techniques using sensors from across Europe.

The Tango (top) and Mango (bottom) satellites pictured during testing before launch. Credit: Swedish Space Corp.

The Prisma satellites, nicknamed Mango and Tango, separated at 1751 GMT (1:51 p.m. EDT) Wednesday as they orbited nearly 500 miles above Earth. The maneuver went as planned, according to a posting on the mission website.

"We had all reason to open the champagne: telemetry indicated that Tango was free flying and had stabilized itself in a slowly rotating sun pointing attitude. Battery was nominal and solar array is working," said an update on the Prisma website.

 

[EarthlingX]

spaceflightnow.com : Sweden's Prisma satellites accomplish close approach

BY STEPHEN CLARK

Posted: October 25, 2010

Sweden's Prisma satellite mission is nearly halfway through a 10-month mission testing European technologies that could enable future formation-flying and robotic servicing projects.

The mission reached a new first last week, when the satellites spent several days at close distances, eventually accomplishing an approach to a range of about 7 meters, or 23 feet, on Wednesday.

Project officials posted a video of the operation on the Prisma mission's blog.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGOM6dS1TWc[/youtube]

PrismaSatellite | October 22, 2010

Mango is approaching Tango from 15m down to 7m and then back again. The images were captured during one of the experiments PROX GPS on 2010-10-20. The Guidance and Control involved in the manoeuvre as well as the satellites have been developed by Swedish Space Corporation.
The complete manoeuvre duration is in real time about 40 minutes. Relative approach velocity 1 cm / s. Absolute velocity of both satellites approximately 7 km / s.

It was the most ambitious test of the Prisma mission so far.

Managed by Swedish Space Corp., the two Prisma satellites blasted off together in June and separated Aug. 11 to begin orbital trials.

The satellites, nicknamed Mango and Tango, are testing cutting edge rendezvous and autonomy technologies from France, Germany, Denmark, Sweden and other European nations.

...

 

[EarthlingX]

SDC : Swedish Satellites Perform a Space Waltz Rendezvous

By Mike Wall
SPACE.com Senior Writer
posted: 25 October 2010
06:11 pm ET



Two Swedish satellites performed a precision waltz in orbit last week, coming tantalizingly close to one another at one point, and catching it all in a video.

The satellites, nicknamed Mango and Tango, spent much of the week executing close approaches to test out new technologies for formation-flying in orbit. Their closest rendezvous came Oct. 20, when they were separated by a mere 23 feet (7 meters). Engineers plan to bring them even closer in the following months.

...