Russian Progress Supply Ship is Dropped from Space Station to Burn Next Week
Written by Ian O'Neill
In a dress rehearsal for the disposal of the European Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) in two days time, the Russian Progress 29 resupply ship was undocked from the International Space Station (ISS) on Monday from its Earth-facing berth on the station's Russian Zarya control module. The vessel, having performed its resupply duties back in May, has now been filled with waste from the crew and sent on its week-long journey toward a fiery re-entry. But the tough automated resupply ship still has some work to do, it will carry out some experimental rocket tests before it makes its final plunge over the Pacific Ocean…
The Russian automated resupply vessel has been overlooked recently. This unmanned craft has a long history of space supply tasks, ferrying food, water, equipment and other supplies to the orbital crews and then being filled with rubbish to be disposed of during re-entry. The current expendable Progress vehicle, the Progress M (interestingly based on the manned Soyuz design), was first launched in 1989 to service the Mir Space Station. 43 flights later, it was chosen as the principal resupply vehicle for the ISS. The current Progress mission, Progress 29, marks the 29th Progress flight to the orbital outpost, but unfortunately, like all the Progress flights before it the ship has undocked and it will begin deorbit manoeuvres to burn up in the atmosphere.
According to NASA, the undocking procedure was completed as expected at 3:46 pm EDT, Monday afternoon. "It went very well, exactly as planned," stated NASA spokesperson Kelly Humphries at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. Russian Federal Space Agency officials added that Progress 29 will remain in orbit until September 9th to carry out experiments on the plasma environment surrounding its engines. Once complete, the craft will be instructed to begin its final kamikaze task and plunge into the atmosphere over the South Pacific. Should any charred remains be left over after the burn, the debris will fall safely into a pre-designated area of the ocean.
Progress 29 was launched on May 14th and docked with the ISS two days later. This mission replaced Progress 28, which in April had also been unceremoniously dropped from space. Progress 29 delivered 2.3 tonnes of supplies to the ISS crew which currently include cosmonauts Sergei Volkov and Oleg Kononenko with astronaut Greg Chamitoff.
But this is only the first part of ISS dumping duties this week. On Friday, ESA Jules Verne will end its work (the first ever ATV mission), be filled with station trash and also dropped from orbit. I'm sure the ATV looked down nervously on Progress 29 as it disappeared from view knowing it's only two days from the long drop back to Earth…
Source: Space.com
Filed under: Space Station
September 3rd, 2008 at 4:24 am
Disposable culture.
What a waste, considering how much it costs to put any mass into space.
Send these things on to the moon as future habitats or spare parts. Im sure the waste products could be disposed off without burning up useful spacecraft.
Tuff bags and some deodorant spray as propellant.
And yes I'm aware of the energy requirements of sending them elsewhere.
Surely they could be engineered to be both supply ships and building blocks of the Space station.
Perhaps a private company should (buy) the used ATVs, dispose of the waste in a more economic fashion, and reuse them in a more creative manner.
Regards
Damian
September 3rd, 2008 at 1:52 pm
I agree with Damian. This is incredible waste. I am proud of the achievements of our space agencies. They have done some fantastic things. But stories like this one show just how far we have to go. Perhaps it's time for a change of management.
September 3rd, 2008 at 2:36 pm
Come now. Not all 'mass in space' is equal, just because it took an equal amount of energy to get ti there.
Consider all the various materials in various proportions that go into making an automobile (important if you want to recycle it), getting it all seperated and in meaningful quantities to be wortht he trouble to begin with.
What, *exactly* is a Progress re-supply ship made of? Is it something you need? In its *current* form? (That is, you might need aluminum for whatever you have in mind in orbit, but you need it in the form of, say a sphere of certain dimensions and thickness, not the size and shape of a Progress structure (or a soft drink can). And there's no handy smelter in orbit to change it to what you need. Such things are practical on Earth, because the infrastructure for it exists here.
Material you can't use is as useless as no material at all.
Is anyone 'mining' the sea for spent rocket hardware (other than the historical value of the recovered Liberty Bell 7)? Indeed, we don't go after the metal in most sunken ships. Why should far less massive orbital objects be any different?
If there's no use for it, you can de-orbit it properly so no one is harmed, or leave it in orbit where it may pose a threat to other, functioning orbital assets.
What you *really* need are reuseable launchers (indeed, the Holy Grail is to get to the time when we no longer need to preface 'launcher' with 'reuseable,' any more than we do with airplanes) that can service stations and other orbital assets economically…including bringing down the trash as part of the return leg of their flight, as is already done with the shuttle.
*Down*mass (including volume) is as important as how much you can take *to* orbit, and Orion will never be as good as the shuttle at that.
September 4th, 2008 at 7:04 am
Excellent comment by Frank.
September 4th, 2008 at 10:57 am
GAWD! What are these morons thinking?