Comments on: Nauka issues apparently resolved?

By: Jeff Wright

Jeff Wright — Sat, 24 Jul 2021 22:43:41 +0000

They don’t have to do that job now with new rockets and capsules. ISS will be a bit less cramped now.

By: Ray Van Dune

Ray Van Dune — Fri, 23 Jul 2021 23:57:51 +0000

It is conceivable that the DKS thrusters have enough total impulse to make the docking, if they were designed to lend boost and orientation to the entire ISS over a lengthy time. Of course they could not do that latter job if they use their impulse to rendezvous instead of the main engines.

By: Jay

Jay — Fri, 23 Jul 2021 21:09:34 +0000

Right now one site is saying the main engines are working again and another site says that Nauka is ready to go using the auxiliary engines called DKS (Russian for Correction and Orientation thrusters). Pirs/Progress undocking is scheduled for 5:28 AM PDT tomorrow. Nauka docking on the 29th.

By: Robert Zimmerman

Robert Zimmerman — Fri, 23 Jul 2021 19:09:59 +0000

In reply to born01930. born01930: I have just updated the post, because the lack of information from Russia, combined with these rumors, makes things more uncertain than first implied by this press release.

By: born01930

born01930 — Fri, 23 Jul 2021 18:51:14 +0000

I was just reading on NSF that the firings yesterday were only thrusters not main engine and insufficient to bring it to ISS. They have until tomorrow evening to fire the mains.

By: Mark

Mark — Fri, 23 Jul 2021 18:22:22 +0000

The engineering efforts towards building and maintaining ISS really has given private space a bedrock of knowledge to build off of. Here is an excerpt from a space dot com article from last November. ‘ But Axiom has learned from the space station’s complicated fate and has already wrestled with how its facility will end. The company is planning its modules to be more truly modular than those on the space station, with the capability to easily remove and replace segments anyway, giving the company flexibility in its future.
The arrangement also means that each module can control its own fate. “Each module is going to be designed with its own guidance, navigation and control, its own thruster capabilities,” Maender said. “So they can fly essentially on their own, and then when they need to, they can separate and return through Earth’s atmosphere on their own.”