Month: December 2007

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STS-122 Launch Scrub Press Conference…

Actually, it was a quick status briefing and not a press conference. There is not yet much information, so they had not to tell a lot. The scrub of Atlantis STS-122 launch attempt on December, 6th has been confirmed once again. Neither Atlantis nor Columbus, its primary payload, will launch into space today. The next launch attempt will be no earlier than tomorrow, but may be farther delayed.

The problem is related to two ECO sensors which had invalid readings. This type of problem is typically discovered late in the countdown, while tanking (that same type of problem prevented me from seeing the STS-115 launch in 2006…). There are four of these sensors.

Space Shuttle ECO Sensor during Testing.
ECO Sensors in a Test Setting
Troubleshooting is currently underway. They will send out an inspection team to do a quick evaluation of the external tank status. This will take around an hour and a half. There is a technical meeting at noon, where options will be discussed. At 2pm, there is a mission management team meeting, which will decide on how to continue forward. A press conference on the outcome of that meeting is expected no earlier than 4pm.

The firing room guys will work on a routine that provides a 24-hour turnaround. From their point of view, a December, 7th launch is a possibility. However, it is yet uncertain if it is also a possibility when looking at the big picture. So if the missing management team gives a “go” for Saturday, this can be done. If that would be the case, the launch attempt will be at 4:09pm tomorrow (each attempt is roughly 30 minutes earlier than the previous one).

Space Shuttle Atlantis sitting at the Pad after the December, 6th launch scrub.
Atlantis sitting at the Pad after the December, 6th launch scrub

STS-122 unfortunately has a very narrow launch window. It extends just 7 days and possibly one more day if the mission duration is shortened by one day. Even more unfortunate, NASA was hoping for a two-day mission extension to help troubleshoot solar array problems on the international space station.

I will post any updates when I receive them. But I guess I won’t have much more solid information before the end of the 4pm press conference. BTW: all times are EST.

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Atlantis launch may be delayed just one day

On the press conference, the firing room just said that from their point of view a 24 hour launch delay is possible. But that doesn’t mean that this will be the actual decision from an overall point of view.

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STS-122 officially scrubbed at 9:56a ET

NASA home page states:

Dec. 6, 10 a.m. EST: Official scrub came at 9:56 a.m. EST. An update is forthcoming on NASA TV.

I’ll be watching the NASA press conference as soon as it starts (it was scheduled for 4:30p, now it is 4:36, but it hasn’t started yet).

While it is now clear that Atlantis will not reach space today (nor will the Columbus lab module), it is unclear when the next launch attempt will be. Some say December, 7th, other speculate whether or not this will need repairs that can’t be done in the STS-122 launch window.

Press conference just begun…

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Atlantis launch scrub somewhat confirmed

The scrub of today’s Atlantis launch attempt becomes more and more real… NASA’s homepage right now has this statement:

Approximately 16 minutes into fast fill, two ECO sensors failed to indicate wet. They are troubleshooting the issue. Currently, H2 is at 80% and O2 is at 50%. Tanking is continuing. We expect to have a status from leadership soon as to whether we continue or scrub. If we scrub, a briefing will follow that decision on NASA TV.

It doesn’t sound final, but it backs evidence that the information on nasaspaceflight.com regarding the STS-122 launch scrub is correct. Other sites now also report accordingly.

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Atlantis STS-122 launch attempt scrubbed

I am now following up on the launch scrub. Remeber, it is still unconfirmed, but the information looks pretty solid.

As it looks, the problem is indeed related to the ECO sensors that I just wrote about. Two of four seem to have failed, which can not easily be overruled.

The news is still not confirmed. If it is true, the shuttle is probably being detanked right now and the sensors are undergoing additional tests. Only after such tests it can be seen what needs to be done and how long the mission will be delayed. The delay is very unfortunate, because there is only a small launch window of 7 days to launch STS-122. If that fails, the next launch attempt can be in January 2008 at earliest. This would probably affect the whole shuttle schedule – and even Ares and Constellation – as they depend on STS-125 in summer, after which launch pad 39B will be handed over to constellation.

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ECO Sensors…

Space Shuttle ECO Sensor during Testing.Have you heard the term ECO sensor? If you care about space shuttle launches, you probably have. These are the Engine CutOff sensors. They are in the external tank and should prevent the main engines to run dry in a failure mode (that could lead to vehicle destruction). In essence, they simply indicate if the tank is empty or not (much like the tank gauge in your car, but “a bit” more high tech).

The ECO sensors are known problem sources and are responsible for more than one launch scrub. In recent launches, however, they worked quite well. So we hope that this won’t be a problem for Atlantis STS-122 launch. If there is a problem, it would be detected some time around now, during tanking. Then, test commands are sent to check all sensors out.

An additional problem with the ECO sensors is that if they are faulty, they can not be quickly accessed for repair. The reason is that that they in the external tank, not accessible. Thus, as far as I know, there was always a waiver to launch with the problem, if there were one. However, I think this is possible only if there is at most one sensor failing.

I have now also written an in-depth article about the space shuttle’s ECO sensors. If you like some details and cool facts, I suggest reading it ;)

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Changing into “road mode”…

… lol … No, I am not talking about the space shuttle. It is me who is changing into “road mode”. It kind of sounded cool ;) What it really means is that I will leave my desk soon and drive down to the European Columbus Control Center close to Munich. This is about a three-hours drive (approx 150 miles) from my place – if all goes well.

Germany is 6 hours ahead of Florida, so the launch is here at 10:31p local time. The press facility at Columbus Control Center opens at 4p and I hope to be there by 7p. I need to check in to the hotel before, because the reception is open only until midnight (not uncommon over here…). So I need to plan for a brief stop there, too.

“Road mode” means a few changes to my blogging. Most importantly, I think I’ll do a number of blogposts via my PDA, which has cell-based Internet. That means lots of typos and short sentences and the grammar may be even more horrible than it is in everyday life. But I hope you’ll get a good impression. I also just (really: just!) got my brand-new cell based broadband Internet wireless card up and running. So I may post from the notebook.

In any case, I expect me to be very busy. So I will not place any links, tags, whatever into the mails. I take pictures, but I am not sure if I find time to upload them today. Most importantly, I must take care of my reporting job for raumfahrer.net, because these guys made me go there (and, besides, it is a great team effort, a great experience). I will also probably be unable to poll other Internet news sources. But I guess I can keep quite good up on the status from within mission control ;)

I will also most probably not find any time to comment. Don’t be disappointed if I do not reply (also applies to yesterday’s comments). I really appreciate your comments and will reply as soon as possible – what probably means Friday afternoon or Saturday.

So, now I’ll do the final preparations and then head to my car. I wish all of you a great launch. So far, it still looks excellent!

Rainer