Astronauts Complete First of Two July Spacewalks

ISS - Expedition 36 Mission patch.

July 9, 2013

Two Expedition 36 astronauts wrapped up a successful 6-hour, 7-minute spacewalk at 2:09 p.m. EDT Tuesday, completing the first of two July excursions to prepare the International Space Station  for a new Russian module and perform additional installations on the station’s backbone.

"Grab Bag" of Tasks Performed During ISS Spacewalk

Flight Engineers Chris Cassidy of NASA and Luca Parmitano of the European Space Agency began the spacewalk at 8:02 a.m. as they switched their spacesuits to battery power.  After the two spacewalkers exited the hatch, Cassidy moved to the top of the Z1 truss to remove and replace a Space-to-Ground Transmitter Receiver Controller.  This unit, one of two that allows for two independent strings of Ku-band communication for video and data, failed in December 2012.

Image above: Flight Engineer Luca Parmitano rides Canadarm2 to an International Space Station worksite during Tuesday's Expedition 36 spacewalk. Image Credit: NASA TV.

In parallel to this, Parmitano headed out to the Express Logistics Carrier-2 on the starboard truss segment and retrieved two experiments that were part of the Materials International Space Station Experiment-8, or MISSE-8.  The Optical Reflector Materials Experiment III (ORMatE-III) and the Payload Experiment Container, which assessed the impacts of the space environment on materials and processor elements, are scheduled to return to Earth aboard the SpaceX-3 commercial cargo craft later this year.

Read more about MISSE-8: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/72.html

While he was out on the on the starboard truss, Parmitano also photographed the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer-02 (AMS-02) to provide the research team a visual assessment of the condition of this state-of-the-art particle physics detector.

Read more about AMS-02: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/742.html

Cassidy meanwhile routed power cables to support the addition of the new Russian Multipurpose Laboratory Module scheduled to arrive at the station later this year. Cassidy routed cables from the Unity node to the interface between the Pressurized Mating Adapter-1 and the Zarya module. The station cosmonauts will complete that set up during a future spacewalk. The new module, known as Nauka, will serve as a research facility, docking port and airlock for future Russian spacewalks and will replace the Pirs docking compartment.

The two spacewalkers teamed back up to remove two Radiator Grapple Bars (RGBs) and install one on the port side truss and the other on the starboard side so they will be more strategically located. These RGBs, which are intended to aid in the removal and replacement of failed thermal radiators, were delivered to the station aboard SpaceX-2. While riding at the end of the station’s Canadarm2 robotic arm under the control of Flight Engineer Karen Nyberg, Parmitano transported the RGBs to the worksites where Cassidy bolted them down.

Image above: Flight Engineer Chris Cassidy routes cables for the Russian Multipurpose Laboratory Module during an Expedition 36 spacewalk outside the International Space Station. Image Credit: NASA TV.

As Parmitano rode the arm back from the starboard side to port, he used that opportunity to remove a failed camera assembly. The Mobile Base Camera Light Pan-Tilt Assembly, which failed back in May 2012 just before the arrival of the Japanese H-II Transfer Vehicle, was one of the prime viewing systems for monitoring visiting vehicles.  Mission managers plan to bring the assembly back to Earth for refurbishment and return it to the station later as a valid spare.

With those tasks complete and the RGBs installed, Cassidy began the installation of two Z1 truss Y-bypass jumpers to provide power redundancy and stability for critical station components. The bypass jumper installation will be completed during the July 16 spacewalk.  In conjunction with some cable reconfigurations completed earlier this year inside Unity, the two Y-bypass jumpers will allow the station team to quickly regain critical loads in the event of a loss of one of the external power modules without the need to commit to a spacewalk.

Image above: Flight Engineer Luca Parmitano is transported during the July 9 spacewalk by the International Space Station's Canadarm2 controlled by Flight Engineer Karen Nyberg. Image Credit: NASA TV.

Working briskly ahead of the planned timeline, Parmitano installed a multi-layer insulation cover to protect the docking interface of Pressurized Mating Adapter-2 mounted to the Harmony module.

The two spacewalkers then moved on to a couple of get-ahead tasks -- including the initial routing of cables from the Zarya module to Pressurized Mating Adapter-1 -- before moving back into the Quest airlock to end the spacewalk.

With the completion of his fifth career spacewalk, Cassidy now has a total of 29 hours, 42 minutes of total spacewalking time to his credit.  It was the first spacewalk for Parmitano and the first for an Italian. Cassidy and Parmitano are slated to head back out the Quest airlock on July 16 for another spacewalk to complete the Z1 Y-bypass jumper installation and route additional cables.

Tuesday's spacewalk  was the 170th in support of station assembly and maintenance, totaling 1,073 hours, 50 minutes.

For more information about the International Space Station (ISS), visit: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.html

Images (mentioned), Video, Text, Credits: NASA / NASA TV.

Best regards, Orbiter.ch

Ariane 6

ESA / Arianespace logos.

July 9, 2013

The baseline configuration of Ariane 6 selected by consensus on the basis of decisions taken by ESA's Ministerial Council of Novembr 2012.

In November 2012, European Ministers responsible for space, meeting in Naples, Italy, approved the start of preparatory activities for Europe’s next-generation Ariane 6 launch vehicle.

The objective of Ariane 6 is to maintain guaranteed autonomous access to space for Europe, while minimising exploitation costs and suppressing any support to exploitation.

Artist's view of Ariane 6

The performance requested for the new launch vehicle was 3–6.5 tonnes in equivalent geostationary transfer orbit (GTO), to cover both governmental and commercial needs. The general configuration retained was ‘PPH’ – indicating the sequence of stages using solid propulsion, solid propulsion and cryogenic propulsion.

Ministers also requested that the new launch vehicle exploits maximum commonalities with the cryogenic reignitable upper stage of Ariane 5 ME.

Ariane 6 animation

Process

Seven months after ESA’s Ministerial Council decision, the project team of ESA, supported by CNES, has endorsed the final concept proposed by industry for the vehicle that will become Europe’s workhorse for reaching space in the 2020s and beyond.

This concept was selected after six months of trade-off studies done by a ‘plateau projet’ integrating industrial teams (Astrium, Avio, Herakles and the participation of Safran, MT Aerospace and others) working under ESA contract, consistent with Ministerial decisions mentioned above.

The choice of configuration was made by consensus and based on the following main criteria: exploitation costs, time to market and development costs.

Ariane 6 will benefit from the advances by European industry in solid and cryogenic propulsion, structures, systems, avionics, ground segment and operations through the Ariane and Vega programmes.

Baseline configuration selected

The selected ‘Multi P linear’ concept is based on a lower ‘composite’ of four motors, each loaded with around 135 tonnes of solid propellant, providing also synergies with the Vega evolution perspectives. An "in-line" arrangement of three will serve as the first stage, while the fourth will be mounted above as the second stage.

‘Multi P linear’ concept

The third stage will be an adapted version of the Ariane 5 ME upper stage, equipped with the Vinci engine and specific propellant tanks.

The 5.4 m-diameter payload fairing will be able to accommodate the same volume of satellites as Ariane 5.

Steps to October 2013

The next step will be for ESA to consult with industry to gather competing ideas on key work packages of the new launch system. Industry will have maximum flexibility for meeting the requirements.

Consolidation of the current Phase A will take place at the Preliminary Requirements Review (PRR) in October 2013.

European launchers: powering Europe into space

Decisions taken by the ESA Council at Ministerial level in November 2012 are being implemented strictly and timely.

Related links:

Launcher strategy: http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Launchers/Launcher_strategy

Future Launchers Preparatory Programme: http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Launchers/FLPP_preparing_for_Europe_s_next-generation_launcher

International cooperation: http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Launchers/International_cooperation

Images, Videos, Text, Credits: ESA / D. Ducros / AOES Medialab.

Greetings, Orbiter.ch

Solar Impulse Across America 2013: From Washington D.C. to New York City

Solar Impulse - Across America 2013 patch.

July 7, 2013

Prototype Plane Completes Across America Mission Powered Only by Solar Energy

Image above: Across America 2013:Final leg from Washington DC. to New-York City. Landing. Solar Impulse / Merz / Rezo.ch.

Solar Impulse – the solar-powered airplane of Swiss pioneers Bertrand Piccard and André Borschberg – has successfully landed at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport setting a new milestone in the history of aviation: for the first time a plane capable of flying day and night powered exclusively by solar energy has crossed the USA from the West to the East Coasts without using a single drop of fuel.

Across America: Landing in New York JFK

André Borschberg, Solar Impulse Co-founder and CEO, landed Solar Impulse at JFK on Saturday, July 6 at 11:09 p.m. EDT, 3 hours earlier than planned because of a rip in the fabric on the lower side of the left wing. The flight took 18h 23min with a departure from Washington Dulles at 04:46 a.m. EDT on Saturday.

Flight Washington KIAD - New-York KJFK

- Pilot: André Borschberg, Co-Founder and CEO

- Take off : July 6th 04:46AM EDT (UTC-4)

- Landing: July 6th 11:09PM EDT (UTC-4)

- Flight duration: 18h23min

- Average ground speed: 27km/h (15 kts)

- Highest altitude reached: 3110 m (10 200 ft)

- Flight Distance: 495 km (~267 NM)

“This last leg was especially difficult due to the damage of the fabric on the left wing. It obliged the team to envisage all the possible scenarios, including bailing out over the Atlantic. But this type of problem is inherent to every experimental endeavor. In the end, this didn’t prevent us from succeeding in our Across America mission and provided an invaluable learning experience in preparation for the round-the-world tour in 2015,” said André Borschberg shortly after landing, adding “we extend our gratitude to all airport and government authorities whose precious support made this mission possible.”

Image above: Across America 2013:Final leg from Washington DC. to New-York City. Checking of the damages on the wing. Solar Impulse / Merz / Rezo.ch.

The arrival of Solar Impulse in New York City marks the culmination of its ambitious journey Across America, which started on May 3rd in San Francisco, California. The journey took a total of 105h 41min and 3511 miles flown at an average speed of 28.8 kt. Before reaching New York, Bertrand Piccard and André Borschberg alternately flew Solar Impulse to Phoenix, Dallas-Fort Worth, St. Louis, Cincinnati and Washington D.C. The plane stopped over in each of these cities giving the opportunity to the team to organize public viewings and political meetings with high level representatives such as Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz, to promote clean technologies, energy efficiency and renewable energies.

Image above: Across America 2013:Final leg from Washington DC. to New-York City. A. Borschberg and B. Piccard just after the successful landing. Solar Impulse / Merz / Rezo.ch.

“Flying coast-to-coast has always been a mythical milestone full of challenges for aviation pioneers. During this journey, we had to find solutions for a lot of unforeseen situations, which obliged us to develop new skills and strategies. In doing so, we also pushed the boundaries of clean technologies and renewable energies to unprecedented levels,” said Dr. Bertrand Piccard, Solar Impulse Initiator, Chairman and pilot.

For more information about Solar Impulse, visit: http://www.solarimpulse.com/

Image (mentioned), Video, Text, Credit: Solar Impulse.

Best regards, Orbiter.ch

Phobos Passing Overhead

NASA - Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) patch.

July 5, 2013

This movie clip shows Phobos, the larger of the two moons of Mars, passing overhead, as observed by NASA's Mars rover Curiosity in a series of images centered straight overhead starting shortly after sunset.  Phobos first appears near the lower center of the view and moves toward the top of the view.  The clip runs at accelerated speed; the amount of time covered in it is about 27 minutes.

The 86 frames combined into this clip were taken by the rover's Navigation Camera (Navcam) on the 317th Martian day of Curiosity's work on Mars (June 28, 2013, PDT).  The apparent ring about halfway between the center of the frames and the edges is an artifact of the imaging due to scattering of light inside the camera.

For more about NASA's Curiosity mission, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/mars and http://marsprogram.jpl.nasa.gov/msl

Follow the mission on Facebook and Twitter at: http://www.facebook.com/marscuriosity and http://www.twitter.com/marscuriosity

Video, Text, Credits: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Greetings, Orbiter.ch

Feeding Galaxy Caught in Distant Searchlight

ESO - European Southern Observatory logo.

4 July 2013

ESO’s Very Large Telescope probes growth of galaxies

Artist’s impression of a galaxy accreting material from its surroundings

Astronomers using ESO’s Very Large Telescope have spotted a distant galaxy hungrily snacking on nearby gas. Gas is seen to fall inwards towards the galaxy, creating a flow that both fuels star formation and drives the galaxy’s rotation. This is the best direct observational evidence so far supporting the theory that galaxies pull in and devour nearby material in order to grow and form stars. The results will appear in the 5 July 2013 issue of the journal Science.

Astronomers have always suspected that galaxies grow by pulling in material from their surroundings, but this process has proved very difficult to observe directly. Now ESO’s Very Large Telescope has been used to study a very rare alignment between a distant galaxy [1] and an even more distant quasar — the extremely bright centre of a galaxy powered by a supermassive black hole. The light from the quasar passes through the material around the foreground galaxy before reaching Earth, making it possible to explore in detail the properties of the gas around the galaxy [2]. These new results give the best view so far of a galaxy in the act of feeding.

“This kind of alignment is very rare and it has allowed us to make unique observations,” explains Nicolas Bouché of the Research Institute in Astrophysics and Planetology (IRAP) in Toulouse, France, lead author of the new paper. “We were able to use ESO’s Very Large Telescope to peer at both the galaxy itself and its surrounding gas. This meant we could attack an important problem in galaxy formation: how do galaxies grow and feed star formation?”

Galaxies quickly deplete their reservoirs of gas as they create new stars, and so must somehow be continuously replenished with fresh gas to keep going. Astronomers suspected that the answer to this problem lay in the collection of cool gas from the surroundings by the gravitational pull of the galaxy. In this scenario, a galaxy drags gas inwards, which then circles around the galaxy, rotating with it before falling in. Although some evidence of such accretion had been observed in galaxies before, the motion of the gas and its other properties had not been fully explored up to now.

The sky around the quasar QSO J2246-6015

The astronomers used two instruments known as SINFONI and UVES [3], both of which are mounted on ESO’s VLT at the Paranal Observatory in northern Chile. The new observations showed both how the galaxy itself was rotating, and revealed the composition and motion of the gas outside the galaxy.

“The properties of this vast volume of surrounding gas were exactly what we would expect to find if the cold gas was being pulled in by the galaxy,” says co-author Michael Murphy (Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Australia). “The gas is moving as expected, there is about the expected amount and it also has the right composition to fit the models perfectly. It’s like feeding time for lions at the zoo — this particular galaxy has a voracious appetite, and we’ve discovered how it feeds itself to grow so quickly.”

Astronomers have already found evidence of material around galaxies in the early Universe, but this is the first time that they have been able to show clearly that the material is moving inwards rather than outwards, and also to determine the composition of this fresh fuel for future generations of stars. Without the quasar’s light to act as a probe this surrounding gas would be undetectable.

“In this case we were lucky that the quasar happened to be in just the right place for its light to pass through the infalling gas. The next generation of extremely large telescopes will enable studies with multiple sightlines per galaxy and provide a much more complete view,” concludes co-author Crystal Martin (University of California Santa Barbara, USA).

Notes:

[1] This galaxy was detected in the 2012 redshift z ~ 2 SINFONI survey called the SINFONI Mg II Program for Line Emitters (SIMPLE). The quasar in the background is called QSO J2246-6015, or HE 2243-60 and the galaxy itself lies at a redshift of 2.3285 — meaning that we are seeing it when the Universe was just about two billion years old.

[2] When the quasar light passes through the gas clouds some wavelengths are absorbed. The patterns of these absorption fingerprints can tell astronomers much about the motions and chemical composition of the gas. Without the quasar in the background far less information would have been be obtained — the gas clouds do not shine and are not visible in direct images.

[3] SINFONI is the Spectrograph for INtegral Field Observations in the Near Infrared, while UVES is the Ultraviolet and Visual Echelle Spectrograph. Both are mounted on ESO’s Very Large Telescope. SINFONI revealed the motions of the gas in the galaxy itself and UVES the effects of the gas around the galaxy on the light coming from the more distant quasar.

More information:

This research was presented in a paper entitled “Signatures of Cool Gas Fueling a Star-Forming Galaxy at Redshift 2.3”, to appear in the 5 July 2013 issue of the journal Science.

The team is composed of N. Bouché (CNRS; IRAP, France), M. T. Murphy (Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Australia), G. G. Kacprzak (Swinburne University of Technology, Australia; Australian Research Council Super Science Fellow), C. Péroux (Aix Marseille University, CNRS, France), T. Contini (CNRS; University Paul Sabatier of Toulouse, France), C. L. Martin (University of California Santa Barbara, USA), M. Dessauges-Zavadsky (Observatory of Geneva, Switzerland).

ESO is the foremost intergovernmental astronomy organisation in Europe and the world’s most productive ground-based astronomical observatory by far. It is supported by 15 countries: Austria, Belgium, Brazil, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Finland, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. ESO carries out an ambitious programme focused on the design, construction and operation of powerful ground-based observing facilities enabling astronomers to make important scientific discoveries. ESO also plays a leading role in promoting and organising cooperation in astronomical research. ESO operates three unique world-class observing sites in Chile: La Silla, Paranal and Chajnantor. At Paranal, ESO operates the Very Large Telescope, the world’s most advanced visible-light astronomical observatory and two survey telescopes. VISTA works in the infrared and is the world’s largest survey telescope and the VLT Survey Telescope is the largest telescope designed to exclusively survey the skies in visible light. ESO is the European partner of a revolutionary astronomical telescope ALMA, the largest astronomical project in existence. ESO is currently planning the 39-metre European Extremely Large optical/near-infrared Telescope, the E-ELT, which will become “the world’s biggest eye on the sky”.

Links:

Photos of the VLT: http://www.eso.org/public/images/archive/search/?adv=&subject_name=Very%20Large%20Telescope

Images, Text, Credits: ESO / L. Calçada / ESA / AOES Medialab / Digitized Sky Survey 2. Acknowledgement: Davide De Martin.

Greetings, Orbiter.ch

At the foot of the Red Planet’s giant volcano

ESA - Mars Express Mission patch.

4 July 2013

 Olympus Mons southeast flank

Hundreds of individual lava flows are seen frozen in time on the flanks of Olympus Mons, the largest volcano in the Solar System.

The images, taken on 21 January 2013 by ESA’s Mars Express, focus on the southeast segment of the giant volcano, which towers some 22 km above the surrounding plains. This is more than double the height of Mauna Kea, the tallest volcano on Earth at 10 km, when measured from its oceanic base to summit.

Olympus Mons in context

Like Mauna Kea, Olympus Mons is a shield volcano, with gently sloping sides that extend outwards at low angles. But unlike other shield volcanoes, it has an abrupt cliff edge, or scarp, separating it from the surrounding plains.

The scarp circles the entire volcano, in places reaching 9 km high. It was likely formed during a number of catastrophic landslides on the flanks of the volcano, during which the resulting debris was transported several hundred kilometres beyond the extent of these images.

Lava flows cover the base of the volcano, punctuated by a handful of pointy and flat-topped blocks that were either rotated or uplifted during the collapse.

Olympus Mons flank topography

The transition from the towering heights of the volcano down onto the flat lava plain at the base of the scarp can be easily seen in the colour-coded topography image.

In the leading colour image and perspective views, extensive networks of narrow, overlapping lava flows are proof of an extremely active volcanic past. The lava, long since solidified, once spilled down the natural contours of the volcano, spreading out into broad fans as it reached the scarp and plains below.

Flows that ended before reaching the scarp did so with rounded tongues, as the lava cooled and crept to a stop.

Perspective view of Olympus Mons flanks

Some lava flows are bounded by steep channel walls, while others were contained in lava tubes. Zooming in to the top left portion of the flank in the leading image reveals one example of an ancient lava tube, its winding track partially exposed in channel segments where the roof of the tunnel has since collapsed.

Perspective view of Olympus Mons flanks

The chaotic lava flows on the flanks provide a stark contrast to the smooth plains seen surrounding the volcano.

Here, only two prominent features are visible: a ‘wrinkle ridge’ in the lower centre of the main image, which formed as lava cooled and contracted to buckle up and distort the surface, and a channel system that branches out into a horseshoe shape. This channel was likely carved by lava, but water may have once flowed here, too.

The flank of Olympus Mons in 3D

The occurrence of only a few small impact craters in this scene shows that it is relatively young compared with more heavily cratered regions elsewhere on Mars – the older the surface, the greater the exposure time to impact events by asteroids or comets.

Furthermore, by looking at how the lava flows overlap, one can determine their relative ages: those that lie on top, cutting through and overprinting other flows, are the youngest.

For example, the vast lava plain surrounding the volcano truncates the majority of lava flows extending from the flanks, suggesting it is younger still, and that it originated from a location outside of this scene.

The volcanic region hosting Olympus Mons and several other large volcanoes is thought to have been active until tens of millions of years ago, relatively recent on the planet’s geological timescale that spans 4.6 billion years.

Related links:

Mars Express overview: http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Mars_Express_overview

Mars Express 10 year brochure: http://esamultimedia.esa.int/multimedia/publications/BR-312/

High Resolution Stereo Camera: http://berlinadmin.dlr.de/Missions/express/indexeng.shtml

Behind the lens: http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Mars_Express/Behind_the_lens

Frequently asked questions: http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Mars_Express/Frequently_asked_questions

ESA Planetary Science archive (PSA): http://www.rssd.esa.int/PSA

NASA Planetary Data System: http://pds-geosciences.wustl.edu/missions/mars_express/hrsc.htm

HRSC data viewer: http://hrscview.fu-berlin.de/

Images, Text, Credits: ESA / DLR / FU Berlin (G. Neukum) / NASA MGS MOLA Science Team.

Best regards, Orbiter.ch

Spacecraft Resource-P issued the first test shots

ROSCOSMOS patch.

03.07.2013

 Artist's view of Resource-P satellite in orbit

July 2, 2013 conducted the first test include electro-optical target surveillance equipment (Geoton) installed on the spacecraft (SC) Resource-P, have been surveyed, and the first images of the Earth. According to preliminary estimates of experts, is currently performing the processing and analysis of the information received, the resulting images are broadly consistent with the specified requirements and confirm the high performance characteristics of the spacecraft.

Launching of the remote sensing of the Earth Resource-P was successfully implemented June 25, 2013 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome launch vehicle Soyuz-2.1b. Since then, the check is made on-board systems of the spacecraft. Parameters for the spacecraft (temperature, pressure in the compartments, the supply voltage) are in the normal range. Comments on the work of the on-board equipment is not.

Flight testing of the spacecraft Resource-P progress:

 One of the first images obtained from satellite Resource-P. 02.07.2013

 Another of the first images obtained from satellite Resource-P. 02.07.2013

Spacecraft Resource-P created SRP TsSKB Progress on the basis of the existing backlog and project developments to improve its performance targets in the following key areas: increasing the number of narrow spectral ranges from 3 to 5, providing hyperspectral and stereo, snap pictures with the provision of accuracy of 10-15 meters, an increase of lifetime spacecraft with 3 to 5 years.

Space complex Resource-P is for high-precision, detailed broadband and hyperspectral optical-electronic monitoring Earth's surface. This spacecraft was the second in a series of satellites of the "resource" in the domestic constellation of civilian remote sensing of the Earth c detailed level permissions.

Resource-P (Resurs-P) is intended to inform the following applications of Earth observation:

- Compiling and updating the general geographic, thematic and topographic maps;

- Control of pollution and environmental degradation;

- Inventory of natural resources and monitor business processes to ensure the rational activity in various sectors of the economy;

- Information management activities for oil exploration, natural gas, ore and other mineral deposits;

- Control of development of territories, to obtain data for engineering evaluation areas for the benefit of economic activity;

- Control of water conservation and protected areas;

- Assess ice conditions;

- Observation of emergencies, disasters, accidents, man-made disasters, as well as assess their implications for planning remediation.

The information obtained can also be used to promote international cooperation in the Russian part of the global Earth observations and solutions of other pressing problems of remote sensing of the Earth.

Other of the first images obtained from satellite Resource-P. 02.07.2013

Resource-P - a device with a qualitatively new features, including the use on it a special target equipment. One of the basic principles of formation of shape space complex (CC) Resource-P is the use of technical solutions which have been accumulated in creating QC Resource-DK. Were retained capabilities of the spacecraft Resource-DK in width of the capture and the level of resolution in panchromatic and spectral ranges. It operates at near-circular sun-synchronous orbit, which can significantly improve the observations on the Resurs-DK, working on an elliptical orbit. The new spacecraft will be able to shoot at the same height and in the same lighting conditions. The frequency of observation is reduced from six to three days. Furthermore, improved consumer properties and precision reference images transmitted to Earth dynamic characteristics of the spacecraft.

Capacity of tactical and technical characteristics of the new spacecraft achieved through the use of several types of imaging equipment. At the Resource-P is set opto-electronic equipment, which will deliver highly detailed images with a resolution of 1 m with a height of 475 km in the panchromatic band, a narrow spectral bands with a resolution of at least 4.3 meters.

 Resource-P description (in Russian)

The task of equipment Resource-P introduced two other types of imaging equipment: hyperspectral survey equipment - GSA (development of CMH) and a set of wide field multispectral imaging equipment - KSHMSA (development branch SRP TsSKB Progress - SPE OPTEKS ). Locking band hyperspectral instrument is 25 km and a resolution of about 25 m KSHMSA allows detailed observation with wide with a resolution of 12 m swath of 100 km, with a resolution of 60 m - a swath width of 440 km. Together with panchromatic images allows simultaneous recording at fixed spectral ranges.

The presence of this equipment will increase list and quality of the spacecraft solved problems in the socio-economic development of the country and its regions.

ROSCOSMOS Press Release: http://www.federalspace.ru/main.php?id=2&nid=20195

Images, Text, Credits: Press Service of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos PAO) / ROSCOSMOS / Translation: Orbiter.ch Aerospace.

Greetings, Orbiter.ch