Engine shutdowns delay Cygnus cargo ship’s rendezvous with house station

Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus XL cargo ship, carrying greater than 11,000 kilos of apparatus and provides for the International Space Station, suffered two untimely engine shutdowns Tuesday, forcing flight controllers to interrupt a rigorously deliberate rendezvous and delay the ship’s arrival on the outpost.

It was not instantly recognized what went fallacious or when the spacecraft would possibly be capable to full its rendezvous, assuming flight controllers can resolve the issue and develop an alternate “burn plan.”

“Early Tuesday morning, Cygnus XL’s main engine stopped earlier than planned during two burns designed to raise the orbit of the spacecraft for rendezvous with the space station,” NASA stated in a weblog submit. “All other Cygnus XL systems are performing normally.”

No different particulars have been offered.

The Cygnus was launched Sunday from Cape Canaveral atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. The cargo ship was launched from the booster’s higher stage as deliberate, kicking off a exactly deliberate sequence of rendezvous rocket firings to meet up with the house station.

Unlike SpaceX’s cargo Dragon and Russian Progress freighters, which perform autonomous dockings at their respective ports, the Cygnus was designed to be captured by the station’s robotic arm and pulled in for berthing.

The Cygnus XL seize had been deliberate for Wednesday morning, nevertheless it’s now on maintain whereas engineers work to know the issue and develop an alternate rendezvous plan.

“The Cygnus XL will not arrive to the space station on Wednesday, Sept. 17, as originally planned, with a new arrival date and time under review,” NASA stated in its weblog submit.

A Progress launched final week efficiently docked on the station Saturday. The Cygnus XL launch was a long-awaited milestone for Northrop Grumman after an earlier Cygnus was broken throughout transit from a subcontractor in Europe to Cape Canaveral. That automobile continues to be grounded pending evaluation and repairs.

Sunday’s launch was the third of a minimum of 4 SpaceX flights bought by Northrop Grumman whereas the corporate recovers from the transit setback and presses forward with work to develop a brand new booster of its personal.

And it was the maiden flight of the Cygnus XL, so named as a result of the upgraded cargo ship has been lengthened to hold extra cargo to the station per flight.

“We’ve been partnering with Northrop Grumman on this update, and we’re excited that Northrop is ready to deliver this incredibly beneficial increase in capacity,” Dina Contella, deputy supervisor of the house station program for NASA, stated earlier than launch. “It’s about 1.6 meters (5 feet) longer and it carries about 2,600 additional pounds more cargo.”

For its first flight, the XL ship is loaded with greater than five-and-a-half tons of wanted spare elements, analysis materials and crew provides, together with vacation treats for the station crew.

“The (Cygnus) is packed with consumables, like nitrogen, oxygen, food and toilet parts, and it has a large number of spare parts that are required for systems like, for example, our urine processor,” stated Contella. “We’re stocking up on these items since we were short over the past year, and we’d like to have a good reserve for the future.”

NASA pays for cargo supply flights utilizing Cygnus and Dragon spacecraft. To date, SpaceX has efficiently carried out 32 Dragon resupply missions whereas Northrop Grumman has accomplished 20 profitable flights not counting the present mission.

Both corporations suffered one in-flight failure every on account of launch mishaps early within the business resupply program.