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Cygnus NG-18

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NG-18
Cygnus S.S. Sally Ride after arrival at the ISS, with solar panels damaged.
Mission typeISS logistics
OperatorNorthrop Grumman
COSPAR ID2022-149A Edit this at Wikidata
SATCAT no.54232Edit this on Wikidata
Mission duration165 days, 16 hours, 39 minutes
Spacecraft properties
SpacecraftS.S. Sally Ride
Spacecraft typeEnhanced Cygnus
Manufacturer
Start of mission
Launch date7 November 2022, 10:32:42 UTC[1][2]
RocketAntares 230+
Launch siteWallops Pad 0A
ContractorNorthrop Grumman
End of mission
DisposalDeorbited
Decay date22 April 2023, 03:12 UTC
Orbital parameters
Reference systemGeocentric orbit
RegimeLow Earth orbit
Inclination51.66°
Berthing at the International Space Station
Berthing portUnity nadir
RMS capture9 November 2022, 10:20 UTC
Berthing date9 November 2022, 13:05 UTC
Unberthing date21 April 2023, 08:37 UTC
RMS release21 April 2023, 11:22 UTC[3]
Time berthed163 days

Cygnus NG-18 mission patch
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NG-19 →

NG-18 was the eighteenth flight of the Northrop Grumman robotic resupply spacecraft Cygnus and its seventeenth flight to the International Space Station (ISS) under the Commercial Resupply Services (CRS-2) contract with NASA. The mission successfully launched on 7 November 2022 at 10:32:42 UTC.[1][2] This was the seventh launch of Cygnus under the CRS-2 contract.[4][5]

Orbital ATK (now Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems) and NASA jointly developed a new space transportation system to provide commercial cargo resupply services to the International Space Station (ISS). Under the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program, Orbital ATK designed, acquired, built, and assembled these components: Antares, a medium-class launch vehicle; Cygnus, an advanced spacecraft using a Pressurized Cargo Module (PCM) provided by industrial partner Thales Alenia Space and a Service Module based on the Orbital GEOStar satellite bus.[6]

History

Cygnus NG-18 was the seventh Cygnus mission under the Commercial Resupply Services-2 contract. Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems confirmed on 23 February 2021 that Thales Alenia Space of Turin, Italy, will fabricate two additional Pressurized Cargo Modules (PCMs) for a pair of forthcoming Commercial Resupply Services-2 missions. Current plans are for the two additional Cygnus spacecraft to be designated NG-18 and NG-19.[7][when?]

Production and integration of Cygnus spacecraft are performed in Dulles, Virginia. The Cygnus service module is mated with the pressurized cargo module at the launch site, and mission operations are conducted from control centers in Dulles, Virginia and Houston, Texas.[6][when?]

Spacecraft

Main article: Cygnus (spacecraft)

This was the thirteenth flight of the Enhanced-sized Cygnus PCM.[5][8]

The vehicle was named the S.S. Sally Ride, after the first American woman in space.[9]

Flight

NG-18 was originally scheduled to launch on 6 November 2022. However, a fire alarm resulted in an evacuation of Northrop Grumman's control center, and the flight was postponed to the next day.[10]

The mission lifted off from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport on 7 November 2022. About six hours into the flight, NASA announced that one of the two solar arrays failed to deploy. The deploy failure was attributed to acoustic blanket debris being lodged into solar-array mechanisms during a stage separation event.[11]

Northrop Grumman reported that the spacecraft would still be able to reach the ISS. After assessing the situation, NASA determined a rendezvous was safe.[12] The vehicle reached the ISS on November 9.[13]

Manifest

The Cygnus spacecraft is loaded with 3,707 kg (8,173 lb) of research, hardware, and crew supplies.[14]

  • Crew supplies: 1,637 kg (3,609 lb)
  • Science investigations: 850 kg (1,870 lb)
  • Spacewalk equipment: 66 kg (146 lb)
  • Vehicle hardware: 1,077 kg (2,374 lb)
  • Computer resources: 78 kg (172 lb)

Research

The new experiments arriving at the orbiting laboratory will inspire future scientists and explorers, and provide valuable insight for researchers.

NASA Glenn Research Center studies: [15][16]

  • The Solid Fuel Ignition and Extinction - Material Ignition and Suppression Test (SoFIE-MIST) investigation examines thermally-assisted burning in microgravity, by varying parameters including air flow speed, oxygen concentration, pressure, and level of external radiation. [17]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Navin, Joseph (5 November 2022). "SS Sally Ride Cygnus launches to ISS on NG-18 mission". NASASpaceFlight. Retrieved 7 November 2022.
  2. ^ a b Garner, Rob (7 November 2022). "Liftoff of Northrop Grumman's CRS-18 Antares Rocket – NASA's Northrop Grumman CRS-18 Commercial Resup Mission". NASA Blogs. Retrieved 7 November 2022.
  3. ^ Garcia, Mark (21 April 2023). "Robotic Arm Releases Cygnus Space Freighter from Station". blogs.nasa.gov. Retrieved 3 June 2023.Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  4. ^ Gebhardt, Chris (1 June 2018). "Orbital ATK looks ahead to CRS-2 Cygnus flights, Antares on the commercial market". NASASpaceflight.com. Retrieved 4 April 2021.
  5. ^ a b Clark, Stephen (1 October 2020). "Northrop Grumman "optimistic" to receive more NASA cargo mission orders". Spaceflight Now. Retrieved 4 April 2021.
  6. ^ a b "Cygnus Spacecraft". Northrop Grumman. 6 January 2020. Retrieved 4 April 2021.
  7. ^ Evans, Ben (23 February 2021). "Northrop Grumman Green-Lights Two More Cygnus Missions, As NG-15 Arrives at Space Station". AmericaSpace. Retrieved 4 April 2021.
  8. ^ Leone, Dan (17 August 2015). "NASA Orders Two More ISS Cargo Missions From Orbital ATK". spacenews.com. Retrieved 4 April 2021.
  9. ^ "NASA Commercial Resupply Mission NG-18". Northrop Grumman. Retrieved 8 November 2022.
  10. ^ Tariq Malik (6 November 2022). "Fire alarm on Earth delays Northrop Grumman cargo launch to space station". Space.com. Retrieved 9 November 2022.
  11. ^ Foust, Jeff (9 November 2022). "Cygnus arrives at space station despite solar array problem". SpaceNews. Retrieved 3 June 2023.
  12. ^ Foust, Jeff (8 November 2022). "Cygnus solar array fails to deploy". SpaceNews. Retrieved 8 November 2022.
  13. ^ Mike Wall (9 November 2022). "Cygnus cargo ship arrives at space station with only one working solar panel". Space.com. Retrieved 9 November 2022.
  14. ^ "Overview for Northrop Grumman's 18th Commercial Resupply Mission". NASA. November 2022. Retrieved 6 November 2022. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  15. ^ "ISS Research Program". Glenn Research Center. NASA. 1 January 2020. Retrieved 4 April 2021. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  16. ^ "Microgravity Research Flights". Glenn Research Center | NASA. Retrieved 31 May 2022.
  17. ^ "Solid Fuel Ignition and Extinction – Material Ignition and Suppression Test (SoFIE-MIST) | Science Mission Directorate". science.nasa.gov. Retrieved 31 May 2022.
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