In a uncommon flip of occasions for what’s often such a dependable car, NASA is presently assessing the situation of a Cygnus spacecraft that’s solely managed to deploy considered one of its two photo voltaic arrays because it heads to the Worldwide House Station (ISS) on a provide mission.
The spacecraft’s maker, Northrop Grumman, believes it’s secure for the Cygnus to dock with the ISS, however NASA has opted to discover the state of affairs additional earlier than making a last determination on whether or not to carry out the maneuver early on Wednesday, as initially deliberate.
Following a launch delay as a consequence of a hearth alarm on the management middle, the Cygnus NG-18 spacecraft launched aboard an Antares rocket from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia early on Monday morning.
As common with this workhorse spacecraft, the Cygnus ought to’ve deployed its two round photo voltaic arrays, which assist to energy the car, round three hours after leaving the launchpad. However on this event one thing went awry.
It’s not presently clear why the second photo voltaic array did not deploy within the common manner. Engineers on the bottom are attempting to work out if the deployment can nonetheless be safely executed, although if it might’t, Northrop Grumman believes docking the spacecraft with the ISS will nonetheless be attainable. NASA, nevertheless, is anxious that the situation of the spacecraft might trigger a problem on the level of docking, doubtlessly creating additional issues for the Cygnus and even the house station itself.
“After launching earlier at the moment, November 7, Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus cargo spacecraft has efficiently deployed considered one of its two photo voltaic arrays,” NASA mentioned in a message shared on its web site on Monday.
It continued: “Northrop Grumman is gathering knowledge on the second array deployment and is working intently with NASA. Northrop Grumman has reported to NASA that Cygnus has enough energy to rendezvous with the ISS on Wednesday, November 9, to finish its major mission, and NASA is assessing this and the configuration required for seize and berthing.”
Cygnus has to this point been on 17 profitable missions to the ISS for the reason that first one in 2013. Just one time has it failed to achieve the orbital outpost, however that was as a consequence of a catastrophic rocket failure shortly after a launch in 2013.
The Cygnus NG-18 spacecraft — this one named Sally Journey in honor of the American spaceflight pioneer — is carrying greater than 8,000 kilos of provides for the crew, together with the standard haul of scientific experiments for finishing up within the station’s microgravity situations. With a lot on board, you cane be sure NASA and Northrop Grumman are working tirelessly to make sure the docking can happen with none problem.
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