All articles tagged with #orbital maneuver
Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus XL cargo spacecraft fired its engines on August 27 to raise the International Space Station’s orbit. This routine maneuver positioned the station for the upcoming docking of the Russian Progress 96 resupply vehicle, demonstrating the cooperative nature of orbital logistics.
The International Space Station (ISS) adjusted its orbit to avoid a piece of space debris from a defunct satellite, executing a thruster burn for over five minutes. This maneuver, coordinated by NASA and its partners, ensured the debris would not come within 2.5 miles of the ISS, posing no impact on station operations or upcoming missions. This marks the 39th such maneuver since the ISS's launch in 1998, highlighting ongoing challenges posed by space debris, which includes over 19,000 cataloged pieces in Earth's orbit.
The International Space Station (ISS) performed an avoidance maneuver on November 19 to steer clear of space debris from a defunct satellite. The maneuver involved firing the thrusters of the docked Progress 89 spacecraft to adjust the ISS's orbit, ensuring a safe distance from the debris, which could have come within 2.5 miles of the station. This Pre-determined Debris Avoidance Maneuver (PDAM) did not disrupt ISS activities or affect the upcoming launch of the Progress 90 cargo craft. The growing issue of space debris is prompting efforts to improve tracking and develop debris-clearing systems.
The International Space Station (ISS) performed an orbital maneuver to avoid space debris just hours before the arrival of a SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft. The Russian Progress cargo spacecraft attached to the ISS fired its engines to raise the orbit of the station by approximately 3,000 feet. This maneuver comes as the number of satellites in space increases, leading to a higher risk of debris. SpaceX's Starlink satellites alone had to perform avoidance maneuvers over 25,000 times in a six-month period. The ISS has moved out of the way of space debris 37 times in 2023 alone.
Momentus has successfully demonstrated the propulsion system on its Vigoride space tug, raising the vehicle’s orbit using its Microwave Electrothermal Thruster (MET). The MET vaporizes water with microwaves to generate thrust and has fired for more than 140 minutes cumulatively, in burns ranging from 30 seconds to six minutes each. The company said that those burns raised the orbit of Vigoride-5 by more than three kilometers when taking atmospheric drag into account. The test of the MET is a major milestone for Momentus, which is relying on the technology to propel its tugs that will deliver satellites to their desired orbits.