Typhoon near Guam delays cargo theft from Kounotori 7 to the ISS

An archive photo of an old Japanese cargo ship docked at the ISS. Kounotori 7 is expected to supply thousands of supplies at the outpost, including six giant lithium-ion batteries. Photo credit: NASA

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) was to send the unloaded cargo ship Kounotori 7 to the International Space Station on September 10, 2018. However, the expected adverse weather conditions near postpone the flight.

"In Guam, where one of the JAXA tracking stations is located, adverse weather conditions the strong winds caused by a typhoon are forecast for the day before and the day of the launch, " JAXA Statement bed.

Kounotori 7 at the second test and assembly building of space vehicles, Tanegashima Space Center. Photo credit: JAXA.

Although a new launch date has not yet been defined, the delay may result in a series of postponements. If the flight is delayed for only a few days, Kounotori 7 could go to the ISS as early as 16 September with 13,000 pounds (6000 kilograms) supplies, experiments and equipment of the crew.

This would leave only four days for ground-based robotic teams, using the Canadarm2 and Dextre manipulators, to pre-position the six lithium-ion batteries brought to the outpost of the unpressurized logistics module of the I & # 39; device before the EVA-52 start. Astronauts Expedition 56, Drew Feustel of NASA and Alexander Gerst of the European Space Agency, plan to make an exit in space of 6.5 hours on 20 September.

A second spacewalk, made by NASA's Gerst and Ricky Arnold, is scheduled for September 26, which would mean the end of battery exchange work. The old units will be placed in the same exposed pallet as that used to transport the lithium-ion batteries. They will burn in the earth's atmosphere with the spaceship at the end of its mission.

The station's outdoor batteries are designed to store energy generated from the gigantic solar wings of the 240-foot (73-meter) outpost. In December 2016, the Kounotori 6 mission also brought six lithium-ion batteries to the outpost. Two outings in the space in January 2017 were necessary to exchange and install them.

While there is probably room for maneuver in the calendar, Feustel and Arnold, along with Russian cosmonaut Oleg Artemyev, are expected to leave the outpost on October 4, 2018, inside their home town. Soyuz MS-08 spacecraft.

When JAXA decides to launch a new rocket, the vehicle, perched at the top of its 56.6-meter high H-IIB rocket, will be deployed to the Tanegashima Space Center site in southern Japan, approximately 12 hours before takeoff. . Tanegashima is about 2,500 kilometers northwest of Guam.

The rocket is expected to deliver Kounotori 7 to an initial orbit, approximately 10 minutes after takeoff, to begin a multi-day rendezvous profile. The spacecraft should be moored to the Harmony module's ground-facing harbor and stay at the outpost for about two months. Departure is scheduled for mid-November.

Tagged: H-IIB HTV-7 International Space Station Kounotori 7 Tanegashima Space Center The Chain

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Derek Richardson

Derek Richardson has a degree in media, including contemporary journalism, from Washburn University in Topeka, Kansas. While he was in Washburn, he was editor of the student newspaper, the Washburn Review. He also has a blog on the International Space Station called Orbital Velocity. He met with members of the SpaceFlight Insider team during the flight of a United Launch Alliance Atlas V 551 rocket with the MUOS-4 satellite. Richardson joined our team soon after.

His passion for space ignited when he saw Space Shuttle Discovery launch into space on October 29, 1998. Today, this fervor has accelerated to the orbit and shows no signs slowdown. After studying mathematics and engineering at the university, he quickly realized that his true calling was to communicate with others about the space. Since joining SpaceFlight Insider in 2015, Richardson has worked to improve the quality of our content, eventually becoming our editor. @TheSpaceWriter