Cygnus NG-13

Cygnus NG-13, previously known as CRS OA-13, was the fourteenth flight of the Northrop Grumman robotic resupply spacecraft Cygnus and its thirteenth flight to the International Space Station (ISS) under the Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) contract with NASA.[4][5] The mission launched on 15 February 2020 at 20:21:01 UTC after nearly a week of delays.[6] This is the second launch of Cygnus under the CRS-2 contract.[7]

Cygnus NG-13

S.S. Robert H. Lawrence at the ISS
Names	CRS OA-13
Mission type	ISS resupply
Operator	Northrop Grumman
COSPAR ID	2020-011A
SATCAT no.	45175
Mission duration	105 days
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft	S.S. Robert H. Lawrence
Spacecraft type	Enhanced Cygnus
Manufacturer	Northrop Grumman Thales Alenia Space
Launch mass	3377 kg
Start of mission
Launch date	15 February 2020, 20:21:01 UTC
Rocket	Antares 230+
Launch site	MARS, LP-0A
Contractor	Northrop Grumman
End of mission
Disposal	Deorbited
Decay date	29 May 2020
Orbital parameters
Reference system	Geocentric orbit
Regime	Low Earth orbit
Inclination	51.66°
Berthing at ISS
Berthing port	Unity [1]
RMS capture	18 February 2020, 09:05 UTC
Berthing date	18 February 2020, 11:16 UTC
Unberthing date	11 May 2020, 13:00 UTC [2]
RMS release	11 May 2020, 16:09 UTC [3]
Time berthed	83 days
Cargo
Mass	3377 kg
Pressurised	3377 kg
NASA Cygnus NG-13 mission patch Commercial Resupply Services   Cygnus flights

Orbital ATK 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, then Orbital Sciences designed and built Antares, a medium-class launch vehicle, with Ukrainian specialists providing first stage structure.[8]

Cygnus, an advanced maneuvered spacecraft, mates a Pressurized Cargo Module, provided by Orbital's industrial partner Thales Alenia Space, with their GEOStar satellite bus.[9] Northrop Grumman purchased Orbital in June 2018; its ATK division was renamed Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems.[10]

History

Cygnus NG-13 is the second Cygnus mission under Commercial Resupply Services-2.

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.[9]

The original launch attempt on 9 February 2020 was scheduled to launch at 22:39:30 UTC before being pushed to the end of its five-minute window at 22:44:29 UTC, only to end up being scrubbed due to a technical issue with a regulator at the launch pad with three minutes left in the countdown.[11] The second launch attempt on 14 February 2020 at 20:43:34 UTC was scrubbed due to strong upper winds with less than ninety minutes left in the countdown. Cygnus NG-13 was launched successfully on 15 February 2020 at 20:21:01 UTC.

Launch and early operations

After Northrop Grumman purchased Orbital ATK in June 2018, the mission was changed from OA-13 to NG-13. The Antares rocket was built and processed in the Horizontal Integration Facility over the course of six months. The rocket was rolled out to MARS Pad 0A where it was originally planned to launch 9 February 2020 but was scrubbed and delayed due to inclement weather and an issue with a regulator at the launch pad. The mission launched successfully on the 15 February 2020 at 20:21:01 UTC with no delay and no apparent problems. The Cygnus spacecraft arrived at the space station on 18 February 2020 at 09:05 UTC. Expedition 62 astronaut Andrew Morgan grappled the spacecraft using the station's robotic arm. After Cygnus capture, ground controllers commanded the station's arm to rotate and install Cygnus on the Earth-facing port of the station's Unity module at 11:16 UTC. The Cygnus spacecraft remained at the space station until 11 May 2020. The Saffire-IV experiment was conducted within Cygnus after it departs the station, and prior to deorbit, when it disposed of several tons of trash during reentry into Earth's atmosphere, over the Pacific Ocean, on 29 May 2020.[1]

Attempt	Planned (times in UTC)	Result	Turnaround	Reason	Decision Point	Weather go (%)	Notes
1	9 February 2020 22:44:29	Scrubbed	95 hrs	Ground	9 February 2020 22:41	100%	Scrubbed due to off-nominal data from ground support with less than three minutes in the count down.
2	13 February 2020 21:06:03	Delayed	24 hrs	Weather	11 February 2020 16:50	45%	Continuing concerns of bad weather.
3	14 February 2020 20:43:34	Scrubbed	24 hrs	Weather	14 February 2020 19:07	90%	Concerns of higher upper-level winds.
4	15 February 2020 20:21:01	Successful				85%	Launched successfully on time.

Northrop Grumman launches Cygnus NG-13 Launch.

Spacecraft

This is the eighth flight of the Enhanced-sized Cygnus PCM.[12] This Cygnus spacecraft is named to honor Robert H. Lawrence.[13]

Manifest

The Cygnus spacecraft is loaded with 3,377 kg (7,445 lb):[14]

• Vehicle hardware: 1,588 kg (3,501 lb)
• Science investigations: 966 kg (2,130 lb)
• Crew supplies: 712 kg (1,570 lb)
• Spacewalk equipment: 81 kg (179 lb)
• Computer resources: 30 kg (66 lb)
• Total Cargo: 3,377 kg (7,445 lb)
• Total Pressurized Cargo with packaging: 3,377 kg (7,445 lb)

Hardware

NASA provided the following breakdown of the cargo's hardware for ISS:[14]

• Columbus Ka-band Terminal (COLKa) Assembly: module enhancement hardware to upgrade the communications capability in Columbus science module
• Major Constituents Analyzer (MCA) Mass Spectrometer: critical spare to support laboratories and connecting module operations of the MCAs to detect atmospheric constituents onboard the space station
• External High Definition Camera (EHDC) Assembly: major camera assembly spare that will replace a failed camera on-orbit during a spring 2020 EVA
• Water Stowage System (WSS) Resupply Tanks (RST): nine water tanks to support crew and hardware requirements during the 2020 timeframe
• Nitrogen/Oxygen Recharge System (NORS) Tanks: two recharge tanks to replenish on-orbit oxygen to be utilized in upcoming spacewalks, and one air tank to support the Commercial Crew Vehicle (CCV) Emergency Breathing Air Assembly (CEBAA) hardware launching in 2020
• POLAR Flight Assembly: cold stowage capability to support payload transportation to the ISS

Research

The new experiments arriving at the orbiting laboratory will challenge and inspire future scientists and explorers, and provide valuable insight for researchers. Experiments will test new facilities for microscopic viewing and cell culturing, and particle identification will seek to better understand how fire spreads in microgravity and will study how bacteriophages behave in space. The Saffire-IV experiment will occur after Cygnus leaves the ISS.[14]

• Mobile SpaceLab, a tissue and cell culturing facility that offers investigators a quick-turnaround platform to perform sophisticated microgravity biology experiments. This will be mounted in a designated EXPRESS rack on ISS [15]
• Mochii, initial demonstration of a new miniature scanning electron microscope (SEM) with spectroscopy
• Spacecraft Fire Experiment-IV (Saffire-IV), fourth in a series of experiements on fire and combustibles [15]
• OsteoOmics examines osteoblast cells at a molecular level to better understand bone loss [15]
• Phage Evolution studies the effects of microgravity and radiation exposure on bacteriophages and their hosts

Cubesats

Cubesats planned for release: Red-Eye 2, DeMI, TechEdSat 10.[16] A CubeSat payload for the communications provider Lynk (2020-011D) was ejected from the Slingshot deployer on Cygnus on 13 May 2020 at 23:25 UTC. Another payload (another Lynk, or perhaps WIDAR) remained attached to Cygnus and deployed a communications antenna. The payloads were launched aboard SpaceX CRS-20 and installed on the Cygnus hatch by the ISS crew.[2] The Cygnus host a NASA combustion experiment inside its pressurized cabin before Northrop Grumman controllers command the spacecraft to a destructive re-entry over the South Pacific Ocean on 29 May 2020.[3]

Disposal

Cygnus NG-13 is another test of the Cygnus External Payload Carrier. Europe's HDEV experiment which has provided views with outstanding views of the Earth would return home on Cygnus NG-13.

See also

• Uncrewed spaceflights to the International Space Station

References

1. Becker, Joachim (9 March 2020). "ISS Expedition 62". SpaceFacts (German).
2. McDowell, Jonathan C. (26 May 2020). "Space Report No. 778". Jonathan's Space Report.
3. Clark, Stephen (11 May 2020). "Cygnus departs station, beginning extended experimental mission". Spaceflight Now.
4. "Worldwide launch schedule". Spaceflight Now. Retrieved 12 February 2015.
5. "International Space Station Flight Schedule". Students for the Exploration and Development of Space. 15 May 2013.
6. Clark, Stephen (15 February 2020). "Antares rocket lifts off from Virginia on space station cargo mission". Spaceflight Now. Retrieved 15 February 2020.
7. Gebhardt, Chris (1 June 2018). "Orbital ATK looks ahead to CRS-2 Cygnus flights, Antares on the commercial market". NASASpaceflight.com. Retrieved 2 June 2018.
8. "U.S.-Ukraine Produced Rocket Lifts Off, Takes Supplies To International Space Station". Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty. 17 February 2020. Retrieved 12 March 2020.
9. "Cygnus Fact Sheet". Orbital ATK. 24 March 2015. Archived from the original on 26 September 2015. Retrieved 14 August 2015.
10. Erwin, Sandra (5 June 2018). "Acquisition of Orbital ATK approved, company renamed Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems". SpaceNews. Retrieved 23 July 2018.
11. Clark, Stephen (10 February 2020). "Antares launch scrubbed due to faulty ground support equipment". Spaceflight Now.
12. Leone, Dan (17 August 2015). "NASA Orders Two More ISS Cargo Missions From Orbital ATK". spacenews.com. SpaceNews. Retrieved 17 August 2015.
13. Pearlman, Robert Z. (20 January 2020). "Northrop Grumman names Cygnus spacecraft for first African American astronaut". collectSPACE. Retrieved 23 January 2020.
14. "Overview CRS-13 (NG-13) Mission" (PDF). NASA. Retrieved 14 February 2020. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
15. Gaskill, Melissa (29 January 2020). "New Research Launching to Station Aboard Northrop Grumman's 13th Resupply Mission". NASA. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
16. "Cygnus-PCM (enhanced)". Gunter's Space Page. Retrieved 12 February 2020.

External links

• Spacecraft Fire Experiment-IV mission page
• Phage Evolution misson pag
• OsteoOmics mission page
• Mochii mission page
• Mobile SpaceLab mission page
• Footage of the pre-launch, launch and post-launch from NASA TV