Progress spacecraft - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Progress spacecraft

Description
Role:	Used to supply the International Space Station, originally used to supply Soviet and Russian space stations (see Mir Mir Mir was a space station operated in low Earth orbit from 1986 to 2001, at first by the Soviet Union and then by Russia. Assembled in orbit from 1986 to 1996, Mir was the first modular space station and had a greater mass than that of any previous spacecraft, holding the record for the... )
Crew:	0
Dimensions
Height:	7.23 m (23.72 ft)
Diameter:	2.72 m (8.92 ft)
Volume:	7.6 m³ (268 ft³)
Payload:	2,350 kg (5,200 lb)
Performance
Endurance:	6 months docked to station

The Progress is a Russian expendable freighter spacecraft. The spacecraft is an unmanned resupply spacecraft

Unmanned resupply spacecraft

Unmanned resupply spacecraft are a special kind of robotic spacecraft that operate autonomously without a human crew, designed to support space station operation...

during its flight but upon docking with a space station, it allows astronauts inside, hence it is classified manned by the manufacturer. It was derived from the Soyuz spacecraft

Soyuz spacecraft

Soyuz , Union) is a series of spacecraft initially designed for the Soviet space programme by the Korolyov Design Bureau in the 1960s, and still in service today...

, and is launched with the Soyuz rocket. It is currently used to supply the International Space Station

International Space Station

The International Space Station is a habitable, artificial satellite in low Earth orbit. The ISS follows the Salyut, Almaz, Cosmos, Skylab, and Mir space stations, as the 11th space station launched, not including the Genesis I and II prototypes...

, but was originally used to supply Soviet space station

Space station

A space station is a spacecraft capable of supporting a crew which is designed to remain in space for an extended period of time, and to which other spacecraft can dock. A space station is distinguished from other spacecraft used for human spaceflight by its lack of major propulsion or landing...

s for many years. There are three to four flights of the Progress spacecraft to the ISS per year. Each spacecraft remains docked until shortly before the new one, or a Soyuz

Soyuz spacecraft

Soyuz , Union) is a series of spacecraft initially designed for the Soviet space programme by the Korolyov Design Bureau in the 1960s, and still in service today...

(which uses the same docking ports) arrives. Then it is filled with waste, disconnected, deorbited, and destroyed in the atmosphere. Because of the different Progress variants used for ISS, NASA uses its own nomenclature where "ISS 1P" means the first Progress spacecraft to ISS.

It has carried fuel and other supplies to all the space stations since Salyut 6

Salyut 6

Salyut 6 , DOS-5, was a Soviet orbital space station, the eighth flown as part of the Salyut programme. Launched on 29 September 1977 by a Proton rocket, the station was the first of the 'second-generation' type of space station. Salyut 6 possessed several revolutionary advances over the earlier...

. The idea for the Progress came from the realisation that in order for long duration space missions to be possible, there would have to be a constant source of supplies. It had been determined that a cosmonaut needed consumables (water, air, food, etc.) plus there was a need for maintenance items and payloads for experiments. It was impractical to launch this along with passengers in the small space available in the Soyuz.

Design

Progress is of much the same size and shape as Soyuz

Soyuz spacecraft

Soyuz , Union) is a series of spacecraft initially designed for the Soviet space programme by the Korolyov Design Bureau in the 1960s, and still in service today...

. It consists of three modules:

A pressurized forward module. This carries the supplies for the crew such as scientific equipment, clothes, prepackaged and fresh food, and letters from home. The docking drogue is similar to that of the Soyuz but features ducting for the UDMH fuel and N₂O₄
Dinitrogen tetroxide
Dinitrogen tetroxide is the chemical compound N2O4. It is a useful reagent in chemical synthesis. It forms an equilibrium mixture with nitrogen dioxide; some call this mixture dinitrogen tetroxide, while some call it nitrogen dioxide.Dinitrogen tetroxide is a powerful oxidizer, making it highly...

oxidiser.
A fuel compartment. The reentry module of the Soyuz was replaced with an unpressurized propellant and refueling compartment with ducting along the outside of the spacecraft. This meant that if a leak occurred, the poisonous gas would not enter the station's atmosphere. The fuel is carried in two tanks.
A propulsion module. The propulsion module, at the rear of the spacecraft, remained unchanged and contains the orientation engines used for the automatic docking. It may be used to boost the orbit of the station once docked.

Reduction in mass

Mass

Mass can be defined as a quantitive measure of the resistance an object has to change in its velocity.In physics, mass commonly refers to any of the following three properties of matter, which have been shown experimentally to be equivalent:...

was possible because the Progress was designed to be unmanned and disposable. This means that there is no need for bulky life support systems and heat shield

Heat shield

A heat shield is designed to shield a substance from absorbing excessive heat from an outside source by either dissipating, reflecting or simply absorbing the heat...

s. The spacecraft also has no ability to split into separate modules. After undocking, the spacecraft performs a retrofiring and burns up in the atmosphere.

Versions

There were many small variations between the different flights, but the major upgrades are reflected in the change of name.

Progress (1978-1990)

There were 42 spacecraft built using the initial Progress design, the last one being launched in May 1990.

The bureau in charge of designing the freighter was TsKBEM (now RKK Energia). They began work on the design in mid-1973, assigning Progress the GRAU

Grau

Grau is a German word meaning "gray" and a Catalan word meaning "grade". It may refer to:* BAP Almirante Grau , a De Zeven Provinciën class cruiser in service with the Peruvian Navy* Grau Käse, Tyrolean grey cheese...

index 11F615A15. The design was complete by February 1974, and the first production model was ready for launch in November 1977. Progress 1

Progress 1

Progress 1 was a Soviet unmanned Progress cargo spacecraft which was launched in 1978 to resupply the Salyut 6 space station. It was the maiden flight of the Progress spacecraft, and used the Progress 7K-TG configuration. It carried supplies for the EO-1 crew aboard Salyut 6, which consisted of...

launched on 20 January 1978 aboard the same rocket used to launch the Soyuz. It still featured the same launch shroud as the Soyuz, though this was purely for aerodynamic purposes as the launch escape system

Launch escape system

A Launch Escape System is a top-mounted rocket connected to the crew module of a crewed spacecraft and used to quickly separate the crew module from the rest of the rocket in case of emergency. Since the escape rockets are above the crew module, an LES typically uses separate nozzles which are...

had been deactivated.

This first version of Progress had a mass of 7,020 kg and carried 2,300 kg of cargo, or 30% of its launch weight. It had the same diameter as the Soyuz at 2.2 metres, but was 8 metres in length—slightly longer. The autonomous flight time was 3 days, the same time as that of the Soyuz ferry. It could spend one month docked. Progress always docked to the aft port of the station it was resupplying.

Launch weight 7,020-7,249 kg
Weight of cargo (Progress 1-24) ~2,300 kg
Weight of cargo (Progress 24-42) ~2,500 kg
Length 7.94 m
Diameter of cargo modules 2.2 m
Maximum diameter 2.72 m
Volume of cargo compartment 6.6 m³

Progress-M 11F615A55 (1989-2009)

The upgraded Progress M (GRAU

Grau

: 11F615A55, manufacturer's designation: 7K-TGM) was first launched in August 1989. The first 43 flights all went to Mir

Mir

Mir was a space station operated in low Earth orbit from 1986 to 2001, at first by the Soviet Union and then by Russia. Assembled in orbit from 1986 to 1996, Mir was the first modular space station and had a greater mass than that of any previous spacecraft, holding the record for the...

; following Mir's re-entry, Progress was used as the resupply vehicle for the International Space Station

International Space Station

. , there have been 33 Progress flights to the ISS and more are scheduled.

The Progress M is essentially the same spacecraft as the Progress, but it features improvements based on the Soyuz T and TM designs. It can spend up to 30 days in autonomous flight and is able to carry 100 kg more. Also, unlike the old Progress crafts, it can return items to Earth. This is accomplished by using the Raduga

VBK-Raduga

The VBK-Raduga capsule is a reentry capsule that was used for returning materials to Earth's surface from the space station Mir. They were brought to Mir in the Progress-M cargo craft's dry cargo compartment...

capsule, which can carry up to 150 kg of cargo. It is 1.5 m long and 60 cm in diameter and has a "dry weight

Dry weight

Dry weight is the weight of a vehicle without any consumables, passengers, or cargo.It is one of the two common weight measurements included in road vehicle specifications, the other one being curb weight....

" of 350 kg. Progress M can also dock to the forward port of the station and still transfer fuel. It uses the same rendezvous system as the Soyuz, and it features solar panels for the first time.

Launch weight 7,130 kg
Cargo weight 2,600 kg
Dry cargo weight 1,500 kg
Liquid cargo weight 1,540 kg
Length 7.23 m
Diameter of cargo modules 2.2 m
Maximum diameter 2.72 m
Dry cargo compartment volume 7.6 m³
Solar array span 10.6 m

Progress-M 11F615A60 (2008-present)

A new modification of the Progress spacecraft, with new TsVM-101 digital flight computer and MBITS digital telemetry system, was first launched on 26 November 2008, at 12:38 UTC from the Kazakhstan's Baikonur Cosmodrome spaceport aboard a Russian Soyuz rocket. The first spacecraft of this series was Progress M-01M

Progress M-01M

Progress M-01M, identified by NASA as Progress 31 or 31P, was a Progress spacecraft used to resupply the International Space Station...

The spacecraft belongs to the so-called 400 series (GRAU

Grau

: 11F615A60), and all modifications applied to it will be subsequently used in the production of new Soyuz-TMA-M manned spacecraft.

Progress M1 (2000-2004)

Progress M1 is another variant, capable of carrying more propellant (but less total cargo) to the space stations. There have been 11 of these flights.

Mass: 7,150 kg
Capacity cargo: 2,230 kg
Capacity dry cargo: 1,800 kg
Capacity propellant: 1,950 kg

Progress M2

Progress M2 was a planned variant, which was a proposed design for the proposed Mir-2

Mir-2

Mir-2 was a space station project begun in February 1976. Some of the modules built for Mir-2 have been incorporated into the International Space Station . The project underwent many changes, but was always based on the DOS-8 base block space station core module, built as a back-up to the DOS-7...

space station, but was dropped due to financial issues. The M2 variant would have a larger service module for larger cargo or space station modules and would have been launched on a Zenit launch vehicle

Zenit rocket

Zenit is a family of space launch vehicles designed by the Yuzhnoye Design Bureau of Ukraine. Zenit was built in the 1980s for two purposes: as a liquid rocket booster for the Energia rocket and, equipped with a second stage, as a stand-alone rocket...

Current status

Progress spacecraft are currently used to resupply the International Space Station

International Space Station

(ISS). Between 1 February 2003 and 26 July 2005, they were the only spacecraft available to transport large quantities of supplies to the station, as the Space Shuttle

Space Shuttle

The Space Shuttle was a manned orbital rocket and spacecraft system operated by NASA on 135 missions from 1981 to 2011. The system combined rocket launch, orbital spacecraft, and re-entry spaceplane with modular add-ons...

fleet was grounded after the breakup of Columbia
Space Shuttle Columbia
Space Shuttle Columbia was the first spaceworthy Space Shuttle in NASA's orbital fleet. First launched on the STS-1 mission, the first of the Space Shuttle program, it completed 27 missions before being destroyed during re-entry on February 1, 2003 near the end of its 28th, STS-107. All seven crew...

at the end of STS-107

STS-107

-Mission parameters:*Mass:**Orbiter Liftoff: **Orbiter Landing: **Payload: *Perigee: *Apogee: *Inclination: 39.0°*Period: 90.1 min- Insignia :...

. For ISS missions, the Progress M1 variant is used, which moves the water tanks from the propellant and refueling module to the pressurized section, and as a result is able to carry more propellant. Progress M-67

Progress M-67

Progress M-67 was a Progress spacecraft which was used for the Progress 34 or 34P flight to resupply the International Space Station. It was a Progress-M 11F615A55 spacecraft, with the serial number 367...

, the final flight of a Progress-M spacecraft, was launched 24 July 2009 on a Soyuz-U

Soyuz-U

The Soyuz-U launch vehicle is an improved version of the original Soyuz LV. Soyuz-U is part of the R-7 family of rockets based on the R-7 Semyorka missile. Members of this rocket family were designed by the TsSKB design bureau and constructed at the Progress Factory in Samara, Russia....

. The Progress M-10M

Progress M-10M

Progress M-10M , identified by NASA as Progress 42 or 42P, is a Progress spacecraft which was launched on 27 April 2011 to resupply the International Space Station. It was the tenth Progress-M 11F615A60 spacecraft to be launched, and has the serial number 410. The spacecraft was manufactured by RKK...

is currently docked to the International Space Station.

The European Space Agency

European Space Agency

The European Space Agency , established in 1975, is an intergovernmental organisation dedicated to the exploration of space, currently with 18 member states...

(ESA) operates its own type of supply freighter, the Automated Transfer Vehicle

Automated Transfer Vehicle

The Automated Transfer Vehicle or ATV is an expendable, unmanned resupply spacecraft developed by the European Space Agency . ATVs are designed to supply the International Space Station with propellant, water, air, payload and experiments...

(ATV). The first of these, named Jules Verne

Jules Verne ATV

The Jules Verne ATV, or Automated Transfer Vehicle 001 , was an unmanned cargo resupply spacecraft launched by the European Space Agency . The ATV was named after the French science-fiction author Jules Verne...

, was launched at 04:03 GMT on 9 March 2008. ATVs can carry up to 8 tonne

Tonne

The tonne, known as the metric ton in the US , often put pleonastically as "metric tonne" to avoid confusion with ton, is a metric system unit of mass equal to 1000 kilograms. The tonne is not an International System of Units unit, but is accepted for use with the SI...

s of cargo into space, roughly three times as much as the Progress, and will be launched every 12–18 months by Ariane 5

Ariane 5

Ariane 5 is, as a part of Ariane rocket family, an expendable launch system used to deliver payloads into geostationary transfer orbit or low Earth orbit . Ariane 5 rockets are manufactured under the authority of the European Space Agency and the Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales...

rockets.

NASA

NASA

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...

's Orion spacecraft

Orion (spacecraft)

Orion is a spacecraft designed by Lockheed Martin for NASA, the space agency of the United States. Orion development began in 2005 as part of the Constellation program, where Orion would fulfill the function of a Crew Exploration Vehicle....

, which is to replace the Space Shuttle after 2015, was initially designed to have an unmanned variant similar to Progress, however this capability has since been removed. It is expected that commercial

Private spaceflight

Private spaceflight is flight above Earth altitude conducted by and paid for by an entity other than a government. In the early decades of the Space Age, the government space agencies of the Soviet Union and United States pioneered space technology augmented by collaboration with affiliated design...

(for-profit) resupply by Space-X and Orbital Sciences will handle most of the American logistics after the end of the Space Shuttle program.

RKK Energia has proposed the Parom

Parom

The Parom is a space tug that has been proposed by RKK Energia. The purpose of this vehicle is to replace most of the Progress' active components. Progress spacecraft have flown re-supply missions since 1978. Nikolai Bryukhanov, RKK Energia's deputy general designer, said in May 2005 that the...

(ferry) spacecraft as a replacement for Progress. This new spacecraft would retrieve either the proposed Kliper

Kliper

Kliper is a partly reusable manned spacecraft, proposed by RSC Energia.Designed primarily to replace the Soyuz spacecraft, Kliper has been proposed in two versions: as a pure lifting body design and as spaceplane with small wings...

spacecraft or any cargo container with a Russian airlock and weighing up to 15 short ton back to the ISS.

On 24 August 2011, Progress M-12M

Progress M-12M

Progress M-12M , identified by NASA as Progress 44 or 44P, was an unmanned Progress spacecraft that was lost in a launch failure in August 2011, at the start of a mission to resupply the International Space Station. It was the twelfth modernised Progress-M spacecraft to be launched...

failed to reach orbit. The spacecraft was carrying supplies for the International Space Station

International Space Station

.

On 30 October 2011, Progress M-13M

Progress M-13M

Progress M-13M , identified by NASA as Progress 45 or 45P, is a Progress spacecraft which reached the International Space Station on 2 November 2011. The Progress M-13M spacecraft lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 10:11 GMT on 30 October, starting off the 45th unmanned...

was successfully launched and reached orbit. The spacecraft is carrying supplies for the International Space Station

International Space Station

External links

NASA - Russian Progress Spacecraft - NASA
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...

page discussing the Progress spacecraft, updated May 2005.
RussianSpaceWeb.com - Progress cargo ship - History, photos and details

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

Design

Versions

Progress (1978-1990)

Progress-M 11F615A55 (1989-2009)

Progress-M 11F615A60 (2008-present)

Progress M1 (2000-2004)

Progress M2

Current status

See also

External links