ISSCOM.038         25 August 2003

Russian week:
This week the Russians execute some important operations to secure the 
operational continuation of the International Space Station.  

This involves the replacement of 1 of the 2 freighters which are now docked at 
the ISS: 

1. Progress-M47 is now docked at the aft docking port of the Service Module 
Zvezda. Meanwhile the crew transferred the last part of the oxygen supply on 
board of that freighter into the station and they are loading as much as 
possible garbage and no longer needed things into the freighter to be burnt up 
in the atmosphere during re-entry.  
Pr-M47 will separate from the ISS on 28.08.03 at (probably) 0143UTC.  The Pr-
M47 will free the docking port for the next freighter Progress-M48.  

2. Pr-M48 has to be launched from Baykonur on 29.08.03 at 0147UTC on a 2-days 
flight to the ISS. The estimated docking has to take place on 31.08.03 at 
0345UTC.  

Communications: Mainly these are handled on the American Ku- and S-bands so via 
the American TDRS-es.  An amount of traffic from and into the Russian segment 
is routed via the Russian systems Regul and  Voskhod-M (so VHF-1 on 143.625 
mc).  

Originally Regul had been designed to be used with the old Russian 
geostationary comm. satellites of the Luch-type (so the Altairs).  Such 
satellites are no longer operational, but Regul still has some alternatives. 
Regul can communicate directly with a number of Russian tracking stations.  For 
telemetry the Russian comm. satellites Molniya can be used. 2 Transponders of 
these satellites are allocated for the handling of telemetry traffic directly 
from the Service Module Zvezda.  The orbit of this type of satellite is 
elliptical with a perigee of approx. 400 KM and an apogee of approx. 40000 KM.  
To make communications between Zvezda and Molniya possible a radio bearing 
procedure is necessary. In fact the main purpose of the Molniya is the relay of 
traffic like TV, Radio, etc. via the system Orbita to enable the Russians to 
cover the most northern parts of the Russian territory. These satellites are 
also used for the communications between point-to-point stations, for instance 
between Russian tracking stations for manned space flight  and MCC-M (TsUP-M). 
(There is no need for the tracking station Shcholkovo to use Molniya due to the 
short distance with TsUP and the existing line network.) 

Telemetry signals of the so called BITS-2 system can also be transmitted 
directly to the tracking stations (NIP-s). Regularly these transmissions can be 
monitored during passes of the ISS within reach of the Netherlands. (I suppose 
that this monitoring also is possible in some regions of the U.S.A. for some 
American tracking stations are able to receive signals like that.) The main 
stream of the Zvezda module transmits on 630.125 mc, the secondary stream on 
628.125 mc.  The main stream   of the FGB (Zarya module) transmits on 633.850 
mc.  

Confusion caused by NASA self-conceit or ignorance.
Many interested persons use to their entire satisfaction the NASA status 
reports of the ISS. Those reports give very good information, but ridiculously   
mix up Progress serial numbers.  For instance the most recent status report 
refers to the freighters Progress-10, Progress-11 and Progress-12. (Status 
report nr. 03.39, paragraph 5) In the past there have been remarks, also by 
prominent insiders, but this did not help.  The use of these names has been 
caused by the fact that in the official  ISS schedule the freighters get the 
abbreviation 'P' and a number.  It is wrong to write the word or name Progress 
plus that   ISS schedule number.  Using the word Progress demands the use of 
the official Russian name of the ship.  So it would be   correct to give only 
the 'P' plus the number and between brackets the real Russian name.  

It is quite normal that the Russians use their own names and serial numbers of 
their  products and objects and these are fully respected and even registered 
by official international organisations, like for instance the IFRB in Geneva. 
Even a scientist that cannot be praised enough, Dr. Kelso, does not refrain 
from the Russian names and numbers.  

The freighters of the type Progress-M1 are modifications of the older type 
Progress-M and designed especially to be used with the ISS, but the Russians 
still have some Progress-M freighters in stock and the   situation in that 
economically harassed country demands the use of all still utilizable stuff.  

History:
And of course a lot of present NASA people still had to be born or at least to 
grow up so for them I want to lift a little corner of the veil: 

Progress-10  choose  open space in 1980 to serve space station Salyut-6.

Progress-11 did the same in the fall of that year, also to bring all what was 
necessary to the Salyut-6 and the 

Progress-12 concluded the logistic operations for the Sal-6 in the spring of 
1981. 


C.M. van den Berg, NL-9165/A-UK3202