Further delay to Nasa's Endeavour

1 May 2011 Last updated at 20:28 GMT By Jonathan Amos Science correspondent, BBC News Endeavour: Waiting to start its final mission The final mission of Nasa's Endeavour shuttle has been delayed further by a technical problem.

US space agency managers said the ship would not now lift off before 8 May.

It should have left Earth on Friday but has been held on the ground because of an electrical failure in a switchbox connected to a hydraulics power unit.

The youngest of America's reusable spaceplanes is set to deliver a $2bn (£1.2bn) particle physics experiment to the International Space Station (ISS).

On Sunday, Nasa announced the repairs would be lengthy but could not state precisely how long it would take to get the orbiter in a position to make another launch attempt.

"We can tell you pretty much that it's not going to be any earlier than the 8th," explained Mike Moses, the chair of the mission management team.

"That doesn't mean we're going to go launch on the 8th; that just means we know the 8th is our next available opening.

"So we'll kinda start looking at that but we're not ready to set the schedules today. There's still a whole lot of short-term work that has to be done."

Friday's glitch started with an errant heater in one of the three auxiliary power units (APUs) in Endeavour - all of which must be in perfect working order for a launch to be allowed to proceed.

The APUs provide hydraulic power to steer the vehicle during ascent and entry. The heater's job is to prevent hydrazine fuel in a feed pipe to a unit from freezing.

Nasa engineers were not sure at first whether the heater's reluctance to operate was a simple thermostat failure or a more deep-seated issue in an electrical switchbox.

Continue reading the main story Endeavour was the last orbiter to be built and flew its maiden voyage on 7 May, 1992It is named after the ship commanded by the British explorer James Cook from 1769 to 1771Total space time to date: 280 days; Total Earth orbits: 4,429; Individual crew members: 133Made the first American ISS construction flight, delivering the Unity ModuleCarried out the mission to correct the Hubble Space Telescope's flawed visionIts radar map of the planet is one of the most used Earth-observation data-sets ever acquiredInspection work inside the orbiter over the weekend has established the problem to be the latter, and managers have decided the whole box, known as load control assembly, must come out and be replaced by a new one.

"There's a heck of a lot of work ahead of the team," said launch director Mike Leinbach. "I'm extremely proud of the work we've already done over the weekend to understand this problem, and now that we've essentially pinpointed the problem to inside of the load control assembly we'll get on with the business of taking that guy out and replacing it with the new one."

Complicating matters is the launch of an Atlas rocket on the nearby Cape Canaveral Air Force Station scheduled for 6 May.

The complex task of switchbox replacement and testing means Endeavour's next opportunity to launch has to wait until after the Atlas has had a chance to get into space.

Managers need then to stage Endeavour's ascent so that the shuttle's movements in orbit do not conflict with a Russian Soyuz vehicle that is supposed to be leaving the space station later this month.

The extra delay means Endeavour's six astronauts have returned to their base at Nasa's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.

The families of the crew were also told there was nothing to keep them at Kennedy.

This included the shuttle commander Mark Kelly's wife - Arizona congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. She is recovering from a gunshot wound to the head, but was allowed by her doctors to travel to Florida's Space Coast to see her husband's lift-off. She has now returned to the hospital, also in Texas, where she is undergoing rehabilitation.

Jonathan.Amos-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk

View the original article here

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

Teams unfazed by delay - Webber

Bahrain GP called off because of civil unrest

By Sarah Holt
BBC Sport in Barcelona
Mark Webber believes the decision to call off the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix will not hurt the teams' preparations for the 2011 campaign.

The race was postponed because of civil unrest in the country and the season will now begin a fortnight later in Australia on 27 March.

"I don't think the extra two weeks will make a huge difference," Red Bull driver Webber told BBC Sport.

"It's the same for everybody. We are always prepared to race in two weeks."

The Formula 1 teams were due to complete their winter testing at Bahrain's Sakhir Circuit between 3-6 March before taking part in the race meeting over the following weekend.

Webber was eighth in the 2010 Bahrain GP won by Fernando Alonso

However, the race was called off on Monday by Bahrain's Crown Prince Sheikh Salman bin Hamad al-Khalifa so the country could focus on its "national interest".

The sport's governing body the FIA supported the decision to postpone the Bahrain Grand Prix, and added that it could still be rescheduled later in the year.

The teams have agreed to return for a second test at Barcelona's Circuit de Catalunya on 8-10 March before opening their campaign in Australia, which hosted the season-opener between 1996-2005 and again from 2007-2009.

"The freight will still have to leave for Melbourne pretty early," said Webber. "I suppose you've got another 10 days' headroom, but it is swings and roundabouts."

BBC F1 commentator Martin Brundle agreed that most teams' programmes would not be disrupted by the delayed start to the season.

"Drivers have a mindset that if there's a race on you go racing, if there's not, you don't," said Brundle.

"There were 19 events last year and there will be 19 this year by the looks of it. It's not like we're short of grands prix this year."

It would be nice to go racing as soon as possible to see where we are

Holding the final test session and the first race of 2011 on the same circuit at Bahrain might have helped teams to set up their car and gain an increased insight into tyre performance.

However, there are some Formula 1 insiders who believe that the delay could actually help some teams who now have extra time before the season starts.

There is an unexpected opportunity to develop the cars at the teams' factories and to make sure any significant upgrades are now ready for the first race.

Brundle commented: "It will help some teams that were struggling to make fast and reliable cars. It will play into their hands."

The extra time could be important to teams such as McLaren, Renault, Mercedes and Team Lotus, whose testing has been hindered by reliability problems.

At the second test in Jerez, where McLaren debuted their 2011 car, the team were let down by a lack of spare parts, while hydraulic problems halted Jenson Button's progress in Barcelona.

Lewis Hamilton was also hindered by technical issues and the team are yet to complete a full race simulation.

The 26-year-old did manage to clock 107 laps in sporadic runs on Monday but Hamilton finished 1.378 seconds off Felipe Massa's pacesetting time for Ferrari.

After two days at the wheel in Barcelona, Button had said: "I still don't know where we stand."

McLaren are understood to be working hard on upgrading their exhaust package at their technology centre and extra time to do just that might help them close the perceived gap on pacesetters Red Bull and Ferrari.

Renault lost valuable time in Barcelona because of problems with the kinetic energy recovery device (Kers), which makes its return in 2011.

Waiting to start the season in Melbourne could arguably also benefit Mercedes after an inconsistent showing from the German team in testing, while Team Lotus, who are hoping to chase down the midfield runners in their second season, had to cut short their test when a recurring radiator leak resulted in Jarno Trulli crunching into the tyre wall.

After three pre-season tests, Red Bull and Ferrari have emerged as the teams to watch from a field of 12. Both have hit the ground running in terms of reliability and have been around the top of the timings as well as successfully completing race and qualifying simulations.

F1 team insiders also believe the Red Bull and Ferrari cars have worked efficiently regardless of how much fuel they had onboard.

However, the delayed start of the season could give rival teams time to make up lost ground.

Webber was cautious about saying how far Red Bull, who won both titles in 2010, are ahead of their competitors.

"Not very," he added with a grimace. "We are burying ourselves in there. We've still got work to do.

"It would be nice to go racing as soon as possible to see where we are."

View the original article here

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.