FOTON -M3 MISSIONSTONE-6 and LITHOPANSPERMIAFor these experiments, pieces of rock (containing living organisms) are fixed into Foton’s heat shield, which are exposed to the high temperature and high pressure conditions of re-entry. In the Stone-6 experiment the three rocks used are a basalt rock, a carbonaceous laminate and an artificial rock, each with a cyanobacteria dried onto the outside. The Lithopanspermia experiment uses a granite sample containing a form of lichen. These experiments may help to explain the origin and spreading of life forms in space.

TECHNOLOGY and TECHNOLOGY DEMONSTRATIONS

TELESUPPORTThe TeleSupport Unit consists of a data-handling and transmitter/receiver assembly that is able to acquire, process, and transmit data from the experiments in the Foton capsule to ground. TeleSupport also allows commands to be transmitted from ground to the Foton experiments. The purpose of the unit is to allow the science teams to monitor their experiments’ progress throughout the mission and take corrective action if necessary.

OWLS, which stands for Optical Wireless Link for intra-Spacecraft Communications, is a wireless technology demonstrator that forms part of the TeleSupport Unit. The OWLS technology demonstrator aims at assessing and validating an optical wireless technology for future use in spacecraft design. This will essentially create a wireless network inside the Foton capsule for transferring data between the Foton TeleSupportUnit and its assisted payloads.

OWLS

DIMAC consists of a new advanced accelerometer technology, working in the frequency band from 0 Hz to 0.01 Hz. The proposed device is intended to supplement the existing range of low-cost micro-accelerometers by extending their measurement bandwidth. Accelerometers are essential pieces of equipment, which validate the quality of weightlessness experienced during a mission.

The Teplo experiment, aims to measure the performance and characteristics of one long and large diameter heat pipe as well as one loop heat pipe in weightlessness. The heat pipe has new design features implemented. The loop heat pipe has been designed for large deployable radiators. This kind of technology should help in significantly reducing the mass and complexity of thermal control subsystems for use in space.

The battery consists of two modules of 27 Lithium SulphurylChloride cells. These will be used to power Biobox, Eristo/Osteo, Aquahab, Granada and Freqboneduring the re-entry, landing and recovery phases and the stored energy is sufficient to power these payloads for at least 12 hours. The capacity per module is 30 ampere-hours, and the battery voltage at beginning of discharge is 35 volts.

EDUCATION

YES-2 (Young Engineers Satellite 2)

BATTERY

SEEKSEEK stands for Spaceflight Educational Experiment Kit and is a miniature g-forces experiment being developed as an educational product for senior schools throughout Europe. It will measure the accelerations during launch. The experiment also aims to encourage more young people to take science and maths courses at school.

The YES-2 experiment is designed and built by an international team of young students and engineers. Its purpose is to demonstrate the possibility of returning a small capsule with samples and specimens from space by means of a tether assisted orbital deployment. The capsule will contain a beacon, sensors, and a parachute system. During the last day of the Foton-M3 orbital flight, the capsule will be lowered into a re-entry orbit by a 30 km long tether. The Fotino capsule will then be released, enter the atmosphere and land, indicating its position by radio signal.

DIMAC experiment hardware

Rock samples used in STONE-6 experiment

EXPERIMENT PROGRAMME (continued)

PROTEIN CRYSTALLISATION

A student works on YES2 in the vibrationfacility at ESTEC

GRANADAGranada aims at improving our understanding of protein structure by growing protein crystals in weightlessness. During the experiment a catalyst will be slowly released into capillary vials containing the protein solution to allow for slow growth of the protein crystals. These capillaries will be held in reactors contained within the Granada

incubator, which maintains strict temperature control during the experiment. The crystals will be analysed post-flight in parallel with crystals grown on earth under the same experimental conditions, to better understand the role of weight-lessness in crystal growth.

PolizonThe Polizon facility was developed to carry out crystal growth experiments in weightlessness. The facility will process seven material science experiments from ESA and DLR during the mission. The multi-zone heating unit allows the processing of experiments with different materials by different techniques up to 1200ºC. The aim of these experiments is to produce benchmark materials that can be analysed for better understanding of the crystallisation process.

MATERIAL SCIENCE

TEPLO

DIMAC (Direct Measurement micro-Accelerometer)

Polizon experiment hardware with experiment drum open

FOTON -M3 MISSION

SOYUZ LAUNCHER

Foton-M3 will be launched into orbit by a Soyuz-U launcher, a direct descendant of the R-7 launcher configuration, which put Sputnik 1 into orbit on 4 October 1957. The Soyuz launcher and all its predecessors consist of four conical lateral boosters, which first appeared on the R-7 rocket, arranged around a core stage. Each stage runs on a fuel mixture of kerosene and liquid oxygen.

MISSION OVERVIEW

The Foton-M3 mission will be launched on 14 September 2007 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Fotonare Russian unmanned recoverable capsules, which are used to carry out scientific experimentation in low Earth orbit. The European Space Agency has been participating in this type of scientific mission for 20 years and the 12-day Foton-M3 mission becomes the twelfth such mission with ESA involvement.

The Foton-M3 spacecraft will be carrying a European payload of 400 kg covering experiments in a wide range of scientific disciplines, including fluid physics, biology, crystal growth, meteoritics, radiation dosimetry and exobiology. These experiments will help contribute in many areas including more efficient oil extraction processes and better semiconductor alloys.

The mission is part of an agreement signed between ESA and the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) on 21 October 2003. The agreement covered two Foton flights (Foton-M2 and Foton-M3), which would have a combined total of 660kg of ESA-supplied scientific payloads on board.

THE SERVICE MODULEThe service module is 3.2 m long and 2.5 m wide. It contains the attitude control system (incorporating nitrogen jets and Earth horizon sensors), the telemetry/telecommand equipment and the retrorocket. Firing the retrorocket reduces the spacecraft’s velocity and altitude for re-entry. The service module remains attached to the re-entry capsule by four retaining straps until the retrorocket burn is over.

THE RE-ENTRY MODULEThe re-entry module, which houses the scientific payload is a 2.2 m diameter sphere with a mass of around 2.5 tonnes. The capsule’s aluminium-alloy structure is covered with a heat shield for protection against the heat of re-entry. The acceleration experienced during touchdown can be as high as 40g. Landing is assisted by parachutes and retro-rockets to cushion the impact on the ground. The internal temperature ranges from 10º to 30º C.

MISSION CONTROL

The Flight Control Centre (known as TsUP in Russian) for the Foton-M3 mission is based in Korolev near Moscow. TsUP is responsible for the orbital parameters during the 12-day mission during launch, in orbit, and at the end of this period during spacecraft de-orbiting, module separation, re-entry and landing.

For European payloads, the Payload Operations Centre is based at Esrange near Kiruna, Sweden. It is responsible for monitoring and control of European payloads on Foton as well as receiving, evaluating and disseminating scientific data generated by the payloads to relevant scientific investigators. Kiruna’sfacilities will be boosted by two ground stations in Canada.

LAUNCH to LANDINGTWELVE HOURS UNTIL LAUNCH

LIFT-OFFThe Soyuz launcher and spacecraft starts to roll into its trajectory 20 seconds after launch. It accelerates to 4g over the first fewminutes.

BOOSTER SEPARATION AND NOSE-CONE JETTISONTwo minutes after lift-off the four lateral boosters have finished burning and are jettisoned. At about two and a half minutes after launch, 84 km above the Earth, the launch fairing protecting the spacecraft against atmospheric drag is jettisoned.

IN ORBITFollowing the launch phase, Foton is inserted into a near circular orbit around the Earth, inclined at 63°, with maximum and minimum altitudes of around 305 km and 260 km, respectively. During its 12 days in weightlessness, Foton will complete around 190 orbits of the Earth, each orbit lasting 90 minutes.

BATTERY MODULE JETTISONOne day before the Foton capsule is due to land, the control system is switched on. The battery module is jettisoned three hours before landing.

RETROROCKET BURN30 minutes before landing, at an altitude of around 300 km and travelling at 7.8 km/s, the retro-rocket of Foton is fired for 45 seconds.

POST LANDING PROCEDURESAn ESA team is at the landing site for immediate retrieval of biological experiments and samples. These are placed in temperature controlled transport containers for shipping. Other European payloads and experiments are removed from Fotonand shipped back to ESTEC after Foton is flown to the TsSKB-Progress factory in Samara.

PRE-LAUNCH PROCEDURESThree months before launch payloads are checked and integrated with the Foton capsule at the TsSKB-Progress factory in Samara, Russia where Foton and its launch vehicle are built. Six weeks later the Foton spacecraft is taken by train to the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, along with its Soyuz launcher. Three weeks before launch fluid physics and material science samples are installed into the relevant payloads. The biological samples are installed into their hardware at ESA’s ESTEC facility in the Netherlands five days before launch and flown immediately to Baikonur for installation. Two days before launch Foton is mated to its Soyuz launcher. The vehicle is then transferred to the launch pad by train and erected upright in its final launch position 24 hours prior to launch.

CORE STAGE SEPARATIONSeparation of the core stage at 288 seconds after launch is followed by firing of the third stage engine. The spacecraft is now 167 kilometres high. Seven seconds later the 2nd/3rd stage interface is jettisoned. The third stage has finished firing after 520 seconds and separates at 528 seconds (8 minutes 48 seconds) after launch. Once in orbit, all on board systems are checked.

RE-ENTRYThe re-entry module is now separated from the service module (the service module will eventually burn up in the atmosphere). The spherical re-entry module enters the stratosphere 20 minutes before landing. The temperature on the capsule increases to 2000°C and experiences forces up to 9g.

LANDINGAt 8.5 minutes before landing, a drogue parachute is deployed, which in turn opens a brake parachute, reducing the descent speed from supersonic to subsonic. Thirty seconds later, at an altitude of 2.5 km, the main parachute is deployed, reducing the speed further to 10 m/s. The Fotoncraft is cushioned during landing by a brake rocket, which is ignited 0.35 seconds before impact bringing the final landing speed down to 3 m/s. The landing is planned in the Russian/Kazakh border area close to the Kazakh town of Kostanay.

With around twelve hours to go the propellant tanks start to be filled and checks are carried out on the different launch stages. In the last hour the flight programme is loaded, the service gantries rolled back, the launch site is evacuated and inertial guidance systems unlocked. At 2 minutes 40 seconds until launch the avionics on the 3rd stage switch to internal power supply and the umbilical mast is disconnected. With 29 seconds until lift-off, the four lateral boosters together with the central core are ignited.

Designed and built by TsSKB-Progress in Samara, Russia, Foton consists of three modules: the re-entry module, the battery pack, and the service module. During a mission, Fotonorbits at a maximum altitude of about 304 km and a minimum altitude of about 262 km, inclined at 63º. The spacecraft has a total mass of 6500 kg and can accommodate up to 650 kg of experimental payloads.

FOTON SPACECRAFT

THE BATTERY MODULEThe battery module, containing lithium cells, is the main energy source for the satellite and its payload. It is a 1.8 m diameter cylindrical section, closed by dome-shaped ends and attached to the re-entry module by four legs. It provides the scientific payload with an average daily power budget of 500 W of electrical power during a typical 2-week mission, with peaks of 700 W. The battery pack is jettisoned before re-entry.

EXPERIMENT PROGRAMMEFOTON HISTORY and EUROPEFoton spacecraft are based on the design of the Russian Vostok spacecraft, in which Yuri Gagarin was put into orbit in 1961 and the Zenit military reconnaissance satellite. Bion was the first of the Foton type of unmanned spacecraft to be launched in 1973 with the emphasis on how the space environment acts on living creatures. ESA were involved in three Bion missions: Bion-8 in 1987 Bion-9 in 1989 and Bion-10 in 1992.

Foton was first launched into low-earth orbit in 1985. The earlier Foton missions were conceived primarily for materials science research, but later missions also began to include experiments in the fields of fluid physics, biology and radiation dosimetry. ESA’s participation in eight previous missions started in 1991 with a protein crystallisation experiment on-board Foton-7. The previous mission with ESA involvement was the Foton-M2 mission in 2005. Foton M is an improved version of the spacecraft, with larger battery capacity, enhanced thermal control and increased telemetry and telecommandcapabilities for increased data flow. Foton-M3 becomes the ninth Foton mission withESA involvement.

GRADFLEXFluids show random fluctuations in density and/or concentration in their normal state of thermal equilibrium. The degree and length of these fluctuations is enhanced when fluids are exposed to a thermal gradient. Using a very advanced optical technique, Gradflex will examine this phenomenon by exposing two different samples to temperature gradients. This is easier to observe in weightlessness as gravity dampens this phenomenon on Earth. The first sample used is a single component liquid and will be monitored for fluctuations in density. The second sample is a fluid mixture and will be monitored for fluctuations in concentration. Gradflex aims to increase fundamental knowledge in the area of non-equilibrium fluid systems, which applies to a wide range of physical phenomena from crystal growth to pharmaceutical production.

SCCO (Soret Co-efficients in Crude Oil)Efficient oil recovery is currently a major challenge. At about 4000 meters below ground level, the hydrocarbon fluids are highly sensitive to applied forces, not only gravity, but also temperature and pressure gradients. Oil companies have to take this into account in order to improve the mathematical models of oil fields, and hence reduce the numbers of exploratory drills as well as optimising the production installation on the surface.

AquahabThis joint ESA/DLR experiment comprises an aquatic habitat in which to observe the effect of weightlessness on two different organisms: the single-cell organism Euglena gracilis and the small cichlid fish (Oreochromismossambicus). Post-flight analysis will look at motion, cell shape and number, and DNA damage due to radiation in the single-cell organism and otolith growth in the fish. Otoliths are bony structures in the inner ear, which help in orientation and balance.

SCCO aims to measure the Soret effect (or thermodiffusion) by exposing oil samples to a temperature gradient in weightlessness (thus avoiding convection currents) until a stable liquid composition profile is reached. Then, the hot part of the fluid sample will be separated from the cold part and the composition of the two parts analysed after flight, allowing measurement of the variations in density caused by the Soret Effect. SCCO is a cooperative project between ESA and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA).

BioboxBiobox consists of two programmable incubators containing five experiments on cell biology. Three experiments (Obadis, Osteogene and Oclast) will study the effect of weightlessness on bone-forming cells (osteoblasts) and bone-degrading cells (osteoclasts). A fourth experiment (Radcells) will study the damaging effects of space radiation on connective tissue in the skin (dermal fibroblasts).The fifth experiment (Connect) aims to understand the role of weightlessness in the gene expression of connective tissue cells (lung fibroblasts).

Eristo/OsteoEristo/Osteo is a joint ESA/Canadian Space Agency (CSA) project consisting of two sets of identical experiment hardware i.e. two incubators, each composed of four thermally controlled experiment trays: the four Eristo trays contain European experiments sponsored by ESA and the four Osteo trays contain experiments sponsored by the CSA. The research within Eristo and Osteo targets the problems of astronaut bone loss, osteoporosis, and other musculo-skeletal diseases. They will use the weightless conditions of space to test and evaluate the effects of drugs and growth factors on bone cell activity.

FreqboneWeightlessness induces a series of processes in the human skeleton that result in loss of bone mass in astronauts. There are also similarities between bone loss from spaceflight and osteoporosis. This experiment will test high frequency, low amplitude vibration on bovine bone samples as a countermeasure to such bone decay.

EXPOSURE EXPERIMENTS

BIOPANBiopan is designed to carry out investigations requiring direct exposure to the harsh space environment. A multi-user experimental facility, Biopan will contain 10 different experiments in the field of exobiology and radiation exposure. Biopan is located on the outside surface of Foton and, once in orbit, automatically opens to expose its experiments to solar and space radiation, the space vacuum and weightlessness, or a selection thereof. Biopan is closed prior to reentry to protect the experiments against the heat during reentry.

Biopan with all experiments integrated

One of the two Biobox incubators

Gradflex experiment hardware before delivery to ESTEC

(Experiment Programme continued on back page)

FLUID PHYSICS

BIOLOGY