Names | Progress-78P |
---|---|
Mission type | ISS resupply |
Operator | Roscosmos |
Mission duration | 179 days (planned) |
Spacecraft properties | |
Spacecraft | Progress MS-17 |
Spacecraft type | Progress MS |
Manufacturer | Energia |
Launch mass | 7000 kg |
Start of mission | |
Launch date | 30 June 2021 (planned) [1][2] |
Rocket | Soyuz-2.1a |
Launch site | Baikonur, Site 31 |
Contractor | Progress Rocket Space Centre |
End of mission | |
Disposal | Deorbited (planned) |
Decay date | November 2021 (planned) |
Orbital parameters | |
Reference system | Geocentric orbit |
Regime | Low Earth orbit |
Inclination | 51.65° |
Docking with ISS | |
Progress ISS Resupply |
Progress MS-17 (Russian: Прогресс МC-17), Russian production No. 446, identified by NASA as Progress 78P, is a planned Progress spacecraft to be launched by Roscosmos to resupply the International Space Station (ISS). This will be the 169th flight of a Progress spacecraft.
The Progress-MS is a uncrewed freighter based on the Progress-M featuring improved avionics. This improved variant first launched on 21 December 2015. It has the following improvements:[3][4][5][6]
A Soyuz-2.1a will launch Progress MS-17 to the International Space Station from Baikonur Site 31 on 30 June 2021 on a fast-track trajectory.[2] Around 3 hours 20 minutes after the launch, Progress MS-17 will automatically dock to Russian Orbital Segment (ROS) of ISS, where it is expected to remain until late 2021.
On 3 February 2021, the State Commission for Testing of the Piloted Space Systems, chaired by Roskosmos head Dmitry Rogozin, approved the latest ISS schedule for 2021 and the first quarter of 2022.[1]
Due to the air leak discovered in the PrK chamber at the aft port of the Zvezda Service Module (SM), Roscosmos moved the docking destination for the Progress MS-17 cargo ship to the Poisk Module, MIM2. After 147 days Progress MS-17 would be then undock and re-docked to the nadir (Earth-facing) port of the newly arrived Nauka at the end of October 2021.
That move will allow Roskosmos to prepare for the next step in the expansion of the Russian Orbital Segment, this time with the Prichal module. Upon the launch of Prichal (Progress M-UM), currently scheduled for 24 November 2021, the Progress MS-17 will be undocked from Nauka's nadir port, carrying with it a special extension on Nauka's docking mechanism, which was custom-designed for cargo ships and crew vehicles.
As a result, the Prichal module with its active hybrid docking port will then be able to dock to the reconfigured port on Nauka on 24 November 2021. This will provide a wider module passageway than was available through the adapter, which will be discarded with Progress MS-17.
If everything goes according to the August 2020 plan, Progress MS-17 will log 179 days in space.[7]
The Progress MS-17 spacecraft is loaded with 0 kg (0 lb) of cargo, with 0 kg (0 lb) of this being dry cargo.
The Progress MS-17 is scheduled to remain docked at the station through late 2021, when it will depart with trash and re-enter the Earth's atmosphere for destruction over the South Pacific Ocean.