At what height from the ground is the μs. At what altitude do planes, satellites and spaceships fly? Location, trajectory and parameters of the ISS

Do you want to track the ISS online and be ready to be in time to observe the station? But how do you know when the ISS will fly over your house or garden? Here are the best online services for this.

First, NASA has a Fast & Easy Observations website where you simply find your country and city and then display the date, local time, observation duration, and ISS approach data so you don't miss a station in the sky. True, there is one drawback - not for all countries and cities it is possible to determine the ISS coordinates online. So, for example, for Russia only big cities: St. Petersburg, Moscow, Volgograd, Tver, Tula, Samara, Stavropol, Pskov, Krasnodar, Yekaterinburg, Novosibirsk, Rostov, Norilsk, Krasnoyarsk, Vladivostok and other megacities. In other words, if you live in a small settlement, you can only rely on information for the city closest to you.

Second, Heavens Above is also an excellent resource for finding out when the ISS is flying over you in the sky, as well as all sorts of other satellites. Unlike NASA's website, Heaven-Above allows you to enter your exact latitude and longitude. Thus, if you live in a remote area, you can get the exact time and location to start looking for satellites on your own. The site also offers registration to visitors to enhance its capabilities and usability.

Third, Spaceweather has its own Satellite page that provides information to the United States and Canada. But you can also use this link for other countries. It is interesting that you can set the calculation of coordinates not only for the ISS, but also, for example, for the Hubble telescope or satellites. For the countries of the North American continent, you only need to specify the ZIP code and select the object. For other continents, you select Country - Region / State - Locality... For example, I managed to find the coordinates of satellites and the ISS for Moscow Khimki. However, this site is often overloaded, as it is very popular with observers.

There is also this very cool monitoring of the movement of the ISS from Google. You cannot specify data for calculating the time and coordinates of the ISS location, but you have the opportunity to watch online the movement of the station.

The flight trajectory of the International Space Station in real time can also be traced on a special page of the official website Russian Center Space flight control (this will require the Java (TM) plugin to be installed). In addition to the flight path, you can learn about the orientation of the International Space Station, look into the ISS flight archive, and much more.

Additionally, you can receive an alert on Twitter when the space station is overflying you. To do this, use

The ISS is the successor to the MIR station, the largest and most expensive object in the history of mankind.

What size orbital station? How much does it cost? How do astronauts live and work on it?

We will talk about this in this article.

What is the ISS and who owns it

The International Space Station (MKS) is an orbital station used as a multipurpose space complex.

This is science project, which is attended by 14 countries:

• The Russian Federation;
• USA;
• France;
• Germany;
• Belgium;
• Japan;
• Canada;
• Sweden;
• Spain;
• Netherlands;
• Switzerland;
• Denmark;
• Norway;
• Italy.

In 1998, the creation of the ISS began. Then the first module of the Russian Proton-K rocket was launched. Subsequently, other participating countries began to deliver other modules to the station.

Note: in English ISS is written as ISS (transcript: International Space Station).

There are people who are convinced that the ISS does not exist, and everyone space flights filmed on Earth. However, the reality of the manned station was proven, and the theory of deception was completely refuted by scientists.

The structure and dimensions of the international space station

The ISS is a huge laboratory dedicated to the study of our planet. At the same time, the station is home to the astronauts working in it.

The station is 109 meters long, 73.15 meters wide and 27.4 meters high. The total weight of the ISS is 417,289 kg.

How much is an orbital station

The cost of the facility is estimated at $ 150 billion. This is by far the most expensive development in human history.

Orbital altitude and flight speed of the ISS

The average altitude at which the station is located is 384.7 km.

The speed is 27,700 km / h. The station makes a complete revolution around the Earth in 92 minutes.

Station time and crew working hours

The station operates London time, and the astronauts start their working day at 6 am. At this time, each crew establishes contact with their country.

Crew reports can be listened to online. The working day ends at 19:00 London time .

Flight path

The station moves around the planet along a certain trajectory. There is a special map that shows which part of the way the ship is passing at a given time. This map also shows different parameters - time, speed, altitude, latitude and longitude.

Why doesn't the ISS fall to Earth? In fact, the object falls to Earth, but misses, as it is constantly moving at a certain speed. It is required to regularly raise the trajectory. As soon as the station loses some of its speed, it gets closer and closer to the Earth.

What is the temperature outside the ISS

The temperature is constantly changing and directly depends on the cut-off situation. In the shade, it stays at about -150 degrees Celsius.

If the station is located under the influence of direct sunlight, then the temperature overboard is +150 degrees Celsius.

Temperature inside the station

Despite fluctuations overboard, the average temperature inside the ship is 23 - 27 degrees Celsius and is completely suitable for human habitation.

Astronauts sleep, eat, play sports, work and rest at the end of the working day - the conditions are close to the most comfortable for being on the ISS.

What astronauts breathe on the ISS

The primary task in the creation of the spacecraft was to provide the cosmonauts with the conditions necessary to maintain full breathing. Oxygen is obtained from water.

A special system called "Air" takes carbon dioxide and throws it overboard. Oxygen is replenished by electrolysis of water. There are also oxygen cylinders at the station.

How long to fly from the cosmodrome to the ISS

The flight takes just over 2 days. There is also a short 6-hour schedule (but not suitable for cargo ships).

The distance from the Earth to the ISS ranges from 413 to 429 kilometers.

Life on the ISS - what astronauts do

Each crew conducts scientific experiments by order from the research institutes of their country.

There are several types of such studies:

• educational;
• technical;
• ecological;
• biotechnology;
• biomedical;
• research of living and working conditions in orbit;
• exploration of space and planet Earth;
• physical and chemical processes in space;
• study solar system and others.

Who is on the ISS now

IN currently in orbit continue to keep watch composition: Russian cosmonaut Sergey Prokopiev, Serena Auñon-Chancellor from the USA and Alexander Gerst from Germany.

The next launch was planned from the Baikonur cosmodrome on October 11, but due to the accident, the flight did not take place. At the moment, it is not yet known which of the astronauts will fly to the ISS and when.

How to get in touch with the ISS

In fact, anyone has a chance to contact the International Space Station. This requires special equipment:

• transceiver;
• antenna (for the frequency range 145 MHz);
• rotary device;
• a computer that will calculate the orbit of the ISS.

Today, every astronaut has a high-speed Internet connection. Most specialists contact friends and family via Skype, maintain personal pages on Instagram and Twitter, Facebook, where they post stunningly beautiful photos of our green planet.

How many times the ISS orbits the Earth per day

The speed of rotation of the ship around our planet - 16 times a day... This means that in one day, astronauts can meet the sunrise 16 times and watch the sunset 16 times.

The ISS rotation speed is 27,700 km / h. This speed prevents the station from falling to Earth.

Where is the ISS at the moment and how to see it from Earth

Many are interested in the question: is it realistic to see the ship with the naked eye? Due to its constant orbit and large size, anyone can see the ISS.

You can view the ship in the sky both during the day and at night, but it is recommended to do this at night.

In order to find out the flight time over your city, you need to subscribe to the NASA mailing list. You can monitor the movement of the station in real time thanks to the special Twisst service.

Conclusion

If you see a bright object in the sky, it is not always a meteorite, comet or star. Knowing how to distinguish the ISS with the naked eye, you definitely will not be mistaken in a celestial body.

You can learn more about the ISS news, see the movement of the object on the official website: http://mks-online.ru.

Observation from the ISS webcams of the Earth's surface and the Station itself online. Atmospheric phenomena, ship docking, exits to open space, work within the American segment is all in real time. ISS parameters, flight path and location on the world map.

Broadcast from ISS webcams

NASA video players # 1 and # 2 broadcast from ISS webcams online with short breaks.

NASA video player # 1 (online)

NASA video player # 2 (online)

ISS orbiting map

Roskosmos video player # 1

Roskosmos video player # 2

NASA TV Video Player

NASA TV's Media Channel Video Player

Description of video players

NASA video player # 1 (online)
Online broadcast from video camera # 1 without sound with short interruptions. The broadcast of the recording was very rarely observed.

NASA video player # 2 (online)
Online broadcast from camcorder # 2, sometimes with sound, with short interruptions. The recording was not broadcast.

Roscosmos video players
Interesting offline videos, as well as significant events related to the ISS, sometimes broadcast by Roskosmos online: spacecraft launches, docking and undocking, spacewalks, crew return to Earth.

Video Players NASA TV and NASA TV's Media Channel
Broadcast scientific and information programs on the English language, including video from the ISS cameras, as well as some important events on the ISS online: spacewalks, videoconferences with the Earth in the language of the participants.

Features of broadcast from ISS webcams

Online broadcast from the International Space Station is carried out from several webcams installed inside the American segment and outside the Station. Sound channel in common days rarely connects, but always accompanies such important events, as docking with transport ships and ships with a removable crew, spacewalks, scientific experiments.

From time to time, the direction of the webcams to the ISS changes, as well as the quality of the transmitted image, which can change over time even when broadcast from the same webcam. During work in outer space, the image is often transmitted from cameras mounted on astronauts' spacesuits.

Standard or gray screensaver on the screen of NASA Video Player # 1 and standard or blue The screensaver on the screen of NASA Video Player # 2 speaks of a temporary interruption of video communication between the Station and the Earth, audio communication may continue. Black screen- ISS flyby over the night zone.

Sound accompaniment rarely connected, usually on NASA Video Player # 2. Sometimes include recording- this can be seen from the discrepancy between the transmitted image and the position of the Station on the map and the display of the current and full time of the broadcast video on the progress bar. A progress bar appears to the right of the speaker icon when you move the cursor over the video player screen.

No progress bar- means the video from the current ISS webcam is broadcast online... See Black screen? - check with!

When NASA video players freeze, a simple one usually helps page refresh.

Location, trajectory and parameters of the ISS

The current position of the International Space Station on the map is indicated by the ISS symbol.

In the upper left corner of the map, the current parameters of the Station are displayed - coordinates, orbital altitude, speed, time before sunrise or sunset.

Legend for ISS parameters (default units):

• Lat: latitude in degrees;
• Lng: longitude in degrees;
• Alt: height in kilometers;
• V: speed in km / h;
• Time before sunrise or sunset at the Station (on Earth, see the border of chiaroscuro on the map).

The speed in km / h is, of course, impressive, but its value in km / s is more evident. To change the unit of measurement for ISS speed, click on the gears in the upper left corner of the map. In the window that opens, on the top panel, click on the icon with one gear and in the list of parameters instead of km / h select km / s... Here you can also change other parameters of the map.

In total, we see three conventional lines on the map, on one of which there is an icon of the current position of the ISS - this is the current trajectory of the Station's movement. The other two lines indicate the next two orbits of the ISS, over the points of which, located at the same longitude with the current position of the Station, the ISS will fly by, respectively, in 90 and 180 minutes.

The map scale can be changed using the buttons «+» and «-» in the upper left corner or by normal scrolling when the cursor is positioned on the map surface.

What can be seen through ISS webcams

The American space agency NASA broadcasts from ISS webcams online. Often, the image is transmitted from cameras aimed at the Earth, and during the flight of the ISS over the daytime zone, clouds, cyclones, anticyclones can be observed, in clear weather earth surface, the surface of the seas and oceans. The details of the landscape can be clearly seen when the live webcam is pointed vertically at the Earth, but sometimes it is also clearly visible when it is pointed at the horizon.

When the ISS flies over the continents in clear weather, the channels of rivers, lakes, snow caps on mountain ranges, sandy deserts. Islands in the seas and oceans are easier to observe only in the most cloudless weather, since from the height of the ISS they outwardly differ little from the clouds. It is much easier to spot and observe rings of atolls on the surface of the world's oceans, which are clearly visible in light cloud cover.

When one of the video players broadcasts an image from a NASA webcam aimed vertically at the Earth, notice how the broadcast image moves in relation to the satellite on the map. This will make it easier to catch individual objects for observation: islands, lakes, river beds, mountain ranges, straits.

Sometimes the online image is transmitted from webcams directed inside the Station, then we can observe the American segment of the ISS and the actions of astronauts in real time.

When some events take place at the Station, for example, docking with transport ships or ships with a removable crew, spacewalk, broadcast from the ISS is conducted with sound connected. At this time, we can hear the negotiations of the Station crew members among themselves, with the Flight Control Center or with the replacement crew on the ship approaching for docking.

You can learn about the upcoming events on the ISS from the messages of the funds mass media... In addition, with the help of webcams, some scientific experiments carried out on the ISS can be broadcast online.

Unfortunately, webcams are installed only in the American segment of the ISS, and we can only observe American astronauts and their experiments. But when you turn on the sound, Russian speech is often heard.

To enable sound playback, move the cursor over the player window and left-click on the emerging speaker with a cross. Soundtrack will be connected at the default volume level. To increase or decrease the sound intensity, raise or lower the volume bar to the desired level.

Sometimes, the soundtrack is briefly connected and for no reason. Sound transmission can be turned on even when blue screen, during disconnection of video communication with the Earth.

If you spend a lot of time at the computer, leave the tab open with the soundtrack on on NASA video players, sometimes look at it to see sunrise and sunset when it is dark on the ground, and parts of the ISS, if they are in the frame, are illuminated by the rising or setting sun ... The sound will make itself felt. Refresh the page if the video stream freezes.

The ISS makes a complete revolution around the Earth in 90 minutes, crossing the night and day zones of the planet once. Where the Station is currently located, see the orbiting map above.

What can be seen over the night zone of the Earth? Sometimes lightning flashes during a thunderstorm. If the webcam is pointed at the horizon, the brightest stars and the moon are visible.

It is impossible to see the lights of night cities through the webcam from the ISS, because the distance from the Station to the Earth is more than 400 kilometers, and without special optics no lights are visible, except for the most bright stars but this is no longer on Earth.

Observe the International Space Station from Earth. See interesting ones made from the NASA video players presented here.

In between observing the Earth's surface from space, try to catch and decompose (difficult enough).

The choice of some parameters of the orbit of the International Space Station is not always obvious. For example, a station can be located at an altitude of 280 to 460 kilometers, and because of this, it constantly experiences the inhibitory effect of the upper layers of the planet's atmosphere. Every day the ISS loses about 5 cm / s of speed and 100 meters of altitude. Therefore, from time to time it is necessary to raise the station, burning fuel from ATV and Progress trucks. Why can't the station be raised higher to avoid these costs?

The range laid down in the design and the current real situation are dictated by several reasons at once. Every day astronauts and cosmonauts receive high doses of radiation, and beyond the 500 km mark, its level rises sharply. And the limit for a six-month stay is set at only half a sievert, only a sievert is set aside for the entire career. Each sievert increases the risk of cancer by 5.5 percent.

On Earth, we are protected from cosmic rays by the radiation belt of our planet's magnetosphere and the atmosphere, but they work weaker in near space. In some parts of the orbit (the South Atlantic anomaly is such a spot of increased radiation) and beyond it, strange effects can sometimes appear: flashes appear in closed eyes. It is the cosmic particles that pass through the eyeballs, other interpretations claim that the particles excite the parts of the brain responsible for vision. This can not only interfere with sleep, but also once again unpleasantly reminds of high level radiation on the ISS.

In addition, the Soyuz and Progress, which are now the main ships for crew replacement and supply, are certified to operate at altitudes up to 460 km. The higher the ISS is, the less cargo can be delivered. The missiles, which send new modules for the station, will also be able to bring less. On the other hand, the lower the ISS, the more it is decelerated, that is, more of the delivered cargo must be fuel for the subsequent correction of the orbit.

Scientific tasks can be performed at an altitude of 400-460 kilometers. Finally, the position of the station is affected by space debris - broken satellites and their debris, which have a tremendous speed relative to the ISS, which makes a collision with them fatal.

There are resources on the Web that allow you to monitor the parameters of the orbit of the International Space Station. You can get relatively accurate current data, or track their dynamics. At the time of this writing, the ISS is at an altitude of approximately 400 kilometers.

The ISS can be accelerated by elements located in the rear of the station: these are Progress trucks (most often) and ATVs, if necessary, the Zvezda service module (extremely rare). In the illustration, a European ATV is running before the kata. The station is raised often and little by little: the correction takes place about once a month in small portions of about 900 seconds of engine operation, at Progress they use smaller engines so as not to greatly influence the course of experiments.

The engines can be turned on once, thus increasing the flight altitude on the other side of the planet. Such operations are used for small ascents, since the eccentricity of the orbit changes.

A correction with two inclusions is also possible, in which the second activation smooths the station's orbit to a circle.

Some parameters are dictated not only by scientific data, but also by politics. The spacecraft can be given any orientation, but at launch it will be more economical to use the speed that the Earth's rotation gives. Thus, it is cheaper to launch the vehicle into an orbit with an inclination equal to the latitude, and maneuvers will require additional fuel consumption: more for moving to the equator, less when moving to the poles. The ISS's orbital inclination of 51.6 degrees may sound strange: NASA vehicles launched from Cape Canaveral are traditionally inclined at about 28 degrees.

When the location of the future ISS station was discussed, they decided that it would be more economical to give preference to the Russian side. Also, such parameters of the orbit allow you to see more of the Earth's surface.

But Baikonur is at a latitude of approximately 46 degrees, so why is an inclination of 51.6 degrees common for Russian launches? The fact is that there is a neighbor to the east who will not be too happy if something falls on him. Therefore, the orbit is tilted to 51.6 ° so that during launch no parts of the spacecraft could under any circumstances fall on China and Mongolia.

Surprisingly, we have to return to this question due to the fact that many have no idea where the International "space" station actually flies and where the "cosmonauts" make their exits into open space or into the Earth's atmosphere.

This is a fundamental question - do you understand? People are drummed into their heads that representatives of humanity, who were given the proud definitions of "astronauts" and "cosmonauts" freely carry out exits "into open space" and moreover, there is even a "Space" station flying in this supposedly "space". And all this while all these "achievements" are being realized in the earth's atmosphere.

All manned orbital flights take place in the thermosphere, mainly at altitudes from 200 to 500 km - below 200 km the braking effect of the air is strongly affected, and above 500 km radiation belts extend, which have a harmful effect on people.

Unmanned satellites also mostly fly in the thermosphere - putting a satellite into a higher orbit requires more energy, in addition, for many purposes (for example, for remote sensing Land) low altitude is preferable.

The high air temperature in the thermosphere is not terrible for aircraft, since due to the strong rarefaction of the air, it practically does not interact with the skin aircraft, that is, the air density is not enough to heat physical body, since the number of molecules is very small and the frequency of their collisions with the ship's skin (and, accordingly, the transfer of thermal energy) is small. Thermosphere studies are also carried out using suborbital geophysical rockets. Auroras are observed in the thermosphere.

Thermosphere(from the Greek θερμός - "warm" and σφαῖρα - "ball", "sphere") - atmosphere layer following the mesosphere. It starts at an altitude of 80-90 km and extends up to 800 km. The air temperature in the thermosphere fluctuates by different levels, rapidly and discontinuously increases and can vary from 200 K to 2000 K, depending on the degree of solar activity. The reason is the absorption of ultraviolet radiation from the Sun at altitudes of 150-300 km, due to the ionization of atmospheric oxygen. In the lower part of the thermosphere, the increase in temperature is largely due to the energy released during the combining (recombination) of oxygen atoms into molecules (in this case, the energy of solar UV radiation, previously absorbed during the dissociation of O2 molecules, is converted into the energy of the thermal motion of particles). At high latitudes, an important source of heat in the thermosphere is the Joule heat generated by electric currents magnetospheric origin. This source causes significant but uneven heating. upper atmosphere in circumpolar latitudes, especially during magnetic storms.

Outer space (space)- relatively empty areas of the Universe that lie outside the boundaries of atmospheres celestial bodies... Contrary to popular beliefs, space is not absolutely empty space - it contains a very low density of some particles (mainly hydrogen), as well as electromagnetic radiation and interstellar matter. The word "space" has several different meanings... Sometimes space is understood as all space outside the Earth, including celestial bodies.

400 km - orbital altitude of the International Space Station
500 km - the beginning of the inner proton radiation belt and the end of safe orbits for long-term human flights.
690 km - the border between the thermosphere and the exosphere.
1000-1100 km - the maximum altitude of the auroras, the last manifestation of the atmosphere visible from the Earth's surface (but usually well-noticeable auroras occur at altitudes of 90-400 km).
1372 km - the maximum height reached by man (Gemini 11 September 2, 1966).
2000 km - the atmosphere has no effect on satellites and they can exist in orbit for many millennia.
3000 km - the maximum intensity of the proton flux of the inner radiation belt (up to 0.5-1 Gy / hour).
12,756 km - we have moved away at a distance equal to the diameter of the planet Earth.
17,000 km - outer electronic radiation belt.
35 786 km - the height of the geostationary orbit, the satellite at this height will always hang over one point of the equator.
90,000 km is the distance to the head shock wave formed by the collision of the Earth's magnetosphere with the solar wind.
100,000 km is the upper boundary of the Earth's exosphere (geocorona) seen by satellites. The atmosphere is over, began open space and interplanetary space.

Therefore, the news " NASA astronauts during the spacewalk repaired the cooling system ISS "should sound differently -" NASA astronauts during the exit into the Earth's atmosphere, repaired the cooling system ISS ", and the definitions" astronauts "," cosmonauts "and" International Space station"require adjustments, for the simple reason that the station is not a space station and astronauts with cosmonauts, rather, atmosphereonauts :)