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| Note |
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This expendable launch
vehicle and payload processing status will be issued
weekly. It will provide the status of upcoming NASA
missions scheduled for launch aboard expendable launch
vehicles. For additional information on NASA ELV
launches, visit: http://www.ksc.nasa.gov/elvnew/elv.htm.
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| Mission |
Solar
Radiation and Climate Experiment |
| Launch
Vehicle |
Pegasus
XL |
| Launch
Location |
Cape Canaveral Air Force Station |
| Launch
Date |
January
25, 2003 |
| Launch
Time |
3:14
p.m. EST |
| |
|
Status
(processing
notes)
|
The Orbital Sciences carrier aircraft departed Cape Canaveral Air Force Station for the launch of Pegasus/SORCE on Saturday, Jan. 25 at 2:17 p.m. The drop of the Pegasus occurred on time at 3:14 p.m. at an altitude of 39,000 feet, 120 nautical miles East-northeast of Cape Canaveral.
The satellite separated from the Pegasus rocket 10 minutes 46 seconds after launch at 3:24 p.m. Seven seconds later the satellite was acquired by the TDRS-East Tracking and Data Relay Satellite which confirmed that SORCE was receiving power from its solar arrays.
The satellite is in a 400-mile-high orbit at an inclination of 40 degrees. The spacecraft’s science instruments have been turned on and their state of health is being verified. In approximately three weeks, science observations will begin. For the next five years, the spacecraft will measure from space how the Sun affects the Earth’s ozone layer, the circulation of the atmosphere, clouds and oceans.
The SORCE project is managed by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. The satellite was constructed by the Orbital Sciences Space Systems Group with science instruments designed and built by the University of Colorado’s Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP).
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GALEX
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| Mission |
Galaxy
Evolution Explorer |
| Launch Vehicle |
Pegasus
XL |
| Launch Location |
Skid Strip, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station |
| Launch Date |
April
4, 2003 (T) |
| Launch Window |
6:50
- 8:50
a.m. EST |
|
| |
|
Status
(processing
notes)
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At Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, the Orbital Sciences Pegasus launch vehicle is undergoing testing. It has successfully completed the launch vehicle verification test, testing of its flight controls, and a flight simulation.
The launch vehicle is currently planned for ferry to Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on the L-1011 aircraft on Feb. 18.
The spacecraft, built for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory by the Orbital Sciences Space Systems Group is also undergoing testing and is currently scheduled to arrive at KSC on Feb. 2.
The GALEX mission is led by the California Institute of Technology. |
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ProSEDS
|
| Mission |
Propulsive
Small Expendable Deployer System |
| Launch Vehicle |
Delta II |
| Launch Pad |
Space
Launch Complex 17, Pad A |
| Launch Date |
NET
March 29, 2003 |
| Launch Time |
TBD |
|
| |
|
Status
(processing
notes)
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The Propulsive Small Expendable Deployer System - called ProSEDS - is a tether-based propulsion experiment that draws power from the space environment around Earth, allowing the transfer of energy from the Earth to the spacecraft.
Inexpensive and reusable, ProSeds technology has the potential to turn orbiting, in-space tethers into “space tugboats - replacing heavy, costly, traditional chemical propulsion and enabling a variety of space-based missions, such as the fuel-free raising and lowering of satellite orbits.
The erection of the Boeing Delta II launch vehicle on Pad 17-A is currently scheduled to begin on Feb. 13. Erection of the nine solid rocket boosters is scheduled for Feb. 14-18. The second stage is planned for hoisting atop the first stage on Feb. 19.
ProSEDS is flying as a secondary payload beneath a U.S. Air Force Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite. Once the spacecraft arrives, it will be processed at the Vertical Processing Facility (VPF) located in the KSC Industrial Area. ProSeds will be attached to the Delta second stage at the launch pad on March 17 and followed by electrical connections and a spacecraft functional test. |
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|
MER-1/
MER-2
|
| Mission |
Mars
Exploration Rovers |
| Launch Vehicles |
Delta II/Delta II Heavy |
| Launch Pads |
17-A/17-B |
| Launch Dates |
May
30/June 25 |
| Launch Times |
2:28 p.m.
/ 12:34
p.m. EDT |
|
| |
|
Status
(processing
notes)
|
| The cruise stage, aeroshell and lander for the MER-2 mission arrived at the KSC Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility (PHSF) at 4 p.m. on Monday, Jan. 27. The lander was unpacked, cleaned and placed in the high bay on Tuesday. The aeroshell and cruise stage were removed from the shipping container today. The first of the two Mars Exploration rovers will arrive at KSC in February. |
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The Kennedy
Space Center (KSC) Newsroom offers an electronic subscription
service for status reports, news releases and other notices
issued from KSC. There are two possible ways to subscribe.
You may send a blank e-mail message to ksc-news_release-subscribe@kscnews.ksc.nasa.gov
or follow the instructions on the Web site at http://kscnews.ksc.nasa.gov.
The system will confirm the request via e-mail.
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