http://cybersecurity.ru/space/60503.html
ЦитироватьНАСА планирует запустить спутник для измерения объемов CO2 в атмосфере
(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/60321.jpg)
(12:50) 08.12.2008
Американское космическое агентство НАСА планирует в начале 2009 года запустить на орбиту космический аппарат Orbital Carbon Observatory (OCO), задача которого будет заключаться в постоянном мониторинге уровней углекислого газа в атмосфере планеты.
Аппарат должен будет заняться исследованием уровней СО2 в различных слоях земной атмосферы, а также проследить так называемые циклы выброса газа и траектории его движения по планете. По словам Чипа Миллера, научного руководителя проекта из Лаборатории реактивного движения НАСА, при помощи OCO наверняка будут сделаны несколько очень значимых открытий, касающихся глобального потепления и распределения парниковых газов на Земле.
"По значимости эти открытия могут быть сравнимы с открытием озоновых дыр, сделанных несколько десятилетий назад. Нам предстоит ответить на вопрос сколько газа остается в атмосфере и как долго он там остается, а сколько газа поглощается почвой и океанами", - говорит ученый.
По его словам, среднее время жизни молекулы углекислого газа в земных условиях составляет 300 лет, при этом около 20% углекислого газа, пребывающего в атмосфере, имеет существенно более значимый возраст - около 10 000 лет. На вопросы о подобном различии также предстоит ответить.
Согласно современным подсчетам, около 97% СО2 или 300 млрд тонн на планете выбрасывается натуральными источниками - растениями, при дыхании людьми и животными, во время лесных пожаров, извержений вулканов и иных природных событий. Оставшиеся 3% или 8 млрд тонн производится за счет выхлопов автомобилей, сжигания угля и иных промышленных действий.
"Таковы официальные данные, однако последние события, связанные с климатом и атмосферой, указывают, что этот баланс к последнее время значительно нарушился", - уверен Миллер.
http://www.membrana.ru/lenta/?8679
ЦитироватьТуристический космоплан совместит бизнес с наукой
NOAA разместит свою аппаратуру на WhiteKnightTwo уже в ходе тестовых полётов этого белоснежного носителя, первый из которых может состояться через несколько недель. Всего на самолёт будет установлено три прибора, которые займутся измерением концентрации метана и углекислого газа в атмосфере, а также будут брать пробы на разных высотах, для последующего анализа в лабораториях на земле.
Суборбитальный челнок SpaceShipTwo в настоящее время готов на 60%, сообщает Virgin Galactic, а его выкатка намечена на лето 2009 года. Когда этот аппарат начнёт рейсы в космос, он также послужит платформой для геофизического оборудования.
Учёные рады: пока не существует машин, действительно регулярно летающих в ионосферу (кроме разве что геофизических ракет). Обычные ракеты-носители слишком "спешат" по своим делам (выводить спутники на орбиту), самолёты же и воздушные шары не забираются так высоко.
Между тем измерения на высоте 110 километров пригодятся для калибровки данных, которые будут поступать с нового американского спутника Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO), как ясно из названия, нацеленного на анализ содержания в атмосфере парниковых газов. Этот аппарат должен стартовать в космос в 2009 году.
Да и информация, которую будет собирать WhiteKnightTwo на 15 километрах, послужит сходной цели — исследователи намерены больше узнать о климатической машине Земли и происходящих с нею переменах. Так даровые рейсы Virgin Galactic, для которой приборы геофизиков будут лишь побочной нагрузкой, должны существенно помочь учёным.
Источник: BBC News
http://oco.jpl.nasa.gov/observatory/
ЦитироватьThe Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO) is a dedicated spacecraft that carries a single instrument comprised of three high resolution grating spectrometers. The instrument, developed by Hamilton Sundstrand Sensor Systems, will acquire the most precise measurements of atmospheric CO2 ever made from space. The spacecraft, developed by Orbital Sciences Corporation, is based upon the LeoStar-2 architecture. The same LeoStar-2 design was used on the successful Earth orbiting SORCE and GALEX missions. The Observatory will be launched from the Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on a dedicated Taurus XL rocket in January 2009. The Observatory will fly in a near polar orbit that enables the instrument to observe most of the Earth's surface at least once every sixteen days.
The abundance of CO2 in the atmosphere varies both with time of day and with season. OCO measurements must record changes in CO2 abundance over annual seasonal cycles. To remove the effect of changes in CO2 abundance over each day, and discriminate between seasonal variations and long term changes, OCO will always acquire measurements at the same time of day. Thus, the spacecraft will fly in Sun synchronous orbit so that all observations take place at about 1:18 PM.
The Observatory will fly in loose formation with a series of other Earth orbiting satellites known as the Earth Observing System Afternoon Constellation, or the A-train. This coordinated flight formation will enable researchers to correlate OCO data with data acquired by other instruments on Earth observing spacecraft. In particular, Earth scientists will compare OCO data with nearly simultaneous measurements acquired by the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) instrument. The AIRS instrument files on the Earth Observing System Aqua platform.
To provide the mission with additional flexibility, the Observatory will acquire data in three different measurement modes. In Nadir Mode, the instrument views the ground directly below the spacecraft. In Glint Mode, the instrument tracks near the location where sunlight is directly reflected on the Earth's surface. Glint Mode enhances the instrument's ability to acquire highly accurate measurements, particularly over the ocean. In Target Mode, the instrument views a specified surface target continuously as the satellite passes overhead. Target Mode provides the capability to collect a large number of measurements over sites where alternative ground based and airborne instruments also measure atmospheric CO2. The OCO Science Team will compare Target Mode measurements with those acquired by ground based and airborne instruments to calibrate the OCO instrument and validate mission data.
The Observatory has a planned operational life of 2 years.
Nasa set to launch 'CO2 hunter' [/size] (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7769619.stm)
(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/6696.gif)
1. OCO will head the 'train' of satellites when it gets into orbit. It will measure the concentration of carbon dioxide in the lower atmosphere
2. Aqua will lag OCO by 15 minutes. It is collecting information about the Earth's water cycle - water in the oceans, the air and on the land
3. Cloudsat will allow for the most detailed study of clouds to date. It should better characterise their role in regulating the climate
4. Calipso views clouds just moments after Cloudsat has looked at them. Its primary interest is the way aerosols interact with clouds
5. Parasol is a French satellite that can distinguish natural from human-produced aerosols. It makes polarised light measurements
6. Glory will join the train in June. One task will be to measure the 'energy budget' of Earth, to determine accurately global temperature
7. Aura also has a big European investment. It looks at atmospheric chemistry, and is producing remarkable global pollution maps
Меня всегда впечатлял этот "конвейер" ИСЗ ДЗЗ. По сути, это виртуальная тяжёлая платформа /или высокоширотная орбитальная станция, если хотите/, о которой и здесь мечтают. Причём реконфигурируемая и наращиваемая. И, самое главное - она уже есть!
http://www.voanews.com/russian/2008-12-30-voa4.cfm
ЦитироватьОрбитальный газовый счетчик
Алексей Левин 30.12.2008
Новый космический аппарат будет отслеживать количество двуокиси углерода в воздушном бассейне.
23 февраля 2008 года НАСА планирует осуществить запуск искусственного спутника Земли, который окажет огромную помощь в изучении и прогнозировании глобальных климатических процессов. Он получил название Orbital Carbon Observatory (Орбитальная углеродная обсерватория), в сокращении OCO. Полутонный зонд предстоит вывести на почти полярную круговую орбиту высотой 705 километров. Эту задачу выполнит ракета-носитель Taurus XL, которая уйдет в космос с калифорнийской авиабазы Ванденберг.
(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/80389.jpg)
[Фото]
OCO станет первым в истории космонавтики спутником, специально предназначенным для мониторинга содержания углекислого газа в земной атмосфере. Этот газ поступает в воздушный бассейн из разных источников, в том числе и благодаря сжиганию углеводородных топлив, таких как уголь, бензин и природный газ. Молекулы двуокиси углерода хорошо поглощают инфракрасное излучение земной суши и океанов и тем самым препятствуют его рассеиванию в космическом пространстве.
В общей сложности в атмосферу ежегодно поступает примерно 300 миллиардов тонн углекислого газа, который затем почти полностью вновь поглощается сушей и океанами. Доля техногенных выбросов в этом потоке сравнительно невелика, всего 6 миллиардов тонн. Однако все дело в том, что половина этих выбросов углекислоты так и остается в воздухе в свободном состоянии. По мнению абсолютного большинства климатологов, продолжающийся свыше двухсот лет техногенный рост концентрации углекислого газа в воздушном бассейне нашей планеты несет основную долю ответственности за нынешнее всемирное потепление. С начала промышленной революции 18 века эта концентрация уже выросла на 36-38% и продолжает увеличиваться. Поэтому специалистам очень важно получать как можно более оперативную и детальную информацию о содержании углекислоты в атмосфере. Эту задачу поможет решить новая космическая обсерватория.
На спутнике OCO установлен один единственный бортовой измерительный комплекс. Он состоит из трех спектрометров высокого разрешения, работающих в трех различных диапазонах длин волн. Каждый прибор будет отслеживать два потока инфракрасных лучей – приходящий от Солнца и отраженный земной поверхностью. Сравнение интенсивностей обоих потоков позволит определить степень поглощения отраженного излучения в земной атмосфере. Эта информация позволит ученым определять концентрацию углекислого газа. Новый спутник должен проработать на своей орбите не менее двух лет.
CO2 Smallsat To Launch Into A-Train (http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/story_channel.jsp?channel=space&id=news/OCO013009.xml&headline=CO2%20Smallsat%20To%20Launch%20Into%20A-Train)
ЦитироватьJan 30, 2009
By Michael Mecham
NASA is in final preparations to launch the 897-pound Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO) into the so-called "A-Train" of other climate monitoring satellites in an effort to pinpoint where carbon dioxide is being emitted and absorbed.
The answer to that balancing act should help define how much man is contributing - and in what ways - to greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide (CO2) that are believed to be greatly altering global climate.
Built by Orbital Sciences Corp. (OSC) of Dulles, Va., OCO carries a single instrument that includes three high-resolution grating spectrometers from Hamilton Sundstrand Sensor Systems of Pomona, Calif., and is to be launched on an OSC Taurus XL 3110 from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., on Feb. 23.
The three-stage booster will use a direct insertion to put it in a 705-kilometer (438-mile) high near-polar, sun-synchronous orbit. It will circle the Earth every 99 minutes and repeat the same ground track every 16 days.
OCO is pegged as a two-year "exploratory" mission and has a lifecycle cost of $278 million, including the spacecraft, launch and operations. Once in place, it will lead a flotilla of atmospheric Earth observatories already in the same orbit from NASA and the European Space Agency. The "Afternoon," or "A-Train" constellation includes Aqua, CloudSat, Parasol, Calipso and Aura.
OCO is to be installed at the head of the pack and its findings will be closely correlated with data gathered by the other spacecraft, particularly NASA's Aqua, which is primarily studying oceans and sea ice, and Aura, which is focused on atmospheric studies, explained OCO Program Executive Eric Ianson of NASA headquarters.
Findings also will be coordinated with the Japanese GOSAT mission, which is using a different instrument pack that also is providing CO2 counts (Aerospace DAILY, Jan. 26). Correlations also will be made with aircraft CO2 survey flights and ground-station monitors.
Scientists have been mapping CO2 levels in the lower atmosphere for years, explained Anna Michalak, an OCO science team member from the University of Michigan/Ann Arbor. The problem is that these surveys offer only a limited snapshot of what's going on globally. OCO is the first spacecraft with a sole mission to produce a global CO2 survey.
Its spectrometer doesn't actually measure CO2. Instead, it makes calibrations from sunlight reflections of molecules in the atmosphere, from which scientists can deduce CO2 concentration levels. To do this, the instrument will be periodically repositioned to obtain readings from different angles - both straight down "nadir" and angled "glint" samples.
Even with concern about how much man's activities are building up carbon dioxide levels, the actual population of CO2 varies across the globe and has been difficult to track. How much it varies is one of the big question marks.
Equally difficult is knowing the location, timing and quantity of CO2 that is naturally produced and its location versus what man's activities emit. The OCO mission is designed to fill in those gaps.
BBC News: Nasa set to launch 'CO2 hunter' (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7769619.stm)
ЦитироватьAs he did so, OCO's launch on a Taurus XL rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California was booked for 23 February.
(http://www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov/kscpao/images/medium/2009-1675-m.jpg)
(http://www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov/kscpao/images/medium/2009-1676-m.jpg)
(http://www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov/kscpao/images/medium/2009-1679-m.jpg)
(http://www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov/kscpao/images/medium/2009-1684-m.jpg)
(http://www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov/kscpao/images/medium/2009-1685-m.jpg)
(http://www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov/kscpao/images/medium/2009-1687-m.jpg)
(http://www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov/kscpao/images/medium/2009-1688-m.jpg)
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/oco/main/index.html
ЦитироватьTimes listed in Eastern.
Launch date: Feb. 24, 2009
Launch time: 4:51:30 a.m.
12:51:30 ДМВ.
Впечатляет их монтажно-испытательный комплекс: два крана и какая-то палатка. Зашибись! И ведь летает! Вот он, новый подход.
ЦитироватьВпечатляет их монтажно-испытательный комплекс: два крана и какая-то палатка. Зашибись! И ведь летает! Вот он, новый подход.
Так ракета-то цельнодеревянная... Чего ей будет-то? А МИК поди похож на тот, который в Свободном был... Вот когда Маск Ф9 на свежем воздухе собирал - это да, впечатлило... Но тот пускай сначала полетит, а впечатляться потом будем...
ЦитироватьЦитироватьВпечатляет их монтажно-испытательный комплекс: два крана и какая-то палатка. Зашибись! И ведь летает! Вот он, новый подход.
Так ракета-то цельнодеревянная...
Вот такой она и должна быть!
Ну, на такие размеры и вес ПН - может быть. А вообще - это аналог нашего "Старта" - там вроде тоже особых проблем с пусками не было...
http://www.floridatoday.com/content/blogs/space/2009/02/nasa-set-to-launch-climate-change-probe.shtml
ЦитироватьMonday, February 23, 2009
NASA Set to Launch Climate Change Probe
NASA is preparing to launch its first satellite dedicated to the study of carbon dioxide in Earth's atmosphere, a key factor in climate change.
Launch of the Orbiting Carbon Observatory, or OCO, is scheduled for 4:51 a.m. EST Tuesday fr om Vandenberg Air Force Base, aboard an Orbital Sciences Corp. Taurus XL rocket. Another attempt may be possible four minutes later.
Today at noon Eastern time, you can watch a pre-launch press briefing about the two-year, $273.4-million mission live here on The Flame Trench.
Just click on the NASA TV image at right to launch a viewer.
NASA says the 972-pound spacecraft will provide the first comprehensive picture of the distribution and seasonal variation of atmospheric CO2, from both natural and human sources. It will also identify places wh ere CO2 is being absorbed, called "sinks."
A new map will be produced every 16 days.
The mission's findings will help inform models about changing carbon dioxide levels and how they might impact on Earth's climate.
The launch is supported by NASA's Launch Services Program based at Kennedy Space Center.
It is NASA's first launch on the 95-foot Taurus rocket, a variation of the air-launched Pegasus. The rocket has six successful flights in seven attempts since 1994, according to Orbital.
The spacecraft will fly at the head of NASA's "A-train," a constellation of six Earth-observing satellites with afternoon passes over the equator.
posted by James Dean at 10:24 AM
(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/60543.jpg)(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/60544.jpg)
Сабж улетел :)
Походу, пуск закончился аварией..... :(
Не сбросился обтекатель :?:
P.S. Подробности аварии будут через 2 часа
Мда. Аварийный орбитальный пуск. Аппарат выведен на орбиту, но не может выполнять свои задачи. Печально.
ЦитироватьКосмический аппарат NASA OCO (Orbiting Carbon Observatory), стартовавший ранее с базы ВВС США Ванденберг в Калифорнии, не смог отделиться от ракеты-носителя Taurus XL, сообщает AFP. Неполадки возникли при отделении гаргрота - носового обтекателя, защищающего спутник при прохождении сквозь атмосферу.
Вес аппарата составлял 440 килограммов. Планировалось, что он будет двигаться вокруг Земли на высоте около 705 километров по почти полярной орбите (то есть угол наклона плоскости орбиты к плоскости экватора будет составлять почти 90 градусов). Стоимость миссии - около 280 миллионов долларов.
Планировалось, что OCO составит самые точные на сегодняшний день карты распределения углекислого газа в атмосфере. В частности, он должен был выявить наиболее "мощные" источники этого парникового газа, а также районы наиболее интенсивного его поглощения.
:cry:
(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/7231.jpg)
http://spaceflightnow.com/taurus/oco/status.html
Цитировать1105 GMT (6:05 a.m. EST; 3:05 a.m. PST)
The Taurus rocket's 63-inch diameter payload fairing is built by the Vermont Composites division for Orbital Sciences. The fairing's two halves are made of graphite-epoxy composite materials with an aluminum honeycomb core. This particular shroud has performed well in its five previous Taurus missions before today's mishap.
According to the Taurus Users Guide, the two halves of the fairing are structurally joined along their longitudinal interface using a frangible joint system. An additional circumferential frangible joint at the base of the fairing attaches the fairing to the upper stage assembly.
"At separation, a gas pressurization system is activated to pressurize the fairing deployment thrusters. The fairing halves then rotate about external hinges that control the fairing deployment to ensure that payload and launch vehicle clearances are maintained. All elements of the deployment system have been demonstrated through test to comply with stringent contamination requirements."
Сколько понадобится времени, чтобы воссоздать такой аппарат и повторно запустить :?:
По стопам Криосата прямо - дешевая ненадежная ракета и уникальный научный спутник под 300 млн. $. Естественно сабж не был застрахован.
Три часа после пуска, а орбитальных элементов нет. Что-то я не уверен, что голова вообще на орбиту вышла.
ЦитироватьТри часа после пуска, а орбитальных элементов нет. Что-то я не уверен, что голова вообще на орбиту вышла.
ЦитироватьVehicle could not reach orbit due to having to carry the fairing (heavy) through the rest of the flight, and the vehicle has splashed down somewhere near Antarctica.
ЦитироватьТри часа после пуска, а орбитальных элементов нет. Что-то я не уверен, что голова вообще на орбиту вышла.
Логично.
(http://www.orbiter-forum.com/gallery/data/500/medium/Taurus.png)
Сброс должен был состояться на 180-й секунде, до окончания работы ещё 2-й ступени.
МОСКВА, 24 фев - РИА Новости. Ракета со спутником НАСА, предназначенным для мониторинга уровня углекислого газа в атмосфере, упала в океан близ Антарктиды после неудачного старта во вторник, сообщает агентство Ассошиэйтед Пресс со ссылкой на представителя компании-производителя ракеты Orbital Sciences Corp.
"Мы не смогли достичь орбиты. Аппарат опустился в океан близ Антарктиды", - сказал Джон Браншвайлер (John Brunschwyler).
По предварительным данным, нештатная ситуация стала следствием неотделения головного обтекателя, предназначенного для защиты модуля при прохождении плотных слоев атмосферы. В настоящее время специалисты НАСА пытаются определить причины и обстоятельства, приведшие к техническому сбою.
Запуск Орбитальной углеродной обсерватории (Orbiting Carbon Observatory, OCO) был осуществлен с помощью ракеты-носителя Taurus XL с расположенной в калифорнии авиабазы Ванденберг.
Не вышел на орбиту. Упал где-то рядом с Антарктидой.
Не было контрольного размыкания проводки, после двух импульсов на отделение ГО. Не было скачка температуры и ускорения сигнализирующих о сбросе обтекателя. С питанием и блоком выдавшим импульсы по телеметрии все было ОК.
http://www.space-multimedia.nl.eu.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4694
ЦитироватьПо стопам Криосата прямо - дешевая ненадежная ракета и уникальный научный спутник под 300 млн. $. Естественно сабж не был застрахован.
Ну, вообще-то Таурас уже 12 спутников вывела.
Этот обтекатель летал уже 5 раз, тоже успешно.
http://spaceflightnow.com/taurus/oco/status.html
Но аналогии с Криосатом действительно напрашиваются...
ЦитироватьПо стопам Криосата прямо - дешевая ненадежная ракета и уникальный научный спутник под 300 млн. $. Естественно сабж не был застрахован.
И девять лет работы по созданию.
Жаль.
ЦитироватьЦитироватьПо стопам Криосата прямо - дешевая ненадежная ракета и уникальный научный спутник под 300 млн. $. Естественно сабж не был застрахован.
И девять лет работы по созданию.
Думаю, по всем законам логики НАСА вскоре примет решение использовать задел и специалистов для создания нового спутника, как сделала ЕКА в случае с Криосатом.
ЦитироватьЦитироватьПо стопам Криосата прямо - дешевая ненадежная ракета и уникальный научный спутник под 300 млн. $. Естественно сабж не был застрахован.
Ну, вообще-то Таурас уже 12 спутников вывела.
Этот обтекатель летал уже 5 раз, тоже успешно.
http://spaceflightnow.com/taurus/oco/status.html
Во-первых эта версия (Taurus-3110) летела впервые, а во вторых преведующую и сегодняшнюю неудачу этого семейства ракет разделяет лишь ОДИН удачный запуск!
http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_lau/taurus.htm
Там помоиму спутники плюхнули в воды Индийского океана, недалеко у Мадагаскара.
Еще из мистики - та авария Тауруса произошла спустя несколько дней после 11 сентября 2001 года. Сегодняшняя - фактически во время пика беспрецендентного мирового экономического кризиса.
Эта версия действительно летала впервые, но обтекатель-то старый!
Да этот гибрид Peacekeeper и Pegasus летает раз в 5 лет.
При такой частоте пусков предыдущая статистика не имеет никакого значения. Каждый раз как в первый раз :(
Всё так, я думаю, новый аналогичный аппарат NASA создаст быстрее, чем европейцы мучаются с Cryosat. NASA не такая тормозная организация как EKA :)
Интересно, что на этой РН висела еще одна нагрузка NASA, которая сюдя по массе стоит видимо в пределах утеряного сабжа.
http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/glory.htm
Причем дата запуска по Гюнтеру - 18.09.2009
Значит и тут НАСА подставили :shock:
ЦитироватьЕще из мистики - та авария Тауруса произошла спустя несколько дней после 11 сентября 2001 года. Сегодняшняя - фактически во время пика беспрецендентного мирового экономического кризиса.
Какая же тут мистика? Видать, во время сборки обтекателя рабочие думали не о нём, а о кредите за дом или о том, не сократят ли их. Вот и результат.
Скорее схемотехническая ошибка. Программеры не о том думали. Или сантиметры с дюймами попутали.
ЦитироватьСкорее схемотехническая ошибка. Программеры не о том думали. Или сантиметры с дюймами попутали.
Вы уже определитесь, схемотехническая, программная или навигационная? хотя, если еще добавите организационную, тогда точно не ошибетесь, все варианты будут покрыты ;)
Как уж с недавних пор повелось, предлагаю виновником назначить пироболты :D
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В.П.25-02-2009 09:44 (ссылка)
сиденье форд-Taurus XL ещё и летает?
дас ист фантастиш
:lol: :lol: :lol:
ЦитироватьКак уж с недавних пор повелось, предлагаю виновником назначить пироболты :D
Или "этого Гинзбурга" :D :wink:
Цель запуска утерянного спутника настолько в потенциале чревата серьезными конфликтами и скандалами международными, что нельзя исключить и вероятность диверсии.
ЦитироватьЦель запуска утерянного спутника настолько в потенциале чревата серьезными конфликтами и скандалами международными, что нельзя исключить и вероятность диверсии.
А еще столкновение с облаком обломков Иридиума и Стрелы :twisted:
ЦитироватьЦель запуска утерянного спутника настолько в потенциале чревата серьезными конфликтами и скандалами международными, что нельзя исключить и вероятность диверсии.
а может они в лучших наших традициях попилили госбабло и послали за бугор чугунну болванку ?
ЦитироватьКак уж с недавних пор повелось, предлагаю виновником назначить пироболты :D
А в качестве мероприятий для успеха следующего пуска выкрутить их перед стартом :). Вот только где они там?
Цитироватьthe two halves of the fairing are structurally joined along their longitudinal interface using a frangible joint system. An additional circumferential frangible joint at the base of the fairing attaches the fairing to the upper stage assembly.
"At separation, a gas pressurization system is activated to pressurize the fairing deployment thrusters. The fairing halves then rotate about external hinges that control the fairing deployment to ensure that payload and launch vehicle clearances are maintained.
frangible joint system где-то там?
http://www.floridatoday.com/content/blogs/space/2009/02/leader-named-for-oco-investigation.shtml
ЦитироватьThursday, February 26, 2009
Leader Named for OCO Investigation
NASA has named Rick Obenschain, deputy director of the agency's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., to lead the investigation into Tuesday's failed launch of a $273.4-million climate change satellite.
The payload fairing atop an Orbital Sciences Corp. Taurus XL rocket did not break away as it should have less than three minutes after the booster blasted off fr om Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.
As a result, the four-stage rocket's two remaining stages slowed and fell back into the ocean near Antarctica, carrying NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory with it.
Obenschain will lead a Mishap Investigation Board that includes four other members who have not yet been named.
NASA says the investigative board will gather information in an effort to determine the failure's root cause, then make recommendations for how to prevent a similar event.
Here's some background on Obenschain provided by NASA:
Obenschain shares responsibility for executive leadership and overall direction and management of Goddard and its assigned programs and projects. He also is responsible for providing executive oversight and technical evaluation for the development and delivery for Goddard space systems launch and operations.
Previously, Obenschain was appointed director of the Flight Projects Directorate in September 2004, and was responsible for the day-to-day management of more than 40 space and Earth science missions. He has held a number of project management positions at Goddard.
Obenschain is the recipient of NASA's Distinguished Service Medal, Exceptional Service Medal, Outstanding Leadership Medal, Equal Opportunity Medal, and Goddard's Award of Merit. In 1995, he received the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics von Braun Award for Excellence in Space Program Management.
You can read a full bio here.
First approved in 2002, OCO was supposed to map in detail for at least two years the sources and "sinks" for carbon dioxide - places wh ere the gas is released into Earth's atmosphere and absorbed by plants and oceans.
The observatory's coverage would have been far more comprehensive than current monitoring stations provide, and could have significantly improved modeling of climate change.
Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas whose levels have risen dramatically because of human activity since the industrial age, like the burning of fossil fuels and deforestation.
The launch failure was the first overseen by NASA launch managers since 1996. A NASA ozone-monitoring satellite was lost in 2001 as a secondary payload on the only other Taurus rocket failure. It ended up in the Indian Ocean.
The Taurus now has two failures in eight launches.
posted by James Dean at 9:04 AM
(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/60559.jpg)
http://www.floridatoday.com/content/blogs/space/2009/03/launch-group-at-ksc-tallies-remarkable.shtml
ЦитироватьMonday, March 02, 2009
Launch Group At KSC Tallies Remarkable Record
The failed launch last week of a Taurus rocket was a first for NASA's Launch Services Program, which has chalked up a remarkable record of successful launches in the past decade.
Formed in 1998 as part of an agency-wide consolidation, the group tallied an admirable 56 consecutive successful launches between its inaugural launch of Deep Space-1 in October 1998 and the Feb. 9 launch of a national polar-orbiting weather satellite for the National Atmospheric and Oceanic Administration.
NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory was lost last Tuesday after a Taurus XL rocket launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California failed in flight. Data telemetered back to Earth during the flight indicated the rocket's payload fairing failed to separate. The rocket crashed into Antarctic seas.
The LSP is based at Kennedy Space Center and manages launches from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station and Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.
Other launch locations include NASA's Wallops Island flight facility in Virginia, the North Pacific's Kwajalein Atoll in the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and Kodiak Island in Alaska.
The group has lofted a host of historic missions, including the Mars Spirit and Opportunity rovers, the Lunar Prospector and the Cassini mission to Saturn as well as the Stardust, Genesis and Deep Space missions.
Check out the 1998-2008 record here: LSPLaunchList.pdf (http://www.floridatoday.com/content/blogs/space/LSPLaunchList.pdf).
NASA since 1990 has been procuring launch services from the commercial sector, but up until 1998, management oversight for Expendable Launch Vehicle launch services was performed at two other NASA field centers.
Delta rocket launches were managed by Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., and the Lewis Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio (now known as the Glenn Research Center) managed Atlas rocket missions.
The management oversight for all NASA Expendable Launch Vehicle missions was consolidated at Kennedy Space Center in 1998 as part of an agency reorganization that was ordered up by then-NASA Administrator Dan Goldin.
Steve Francois is the head of the LSP at KSC. Omar Baez and Chuck Dovale are launch directors for the LSP.
posted by Todd Halvorson at 11:57 AM
http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=14874.300
ЦитироватьRe: FAILED: Taurus XL - OCO - Feb 23/24, 09.
« Reply #304 on: Today at 08:22 PM »
Quote from: pad rat on Today at 07:35 PM
I've laid eyes on a draft copy of the OSC Mishap Investigation Board's report. After a quite extensive effort involving lab tests and telemetry analysis, the team has reached some conclusions.
It is believed that the fairing separation failure was caused by a failure in the Hot Gas Generator mechanism. The HGG is a pyro-activated device which generates the pressure to actuate pistons which set the fairing in motion. Analysis indicates that mechanical shocks from earlier pyro events which start the fairing jettison process caused the HGG's pyros to malfunction. The two initiators did not do their job of "starting a fire" in the HGG, hence no pressure was built up to drive the pistons.
Recommended corrective actions include changing from a hot-gas system to a cold-gas system. If the HGG is retained, it is recommended that the shock environment be reduced somehow, along with modification to the initiators to preclude the potential for shock damage. There are other recommendations, but those are the key ones.
No word yet on what solution will be chosen, nor how this will impact preparations for the T9/Glory mission.
Thank you for the update, Mr. Rat, errr, Pad! A question, hasn't this fairing separation mechanism flown on Taurus XL before?
- Ed Kyle
Финальный отчёт комиссии по расследованию причин аварии:
http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/369037main_OCOexecutivesummary_71609.pdf
Походу, фактическую несброса обтекателя так и не нашли. Выявили Только несколько потенциально проблемных мест.
ЦитироватьThe MIB analyzed the payload fairing system design, manufacturing, inspection, assembly, and testing, and associated telemetry in order to identify a more detailed cause. The MIB was unable to determine which component or subcomponent was the direct cause for the fairing not to separate, but identified a number of hardware components whose failure modes could be potential causes: fairing base ring frangible joint, electrical subsystem and the pneumatic system hot gas generator (HGG) including its pressure cartridges. The potential causes with specific recommendations are summarized below.
А сколько примерно весили обтекатели на ракете такого класса?
Из посвященных кругов стало известно, что внутренняя дискуссия сменилась с "будет ли" на "когда будет" одобрена и профинансирована замена OCO.
Спутник может быть построен и запущен в течении 28 месяцев после начала финансирования - David Crisp, научный руководитель OCO.
В NASA решили что клон первоначальной миссии OCO, использующий идентичный набор инструментов, платформу и носитель, будет наиболее оптимальным решением.
http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n0912/08oco/
Congress also set aside at least $50 million to start a new project to replace the Orbiting Carbon Observatory, a carbon-monitoring satellite lost in a launch failure in February.
The budget provides $25 million in new funding and directed NASA to move at least $25 million in leftover money from the agency's science division to go toward an OCO replacement.
NASA has studied fielding a new platform to take the place of OCO, baselining a 28-month schedule to launch after a new project is formally started. Managers recommended flying a carbon copy of OCO, instead of designing a more advanced instrument or combining disparate payloads on a single satellite.
"This is very good news," said David Crisp, OCO's principal investigator at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. "While it won't allow us to maintain a 28-month rebuild schedule, it will allow us to support critical team members, and to make some progress toward a reflight."
For now, the bill also avoids paying for an OCO replacement at the expense of other ongoing or future missions, such as the Soil Moisture Active Passive satellite and the ICESat 2 spacecraft.
http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n0912/13budget/
Из бюджетного запроса на FY2011:
Цитировать$170 million to develop and fly a replacement of the Orbiting Carbon Observatory, a mission to identify global carbon sources and sinks that was lost when its launch vehicle failed in 2009.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/factsheet_department_nasa/
Новая миссия может быть запущена в феврале 2013, но в NASA не называют формальную дату до проведения утвердительного обзора проекта позднее, в этом году.
http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n1002/03smdbudget/
http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/story_channel.jsp?channel=space&id=news/asd/2010/03/26/08.xml&headline=Orbit%20Tweaks%20Urged%20For%20OCO%20Replacement%20Sat
ЦитироватьOrbit Tweaks Urged For OCO Replacement Sat
Mar 26, 2010
By Jefferson Morris
A National Academies report on monitoring compliance with climate change treaties formally endorses NASA's plan to build and launch a replacement for its Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO) spacecraft, although it suggests the agency consider changing its planned orbit to allow better monitoring of human sources of greenhouse gases.
The first OCO was lost during launch on Feb. 24, 2009, when the fairing on its Taurus XL launch vehicle failed to properly separate. NASA is planning to launch its OCO replacement in February 2013. Orbital Sciences built both the original OCO and the Taurus, and will build the OCO replacement as well, sticking as close to the original design as possible (Aerospace DAILY, March 5).
OCO was designed to study natural CO2 sources and sinks, which results in limitations when monitoring human emission sites, according to the report. With a revisit period of 16 days, it would have sampled only 7%-12% of the Earth's land surface, which would allow only a small percentage of large local emissions sources to be monitored. Also, OCO's two-year design life would only allow it to establish a measurement baseline, rather than document changes over time.
"It would be valuable to explore changes in the orbit and other parameters so that a greater fraction of large (CO2) sources is sampled," the National Academies' National Research Council says in its report, released this week. "For example, consider a precessing orbit covering 100% of the surface but with only two measurements per year of each location.
"With 100-500 large local sources in high-emitting countries, it might be possible to obtain a statistical sample of hundreds of measurements of plumes of CO2 being emitted by the large sources in each of these countries."
Nonetheless, "no other satellite has [OCO's] critical combination of high precision, small footprint, readiness, density of cloud-free measurements, and ability to sense CO2 near the Earth's surface," the report says.
The OCO replacement, plus a follow-up mission at the end of the decade "should be able to determine if trends in the number and average intensity of CO2 'domes' over a country's cities and power plants are consistent with reported fossil-fuel emissions," the panel says.
(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/62120.jpg)
Artist's concept of Orbiting Carbon Observatory: NASA
http://www.spacenews.com/contracts/100622-orbital-tapped-launch-oco-replacement.html
ЦитироватьTue, 22 June, 2010
Orbital Tapped To Launch OCO Replacement
By Amy Klamper
WASHINGTON — NASA has selected Orbital Sciences Corp. to launch the agency's Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO) replacement satellite aboard a Taurus XL rocket, giving the company a second chance after the original spacecraft was lost in a February 2009 failure involving the same vehicle.
That failure occurred after the vehicle's protective shroud failed to separate properly, and the satellite went crashing into the ocean near Antarctica. Company officials later attributed the problem to a defective component and said it would be relatively easy to fix.
Dulles, Va.-based Orbital built both the original and replacement OCO craft, designed to take measurements of atmospheric carbon dioxide, an important greenhouse gas. The original was built at a cost of $209 million.
The replacement spacecraft is expected to launch in February 2013 from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., according to a June 22 NASA news release. The launch contract is valued at approximately $70 million, a sum that includes payload processing, mission support, launch integration and tracking, data and telemetry support, the release states.
http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n1006/23oco2/
ЦитироватьNASA gives Taurus another chance to launch OCO craft
BY STEPHEN CLARK
SPACEFLIGHT NOW
Posted: June 23, 2010
NASA is again turning to the Taurus rocket to loft a replacement carbon-sniffing observatory after a mishap doomed the first try to launch the crucial environmental satellite.
(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/13079.jpg)
File photo of a Taurus rocket launch. Credit: Orbital
The second Orbiting Carbon Observatory, or OCO 2, will launch in February 2013 on a Taurus XL 3110 rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., NASA announced Tuesday.
The launch contract is valued at $70 million, including the launch service, payload processing, mission-unique support, vehicle integration, and tracking, data and telemetry suppport, according to a NASA statement.
OCO 2 will pinpoint carbon sources and sinks, or regions where carbon is emitted and absorbed into and from the atmosphere. The 1,170-pound satellite will carry a three-channel spectrometer instrument to detect changing concentrations and movements of atmospheric carbon dioxide, including human-produced greenhouse gases.
Orbital Sciences Corp. of Dulles, Va., is the Taurus rocket's operator and builder. The company will also provide the OCO 2 spacecraft, which will be a carbon-copy of the Orbital-built satellite lost in the 2009 launch failure.
Tuesday's contract announcement was not surprising because OCO 2 project is supposed to be a clone of the doomed mission.
The Taurus XL 3110 vehicle features a Castor 120 first stage motor, enlarged second and third stages, an Orion 38 fourth stage and a 63-inch-diameter payload shroud. All of the rocket's stages consume prepackaged solid propellant.
OCO 2's launch will use an identical rocket to the booster that doomed the $273 million first OCO mission after liftoff in February 2009.
The Taurus rocket's nose fairing did not separate during the flight, weighing down the accelerating launcher and keeping it from reaching orbit. The fairing was supposed to jettison in two halves about three minutes after liftoff.
Investigators were unable to pin down the root cause of the failure, but an independent board found four potential causes of the mishap and recommended fixes for each one.
(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/13080.jpg)
Artist's concept of the OCO 2 spacecraft in orbit.. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
The Taurus rocket is scheduled to return to flight Nov. 22 with NASA's Glory satellite to study Earth's energy budget by measuring atmospheric aerosals and the sun's radiation output.
The OCO 2 launch contract gives the Taurus rocket a backlog of two missions. Orbital's air-launched Pegasus rocket also has a pair of flights lined up in 2012, thanks to the addition of another NASA satellite launch awarded earlier this month.
The Taurus and Pegasus families cover a niche launch market for small satellites weighing less than 3,000 pounds and 1,000 pounds, respectively.
But launch numbers have dwindled for both rockets in recent years, especially the Pegasus, which was a workhorse for U.S. military and NASA missions in the 1990s and early 2000s.
"Launch rates are not what they were, but we have a future," said Barron Beneski, an Orbital spokesperson.
Military launches have moved to the Minotaur rocket family made of surplus missile parts and Pegasus stages. Foreign businesses and SpaceX's Falcon 1 rocket control the international and commercial markets for light satellite launches.
Despite reports the company may close down one of its small rocket families, Orbital will continue supporting launches of both vehicles for the next few years.
And there are more modest NASA science missions to be launched beyond 2015. Those could be a good fit for the Taurus and Pegasus.
"As long as the flight rate stays about where it is today, I think we'll be OK," Beneski said last week.
http://www.spacenews.com/civil/110623-nasa-suspends-payments-orbital.html
ЦитироватьThu, 23 June, 2011
NASA Suspends Payments on Launch Contract with Orbital[/size]
By Brian Berger
WASHINGTON — NASA is suspending payments on a nearly $70 million contract with Orbital Sciences Corp. for launch of the Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO)-2 environmental satellite aboard a Taurus XL rocket, which failed in its last two missions.
Dulles, Va.-based Orbital remains under contract to build OCO-2, a duplicate of the $200 million carbon-mapping satellite destroyed in a 2009 Taurus XL launch failure blamed on payload-fairing separation error. However, the $68.1 million NASA had budgeted for a February 2013 Taurus XL launch of OCO-2 has been "temporarily put on hold" as the agency evaluates "launch services options for the OCO-2 mission," according to NASA's 2011 initial operating plan.
A copy of the spending plan, delivered to Capitol Hill June 15, was obtained by Space News.
NASA awarded Orbital the OCO-2 launch contract in 2010. But after losing a second climate-observing craft — the $424 million Glory satellite — in a Taurus XL launch failure in March, NASA's Earth science chief said he would be unwilling to put another satellite on the rocket until it proves itself in flight. The more recent failure also was blamed on a fairing separation issue.
"I would go more than recertified, personally," Michael Freilich, director of NASA's Earth Science Division, told Space News in May. "I would go demonstrated."
NASA expects OCO-2's launch to be delayed, and the satellite's development cost to rise, as a result of its decision to look for a different rocket.
In the near term, losing Glory is expected to save NASA about $9 million that would have been spent this year on mission operations.
http://www.spacenews.com/launch/110722-taurus-debut-delayed.html
ЦитироватьThompson also said Orbital has completed a review of the March failure of its smaller Taurus XL rocket, whose fairing malfunctioned for the second consecutive time. In both cases the principal payloads were NASA science satellites whose combined cost is estimated at more than $600 million.
Orbital's June 29 flight of a Minotaur rocket, a converted ICBM, used a fairing that had been redesigned to account for the two Taurus XL failures. The launch, carrying the U.S. Defense Department's Operationally Responsive Space-1 satellite into low Earth orbit, was a success. [/size]
Республиканцы в Палате настаивают на отмене OCO-2 в рамках компании по сокращению бюджетного дефицита на $1.5 триллиона в течении 10 лет.
http://www.spacenews.com/earth_observation/111018-house-republicans-urge-supercommittee-target-nasa-earth-science-for-cuts.html
Carbon-sniffing satellite faces one-year delayЦитироватьThe launch of NASA's second Orbiting Carbon Observatory, under construction to replace a satellite lost in 2009, will be delayed at least one year after the space agency terminated an agreement for the carbon-tracking mission to lift off on a Taurus XL rocket, officials said Friday.
Officials with NASA and Orbital Sciences Corp., the Taurus XL contractor, told Spaceflight Now the arrangement to launch OCO 2 in February 2013 was canceled earlier this month.
Mike Curie, a spokesperson at NASA Headquarters in Washington, said the agency and Orbital Sciences agreed Feb. 2 to a bilateral contract modification leading to a "termination for convenience" of the Taurus XL launch contract for the OCO 2 satellite.
The parties "came to an understanding to no longer pursue the launch of OCO 2 on a Taurus XL," Curie said.
NASA released a multi-mission request for launch service proposals that included OCO 2 on Feb. 3, according to Curie. All rockets covered by the NASA Launch Services contract are eligible to compete to fly the OCO 2 spacecraft.
Once officials select a new rocket for OCO 2, Curie said NASA expects it will take about 27 months to launch the satellite. The timetable means OCO 2 will likely be grounded until at least mid-2014, more than a year after its previous target launch date.
The NLS contract includes United Launch Alliance's Delta 2 and Atlas 5 rockets, SpaceX's Falcon 1 and Falcon 9 launchers, Lockheed Martin's Athena 1 and Athena 2 boosters and Orbital's air-launched Pegasus XL, which is too small to loft the 972-pound observatory into the necessary 438-mile-high orbit.
The Minotaur rocket, which is powered by government-owned retired ballistic missile stages, could also launch OCO 2. But before NASA selects the Minotaur for a launch, the agency must prove there are no commercial alternatives available. The Secretary of Defense must ultimately authorize the launch of a NASA primary payload on a Minotaur rocket.
While NASA holds another competition for OCO 2's launch, integration and testing of the satellite will continue, officials said. Orbital Sciences is building the spacecraft in Dulles, Va.
Designed to pinpoint manmade carbon dioxide emissions from cities and industrial zones, the OCO 2 mission was approved in 2010, less than a year after its predecessor was lost in a launch failure on another Taurus XL booster in February 2009.
OCO 2 will identify carbon sources and sinks, places where carbon dioxide is emitted into the atmosphere and absorbed by oceans and plant life. Scientists say such information is pivotal to updating models of the carbon cycle and predicting how greenhouse gases will affect the climate in the future.
An investigation into the Taurus mishap in 2009 found no definitive root cause of the failure, but engineers implemented several recommended changes to the Taurus payload fairing separation system, which failed to jettison the shroud during launch of NASA's first Orbiting Carbon Observatory.
In its first mission since the OCO launch failure, the Taurus XL rocket suffered an almost identical anomaly in March 2011 when its payload fairing stayed attached to the booster after it was supposed to separate, dooming another NASA climate research satellite.
The failures cost NASA a combined $697 million.
The Taurus failure last year led NASA officials to rethink the agency's use of the solid-fueled launcher. Flying another NASA satellite on the Taurus XL would require the rocket be recertified, a lengthy and costly process that still may not yield a reliable launch vehicle, according to agency leaders.
http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n1202/10oco2/
http://www.satnews.com/cgi-bin/story.cgi?number=2121258094
February 27, 2012
NASA... Oh When, Oh When Can The OCO-2 Go...
Launch of the replacement Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO-2) will be delayed at least into mid-2014....
....while NASA finds a new launch vehicle and fixes a problem in the spacecraft reaction wheel assemblies. After two launch failures with Orbital Sciences Corp.'s Taurus XL solid-fuel rocket, NASA has decided to try to launch its replacement on another vehicle. Possibilities include the Pegasus XL, Falcon 9, Delta II and Atlas V, according to Jim Norman, director of launch services at NASA headquarters. NASA pulled OCO-2 off the Taurus XL because company and government failure review boards were unable to pinpoint the precise cause for the back-to-back mishaps, Norman says. "We don't have a root cause, so we just felt it was too high-risk to continue," he says.
The agency and Orbital Sciences signed a bilateral contract modification Feb. 2 that terminates Orbital's task order to launch OCO-2 under its NASA Launch Services II (NLS-II) contract. The action does not end Orbital's NLS-II contract, which gives NASA different launch options under a "catalogue" approach. The U.S. space agency has released a new request for launch service proposals that includes the OCO-2 mission, along with the Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) satellite and the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS-1). Once one is awarded, NASA anticipates the normal 27-month turnaround time before launch of OCO-2, which was originally scheduled to fly in February 2013. That slipped to July 2014 because of the reaction wheel issues, NASA says. "There will be an impact to the original OCO-2 launch-readiness date of February 2013," the agency says. "However, we do not yet know how severe the impact will be."
The initial OCO spacecraft, which was designed to produce global maps of carbon dioxide sources and sinks for climate-change studies, was lost on Feb. 24, 2009. The Taurus XL fairing protecting it during the early phases of ascent failed to separate as planned, and pulled the spacecraft into the South Pacific. After that mishap, Orbital Sciences engineers modified the fairing-separation mechanism on the Taurus XL from a system using hot gas generated by pyrotechnics to a cold-gas system driven by bottled nitrogen, and made other risk-mitigation changes. But the new design also failed to separate the fairing on the Taurus XL that launched NASA's $424 million Glory mission on March 4, 2011, sending it to a Pacific splashdown as well.
An Orbital spokesman said that while the cold-gas separation mechanism has worked on subsequent launches of the company's Minotaur rocket, he was not prepared to comment on whether the company will rebid the OCO-2 launch. Orbital Sciences also provides the spacecraft bus for the OCO-2 mission, based on its LEOStar-2 design. Under the NLS contracts, NASA will be refunded about 25 percent of the cost of the OCO-1 launch. By terminating the OCO-2 mission order a month after the Glory failure, the government will be paid back half of what it had spent for that work, according to Norman.
While specific contract figures are proprietary, NLS launches in the Taurus XL class under the catalogue in effect when OCO-1 was lost fell into the $30-75 million range. Since then the contract range has been raised to $22-114 million, NASA says. Earth scientists still have a source of global carbon data in Japan's Greenhouse Gases Observing Satellite "Ibuki," which was launched in 2009. But the Japanese orbiter returns "more than a factor of 100 fewer observations" during an orbit, and with limited coverage over the oceans, according to NASA. Delays in receiving ocean data from OCO-2 will hamper research, since oceans are an important sink for carbon dioxide.
(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/23008.jpg)
Artistic rendition of the OCO-2 satellite, courtesy of NASA.
Цитировать(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/23008.jpg)
Artistic rendition of the OCO-2 satellite, courtesy of NASA.
Это Лкросс и Центавр.
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ЦитироватьSave Money, Test First
Posted by Amy Svitak 9:33 AM on Dec 18, 2012
AWST reader and commentator Tom Kueterman writes:
"I'm surprised the Orbital Sciences payload fairing issue has not yet been resolved! In the May 30, 2011 issue of AWST a letter to the editor was published "NASA CHECK YOUR APPROACH" asking why OSC would not do full scale testing of their payload fairing at NASA Plum Brook Station's Space Power Facility. NASA and contractors have performed full scale payload fairing deployment tests in this thermal vacuum chamber for years, and everyone who tests there has demonstrated successful fairing deployments in flight. However, to the best of my knowledge OSC has not discussed the idea of testing/qualifying their payload fairings at SPF. SAVE MONEY TEST FIRST."