FASTSAT, FASTRAC-A, FASTRAC-B, FalconSat-4, OREOS, RAX (STP-S26) - Minotaur IV - Kodiak LP-1 - 20.11.10 01:25 UTC

[Salo]

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/tracking/index.html

Sept. 1      Minotaur 4  •  STP S26
Launch time: TBD
Launch site: Kodiak Island, Alaska

The Air Force Minotaur 4 rocket will launch a group of satellites in a launch opportunity sponsored by the Air Force's Space Test Program. The payloads include the Air Force's STPSat 2 satellite, NASA's FASTSAT (Fast, Affordable, Science and Technology Satellite), two FASTRAC spacecraft from the University of Texas, the Air Force Academy's FalconSat 5 satellite, and NASA's O/OREOS CubeSat mission. Delayed from May 28. Moved up from Sept. 5. [May 24]

http://msdb.gsfc.nasa.gov/MissionData.php?mission=FASTSAT-HSV01%20%28STP-S26%20mission%29

[Salo]

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/tracking/index.html

Oct. 1    Minotaur 4  •  STP S26
Launch time: TBD
Launch site: Kodiak Island, Alaska

The Air Force Minotaur 4 rocket will launch a group of satellites in a launch opportunity sponsored by the Air Force's Space Test Program. The payloads include the Air Force's STPSat 2 satellite, NASA's FASTSAT (Fast, Affordable, Science and Technology Satellite), two FASTRAC spacecraft from the University of Texas, the Air Force Academy's FalconSat 5 satellite, and NASA's O/OREOS CubeSat mission. Delayed from May 28. Moved up from Sept. 5. Delayed from Sept. 1. [July 22]

[Salo]

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/tracking/index.html

November    Minotaur 4  •  STP S26
Launch time: TBD
Launch site: LP-1, Kodiak Launch Complex, Alaska

The Air Force Minotaur 4 rocket will launch a group of satellites in a launch opportunity sponsored by the Air Force's Space Test Program. The payloads include the Air Force's STPSat 2 satellite, NASA's FASTSAT (Fast, Affordable, Science and Technology Satellite), two FASTRAC spacecraft from the University of Texas, the Air Force Academy's FalconSat 5 satellite, and NASA's O/OREOS CubeSat mission. Delayed from May 28. Moved up from Sept. 5. Delayed from Sept. 1 and October. [Aug. 28]

[Salo]

Спутник развернет в космосе солнечные паруса

31.08.10, Вт, 10:40, Мск
 
Астрофизики и инженеры из Marshall Space Flight Center и Ames Research Center спроектировали и построили NanoSail-D – миниатюрный спутник с солнечным парусом.

Солнечный парус обеспечивает дешевый движитель с очень долгим временем работы, поэтому американские инженеры сделали ставку именно на него и первый полет NanoSail-D на околоземную орбиту будет исключительно испытанием нового уникального солнечного паруса.


Так выглядит спутник NanoSail-D с солнечным парусом на рисунке

Одна из наиболее сложных конструкторских задач – создать для гигантского (в сравнении с объемом корпуса аппарата) солнечного паруса компактную упаковку, а потом развернуть в космосе тонкую пленку так, чтобы она не разорвалась. NanoSail-D оснащен новой сверхплотной "упаковкой", которая позволит развернуть парус площадью более 9 м2, сделанный из полимера CP1 не толще папиросной бумаги. Конструкторам удалось поместить этот парус в контейнер размером с буханку хлеба, который, как они надеются, сможет развернуть тончайшую пленку, не порвав ее.

Запуск планируется на начало осени с помощью ракеты-носителя Minotaur IV. NanoSail-D установят как часть полезной нагрузки на микроспутник FASTSAT. Его выведут на высоту 643 км, после чего NanoSail-D отделится, его таймер начнет обратный отсчет и в точно выверенный момент 4 штанги начнут быстро разворачивать солнечный парус. Весь процесс займет не более 5 секунд.

В настоящее время солнечный парус остается, пожалуй, единственным движителем, способным обеспечить тягой продолжительные космические миссии. Небольшие и относительно недорогие парусники "рассыпанные" по Солнечной системе могут стать разведчиками для последующих специализированных миссий и даже разумной альтернативой дорогим и сложным зондам.

Также новая технология НАСА может оказаться полезной для разворачивания на орбите антенн, зеркал, солнечных батарей большой площади для различных сенсоров и систем. Не случайно работа ведется в тесном сотрудничестве с ВВС и космическим и противоракетным командованием США.

[Salo]

http://msdb.gsfc.nasa.gov/launches.php

11/20/2010   FASTSAT-HSV01 (STP-S26 mission)

[Космос-3794]

Некоторые подробности по основной миссии.[/size]

Из интервью полковника  Michael Moran, командующего Air Force Space Development and Test Wing:



Согласно Ball Aerospace - главного разработчика проекта:

STP-SIV
Space Test Program's Standard Interface Vehicle

Overview
The Space Test Program's Standard Interface Vehicle (STP-SIV) project has developed a common spacecraft bus with a standard payload interface to accelerate Department of Defense space technology and ensure future U.S. space superiority.

Payload teams are able to design payloads and specific experiments to be compatible with the flexible standardized vehicle, resulting in lower spacecraft non-recurring costs and increased spaceflight opportunities. By providing such a vehicle, the Space Test Program can shorten acquisition timelines and decrease spacecraft build costs for its defense industry customers.

Our Role
As the prime contractor on the program, Ball Aerospace is responsible for the overall system including the spacecraft and standard payload interface design and build, payload integration, space vehicle environmental testing, and launch and mission support.

Ball Aerospace was awarded the contract in 2006 for up to six vehicle delivery orders for the Air Force Space Development & Test Wing's (SDTW) Space Development Group at Kirtland Air Force Base.

Ball Aerospace's STP-SIV product line is ideal for a variety of science, technology development and risk reduction missions.

The STP-SIV:

Spacecraft is approximately 24" x 28" x 28" high and weighs less than 110kg
Accommodates up to four separate instruments
Operates in any low earth orbit from 400 and 850 km altitude
Remains easily adaptable for future missions – no design changes necessary for payloads that conform to the standard interface
Maintains flexibility to launch on a large variety of vehicles, including the EELV Secondary Payload Adapter  
The first STP-SIV spacecraft, STPSat 2 is expected to launch in 2010 aboard a Minotaur IV from Kodiak, AK. STPSat-3, the second STP-SIV spacecraft, is in its production phase and will be ready for payload integration by Fall 2010.

http://www.ballaerospace.com/page.jsp?page=126

Технические характеристики и концепция:


Table 1: STP-SIV Capabilities


Figure 1: STP-SIV Design is Flexible and Capable


Figure 2: The STP-SIV Spacecraft Bus and Payload
Module Accommodate a Range of Payloads

http://www.responsivespace.com/Papers/RS6/SESSIONS/SESSION%20VI/5006_MARLOW/5006P.pdf

[Salo]

http://www.physorg.com/news/2010-10-microbes-molecules-space-stress.html

Microbes and molecules get a space-stress test[/size]
October 25, 2010 By Dauna Coulter


Bacillus subtilis holds the record for surviving in space for the longest duration, 6 years on a NASA satellite.

Astrobiologists searching for life beyond Earth need to know how well life and its building blocks fare in space. To find out, NASA will monitor a miniature "crew" of organic molecules and microbes orbiting Earth for 6 months.

ID over 2200 species - Fast I.D. of over 2200 species of aerobic and anaerobic bacteria. - www.biolog.com

"This will be the first mission since the early 1970s to test a life form's mettle outside the protection of Earth's magnetic field," says science team member Wayne Nicholson of NASA's Kennedy Space Center. "The conditions are harsh 'out there' – extreme vacuum and cosmic radiation are tough on life."

The shoebox-sized O/OREOS (Organism/ORganic Exposure to Orbital Stresses) satellite will venture outside our planet's magnetic shield twice during each of its polar orbits – as it passes over the poles. Over 6 months, there will be significant cumulative exposure to cosmic radiation.

O/OREOS will host two separate experiments simultaneously. In one experiment, called SEVO (Space Environment Viability of Organics), samples of various organic molecules on a rotating wheel outside the satellite will be exposed to solar radiation—the kind of radiation a molecule might experience when it hitches a ride on a comet.

There are many interstellar clouds of gas in our galaxy chock-full of carbon-containing compounds. Some of these molecules adhere to dust particles and are swept up in comets.

Could comets have express-delivered some of life's precursors to our planet and other worlds? To help answer that question, SEVO will reveal how stable organic compounds are in space and how they're altered.

"When our wheel of organic compounds points at the sun, sunlight will pass through the thin film of molecules," explains science team member Richard Quinn of NASA Ames Research Center. "A spectrometer will record the molecules' absorption of ultraviolet and visible light, and a radio will send the data to Earth for analysis. We'll be able to see how the spectra change – and therefore how the compounds themselves change."


A computer-generated image of the complete O/OREOS nanosatellite. The wheel near the left end of the satellite is the SEVO sample carousel with 24 cells (that appear as round holes) for thin-film organic sample reaction cells.
The second experiment, called SESLO (Space Environment Survivability of Live Organisms), will check to see how microbes hold up to long duration space flight.

Four strains of dormant, dried microbes inside the spacecraft will be revived at 1 week, 3 months, and 6 months with a dousing of their favorite medium (food). A three-color LED and detector will monitor the organisms' growth and metabolism by detecting changes in color of a dye that responds to metabolic activity.

Astrobiologist Chris McKay also of Ames is not directly associated with the mission, but he eagerly anticipates the results: "We study microbes because, compared to other living things, including us, bacteria are very resilient. They are known to have survived tremendously inhospitable conditions here on Earth."


Assembly of GeneSat, a previous nano-satellite with roughly the same dimensions as O/OREOS. Credit: NASA Ames
Some microbes have developed a unique survival strategy for enduring extremes. When the going gets tough, they spontaneously replicate their own genetic material and form layers of protective coatings around it, fashioned from their own proteins. The resulting spores are encapsulated and equipped to face extreme temperatures, radiation, and even lack of water, air, and nutrients.
"It's as if they form their own tiny space capsules – spores," says McKay. "In fact, we scientists store them as spores."

The hardiness of bacteria creates what Nicholson calls "a very sticky wicket" – especially if their "space capsules" are tough enough to withstand the extremes of space.

"If we do ever isolate a 'bug' from Mars or anywhere else, we'll have to prove we didn't inadvertently bring a microbial hitchhiker from Earth on our spacecraft, contaminating the extraterrestrial sample," he explains.

Neither, he says, do we want to contaminate a pristine alien world with our microbes.

"Since the O/OREOS mission length will be [almost as long as] an Earth-to-Mars trip, the results will tell us something about how microorganisms would react on such a voyage. We're looking at some very resilient microbes that could serve as proxies for actual spacecraft contaminants."

"The first explorers on Earth simply sailed across the ocean and infected the western hemisphere with all sorts of problems – small pox for example," notes Nicholson. "Now we are taking the time to plan and prepare, with experiments like ours, and we're moving forward cautiously."

O/OREOS is tentatively scheduled for launch in November of 2010.

[Salo]

http://www.utro.ru/articles/2010/10/26/932291.shtml

Экипаж микробов расскажет о вечной жизни

26 октября, 14:59 | Борис ОРЛОВИЧ

Ради безопасности полета Гагарина советские ученые жертвовали обезьянами и собаками. А для изучения возможных проблем со здоровьем будущих путешественников к отдаленным планетам специалисты NASA собрали экипаж самых смелых бактерий.

В ближайшее время на орбиту будет выведен уникальный спутник размером с обувную коробку. Внутри "кабины" поселят бактерий рода Bacilus Subtilis, и изменения, которые будут происходить с ними в космосе, должны послужить основой биоисследований в области дальних перелетов. В первую очередь, ученых интересуют потенциальные мутации и нарушения белковой структуры, которые могут происходить со временем в организме бактерий. На "экипаж" будут воздействовать магнитное поле, солнечная радиация и другие излучения, интересует биологов и реакция микробов на пожизненное пребывание в вакууме.

Дело в том, что вернуться на землю бактериям не суждено. Эксперимент продлится около шести месяцев, за это время ученые успеют собрать все необходимые данные. Для этого в кабине спутника установлены датчики спектрографа, информация с которых будет отправляться в командный центр NASA. Член исследовательской группы, астробиолог Ричард Куинн рассказал: "Датчики улавливают изменения в структуре световых волн, а спектрометр фиксирует степень их поглощения молекулами организмов бактерий. Анализ результатов позволит нам на Земле вести детальный мониторинг состояния экипажа".

Ученые рассчитывают, что космическая миссия расскажет и о том, как живется микроорганизмам с других планет. "Если когда-нибудь человек доберется до Марса и вернется оттуда, мы должны быть уверены, что экипаж не принесет на Землю бактерий с Красной планеты", - говорит член команды NASA Уэйн Николсон. Астробиологи всерьез обеспокоены возможностью инфицирования инопланетными микробами, потому они и жертвуют сегодня

[Salo]

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/minotaur/stps26/101112launchpreps/

Minotaur rocket readied for liftoff from Alaska next week[/size]
BY STEPHEN CLARK
SPACEFLIGHT NOW
Posted: November 12, 2010

Seven satellites will share a ride to space on a Minotaur rocket next Friday, launching from the southern shore of Alaska to an orbital perch more than 400 miles above Earth with a legion of U.S. military, NASA and university experiments.



Payloads of the STP-S26 mission are stacked for launch on a Minotaur 4 rocket. Credit: U.S. Air Force/Lou Hernandez
 

The Minotaur 4 rocket is scheduled for blastoff in a 90-minute launch window opening at 8:24 p.m. EST (4:24 p.m. Alaska time) next Friday, or 0124 GMT on Nov. 20.

The 78-foot-tall launcher, powered by surplus military and commercial rocket motors, is in the final stages of preparations at Launch Pad No. 1 at Kodiak Launch Complex in Alaska.

It will be the second orbital mission from the state-owned facility, which is managed by Alaska Aerospace Corp. and situated on the southeast coast of Kodiak Island.

"Over the past 18 months, our combined government and industry team has done an absolutely phenomenal job overcoming challenges from the logistics of transporting rocket motors to Kodiak Island, to the integration of seven payloads and their 16 experiments onto the rocket, to the numerous launch vehicle and range activities necessary to achieve a successful mission," said Air Force Col. Michael Moran, commander of the Air Force Space Development and Test Wing.

The launch customer is the U.S. Air Force Space Test Program, a unit devoted to demonstrating enabling technologies that could be incorporated on more costly and critical spacecraft in the future.

The mission is codenamed STP-S26, signifying the 26th small launch vehicle mission since the Space Test Program began flight testing in 1967.

"On this single rocket, we will launch seven satellites carrying 16 science and technology experiments from the Air Force, Army, Navy, NASA and the National Science Foundation," said Air Force Col. Carol Welsch, director of the Space Test Program.

The satellite cluster, totaling nearly 1,300 pounds, is already attached to the Minotaur's upper stage.

"Right now, we have the entire vehicle stacked with the encapsulated payload on the rocket," said Air Force Lt. Col. Tim Cole, the launch vehicle program manager. "We have done one rehearsal with the team. From here to the 19th, we will continue to check the systems, the avionics systems, the hydraulic systems, to make sure they are performing to what we expect."



Payloads of the STP-S26 mission are stacked for launch on a Minotaur 4 rocket. Credit: Alaska Aerospace Corp.

Another countdown rehearsal is planned Monday for a final exercise before launch day.

"Getting down to the last couple of days, we will test the flight termination system on the vehicle," Cole said. "We will test the range connection to the vehicle, so that we can get telemetry. We will do a system test. And then on the last day, we will remove the pins for the ordnance devices and be ready to launch."

The launch pad's clamshell-like service tower will be retracted next Friday.

The launch will be the third flight of the Minotaur 4, which is made of three solid rocket motors from stockpiles of retired Peacekeeper missile stages. A commercial Orion 38 fourth stage will inject the payloads into an orbit about 400 miles high with an inclination of 72 degrees.

After deploying the satellites, a liquid-fueled fifth stage will be tested for use on future Minotaur 4 flights. It carries ballast weights to be released in a higher orbit with an altitude of about 715 miles.

The Hydrazine Auxiliary Propulsion System, or HAPS, is designed for missions placing multiple satellites destined for different orbits. All of the operational payloads on this Minotaur mission are going to the same altitude, but future missions could require in-flight orbit changes.

The restartable HAPS thrusters have previously flown on air-launched Pegasus rockets, but not on the Minotaur.

"Although this is our third launch, we treat it like our first since we have several first items on-board, like the HAPS system," Cole said.

[Брабонт]

Обращает на себя внимание такой момент:

After deploying the satellites, a liquid-fueled fifth stage will be tested for use on future Minotaur 4 flights. It carries ballast weights to be released in a higher orbit with an altitude of about 715 miles.

Air Force's STP-S26 Mission Loaded with New Technologies

Then its Hydrazine Auxiliary Propulsion System will propel a dummy payload to an altitude of about 1,100 kilometers, where a new Boeing-developed payload separation system will deploy the ballast, Cole said.

[Salo]

http://www.spacenews.com/military/101112-stps26-mission-loaded-new-technologies.html

Fri, 12 November, 2010
Air Force's STP-S26 Mission Loaded with New Technologies[/size]
By Turner Brinton

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Air Force's experimental STP-S26 mission is slated to launch Nov. 19 in an effort to demonstrate a myriad of new space technologies, including a command and control system, atmospheric sensors, and satellite deployment and propulsion systems.

The mission will be the 26th launched by the Air Force's Space Test Program, which coordinates launches for experimental payloads from across the U.S. government. Seven satellites encompassing 16 experiments are now fully integrated and encapsulated atop a Minotaur 4 launch vehicle counting down the final days until launch from Kodiak Launch Complex in Alaska, said Air Force Lt. Col. Tim Cole, the mission's launch vehicle program manager.

Four of the satellites are in the 180-kilogram class, about the size of small refrigerators, and three are cubesats weighing just a couple of kilograms each.

The Minotaur 4 launch vehicle, built by Orbital Sciences Corp. of Dulles, Va., is based on three repurposed U.S. Peacekeeper ICBM solid rocket motors and a fourth stage powered by Alliant Techsystems' Orion 38 solid rocket motor. The rocket made its suborbital debut in April, followed by its first orbital mission in September.

The third Minotaur 4 flight will mark a number of firsts for the rocket, Cole said in a Nov. 9 media briefing. This will be the first Minotaur 4 launch from Alaska, and it will be the first to use a new multi-payload adapter plate, upon which the four larger satellites are mounted.

The STP-S26 mission also will be the first Minotaur 4 vehicle to deploy payloads into two different orbits. The rocket's four conventional stages will carry it to a 72 degree inclined orbit 650 kilometers above the Earth, where all seven satellites will be deployed. Then its Hydrazine Auxiliary Propulsion System will propel a dummy payload to an altitude of about 1,100 kilometers, where a new Boeing-developed payload separation system will deploy the ballast, Cole said.

The primary payload for the STP-S26 mission is the STPSat-2 spacecraft, built for the Air Force by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. of Boulder, Colo. STPSat-2 uses the first production version of the Space Test Program-Standard Interface Vehicle, a 110-kilogram satellite platform designed to host the majority of the experiments considered for launch by the Space Test Program, said Ken Reese, the Air Force's STPSat-2 program manager.

"The [Standard Interface Vehicle] is ideal for science and technology development missions," Reese said. "We can accommodate up to four independent payloads and launch on a variety of launch vehicles."

The satellite will carry two payloads: the Ocean Data Telemetry Microsat Link, which will relay data from ocean and terrestrial sensors, and the Space Phenomenology Experiment, which will evaluate sensor compatibility in the space environment, Reese said.

STPSat-2 will be the first satellite operated by a new command and control system called the Multi-Mission Space Operations Center at Schriever Air Force Base, Colo. The ground system is designed to fly multiple constellations of spacecraft with various missions.

Also on board the STP-S26 mission is the first Fast, Affordable Science and Technology Satellite — or FASTSat — built by 13 Huntsville, Ala.-based organizations, including Dynetics Corp., the Von Braun Center for Science and Innovation, Marshall Space Flight Center and the University of Alabama. The satellite was designed and built in less than 15 months and hosts six atmospheric experiments, said FASTSat mission manager Mark Boudreaux.

FASTSat is unique because it will be the first free-flying satellite to deploy a separate free-flying cubesat, Boudreaux said. Once on orbit, FASTSat will eject NASA's Nanosail D experiment, which aims to be the first satellite to deploy a solar sail for propulsion in low Earth orbit. Developed by Marshall and NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View, Calif., the 10-centimeter cube will unfurl a bed sheet-sized sail about as thin as a tissue that will propel the satellite as it catches photons from the sun. Nanosail D will use its solar sail to deorbit itself, potentially demonstrating a new way to bring satellites and debris back to Earth without any chemical propellant, Boudreaux said.

The other two larger satellites on the STP-S26 mission are the University of Texas's Formation Autonomy Spacecraft with Thrust, Relnav, Attitude and Crosslink satellite and the U.S. Air Force Academy's FalconSat-5 spacecraft.

The mission's two other small satellites, which measure about 30 centimeters by 10 centimeters, are NASA's Organism/Organic Exposure to Orbital Stresses craft and the National Science Foundation's Radio Aurora Explorer craft.

[Salo]

http://spaceflightnow.com/

Minotaur team completes countdown simulation[/size]

The Minotaur launch team practiced countdown procedures Monday at the Kodiak Launch Complex in Alaska. Check out photos from tower rollback at the picturesque facility on the Pacific Ocean.

http://spaceflightnow.com/minotaur/stps26/101115retract/

Minotaur put through countdown rehearsal

The service structure at the Kodiak Launch Complex retracted away from the Minotaur 4 rocket Monday, exposing the booster during a simulated countdown to practice procedures for Friday's scheduled liftoff with seven small satellites for the U.S. Air Force, NASA and university students.

Photo credit: Stephen Clark/Spaceflight Now

[Salo]

http://spaceflightnow.com/minotaur/stps26/101116nanosail/

Solar sail demo packed up to prove new technologies[/size]
BY STEPHEN CLARK
SPACEFLIGHT NOW
Posted: November 16, 2010

KODIAK, Alaska -- For less than $1 million, scientists are planning to show off an innovative solar sail experiment beginning with a blastoff from the Alaska frontier Friday, proving new propulsion technologies that could help rid space of unnecessary debris.


Artist's concept of NanoSail-D in orbit. Credit: NASA

The NanoSail-D mission will unfurl a 100 square foot polymer sail from a satellite the size of a loaf of bread. Researchers say the sail will harness light pressure from the sun to change its orbit, eventually slowing the craft's speed enough to drop from orbit and burn up in Earth's atmosphere.

Solar sails don't generate much thrust, but they can propel lightweight spacecraft long distances into the solar system on timescales of months and years. A Japanese solar sail mission, named Ikaros, successfully demonstrated solar sailing on the way from Earth to Venus this summer.

NanoSail-D's potential applications are closer to home.

NASA and the U.S. military are interested in inexpensive methods of removing retired satellites from clogged traffic lanes in orbit. The military tracks nearly 16,000 objects larger than 4 inches circling Earth, and even small debris moving at high speeds pose serious threats to active spacecraft.

DARPA, the Pentagon's research and development agency, is studying concepts to pull debris and old satellites out of operational orbits. Such a job is technically challenging, but legal and political hurdles loom even taller, according to experts.

Low-cost CubeSat spacecraft like NanoSail-D could prove solar sails can be packed inside canisters like parachutes, providing a disposal system when satellites are finished with their missions. Over time, sails could slow satellite velocities enough to move the craft to graveyard orbits or into the atmosphere for a destructive reentry.

NanoSail-D's will stay in space between 70 and 120 days, depending on atmospheric conditions.

"Many satellites remain in orbit much longer, and thus NanoSail-D becomes a method for preventing satellites from remaining on orbit much longer and remaining there as space junk," said Dean Alhorn, NanoSail-D's project manager at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala.

The experiment begins Friday with the launch of a Minotaur 4 rocket from Kodiak Launch Complex in Alaska. For liftoff, the 8.5-pound NanoSail-D spacecraft will be snugly packed inside a larger NASA mothership called FASTSAT.

FASTSAT stands for Fast, Affordable Science and Technology Satellite. NanoSail-D and the FASTSAT microsatellite are both managed from Marshall.

NanoSail-D will be spring-ejected from FASTSAT between seven and nine days after launch, when the satellite is in an acceptable attitude to ensure the two spacecraft do not collide, according to Mark Boudreaux, FASTSAT project manager at Marshall.

Officials say the primary objective of NanoSail-D is to release the satellite from FASTSAT, then deploy the ultra-thin sail membrane.

"Our goal on the NanoSail-D mission is to be the first nanosatellite ejected from a microsatellite, FASTSAT," Alhorn said.
 
   
File photo of FASTSAT under construction. Credit: NASA/MSFC
 

Weighing more than 300 pounds, FASTSAT will continue its mission for more than nine months, hosting five other experiments to probe space weather and test new spacecraft sensors waiting for a ride into space.

"Sometimes it can take years to get just the smallest scientific or technology experiment manifested for flight," said Joe Casas, FASTSAT science operations director. "That means delaying the return of scientific knowledge and the technology validation research that could actually advance a number of solutions to the future spaceflight missions, and sometimes even to our real-world problems. FASTSAT is meant to address some of that deficit in our portfolio."

Shaped like a rectangular prism, the NanoSail-D spacecraft will be orbiting about 400 miles above Earth, too low to measure significant changes its trajectory on sunlight alone. Atmospheric drag will be the largest force on the satellite at that altitude.

The mission timeline calls for unfurling the sail about three days after NanoSail-D ejects from FASTSAT, or between 10 and 12 days after liftoff, according to Casas.

Four spring-loaded guide booms will pop out of the compact spacecraft, then the polymer membrane will stretch tight in a diamond shape within about five seconds.

"The sail will deploy in only about five seconds, similar to how you push a button and a jack-in-the-box opens," Alhorn told reporters last week.

The sail is made of a material called CP1, which launches wrapped on a spindle inside the NanoSail-D spacecraft. The CP1 polymer is about 3 microns thick, tens of times thinner than a human hair, according to Alhorn, who described it as similar to plastic food wrap with aluminum coating on one side.

The satellite's low mass and large sail area mean it will most likely naturally decay from orbit within 17 weeks. The short duration will limit viewing opportunities, but Alhorn said amateur astronomers and backyard satellite observers have a chance to catch a glimpse of NanoSail-D passing overhead.


Doug Hule from the University of Alabama in Huntsville prepares one of the two NanoSail-D spacecraft in 2008. Credit: NASA/MSFC/D. Higginbotham

Officials are launching an imaging contest to capture pictures of NanoSail-D. Its solar sail is six times larger than an antenna on Iridium satellites, a mobile communications constellation famous for brief bursts in brightness easily visible from the ground.

Alhorn expects the spacecraft end up in a spin, and the sail membrane could reflect sunlight to the ground at times, making it visible to observers.

On a budget of $500,000, Alhorn's team built two NanoSail spacecraft in four months in early 2008.

The first unit was launched on a SpaceX Falcon 1 booster in 2008, but a rocket failure caused the satellite to not reach orbit.

Technicians spent the last two years tweaking the backup spacecraft and waiting for a launch opportunity.

[Брабонт]

Классная у них башня, на Кодьяке. Видео.

[Salo]

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/

Minotaur 4 poised to send research to new heights[/size]

In a business where mission costs are often measured in billions of dollars, the $170 million value of Friday's rideshare rocket launch from Alaska seems like a bargain. Seven satellites are due for launch on a Minotaur 4 rocket at 4:24 p.m. Alaska time (8:24 p.m. EST; 0124 GMT Saturday).

[Чебурашка]

Пошла прямая трнсляция: http://spaceflightnow.com/minotaur/stps26/status.html

P.S. Хоть одно из них (Минотавр или Дельта) улетит сегодня  :?:

[SpaceR]

Классная у них башня, на Кодьяке. Видео.

Классная, да.
Кстати, первый же коммент к этому ролику:
rnech, 12 ч. назад
Is this Orbital Science Corp.'s Minotaur 4 rocket or an Athena?
Меня при виде РН та же мысль сразу посетила...  :roll:
А вообще производитель РДТТ у обеих ракет один и тот же, так?
И диаметр одинаковый?

[Liss]

Пошла прямая трнсляция: http://spaceflightnow.com/minotaur/stps26/status.html

P.S. Хоть одно из них (Минотавр или Дельта) улетит сегодня  :?:

"Дельта" уже не улетела :-)

[Sharicoff]

Улетело. Сейчас разбрасывает элементы ПН.

[Salo]

Видео:
http://www.spaceflightnow.com/minotaur/stps26/status.html

0345 GMT Sat. (10:45 p.m. EST; 6:45 p.m. AST Fri.)
The primary payload for tonight's launch has radioed back to Earth through a ground station in Hawaii, according to Ken Reese, the Air Force STPSat 2 program manager.

STPSat 2 extended its solar panels and is operating normally, Reese said.


0315 GMT Sat. (10:15 p.m. EST; 6:15 p.m. AST Fri.)
Today's Minotaur 4 rocket launch from Alaska has reached a successful conclusion, releasing six satellites 400 miles above Earth, then firing a liquid-fueled thruster to boost its orbit another 300 miles higher.

The $170 million flight took off just before sunset from Launch Pad No. 1 at Kodiak Launch Complex. It pitched southeast from the Narrow Cape launch site, traversing the Pacific Ocean as it soared into the upper atmosphere within a handful of minutes.

A crystal clear moon-soaked sky greeted the gleaming white rocket, which was powered by leftover Peacekeeper missile stages to provide a low-cost launch option for its payload of military, NASA and university experiments.

All six payloads separated as scheduled within 32 minutes of liftoff.


0255 GMT Sat. (9:55 p.m. EST; 5:55 p.m. AST Fri.)
T+plus 1 hour, 30 minutes. HAPS cutoff! Applause just broke out in the control center as the hydrazine-fueled auxiliary propulsion system finished its second burn.

The HAPS burns placed the rocket in a circular orbit 746 miles above Earth with an inclination of 72 degrees, almost exactly the preflight target. The rocket was expected to release ballast weights before ending its mission.


0252 GMT Sat. (9:52 p.m. EST; 5:52 p.m. AST Fri.)
T+plus 1 hour, 27 minutes. The hydrazine kick engine is firing a second time to prove a new multi-orbit capability for the Minotaur 4 rocket.


0204 GMT Sat. (9:04 p.m. EST; 5:04 p.m. AST Fri.)
T+plus 39 minutes, 30 seconds. The first of two HAPS burns should be completed, but there is no confirmation of that milestone.

A second HAPS firing is planned to begin at T+plus 1 hour, 27 minutes to raise the orbital altitude from 400 miles to more than 700 miles.


0201 GMT Sat. (9:01 p.m. EST; 5:01 p.m. AST Fri.)
T+plus 36 minutes. The fourth stage has separated from the HAPS thruster system and the liquid-fueled engine has ignited for a demonstration of a new capability on Minotaur 4 rockets.


0156 GMT Sat. (8:56 p.m. EST; 4:56 p.m. AST Fri.)
T+plus 31 minutes, 50 seconds. The FASTRAC satellites have separated, ending the choreographed deployment sequence.

That completes the Minotaur's mission of delivering seven satellites to orbit, but engineers still plan a test of a hydrazine auxiliary propulsion system, or HAPS, that could enable future launches of spacecraft to multiple altitudes on a single flight.


0153 GMT Sat. (8:53 p.m. EST; 4:53 p.m. AST Fri.)
T+plus 28 minutes. One more payload, the University of Texas FASTRAC satellite pair, remains to be released from the Minotaur fourth stage. That milestone is scheduled for T+plus 31 minutes, 39 seconds.


0152 GMT Sat. (8:52 p.m. EST; 4:52 p.m. AST Fri.)
T+plus 27 minutes. FalconSat 5 separation confirmed.


0149 GMT Sat. (8:49 p.m. EST; 4:49 p.m. AST Fri.)
T+plus 24 minutes. All systems reported in good shape and the rocket is close to the predicted orbit.


0146 GMT Sat. (8:46 p.m. EST; 4:46 p.m. AST Fri.)
T+plus 21 minutes, 45 seconds. FASTSAT separation confirmed.


0145 GMT Sat. (8:45 p.m. EST; 4:45 p.m. AST Fri.)
T+plus 20 minutes. Officials now have positive confirmation of payload deployments so far. The rocket is now re-orienting for FASTSAT separation.

The STPSat 2, Radio Aurora Explorer and NASA's O/OREOS CubeSat were the first three payloads scheduled to be deployed.


0143 GMT Sat. (8:43 p.m. EST; 4:43 p.m. AST Fri.)
As expected, the rocket flew out of range of ground stations as it tracked downrange. Officials are working to restore communications through NASA's tracking satellites.


0141 GMT Sat. (8:41 p.m. EST; 4:41 p.m. AST Fri.)
T+plus 16 minutes. The rocket is out of communications range with ground stations and there is no communications with NASA's network of tracking satellites. So there is no insight into the fourth stage burn and payload separation milestones, which should be occuring now.