NPP-Bridge, AubieSat, попутчики - Delta II 7920 - Vandenberg SLC-2W - 28.10.11 09:48 UTC

Salo · 25.10.2011 10:20:07

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/delta/d357/flow/index2.html

ЦитироватьPhoto Gallery: Interstage adapter put in place[/size]

The barrel-like interstage is hoisted atop the first stage of the United Launch Alliance Delta 2 rocket at Vandenberg Air Force Base's Space Launch Complex 2 on July 21.

See our Mission Status Center for the latest news on the launch.

Credit: NASA/VAFB[/size]

Salo · 25.10.2011 10:24:23

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/delta/d357/flow/index3.html

ЦитироватьPhoto Gallery: Solid rocket boosters added[/size]

The nine ATK-made solid-fuel strap-on boosters were attached to the Delta 2 rocket's first stage between July 28 and August 1 at Vandenberg Air Force Base's Space Launch Complex 2 for the NPP satellite mission.

See our Mission Status Center for the latest news on the launch.

Credit: NASA/VAFB[/size]

Salo · 25.10.2011 10:27:07

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/delta/d357/flow/index4.html

ЦитироватьPhoto Gallery: Second stage installed[/size]

The second stage that will deliver the NPP climate and weather observatory into the desired polar orbit was hoisted atop the Delta 2 rocket's first stage at Vandenberg Air Force Base's Space Launch Complex 2 on August 2.

See our Mission Status Center for the latest news on the launch.

Credit: NASA/VAFB[/size]

Salo · 25.10.2011 10:30:13

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/delta/d357/flow/index5.html

ЦитироватьPhoto Gallery: Satellite mounted atop Delta 2 rocket[/size]

The NPP climate and weather observatory was moved on May 20 from the payload processing facility on North Vandenberg to the Space Launch Complex 2 and hoisted atop the Delta 2 rocket on October 13.

See our Mission Status Center for the latest news on the launch.

Credit: NASA/VAFB[/size]

Salo · 25.10.2011 10:34:16

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/delta/d357/flow/index6.html

ЦитироватьPhoto Gallery: Nose cone installed around NPP[/size]

The Delta 2 rocket's two-piece nose cone was installed around the NPP climate and weather observatory to complete the launcher's assembly process on October 20.

See our Mission Status Center for the latest news on the launch.

Credit: NASA/VAFB[/size]

Salo · 25.10.2011 10:36:30

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/delta/d357/track.html

Salo · 25.10.2011 10:40:18

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/delta/d357/ascent.html

ЦитироватьDelta 357 launch timeline[/size]

SPACEFLIGHT NOW
Posted: October 21, 2011

T-00:00    Liftoff
The Delta 2 rocket's main engine and twin vernier steering thrusters are started moments before launch. Six of the nine strap-on solid rocket motors are ignited at T-0 to begin the mission.

T+01:04.0    Ground SRB Burnout
The six ground-start Alliant TechSystems-built solid rocket motors consume all their propellant and burn out.

T+01:05.5    Air-Lit SRM Ignition
The three remaining solid rocket motors strapped to the Delta 2 rocket's first stage are ignited.

T+01:26.0    Jettison SRBs
The spent solid rocket boosters are jettisoned to fall into the Pacific Ocean. The spent casings remained attached until the vehicle passed into preset drop zone, clear of offshore oil platforms.

T+02:11.5    Jettison Air-Lit SRMs
Having burned out, the three spent air-started solid rocket boosters are jettisoned toward the Pacific Ocean.

T+04:23.4    Main Engine Cutoff
After consuming its RP-1 fuel and liquid oxygen, the Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne RS-27A first stage main engine is shut down. The vernier engines cut off moments later.

T+04:31.4    Stage Separation
The Delta rocket's first stage is separated now, having completed its job. The spent stage will fall into the Pacific Ocean.

T+04:36.9    Second Stage Ignition
With the stage jettisoned, the rocket's second stage takes over. The Aerojet AJ118-K liquid-fueled engine ignites for the first of two firings needed to place the NPP spacecraft into the proper orbit.

T+04:41.0    Jettison Payload Fairing
The 10-foot diameter payload fairing that protected the NPP cargo atop the Delta 2 during the atmospheric ascent is jettisoned is two halves.

T+10:23.7    Second Stage Cutoff 1
The second stage engine shuts down to complete its first firing of the launch. The rocket and attached spacecraft are now in a long coast period before the second stage reignites. The orbit achieved should be 460 nautical miles at apogee, 100 miles at perigee and inclined 98.655 degrees.

T+52:05.0    Second Stage Restart
Delta's second stage engine reignites for a short firing to boost the elliptical orbit into a more circular one.

T+52:26.7    Second Stage Cutoff 2
The second stage shuts down after a 22-second burn. The orbit achieved should be 445.7 nautical miles at apogee, 438.8 miles at perigee and inclined 98.705 degrees.

T+58:45.0    NPP Separation
The NPOESS Preparatory Project spacecraft for NOAA and NASA is released from the Delta 2 rocket, completing the primary launch sequence.

T+92:30.0    Second Stage Restart
Delta's second stage engine reignites for 39 seconds to perform its planned evasive maneuver to leave the orbital plane of the NPP satellite, resulting in a new orbit of 437.6 nautical miles at apogee, 183.6 nautical miles at perigee and inclined 101.8 degrees.

T+98:20.0    CubeSat Deploys
A half-dozen student-made CubeSats are ejected from carriers on the Delta second stage in three deployment events occurring in 100-second intervals. AubieSat 1, DICE, Explorer 1 (Prime) Unit 2, M-Cubed and RAX 2 are part of NASA's Educational Launch of Nanosatellite, or ELaNa.

T+114:58.6    Second Stage Restart
Delta's second stage engine reignites for 32 seconds to deplete its remaining fuel supply, resulting in a new orbit of 399.0 nautical miles at apogee, 100.1 nautical miles at perigee and inclined 107.5 degrees.[/size]

Salo · 26.10.2011 09:50:14

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/delta/d357/111025npp/

ЦитироватьNPP: The next-generation weather watcher from space[/size]
BY JUSTIN RAY
SPACEFLIGHT NOW
Posted: October 25, 2011

Roughly the size of a sports utility vehicle, the environmental satellite launching from America's western spaceport Friday morning carries a suite of modernized instruments to see Earth's weather with crisper clarity than its decades of predecessors.

The NPP spacecraft. Credit: Ball Aerospace

The NPP spacecraft will ride a United Launch Alliance Delta 2 rocket into its orbital vantage point, looping from pole to pole some 512 miles up.

Built in Colorado by Ball Aerospace, NPP is the experimental precursor to the planned next-generation of weather and climate spacecraft that NASA and NOAA have begun developing, known as the Joint Polar Satellite System.

"It will fly five instruments -- VIIRS, CrIS, ATMS, OMPS and CERES -- which will collect data on atmospheric and sea-surface temperatures, humidity soundings, land and ocean biological productivity, and cloud and aerosol properties, along with Earth radiation budget data. These data will contribute to long-term data records in support of monitoring climate trends," said Andrew Carson, NASA's NPP program executive.

Weighing 2.5 tons and measuring 13 feet long and 8.5 feet wide, the craft has a hydrazine fuel tank at its core for feeding 8 maneuvering thrusters. It uses Firewire for onboard data transfers, communicates with the ground via S- and X-band frequencies and runs on solar power from its three-panel wing that gets deployed minutes after reaching orbit.

"Data will be transmitted to the ground-receive station in Svalbard, Norway, and brought back to the U.S. via fiber-optic cables. From there it will be sent to both the Air Force Weather Agency and the NOAA Satellite Operations Facility where it will be processed and provided to scientists and meteorologists around the world," Carson said.

Four of the instruments are updated versions of previous spaceborne devices, while the fifth comes from earlier NASA observatories.

This illustration depicts the key features of NPP. Credit: NASA

The Visible/Infrared Imager Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) will produce those familiar pictures of clouds, plus take sea-surface temperatures for hurricane forecasting and perform land and ocean color surveys.

This advanced environmental instrument is 10 years in the making.

"It provides data products that result in action," said Warren Flynn, VIIRS program director at Raytheon.

"It provides four times better spectral resolution, three times better spatial resolution, seven times better sea-surface temperatures. It has a fully calibrated day-night band that gives us better weather coverage at night. It is taking visible radiometric imagery to the next level."

The Advanced Technology Microwave Sounder (ATMS) is another state-of-the-art instrument representing next-generation technology built smaller and less massive than before.

"What's unique about microwave sounders is (they) can see through clouds. We see all the way to ground. We provide that water vapor, temperature, pressure profile from all the way on altitude to the ground," said Stephen Opel, civil space program manager at Northrop Grumman.

"It is a significant amount of data that comes up through a 1.1-degree soda straw from the ground."

The Cross-track Infrared Sounder (CrIS) is half the size and uses half the power of comparable spectrometers previously flown in space.

"CrIS is a hyperspectral infrared sounder, which is a real fancy way of saying it takes a lot of channels of data (from) a very compact infrared device. It is the next in a long line of sounders that ITT has built," said Mark Poling, CrIS program manager at ITT Geospatial Systems.

"It provides data to measure water vapor, temperature and pressure profiles from the ground all the way up to many thousands of feet. That allows numerical weather predictions to be much more accurate."

The Ozone Mapping and Profiler Suite (OMPS) will provide three views to continue the long-term data record of ozone measurements from satellites.

"It is called a 'suite' because there are three distinct instruments aboard. One is called the Limb Profiler -- it looks off the backend of the spacecraft looking at the orbit where we've just passed...The other two instruments are nadir that will look straight down from the bottom of the spacecraft. Total Column has a very wide field of view -- over 100 degrees -- and Profiler is a much smaller field of view -- around 16 degrees. Together these provide a total column of ozone from the stratosphere all the way down to the Earth," said Joan Howard, program manager at Ball Aerospace.

"We also provide countless data modes so scientists will be able to mine the data for trace gas analyses and other things that we as engineers haven't even invented yet for scientists."

The Clouds and the Earth Radiant Energy System (CERES) is the one instrument aboard NPP that is borrowed from earlier satellite missions to take the planet's temperature and measure the Sun's radiation reflected off Earth.

"CERES monitors this radiance in three distinct wavelength bands -- a shortwave band that includes all of the solar reflected light, a longwave band that measures the thermal emissions and then a total channel that goes from the ultraviolet to the far-infrared that measures the entire radiance of the Earth," said Mark Folkman, Northrop Grumman's director of products and sensing.

"These three sensor channels are scanned back and forth across the surface of the Earth at 30 km of spatial resolution day-in-and-day-out, day-and-night, all around the globe. The trick here is that measurement is done with an unprecedented amount of absolute radiometric accuracy. By measuring the reflected sunlight thermal emission on a global scale, scientists are allowed to monitor the temperature of the planet and validate the models that calculate the effects of clouds driving planetary heating or cooling."

Given its testbed role in checking out these new instruments for their inclusion on the next-generation polar-orbiting weather and climate satellites, officials say it will take some time before NPP is fully operational.

"There's over 30 data products from NPP. We expect to have some operational data within 18 months," said Jim Gleason, the NPP project scientist from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. "My guess (is) the most critical data sets will be much sooner, probably in the six-month timeframe for microwave radiances and longer for the more-complicated data products."[/size]

instml · 28.10.2011 10:26:30

NPP Being Readied for Launch

ЦитироватьThe Delta II rocket with it's NPOESS Preparatory Project (NPP) spacecraft payload is seen as the service structure is rolled back on Thursday, Oct. 27, 2011, at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. NPP is the first NASA satellite mission to address the challenge of acquiring a wide range of land, ocean, and atmospheric measurements for Earth system science while simultaneously preparing to address operational requirements for weather forecasting. NPP is scheduled to launch early Friday morning.

Image Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls

http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_2092.html

instml · 28.10.2011 10:27:19

Погода благоволит запуску нового метеоспутника NPP в пятницу

ЦитироватьМОСКВА, 28 окт - РИА Новости. Американское космическое агентство НАСА в пятницу запустит с базы ВВС Ванденберг в Калифорнии новый метеоспутник NPP, который продолжит более чем 40-летнюю историю спутниковых исследований погоды и климата - прогноз погодных условий на старт, по интересному совпадению, на 100% благоприятный.

Старт запланирован на 05.48 по времени восточного побережья (13.48 мск) пятницы, 28 октября, окно запуска продлится чуть более девяти минут. Спутник выведет на орбиту ракета Delta II.

"Прогноз погоды остается безупречным, вероятность благоприятных погодных условий на время старта оценивается в 100%", - говорится в сообщении НАСА.

Ракета-носитель Delta II, которая должна вывести аппарат на плановую траекторию, имеет практически безупречную историю полетов: из 150 запусков 148 прошли успешно. В одном случае аппарат был выведен на нерасчетную орбиту, что впоследствии удалось компенсировать, и лишь в 1997 году при запуске спутника GPS ракета из-за повреждения взорвалась через 13 секунд после старта.

Аппарат массой 2,1 тонны планируется использовать как для краткосрочного прогнозирования погодных условий, так и для исследований климатических процессов. Спутник будет собирать данные об энергетическом балансе планеты, температуре, состоянии озонового слоя, загрязнении воздуха, а также наблюдать за ледовым покровом Арктики и Антарктики, растительностью и экстремальными погодными явлениями.

NPP (NPOESS Preparatory Project) присоединится к действующей орбитальной группировке метеорологических и климатических спутников, в которую, помимо аппаратов "Терра", "Аква" и "Аура", входят, например, спутник для исследования космической погоды SORCE, изучающий облака CloudSat, а также запущенный в 2011 году Acquarius для наблюдения за соленостью и температурой воды Мирового океана.

Общая стоимость миссии NPP оценивается примерно в 1,5 миллиарда долларов с учетом затрат НАСА, NOAA и Министерства обороны США.

http://ria.ru/science/20111028/473003600.html