NuSTAR = Pegasus-XL - 13.06.12 20:00:42 ЛМВ - Kwajalein

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http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/press_kits/NuSTARpresskit.pdf

[Salo]

http://www.orbital.com/NewsInfo/release.asp?prid=812

Orbital's Pegasus Rocket Carrying NASA's NuSTAR Satellite Arrives at Kwajalein Atoll Launch Site[/size]

-- Launch of NASA Astrophysics Satellite to Originate from Equatorial Range Following Trans-Pacific Flight of "Stargazer" Carrier Aircraft with Pegasus Rocket --

-- Orbital-Built NuSTAR Satellite to Search for Black Holes in the Galaxy Following its Launch into Low-Earth Orbit –

(Dulles, VA 7 June 2012) -- Orbital Sciences Corporation (NYSE: ORB), one of the world's leading space technology companies, today announced that its Pegasus® rocket, which will launch NASA's Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) satellite, has arrived at its launch site in the mid-Pacific Ocean. Following a 4,200 nautical mile ferry flight that included a refueling stop at Hickam Air Force Base in Hawaii, Orbital's "Stargazer" L-1011 carrier aircraft arrived at the Reagan Test Site airfield on Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands, where the NuSTAR launch will originate. The launch is currently scheduled for June 13 at approximately 11:30 a.m. (EDT), subject to final pre-launch testing and acceptable weather conditions at the time of launch.

During its mission, NuSTAR will use high-energy x-rays to detect black holes and other energetic phenomena in the universe with the purpose of expanding our understanding of the origins and destinies of stars and galaxies. NuSTAR will have more than one hundred times the sensitivity of previous instruments to detect black holes and will be the first focusing hard x-ray telescope in space.

For the NuSTAR mission, Orbital is providing the spacecraft platform, performing overall system integration, and conducting the launch operations with its Pegasus air-launched rocket, a comprehensive mission support combination that it has previously carried out for numerous successful NASA scientific missions such as the SORCE, GALEX, AIM and IBEX projects.

The NuSTAR satellite project is led by Dr. Fiona Harrison, the mission's Principal Investigator from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). It is part of NASA's Small Explorer (SMEX) series that is managed by the Goddard Space Flight Center for NASA's Science Mission Directorate. These low-cost, highly effective small satellite missions have enabled scientists to gather critical data about the Earth's environment, the solar system and beyond. In addition to Caltech, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is one of Orbital's key mission partners on the NuSTAR project.

Pegasus is the world's leading launch system for the deployment of small satellites into low-Earth orbit. Its patented air-launch system, in which the rocket is launched from beneath Orbital's "Stargazer" L-1011 carrier aircraft over the ocean, reduces cost and provides customers with unparalleled flexibility to operate from virtually anywhere on Earth with minimal ground support requirements. The NuSTAR launch from Kwajalein is an example of its unrivaled mission versatility. The launch of the NuSTAR satellite will be the 41st Pegasus mission since its introduction in 1990. It remains the world's only small space launch vehicle that is certified with NASA's Payload Risk Category 3, which the space agency reserves for its highest value space missions.

About Orbital

Orbital develops and manufactures small- and medium-class rockets and space systems for commercial, military and civil government customers. The company's primary products are satellites and launch vehicles, including low-Earth orbit, geosynchronous-Earth orbit and planetary exploration spacecraft for communications, remote sensing, scientific and defense missions; human-rated space systems for Earth-orbit, lunar and other missions; ground- and air-launched rockets that deliver satellites into orbit; and missile defense systems that are used as interceptor and target vehicles. Orbital also provides satellite subsystems and space-related technical services to U.S. Government agencies and laboratories.

More information about Orbital can be found at http://www.orbital.com[/size]

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https://twitter.com/OrbitalSciences

     

[Bizonich]

Стало быть определились с временем запуска. А трансляция будет?

[instml]

NASA to Host News Teleconference About NuSTAR Launch

PASADENA, Calif. -- NASA will host a news teleconference at noon PDT (3 p.m. EDT) June 11 to discuss the upcoming launch of its Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) observatory, scheduled for no earlier than 8:30 a.m. PDT (11:30 a.m. EDT) June 13.

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2012-157b

[Space Alien]

А точное время запуска известно?

А трансляция будет?

Вроде должна быть   .

[instml]

http://www.nasa.gov/newsaudio

http://1.usa.gov/nustar

[instml]

А точное время запуска известно?

Любой день в году:

[instml]

NuSTAR to Drop From Plane and Rocket Into Space

NASA's NuSTAR mission is scheduled to launch from Kwajalein Atoll in the central Pacific Ocean on June 13, no earlier than 8:30 a.m. PDT (11:30 a.m. EDT). The observatory, which will hunt for black holes and other exotic objects using specialized X-ray eyes, will be launched from a Pegasus XL rocket carried by an Orbital Science Corporation L-1011 "Stargazer" plane. The plane will take off from Kwajalein Atoll an hour before launch, flying out over the Pacific Ocean.

About five seconds before launch, the Pegasus XL rocket -- also from Orbital -- will drop from the plane, ignite and propel NuSTAR to space. A video showing a previous Pegasus launch is online at http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/videogallery/index.html?media_id=128352201 .

Why launch from the air? Plane-assisted launches are less expensive than those that take place from the ground. Less fuel is needed to boost cargo away from the pull of Earth's gravity. NuSTAR is part of NASA's Small Explorer program, which builds focused science missions at relatively low costs.

If all goes as planned, the following milestones will occur on June 13. Times listed are for a launch at the start of a four-hour window.

Takeoff

The Stargazer carrier aircraft, with the Pegasus launch vehicle and NuSTAR spacecraft strapped to its belly, will take off from Kwajalein's Bucholz Auxiliary Airfield an hour before launch, and climb to an altitude of about 39,000 feet (11,900 meters). This should occur around 7:30 a.m. PDT (10:30 a.m. EDT).

The Drop

The carrier aircraft will release the Pegasus rocket at 8:30 a.m. PDT (11:30 a.m. EDT). The rocket will free-fall for about five seconds before igniting.

Ignition

At about 8:30 a.m. PDT (11:30 a.m. EDT), the rocket carrying NuSTAR will ignite. Its first-stage motor will burn for 70 seconds and then drop away. The second-stage motor will burn for about a minute-and-a-half.

Splitting the Nose Cone

While the second stage is burning, pyrotechnic devices will be fired to release the nose cone, or fairing, that encapsulates the observatory. NuSTAR will be exposed to space for the first time. This event is scheduled to occur around 8:33 a.m. PDT (11:33 a.m. EDT).

Separating From the Rocket

At about 8:43 a.m. PDT (11:43 a.m. EDT), 13 minutes after the initial release from the Stargazer, NuSTAR will separate from the Pegasus rocket's third stage. At this point, NuSTAR will be in its final orbit -- a low-Earth equatorial orbit at an altitude of approximately 340 miles (600 kilometers) and an inclination of six degrees.

Phoning Home

When NuSTAR separates from the Pegasus, the satellite's system that controls its orientation in space, or "attitude," will begin to stabilize it, and the spacecraft solar arrays will be deployed. Around this time, its first signal will be received on the ground via NASA's Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System. Over the following week, NuSTAR personnel will perform a series of checkouts to ensure that all spacecraft subsystems are operating nominally.

Deploying the Boom

Roughly one week after launch, engineers will command NuSTAR to deploy its lengthy 33-foot (10-meter) boom, allowing the telescope to focus X-ray light into crisp images. Unlike visible-light telescopes, X-ray telescopes require a long distance between the mirrors and detectors to focus the light. It's a bit like wearing glasses a few feet away from your face.

Science operations are expected to begin about 30 days after launch.

On launch day, live commentary and coverage will be broadcast online beginning at 7 a.m. PDT (10 a.m. EDT) at http://www.nasa.gov/nustar and at http://www.ustream.tv/nasajpl2 .

NuSTAR is a Small Explorer mission led by the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena and managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, also in Pasadena, for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The spacecraft was built by Orbital Sciences Corporation, Dulles, Va. Its instrument was built by a consortium including Caltech; JPL; the University of California, Berkeley; Columbia University, New York; NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.; the Danish Technical University in Denmark; Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, Calif.; and ATK Aerospace Systems, Goleta, Calif. NuSTAR will be operated by UC Berkeley, with the Italian Space Agency providing its equatorial ground station located at Malindi, Kenya. The mission's outreach program is based at Sonoma State University, Rohnert Park, Calif. NASA's Explorer Program is managed by Goddard. JPL is managed by Caltech for NASA.

Launch management and government oversight for the mission is the responsibility of NASA's Launch Services Program at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

For more information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/nustar and http://www.nustar.caltech.edu/ .

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/nustar/news/nustar20120611.html

[KBOB]

Отсчитывают последние часы до запуска

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/nustar/main/index.html

Countdown for Pegasus

T-4 hours, 15 minutes
    Ground operations checks are completed

T-3 hours, 15 minutes
    NASA launch manager and NASA advisory manager take a "management on station" voice-check poll

T-2 hours, 20 minutes
    Flight crew enters the L-1011 carrier aircraft
    Pilot completes prestart checklist

T-2 hours, 18 minutes
    Engine start poll is taken

T-2 hours, 10 minutes through T-1 hour, 20 minutes
    Ground launch team receives "go" for engine start
    Start engine No. 2
    Start engines No. 1 and 3
    Aircraft stairs are removed and the hatch is closed

T-1 hour, 45 minutes through T-45 minutes
    L-1011 pre-taxi checklist complete
    Flight Termination System (FTS) power on
    Voice checks complete

T-1 hour, 15 minutes
    "Go" for taxi after tower clearance is given
    Taxi is under way

T-1 hour, 3 minutes
    Last chance status check completed

T-1 hour
    Ground launch team "ready for takeoff" poll taken
    Launch team is "go" for takeoff
    After tower clearance, the L-1011 carrier aircraft takes off
    Chase plane takes off to follow the L-1011

T-30 minutes
    Chase plane visual inspection
    Report on turbulence, winds and clouds
    at launch point requested

T-15 minutes
    Release mechanism is armed

T-12 minutes
    Verify FTS check is nominal
    Transfer avionics to internal power

T-9 minutes
    Weather status report is confirmed and green for launch
    Peak power has been passed
    L-1011 heads for the drop point

T-7 minutes
    Range status report is given
    Verify transient power is "on" and vehicle is safe

T-5 minutes
    NASA launch manager conducts final launch readiness poll
    to enter terminal countdown
    Avionics now on internal power

T-45 seconds
    Fin battery is activated

T-20 seconds
    Verify fin testing and heading status

T-10 seconds
    Pilot confirms Pegasus is "go" for launch

T-Zero
    Pegasus is dropped from the L-1011

[instml]

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/nustar/launch/launch_blog.html
http://www.spaceflightnow.com/pegasus/nustar/status.html

[Salo]

http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=27418.msg915078#msg915078

Hi folks. Sure wish the wind would die down; we're always riding our bikes into the wind, it seems.

Launch readiness review went very well this morning. Good weather forecast, too.

[Space Alien]

До запуска остается:

Код Выделить Развернуть

T-6 hour, 5 minutes

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L-1011 aircraft crew interview

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/pegasus/nustar/cockpit.html

[Space Alien]

Начат обратный отсчет перед запуском рентгеновского телескопа NuSTAR
[/size]

Новый рентгеновский орбитальный телескоп НАСА NuSTAR, предназначенный, в частности, для изучения процессов в ближайших окрестностях черных дыр, готов к старту, который назначен на 19.30 мск среды, сообщает американское аэрокосмическое ведомство.
Космический аппарат, масса которого составляет около 350 килограммов, будет запущен с помощью ракеты Pegasus XL, которая будет стартовать, отделившись от самолета на высоте 11,9 тысячи метров.

В настоящее время стартовая команда начала обратный отсчет. Самолет-носитель L-1011 Stargazer ("Звездочет") взлетит с трехступенчатой ракетой Pegasus XL производства компании Orbital Sciences с атолла Кваджалейн (Маршалловы острова) в 18.30 мск, а в 19.30 мск должен сбросить ракету.
Проект NuSTAR (Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array), общая стоимость которого составляет 180 миллионов долларов, призван заполнить "лакуну" в потоке данных, поступающих с других рентгеновских обсерваторий, таких, как "Чандра" и XMM-Newton. Новый телескоп будет работать в диапазоне рентгеновского излучения высокой энергии, причем в этом диапазоне он будет иметь чувствительность в 100 раз выше и пространственное разрешение в 10 раз лучше, чем все другие рентгеновские телескопы.
Одной из главных задач NuSTAR будет исследование ближайших окрестностей сверхмассивных черных дыр в центрах галактик. Вещество, которое притягивает черная дыра, образует вокруг нее диск аккреции, температура которого достигает миллионов градусов. Этот диск является источником мощного рентгеновского излучения, которое будет фиксировать телескоп.
Кроме того, NuSTAR сможет наблюдать за остатками взрывов сверхновых звезд - нейтронными звездами и черными дырами звездной массы, а также фиксировать гамма-всплески и взрывы сверхновых.
Самолет L-1011 взлетит с авиабазы на атолле Кваджалейн (Маршалловы острова) и отправится в точку старта в 160 километрах к югу от атолла. Окно для запуска продолжительностью четыре часа открывается в 15.30 по Гринвичу (19.30 мск).
После того, как второй пилот "Звездочета" нажмет кнопку высвобождения ракеты, Pegasus XL в течение пяти секунд будет падать, после чего запустится двигатель первой ступени ракеты. Через десять минут после сброса ракеты обсерватория отделится от третьей ступени и окажется на целевой орбите высотой 600 километров.
Затем в течение 23 дней аппарат будет проходить фазу тестирования и калибровки, а затем развернет свою 10-метровую мачту, на которой находится рентгеновская оптика.
В отличие от видимого излучения, рентгеновские лучи могут отражаться только под очень небольшими углами, поэтому рентгеновские телескопы требуют очень большого расстояния между детекторами и "зеркалами". Поэтому для размещения оптики специалистам пришлось использовать специально разработанную компанией ATK мачту.
Как ожидается, аппарат NuSTAR будет работать в космосе по меньшей мере два года.

http://ria.ru/science/20120613/672313648.html

[Space Alien]

Запуск перенесен и будет в 20:00 мск.

http://ria.ru/science/20120613/672431741.html

[KBOB]

Отсчитывают последние часы до запуска

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/nustar/main/index.html

Часики на 30 минут спешат.  :lol:

[Space Alien]

Отсчитывают последние часы до запуска

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/nustar/main/index.html

Часики на 30 минут спешат.  :lol:

Наоборот, опаздывают... Сообщение о переносе запуска было дано 1,5 часа назад, а про часики наверное забыли  :oops: ...

[Space Alien]

О, часы заработали в норме  .  До пуска 1 час 5 минут.

[instml]

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/nasa-ksc