IRIS (SMEX-12) - Pegasus XL - Vandenberg L-1011 "Stargazer" - 28.06.2013 02:27 UTC

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http://mediaarchive.ksc.nasa.gov/search.cfm?cat=259

KSC-2012-2831 (05/11/2012) --- Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. – At Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, technicians offload the first stage of the Orbital Sciences Pegasus XL rocket from the truck in which it was transported. NASA's Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph, or IRIS, spacecraft will launch aboard the Pegasus XL in late 2012. IRIS will open a new window of discovery by tracing the flow of energy and plasma through the chromospheres and transition region into the sun's corona using spectrometry and imaging. IRIS fills a crucial gap in our ability to advance studies of the sun-to-Earth connection by tracing the flow of energy and plasma through the foundation of the corona and heliosphere, or region around the sun. Photo credit: NASA/Randy Beaudoin

     

     

     
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Salo

"Были когда-то и мы рысаками!!!"

Salo

#3
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/kennedy/launchingrockets/rss_feed_collex_archive_1.html
ЦитироватьTechnicians Continue Prepping for IRIS Launch
Thu, 27 Sep 2012 04:34:38 PM GMT+0300

Preparations continue at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California to prepare the Orbital Sciences Pegasus XL rocket for the launch of NASA's IRIS spacecraft. On September 26, the avionics shelf, the primary element of the launch vehicle guidance system was installed on the rocket's third stage. The launch of IRIS, which stands for the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph and will conduct solar studies, is currently planned to occur no earlier than February 27, 2013.

IRIS Mission Preps Move Ahead
Tue, 30 Oct 2012 03:56:23 PM GMT+0200

Preparations to launch NASA's IRIS mission aboard an Orbital Sciences Pegasus XL rocket continue on pace for a launch in the spring from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. Telemetry system testing with the launch vehicle has been completed and the guidance and navigation system is being installed this week. Also, technicians are installing the springs associated with the stage 1 separation mechanism. The first launch vehicle flight simulation is currently planned to occur in early November.

Flight Simulation for IRIS Planned
Fri, 09 Nov 2012 11:07:27 PM GMT+0200

A flight simulation for the launch of the IRIS mission aboard an Orbital Sciences Pegasus rocket is scheduled to begin today at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., in preparation for the mission's launch in late February. The rocket's inertial navigation system was installed onto the vehicle earlier this week.

IRIS Launch Vehicle Processing Continues for Spring Launch
Fri, 30 Nov 2012 11:40:55 PM GMT+0200

At Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, processing work continues on the Orbital Sciences Pegasus XL rocket for the launch of NASA's IRIS spacecraft next spring. The UHF communications antenna has been installed. A C-band transponder test between the launch vehicle and the Western Range was successfully completed.
"Были когда-то и мы рысаками!!!"

Salo

05:25:26-05:30:26 ЛМВ 30 апреля 2013.
"Были когда-то и мы рысаками!!!"

instml

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#6
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/iris/news/arrives-vafb.html
ЦитироватьNASA'S Newest Solar Satellite Arrives at Vandenberg AFB for Launch
04.17.13

NASA's Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) satellite arrived at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on Tuesday, April 16, to begin its final preparations for launch currently scheduled no earlier than May 28. IRIS will improve our understanding of how heat and energy move through the deepest levels of the sun's atmosphere, thereby increasing our ability to forecast space weather. Following final checkouts, the IRIS spacecraft will be placed inside an Orbital Sciences Pegasus rocket. Deployment of the Pegasus fr om the L-1011 carrier aircraft is targeted for 7:27 p.m. PDT at an altitude of 39,000 feet at a location over the Pacific Ocean about 100 miles northwest of Vandenberg AFB off the central coast of California south of Big Sur.

"IRIS will contribute significantly to our understanding of the interface region between the sun's photosphere and corona," said Joe Davila, IRIS mission scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. "This region is crucial for understanding how the corona gets so hot."

IRIS carries a single instrument, a multi-channel imaging spectrograph with an ultraviolet (UV) telescope that will help scientists better understand the physical processes in the sun's interface region.

"With the high-resolution images from IRIS, scientists will be able to use advanced computer models to unravel how matter, light, and energy move from the sun's 6,000 Kelvin surface to its million Kelvin corona," said Eric Ianson, IRIS mission manager at NASA Goddard. "Scientists will be able to combine data from NASA's IRIS and Solar Dynamics Observatory and the NASA/JAXA Hinode missions to obtain a more comprehensive understanding of the sun's atmosphere."

IRIS is a NASA Small Explorer mission. The program provides frequent flight opportunities for world-class scientific investigations from space using innovative, streamlined and efficient management approaches within the heliophysics and astrophysics areas.

NASA's Launch Services Program at Kennedy Space Center, Fla., is responsible for launch management. Lockheed Martin's Advanced Technology Center Solar and Astrophysics Laboratory in Palo Alto, Calif., designed and built the IRIS spacecraft and instrument. NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif., is responsible for mission operations and ground data systems.

For more information about NASA's IRIS mission, please visit:

 http://www.nasa.gov/iris


Workers unload NASA's IRIS spacecraft from a truck at the processing facility at Vandenberg wh ere the spacecraft will be readied for launch aboard an Orbital Sciences Pegasus XL rocket. Photo credit: VAFB/Randy Beaudoin
"Были когда-то и мы рысаками!!!"

Salo

"Были когда-то и мы рысаками!!!"

Salo

#8
http://www.spaceflightnow.com/pegasus/iris/arrival.html#.UXdeiUqAXVs
ЦитироватьSun probe arrives at launch site for mating to booster
BY JUSTIN RAY
SPACEFLIGHT NOW
Posted: April 23, 2013

A solar observatory designed to study how the Sun's atmosphere is energized has been trucked to Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, the ground base where the air-launched Pegasus rocket booster will be readied to propel the NASA satellite into orbit in June.


IRIS arrives at the hangar. Credit: VAFB/Randy Beaudoin
 
The Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph spacecraft, or IRIS, was developed by the Lockheed Martin Advanced Technology Center. It is outfitted with an ultraviolet telescope and spectrograph to help scientists understand a mystery about the Sun's working forces.

"IRIS will contribute significantly to our understanding of the interface region between the sun's photosphere and corona," said Joe Davila, IRIS mission scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. "This region is crucial for understanding how the corona gets so hot."

The highly-focused science mission promises to close the knowledge gap about energy transport on the Sun by following the flow of energy and plasma between the surface and the solar corona.

"With the high-resolution images from IRIS, scientists will be able to use advanced computer models to unravel how matter, light and energy move from the sun's 6,000 Kelvin surface to its million Kelvin corona," said Eric Ianson, IRIS mission manager. "Scientists will be able to combine data from NASA's IRIS and Solar Dynamics Observatory and the NASA/JAXA Hinode missions to obtain a more comprehensive understanding of the sun's atmosphere."

After departing from the runway at California's Vandenberg Air Force Base on June 26, an L-1011 carrier jet will haul the winged rocket over the Pacific Ocean and release it at 7:27 p.m. local time (10:27 p.m. EDT).

The IRIS spacecraft, weighing about 440 pounds and stretching 7 feet in length, is ideally sized for the Pegasus launch that will be making its 42nd flight. Its heritage includes deploying over 70 satellites since 1990 for NASA, commercial customers and the U.S. military.

http://youtu.be/ZqXH6Dw3sWI

Lockheed Martin shipped the satellite from its Sunnyvale manufacturing facilities to Vandenberg on April 16, traveling about 250 miles.

"The entire IRIS team is enormously pleased that we've reached this crucial milestone," said Gary Kushner, Lockheed Martin IRIS program manager. "After many months of hard work by the Lockheed Martin team and all of our collaborators and subcontractors in designing, engineering, building and testing the instrument and integrated spacecraft, our goal of putting it into orbit is in sight and we look forward to producing great science at a low cost."

Once in the Pegasus hangar, IRIS was powered up, put through post-shipment functional testing and changing of the onboard battery. Activities this week include instrument and spacecraft system-level testing.

IRIS will be mated to the Pegasus about 25 days before launch, then the two halves of of the rocket nose cone will be stalled 12 days ahead of the flight. The fully assembled rocket will be rolled on a trailer out to the runway for attachment to the L-1011 carrier aircraft just a few days prior to takeoff.

Commissioning of the observatory should be finished and the start of science operations begins a month into the mission.

"With IRIS, we have a unique opportunity to provide significant missing pieces in our understanding of energy transport on the Sun. The complex processes and enormous contrasts of density, temperature and magnetic field within this interface region require instrument and modeling capabilities that are now finally within our reach," said Alan Title, IRIS principal investigator.
"Были когда-то и мы рысаками!!!"

instml

#9
NASA's IRIS Mission Readies For a New Challenge
05.20.13

http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/videogallery/index.html?media_id=163342061

 The time draws near. NASA is getting ready to launch a new mission, a mission to observe a largely unexplored region of the solar atmosphere that powers its dynamic million-degree outer atmosphere and drives the solar wind.

 In late June 2013, the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph, or IRIS, will launch fr om Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. IRIS will advance our understanding of the interface region, a region in the lower atmosphere of the sun wh ere most of the sun's ultraviolet emissions are generated. Such emissions impact the near-Earth space environment and Earth's climate.

 The interface region lies between the sun's 11,000-degree Fahrenheit, white-hot, visible surface, the photosphere, and the much hotter multi-million-degree upper corona. Interactions between the violently moving plasma and the sun's magnetic field in this area may be the source of the energy that heats the corona to some hundreds and occasionally thousands of times hotter than the sun's surface.

 IRIS will orbit Earth and use its ultraviolet telescope to obtain high-resolution solar images and spectra. IRIS observations along with advanced computer models will deepen our understanding of how heat and energy move through the lower atmosphere of the sun and other sun-like stars.

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/iris/news/new-challenge.html
http://www.nasa.gov/iris
http://iris.gsfc.nasa.gov/index.html
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Salo

http://www.nasa.gov/centers/kennedy/launchingrockets/rss_feed_collex_archive_1.html
ЦитироватьIRIS Flight Simulation Coming Up
Tue, 28 May 2013 10:42:29 PM GMT+0300

The IRIS-Pegasus launch team is preparing for its fourth flight simulation as the launch date nears for NASA's newest solar observatory. After performing an Interface Verification Test, engineers re-verified the spacecraft ahead of the upcoming simulation. The spacecraft, a seven-foot-long observatory designed to look closely at the sun's chromosphere, will ride into space on an Orbital Sciences Pegasus XL rocket. The winged rocket will drop fr om a modified airliner above the Pacific to begin the ascent into orbit. Launch is scheduled for June 26.

 
IRIS Flight Sim Under Way
Fri, 17 May 2013 09:32:29 PM GMT+0300

The third flight simulation for NASA's IRIS mission is under way today at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., wh ere the launch of the sun-studying observatory will take place in June. The IRIS spacecraft, a 7-foot-long telescope built to examine aspects of the sun's layers in unprecedented ways, will be mated to a Pegasus XL rocket May 29 and the fourth flight simulation will follow two days later. June 10 is slated for the start of installation of the payload fairing around the spacecraft that will protect its instruments and components from the atmospheric stress of ascent into orbit. The Pegasus, a winged rocket that drops from beneath a modified airliner before igniting its engine and lifting its payload into orbit, is to launch IRIS into space June 26.

 
Prelaunch Testing Continues for IRIS and Pegasus
Thu, 16 May 2013 10:30:39 PM GMT+0300

At Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, the second planned electrical Interface Verification Test is taking place today between NASA's IRIS observatory and the Orbital Sciences Pegasus XL vehicle. Mission simulations between the observatory and the mission operations control center at the NASA Ames Research Center began May 9 and were successfully completed May 15.

Flight Simulation no. 3 involving the Pegasus XL and IRIS is scheduled for May 17.

 
IRIS Mission Simulations Under Way
Fri, 10 May 2013 08:48:31 PM GMT+0300

Mission simulations for NASA's IRIS mission are under way at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The simulations, which will continue through May 15, involve the IRIS spacecraft and the mission operations control center located at the NASA Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California. Launch preparations continue on schedule toward a launch June 26 at 7:27 p.m. PDT.
"Были когда-то и мы рысаками!!!"

Salo

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/pegasus/iris/status.html
ЦитироватьWEDNESDAY, JUNE 19, 2013
 The Orbital Sciences Pegasus XL rocket was attached to the L-1011 carrier jet that will ferry the launcher off the coast of California next Wednesday evening and release the 55-foot-long booster to fire into orbit. Technicians rolled the rocket horizontally from its assembly hangar today at 6 a.m., arriving at 7:20 a.m. on the "Hot Pad" staging area next to the runway at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. There, the 51,000-pound rocket was secured to the belly of the L-1011 by hydraulic hooks, an operation that was completed at 1:30 p.m. local time.
Senior mission managers held the Flight Readiness Review on Tuesday and gave approval for the rollout and continued pre-launch preparations.
The Combined Systems Test to verify the entire launch configuration will be run on Thursday. The checkout will confirm the Pegasus, its payload and the L-1011 are flight-ready.
Next Wednesday's launch of the Pegasus will be possible during a precise window extending from 7:25:04 to 7:30:04 p.m. local (10:25:04-10:30:04 p.m. EDT).
The launch team is targeting the middle of the window -- 7:27 p.m. -- for the drop and ignition to put NASA's IRIS solar observatory into its desired sun-synchronous polar orbit around Earth.
The L-1011 flight crew will receive a verbal "go" command from the ground, then push the button on the center console in the cockpit that releases the three-stage, all-solid rocket to free-fall for five seconds before the first stage motor lights.
The preliminary weather outlook for next week is favorable.
 
 MONDAY, JUNE 17, 2013
 The winged Pegasus XL rocket will be rolled from its hangar and mated to the belly of the L-1011 carrier aircraft this week at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California in preparation for a dramatic mid-air launch over the Pacific on June 26. The three-stage, all-solid booster will propel NASA's Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph spacecraft, or IRIS, into orbit to study how the sun's atmosphere is energized.
Assembly and testing of the Orbital Sciences rocket was conducted in Building 1555, a large hangar on North Base at Vandenberg. IRIS arrived from Lockheed Martin in mid-April and underwent its final processing within a tented area in front of the launcher.
The 7-foot-long spacecraft was mated to the Pegasus at the end of May and then encapsulated by the two halves of the rocket's nose cone last week.
The finished product -- a 51,000-pound rocket with its iconic wing, rudder and fins -- will be rolled out Wednesday for the 3.8-mile drive to Vandenberg's runway to join the L-1011. The carrier jet flew in to pick up Pegasus last week.
With the aircraft jacked up, the trailer hauling the rocket will be able to slide underneath. Ground crews then hoist Pegasus and firmly lock it into place with hydraulic hooks that release the vehicle at launch.
As the final days before flight progress, a comprehensive combined systems test between all of the elements will be run, readiness reviews held and engineers button up the various vehicle compartments.
On June 26, launch day, the L-1011 will depart Vandenberg's runway around 6:30 p.m. local (9:30 p.m. EDT) and fly a pre-determine "race track" pattern northward over the open ocean before making a U-turn and achieving a southerly heading for drop and ignition of the Pegasus at approximately 7:27 p.m. PDT (10:27 p.m. EDT).
It will take approximately 13 minutes to inject IRIS into the desired sun-synchronous polar orbit and release the craft from the launch vehicle.
Weighing 403 pounds, the spacecraft is ideally sized for the Pegasus launch that will be making its 42nd flight. Its heritage includes deploying over 70 satellites since 1990 for NASA, commercial customers and the U.S. military.
IRIS will unfold its twin power-generating solar panels and begin the on-orbit checkout and commissioning period. The two-year mission goes into service about 60 days after launch to observe a mysterious region around the sun, between its surface and the thousand-times-hotter upper atmosphere, known as the corna.
"IRIS will extend our observations of the sun to a region that has historically been difficult to study," said Joe Davila, IRIS project scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. "Understanding the interface region better improves our understanding of the whole corona and, in turn, how it affects the solar system."
"Были когда-то и мы рысаками!!!"



Space Alien

ЦитироватьNASA launch director Dunn says a power outage at Vandenberg will delay the planned June 26 #Pegasus launch. New launch date June 27

Salo

#15
http://www.spaceflightnow.com/pegasus/iris/tour/
ЦитироватьPegasus rocket readied for NASA satellite launch

 The Orbital Sciences Pegasus XL rocket is being readied to launch NASA's IRIS spacecraft to study the sun off the coast of California. Photographers and reporters got to tour the "Hot Pad" adjacent to the runway at Vandenberg Air Force Base where the L-1011 carrier jet and booster are being preparing for the mission. The aircraft will ferry Pegasus over the Pacific and drop the winged booster to fire into orbit.

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

Photo credit: Walter Scriptunas II/Spaceflight Now
 
"Были когда-то и мы рысаками!!!"

Salo

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/pegasus/iris/status.html
ЦитироватьWEDNESDAY, JUNE 26, 2013
After a one-day delay to complete repairs to the electrical system feeding key facilities at the Western Range, officials today cleared the Orbital Sciences Pegasus XL rocket to launch NASA's IRIS sun-studying satellite on Thursday evening off the coast of California.

Senior mission managers held the Launch Readiness Review, confirmed the Range would be up to support and granted approval to enter into the countdown tomorrow afternoon at Vandenberg Air Force Base. Launch is scheduled for 7:27 p.m. PDT (10:27 p.m. EDT).

When power was restored to the base after a region-wide power outage late Sunday, a fire broke out and damaged a piece of hardware in the electrical grid that supplies several buildings. A replacement part was being fabricated in Los Angeles for delivery to Vandenberg late Tuesday. Checks of the Range were being performed today.

Under the control of pilot Don Walter, the modified L-1011 carrier aircraft with Pegasus hooked to its belly should be airborne about an hour before launch for the trip to the rocket's pre-set drop point over the Pacific Ocean about 100 miles northwest of Vandenberg, west of Monterey. The launch box is 10 miles wide and 40 miles long and the targeted drop point located at 36 degrees North latitude and 123 degrees West longitude.

The available launch window extends from 7:25 to 7:30 p.m. local (10:25-10:30 p.m. EDT; 0225-0230 GMT).

The rocket was assembled at Vandenberg and the Western Range will track its ascent for telemetry-relay and safety services.

Weather forecasters predict an 80 percent chance of favorable conditions. Cloud ceilings and reduced visibility pose only slight concerns.

With the push of a button in the Stargazer's cockpit by co-pilot Ebb Harris, the 51,000-pound Pegasus rocket is cast free to fall for five seconds, dropping 300 feet below the aircraft while traveling at Mach 0.82. During the plunge, the onboard flight computer will sense the rocket's separation from the carrier jet and issue a command to release the safety inhibits in preparation for ignition.

The first stage solid-fueled motor of Pegasus is lit at T+plus 5 seconds to begin the powered journey to orbit on a southerly heading into a sun-synchronous polar orbit desired by IRIS.

At T+plus 1 minute, 18 seconds, the Orion 50S XL first stage motor consumes all of its solid-fuel propellant and burns out at an altitude of 33 miles. A short ballistic coast period begins before the spent first stage, including the wing structure, is separated at T+plus 1 minute, 33 seconds to fall into the Pacific.

The Pegasus rocket's Orion 50 XL second stage begins firing at T+plus 1 minute, 34 seconds to continue the trek to orbit. During the firing, at T+plus 2 minutes, 11 seconds, the payload fairing nose cone that protected the satellite during atmospheric ascent is jettisoned at an altitude of 73 miles.

Having consumed its supply of solid-fuel propellant, the second stage motor burns out at T+plus 2 minutes, 48 seconds some 117 miles in altitude. The rocket will coast for a few minutes toward the high point of its trajectory before releasing the spent stage at T+plus 8 minutes, 47 seconds.

The solid-fueled Orion 38 third stage ignites at T+plus 8 minutes, 58 seconds to deliver the IRIS spacecraft into a 420-by-385-mile-high orbit around Earth. That orbit is achieved with burnout of the third stage at T+plus 10 minutes, 6 seconds, completing the powered phase of the Pegasus rocket's 42nd launch for the winged booster since 1990.

Deployment of the 403-pound satellite occurs at T+plus 13 minutes, 8 seconds.
"Были когда-то и мы рысаками!!!"

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azeast

Бурные аплодисменты. Взаимные поздравления.

Space Alien

Ракета с солнечным телескопом IRIS стартовала над Тихим океаном

Ракета Pegasus XL с новым солнечным телескопом IRIS успешно запущена с "воздушного старта" над Тихим океаном, трансляция запуска идет на сайте НАСА.
Самолет-носитель L-1011 Stargazer ("Звездочет") вылетел с авиабазы Ванденберг в Калифорнии в точку запуска ракеты в 05.30 мск. Pegasus XL выведет IRIS на орбиту примерно через 10 минут после запуска, после чего аппарат должен будет раскрыть солнечные батареи. На данный момент это последний из запланированных полетов крылатой ракеты, поскольку пока в графике НАСА больше нет миссий этого класса.


РИА Новости http://ria.ru/science/20130628/946284463.html