Iridium Next Flight 6 (x5), GRACE-FO 1, GRACE-FO 2 - Falcon 9 (B1043) - Vandenberg SLC-4E - 22.05.18

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https://blogs.nasa.gov/gracefo/2018/05/21/launch-weather-report-for-grace-follow-on/

Launch Weather Report for GRACE Follow-On

Tony Greicius
Posted May 21, 2018 at 6:11 pm


Capt. Jennifer Haden, weather officer, 30th Space Wing, Vandenberg Air Force Base, discusses the weather forecast during a Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment Follow-On (GRACE-FO) mission prelaunch media briefing, Monday, May 21, 2018, at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The twin GRACE-FO spacecraft will measure changes in how mass is redistributed within and among Earth's atmosphere, oceans, land and ice sheets, as well as within Earth itself. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

At this morning's briefing on the GRACE-FO mission at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, U.S. Air Force Capt. Jennifer Haden, weather officer with the 30th Space Wing, reported a greater than 90 percent chance of favorable weather for liftoff tomorrow, May 22. For once, the central California coastline's predominant fog is predicted to be elevated to about 800 to 1600 feet by a low-pressure system moving in from the west, so people in the Lompoc area may get a view of the liftoff before the rocket ascends into the clouds. Surface winds are forecast to be 8 to 12 knots (9 to 14 miles an hour).

[Max Andriyahov]

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https://blogs.nasa.gov/gracefo/2018/05/22/grace-fo-and-falcon-9-are-standing-tall/

GRACE-FO and Falcon 9 Are Standing Tall

Tony Greicius
Posted May 22, 2018 at 12:51 am


The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is seen with the NASA/German Research Centre for Geosciences GRACE Follow-On spacecraft and onboard, Monday, May 21, 2018, at Space Launch Complex 4E at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The mission will measure changes in how mass is redistributed within and among Earth's atmosphere, oceans, land and ice sheets, as well as within Earth itself. GRACE-FO is sharing its ride to orbit with five Iridium NEXT communications satellites as part of a commercial rideshare agreement. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

The Falcon 9 rocket carrying the GRACE-FO twin satellites was raised into the vertical launch position this evening at Space Launch Complex 4E, Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. Liftoff is scheduled for 12:47 p.m. PDT tomorrow, May 22. Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls

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NASA HQ PHOTO‏Подлинная учетная запись @nasahqphoto 9 ч. назад

The GRACE-FO mission is one step closer to launch! #GRACEFO The twin spacecraft will continue the critical task of tracking water movement everywhere on Earth.

More https://flic.kr/s/aHsmk54iRU 

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https://spaceflightnow.com/2018/05/22/photos-falcon-9-rocket-on-the-launch-pad-at-vandenberg/

Photos: Falcon 9 rocket on the launch pad at Vandenberg
May 22, 2018 | Stephen Clark

SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket rolled out to its launch pad at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, on Monday, one day before its scheduled liftoff carrying seven satellites into orbit on commercial communications and climate research missions.

These photos show the Falcon 9 rocket, standing more than 20 stories tall, at Vandenberg's Space Launch Complex 4-East launch pad. Some of the photos were taken before the Falcon 9 was lifted vertical on its launch mount at the military base on California's Central Coast.

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The rocket, sporting a previously-flown first stage first used on a Jan. 7 launch in Florida, will loft five Iridium communications satellites and two follow-on research craft to the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment, or GRACE, mission, a partnership between NASA and the German Research Centre for Geosciences.

For details on the launch, see our Mission Status Center.


Credit: Gene Blevins/LA Daily News


Credit: Gene Blevins/LA Daily News


Credit: Gene Blevins/LA Daily News


Credit: SpaceX


Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls


Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls


Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls

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https://spaceflightnow.com/2018/05/22/falcon-9-iridium-grace-mission-status-center/

Live coverage: Iridium satellites, climate research craft set to share Falcon 9 launch
May 22, 2018 | Stephen Clark

Upd ated: 05/22/2018 11:04 Stephen Clark

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is scheduled for liftoff Tuesday with five communications satellites for Iridium's commercial voice, data relay, and tracking network, and a pair of U.S.-German research craft to probe Earth's climate and water cycle.

The 229-foot-tall (70-meter) rocket, sporting a first stage that previous flew Jan. 7 in a launch fr om Cape Canaveral, rolled out of its hangar and was raised vertical at Space Launch Complex 4-East at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on Monday.

Liftoff is scheduled for 12:47:58 p.m. PDT (3:47:58 p.m. EDT; 1947:58 GMT) Tuesday, marking SpaceX's 10th launch of the year, and the ninth using a Falcon 9 rocket.

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Seven satellites are stowed inside the Falcon 9's payload fairing, including five spacecraft set to join Iridium's new-generation commercial voice and data relay constellation providing global telephone, messaging and tracking services.

Two other satellites are the centerpieces of a partnership between NASA and the German Research Centre for Geosciences, or GFZ. They will replace the two U.S.-German GRACE satellites which ended their missions last year after 15 years of measuring minute changes and variations in Earth's gravity field.

Scientists used the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment, or GRACE, satellites to track the melting of ice sheets and chart the health and usage of water in aquifers, among other applications.

The identical GRACE-Follow On satellites carry microwave and laser ranging instruments to precisely measure the distance between the craft as they fly around 137 miles (220 kilometers) apart in orbit. Changes in the range between the two GRACE-Follow On satellite will be caused by tiny variations in the pull of gravity fr om Earth below, telling scientists about the mass of water, rock and ice around the world.

On Tuesday's mission, the Falcon 9 rocket is se t to deliver the Iridium and GRACE-Follow On payloads to two different orbits, utilizing two firings of the upper stage's Merlin engine.

The GRACE-Follow On satellites will deploy first from the Falcon 9 rocket around 11 minutes after liftoff in an orbit around 304 miles (490 kilometers) above Earth inclined at an angle of 89 degrees to the equator, a track that will take the twin spacecraft almost directly over the poles on each lap around the planet.

A brief restart of the upper stage engine is planned approximately 57 seconds after liftoff to reach a slightly higher orbit around 373 miles (600 kilometers) in altitude, followed by release of the five Iridium Next satellites one-at-a-time.

SpaceX's launch team conducted a pre-launch hold-down firing of the Falcon 9 rocket Friday at Vandenberg, then returned the launcher to a nearby hangar, wh ere ground crews mated the Iridium and GRACE-Follow On satellites.

SpaceX does not plan to recover the first stage booster on Tuesday's mission, but the company could attempt to retrieve part of the Falcon 9's payload shroud, which shields the satellites during liftoff, then is designed to descend back to Earth with the aid of a parafoil and steering thrusters.

SpaceX's fast-moving boat fitted with a net to catch the fairing has been dispatched from the Port of Los Angeles, presumably toward the downrange zone wh ere the fairing is projected to fall.

Here's a view of the satellite stack for Tuesday's launch, with the two GRACE-Follow On satellites on top, and the five Iridium communications craft on bottom.

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Chris B - NSF‏ @NASASpaceflight 2 ч. назад

FEATURE ARTICLE:
SpaceX Falcon 9 set for Iridium NEXT 6 and GRACE-FO launch -

https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2018/05/falcon-9-iridium-next-6-grace-fo-launch/ ...

- By William Graham.

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NOTMAR (#43)

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NOTMAR (#44)

В правом верхнем углу - зона A (21:44 - 22:28 UTC)
В левом нижнем углу - зона B (21:55 - 22:39 UTC)

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NASA's GRACE-FO Prepares for Launch

NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Опубликовано: 21 мая 2018 г.

The twin satellites of NASA's Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment Follow-on, or GRACE-FO, will track the movement of water around Earth. This short video explains how and why it's important.

(2:37)

[Max Andriyahov]

Желтая полоска наверху ТУА - это стропа для поддержки обтекателя?

[us2-star]

Русскоязычные трансляции:

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SpaceX‏Подлинная учетная запись @SpaceX 1 ч. назад

Falcon 9 and Iridium-6/GRACE-FO went vertical last night ahead of today's launch at 12:47 p.m. PDT, 19:47 UTC from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. http://instagram.com/p/BjFcFGMlhjJ 


(Video 0:11)

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https://spaceflightnow.com/2018/05/22/replacements-for-grace-gravity-and-climate-satellites-ready-for-launch/

Replacements for GRACE gravity and climate satellites ready for launch
May 22, 2018 | Stephen Clark


Artist's concept of the GRACE-Follow On satellites. Credit: NASA

A pair of European-built, NASA-backed research satellites set for launch Tuesday fr om California will extend 15 years of global gravity field measurements collected by the GRACE mission before it ended last year, supplying scientists with data to help track the melting of Earth's ice sheets and chart the impacts of floods and droughts.

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The two new satellites were built as a follow-up to the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment, which used two similar spacecraft to measure the tug of gravity around the world fr om 2002 through 2017.

"GRACE and GRACE-Follow On are some of NASA's most unique missions," said Michael Watkins, GRACE-Follow On science lead and director of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. "What GRACE has done, and what GRACE-Follow On will do shortly after its launch, is map the Earth's water in motion.

"What's fascinating about GRACE is it does it not by looking the surface of Earth — not by looking at water or by bouncing a radar off the water — but by actually measuring the weight of the water," Watkins said. "So it actually is able to tell how much water is in a given location on the Earth and how that's changing over time."

The GRACE-Follow On research craft will ride into orbit Tuesday from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, along with five Iridium communications satellites.

Liftoff from Space Launch Complex 4-East at Vandenberg, a military base around 140 miles (225 kilometers) northwest of Los Angeles, is scheduled for 12:47 p.m. PDT (3:47 p.m. EDT; 1947 GMT).

On Tuesday's mission, the Falcon 9 rocket is set to deliver the Iridium and GRACE-Follow On payloads to two different orbits, utilizing two firings of the upper stage's Merlin engine.

The GRACE-Follow On satellites will deploy first from the Falcon 9 rocket around 11 minutes after liftoff in an orbit around 304 miles (490 kilometers) above Earth inclined at an angle of 89 degrees to the equator, a track that will take the twin spacecraft almost directly over the poles on each lap around the planet.

A brief restart of the upper stage engine is planned approximately 57 seconds after liftoff to reach a slightly higher orbit around 373 miles (600 kilometers) in altitude, followed by release of the five Iridium Next satellites one-at-a-time.

The Iridium satellites will join the company's network of voice and data relay stations. Iridium's fleet is being replaced with new-generation satellites offering the company's one million subscribers improved service, and the upgraded constellation will have 55 spacecraft in orbit with Tuesday's launch, with 20 more satellites set to go into space in the next few months.

SpaceX's launch team conducted a pre-launch hold-down firing of the Falcon 9 rocket Friday at Vandenberg, then returned the launcher to a nearby hangar, wh ere ground crews mated the Iridium and GRACE-Follow On satellites.


This image shows the two GRACE-Follow On satellites mounted atop five Iridium communications spacecraft before their attachment to SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket. Credit: Iridium

SpaceX does not plan to recover the first stage booster on Tuesday's mission, but the company could attempt to retrieve part of the Falcon 9's payload shroud, which shields the satellites during liftoff, then is designed to descend back to Earth with the aid of a parafoil and steering thrusters.

SpaceX's fast-moving boat fitted with a net to catch the fairing has been dispatched from the Port of Los Angeles, presumably toward the downrange zone wh ere the fairing is projected to fall.

Built by Airbus Defense and Space, the identical GRACE-Follow On satellites carry microwave ranging instruments to measure the separation between the craft as they fly around 137 miles (220 kilometers) apart in orbit.

"Think of the actual satellite size as about the size of a sports car, one in Los Angeles and one in San Diego," said Phil Morton, NASA's GRACE-Follow On project manager at JPL. "That's about how far apart they're flying typically."

The ranging sensors require exacting precision, with the capability of measuring distance changes between the formation-flying satellites as small as a few microns — about the width of a blood cell.

Changes in the range between the two GRACE-Follow On satellite will be caused by tiny variations in the pull of gravity from Earth below, telling scientists about the mass of water, rock and ice around the world.


The GRACE-Follow On satellites during their assembly at Airbus Defense and Space in Friedrichshafen, Germany. Credit: NASA/Airbus

The 15-year GRACE mission ended last year, and both satellites have re-entered Earth's atmosphere and burned up after outliving their originally planned five-year lifetimes. They provided the most detailed measurements of how much ice is melting in Greenland and Antarctica, and they monitored how extreme events like floods and droughts — and normal seasonal changes — affected the water table and aquifers on Earth's land masses.

"Water takes many different forms," Watkins said. "Sometimes it's in the form of ground water deep underground, sometimes it's in the form of polar ice gaps, sometimes it can be in the form of ocean water moving around.

"GRACE observed all of that complete water cycle of the Earth, and how it changes over time ... We have 15 years of GRACE data, and what GRACE has shown is there are significant changes in each part of the world, and how much water is stored in each part of the world."

Frank Webb, GRACE-Follow On project scientist at JPL, said the GRACE mission showed Greenland has been losing 281 gigatons of ice per year. A gigaton is roughly equivalent to a cubic kilometer of water, Webb said.

In Antarctica, ice is melting at an overall average rate of about 120 gigatons per year, with some parts of the continent losing more ice and other regions adding ice.

From the ice loss in Greenland and Antarctica alone, sea levels are rising by about a millimeter per year, Webb said. Other drivers cause the mean sea level to rise more.

"I think the rate at which the polar caps were losing mass was something that was a little surpring to folks," Watkins said. "When we launched GRACE (in 2002), it wasn't clear how fast the polar sheets were changing. I think GRACE gave the first clear picture of what's going on, and that's been followed up with other more precise measurements for local areas like with radar or the upcoming ICESat 2 mission."

The GRACE-Follow On satellites each weigh around 1,300 pounds, or 600 kilograms, and are sized and shaped the same as the original GRACE spacecraft, ensuring they collect the same types of data.


This map shows trends recorded by the GRACE satellites during its 15-year mission, with regions colored in red losing mass, and regions in green adding mass. Credit: NASA/GFZ

But engineers added upgrades to the new satellites, including laser ranging devices that the GRACE-Follow On mission will demonstrate in space. The lasers could be capable of measuring the distance between the satellites with a precision 10 times better than the baseline microwave instrument, according to Frank Flechtner, GRACE-Follow On project manager at GFZ in Potsdam, Germany.

The GRACE-Follow On satellites also carry instruments to signals from GPS navigation satellites that pass through the atmosphere on Earth's horizon — as seen from orbit. Scientists can analyze how atmospheric particles altered the GPS radio signal, and use that information to derive estimates of atmospheric temperature and humidity at high altitudes.

But the $520 million mission's prime research objective is focused on gravity measurements and Earth's water cycle.

"The satellites are sensitive to all mass change around the globe," Webb said. "We make measurements every 30 days, so we see atmospheric, ocean tides, solid earth changes, water ice moving around."

Like their predecessors, the new GRACE satellites are designed for five-year lifetimes, but they could last much longer. The additional data will help scientists "understand if these trends are just short-term variability, or longer trends related to our evolving climate," Webb said.

For example, the original GRACE satellites detected a depletion of water from an aquifer under California during a long-term drought.

"At the end of the GRACE time series, we had a large rainstorm, and there was some recovery in the amount of mass — the amount of water in the ground," Webb said Monday. "And it remains to be seen, since GRACE ended in 2017, how that recovery goes forward. Once GRACE (Follow-On) launches tomorrow, we'll start getting data, and we'll have about a one-year gap, and we'll be able to see how much of that water that fell in precipitation in California actually stayed in the ground and went into storage, and how much actually ran off and went into the ocean."

Information about the health and capacity of aquifers will help policymakers, farmers and environmental scientists work together to better manage resources, Webb said.


Michael Watkins, GRACE-Follow On science lead and director of JPL, talks about the mission. Credit: NASA/Joel Kowsky

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"So we took the lead on it," Desch said. "We thought that this would make a lot of sense. We reached out to GRACE directly, we started talking to people at JPL, GFZ, and started talking about the details of it. We contracted with SpaceX, and then we kind of subcontracted with GRACE to use half the payload capacity, and started working out the technical details well over a year ago."

The marriage of the Iridium satellites, built by a partnership of Thales Alenia Space and Orbital ATK, and the Airbus-based GRACE Follow-On satellites, with a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket was a good example of global cooperation between parties which are sometimes competitors, Desch said.

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Chris G - NSF‏ @ChrisG_NSF 8 мин. назад

T-2hrs and COUNTING. Right now, all is on track for launch of the #Falcon9 from Vandenberg AFB, CA, at 12:47:48 PDT (1947:48 UTC).

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https://blogs.nasa.gov/gracefo/2018/05/22/sunny-skies-for-the-grace-fo-launch/

Sunny Skies for the GRACE-FO Launch

Tony Greicius
Posted May 22, 2018 at 1:55 pm



It's a beautiful day for a launch. In several locations around Vandenberg Air Force Base, and at the German Space Operations Center near Munich, engineers and scientists from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment Follow-On (GRACE-FO) mission are at their computers and communications consoles for the countdown and go/no go poll to verify all systems are ready for long. Credit: NASA

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