ICESat-II, ELaNa-XVIII: ELFIN, IT-SPINS, CHEFsat - Delta II 7420-10C - Vandenberg SLC-2W -15.09.2018

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https://blogs.nasa.gov/icesat2/2018/09/14/icesat-2-weather-remains-favorable-for-launch/

ICESat-2 Weather Remains Favorable for Launch

Stephanie Martin
Posted Sep 14, 2018 at 8:58 pm

Weather remains favorable for the Sept. 15 launch of NASA's Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite-2 (ICESat-2) from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on a United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket. The latest forecast from the U.S. Air Force 30th Space Wing predicts a 100 percent chance of favorable weather on launch day with patchy fog and visibility of 2-3 miles.

The spacecraft window opens at 5:46 a.m. PDT (8:46 a.m. EDT) and extends for 2 hours, 34 minutes.

The launch vehicle window is now approximately 50 minutes based on the launch team's decision to load RP-1 fuel during the countdown, approximately 2 hours and 40 minutes prior to the beginning of the launch window.

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April Smith‏ @performinginedu 17 мин. назад

What a beautiful sight! #icesat2 #delta2 #NASAsocial




ULA‏Подлинная учетная запись @ulalaunch 1 мин. назад

Sun setting behind Space Complex-2 at Vandenberg AFB as we prepare to roll the tower back from the #DeltaII with #ICESat2

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Jonathan McDowell‏Подлинная учетная запись @planet4589 9 мин. назад

NASA's ICESAT-2 is scheduled for launch tomorrow morning on the final Delta 2 rocket, a Delta 7420-10 model to be launched by @ulalaunch from Space Launch Complex 2-West at Vandenberg AFB


5 мин. назад

Delta flight 381 will also deploy four cubesats: @UCLA's ELFIN and ELFIN-STAR; @PolySat's CP7 DAVE; and @ucf's confusingly named SurfSat (no relation to the SurfSat launched by NASA/JPL/CalTech in 1995)

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UCLA sends student-built satellite into space

UCLA

Опубликовано: 11 сент. 2018 г.

During the last five years nearly 250 students have spent thousands of hours designing and building ELFIN, more formally the Electron Losses and Fields Investigation CubeSat.

(4:46)

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https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2018/nasa-funded-elfin-to-study-how-electrons-get-lost

Sept. 14, 2018

NASA-funded ELFIN To Study How Electrons Get Lost

Three hundred and ten miles above our planet's surface, near-Earth space is abuzz with action. Here begin the Van Allen Belts, a pair of concentric rings of fast-moving particles and intense radiation that extends more than 30,000 miles farther into space. For the most part these particles are confined to this special region, spiraling along Earth's magnetic field lines. But sometimes they come too close and crash into our atmosphere — creating the eye-catching diffuse red aurora, but also potentially interfering with critical communications and GPS satellites that we depend on every day.


An artist's depiction of the Van Allen Belts, showing Earth's magnetic field lines and the trajectories of charged particles trapped by them. The twin ELFIN spacecraft are shown following their inclined polar orbit, traced in yellow.
Credits: UCLA EPSS/NASA SVS

A new CubeSat mission called The Electron Losses and Fields Investigation, or ELFIN, will study one of the processes that allows energetic electrons to escape the Van Allen Belts and fall into Earth. ELFIN is set to launch from the Vandenburg Air Force Base in California on Sept. 15, 2018.

Спойлер

When magnetic storms form in near-Earth space, they create waves that jiggle Earth's magnetic field lines, kicking electrons out of the Van Allen Belts and down into our atmosphere. ELFIN aims to be the first to simultaneously observe this electron precipitation while also verifying the causal mechanism, measuring the magnetic waves and the resulting "lost" electrons.


(video 4:46)
During the last five years nearly 250 students have spent thousands of hours designing and building ELFIN, more formally the Electron Losses and Fields Investigation CubeSat.
Credits: UCLA


The twin ELFIN CubeSats.
Credits: UCLA EPSS

Funded by NASA, The National Science Foundation, and industry partners, ELFIN is a CubeSat mission. CubeSats are small and lightweight satellites, measured in standardized 10-by-10-by-10 cubic centimeter units, that are comparatively quick to develop and come with a price tag at a fraction of larger satellite missions. ELFIN uses two identical 3U, or 3 cubic unit, CubeSats — both about the size of a loaf of bread. By using two satellites instead of one, ELFIN will be able to measure how the precipitated electrons vary across space and time. Designed, built and tested by a team of 250 UCLA students over five years, ELFIN will be the first satellite developed, managed and operated entirely by UCLA. A key advantage of CubeSats is that they allow an inexpensive means to engage students in all phases of satellite development, operation and exploitation through real-world, hands-on research and development experience.

Small satellites, including CubeSats, are playing an increasingly larger role in exploration, technology demonstration, scientific research and educational investigations at NASA. These miniature satellites provide a low-cost platform for NASA missions, including planetary space exploration; Earth observations; fundamental Earth and space science; and developing precursor science instruments like cutting-edge laser communications, satellite-to-satellite communications and autonomous movement capabilities.

On launch day, ELFIN will hitch a ride as a secondary payload on a Delta II rocket with NASA's Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite-2, or ICESat-2 mission. ICESat-2 will measure the thickness of ice sheets, glaciers, sea ice and more to document how Earth's cryosphere — the frozen water part of the Earth system — is changing over time.

By Miles Hatfield
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.

[свернуть]

Last Updated: Sept. 14, 2018
Editor: Rob Garner

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https://www.ulalaunch.com/missions/delta-ii-icesat-2

Sept. 13 -- LRR completed

Preparations are underway for the United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket's sentimental sendoff into retirement after 29 years of service to the U.S. Air Force, NASA, the National Reconnaissance Office and commercial customers.

Saturday's launch is scheduled for 5:46 a.m. PDT (8:46 a.m. EDT; 1246 UTC) from Space Launch Complex-2 at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The mission will deliver NASA's second Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite, or ICESat-2, environmental spacecraft into a polar orbit to precisely measure the changing height of Earth's ice sheets in unprecedented detail.

We will provide live updates throughout the countdown and flight on this page starting at 2:30 a.m. PDT (5:30 a.m. EDT; 0930 UTC).

The Launch Readiness Review was completed earlier today. The meeting, chaired by NASA Launch Manager Tim Dunn, confirmed the readiness of the launch vehicle, payload and mission assets for entering the countdown.

The launch weather forecast, according the 30th Weather Squadron at Vandenberg, calls for a deck of low stratus clouds at 1,000 feet and high cirrus at 30,000 feet, visibility of 2-3 miles with fog, northerly winds of 10 to 15 knots and a temperature of 52 degrees F. There is a zero percent chance of a weather rule violation.

This will be the 155th flight by the Delta II rocket since its debut on Feb. 14, 1989. The lasting legacy of the Delta II extends from the Global Positioning System that revolutionized modern navigation on Earth to the exploration of the Martian surface with the Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity.
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Во время прямой трансляции адрес обновлений ULA указываться не будет

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Sept. 14 -- Coverage begins early tomorrow!

Welcome to our Live Launch Updates Blog, bringing you official and timely information during countdowns to liftoff.

Join us early tomorrow morning for live reports throughout the Delta II rocket's countdown to the ICESat-2 launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Our automatically-refreshing blog -- coming to you from Vandenberg's launch control center -- will begin on this page at 2:30 a.m. PDT (5:30 a.m. EDT; 0930 UTC) prior to the countdown starting.

Liftoff of the final Delta II rocket is scheduled for 5:46 a.m. PDT (8:46 a.m. EDT; 1246 UTC).

For a preview of what to expect after liftoff, see our .

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Michael Baylor‏ @nextspaceflight 9 мин. назад

MST rollback for #DeltaII with #ICESat2 is running 45 minutes behind schedule. This will not impact tomorrow's launch. (via @KSpaceAcademy)


28 мин. назад

@DaneDrefke explains that a ground equipment issue was the cause of the delay. The problem has been resolved and will not affect the launch.

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Marina Jurica‏ @MJuricaCBS47 34 мин. назад

Incredible sunset of ⁦@ulalaunch⁩ #DeltaII carrying ⁦@NASAGoddard⁩ #ICESat2 satellite into orbit tomorrow morning! Watch for my coverage ⁦@CBS47⁩ at 11pm tonight!
#GoICESat2

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11:35 p.m. PDT (0635 UTC)

Retraction of the Mobile Service Tower from around the Delta II rocket began at 11:34 p.m. PDT (2:34 a.m. EDT; 0634 UTC).