HOUSTON — NASA’s twin Radiation Belt Storm Probe mission spacecraft thundered into Earth orbit atop an Atlas 5/Centaur upper stage combination early Aug. 30, initiating a $686 million, two-year mission for studies of high-energy particle fluctuations within the Earth’s Van Allen radiation belts, including their response to solar activity and influences on space weather. The United Launch Alliance rocket carrying the two 1,400-lb. probes lifted off from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., at 4:05 a.m. EDT.
SOFIA FLIES: NASA’s Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (Sofia) is to begin its 2012-2013 mission series in November from Dryden Aircraft Operations Facility in Palmdale, Calif. Called Cycle 1, the science series will include 46 flights grouped in four multi-week observing campaigns. Sofia is a 747SP modified to carry a 100-in.-dia. infrared telescope.
GALILEO DELIVERY: Manufacturer Astrium has delivered the third and fourth Galileo navigation and timing satellites to the European Space Agency’s launch site in Kourou, French Guiana, following an acceptance review. The two spacecraft will be launched aboard a Soyuz rocket, joining two satellites already in space to complete the initial Galileo In Orbit Validation system. In February, Astrium received a contract from ESA to adapt the Ariane 5 launcher to be able to launch four Galileo satellites in a single mission.
LOS ANGELES — Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) is modifying its manufacturing flow at Hawthorne, Calif., as part of plans to boost production of Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rocket cores to 40 per year. The re-modeling is required to ramp up the rate to meet the existing and expected launch demand, says SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell. “Next year we need to build one core per month, and then ramp up 50% year-over-year to be where we want to be.”
NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) is revealing energetic, previously unobserved supermassive black holes, including a new mega-powerful class of objects that appear to have influenced the transformation of galaxies, astronomers reported Aug. 29. Observations with a range of space- and ground-based observatories over the past decade have revealed the presence of supermassive black holes at the center of every galaxy.
GALILEO DELIVERY: Manufacturer Astrium has delivered the third and fourth Galileo navigation and timing satellites to the European Space Agency’s launch site in Kourou, French Guiana, following an acceptance review. The two spacecraft will be launched aboard a Soyuz rocket, joining two satellites already in space to complete the initial Galileo In Orbit Validation system. In February, Astrium received a contract from ESA to adapt the Ariane 5 launcher to be able to launch four Galileo satellites in a single mission.
LOS ANGELES — Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) is modifying its manufacturing flow at Hawthorne, Calif., as part of plans to boost production of Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rocket cores to 40 per year. The re-modeling is required to ramp up the rate to meet the existing and expected launch demand, says SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell. “Next year we need to build one core per month, and then ramp up 50% year-over-year to be where we want to be.”
LOS ANGELES — NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover has returned images to Earth of Martian geological features that are completely “unexpected,” according to mission scientists at the agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif.
CYBERSECURITY REQUIRED: The Pentagon, NASA and the General Services Administration are proposing a new contracting requirement for the “basic safeguarding of contractor information systems that contain information provided by or generated for the government.” The proposal was announced Aug. 24 in the Federal Register; comments can be submitted at Regulations.gov through Oct. 23.
NASA scrubbed efforts to launch the twin Radiation Belt Storm Probe mission spacecraft early Aug. 24, to allow more time to troubleshoot a C-band tracking beacon problem on the United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas 5 rocket. ULA made plans for a second attempt to launch the $686 million mission from Cape Canaveral early Aug. 25, while technicians analyzed a “frequency drift” noted late in the first countdown. The 20-min. launch window opens at 4:07 a.m. EDT. Forecasters predicted a 60% chance of favorable weather.
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. - The U.S. Army is making headway with plans to demonstrate the utility of nanosatellites and small, low-cost, mobile launchers. (Kestrel image: U.S. Army)
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — The U.S. Army is making headway with plans to demonstrate the utility of nanosatellites and small, low-cost, mobile launchers to provide direct support to deployed forces, bypassing the traditional data processing and dissemination system located in the U.S.
PARIS — In the debate over whether to start work on Europe’s successor to the Ariane 5 launch vehicle, France and Germany have at least agreed on the estimated price tag — €3.8-€5 billion ($5-$6.5 billion) over a decade. Detailed in a report recently delivered to the French and German governments, the cost estimate serves as a point of departure from which the polarized partners will move forward this fall, when European Space Agency (ESA) ministers meet in Caserta, Italy, to settle the organization’s multiyear budget.
XCOR Aerospace, the suborbital commercial spaceflight company founded in Mojave, Calif., announced a second easterly expansion on Aug. 23, outlining plans for flight operations as well as manufacturing and assembly facilities for its winged, two-seat Lynx Mark II reusable launch vehicle in Central Florida.
