SPACECRAFT AND EXPENDABLE VEHICLES STATUS REPORT
February 19, 2003
George H. Diller
Kennedy Space Center
321/867-2468
MISSION: Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX)
LAUNCH VEHICLE: Pegasus XL
LAUNCH PAD: Skid Strip, Canaveral Air Force Station
LAUNCH DATE: March 25, 2003
LAUNCH WINDOW: 6:50 a.m. - 8:50 a.m. EST (Drop time 7:00 a.m.)
The Orbital Sciences L-1011 carrier aircraft with the Pegasus
launch vehicle arrived at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station from Vandenberg
Air Force Base, Calif. at 4:21 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 18. It is being
demated from the L-1011 today and transported to the Multipurpose Payload
Processing Facility (MPPF) at Kennedy Space Center early this evening.
Last week at Vandenberg Air Force Base, the Pegasus was mated to
the L-1011 on Friday, Feb. 14 and was followed by a fully successful
Combined Systems Test.
GALEX, built for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory by the Orbital
Sciences Space Systems Group, arrived at the Kennedy Space Center on Sunday,
Feb. 2 and is undergoing prelaunch testing at the MPPF located in the KSC
Industrial Area. The spacecraft completed a solar array lighting test on
Feb. 12, and a deployment test of the arrays was completed on Feb. 13. The
spacecraft functional test and battery reconditioning is scheduled this
week.
The GALEX program management is by NASA's Goddard Space Flight
Center and is part of Goddard's Small Explorer (SMEX) program. Spacecraft
project management is the responsibility of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory,
and the California Institute of Technology is the lead for mission science.
MISSION: Propulsive Small Expendable Deployer System (ProSEDS)
LAUNCH VEHICLE: Delta II
LAUNCH PAD: Pad 17-A
LAUNCH DATE: March 29, 2003
LAUNCH TIME: 5:00 p.m. EST
The erection of the Boeing Delta II launch vehicle on Pad 17-A was
scheduled to begin Feb. 13. Erection of the nine solid rocket boosters was
scheduled for Feb. 14-18. The second stage is planned for hoisting atop the
first stage on Feb. 19. ProSEDS is flying as a secondary payload on the
Delta II beneath a U.S. Air Force Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite.
Once the spacecraft arrives on Feb. 27, it will be processed in
the Vertical Processing Facility (VPF) located in the KSC Industrial Area.
On March 17, ProSEDS will be transported to the launch pad and attached to
the Delta II near the top of the second stage. This will be followed by
electrical connections and a spacecraft functional test.
The Propulsive Small Expendable Deployer System - called ProSEDS -
is a tether-based propulsion experiment that draws power from the space
environment around Earth, allowing the transfer of energy from the Earth to
the spacecraft.
Inexpensive and reusable, ProSEDS technology has the potential to
turn orbiting, in-space tethers into "space tugboats" - replacing heavy,
costly, traditional chemical propulsion and enabling a variety of
space-based missions, such as the fuel-free raising and lowering of
satellite orbits.
MISSION: Space Infrared Telescope Facility (SIRTF)
LAUNCH VEHICLE: Delta II Heavy
LAUNCH PAD: 17-B, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station
LAUNCH DATE: April 15, 2003
LAUNCH TIME: 4:34:07 a.m. EDT
The SIRTF spacecraft is scheduled to arrive at Kennedy Space
Center March 6. It will be shipped from the Lockheed Martin plant at
Sunnyvale, Calif.
The erection of the Boeing Delta II launch vehicle on Pad 17-B is
scheduled to begin on Feb. 24. Erection of the nine solid rocket boosters
is scheduled to follow Feb. 25-Mar. 3. The second stage is planned for
hoisting atop the first stage on March 5.
The Space Infrared Telescope Facility (SIRTF) will obtain images
and spectra by detecting the infrared energy, or heat, radiated by objects
in space between wavelengths of 3 and 180 microns (1 micron is one-millionth
of a meter). Most of this infrared radiation is blocked by the Earth's
atmosphere and cannot be observed from the ground.
Consisting of an 0.85-meter telescope and three cryogenically
cooled science instruments, SIRTF is one of NASA's largest infrared
telescopes to be launched. Its highly sensitive instruments will give us a
unique view of the Universe and allow us to peer into regions of space that
are hidden from optical telescopes on the ground or orbiting telescopes such
as the Hubble Space Telescope. Many areas of space are filled with vast,
dense clouds of gas and dust that block our view. Infrared light can
penetrate these clouds, allowing us to peer into regions of star formation,
the centers of galaxies, and into newly forming planetary systems. Infrared
also brings us information about the cooler objects in space, such as
smaller stars that are too dim to be detected by their visible light, extra
solar planets, and giant molecular clouds. Also, many molecules in space,
including organic molecules, have their unique signatures in the infrared.
MISSION: Mars Exploration Rovers (MER-1/MER-2)
LAUNCH VEHICLES: Delta II/Delta II Heavy
LAUNCH PADS: 17-A/17-B
LAUNCH DATES: May 30/June 25
LAUNCH TIMES: 2:28 p.m./12:34 a.m.
The cruise stage, aeroshell and lander for the MER-2 mission
arrived at the KSC Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility (PHSF) on Monday,
Jan. 27. The identical flight hardware for MER-1 and the first of the two
Mars Exploration rovers will arrive at KSC on Monday, Feb. 24. The second
rover will arrive the second week of March.
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