NASA Expendable Launch Vehicle Status Report 17 Aug 2009
Mission: Space Tracking and Surveillance System – Demonstrators
Program (STSS-Demo)
Launch Vehicle: Delta II 7920-10
Launch Pad: Launch Pad 17-B, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla.
Launch Date: Sept. 15, 2009
Launch Window: 8 – 9 p.m. EDT
At Pad 17-B, work has been on hold while the launch team focused on an Air Force Delta II on adjacent Pad 17-A. The vehicle launched at 6:35 a.m. EDT with the final Air Force Global Positioning System navigation satellite in the current GPS IIR series. This week the launch team will begin processing for STSS-Demo.
Spacecraft: Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO)
Launch Vehicle: Atlas V-401
Launch Pad: Launch Complex 41, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla.
Launch Date: Dec. 4, 2009
The SDO full observatory comprehensive performance test has been conducted to fully test all of the spacecraft science instruments. The test is the last major evaluation before launch.
The Ka-band RF downlink checkouts are complete. The instrument module has been cleaned, and a visual inspection for the Extreme Ultraviolet Variability Experiment was performed.
Spacecraft: Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE)
Launch Vehicle: Delta II 7320
Launch Pad: SLC-2, Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif.
Launch Date: Dec. 10, 2009 (tentative)
Ground support equipment for the WISE spacecraft arrived at Vandenberg on Aug. 10 and will be processed in the Astrotech payload processing facility located on north Vandenberg. WISE arrived on Aug. 14 and was offloaded and lifted out of its transportation canister on Saturday.
This week, the spacecraft is scheduled to be transferred to a work stand to begin processing for launch.
WISE will survey the entire sky in the mid-infrared with far greater sensitivity than any previous mission ever has. The WISE survey will capture over a million images, from which hundreds of millions of astronomical objects will be catalogued, providing a vast storehouse of knowledge about the Solar System, the Milky Way, and the Universe.
Previous status reports are available at: http://www.nasa.gov/centers/kennedy/launchingrockets/status/index.html
