Earth’s Launch Performance Today; 1 Failure, 2 Successes
Earth has made three launch attempts in the past 24 hours. Two met with success, the other with failure.
The first launch was QuickBird-1 which was launched aboard a Russian Space Agency Cosmos-3M rocket. The launch occurred Monday at 2300 GMT from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome. The rocket’s second stage apparently shut down early placing the satellite in a useless and decaying orbit. The mission has now been written off as a total loss. QuickBird-1 was built by Ball Aerospace for EarthWatch
Inc. and was capable of taking black and white digital photos at 1 meter resolution and color images at 4 meter resolution.
° QuickBird, Ball Aerospace
° QuickBird, Eurimage
Next up was a Delta II launch from Vandenburg Air Force Base in California. This rocket was launched at 1:24 PM EST and has placed its three satellites into orbit. The Satellite de Aplicanciones
Cientificas-C (SAC-C) was launched for Argentina and will study Earth’s magnetic field and solar wind interactions. NASA’s Earth Observing-1 (EO-1) satellite will operate in tandem fashion with Landsat 7 to allow various advanced technology demonstration efforts to be calibrated against current technology. The Munin nanosatellite was launched for the Swedish Institute of Space Physics and will study auroral activity and collect space weather data. The launch was originally planned for last weekend but was delayed twice – once for contamination checks and the second time for paperwork concerns.
° Earth Observing-1 (EO-1) , NASA GSFC
° Munin Satellite, Swedish Institute of Space Physics
° Satelite de Aplicanciones Cientificas-C (SAC-C), Argentine Commission on Space Activities (CONAE)
° Successful Delta II launch carries satellites, 30th Space Wing Vandenburg AFB
° EO-1/SAC-C Spacecraft Successfully Launched, NASA
° Delta II Launches Two Earth-Observing Satellites for NASA and Argentina, Plus a Swedish Nanosatellite, NASA
Rounding out the day’s launches was an Arianespace Ariane 44L carrying Telesat Canada’s Anik F1 satellite aloft on mission No. 136. After being delayed 24 hours due to a testing issue, the rocket was launched from Kourou, French Guiana at 6:56 PM EST. Anik F1 is based upon the Boeing 702 satellite and has the highest capability of any communications satellite ever launched. This launch also marked the heaviest weight yet placed into Geosynchronous transfer orbit by an Ariane 4.
° Ariane Mission Log:Flight 136 – Arianespace meets the challenge once again!, Arianespace
° Ariane launches world’s most powerful communications satellite
° Production begins on Telesat’s Anik F2 satellite
° Boeing 702 satellite, Boeing
° Arianespace
