* Astronomy

Blobrana · L

RE: Dawn spacecraft

Blobrana · L

The complex and intricate steps necessary for Dawn to reach space continue as its launch date grows near.
Workers have begun assembling Dawn's launch vehicle at Cape Canaveral's Space Launch Complex 17. Shunning the banal names used by fictional (and some actual) rockets for many decades, the real thing carries an appellation that evokes the true passion of our species for exploring the cosmos. Readers here on Earth (and on most other planets with comparable or greater gravity) are sure to be stirred by the name Delta II 7925H-9.5, capturing everything that's cool about rockets. Regardless of what it is called, United Launch Alliance's family of Delta II rockets has a remarkable record of success in delivering spacecraft for NASA and other organisations to space.
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Blobrana · L

STATUS REPORT: ELV-060607
Expendable Launch Vehicle Status Report

Mission: Dawn
Location: Astrotech Space Operations Facility
Launch Pad: 17-B
Launch Vehicle: Delta II 7925-H
Launch Date: July 7, 2007
Launch Time: 4:09:31 - 4:36:22 p.m. EDT

At Pad 17-B, the Delta II first stage was hoisted into the launcher on May 28 after a postponement due to high wind at the launch pad. Technicians then began working to erect the nine solid rocket boosters. A mechanical problem with the crane used to hoist and mate the first set of three boosters stalled further launch vehicle build-up. As a result of the crane problem at the pad, the launch of Dawn has been retargeted for July 7. Repairs to the crane are now complete. The operations to attach the solid rocket boosters resumed today. The second stage is planned to be hoisted atop the first stage on June 20. Due to the change in the launch date, the planned loading of xenon for the ion propulsion system was rescheduled. The operation began Tuesday night and is under way today. Hydrazine, used for spacecraft control and manoeuvring, is scheduled to be loaded on June 10. The spacecraft will be transported to Pad 17-B for mating to the Delta II on June 26.

Blobrana · L

Preparations for the delayed launch of NASA's Dawn spacecraft from Pad-17A are expected to resume mid-week, when a broken crane is expected to be repaired

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Blobrana · L

STATUS REPORT: ELV-051807
Expendable Launch Vehicle Status Report

Mission: Dawn
Location: Astrotech Space Operations Facility
Launch Pad: 17-B
Launch Vehicle: Delta II 7925-H
Launch Date: Target June 30, 2007
Launch Window: 5:13:15 p.m. EDT

*Preparations are under way for moving the Dawn spacecraft to an adjacent clean room high bay for solar array integration.
*Next week, the two spacecraft solar arrays, each consisting of four panels, will be attached to the Dawn spacecraft and undergo deployment testing. A solar array lighting test also will be performed before the arrays are stowed for flight. This activity is scheduled for May 21-24.
*The spacecraft will be moved to Astrotech's Hazardous Processing Facility for fuelling on May 26.
*The Delta II first stage will be hoisted into the launcher at Pad 17-B on May 23 and attachment of the nine solid rocket boosters will begin.

-- Edited by Blobrana at 06:34, 2007-05-19

Blobrana · L

STATUS REPORT: ELV-051107
Expendable Launch Vehicle Status Report

Mission: Dawn
Location: Astrotech Space Operations Facility
Launch Pad: 17-B
Launch Vehicle: Delta II 7925-H
Launch Date: NET June 30, 2007
Launch Time: 15:13:15 p.m. EDT

    * Mission system performance testing continues and is planned to finish Friday.
    * A test of the spacecraft's primary communications antenna is scheduled for May 21.
    * The spacecraft solar arrays will be attached and deployed May 21 - 24.
    * The spacecraft will be moved to Astrotech's Hazardous Processing Facility for fuelling on May 26.

Blobrana · L

Dawn Arrives in Florida
The Dawn spacecraft arrived at Astrotech Space Operations in Titusville, Florida, at 9 a.m. EDT today. Dawn, NASA's mission into the heart of the asteroid belt, is at the facility for final processing and launch operations. Dawn's launch period opens June 30.

"Dawn only has two more trips to make. One will be in mid-June when it makes the 15-mile journey from the processing facility to the launch pad. The second will be when Dawn rises to begin its eight-year, 3.2-billion-mile odyssey into the heart of the asteroid belt" - Dawn project manager Keyur Patel of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.

The Dawn spacecraft will employ ion propulsion to explore two of the asteroid belt's most intriguing and dissimilar occupants: asteroid Vesta and the dwarf planet Ceres.

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Blobrana · L

The Dawn project successfully completed its Post-Environmental Test Review (PETR) on March 19th, and its Pre-Ship Review, held March 20-21, clearing the way for the Dawn spacecrafts trip to Cape Canaveral for launch preparations. The PETR assessed the completeness and validity of the thermal vacuum (TVAC) testing which was performed Jan 23-Feb 18 at the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, DC.
The spacecraft and instruments were put through a comprehensive series of performance tests to validate the spacecraft thermal model and operate the flight system (including instruments) in a flight-like manner, culminating in a test-firing of two of the three ion thrusters. Some rework was needed to adjust heater circuit setpoints and correct wiring, and the High Voltage Electronics Assembly was returned to JPL after TVAC for rework of faults not related to the TVAC testing. The HVEA rework and retesting has completed, and the box has been re-integrated to the spacecraft.
Following an acoustics test at NRL, the spacecraft will be packed and shipped to the Astrotech facility near Kennedy Space Centre in Cape Canaveral.

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Blobrana · L

The Dawn spacecraft has just completed the final and most challenging of the environmental tests needed to prepare for its launch and travels through space. During the past month, it has endured the extreme heat and cold of spaceflight in a large vacuum chamber at the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) in Washington, DC.
In the last few months of 2006, the spacecraft underwent a broad range of tests at Orbital Sciences Corporation in Dulles, Virginia. It passed all of them, and for graduation the spacecraft, along with its retinue of mechanical and electrical test and support equipment, was sent on a pleasingly uneventful drive to NRL during the first weekend in January. Once it arrived, preparations began immediately for the next set of tests in NRL's thermal vacuum chamber.

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Blobrana · L

The Dawn spacecraft is in space! Well, not quite, but it is getting a taste of the space environment courtesy of the team preparing it for its mission.
Although the individual components of the spacecraft have already been tested, the point of the testing in Orbital Sciences Corporation's Environmental Test Facility is to verify that the fully assembled spacecraft will survive the rigors of launch and be able to fulfil its ambitious mission of exploration in deep space.

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