Processing Activities During Rollback on Tuesday 28th
A video describing what was done to the Atlas V vehicle when it was rolled back to the Vertical Integration Facility on Tuesday 28th to hold out Hurricane Isaac.
NASA's Radiation Belt Science Probe launch delayed
The launch of a pair of NASA Radiation Belt Storm Probes set for early this morning has been postponed for a day due to an issue with a mandatory range tracking beacon, and has been reset for Saturday, August 25, United Launch Alliance said in a release. Read more
The twin RBSP spacecraft will launch aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V 401 rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Space Launch Complex 41. The 20-minute launch window opens at 08:07 UT on Friday, August 24. Weather forecasts currently call for a 60% chance of favourable conditions expected at launch time. Read more
NASA is preparing to launch a rocket this week to help better understand how the sun can wreak havoc on everything from cell phones to our health. Originally planned for Thursday, United Launch Alliance announced a 24-hour delay due to a problem found during testing of another Atlas vehicle in Alabama that scientists want to make sure isn't present in the launch vehicle. Read more
NASA to Hold News Conference on Upcoming Radiation Belt Storm Probes Launch
NASA will hold a news conference at 18:00 UT, Thursday, Aug. 9 to discuss the upcoming launch of the Radiation Belt Storm Probes (RBSP), a mission to study Earths radiation belts. The event will be broadcast live on NASA Television and streamed on the agency's website. Read more
The Radiation Belt Storm Probes (RBSP) Mission represents NASA's most comprehensive look at the Earth's Radiation Belt to date. Using identical probes in slightly different orbits, the RBSP Mission will give scientists an unprecedented look into the complex and hostile environment of our Radiation Belt. Most space craft turn off their instruments while passing through the Radiation Belt, but RSBP A & B will operate inside the "Belt" 24-7 throughout the life of the mission. Read more
NASA has awarded United Launch Alliance (ULA) four science and communications missions set to launch in the first half of the next decade. All four missions will fly aboard ULA's Atlas V rocket and are scheduled to launch between 2011-2014. The four launches are the Radiation Belt Storm Probes (RBSP), two Tracking and Data Relay Satellites (TDRS-K and TDRS-L) and the Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission. The launches will be provided under terms of a launch service agreement procured previously by NASA's Kennedy Space Center for this vehicle. The liftoffs will all occur from Space Launch Complex-41, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla. NASA's Goddard Space Flight Centre, Greenbelt, Md., will manage all four missions. Read more