NASASpaceFlight.com Forum
Commercial and US Government Launch Vehicles => ULA - Delta, Atlas, Vulcan => Topic started by: Chris Bergin on 03/18/2015 07:27 pm
-
March 18, 2015
NASA Awards Launch Services Contract for Solar Probe Plus Mission
NASA has selected United Launch Services, LLC, of Centennial, Colorado, to provide launch services for the agency’s Solar Probe Plus (SPP) mission.
The SPP spacecraft will launch aboard a Delta IV Heavy rocket from Space Launch Complex 37 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. Launch is targeted for July 31, 2018, at the opening of a 20-day launch period. The total contract award amount for launch services is $389.1 million.
SPP will be the first mission to fly through the sun’s outer atmosphere -- the solar corona -- to examine two fundamental aspects of solar physics: why the corona is so much hotter than the sun’s surface, and what accelerates the solar wind that affects Earth and our solar system. Understanding these fundamental phenomena has been a top-priority science goal for more than five decades. SPP will orbit the sun 24 times, closing to within 3.9 million miles of its surface with the help of seven Venus flybys.
The Launch Services Program at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida is responsible for management and oversight of the Delta IV Heavy launch services for SPP. The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory is designing and building the spacecraft for NASA’s Living with a Star Program, managed by the agency’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
For more information about NASA programs and missions, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/ (http://www.nasa.gov/)
-
Our article:
http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2015/03/ula-orbital-atk-team-up-spp-mission/
-
Oh so they did go for the Delta IV-H in the end. Did think Falcon 9H was unlikely because of its newness as a launcher also the lack of relevant upper stage needed due to high energy needs of this launch. As a general point it will be good to see the Heavy on another rare civilian launch.
@Chris good article.:)
-
They can't sign a contract now for something that may or may not be available or certified for launch.
-
They can't sign a contract now for something that may or may not be available or certified for launch.
Actually, yes, they can. SpaceX/JASON-3, Atlas V/MRO (401) & Pluto New Horizons (551), and OSC/OCO are perfect examples. All three four missions were contracted before certification.
-
They can't sign a contract now for something that may or may not be available or certified for launch.
Actually, yes, they can. SpaceX/JASON-3, Atlas V/MRO & Pluto New Horizons, and OSC/OCO are perfect examples. All three were contracted before certification.
Thanks I thought that was the case & the poster above was incorrect in their interpretation on this.
-
Interesting that so much propulsive energy will be needed to take the probe near the Sun, given that it will be falling into the Sun's gravity well. Was the same true for Messenger?
-
Interesting that so much propulsive energy will be needed to take the probe near the Sun, given that it will be falling into the Sun's gravity well. Was the same true for Messenger?
Yes. Messenger made a total of 6 planetary flybys in order to decelerate enough for Mercury orbit insertion.
-
Good stuff and good article. Wow, a Star-48 on a D-IVH--that's noteworthy in itself. Is the need for such a big LV due to the mass of the spacecraft? I imagine to fly through the corona will require plenty of shielding/mass.
-
I presume, the Star-48 will be a Star-48BV version. The development of the Star-48GXV, which was to be used with Solar Probe on the originally planned Atlas-V(551), has been stopped to to high costs.
-
Wow, a Star-48 on a D-IVH--that's noteworthy in itself. Is the need for such a big LV due to the mass of the spacecraft?
It's a lightweight spacecraft. It's just that the delta-V requirement is huge and is enough to bring *any* chemical propulsion system down to its knees.
-
Delta IV Heavy + Star-48 and they still need seven Venus flybys? Wow, that's a lot of delta-v.
BTW, now ULA will be able to say "from the Sun to Pluto, we can launch your payload". You do have to give them that.
But I still wonder if there was a developed SEP stage if it wouldn't work better for inner solar system missions (like a Mercury lander or a polar solar probe.
-
My guess is that shielding will be essential not only for high temperatures, but to protect against charged particles from Solar flares/CMEs, gamma and x-rays, etc. If the Sun can rattle the electronic nerves of a geostationary satellite 93 million miles away, imagine what it could do to a much closer spacecraft.
-
NASA is beginning the process of procuring a launch vehicle for solar probe plus: https://www.fbo.gov/?s=opportunity&mode=form&id=3060e9441252d36ffceae289a1fef314&tab=core&_cview=0 . The mass is 685 kg and the C3 is 154 km^2/s^2. I believe this is beyond what Falcon 9 can handle, even with a kick stage. The solicitation requires "at least one successful flight of the common launch vehicle configuration...prior to the proposal due date, which is anticipated to be September 2014," and Falcon Heavy isn't expected to launch until 2015, so it looks like SpaceX will not be eligible to bid. Presumably an Atlas will win.
It wouldn't be an Atlas because such a solicitation is not needed to buy an Atlas. Atlas is already on the NLS II contract.
Here's where the solicitation for this launch was discussed.
-
The Star-48 is part of the spacecraft and not the launch vehicle.
-
I find, so I share:
https://dnnpro.outer.jhuapl.edu/Portals/35/ISSFD24_Paper_Release/ISSFD24_Paper_S6-2_Guo.pdf
The launch energy is much higher than most interplanetary missions and requires a powerful three-stage launch system. The maximum launch C3 over the 20-day launch period is 154 km2/s2. The baseline launch system is an EELV (Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle) Delta IV Heavy class launch vehicle with a standard Star 48 BV upper stage. During the Phase B development, an EELV Atlas V 551 launch vehicle was assumed. The recent switch to the more powerful Delta IV Heavy class launch vehicle will allow for more launch mass and increase spacecraft mass margin for the Phase C development.
They were playing around with an enhanced Star-48 at one point (trying to keep it on Atlas).
Also from the SPP thread, the D4H with Star 48BV just selected has been the baseline vehicle throughout Phase C work.
-
I presume, the Star-48 will be a Star-48BV version. The development of the Star-48GXV, which was to be used with Solar Probe on the originally planned Atlas-V(551), has been stopped to to high costs.
Has there been any news or explanation as to why the Star-48GXV development became too expensive?
And how expensive is too expensive?
My (limited) understanding is that Star-48 motors are mature technology.
Curious,
Zubenelgenubi
-
I presume, the Star-48 will be a Star-48BV version. The development of the Star-48GXV, which was to be used with Solar Probe on the originally planned Atlas-V(551), has been stopped to to high costs.
Has there been any news or explanation as to why the Star-48GXV development became too expensive?
And how expensive is too expensive?
My (limited) understanding is that Star-48 motors are mature technology.
Only Star-48's with fixed nozzles are mature.
-
I presume, the Star-48 will be a Star-48BV version. The development of the Star-48GXV, which was to be used with Solar Probe on the originally planned Atlas-V(551), has been stopped to to high costs.
Has there been any news or explanation as to why the Star-48GXV development became too expensive?
And how expensive is too expensive?
My (limited) understanding is that Star-48 motors are mature technology.
Only Star-48's with fixed nozzles are mature.
And the Star-48GXV is more or less a completely new motor, with graphite composite case, a lightweight carbon-carbon exit cone and a new consumable igniter.
-
Has the Star-48BV ever flown before? Or is the 48B the only flown variant?
-
Has the Star-48BV ever flown before? Or is the 48B the only flown variant?
It has flown twice on the Minotaur-4+ and the Minotaur-5 launch vehicles.
-
Is the only difference a TVC nozzle on the 48BV variant?
-
Is the only difference a TVC nozzle on the 48BV variant?
From the Orbital ATK Motor Catalog (p104):
The STAR 48BV has been qualified (1993) as an upper stage for EER System’s Conestoga Vehicle. The STAR 48V is derived from the highly successful STAR 48B (TE-M-711 series) rocket motor. The STAR 48V provides the same range of total impulse as the STAR 48B with the long exit cone and includes an electromechanically actuated flexseal nozzle thrust vector control system for use on a nonspinning spacecraft. Case attachment features can be modified or relocated for varying applications without requalification.
http://www.orbitalatk.com/flight-systems/propulsion-systems/GEM-strapon-booster-system/docs/orbital_atk_motor_catalog_(2012).pdf
-
Is the only difference a TVC nozzle on the 48BV variant?
From the Orbital ATK Motor Catalog (p104):
The STAR 48BV has been qualified (1993) as an upper stage for EER System’s Conestoga Vehicle. The STAR 48V is derived from the highly successful STAR 48B (TE-M-711 series) rocket motor. The STAR 48V provides the same range of total impulse as the STAR 48B with the long exit cone and includes an electromechanically actuated flexseal nozzle thrust vector control system for use on a nonspinning spacecraft. Case attachment features can be modified or relocated for varying applications without requalification.
http://www.orbitalatk.com/flight-systems/propulsion-systems/GEM-strapon-booster-system/docs/orbital_atk_motor_catalog_(2012).pdf
Qualified on Conestoga?! Well shoot, that's all the data you need right there! ;)
-
If Conestoga did not self-destruct on its October 1995 mission, then the Star-48BV stage would have made its debut ahead of time.
-
Oh so they did go for the Delta IV-H in the end. Did think Falcon 9H was unlikely because of its newness as a launcher also the lack of relevant upper stage needed due to high energy needs of this launch. As a general point it will be good to see the Heavy on another rare civilian launch.
@Chris good article.:)
SpaceX was probably allowed to compete for the contract just as a courtesy. They really had no shot at winning it since Falcon Heavy hasn't even flown once yet. I'm not even sure Falcon Heavy would have the required performance to launch this mission. For ULA to say it won a "competitive procurement" is probably just a way of rubbing it in.
-
SpaceX was probably allowed to compete for the contract just as a courtesy. They really had no shot at winning it since Falcon Heavy hasn't even flown once yet. I'm not even sure Falcon Heavy would have the required performance to launch this mission. For ULA to say it won a "competitive procurement" is probably just a way of rubbing it in.
If that were true, NASA could have done a sole source justification and not gone through a source competition.
-
Front page article on GPS IIF-9 states "Due to SPP’s required target orbit, the Delta IV Heavy is the only qualified rocket in the US fleet capable of launching it, and only with the aid of a Star 48B upper stage."
So, does this include F9H? It's technically not "in the US fleet" but....
-
Orbital ATK Teams with ULA to Launch NASA's Solar Probe Plus Mission
Delta IV Heavy Capability to be Augmented by Orbital ATK Third Stage
(Dulles, Virginia 3 April 2015) – Orbital ATK (NYSE: OA) is teamed with United Launch Alliance (ULA) to launch NASA’s Solar Probe Plus (SPP) mission on ULA’s Delta IV Heavy rocket. A fully integrated third stage provided by Orbital ATK will give the spacecraft the high-energy boost needed to send it on its mission to study the Sun’s outer atmosphere.
Orbital ATK’s third stage leverages flight-proven inertial navigation, avionics, attitude control and separation systems used on the company’s Pegasus®, Minotaur and Minotaur-C launch vehicles. The venerable STARTM 48BV rocket motor, which traces its roots back to the 1980s, will provide the propulsion. The STAR 48 motor series has logged more than 130 successful missions.
“One of Orbital ATK’s strengths is providing new launch capabilities that leverage flight-proven subsystems,” said Ron Grabe, President of Orbital ATK’s Flight Systems Group. “We are proud to team with ULA to augment the Delta IV Heavy for this very challenging mission.”
After separating from the launch vehicle’s second stage, Orbital ATK’s third stage motor will ignite and accelerate the SPP spacecraft, making it one of the fastest man-made objects in history. During the motor’s nominal burn time of 81 seconds, Orbital ATK’s flight computer and guidance control system will guide the SPP observatory on its way to an elliptical orbit around the Sun. The observatory, using several gravity assists from Venus, will ultimately pass within 10 solar radii of the Sun, many times closer to the sun than the planet Mercury.
The Orbital ATK stage is being designed specifically to support the challenging SPP mission. When vertically integrated, it will measure approximately seven feet tall and four-and-a-half feet in diameter. The stage will be developed at the company’s facilities in Dulles, Virginia; Chandler, Arizona; and Elkton, Maryland.
In addition to the third stage, Orbital ATK’s contributions to the Delta IV Heavy launch vehicle include cutting-edge technologies from across the company. These include 12 key composite structures, manufactured using advanced layup, machining and
inspection techniques in Iuka, Mississippi, and Clearfield, Utah; the RS-68 rocket engine’s nozzle, manufactured in Promontory, Utah; the booster separation rocket motors, manufactured in Rocket Center, West Virginia; and the diaphragm propellant tanks, manufactured in Commerce, California.
The SPP mission, which will enter the Sun’s outer atmosphere to study the streams of charged particles the Sun hurls into space, is scheduled to launch in 2018. The SPP spacecraft is being developed at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland. SPP is part of NASA’s “Living with a Star” program, managed by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, for the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C.
-
http://www.jhuapl.edu/newscenter/pressreleases/2016/160714.asp (http://www.jhuapl.edu/newscenter/pressreleases/2016/160714.asp)
July 14, 2016
Solar Probe Plus Mission Moves into Advanced Development
NASA’s first mission to “touch” the sun has passed a critical development milestone that keeps it well on track toward its scheduled summer 2018 launch.
Following a successful NASA management review on July 7, the Solar Probe Plus mission — which will send a spacecraft on several daring data-collecting runs through the sun’s atmosphere — is moving into the system assembly, integration, test and launch stage of the project. NASA terms this period as Phase D, during which the mission team will finish building the spacecraft, install its science instruments, test it under simulated launch and space conditions, and launch it.
“Reaching this stage means a lot to the team and our stakeholders,” said Andy Driesman, Solar Probe Plus project manager at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL), which manages the mission for NASA and is building the spacecraft. “It shows we’ve designed a spacecraft, instruments and a mission that can address the engineering challenges associated with the harsh solar environment, and send back the data that scientists have sought for decades. It’s humbling to see designs and ideas start to become a spacecraft.”
Solar Probe Plus is set to launch during a 20-day window that opens July 31, 2018. Over 24 orbits, the spacecraft will use seven flybys of Venus to reduce its distance from the sun. The closest three orbits will be within 3.9 million miles of the sun’s surface — roughly seven times closer than any spacecraft has come to our star — where it will face solar intensity more than 500 times what spacecraft experience while orbiting Earth.
This mission of extreme exploration will provide new data on solar activity and contribute significantly to our ability to forecast major space-weather events that impact life on Earth. The primary science goals for Solar Probe Plus are to trace the flow of energy from and understand the heating of the sun’s outer atmosphere — its corona — and to explore the physical mechanisms that accelerate the solar wind, the continuous stream of charged and energetic particles flowing out from the sun. To do that requires sending a probe through the corona to better understand the solar wind and the material it carries into our solar system. It’s been a goal of scientists for nearly 60 years, one that is only possible today through cutting-edge thermal engineering advances.
Solar Probe Plus will carry four instrument suites designed to study magnetic fields, plasma and energetic particles, and image the solar wind. The spacecraft and instruments will be protected from the sun’s heat by a 4.5-inch-thick carbon-composite shield, which will need to withstand temperatures that reach nearly 2,500 degrees Fahrenheit — but keep the spacecraft’s payload operating at room temperature.
Solar Probe Plus is part of NASA’s Living With a Star program to explore aspects of the sun-Earth system that directly affect life and society. LWS is managed by the agency’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington, D.C. APL, in Laurel, Maryland, manages the mission for NASA and is designing and building and will operate the spacecraft.
Media contacts:
Michael Buckley, Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, 240-228-7536, [email protected]
Dwayne Brown, NASA Headquarters, 202-358-1726, [email protected]
Karen Fox, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, 301-286-6284, [email protected]
The Applied Physics Laboratory, a not-for-profit division of The Johns Hopkins University, meets critical national challenges through the innovative application of science and technology. For more information, visit www.jhuapl.edu.
-
Now at 550 days until launch.
-
Always like watching a Delta IV-Heavy launch - that's one heck of a rocket. I've always wanted it to become America's primary heavy lift launcher from Constellation onwards. Lots of potential there.
-
Will the probe be getting any gravity assists?
-
Will the probe be getting any gravity assists?
yes, read reply 29 for details.
-
http://www.orbithangar.com/searchid.php?ID=6473
One of many Orbiter simulator addons, Solar Probe, includes a fictional launch scenario of SPP atop an Atlas V 551, which is on July 30, 2018 at 09:43 UTC (5:43 AM EDT). However, the actual launch date is one day later on the 31st and the Delta IV Heavy will boost SPP.
Having explained all that, I ask one question:
Will Solar Probe Plus launch in the early morning of July 31, 2018 or is the time of day earlier or later?
-
http://www.orbithangar.com/searchid.php?ID=6473
One of many Orbiter simulator addons, Solar Probe, includes a fictional launch scenario of SPP atop an Atlas V 551, which is on July 30, 2018 at 09:43 UTC (5:43 AM EDT). However, the actual launch date is one day later on the 31st and the Delta IV Heavy will boost SPP.
Having explained all that, I ask one question:
Will Solar Probe Plus launch in the early morning of July 31, 2018 or is the time of day earlier or later?
It is also the first time that a D-IV version of any type will sport a third stage with the SRM version being a Star-48BV.
-
http://www.orbithangar.com/searchid.php?ID=6473
One of many Orbiter simulator addons, Solar Probe, includes a fictional launch scenario of SPP atop an Atlas V 551, which is on July 30, 2018 at 09:43 UTC (5:43 AM EDT). However, the actual launch date is one day later on the 31st and the Delta IV Heavy will boost SPP.
Having explained all that, I ask one question:
Will Solar Probe Plus launch in the early morning of July 31, 2018 or is the time of day earlier or later?
It is also the first time that a D-IV version of any type will sport a third stage with the SRM version being a Star-48BV.
Not quite - the two DSCS-3 launches used IABS as third stages. But anyway, all third stages on Delta IV are considered part of the payload.
-
A spacecraft supplied stage is not considered part of the Launch vehicle. Whereas, SPP will use a Delta IV with a third stage, because ULA is supplying it. PNH supplied its own motor and it was not part of the Atlas V. The determining factor is who does the integration of the "stage" with the spacecraft and who buys the hardware for the stage.
-
A spacecraft supplied stage is not considered part of the Launch vehicle. Whereas, SPP will use a Delta IV with a third stage, because ULA is supplying it. PNH supplied its own motor and it was not part of the Atlas V. The determining factor is who does the integration of the "stage" with the spacecraft and who buys the hardware for the stage.
New Horizons is marked as a three stage launch as it used a Star upper stage on the Atlas V.
-
By who?
-
Next Stop: A Trip Inside the Sun's Atmosphere
Every so often the sun emits an explosive burst of charged particles that makes its way to Earth and often wreaks havoc on power grids, aircraft and satellite systems. When clouds of high-speed charged particles come racing off the sun, they can bathe spacecraft, astronauts and planetary surfaces in damaging radiation. Understanding why the sun occasionally emits these high-energy particles can help scientists predict space weather. Knowing when solar energetic particles may hit Earth can help people on the planet take precautions.
Now, Draper and the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO) are addressing these challenges, and hoping to untangle these unsolved science mysteries, by developing sophisticated sensors for a new NASA mission. Launching in 2018, NASA's Solar Probe Plus spacecraft, which is being designed and built by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md., will make 24 solar flybys over nearly seven years, setting a new record for the fastest moving man-made object as it zips 37.6 million kilometers closer to the sun than any spacecraft that has ever studied this star, and be exposed to temperatures exceeding 2500 degrees Fahrenheit.
NASA's Solar Probe Plus—the first mission that will fly into the sun's upper atmosphere and "touch" the sun—will collect data on the mechanisms that heat the corona and accelerate the solar wind, a constant flow of charged particles from the sun. These are two processes with fundamental roles in the complex interconnected system linking the sun and near-Earth space—a system that can drive changes in our space weather and impact our satellites.
https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/news/2017-12
-
I'm just slightly nostalgic about this being the probable last time a delta vehicle with a star48 will fly.
-
The cooling system and top deck have been installed on the spacecraft.
http://solarprobe.jhuapl.edu/Multimedia/ApprovedMedia/Videos/Hot-Shots/originals/17-04-05_Top%20Deck%20SACS%20Installation_Dolbow_Ruiz_17-00072_1080p.mp4
-
Solar Probe Plus is scheduled to launch July 31, 2018 atop one of the last Delta IV Heavy launch vehicles.
It's mission: Approach the sun and explore the mysteries of its corona, nearing the star as close as 3.9 million miles (6.2 million km). To do this, it's going to require a state-of-the-art thermal protection system that shields from temperatures as high as 2,500 degrees F (1,377 C).
To adjust its course, SPP will make 7 flybys of Venus. The wide orbits between Venus and the sun will take place over the probe's expected mission duration of over 6 years, well into 2025.
I'm officially interested in SPP because of a recent bit of awesomeness I've experienced.
Thanks to the "Space Hipsters" Facebook club, I toured the United Launch Alliance rocket factory on April 28. While we weren't allowed to take photos on the tour, we were shown all three cores of SPP's Delta IV Heavy, as well as the Atlas Vs that would launch TDRS-M and a few other missions in the near future. Since the D-IV uses H2/O2, its stage's volume made the otherwise-impressive Atlas Vs, which use RP-1 and O2, look outright skinny.
Sitting not far away was a large white shipping box from NPO Energomash: Engines for the Atlas V. The TDRS-M launch vehicle sat, mostly complete, with a pair of the engines with their gray nozzles.
As we know, the Delta rockets are being phased out. As this construction ends, ULA had made a couple of spots for welding machines for use with Vulcan construction as well as CST-100 Starliner work. Sadly, no Starliners there yet.
ULA builds all the rockets from aluminum plate at the factory, water-cut to form a triangular grid on one side that reinforces the vehicle's thickness while saving weight. These flat sheets are rounded to the desired dimensions. Tanks are created from aluminum sheets no thicker than a US dime coin. Both domes and sides are welded once complete. The Centaur's tanks are so light, they must reside in special frames as they cannot support their own weight.
Also on the tour were construction and pressure testing of the Centaur upper stages. In a special clean room sat the Centaur for SPP and four other missions.
It's one thing to visit a museum, see replicas of rockets and simulators of past spacecraft and never-flown vehicles of times gone by. But I have seen SPP's massive rocket, up-close enough to touch it, getting to see everything save the probe itself, built elsewhere. It's humbling to see real rockets that will fly, built from the ground up, as close as I did. An incredible day.
Mission website: http://solarprobe.jhuapl.edu/index.php (http://solarprobe.jhuapl.edu/index.php)
(I'm the guy with the streamlined head and crossed arms to the left of center of the crowd.)
One of side cores of SPP are left of the photo. Atlas V cores are to the right.
-
May 26, 2017
MEDIA ADVISORY M17-061
NASA to Make Announcement About First Mission to Touch Sun
Solar Probe Plus spacecraft leaving Earth
This illustration depicts the Solar Probe Plus spacecraft leaving Earth, after separating from its launch vehicle and booster rocket, bound for the inner solar system and an unprecedented study of the Sun.
Credits: JHU/APL
NASA will make an announcement about the agency’s first mission to fly directly into our sun’s atmosphere during an event at 11 a.m. EDT Wednesday, May 31, from the University of Chicago’s William Eckhardt Research Center Auditorium. The event will air live on NASA Television and the agency’s website.
The mission, Solar Probe Plus, is scheduled to launch in the summer of 2018. Placed in orbit within four million miles of the sun’s surface, and facing heat and radiation unlike any spacecraft in history, the spacecraft will explore the sun’s outer atmosphere and make critical observations that will answer decades-old questions about the physics of how stars work. The resulting data will improve forecasts of major space weather events that impact life on Earth, as well as satellites and astronauts in space.
Participants include:
Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington
Nicola Fox, mission project scientist at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland
Eugene Parker, S. Chandrasekhar Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus at the University of Chicago
Eric Isaacs, executive vice president for research, innovation and national laboratories at the University of Chicago
Rocky Kolb, dean of the Division of the Physical Sciences at the University of Chicago
For more information on the mission and agency solar-related activities, visit:
https://www.nasa.gov/sun
-end-
-
Wonder what's that all about.
-
Maybe change of launch vehicle?
[speculation]Launch vehicle changed from Delta IV Heavy to Falcon Heavy. The Delta IV Heavy gets transferred to an Orion LEO mission.[/speculation]
-
Maybe change of launch vehicle?
[speculation]Launch vehicle changed from Delta IV Heavy to Falcon Heavy. The Delta IV Heavy gets transferred to an Orion LEO mission.[/speculation]
The Falcon Heavy would still be too unproven for this flagship mission in 2018 I suspect.
-
Maybe change of launch vehicle?
[speculation]Launch vehicle changed from Delta IV Heavy to Falcon Heavy. The Delta IV Heavy gets transferred to an Orion LEO mission.[/speculation]
I think this would not be a good sign for the mission schedule: there are already a significant number of FH flights waiting for 2017-18 even without being late.
At t-0 minus 1 year, change of vehicle would also be challenging in terms of payload adapter vibration testing, acoustic testing, mission profile... I guess it would be too much change in the given timeframe.
My 2 cents is they will just announce the spaceship is complete and they are getting in final testing and preps.
-
Maybe change of launch vehicle?
[speculation]Launch vehicle changed from Delta IV Heavy to Falcon Heavy. The Delta IV Heavy gets transferred to an Orion LEO mission.[/speculation]
I think this would not be a good sign for the mission schedule: there are already a significant number of FH flights waiting for 2017-18 even without being late.
At t-0 minus 1 year, change of vehicle would also be challenging in terms of payload adapter vibration testing, acoustic testing, mission profile... I guess it would be too much change in the given timeframe.
My 2 cents is they will just announce the spaceship is complete and they are getting in final testing and preps.
That seems like overkill for this kind of announcement.
-
Maybe change of launch vehicle?
[speculation]Launch vehicle changed from Delta IV Heavy to Falcon Heavy. The Delta IV Heavy gets transferred to an Orion LEO mission.[/speculation]
The Falcon Heavy would still be too unproven for this flagship mission in 2018 I suspect.
Could you do this with an Expendable F9 Block 4/5?.. With added Star 48 the high thrust F9 2nd stage might help you.
Maybe if they'd gone this way...
From Wikipedia :
In 2013 a Star 48GXV was tested for the Solar Probe Plus mission as the upper stage on a Atlas V 551 vehicle,[13] but the development was cancelled, in favor of a Delta IV Heavy / Star 48BV conbination.[14]
-
Why would this have anything to do with the launch vehicle? I'm trying to remember the last NASA science mission that held a special announcement to discuss the launch vehicle. The panelists are investigators.
I think there are MUCH better reasons to hold a special science misssion announcement besides a launch vehicle update.
-
Perhaps this mission too has just shaved a year or two of its cruise stage?
-
Perhaps this mission too has just shaved a year or two of its cruise stage?
I didn't think that was possible because of mission requirement.
-
What if they announce the discovery of water ON THE SUN. 😂
-
What if they announce the discovery of water ON THE SUN. 😂
That's old news ::)
http://www.jstor.org/stable/2888375?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents (http://www.jstor.org/stable/2888375?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents)
-
What if they announce the discovery of water ON THE SUN. 😂
All these worlds are yours except the Sun...attempt no landings there...
-
Maybe change of launch vehicle?
[speculation]Launch vehicle changed from Delta IV Heavy to Falcon Heavy. The Delta IV Heavy gets transferred to an Orion LEO mission.[/speculation]
No such thing
-
Announcement starting momentarily.
-
Presser started. Just doing intros.
-
If they're not naming the probe after him, then the whole first 15mins of this event doesn't make sense.
-
Confirmed. NASA is naming the Solar Probe Plus after Gene Parker, making him the first scientist to have a probe named after him while he is still alive. He turns 90 in a few days.
The probe will now be known as the Parker Solar Probe. A lot of history in the man and his work... and for this upcoming mission to uncover.
-
https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2017/nasa-renames-solar-probe-mission-to-honor-pioneering-physicist-eugene-parker (https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2017/nasa-renames-solar-probe-mission-to-honor-pioneering-physicist-eugene-parker)
-
NASA Renames Solar Probe Mission to Honor Pioneering Physicist Eugene Parker
NASA has renamed the Solar Probe Plus spacecraft — humanity’s first mission to a star, which will launch in 2018 — as the Parker Solar Probe in honor of astrophysicist Eugene Parker. The announcement was made at a ceremony at the University of Chicago, where Parker serves as the S. Chandrasekhar Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus, Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics.
In 1958, Parker — then a young professor at the university’s Enrico Fermi Institute — published an article in the Astrophysical Journal called “Dynamics of the interplanetary gas and magnetic fields.” Parker believed there was high speed matter and magnetism constantly escaping the sun, and that it affected the planets and space throughout our solar system.
This phenomenon, now known as the solar wind, has been proven to exist repeatedly through direct observation. Parker’s work forms the basis for much of our understanding about how stars interact with the worlds that orbit them.
“This is the first time NASA has named a spacecraft for a living individual,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. “It’s a testament to the importance of his body of work, founding a new field of science that also inspired my own research and many important science questions NASA continues to study and further understand every day. I’m very excited to be personally involved honoring a great man and his unprecedented legacy.”
“The solar probe is going to a region of space that has never been explored before,” said Parker. “It’s very exciting that we’ll finally get a look. One would like to have some more detailed measurements of what’s going on in the solar wind. I’m sure that there will be some surprises. There always are.”
In the 1950s, Parker proposed a number of concepts about how stars — including our sun — give off energy. He called this cascade of energy the solar wind, and he described an entire complex system of plasmas, magnetic fields and energetic particles that make up this phenomenon. Parker also theorized an explanation for the superheated solar atmosphere, the corona, which is — contrary to what was expected by physics laws — hotter than the surface of the sun itself. Many NASA missions have continued to focus on this complex space environment defined by our star — a field of research known as heliophysics.
“Parker Solar Probe is going to answer questions about solar physics that we’ve puzzled over for more than six decades,” said Parker Solar Probe Project Scientist Nicola Fox, of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. “It’s a spacecraft loaded with technological breakthroughs that will solve many of the largest mysteries about our star, including finding out why the sun’s corona is so much hotter than its surface. And we’re very proud to be able to carry Gene’s name with us on this amazing voyage of discovery.”
NASA missions are most often renamed after launch and certification; in this case, given Parker’s accomplishments within the field, and how closely aligned this mission is with his research, the decision was made to honor him prior to launch, in order to draw attention to his important contributions to heliophysics and space science.
Born on June 10, 1927, in Michigan, Eugene Newman Parker received a Bachelor of Science in physics from Michigan State University and a doctorate from Caltech. He then taught at the University of Utah, and since 1955, Parker has held faculty positions at the University of Chicago and at its Fermi Institute. He has received numerous awards for his research, including the George Ellery Hale Prize, the National Medal of Science, the Bruce Medal, the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society, the Kyoto Prize, and the James Clerk Maxwell Prize.
Parker Solar Probe is on track for launch during a 20-day window that opens July 31, 2018. The mission is part of NASA’s Living With a Star program to explore aspects of the sun-Earth system that directly affect life and society. LWS is managed by the agency’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington, D.C. Johns Hopkins APL manages the mission for NASA and is designing and building and will operate the spacecraft.
Learn More
nasa.gov/solarprobe
http://solarprobe.jhuapl.edu
-
Following on this announcement in the U.K. BBC Radio 5 will be debating space exploration.
-
What time?
-
What time?
Schedule and topics not yet updated. Monitor http://www.bbc.co.uk/5live/programmes/schedules for more information or ring their toll free hotline to get an answer.
-
NASA Announcement about First Mission to Touch Sun
http://www.space-multimedia.nl.eu.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=10045
-
What time?
Sorry it was just starting when I posted. My apologies.
At least all their guests were knowledgeable. They even had someone on from REL.
-
The ride for #SolarProbePlus is getting ready at @ulalaunch #Decatur. Such a great team getting Mighty Delta ready for launch. @torybruno
https://twitter.com/julia_bergeron/status/869971256069824512 (https://twitter.com/julia_bergeron/status/869971256069824512)
-
Had the opportunity to attend today's event at the University of Chicago. Was an honor getting to meet Professor Parker in person.
-
-
NASA names Unique Solar Mission after University of Chicago Physicist Eugene Parker
NASA
Published on May 31, 2017
SUBSCRIBED 1.2M
On May 31, NASA renamed humanity’s first mission to fly a spacecraft directly into the sun’s atmosphere in honor of Professor Eugene Parker, a pioneering physicist at the University of Chicago. This is the first time in agency history a spacecraft has been named for a living individual. Parker, the S. Chandrasekhar Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus in Physics, is best known for developing the concept of solar wind—the stream of electrically charged particles emitted by the sun.
Previously named Solar Probe Plus, the Parker Solar Probe will launch in summer 2018. Placed in orbit within four million miles of the sun’s surface, and facing heat and radiation unlike any spacecraft in history, the spacecraft will explore the sun’s outer atmosphere and make critical observations that will answer decades-old questions about the physics of how stars work. The resulting data will improve forecasts of major space weather events that impact life on Earth, as well as satellites and astronauts in space.
https://youtu.be/jRyKWzTT6kg?t=001
https://youtu.be/jRyKWzTT6kg
-
The Robust Cooling System of a NASA Spacecraft Flying Into the Sun's Atmosphere
The Parker Solar Probe requires some clever engineering to keep the systems cool.
Interestingly enough, the prefered coolant for the spacecraft's solar panels is water. "Part of the NASA technology demonstration funding was used by APL and our partners at UTAS to survey a variety of coolants," said Mary Kae Lockwood, the Parker Solar Probe spacecraft system engineer at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab (APL). "But for the temperature range we required [about 50° F to 257° F], and for the mass constraints, water was the solution."
The water will be pressurized, which will raise its boiling point above 257° F, and a deionization process will strip the water of any minerals that could gum up the system. Although the TPS will get as hot as 2,500° F, the cooling system is designed to keep the solar panels at a functional 360° F or lower. Flying through the sun's atmosphere, the panels will 25 times the solar energy that panels receive in Earth orbit.
Using a solar array for a craft heading to the sun sounds obvious, but figuring out how to keep the panels from being destroyed in the intense heat is more complicated. There will be a standard cover of glass protecting the photovoltaic cells as well as a special ceramic carrier soldered onto the bottom of each cell. The ceramic substrate, called a platen, will then be glued on with a thermally conductive adhesive.
"There's no way to make these adjustments from the ground, which means it has to guide itself," Lockwood said. "APL developed a variety of systems—including wing angle control, guidance and control, electrical power system, avionics, fault management, autonomy and flight software—that are critical parts working with the solar array cooling system." The Parker Solar Probe is expected to be one of the most autonomous spacecraft ever launched, if not the most autonomous.
http://www.popularmechanics.com/space/satellites/a27107/parker-solar-probe-cooling-system-sun-atmosphere/
-
Delta IV Heavy Booster Cores Arrive for Parker Solar Probe
Posted on August 2, 2017 at 1:55 pm by Anna Heiney.
Launch preparations are beginning to get off the ground for NASA’s upcoming Parker Solar Probe mission, scheduled to lift off in summer 2018 atop a United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket.
Two of the three common booster cores comprising the rocket’s first stage have arrived on the company’s Mariner ship, which delivered the components to Port Canaveral in Florida. From there the cores were offloaded and transported to the Horizontal Processing Facility at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 37.
The Parker Solar Probe will perform the closest-ever observations of a star when it travels through the Sun’s atmosphere, called the corona. The probe will rely on measurements and imaging to revolutionize our understanding of the corona and the Sun-Earth connection.
https://blogs.nasa.gov/kennedy/2017/08/02/delta-iv-heavy-booster-cores-arrive-for-parker-solar-probe/ (https://blogs.nasa.gov/kennedy/2017/08/02/delta-iv-heavy-booster-cores-arrive-for-parker-solar-probe/)
First photo caption:
Framed by a series of cabbage palms, a United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy common booster core is transported by truck to Cape Canaveral Air Force Station’s Launch Complex 37 Horizontal Processing Facility after arriving at Port Canaveral. The Delta IV Heavy will launch NASA’s upcoming Parker Solar Probe mission.
Photo credits: NASA/Kim Shiflett
-
<snip>
Launch preparations are beginning to get off the ground for NASA’s upcoming Parker Solar Probe mission, scheduled to lift off in summer 2018 atop a United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket.
Two of the three common booster cores comprising the rocket’s first stage have arrived on the company’s Mariner ship, which delivered the components to Port Canaveral in Florida. From there the cores were offloaded and transported to the Horizontal Processing Facility at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 37.
<snip>
Do two of three Delta IV cores max-out the capacity of the Delta Mariner?
If not, was there any other Delta or Atlas hardware transported on this run?
***
Also, there's only ONE Delta IV Canaveral launch currently scheduled between now and Solar Probe Plus on July 31, 2018--GPS III-1.
-
Couple more pics from: https://twitter.com/nasa_lsp/status/893154013147004929 (https://twitter.com/nasa_lsp/status/893154013147004929)
-
Also, there's only ONE Delta IV Canaveral launch currently scheduled between now and Solar Probe Plus on July 31, 2018--GPS III-1.
SPP is flying before GPS.
-
Do two of three Delta IV cores max-out the capacity of the Delta Mariner?
If not, was there any other Delta or Atlas hardware transported on this run?
***
I think I remember seeing/reading a couple years ago that they/she can carry two CBCs and one Atlas as max volume. There may have even been a picture of same. No idea on your second question.
-
Delta Mariner was designed for 3 CBCs.
The Mariner can carry up to three common booster cores, which are as long as a 737 airline fuselage each.
http://www.ulalaunch.com/united-launch-alliance-continues.aspx
-
Delta Mariner was designed for 3 CBCs.
The Mariner can carry up to three common booster cores, which are as long as a 737 airline fuselage each.
http://www.ulalaunch.com/united-launch-alliance-continues.aspx
The 2 side Delta IV-H core stages EFT-1 Orion flight were delivered separately from the center core, as well. Why, if there is capacity for all 3 core stages?
-
Delta Mariner was designed for 3 CBCs.
The Mariner can carry up to three common booster cores, which are as long as a 737 airline fuselage each.
http://www.ulalaunch.com/united-launch-alliance-continues.aspx
The 2 side Delta IV-H core stages EFT-1 Orion flight were delivered separately from the center core, as well. Why, if there is capacity for all 3 core stages?
Priority Atlas CCB in the middle slot onboard.
-
Final Rocket Components Arrive in Florida for Parker Solar Probe
Posted on September 1, 2017 at 3:06 pm by Anna Heiney.
All components of the United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket that will launch NASA’s Parker Solar Probe have arrived for prelaunch processing at Florida’s Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.
The Port Common Booster Core of the Delta IV Heavy for the Parker Solar Probe (PSP) Mission is offloaded from the Mariner and transported to the Horizontal Integration Facility. The rocket’s second stage arrived Saturday, Aug. 26, along with the third and final common booster core, which will complete the first stage. The hardware was delivered by ship to Port Canaveral, then transported by truck to the Horizontal Integration Facility at Space Launch Complex 37.
The Parker Solar Probe will perform the closest-ever observations of a star when it travels through the Sun’s atmosphere, called the corona. The probe will rely on measurements and imaging to revolutionize our understanding of the corona and the Sun-Earth connection.
This entry was posted in Parker Solar Probe on September 1, 2017.
Caption for 1st photo:
A United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy common booster core arrives at the Horizontal Integration Facility at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station for preflight processing. The Delta IV Heavy will launch NASA’s upcoming Parker Solar Probe mission.
Photo credit: NASA/Cory Huston
Caption for 2nd photo:
The Port Common Booster Core of the Delta IV Heavy for the Parker Solar Probe Mission is offloaded from the Mariner ship for transport to the Horizontal Integration Facility at Space Launch Complex 37.
Photo credit: NASA/Ben Smegelsky.
Caption for 3rd photo:
Sunrise is reflected in the side of the Mariner ship and in the water of Port Canaveral below.
Photo credit: NASA/Cory Huston
-
September 20, 2017
MEDIA ADVISORY M17-108
Media Invited to View NASA Spacecraft That Will Touch Our Sun
NASA’s Parker Solar Probe will be humanity’s first-ever mission to explore the Sun’s outer atmosphere. Media are invited to see the spacecraft and learn about the mission from noon to 2 p.m. EDT Monday, Sept. 25, at Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland, where the probe is being built.
The spacecraft will be in full flight configuration, complete with its revolutionary heat shield, and members of the engineering and science teams conducting this historical mission will be available for interviews.
Media who would like to attend must register with APL by sending an email with name, affiliation and cell phone number to [email protected] no later than 5 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 22. Instructions on attendance will be provided upon registration.
Due to facility limitations, the number of participants is limited, and the event is open only to U.S. citizens. The event will take place in a clean room. Attendees should allow additional time for cleaning of cameras and equipment by APL staff.
The spacecraft, about the size of a small car, will launch in mid-summer 2018. It will travel directly through the Sun's atmosphere about four million miles from our star's surface – facing heat and radiation unlike any spacecraft in history – and make critical observations to answer decades-old questions about how stars work. Mission data ultimately will improve forecasts of major space weather events that affect life on Earth, as well as satellites and astronauts in space.
To learn more about the mission, visit:
https://www.nasa.gov/solarprobe
-end-
Picture source: https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/psp.jpg
-
Parker Solar Probe Gets its Revolutionary Heat Shield: Time Lapse
NASA.gov Video
Published on Sep 26, 2017
In this time-lapse video taken on Sept. 21, 2017, the thermal protection system – the heat shield -- for NASA’s Parker Solar Probe spacecraft is shown during installation at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland. This 4.5-inch thick, eight-foot diameter shield protects the spacecraft and its instruments against the intense heat and energy of the Sun’s outer atmosphere, the corona, through which the spacecraft will fly on a mission of extreme exploration. The thermal protection system is made of a carbon-carbon composite material with a special outer coating that will reach temperatures of nearly 2,500 degrees Fahrenheit. The heat shield was placed on the probe for a test of alignment as part of integration and testing, but it will soon be removed. Both spacecraft and shield will continue separate testing processes and then be re-integrated just before launch in summer 2018.
https://youtu.be/PLmSU6rJUtw?t=001
https://youtu.be/PLmSU6rJUtw
-
Status update via Chris Gebhardt:
https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2017/09/parker-solar-probe-on-track-july-2018/
-
To anyone in the know: Is the probe designed to withstand a major CME? Thanks.
-
Integrated Science Investigation of the Sun (ISIS): Design
of the Energetic Particle Investigation (https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/20150010244.pdf)
Describes the instruments on the then "Solar Probe Plus", and the environment they are designed to operate in.
-
Parker Solar Probe Successfully Completes Pre-Environmental Testing Review
Posted on 10/13/2017 10:50:13
NASA’s Parker Solar Probe, the first mission to fly into the Sun’s corona, has successfully completed a review that approves the beginning of the spacecraft’s environmental testing.
A review panel of engineers from NASA and the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, where the spacecraft was designed and is being built, declared on September 29 that Parker Solar Probe has passed required performance tests and can move into environmental testing.
For Parker Solar Probe, this means the probe will be subjected to a series of challenging simulations of launch and space operations that will ensure the spacecraft is up to the difficult task of exploring the extreme environment of the Sun’s atmosphere – the corona. The spacecraft will first be bolted to a vibration table at APL, which will simulate the violent physical forces of launch; Parker Solar Probe will be lifted skyward on a Delta IV-Heavy launch vehicle, the largest in the world currently in operation. The spacecraft has already completed mass properties testing, which is important for mating to the launch vehicle and for maneuvering and attitude control.
In early November, the spacecraft will travel a short distance to the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, where it will be subjected to acoustic, thermal cycling, and vacuum testing that will make sure the probe can withstand the sound generated at launch and the dramatic swings of hot and cold that it will be subjected to following launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, in summer 2018.
“It’s a testament to the hard work and diligence of the Parker Solar Probe team that we successfully completed our review, and we’re excited to move forward into environmental testing,” said Andy Driesman of APL, the Parker Solar Probe project manager. “We’re looking forward to completing these tests, and then heading to Florida to begin the preparations for next year’s launch.”
NASA’s Parker Solar Probe spacecraft will explore the Sun’s outer atmosphere and make critical observations that will answer decades-old questions about the physics of stars. The resulting data will also improve forecasts of major eruptions on the sun and subsequent space weather events that impact life on Earth, as well as satellites and astronauts in space. The mission is named for Eugene N. Parker, whose profound insights into solar physics and processes have guided the discipline.
http://parkersolarprobe.jhuapl.edu/News-Center/Show-Article.php?articleID=49 (http://parkersolarprobe.jhuapl.edu/News-Center/Show-Article.php?articleID=49)
Photo caption:
Engineers and technicians prepare the Parker Solar Probe spacecraft for mass properties testing. This marks the beginning of environmental testing, a series of physical tests that will ensure the probe can withstand the rigors of launch and temperature fluctuations of space operations.
Credit: NASA/JHUAPL
-
Parker Solar Probe Moves to Goddard | Time Lapse
NASA.gov Video
Published on Nov 13, 2017
Time-lapse video shows the packing up and moving of the Parker Solar Probe spacecraft from the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland, to NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt.
https://youtu.be/A1S98c1kQTg?t=001
https://youtu.be/A1S98c1kQTg
-
Lasers Fired At NASA's Parker Solar Probe
NASA Goddard
Published on Dec 6, 2017
NASA's Parker Solar Probe is in the midst of intense environmental testing at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, in preparation for its journey to the Sun. These tests simulate the noise and shaking the spacecraft will experience during its launch from Cape Canaveral, Florida, scheduled for 2018.
Parker Solar Probe’s integration and the testing team must check over the spacecraft and systems to make sure everything is still in optimal working condition after experiencing these rigorous conditions – including a check of the solar arrays, which will provide electrical power to the spacecraft.
Parker Solar Probe will explore the Sun's outer atmosphere and make critical observations that will answer decades-old questions about the physics of stars. The resulting data will also help improve how we forecast major eruptions on the Sun and subsequent space weather events that can impact life on Earth, as well as satellites and astronauts in space. The mission is named for Eugene N. Parker, whose profound insights into solar physics and processes have helped shape the field of heliophysics.
Credits: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
Joy Ng (USRA): Producer
Sarah Frazier (ADNET SYSTEMS): Writer
Lee Hobson (APL): Videographer
Music credit: 'Push Away' by Andrew Michael Britton [PRS], David Stephen Goldsmith [PRS], Mikey Rowe [PRS] from Killer Tracks.
This video is public domain and along with other supporting visualizations can be downloaded from the Scientific Visualization Studio at: https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/12795
If you liked this video, subscribe to the NASA Goddard YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/NASAExplorer
https://youtu.be/viRjerxUYJ4?t=001
https://youtu.be/viRjerxUYJ4
-
#TFW you get photo bombed by the #DeltaIV Heavy that will launch @ParkerSunProbe. Thanks to the @SEDSSpaceVision attendees who toured ULA's Cape Canaveral facilities in November.
https://twitter.com/ulalaunch/status/939250761707524098
-
Here’s a little orbital mechanics InfoG on the Parker Solar Probe’s ride to the Sun. Majestic Delta Heavy. #PSP
https://twitter.com/torybruno/status/972830168799617024?s=21
-
A C3 of 60 km²/s² works out to 5.68 km/s from LEO (dv = sqrt(2*vo+C3)-vo, where vo =7.8 km/s).
-
March 21, 2018
MEDIA ADVISORY M18-050
Media Invited to View NASA Spacecraft That Will Touch the Sun
Media are invited to view NASA’s Parker Solar Probe
spacecraft at 9:30 a.m. EDT on Wednesday, March 28, at the agency’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. The spacecraft will embark this summer on a daring trek, traveling closer to the Sun than any spacecraft in history.
The Sun is the only star that can be studied up close. In addition to helping solve how stars throughout the universe drive heat, radiation, energy and particles out into space, data from the spacecraft will help scientists better understand how this constant solar outpouring can create hazardous space weather events near Earth. Space weather can impact not only astronauts living and working in space, but also interfere with satellites and radio signals.
Media attending the event will have an opportunity to interview the mission team as well as view the spacecraft from outside the cleanroom where it is undergoing final testing before it ships to NASA’s Kennedy Space Flight Center in Florida for a scheduled July 31 launch.
Media representatives need to RSVP online by 5 p.m. Monday, March 26 at:
http://bit.ly/2p8Kh5d
Media may contact Haley Reed at [email protected] or 301- 286-3131 for further information.
Parker Solar Probe is part of NASA’s Living with a Star (LWS) Program to explore aspects of the Sun-Earth system that directly affect life and society. LWS is managed by Goddard for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland, manages the mission for NASA. APL designed and built the spacecraft, and also will operate it.
-end-
-
The second stage of a United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy is being mated to the common booster core inside the Horizontal Integration Facility near Space Launch Complex 37 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The Delta IV Heavy will launch NASA's upcoming Parker Solar Probe mission in July 2018. The mission will perform the closest-ever observations of a star when it travels through the Sun's atmosphere, called the corona. The probe will rely on measurements and imaging to revolutionize our understanding of the corona and the Sun-Earth connection.
Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett
-
http://parkersolarprobe.jhuapl.edu/News-Center/Show-Article.php?articleID=72
https://www.facebook.com/ParkerSolarProbe/?hc_ref=ART_joXLJDGaLAoPw1chGvEdIO1-_Rzp5EBoSqkMjDkn_2dk6bhD3h4EsgsUTIGHHsg&fref=nf
NASA’s Parker Solar Probe has arrived in Florida to begin final preparations for its launch to the Sun, scheduled for July 31, 2018.
In the middle of the night on April 2, the spacecraft was driven from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, to nearby Joint Base Andrews in Maryland. From there, it was flown by the United States Air Force’s 436th Airlift Wing to Space Coast Regional Airport in Titusville, Florida, where it arrived at 10:40 a.m. EDT. It was then transported a short distance to Astrotech Space Operations, also in Titusville, where it will continue testing, and eventually undergo final assembly and mating to the third stage of the Delta IV Heavy launch vehicle.
Parker Solar Probe is humanity’s first mission to the Sun. After launch, it will orbit directly through the solar atmosphere – the corona – closer to the surface than any human-made object has ever gone. While facing brutal heat and radiation, the mission will reveal fundamental science behind what drives the solar wind, the constant outpouring of material from the Sun that shapes planetary atmospheres and affects space weather near Earth.
“Parker Solar Probe and the team received a smooth ride from the Air Force C-17 crew from the 436th,” said Andy Driesman, Parker Solar Probe project manager from the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland. “This is the second most important flight Parker Solar Probe will make, and we’re excited to be safely in Florida and continuing pre-launch work on the spacecraft.”
At Astrotech, Parker Solar Probe was taken to a clean room and removed from its protective shipping container on Wednesday, April 4. The spacecraft then began a series of tests to verify that it had safely made the journey to Florida. For the next several months, the spacecraft will undergo comprehensive testing; just prior to being fueled, one of the most critical elements of the spacecraft, the thermal protection system (TPS), or heat shield, will be installed. The TPS is the breakthrough technology that will allow Parker Solar Probe to survive the temperatures in the Sun’s corona, just 3.8 million miles from the surface of our star.
“There are many milestones to come for Parker Solar Probe and the amazing team of men and women who have worked so diligently to make this mission a reality,” said Driesman. “The installation of the TPS will be our final major step before encapsulation and integration onto the launch vehicle.”
Parker Solar Probe will be launched from Launch Complex-37 at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, Florida. The two-hour launch window opens at approximately 4 a.m. EDT on July 31, 2018, and is repeated each day (at slightly earlier times) through August 19.
Throughout its seven-year mission, Parker Solar Probe will explore the Sun's outer atmosphere and make critical observations to answer decades-old questions about the physics of stars. Its data will also be useful in improving forecasts of major eruptions on the Sun and the subsequent space weather events that impact technology on Earth, as well as satellites and astronauts in space. The mission is named for University of Chicago Professor Emeritus Eugene N. Parker, whose profound insights into solar physics and processes have guided the discipline. It is the first NASA mission named for a living individual.
Parker Solar Probe is part of NASA’s Living With a Star Program to explore aspects of the connected Sun-Earth system that directly affect life and society. Living With a Star is managed by the agency’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. Johns Hopkins APL designed, built, and manages the mission for NASA. Instrument teams are led by researchers from the University of California, Berkeley; the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor; Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, D.C.; Princeton University in New Jersey; and the Smithsonian Astrophysics Observatory in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
United Launch Alliance of Centennial, Colorado, is the provider of the Delta IV launch service for Parker Solar Probe. NASA’s Launch Services Program (LSP), based at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, manages the agency’s efforts to commercially provide rockets for specific missions. LSP also directs the overall launch effort including overseeing development and integration of the rocket with the spacecraft.
To learn more about Parker Solar Probe, visit: https://www.nasa.gov/parkersolarprobe
Media Contacts
Dwayne Brown
NASA Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1726
[email protected]
Geoff Brown
Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory
240-228-5618
[email protected]
Karen Fox
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
301-286-6284
[email protected]
-
NASA studying sensor issue with Parker Solar Probe
As those preparations continue, officials are studying problems with devices known as platinum resistance thermometers that are part of the spacecraft’s thermal control system. Those devices have suffered a higher-than-expected failure rate, according to a presentation at an April 5 meeting of NASA’s Heliophysics Advisory Committee.
The thermometers are lightweight, highly sensitive temperature sensors used to help provide feedback to the spacecraft’s cooling system and solar arrays, NASA spokesman Dwayne Brown said April 9. “We put all spacecraft through a rigorous test program to make sure all systems are working as designed and it is normal for a test program to uncover issues.”
“The team is looking very carefully at whether any change is needed,” Peg Luce, acting director of NASA’s heliophysics division, said at the meeting. The issue, she said, was debated “quite significantly” at a review last week to approve the shipment of the spacecraft to Florida, including whether to delay that shipment to study the problem.
“There are certain, possible fixes if we need to fix something that could be done at the Cape, so the decision was to go ahead and ship,” she said.
http://spacenews.com/nasa-studying-sensor-issue-with-parker-solar-probe/
-
Here's the Delta 4 Heavy just before its rollout onto the pad yesterday. This is @ParkerSunProbe's ride to space! #space @ulalaunch @torybruno
https://twitter.com/dr_thomasz/status/986221567049981954
-
@Delta_IV_Heavy What a beautiful beast you are. Cant wait for #solarprobe! She looks great @ulalaunch @torybruno! @NASA @NASASun @NASASocial #ULA #Space #RocketScience
https://twitter.com/delta_iv_heavy/status/987685572784414721
-
The first stage of a United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket is at the Vertical Integration Facility near Space Launch Complex 37 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The Delta IV Heavy will launch NASA's upcoming Parker Solar Probe mission in July 2018. The mission will perform the closest-ever observations of a star when it travels through the Sun's atmosphere, called the corona. The probe will rely on measurements and imaging to revolutionize our understanding of the corona and the Sun-Earth connection. Photo credit: NASA/Ben Smegelsky
-
http://parkersolarprobe.jhuapl.edu/News-Center/Show-Article.php?articleID=75
Posted on 04/27/2018 14:00:57
NASA’s Parker Solar Probe is moved to a special stand and rotated down to a horizontal position on April 10 during pre-launch processing and testing at Astrotech Space Operations in Titusville, Florida, just outside Kennedy Space Center. Once horizontal, the integration and testing team measured the alignment of the Thermal Protection System (TPS) mounting points with respect to the spacecraft structure. This is done to assure that the umbra (or shadow) cast by the TPS – the heat shield – protects the spacecraft and instruments.
The first mission to touch the Sun – Parker Solar Probe will fly through the intense heat of the Sun’s corona, protected by a revolutionary heat shield – is scheduled for launch at about 4 a.m. on July 31, 2018.
-
Parker Solar Probe’s Launch Vehicle Rises at Space Launch Complex 37
On the morning of Tuesday, April 17, 2018, crews from United Launch Alliance raised the 170-foot tall Delta IV Heavy launch vehicle – the largest and most powerful rocket currently used by NASA – at Launch Complex 37 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. This Delta IV Heavy will carry Parker Solar Probe, humanity’s first mission to the Sun’s corona, on its journey to explore the Sun’s atmosphere and the solar wind. Launch is scheduled for approximately 4 a.m. EDT on July 31, 2018.
The launch vehicle consists of three Common Booster Cores, with a second stage on the center core; the encapsulated spacecraft, is scheduled to arrive in early July for integration onto the rocket. The spacecraft is now at Astrotech Space Operations in nearby Titusville undergoing final integration and testing. Parker Solar Probe will be the fastest human-made object in the solar system, traveling at speeds of up to 430,000 miles per hour (700,000 kilometers per hour).
By Geoff Brown
Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory
https://blogs.nasa.gov/parkersolarprobe/2018/04/26/parker-solar-probes-launch-vehicle-rises-at-space-launch-complex-37/
-
From the 2018 GAO assessment of NASA projects
Cost and Schedule Status
The PSP project continues to target an August 2018
planetary launch, but the project is encountering a
number of technical issues that may lead to a schedule
delay. Maintaining the project’s 2018 launch window is
important because a potential window only opens every
10 months. The 2019 launch window would result in a
longer mission duration and require more fuel, and after
that, the next window that meets requirements is 2023.
The project continues to hold schedule reserves at Applied
Physics Laboratory-recommended levels, but the project
is tracking a risk that there may not be adequate reserves
to address any future issues that may arise. The project is
also tracking a risk that it may exhaust its cost reserves in
fiscal year 2018 addressing instrument issues and retaining
project staff, which could lead to the need for additional
headquarters-held cost reserves.
Launch
In September 2017, while testing the interface between
the launch vehicle and the spacecraft, three of the six
separation nuts failed to release their bolts. If this occurred
during launch, it would result in a total mission failure.
NASA’s Launch Services Program, which obtained launch
services for PSP, initiated an anomaly investigation. This
investigation determined that the bolts were improperly
installed. The investigation board identified corrective
actions, which have passed initial tests. The separation
system plan includes completing qualification testing by
April 2018 and includes schedule margin. However, if
additional issues are identified, the project could potentially
miss the 2018 launch window.
Integration and Test
The Solar Probe Cup (SPC), which is part of an instrument
package necessary to meet top-level mission requirements
to gather information about particles in the solar wind, has
encountered several technical issues during integration
and testing. For example, recent testing has identified
scenarios where the spacecraft’s different operating
temperature environments could result in twisting between
the SPC and spacecraft, which could lead to cracks over
time. To mitigate this risk, the project is conducting testing
to determine the scope of this issue. If twisting could occur
repeatedly throughout the mission, the project will consider
de-scoping the SPC, which would require approval from
NASA. The project plans to make a decision in March 2018
about whether to fly the SPC.
Other Issues to Be Monitored
The project is tracking a risk that an alloy used in several
locations on the spacecraft will release gases when
exposed to the high temperatures found where the
spacecraft is intended to operate. The released gases can
later re-solidify and contaminate the spacecraft. The alloy is
found in three locations, supporting two instrument suites,
on the spacecraft—the four FIELDS whip antennas, their
respective thermal shields, and the SPC thermal shield—
which are required to meet top-level mission requirements.
Testing to understand the alloy’s performance revealed
that the alloy released gases even at temperatures much
cooler than where the spacecraft will operate. The project
is pursuing two mitigations. First, it is conducting tests to
develop a contamination model, which should indicate
the effects, if any, the re-solidified gases have on the
spacecraft and help project officials determine if it is safe
to fly the spacecraft with the existing alloy. Second, officials
told us that they have ordered new material which could
be used to replace the four FIELDS whip antennas and the
SPC thermal shield. The project plans to make a decision
if they will replace existing parts with the new material by
February 2018. The project cannot replace the FIELDS
thermal shields, so they have designed and implemented
an additional shield, which will undergo testing in March
2018.
-
They are really small. Being really close to the sun helps :)
http://parkersolarprobe.jhuapl.edu/News-Center/Show-Article.php?articleID=77
Solar Power: Parker Solar Probe Tests Its Arrays
Posted on 05/07/2018 12:03:00
NASA’s Parker Solar Probe gets its power from the Sun, so the solar arrays that collect energy from our star need to be in perfect working order. This month, members of the mission team tested the arrays at Astrotech Space Operations in Titusville, Florida, to ensure the system performs as designed and provides power to the spacecraft during its historic mission to the Sun.
Parker Solar Probe is powered by two solar arrays, totaling just under 17 square feet (1.55 square meters) in area. They are mounted to motorized arms that will retract almost all of their surface behind the Thermal Protection System – the heat shield – when the spacecraft is close to the Sun.
NASA’s Parker Solar Probe is powered by two solar arrays, shown here on May 2, 2018, at Astrotech Space Operations in Titusville, Florida.
Andrew Gerger, an engineer from the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, prepares to conduct an inspection of one of the solar arrays from NASA’s Parker Solar Probe on May 2, 2018, at Astrotech Space Operations in Titusville, Florida.
Andrew Gerger of the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory inspects one of NASA’s Parker Solar Probe’s two solar panels by passing current through the array, which causes it to glow red and allows him to examine each individual solar cell. The testing occurred on May 2, 2018, at Astrotech Space Operations in Titusville, Florida.
Andrew Gerger of the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory and Rick Stall of Newforge Technologies check and adjust a purple laser using a replica of a solar array wing on May 3, 2018. Later, when the solar arrays are attached to the spacecraft, the laser will be used to illuminate each string of cells on the array to confirm the string is connected and will provide power to the spacecraft.
-
Old IMAX projectors simulate Sun in key test for Parker Solar Probe
Making sure a critical sensor that will fly aboard NASA’s $1.5 billion Parker Solar Probe will work properly when the spacecraft is being blasted by fierce light and radiation a scant 6.2 million kilometres (3.9 million miles) from the Sun is no small task.
But researchers at the University of Michigan who manage the spacecraft’s Solar Wind Electrons Alphas and Protons investigation – SWEAP – came up with a novel solution. They bought four vintage IMAX movie projectors on eBay for a few thousand dollars each that could be rigged to simulate the expected heat at close range to Earth’s star.
The SWEAP sensor, known as a Faraday cup, was mounted in a vacuum chamber at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in Cambridge, Mass., that was pumped down to one-billionth of an atmosphere. The light from the four projectors was directed into the chamber and onto the Faraday cup.
“It turns out a movie theatre bulb on an IMAX projector runs at about the same 5,700 degrees Kelvin, the same effective temperature as the surface of the Sun,” Justin Kasper, the instrument’s principal investigator at the University of Michigan, said in a release. “And it gives off nearly the same spectrum of light as the surface.”
https://youtu.be/gPtNhOGZCdc
https://astronomynow.com/2018/05/01/old-imax-projectors-simulate-sun-in-key-test-for-parker-solar-probe/
-
In addition to a chip containing submitted names, the plaque installed on the Parker Solar Probe spacecraft also contains a dedication to and quote from Eugene Parker, the mission’s namesake. It reads: "The Parker Solar Probe mission is dedicated to Dr. Eugene N. Parker whose profound contributions have revolutionized our understanding of the Sun and solar wind. 'Let's see what lies ahead' Gene Parker, July 2017"
Credits: NASA/Johns Hopkins APL/Ed Whitman
Download & more images: https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/12959
-
Launch slipping 4 days to Aug 4 according to NASA...
https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2018/revised-launch-date-targeted-for-parker-solar-probe
-
Inside KSC! for June 22, 2018
NASAKennedy
Published on Jun 22, 2018
NASA's Parker Solar Probe is being processed for its mission to study the Sun. The probe is being tested and prepared inside the Astrotech processing facility near Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
https://youtu.be/fhNN9NzU014?t=001
https://youtu.be/fhNN9NzU014
-
Pad 37 as seen from pad 34 on June 22.
-
Twitch streamer DasValdez (@KSpaceAcademy) is live on Twitch right now at SLC-37.
ULA representative stated a Wet Dress Rehearsal of the Delta IV Heavy will take place tomorrow.
https://twitch.tv/dasvaldez
Link to statement about WDR: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/278912442?t=10m54s
-
Does the SLC-37B MST provide enough protection for PSP’s delicate instruments if a launch (Merah Putih) is taking place next door at SLC-40? I realize it’s better than the rocket being exposed on the pad but we are talking about a $1.5B science payload.
-
Does the SLC-37B MST provide enough protection for PSP’s delicate instruments if a launch (Merah Putih) is taking place next door at SLC-40? I realize it’s better than the rocket being exposed on the pad but we are talking about a $1.5B science payload.
Define protection. Noise? None. Impact? Very little. Weather? Some.
-
Does the SLC-37B MST provide enough protection for PSP’s delicate instruments if a launch (Merah Putih) is taking place next door at SLC-40? I realize it’s better than the rocket being exposed on the pad but we are talking about a $1.5B science payload.
PSP would have been built to handle the loads (G, acoustics and vibration) of a launch, so if a launch 3.5KM away causes a problem, something was wrong with PSP and/or its encapsulation.
-
Launch slipping 4 days to Aug 4 according to NASA...
https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2018/revised-launch-date-targeted-for-parker-solar-probe
Source: SFN Launch Schedule https://spaceflightnow.com/launch-schedule/ , June 29 update
Parker Solar Probe launch window change on August 4: 08:17 to 09:02 UTC = 4:17 to 5:02 am EDT
-
July 02, 2018
MEDIA ADVISORY M18-103
NASA Invites Media to View Launch of Mission to “Touch” Sun
Media accreditation is open for the launch of NASA’s Parker Solar Probe, a historic mission that will revolutionize our understanding of the Sun. The launch window will open at about 4 a.m. EDT, with an approximate one-hour duration, no earlier than Saturday, Aug. 4.
The spacecraft will launch on a United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket from Space Launch Complex 37 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS) in Florida. Media prelaunch and launch activities will take place at CCAFS and NASA’s neighboring Kennedy Space Center.
Media interested in attending prelaunch and launch activities must submit an accreditation request online at:
https://media.ksc.nasa.gov/
Credentialing deadlines are as follows:
International media without U.S. citizenship must apply by 4:30 p.m. Thursday, July 5, for access to CCAFS, or by 4:30 p.m. Friday, July 20, for access to Kennedy media activities only.
U.S. media must apply by 4:30 p.m. Friday, July 27.
For questions about accreditation, please email [email protected]. For other media questions, contact Kennedy’s newsroom at 321-867-2468.
Launch date schedule updates will be posted at:
https://www.nasa.gov/launchschedule/
Parker Solar Probe, about the size of a small car, will provide unprecedented information about our Sun, where changing conditions can spread out into the solar system to affect Earth and other worlds. The spacecraft will fly directly into the Sun's atmosphere where, from a safe distance of approximately 4 million miles from its surface, the spacecraft will trace how energy and heat move through the Sun’s atmosphere and explore what accelerates the solar wind and solar energetic particles.
Parker Solar Probe is part of NASA’s Living with a Star Program, managed by the agency’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland, designed, built and manages the mission for NASA.
United Launch Alliance of Centennial, Colorado, is the provider of the Delta IV launch service for Parker Solar Probe. Northrop Grumman is providing the rocket’s fully-integrated third stage. NASA’s Launch Services Program, based at Kennedy, is responsible for launch service acquisition, integration, analysis and launch management.
Join the conversation on social media by following on Twitter and Facebook at:
https://twitter.com/NASASun
and
https://www.facebook.com/NASASunScience/
-
July 05, 2018
MEDIA ADVISORY M18-105
NASA Invites Media to Visit with Spacecraft That Will “Touch” Sun
Media are invited to view NASA’s Parker Solar Probe at 1:30 p.m. EDT Friday, July 13, at the Astrotech Space Operations payload processing facility in Titusville, Florida.
Attending media will have an opportunity to photograph the spacecraft and interview project and program officials before its historic mission, scheduled for launch no earlier than Aug. 4, to revolutionize our understanding of the Sun.
This event is open only to U.S. citizens who possess a government-issued photo identification, such as a driver's license, and proof of U.S. citizenship, such as a passport or birth certificate.
Media interested in attending this event must apply by noon EDT Tuesday, July 10. All media accreditation
requests must be submitted online at:
https://media.ksc.nasa.gov
Due to clean room requirements, no more than 20 individuals will be allowed to participate, and no more than two per media organization. Slots will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis.
For questions about accreditation, please email [email protected]. For other questions, contact the newsroom at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center at 321-867-2468.
On July 13, credentialed media may proceed directly to Astrotech, located in the Spaceport Florida Industrial Park at 1515 Chaffee Drive. Access will be available starting at 1 p.m.
Facility Access
Participating media must comply with the following instructions. Those who fail to do so may be denied access to the clean room.
• Full clean room attire (bunny suits) will be furnished and must be worn during the media opportunity.
• Long pants and closed-toe shoes must be worn. No tank tops, shorts or skirts will be permitted.
• Please do not wear perfume, cologne, hair spray or makeup. Those wearing makeup will be required to remove it prior to entry.
• Photographers will need to clean camera equipment under the supervision or assistance of contamination-control specialists. All camera equipment must be self-contained.
• Nonessential equipment, such as suede, leather or vinyl camera bags, carrying cases, camera straps, or accessories with Velcro must be left outside the clean room.
• No notebook paper, pencils or click-type ball point pens are permitted; clean-room paper and non-retractable ball point pens will be provided.
• No transmitting devices will be permitted in the clean room, to include: cell phones, key fobs, Apple watches, camera remote controls, Fitbits and similar Bluetooth devices.
• Electronic flash will be permitted. The lighting in the facility is LED for pictures.
• No food, chewing gum, tobacco, lighters, matches or pocketknives will be allowed.
Parker Solar Probe will launch atop a United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket from Space Launch Complex 37 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The launch window will open at about 4 a.m., with an approximate one-hour duration.
The spacecraft will provide unprecedented information about our Sun, where changing conditions can spread out into the solar system to affect Earth and other worlds. The spacecraft will fly directly into the Sun's atmosphere where, from a safe distance of approximately 4 million miles from its surface, the spacecraft will trace how energy and heat move through the Sun’s atmosphere and explore what accelerates the solar wind and solar energetic particles.
Parker Solar Probe is part of NASA’s Living with a Star Program, managed by the agency’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland, designed, built and manages the mission for NASA.
United Launch Alliance of Centennial, Colorado, is the provider of the Delta IV launch service for Parker Solar Probe. Northrop Grumman is providing the rocket’s fully-integrated third stage. NASA’s Launch Services Program, based at Kennedy, is responsible for launch service acquisition, integration, analysis and launch management.
Join the conversation about Parker Solar Probe on social media at:
https://twitter.com/NASASun
and
https://www.facebook.com/NASASunScience
-
In the Astrotech processing facility in Titusville, Florida, near NASA's Kennedy Space Center, on Wednesday, June 27, 2018, technicians and engineers use a crane to install the heat shield on NASA's Parker Solar Probe. The Parker Solar Probe will launch on a United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket from Space Launch Complex 37 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida no earlier than Aug. 4, 2018. The mission will perform the closest-ever observations of a star when it travels through the Sun's atmosphere, called the corona. The probe will rely on measurements and imaging to revolutionize our understanding of the corona and the Sun-Earth connection.
Photo credit: NASA/Glenn Benson
-
In the Astrotech processing facility in Titusville, Florida, near NASA's Kennedy Space Center, on Wednesday, June 27, 2018, technicians and engineers install the heat shield on NASA's Parker Solar Probe. The Parker Solar Probe will launch on a United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket from Space Launch Complex 37 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida no earlier than Aug. 4, 2018. The mission will perform the closest-ever observations of a star when it travels through the Sun's atmosphere, called the corona. The probe will rely on measurements and imaging to revolutionize our understanding of the corona and the Sun-Earth connection.
Photo credit: NASA/Glenn Benson
-
In the Astrotech processing facility in Titusville, Florida, near NASA's Kennedy Space Center, on Wednesday, June 27, 2018, technicians and engineers use a crane to install the heat shield on NASA's Parker Solar Probe. The Parker Solar Probe will launch on a United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket from Space Launch Complex 37 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida no earlier than Aug. 4, 2018. The mission will perform the closest-ever observations of a star when it travels through the Sun's atmosphere, called the corona. The probe will rely on measurements and imaging to revolutionize our understanding of the corona and the Sun-Earth connection.
Photo credit: NASA/Glenn Benson
-
Includes SPP:
https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2018/07/spacex-ula-manifests-spacex-1st-rtls-vandenberg/
- By Chris Gebhardt
-
Includes SPP:
https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2018/07/spacex-ula-manifests-spacex-1st-rtls-vandenberg/
- By Chris Gebhardt
Thanks for that especially for answering the priorities on the Eastern Range.
-
Taken June 30 - rolled out for first WDR.
-
NASA | 4K Video Countdown to T-Zero: Flying Faster, Hotter and Closer Than Ever to the Sun
NASA
Published on Jul 11, 2018
NASA's Parker Solar Probe and it's United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy launch vehicle prepare for an unprecedented mission to "kiss the Sun."
NASA launch schedule: https://go.nasa.gov/2JfklMB
About the mission: https://go.nasa.gov/2ubAwFS
The spacecraft aims to unravel 60 years' worth of mysteries surrounding the Sun’s corona. Watch this 4K video as NASA’s Launch Services Program continues the countdown to T-zero.
Visit https://go.nasa.gov/SolarProbe to learn more and watch the historic launch on NASA TV in the coming weeks.
https://youtu.be/7SQ3kLhXpS4?t=001
https://youtu.be/7SQ3kLhXpS4
-
Hearing there might be a problem with PSP... media tour of the clean room cancelled today...
Anyone has more info?
-
From NASA...
Teams require additional time for processing NASA’s Parker Solar Probe spacecraft after discovering a minor tubing leak in the ground support equipment during final processing. The tubing is being repaired, and the spacecraft is healthy. As always, operations take precedence during launch and we needed to cancel media day activities on July 13, 2018. NASA will make every effort to provide updated imagery of the spacecraft prior to encapsulation.
Parker Solar Probe is the agency’s mission to touch the Sun. It is scheduled to launch on a United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy no earlier than Aug. 4, 2018, from Space Launch Complex 37 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.
-
Thanks Chris. Just wanted to highlight this bit to ensure people didn't miss it:
...after discovering a minor tubing leak in the ground support equipment during final processing. The tubing is being repaired, and the spacecraft is healthy....
The leak was on the spacecraft's GSE not on the spacecraft itself.
-
Regarding Delta IV-H two Wet Dress Rehearsals (WDR)--Why were there two of them?
Delta-IV Heavy Undergoing Wet Dress Rehearsals as Parker Solar Probe Nears August 4 Launch, Mike Killian, July 6th, 2018
http://americaspace.com/2018/07/06/delta-iv-heavy-undergoing-wet-dress-rehearsals-as-parker-solar-probe-nears-august-4-launch/
ULA conducted a successful initial WDR on Monday, July 2, which focused on “first stage objectives” with fueling of the vehicle’s three 134-foot tall Common Booster Cores, which are powered by a trio of RS-68A cryogenic liquid hydrogen/liquid oxygen burning engines.
Today (Friday, July 6), teams are conducting another WDR, a full blown countdown to a simulated liftoff, aiming “to complete all objectives including second stage tanking,” according to ULA. The rocket’s second stage is powered by a single cryogenic liquid hydrogen/liquid oxygen burning RL10 engine.
In terms of the launch campaign timeline, the Delta IV-H
...was rolled out from its Horizontal Integration Facility and raised atop launch pad 37B back on April 17...
***
Question for our NSF experts:
How often is more than one WDR needed, when there's apparently no equipment or procedural failure during a launch campaign to recover from?
***
A thought:
This is probably the last Delta-IV Heavy that we'll have numerous progress reports about its progress to and through launch.
-
@torybruno Any update you can give us on how the 2 WDRs for Delta IV-H went? All good to go?
https://twitter.com/ChrisG_NSF/status/1019197775534284800
Good. Yes, good to go
https://twitter.com/torybruno/status/1019251663641632769
-
Has anybody made a good analogue to the joke about landing on the moon and discovering what cheese it is?
-
How often is more than one WDR needed, when there's apparently no equipment or procedural failure during a launch campaign to recover from?
Two WDR's? Never. This flow scheduled two because this is the first East Coast flight of a D4 with the common avionics suite. That entailed a lot of changes to the ground systems controlling the GSE and the rocket. So, two runs to make sure the bugs were fumigated completely.
-
Launch slipping 2 more days to Aug 6 according to NASA...
https://blogs.nasa.gov/parkersolarprobe/2018/07/18/parker-solar-probe-launch-no-earlier-than-aug-6-2018/
-
July 18, 2018
MEDIA ADVISORY M18-109
NASA Invites Media to Preview Briefing on Spacecraft that will “Touch” Sun
Media are invited to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida for a preview briefing on the agency’s Parker Solar Probe at 1 p.m. EDT Friday, July 20. The event will air live on NASA Television, the agency’s website and Facebook Live.
NASA now is targeting launch of the Parker Solar Probe no earlier than Monday, Aug. 6. Additional time was needed to evaluate the configuration of a cable clamp on the payload fairing. Teams have modified the configuration and encapsulation operations have continued. Teams also have successfully repaired a leak in the purge ground support tubing on the third stage rocket motor, which was discovered during final spacecraft processing late last week. The satellite will launch on a United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket from Space Launch Complex 37 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.
Participants in the July 20 briefing will include:
Alex Young, solar scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Nicola Fox, Parker Solar Probe project scientist at Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL)
Betsy Congdon, Parker Solar Probe Thermal Protection System lead engineer at APL
The event is open only to U.S. citizens who have a government-issued photo identification, such as a driver's license, and proof of U.S. citizenship, such as a passport or birth certificate.
Media interested in attending must apply online by noon Thursday, July 19, at:
https://media.ksc.nasa.gov
To participate in the briefing by phone, media must contact Sarah Frazier at [email protected] by 12:30 p.m., July 20.
Media and the public also may ask questions during the event using #askNASA.
For questions about accreditation, please email [email protected]. For other questions, contact Kennedy’s newsroom at 321-867-2468.
Parker Solar Probe will revolutionize our understanding of the Sun. The spacecraft will fly closer to the Sun’s surface than any spacecraft before it, facing brutal heat and radiation. It will be the first spacecraft to fly directly through the Sun’s corona – the part of the solar atmosphere visible during an eclipse – to answer questions about solar physics that have puzzled scientists for more than six decades.
Gathering information about fundamental processes near the Sun can help improve our understanding of how the Sun changes our space environment – such space weather can affect astronauts, interfere with the orbits of satellites, or damage onboard electronics.
Join the conversation on social media by following on Twitter and Facebook at:
https://twitter.com/NASASun
and
https://www.facebook.com/NASASunScience
-end-
-
How often is more than one WDR needed, when there's apparently no equipment or procedural failure during a launch campaign to recover from?
Two WDR's? Never. This flow scheduled two because this is the first East Coast flight of a D4 with the common avionics suite. That entailed a lot of changes to the ground systems controlling the GSE and the rocket. So, two runs to make sure the bugs were fumigated completely.
has to be the first time fumigated was used on this site :)
-
Launch slipping 2 more days to Aug 6 according to NASA...
https://blogs.nasa.gov/parkersolarprobe/2018/07/18/parker-solar-probe-launch-no-earlier-than-aug-6-2018/
This launch date change to NET August 6 should result in a change of the launch window start and end, yes?
First launch window:
Scheduled:
Date - Satellite(s) - Rocket - Launch Site - Time (UTC)
2018
<snip>
July 31 - Parker Solar Probe (Solar Probe Plus) [LWS-6 Living With a Star mission-6] - Delta IV-H/Star-48BV [D-380] - Canaveral SLC-37B - 08:15-10:15
<snip>
Changes on April 9th
<snip>
Then, a delay of 4 days, resulting in an earlier launch window:
Scheduled:
Date - Satellite(s) - Rocket - Launch Site - Time (UTC)
2018
<snip>
August 4 - Parker Solar Probe (Solar Probe Plus) [LWS-6 Living With a Star mission-6] - Delta IV-H/Star-48BV [D-380] - Canaveral SLC-37B - 07:57-09:57 (or July 31)
<snip>
Changes on June 16th
Changes on June 19th
And finally, a refinement of the August 4 launch window:
Scheduled:
Date - Satellite(s) - Rocket - Launch Site - Time (UTC)
2018
<snip>
August 4 - Parker Solar Probe (Solar Probe Plus) [LWS-6 Living With a Star mission-6] - Delta IV-H/Star-48BV [D-380] - Canaveral SLC-37B - 08:17-09:02
<snip>
Changes on July 6th
-
Window open on the 6th is 07:53 GMT. (unless there's a cutout or something I'm not aware of)
-
Briefing starting now.
-
Alex Young - Associate Director for Science, Heliophysics Department within NASA.
Sun is dynamic. Sun as ocean of particles and radiation flowing our of it that are dominated by the solar wind - which permeates the entire solar system.
PSP designed to help us better understand the solar wind and the environment the humans will have to live within on future space exploration missions.
Fundamental question about why solar wind is so fast.
...
-
Alex: Solar window goes from subsonic to supersonic flow. Research is fundamental to understanding environment of the sun.
Sun also produces CMEs and massive solar storms that happen in the corona.
Studying this with PSP will help us better model space weather and understand how to better protect our astronauts, satellites, and space-based communications.
-
Biggest questions for PSP: How is the corona heated?
-
Nicky Fox - PSP Project Scientist
Reviewing launch profile.
6 weeks after launch, will encounter Venus for first time. Venus used for gravity assist to SLOW PSP down and turn it in toward the Sun.
24 highly elliptical orbits over the 7 year mission of PSP.
Closest approach will be 3.83 million miles to the Sun's surface.
Probe will sit very close to coronal field lines.
PSP will become fastest human-made object during approach -- slowing down significantly as it swings back out toward Venus.
...
-
PSP well protected.
Instruments measure a host of things.
Heat shield will be prime protection of the bulk of the spacecraft from the solar wind.
A couple instruments "brave" the solar atmosphere and stick out beyond the heat shield.
PSP uses innovative new solar arrays/panels that have to be cooled as PSP dives into the corona.
PSP is "most independent spacecraft". No person in the loop. If there's an anomaly, PSP will figure out how to fix the issue.
-
PSP is fully encapsulated.
-
PSP will be will be in encounter mode from 0.25AU to closer and then back out.
Think of heat environment like oven. "Set at 400 degrees F, you can put your hand in the oven and not get burned unless you touch something."
-
7 year mission duration.
$1.5 billion for mission, including Delta VI Heavy.
EOM will put PSP in stable orbit. Craft could continue gathering date thereafter as long as fuel to maintain attitude is available.
PSP will eventually break apart due to stress.
-
They are using every single lbf of power of the Delta IV Heavy.
-
6th Venus flyby will get some measurements of Venus. Otherwise, instruments will be off during Venus encounters.
-
If they miss the launch window that closes 19 August (maybe a couple extra days possible). Would have to adjust thereafter, but they didn't say a timeframe. May 2019 is the previously known next available window.
-
PSP is automated, yes. But is will still go into safe if a major issue occurs and needs a human in the loop.
Heat Shield tech is built on previous tech. Based on RCC wing lead edges panels on Space Shuttle. Good ideas for how we might do heat shields in future.
-
Was that you, Chris G, that just asked a phone-in question?
-
Was that you, Chris G, that just asked a phone-in question?
Indeed.
-
Parker Solar Probe will launch at solar minimum and go to solar maximum. That was not planned, just how the mission prep and solar timelines aligned for 2018 launch window.
-
First data back in early December 2018.
-
Launch window opens on 6 Aug. is 04:08 EDT (08:08 UTC).
-
How NASA's Parker Solar Probe Will Survive the Sun
NASA
Published on Jul 20, 2018
NASA's Parker Solar Probe is heading to the Sun.Thermal Protection System Engineer Betsy Congdon (Johns Hopkins APL) outlines why Parker can take the heat. More: https://go.nasa.gov/2O7YKsK | NASA launch schedule: https://go.nasa.gov/2JfklMB
Music credit: Cheeky Chappy [Main Track] by Jimmy Kaleth, Ross Andrew McLean Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Genna Duberstein (USRA): Lead Producer/Lead Editor Rob Andreoli (AIMM): Lead Videographer Betsy Congdon (Johns Hopkins University/APL): Lead Engineer Ryan Fitzgibbons (USRA): Narrator Genna Duberstein (USRA): Writer Steve Gribben (Johns Hopkins University/APL ): Animator Brian Monroe (USRA): Animator Josh Masters (USRA): Animator Michael Lentz (USRA): Animator Genna Duberstein (USRA): Animator Mary P. Hrybyk-Keith (TRAX International Corporation): Illustrator This video is public domain and along with other supporting visualizations can be downloaded from the Scientific Visualization Studio at: https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/12867
https://youtu.be/RT9laVHZZQo?t=001
https://youtu.be/RT9laVHZZQo
-
Parker Solar Probe--Mission Overview
NASA Goddard
Published on Jul 20, 2018
Parker Solar Probe will swoop to within 4 million miles of the sun's surface, facing heat and radiation like no spacecraft before it. Launching in 2018, Parker Solar Probe will provide new data on solar activity and make critical contributions to our ability to forecast major space-weather events that impact life on Earth.
In order to unlock the mysteries of the corona, but also to protect a society that is increasingly dependent on technology from the threats of space weather, NASA will send Parker Solar Probe to touch the Sun.
In 2017, the mission was renamed for Eugene Parker, the S. Chandrasekhar Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus, Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics at the University of Chicago. In the 1950s, Parker proposed a number of concepts about how stars--including our Sun- -give off energy. He called this cascade of energy the solar wind, and he described an entire complex system of plasmas, magnetic fields, and energetic particles that make up this phenomenon. Parker also theorized an explanation for the superheated solar atmosphere, the corona, which is - contrary to what was expected by physics laws -- hotter than the surface of the sun itself.
This is the first NASA mission that has been named for a living individual.
https://youtu.be/i_z19KPvV1w?t=001
https://youtu.be/i_z19KPvV1w
-
Parker Solar Probe Trailer
NASA Goddard
Published on Jul 20, 2018
Parker Solar Probe is NASA's mission to the Sun. The spacecraft will launch summer 2018.
Learn more at www.nasa.gov/solarprobe.
Music credit: Luminous Skies [Underscore] by Andrew Prahlow
Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
Genna Duberstein (USRA): Lead Producer
Steve Gribben (Johns Hopkins University/APL ): Animator
https://youtu.be/dLwdS3zBGhg?t=001
https://youtu.be/dLwdS3zBGhg
-
Delta IV Parker Solar Probe: Launching the Fastest Human-made Object
United Launch Alliance
Published on Jul 20, 2018
ULA Trajectory Engineer Nick Driver on launching NASA's Parker Solar Probe mission atop ULA's Delta IV Heavy rocket. Usually used for large satellites, in this case the heavy lifter is being used to give a small spacecraft a high-energy delivery to the sun.
https://youtu.be/77SG1EVBocQ?t=001
https://youtu.be/77SG1EVBocQ
-
-
-
Ben Cooper’s Launch Photography website now indicating a mid-August TBD launch date. Anyone know what this latest delay might be about? This would be putting us awfully close to the end of the launch window for PSP.
-
May be launch delay up to 12 August - investigation underway of FOD found within PLF. Date not set until source of FOD determined and any corrective actions required.
-
https://blogs.nasa.gov/parkersolarprobe/2018/07/24/parker-solar-probe-launch-targeted-for-aug-11/
-
They’ve now lost more than half of their original launch window, which opened July 31. Window runs until Aug. 19.
https://twitter.com/jeff_foust/status/1021869594804473861
Next launch window would be in May 2019, I believe.
https://twitter.com/jeff_foust/status/1021875358340136962
-
-
Should the thread header be refined to the new TBD date of 08/11/18? It's possible that the FOD issue could be resolved sooner than that, but it's uncertain that the response to any possible resolution could maintain the 08/06/2018 TBD date.
-
Should the thread header be refined to the new TBD date of 08/11/18? It's possible that the FOD issue could be resolved sooner than that, but it's uncertain that the response to any possible resolution could maintain the 08/06/2018 TBD date.
There doesn't seem to be anything else on the schedule, perhaps they can have any date they are ready? (i.e. even if they miss the 6th, doesn't necessarily mean they have to wait for the 11th.)
-
There doesn't seem to be anything else on the schedule, perhaps they can have any date they are ready? (i.e. even if they miss the 6th, doesn't necessarily mean they have to wait for the 11th.)
No. There's still work to be done. 8.11 is a NET date.
-
Can we please clarify what that date actually means? I take it you don't mean the 8th of November?
-
NET August 11th.
-
TROT TO HOT: @NASA’s solar probe “Parker”, encapsulated inside a faring, is rolling along the 405 tonight from Astrotech in Titusville to @NASAKennedy. It will be mated to a @ulalaunch Delta IV rocket and launched by @NASA_LSP towards our sun for solar research. #Fox35
https://twitter.com/fox35derrolnail/status/1024110781439377413
Edit to add: some clearer shots from Ken Kremer (just 1 attached)
https://twitter.com/ken_kremer/status/1024134747117821953
-
https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/prepping-to-launch-for-the-sun
Prepping to Launch for the Sun
NASA’s Parker Solar Probe has cleared the final procedures in the clean room before its move to the launch pad, where it will be integrated onto its launch vehicle, a United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy. This is an historic mission that will revolutionize our understanding of the Sun, where changing conditions can propagate out into the solar system, affecting Earth and other worlds. Parker Solar Probe will travel through the Sun’s atmosphere, closer to the surface than any spacecraft before it, facing brutal heat and radiation conditions — and ultimately providing humanity with the closest-ever observations of a star.
Seen here inside one half of its 62.7-foot tall fairing, the Parker Solar Probe was encapsulated on July 16, 2018, in preparation for the move from Astrotech Space Operations in Titusville, Florida, to Space Launch Complex 37 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, where it will be integrated onto its launch vehicle for its launch that is targeted for August 11, 2018.
Image Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins APL/Ed Whitman
Last Updated: July 31, 2018
Editor: Yvette Smith
-
When the Delta 4 second stage completes its second burn, will Parker Solar Probe/Star 48BV be heliocentric, or will it take the Star 48BV burn to put PSP into actual solar orbit? In other words, what orbit will the Delta stage be in after its second burn?
- Ed Kyle
-
When the Delta 4 second stage completes its second burn, will Parker Solar Probe/Star 48BV be heliocentric, or will it take the Star 48BV burn to put PSP into actual solar orbit? In other words, what orbit will the Delta stage be in after its second burn?
- Ed Kyle
When New Horizons was launched atop the Atlas V 551/Star 48B rocket, the Centaur placed the spacecraft & solid motor on a heliocentric trajectory, leaving the Star 48B to provide the final boost.
With that being said, I'm guessing that the Delta Cryogenic Second Stage will inject the Parker Solar Probe and its solid motor on a similar trajectory before the Star 48B takes over.
-
When the Delta 4 second stage completes its second burn, will Parker Solar Probe/Star 48BV be heliocentric, or will it take the Star 48BV burn to put PSP into actual solar orbit? In other words, what orbit will the Delta stage be in after its second burn?
It will surely be heliocentric. Here's a quick back of the envelope to show this:
Launch C3 is quoted at 154 km^2/sec^2. From this chart (http://design.ae.utexas.edu/mission_planning/mission_resources/orbital_mechanics/DV_versus_C3_Writeup.pdf), that's about 8.75 km/sec from LEO.
Now how much does the Star add? PSP = 685 kg. Star 48 initial mass = 2114 kg, end mass = 114 kg (this is not the exact Star variant, but close enough). So start mass = 685+2114 = 2799, end mass 685+114 = 799. Delta V at ISP 283 is then 283*9.8*ln(2779/779) = 3477 m/s. So before ignition, v = LEO + 5273 m/s.
But LEO is about 7.8 ks/sec, add in 5.3 to get 13.1 km/sec. But Earth escape is only 11.2 km/sec.
So the second stage is well beyond Earth escape, and will be heliocentric.
EDIT: fixed small arithmetic bug. Conclusion unchanged.
-
Thanks, Lou. I should have known. Delta 4 Heavy can put 6,750 kg directly into geosynchronous orbit. It can probably put slightly more than that past C3=0.
- Ed Kyle
-
How many objects from this launch will end up in heliocentric orbits? Three?
DCSS
Star-48BV
PSP
-
When the Delta 4 second stage completes its second burn, will Parker Solar Probe/Star 48BV be heliocentric, or will it take the Star 48BV burn to put PSP into actual solar orbit? In other words, what orbit will the Delta stage be in after its second burn?
- Ed Kyle
I seem to recall C3 was > 50.
-
When the Delta 4 second stage completes its second burn, will Parker Solar Probe/Star 48BV be heliocentric, or will it take the Star 48BV burn to put PSP into actual solar orbit? In other words, what orbit will the Delta stage be in after its second burn?
I seem to recall C3 was > 50.
This seems reasonable. The rough calculation above yields LEO+5.3 km/sec. Using this chart of C3 vs dV from LEO (http://design.ae.utexas.edu/mission_planning/mission_resources/orbital_mechanics/DV_versus_C3_Writeup.pdf) gives a C3 slightly over 50 km2/sec2 for the second stage, as opposed to 154 km2/sec2 for PSP itself.
Also, PSP plus the Star 48 mass is about 2700 kg together. Then this plot of Delta IV Heavy performance (https://i.stack.imgur.com/oEOnf.png) shows about 55 km2/sec2. So all is consistent.
EDIT: Added another way to get the same conclusion.
-
The ULA mission booklet is available at:
https://www.ulalaunch.com/docs/default-source/launch-booklets/divh_parkersolarprobe_mob.pdf
It shows a C3 of 153.79 .
-
Parker Solar Probe Launch Window Extended to August 23
NASA and its mission partners have analyzed and approved an extended launch window for Parker Solar Probe until Aug. 23, 2018 (previously Aug. 19). The spacecraft is scheduled to launch no earlier than Aug. 11, 2018, at 3:48 a.m. with a window of 45 minutes.
Parker Solar Probe will launch from Space Launch Complex 37 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida aboard on a United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket.
-
The ULA mission booklet is available at:
https://www.ulalaunch.com/docs/default-source/launch-booklets/divh_parkersolarprobe_mob.pdf
It shows a C3 of 153.79 .
File attached.
-
When the Delta 4 second stage completes its second burn, will Parker Solar Probe/Star 48BV be heliocentric, or will it take the Star 48BV burn to put PSP into actual solar orbit? In other words, what orbit will the Delta stage be in after its second burn?
I seem to recall C3 was > 50.
This seems reasonable. The rough calculation above yields LEO+5.3 km/sec. Using this chart of C3 vs dV from LEO (http://design.ae.utexas.edu/mission_planning/mission_resources/orbital_mechanics/DV_versus_C3_Writeup.pdf) gives a C3 slightly over 50 km2/sec2 for the second stage, as opposed to 154 km2/sec2 for PSP itself.
Also, PSP plus the Star 48 mass is about 2700 kg together. Then this plot of Delta IV Heavy performance (https://i.stack.imgur.com/oEOnf.png) shows about 55 km2/sec2. So all is consistent.
EDIT: Added another way to get the same conclusion.
I happened to ask Tory Bruno this on twitter yesterday - his answer was C3= 59.9 at the start of the Star 48BV burn which I estimate puts the Delta stage in a 0.37AU perihelion orbit
-
I'm not sure if it's pertinent here, but I've been accepted to the NASA Social for the Parker Solar Probe launch. Is there anything I should look out for? If I get the chance to ask any questions, are there any questions I should ask? I can't think of one of my own so far.
They just yesterday sent us the finalized schedule, as the slip to the 11th threw their scheduling off.
-
I'm not sure if it's pertinent here, but I've been accepted to the NASA Social for the Parker Solar Probe launch. Is there anything I should look out for? If I get the chance to ask any questions, are there any questions I should ask? I can't think of one of my own so far.
They just yesterday sent us the finalized schedule, as the slip to the 11th threw their scheduling off.
Hi Lupi, great that you were selected, such an experience you'll be able to live! Last civil launch of the most powerful rocket in service on the planet, no less!
What about some of these questions, based on the schedule you've posted:
- Solar Probe itself:
How often will comms be difficult / blocked by spacecraft eclipses (both by the Sun's bulk and by the corona itself once the probe is over its "horizon")? Techniques for that?
What measures have been taken to account for dust/MMOD pitting in the lightweight, honeycomb sandwich CC heatshield, and how do heat rejection (and mission) capabilities degrade with it?
- SLC-37: any concepts/perspectives for after Delta IV is retired?
What particular measures have been taken to reduce ignition sequence flame propagation and/or CBC insulation charring? (we know it's been reduced, some valve tweaking and TPS work has taken place, but if they could give details it'd be cool)
- Crawler Transporter/39B: latest on SLS MT move to 39B - when? objectives? what information will they get to assess tower's structural problems?
-
...Last civil launch of the most powerful rocket in service on the planet, no less!
...
Former most powerful rocket.
-
...Last civil launch of the most powerful rocket in service on the planet, no less!
...
Former most powerful rocket.
Wrong, this one is. FH can't meet the C3 capabilities
-
...Last civil launch of the most powerful rocket in service on the planet, no less!
...
Former most powerful rocket.
Wrong, this one is. FH can't meet the C3 capabilities
Gag, do we really have to do this? They're both great and "most powerful" depending on how you slice it.
-
They're both big triple rockets, and if everything goes well I'll have seen both of them launch.
Frankly, i don't care which one's bigger!
And, I'd like to edit and add:
I'll have seen them both up close.
I took KSC's Explore Tour the day before Falcon Heavy launched, and they let us off at the camera emplacement between 39A and 39B.
Best gamble I ever took, aside from applying for the NASA Social in the first place.
That trip was amazing, and I can't believe I'm getting a chance to top it in the very same year.
-
...Last civil launch of the most powerful rocket in service on the planet, no less!
...
Former most powerful rocket.
Wrong, this one is. FH can't meet the C3 capabilities
Jim is this due to the fact that the Delta IV Heavy has a third stage and Falcon Heavy doesn’t?
-
Can someone explain why on the Delta IV Heavy the starboard booster ignites 2 seconds after the centre/port boosters?
Screen shot from yesterdays ULA Mission PDF.
-
Can someone explain why on the Delta IV Heavy the starboard booster ignites 2 seconds after the centre/port boosters?
Screen shot from yesterdays ULA Mission PDF.
The main reason why the starboard side core ignites before the other two is to reduce the hydrogen fireball that occurs when LH2 rises upward and burns the orange insulation due to the ROFI sparks igniting the fuel.
-
Can someone explain why on the Delta IV Heavy the starboard booster ignites 2 seconds after the centre/port boosters?
Screen shot from yesterdays ULA Mission PDF.
The main reason why the starboard side core ignites before the other two is to reduce the hydrogen fireball that occurs when LH2 rises upward and burns the orange insulation due to the ROFI sparks igniting the fuel.
Yeah, I remember seeing that on one of the docs I was reading recently, and it caught me by surprise. I thought it would've been outer/center, or center/outer, like falcon heavy was.
But it's just more of Delta IV being a wonderful monster of a rocket that sets itself on fire.
-
Yeah, I remember seeing that on one of the docs I was reading recently, and it caught me by surprise. I thought it would've been outer/center, or center/outer, like falcon heavy was.
But it's just more of Delta IV being a wonderful monster of a rocket that sets itself on fire.
Drop the adjective "wonderful" and you'll capture my feelings about this "monster"! This is my fourth mission of the year as prime NASA Electrical, and this "monster" is putting the finishing touches on wearing me down.
And I've still got Pegasus/ICON to finish off! I'm so glad I'll have all of next year to rest up!
-
Yeah, I remember seeing that on one of the docs I was reading recently, and it caught me by surprise. I thought it would've been outer/center, or center/outer, like falcon heavy was.
But it's just more of Delta IV being a wonderful monster of a rocket that sets itself on fire.
Drop the adjective "wonderful" and you'll capture my feelings about this "monster"! This is my fourth mission of the year as prime NASA Electrical, and this "monster" is putting the finishing touches on wearing me down.
And I've still got Pegasus/ICON to finish off! I'm so glad I'll have all of next year to rest up!
The "rest period" is due to the fact that there are no LSP launches in 2019?
<snip>
There are no LSP launches next year.
<snip>
Thank you, Kim, for all your hard work!
***
Thinking of Jim, have you been working this mission?
Are any of the other NSF members working this mission/launch campaign?
***
FYI: One of the astronomy educators here at the museum has been performing a wonderful live, live-render, digital planetarium show about PSP recently!
-
Drop the adjective "wonderful" and you'll capture my feelings about this "monster"! This is my fourth mission of the year as prime NASA Electrical, and this "monster" is putting the finishing touches on wearing me down.
And I've still got Pegasus/ICON to finish off! I'm so glad I'll have all of next year to rest up!
Yeowch, seems rough! Tough line of work, I imagine?
Perhaps awesome (in the proper sense of inspiring awe) or marvelous would fit. Either way, your break is certainly going to be a well-earned one!
-
https://youtu.be/qsWW-xxwjfw (https://youtu.be/qsWW-xxwjfw)
-
Also, I got a few messages about my Social attendance for Parker Solar Probe.
my Twitter handle is @awildlupidragon (though I think that's linked to my profile) if you want to follow that. I'll try to port things i learn from it to here, but idk how much i'll be able to in the moment.
-
Thinking of Jim, have you been working this mission?
Worked yesterday
-
...Last civil launch of the most powerful rocket in service on the planet, no less!
...
Former most powerful rocket.
Wrong, this one is. FH can't meet the C3 capabilities
Jim is this due to the fact that the Delta IV Heavy has a third stage and Falcon Heavy doesn’t?
I believe with the same 3rd stage, and no payload, it cannot get to a C3 of 154.
-
...Last civil launch of the most powerful rocket in service on the planet, no less!
...
Former most powerful rocket.
Wrong, this one is. FH can't meet the C3 capabilities
Jim is this due to the fact that the Delta IV Heavy has a third stage and Falcon Heavy doesn’t?
I believe with the same 3rd stage, and no payload, it cannot get to a C3 of 154.
This is a bit of an overstatement. The STAR-48 is only ~2200 kg and can get ~8 km/s by itself, and C3=154 km2/s2 is only 9 km/s from LEO, so the LV only has to put it in LEO+1000 m/s to get the spent STAR to that C3. Atlas V 401, F9 with booster RTLS, or even Antares 232 could do this.
The relevant question is which vehicles can get the PSP+STAR-48 combination to C3=59.9 km2/s2. DIVH clearly can, while AV 551 clearly cannot. With FH it's not so clear; LSP shows 1860 kg to that C3, while it shows 3000 kg for DIVH, but that data is for a previous version of FH so we have no apples-to-apples comparison from a reliable source. But backing out delta-v from the given LEO payload says it can, and with more than 50% margin.
-
I remember seeing somewhere that the mission would have taken an Atlas V 551 with a Star-48GXV or something, except that STAR variant was cancelled so they had to go with D4H?
Is there truth to that?
-
I remember seeing somewhere that the mission would have taken an Atlas V 551 with a Star-48GXV or something, except that STAR variant was cancelled so they had to go with D4H?
Is there truth to that?
They are using a Star-48 on this
-
An FH is not going to have a solid 3rd stage. So my point stands.
-
An FH is not going to have a solid 3rd stage.
Why not? PAF incompatibility? Structural reasons?
-
PSP passed FRR today.
-
An FH is not going to have a solid 3rd stage.
Why not? PAF incompatibility? Structural reasons?
Not in SpaceX's MO and facilities are not sited for them.
-
I remember seeing somewhere that the mission would have taken an Atlas V 551 with a Star-48GXV or something, except that STAR variant was cancelled so they had to go with D4H?
Is there truth to that?
They are using a Star-48 on this
But not a GXV. It's a different variant, I think
-
...Last civil launch of the most powerful rocket in service on the planet, no less!
...
Former most powerful rocket.
Wrong, this one is. FH can't meet the C3 capabilities
Jim is this due to the fact that the Delta IV Heavy has a third stage and Falcon Heavy doesn’t?
I believe with the same 3rd stage, and no payload, it cannot get to a C3 of 154.
This is a bit of an overstatement. The STAR-48 is only ~2200 kg and can get ~8 km/s by itself, and C3=154 km2/s2 is only 9 km/s from LEO, so the LV only has to put it in LEO+1000 m/s to get the spent STAR to that C3. Atlas V 401, F9 with booster RTLS, or even Antares 232 could do this.
The relevant question is which vehicles can get the PSP+STAR-48 combination to C3=59.9 km2/s2. DIVH clearly can, while AV 551 clearly cannot. With FH it's not so clear; LSP shows 1860 kg to that C3, while it shows 3000 kg for DIVH, but that data is for a previous version of FH so we have no apples-to-apples comparison from a reliable source. But backing out delta-v from the given LEO payload says it can, and with more than 50% margin.
If I'm not mistaken, the Falcon Heavy needs two more successful launches before it's certified for important gov't launches, so even if it can perform this mission, DIVH is still the most powerful certified rocket in service, at least for now.
-
PSP is risk class 3, which can (sometimes) fly on Category 2 launch vehicles, which can be certified with only one successful launch and some other requirements. However, I think that DIVH is currently the only capable vehicle that is certified.
-
August 06, 2018
MEDIA ADVISORY M18-118
NASA to Host Briefings, Events for Aug. 11 Launch to Touch Sun
As NASA nears the launch of its Parker Solar Probe, the agency will host a series of media briefings beginning Wednesday, Aug. 8. These briefings, as well as special programs, the launch on Saturday, Aug. 11, and a postlaunch news conference all will air on NASA Television and the agency’s website.
Parker Solar Probe will lift off on a United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket from Space Launch Complex 37 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The first launch opportunity is at 3:33 a.m. EDT, at the opening of a 65-minute window.
Although the deadline has passed for media to attend the launch of this historic mission to our Sun, journalists may participate in prelaunch and postlaunch news briefings via phone by contacting Kennedy’s News Center at 321-867-2468 for dial-in information.
The following is a complete schedule of mission coverage, including opportunities for media participation. All time are EDT:
Wednesday, Aug. 8
NASA will host a full morning of foreign-language teleconferences for international media, during which they can discuss mission science with project researchers.
9 a.m. – Japanese
10 a.m. – Italian
11 a.m. – German
Noon – French
1 p.m. – Spanish
To participate, media must email their name and affiliation to Andrew Schurr at [email protected] by 8 a.m. Aug. 8.
Thursday, Aug. 9
1 p.m. – Prelaunch mission news briefing
Friday, Aug. 10
6 p.m. – NASA Edge prelaunch broadcast
7:30 p.m. – What Parker Solar Probe Will Provide to Humanity
Saturday, Aug. 11
3 a.m. – Launch coverage begins
3:33 a.m. – Launch
TBD – Postlaunch news conference
Media may participate in the postlaunch news briefings via phone by contacting Kennedy’s News Center at 321-867-2468 for dial-in information.
Parker Solar Probe will revolutionize our understanding of the Sun. The spacecraft will fly closer to the Sun’s surface than any spacecraft before it, facing brutal heat and radiation. It will be the first spacecraft to fly directly through the Sun’s corona – the part of the solar atmosphere visible during an eclipse – to answer questions about solar physics that have puzzled scientists for decades.
Gathering information about fundamental processes near the Sun can help improve our understanding of how our solar system’s star changes the space environment, where space weather can affect astronauts, interfere with satellite orbits, or damage spacecraft electronics.
For more details on the Parker Solar Probe mission and prelaunch and launch events, visit:
https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/parker-solar-probe-briefings-and-events
Join the conversation on social media at:
https://twitter.com/NASASun
and
https://www.facebook.com/NASASunScience/
-end-
-
NASA to launch first mission to touch the Sun on Aug 11 (https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/news/science/nasa-to-launch-first-mission-to-touch-the-sun-on-aug-11/article24580427.ece)
NASA's Parker Solar Probe, mankind's first mission to 'touch' the Sun, has been moved to its launch pad and is on schedule to take off next week, the US space agencies said.
The car-sized spacecraft will travel directly into the Sun's atmosphere, about four million miles from its surface - and more than seven times closer than any spacecraft has come before, thanks to its innovative Thermal Protection System.
The mission, targeted to launch on August 11, will perform the closest-ever observations of a star when it travels through the Sun's outer atmosphere, called the corona. It will rely on measurements and imaging to revolutionise our understanding of the corona and how processes there ultimately affect near-Earth space.
The Parker Solar Probe carries a lineup of instruments to study the Sun both remotely and in situ, or directly. Together, the data from these instruments should help scientists answer three foundational questions about our star.
A Sun-skimming mission like Parker Solar Probe has been a dream of scientists for decades, but only recently has the needed technology - like the heat shield, solar array cooling system, and fault management system - been available to make such a mission a reality.
Parker Solar Probe will explore the corona, a region of the Sun only seen from Earth when the Moon blocks out the Sun's bright face during total solar eclipses. The corona holds the answers to many of scientists' outstanding questions about the Sun's activity and processes.
--- [ --- ]
-
I remember seeing somewhere that the mission would have taken an Atlas V 551 with a Star-48GXV or something, except that STAR variant was cancelled so they had to go with D4H?
Is there truth to that?
You're probably thinking of Gunter's page: https://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/parker-solar-probe.htm
The motor was actually successfully tested in December 2013, but development risk was apparently deemed to high as Gunter states (for which reasons, I'm not privy), and the final development was never finished.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1w_b7CNP6oc
-
Encapsulated in its payload fairing, NASA's Parker Solar Probe has been mated to a United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station's Space Launch Complex 37 on Tuesday, July 31, 2018. The Parker Solar Probe is being prepared for a mission to perform the closest-ever observations of a star when it travels through the Sun's atmosphere, called the corona. The probe will rely on measurements and imaging to revolutionize our understanding of the corona and the Sun-Earth connection.
Photo credit: NASA/Leif Heimbold
https://www.flickr.com/photos/nasakennedy/
-
I remember seeing somewhere that the mission would have taken an Atlas V 551 with a Star-48GXV or something, except that STAR variant was cancelled so they had to go with D4H?
Is there truth to that?
You're probably thinking of Gunter's page: https://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/parker-solar-probe.htm
The motor was actually successfully tested in December 2013, but development risk was apparently deemed to high as Gunter states (for which reasons, I'm not privy), and the final development was never finished.
Phase B baselined Atlas V 551. Phase C baselined Delta IV Heavy.
I find, so I share:
The launch energy is much higher than most interplanetary missions and requires a powerful three-stage launch system. The maximum launch C3 over the 20-day launch period is 154 km2/s2. The baseline launch system is an EELV (Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle) Delta IV Heavy class launch vehicle with a standard Star 48 BV upper stage. During the Phase B development, an EELV Atlas V 551 launch vehicle was assumed. The recent switch to the more powerful Delta IV Heavy class launch vehicle will allow for more launch mass and increase spacecraft mass margin for the Phase C development.
They were playing around with an enhanced Star-48 at one point (trying to keep it on Atlas).
Also from the SPP thread, the D4H with Star 48BV just selected has been the baseline vehicle throughout Phase C work.
http://issfd.org/ISSFD_2014/ISSFD24_Paper_S6-2_Guo.pdf
-
Launch Week Begins for Parker Solar Probe
Teams preparing for launch of NASA’s Parker Solar Probe are beginning a busy week leading up to liftoff, scheduled for Saturday, Aug. 11, at 3:33 a.m. EDT, the opening of a 65-minute window. The spacecraft will launch aboard a United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket from Space Launch Complex 37 on Florida’s Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.
Parker Solar Probe will provide unprecedented information about our Sun, where changing conditions can spread out into the solar system to affect Earth and other worlds. The spacecraft will fly directly into the Sun’s atmosphere where, from a distance of – at the closest approach — approximately 4 million miles from its surface, the spacecraft will trace how energy and heat move through the Sun’s atmosphere and explore what accelerates the solar wind and solar energetic particles.
The agency is holding a prelaunch mission briefing Thursday, Aug. 9, at 1 p.m. The briefing will be broadcast live on NASA Television and at http://www.nasa.gov/live. Live launch coverage will begin Saturday, Aug. 11, at 3 a.m. For a complete schedule of mission coverage, including opportunities for media participation, visit https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/parker-solar-probe-briefings-and-events.
-
Parker Solar Probe: T Minus 3 days
This morning, Alex Young and Shannon Reed led the meeting by addressing the entire team in a supportive and exciting manner that reflected the electricity in the room. Laying out all the activities to the whole team highlighted to all of us, as if we didn’t all suspect, that we have arranged an incredibly jam packed week – from interviews with the media to open forums with children and the American people at Kennedy Space Center, and to supporting QnA’s with real NASA scientists throughout the week.
This will be the first time humans will have sent a camera so close to the Sun in order to observe and measure inside the solar atmosphere. I realized early on, that what we will see in the solar atmosphere might not be what we expect. We have several theories and estimations, but the Sun is an extremely complex and dynamic ball of hot plasma. I believe the camera pictures will be initially very difficult to interpret, and thus I went about trying to create a VR environment so that scientists can generate complex simulations of the solar atmosphere using super computers and we can replicate exactly what WISPR will see in our VR headset. This was a complex problem because not only did we have to find a solution to visualizing a large 3D cube of data in VR (which is very computer hardware intensive), but we also had to create a solution of how to replicate the mechanism by which the WISPR camera operates (the light it sees is generated by behavior of Thomson scattering from free electrons in the solar atmosphere).
-
ULA:
Everything is progressing toward the United Launch Alliance (ULA) Delta IV Heavy Parker Solar Probe mission for NASA. The mission is set to lift off on a Delta IV Heavy rocket on Saturday, Aug. 11 from Space Launch Complex-37 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. Today’s forecast shows an 80 percent chance of favorable weather conditions for launch. The launch time is 3:33 a.m. ET.
Please see the Delta IV Heavy Parker Solar Probe mission booklet here: https://www.ulalaunch.com/docs/default-source/launch-booklets/divh_parkersolarprobe_mob.pdf
-
I remember seeing somewhere that the mission would have taken an Atlas V 551 with a Star-48GXV or something, except that STAR variant was cancelled so they had to go with D4H?
Is there truth to that?
You're probably thinking of Gunter's page: https://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/parker-solar-probe.htm
The motor was actually successfully tested in December 2013, but development risk was apparently deemed to high as Gunter states (for which reasons, I'm not privy), and the final development was never finished.
Phase B baselined Atlas V 551. Phase C baselined Delta IV Heavy.
I find, so I share:
The launch energy is much higher than most interplanetary missions and requires a powerful three-stage launch system. The maximum launch C3 over the 20-day launch period is 154 km2/s2. The baseline launch system is an EELV (Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle) Delta IV Heavy class launch vehicle with a standard Star 48 BV upper stage. During the Phase B development, an EELV Atlas V 551 launch vehicle was assumed. The recent switch to the more powerful Delta IV Heavy class launch vehicle will allow for more launch mass and increase spacecraft mass margin for the Phase C development.
They were playing around with an enhanced Star-48 at one point (trying to keep it on Atlas).
Also from the SPP thread, the D4H with Star 48BV just selected has been the baseline vehicle throughout Phase C work.
http://issfd.org/ISSFD_2014/ISSFD24_Paper_S6-2_Guo.pdf
The big difference between Star-48GXV and Star-48BV is that uses a composite case rather than the BV's titanium one, or is there more too it? (G is for graphite-epoxy? V is for vectoring-thrust)
-
The weather forecast shows an 80% chance of favorable weather for Parker #SolarProbe liftoff on Saturday, Aug. 11. (Thanks @45thSpaceWing!)
https://twitter.com/ulalaunch/status/1026982766351708160
Edit to add forecast:
Launch day overall probability of violating weather constraints: 20%
Primary concern(s): Attached and Detached Anvil Clouds
24-hour delay overall probability of violating weather constraints: 40%
Primary concern(s): Attached and Detached Anvil Clouds, Thick Cloud Layers
48-hour delay overall probability of violating weather constraints: 40%
Primary concern(s): Attached and Detached Anvil Clouds, Thick Cloud Layers
-
Weather forecast has worsened a bit to 70% GO and 60% on delay days:
Launch day overall probability of violating weather constraints: 30%
Primary concern(s): Attached and Detached Anvil Clouds, Cumulus Clouds
24-hour delay overall probability of violating weather constraints: 40%
Primary concern(s): Attached and Detached Anvil Clouds, Thick Cloud Layers
48-hour delay overall probability of violating weather constraints: 40%
Primary concern(s): Attached and Detached Anvil Clouds, Thick Cloud Layers
-
Parker Solar Probe: T Minus 2 days
Did you know NASA has several definitions for a countdown?!? “T Minus”, “L Minus”, and NASA even sometimes uses “E Minus”. What do they all mean and why do we have them? NASA Launch Services Program at Kennedy Space Center can help with the translations.
NASA’s Launch Services (LSP) is responsible for launching uncrewed rockets delivering spacecraft that observe the Earth, visit other planets and explore the universe. They have also had a significant hand in getting Parker to where it is today.
NASA’s LSP team also have a very insightful twitter feed that was a great source at explaining the need for different countdown definitions. In one particular tweet by the LSP team made in 2015, they explained the meaning behind “L Minus” as:
"L Minus" time is different from "T Minus" time."L minus" indicates how far away we are from actual liftoff& doesn't include built-in holds.
But, even more insightful is the conversation that has continued in this thread. And so if the explanation above still has you confused, like it did me, then a 30 seconds youtube clip by NASA LSP chief engineer, James Wood, is more likely to nail down the meaning for you. What was most insightful to me was when James stated,
“T Minus time is really a sequence of events, so we order the events of how we conduct a launch count in a very specifically orderly manner”
“T times which really aren’t times at all, they can be extended or contracted as necessary to keep the launch moving and stay within the window”
Then what is “E Minus” for? Well it turns out that T and L are used for launching a rocket (with the spacecraft inside). But when a spacecraft is already in space, performing its ordinary mission, an “E Minus” time can be used to identify a countdown to a specific event. According to Tim Larson, EPOXI mission project manager as NASA’s JPL, “E Minus” stands for Encounter.
So for the case of EPOXI, the encounter was for comet Hartley 2. Assuming this method holds true for other missions, New Horizons mission, that recently flew by Pluto to take the wonderful picture we have today, would have also employed a similar “E Minus” sequence for when the spacecraft was traveling towards the closest approached of the planet.
So, has this explanation helped your understanding for the Parker Launch happening in a few days? or is there something else that you want explanations for, in preparation of the launch? if so let us know in the comments below.
-
"L Minus" time is different from "T Minus" time."L minus" indicates how far away we are from actual liftoff& doesn't include built-in holds.
Clarification: "L-" times DO include built-in hold time (BIHs), and reflect the actual time remaining until launch (barring unexpected holds). "T-" times don't. The "T-" time clock stops during built-in holds, the "L-" clock continues to tick, even through BIH's.
-
Delta IV Parker Solar Probe (https://www.ulalaunch.com/missions/delta-iv-parker-solar-probe)
According to ULA site and ULA Twitter page (https://twitter.com/ulalaunch), Parker Solar Probe Launch time has been tentatively scheduled at 3:33 AM EDT at the beginning of a 65-minute launch window. ULA has also published a toll free ULA launch hotline at 1-877-852-4321 at its website.
Launch Info : [ https://twitter.com/ulalaunch/status/1027308460998885378?p=v ]
Delta IV Heavy will use a powerful third stage supplied by Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems to augment the launcher's capability.
ULA website further states that Due to the extremely high energy required for this mission, the Delta IV Heavy's capability will be augmented by a powerful third stage provided by Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems.
--- [ --- ]
-
This is the first time that Delta IV Heavy is using a third stage, meant to augment its capability.
Delta IV Heavy Capability to be Augmented by Orbital ATK Third Stage (https://news.northropgrumman.com/news/releases/orbital-atk-teams-with-ula-to-launch-nasas-solar-probe-plus-mission)
Orbital ATK (NYSE: OA) is teamed with United Launch Alliance (ULA) to launch NASA s Solar Probe Plus (SPP) mission on ULA s Delta IV Heavy rocket. A fully integrated third stage provided by Orbital ATK will give the spacecraft the high-energy boost needed to send it on its mission to study the Sun s outer atmosphere.
Orbital ATK's third stage leverages flight-proven inertial navigation, avionics, attitude control and separation systems used on the company's Pegasus, Minotaur and Minotaur-C launch vehicles. The venerable STARTM 48BV rocket motor, which traces its roots back to the 1980s, will provide the propulsion. The STAR 48 motor series has logged more than 130 successful missions.
One of Orbital ATK's strengths is providing new launch capabilities that leverage flight-proven subsystems, said Ron Grabe, President of Orbital ATK s Flight Systems Group. We are proud to team with ULA to augment the Delta IV Heavy for this very challenging mission.
After separating from the launch vehicle's second stage, Orbital ATK's third stage motor will ignite and accelerate the SPP spacecraft, making it one of the fastest man-made objects in history. During the motor's nominal burn time of 81 seconds, Orbital ATK's flight computer and guidance control system will guide the SPP observatory on its way to an elliptical orbit around the Sun. The observatory, using several gravity assists from Venus, will ultimately pass within 10 solar radii of the Sun, many times closer to the sun than the planet Mercury.
--- [ --- ]
-
Posted by NASA
-
Parker Solar Probe Proceeds Toward Launch Aug. 11
The Parker Solar Probe mission and launch teams today concluded a successful Launch Readiness Review. There are no technical issues being worked at this time. Teams are proceeding for liftoff on Saturday, Aug. 11, at 3:33 a.m. EDT. On a United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket with NASA’s Parker Solar Probe.
Parker Solar Probe will provide unprecedented information about our Sun, where changing conditions can spread out into the solar system to affect Earth and other worlds. The spacecraft will fly directly into the Sun’s atmosphere where, from a distance of – at the closest approach — approximately 4 million miles from its surface, the spacecraft will trace how energy and heat move through the Sun’s atmosphere and explore what accelerates the solar wind and solar energetic particles.
Meteorologists with the U.S. Air Force 45th Space Wing are predicting a 70 percent chance of favorable weather on launch day. Primary weather concerns are anvil clouds and cumulus clouds.
-
Parker pre-launch briefing coming up at 1pm EDT (17:00 UTC).
-
Spacecraft separation will be at MET 43mins 18secs.
-
Dr. Parker just walked in to the briefing to listen to it to stand ovation.
-
Closest approach is about 4 million miles - under 5% the average distance of Earth from the Sun.
-
Mission has been 60 years in the making. We've had to wait so long because our technology wasn't sophisticated and advanced enough to support mission.
-
430,000 mph is about max speed of Parker Solar during close approach.
-
PSP will take first up-close images of Sun's corona.
-
Heat shield took a decade to design and 18 months to build. It's made of Carbon-Carbon panels -- the same material the protected the Space Shuttle's nose caps and Wing Leading Edges during atmospheric reentry for over 30 years.
-
There will be 16-mins of round-trip light-time communications delay with Parker as it dives toward the sun and comm blackout periods when it dips behind the sun (as seen from Earth).
-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Uf58SU1pmQ
-
Parker Solar Probe website of the John Hopkins University of Applied Physics Lab has already started showing the countdown for the lift-off which is scheduled at 3:33AM EDT on August 11.
Parker Solar Probe - Jhuapl.edu
http://parkersolarprobe.jhuapl.edu/
Parker Solar Probe | NASA
https://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/parker-solar-probe
NASA Live: Parker Solar Probe Launch
https://www.nasa.gov/nasalive
Parker Solar Probe Briefings and Events | NASA
https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/parker-solar-probe-briefings-and-events
Parker Solar Probe - Mission News | NASA
https://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/parker-solar-probe-mission-news
-
It's Surprisingly Hard to Go to the Sun (https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2018/its-surprisingly-hard-to-go-to-the-sun)
The Sun contains 99.8 percent of the mass in our solar system. Its gravitational pull is what keeps everything here, from tiny Mercury to the gas giants to the Oort Cloud, 186 billion miles away. But even though the Sun has such a powerful pull, it's surprisingly hard to actually go to the Sun: It takes 55 times more energy to go to the Sun than it does to go to Mars.
Why is it so difficult ? The answer lies in the same fact that keeps Earth from plunging into the Sun: Our planet is traveling very fast - about 67,000 miles per hour - almost entirely sideways relative to the Sun. The only way to get to the Sun is to cancel that sideways motion.
Since Parker Solar Probe will skim through the Sun's atmosphere, it only needs to drop 53,000 miles per hour of sideways motion to reach its destination, but that's no easy feat. In addition to using a powerful rocket, the Delta IV Heavy, Parker Solar Probe will perform seven Venus gravity assists over its seven-year mission to shed sideways speed into Venus' well of orbital energy. These gravity assists will draw Parker Solar Probe's orbit closer to the Sun for a record approach of just 3.83 million miles from the Sun's visible surface on the final orbits.
Though it's shedding sideways speed to get closer to the Sun, Parker Solar Probe will pick up overall speed, bolstered by Sun's extreme gravity - so it will also break the record for the fastest-ever human-made objects, clocking in at 430,000 miles per hour on its final orbits.
-
recap of integration activities
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UABkXYJUL40
-
Parker Solar Probe Updates
NASA’s Parker Solar Probe is scheduled to lift off atop a ULA Delta IV Heavy at 3:33 a.m. EDT, at the opening of a 65-minute window, on Saturday, Aug. 11. Live launch coverage begins at 3 a.m.
Packed safely inside the United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket payload fairing, NASA's Parker Solar Probe is slated to launch on Saturday, August 11, 2018, at 3:33 a.m. EDT from Launch Complex 37, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida. The Parker Solar Probe will travel through the Sun’s atmosphere, closer to the surface than any spacecraft before it. The mission will revolutionize our understanding of the Sun, where changing conditions can propagate out into the solar system, affecting Earth and other worlds.
-
NASA Live: Official Stream of NASA TV
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwMDvPCGeE0
-
This is so much fun!
http://kerbalspaceacademy.com/live
-
The planned hold at T-4 hours, 15 minutes will be extended by 20 minutes to work some technical issues, no threat to the targeted T0 at this time:
@ulalaunch
The #DeltaIV Parker #SolarProbe countdown is in a planned hold, which we are extending by 20 minutes to allow additional time to work some technical issues. Still on track for 3:33amEDT liftoff.
Weather forecast shows an 80% chance of favorable weather for #DeltaIV Parker #SolarProbe launch.
-
From ULA website:
0255 UTC (10:55 p.m. EDT)
The launch pad crew has completed its hands-on work to ready Space Launch Complex 37 for today’s mission, and the launch conductor has given the instruction for personnel to depart the site in advance of fueling operations.
-
Update from ULA:
0307 UTC (11:07 p.m. EDT)
A new target launch time has been established of 3:53 a.m. EDT (0753 GMT).
-
Delta IV Heavy Parker Solar Probe Mission Profile
United Launch Alliance
Published on Aug 10, 2018
A United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket will launch NASA's Parker Solar Probe mission to the sun. The Parker Solar Probe mission will be the 10th launch of the Delta IV Heavy configuration rocket, which is the only rocket currently flying with the capability of launching this mission.
https://youtu.be/_gyBbGYEqpk?t=001
https://youtu.be/_gyBbGYEqpk
-
0316 UTC (11:16 p.m. EDT) – GO for fueling
A readiness poll of the launch team by Launch Conductor Scott Barney, with concurrence of ULA Launch Director Lou Mangieri has authorized cryogenic tanking operations to begin as the countdown continues this morning. The Delta IV Heavy rocket will be loaded with approximately 465,000 gallons of liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen over the next couple of hours.
-
0318 UTC (11:18 p.m. EDT) -- Countdown resumes
This is Delta Launch Control at T-minus 4 hours, 15 minutes and counting. The next phase of today’s launch countdown has been initiated as we target 3:53 a.m. EDT (0753 UTC) for liftoff of the United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket and the Parker Solar Probe for NASA.
Preparatory steps for fueling are being kicked off, including liquid hydrogen storage tank pressurization and charging the helium bottles on the three common booster cores and second stage.
One final hold will occur at the T-minus 4 minute mark.
-
Live Feed
NASA TV's launch webcast begins at 3 a.m. EDT (0700 UTC)
-
Photos from NASA
-
Parker Solar Probe cleared for Saturday launch to 'touch the sun' (https://spaceflightnow.com/2018/08/09/parker-solar-probe-cleared-for-saturday-launch-to-touch-the-sun/)
The powerful Delta 4 Heavy, ULA's most powerful launcher, will be making only its 10th flight since 2004. It is equipped with a Northrup Grumman solid-fuel upper stage that will act to drop the Parker probe out of Earth's 18-mile-per-second orbit around the sun, allowing it to fall inward for the first of seven gravity assist flybys of Venus over a planned seven-year mission.
"It is a beast of a rocket," Fox said of the Delta 4. "We need to go so fast because we have to lose the influence of the Earth."
The Venus flybys will help shape Parker's trajectory, eventually putting the spacecraft into an elliptical orbit with a low point of just 3.8 million miles from the sun's visible surface and a high point around the orbit of Venus. Along with being the first spacecraft to fly that close to a star, Parker also will be the fastest, streaking through the outer corona at some 430,000 mph - fast enough to fly from Washington, DC, to Tokyo in less than one minute.
"In our very first flyby (of the sun), we get a little more than 15 million miles away from the sun's surface," Fox said. "We're still three times closer than anything has been before. "The spacecraft is staying over the same area of the sun for many, many days, allowing us to do some really incredible science on our very first flyby."
While the corona blazes at millions of degrees, it is a tenuous environment and the heat transferred to the spacecraft will be much less. Even so, Parker's four-inch-thick 160-pound carbon composite heat shield will be subjected to some 2,500 degrees Fahrenheit during the closest approaches, hotter than flowing lava.
But on the back side of that heat shield, where Parker's four instruments, its flight computer and other critical systems are located, temperatures will be maintained at a relatively cool 85 degree. Its water-cooled solar panels will be retracted behind the heat shield during close approach with just the tips exposed to the blazing light and heat of the sun.
Appropriately enough, the spacecraft is named for Eugene Parker, the University of Chicago scientist who first theorized the existence of the solar wind in 1958. Now 91, Parker, the first living scientist to have a spacecraft named in his honor, flew to the Florida Space Coast to witness his first rocket launch.
--- [ --- ]
-
Looking very quiet on radar
-
New Target Launch Time
The launch team is targeting 3:53 a.m. EDT for liftoff of the United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket carrying NASA’s Parker Solar Probe. The countdown is in progress at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 37.
-
0432 UTC (12:32 a.m. EDT) – CBC LOX chilldown
This is Delta Launch Control at T-minus 3 hours, 1 minute and counting. The thermal condition process, known as chilldown, has started for the liquid oxygen systems on Delta IV Heavy rocket's three common booster cores. This preps the tanks and plumbing to guard against shock when the super-cold oxidizer begins flowing into the rocket stages.
-
0441 UTC (12:41 a.m. EDT)
The common booster cores liquid hydrogen loading operation is switching from "slow-fill" to "fast-fill" mode as planned.
The cryogenics are fed to the three CBCs via umbilicals from the tail service masts on the launch table.
-
0443 UTC (12:43 a.m. EDT) – DCSS LH2 chilldown
The “go” has been given to start the chilldown conditioning of the Delta Cryogenic Second Stage liquid hydrogen system in preparation for filling that tank.
-
0444 UTC (12:44 a.m. EDT) – CBC LOX loading begins
This is Delta Launch Control at T-minus 2 hours, 48 minutes and counting. The liquid oxygen chilldown is complete for the three booster cores, allowing 120,000 gallons of super-cold LOX to begin transferring into the rocket for today’s launch.
-
0459 UTC (12:59 a.m. EDT)
The common booster core liquid oxygen tanking operation is switching from "slow-fill" to "fast-fill" mode. The LOX is chilled to minus-298 degrees F.
-
0503 UTC (1:03 a.m. EDT) – DCSS LOX chilldown
This is Delta Launch Control at T-minus 2 hours, 30 minutes and counting. Approval has been given to the operators at the fueling console here in the Delta operations Center to begin the second stage liquid oxygen chilldown procedures.
-
0507 UTC (1:07 a.m. EDT)
The common booster core liquid oxygen level has reached 20 percent.
-
0511 UTC (1:11 a.m. EDT) – DCSS LH2 loading begins
The next step in fuel operations is getting underway by loading 10,000 gallons of liquid hydrogen into the Delta Cryogenic Second Stage following completion of that system’s chilldown.
The stage receives its fuel from the launch pad’s middle swing arm that extends from the Fixed Umbilical Tower to the Delta IV Heavy rocket.
-
0539 UTC (1:39 a.m. EDT)
Liquid oxygen loading to the three common booster cores has finished. Topping will be completed shortly.
-
This is a beast of a rocket! See the guy on the left in the 4th photo? It’s going to light up the sky tonight. Weather looks clear enough to see this from Georgia or The Keys. @ulalaunch & @nasa own the sky tonight. #ParkerSolarProbe
https://twitter.com/_tomcross_/status/1028145831327805445
-
Comms checks going on over the net right now. All normal right now.
-
0552 UTC (1:52 a.m. EDT)
The Delta Cryogenic Second Stage has been loaded with its liquid hydrogen fuel supply. The propellant, along with liquid oxygen that continues to be filled, will be consumed by the stage’s RL10B-2 engine during two burns that will accelerate Parker Solar Probe into its initial parking orbit, then boost the craft on the intermediate escape trajectory today.
-
Weird. ULA says launch is at 03:53, but countdown clocks and ULA launch team are saying T-1hrs 30mins -- which means a 03:33 EDT launch.
-
Weird. ULA says launch is at 03:53, but countdown clocks and ULA launch time are saying T-1he 30mins -- which means a 03:33 EDT launch.
I think there is a twenty minute hold coming up.
-
From ULA updates:
0603 UTC (2:03 a.m. EDT)
The Parker Solar Probe is named in honor of Dr. Eugene N. Parker, an astrophysicist who discovered the solar wind in 1958.
Born on June 10, 1927, in Michigan, Parker received a B.S. in physics from Michigan State University and a Ph.D. from Caltech in 1951. He then taught at the University of Utah, and since 1955, Parker has held faculty positions at the University of Chicago and at its Fermi Institute.
He was a young physicist in the mid-1950s who put forth concepts for how the sun – and stars – give off energy in a “solar wind” of plasmas, magnetic fields and energetic particles that make up this phenomenon. Parker also theorized an explanation for the superheated solar corona, which is — contrary to what was expected by then-known physics laws — hotter than the surface of the sun itself. His theory suggested that regular, but small, solar explosions called nanoflares could, in enough abundance, cause this heating.
More than half a century later, the Parker Solar Probe mission will finally be able to provide key observations on Parker’s groundbreaking theories and ideas, which have informed a generation of scientists about solar physics and the magnetic fields around stars. Much of his pioneering work, which has been proven by subsequent spacecraft, defined a great deal of what we know about the how the sun–Earth system interacts.
”I’m greatly honored to be associated with such an heroic scientific space mission. By heroic, of course, I’m referring to the temperature, the thermal radiation from the sun and the extreme measures developed to survive that radiation and collect scientific data should be fully appreciated,” Parker said at the spacecraft naming ceremony last year.
”As a theoretician, I greatly admire the scientists and engineers whose patient efforts together converted the Solar Probe concept into a functioning reality to do battle with the solar elements as it divulges the secrets of the expanding solar corona. Hooray for Solar Probe!”
Parker is the first living individual to have a NASA mission named in his honor.
-
RS-68 conditioning complete. Ready for CBC tank venting.
-
Weird. ULA says launch is at 03:53, but countdown clocks and ULA launch time are saying T-1he 30mins -- which means a 03:33 EDT launch.
I think there is a twenty minute hold coming up.
I swore I heard L-, not T-. Might have just been a slip up on the LD audio.
-
First stage LOX at 60%
-
Post-VR topping established. (Comm loop is really ratty in places, so apologies if precise accuracy is off.)
-
Clock on ULA website just reached 1 hour 30 minutes
-
2nd stage LOX load complete!
-
Fueling complete! Topping in work. "We have a fully loaded vehicle".
-
0629 UTC (2:29 a.m. EDT)
Loading of the upper stage liquid oxygen tank was just reported complete, giving us a 1.6-million-pound Delta IV Heavy rocket that is fueled for launch at 3:53 a.m. EDT (0753 UTC) today. At T-minus 1 hour, 3 minutes and counting, this is Delta Launch Control.
-
Post-VR topping established. (Comm loop is really ratty in places, so apologies if precise accuracy is off.)
VR is most likely "Vent&Relief", referring to the vent and relief valves. They lose propellant during these tests so topping is required once they're done.
-
Launch window was 65 minutes at 3:33 AM EDT. Plan is now for 3:53 with 45 minutes available after that.
-
Swing arm system is in launch mode.
Swing arm functional testing now in work.
-
0633 UTC (2:33 a.m. EDT)
This is Delta Launch Control at T-minus 60 minutes and counting. We will be taking the countdown clock to T-minus 4 minutes before holding there for a pre-planned, 20-minute built-in hold. That is when the status polls by management will be performed to verify all is in readiness for liftoff.
-
FTS (Flight Termination System) open loop checks complete.
-
Flight Control final preps in work.
-
Swing Arm functional test complete. No issues!
-
From ULA website:
0638 UTC (2:38 a.m. EDT)
The launch team is setting up for flight slews, the next major milestone in the countdown. This is the steering test patterns run on the Delta IV Heavy rocket nozzles to ensure proper gimbaling during the ascent.
-
Stage 2 LOX tests complete. Topping started.
-
RS-68 spin start up in work.
-
CBC (Common Booster Core) LOX topping and 45min conditioning complete and good.
Stage 2 LH2 tests complete. Topping started.
-
0643 UTC (2:43 a.m. EDT)
The standard post-fueling inspections of the rocket’s outer thermal insulation is underway using launch pad cameras.
-
Flight Hazard Area is CLEAR!
-
from ULA website:
0648 UTC (2:48 a.m. EDT)
This launch uses a special three-stage configuration of the United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket to launch Parker Solar Probe from the Earth.
This configuration of the Delta IV is created by taking three hydrogen-fueled common booster cores, each with an Aerojet Rocketdyne RS-68A main engine, and strapping them together to provide over two million pounds of Earth-shaking thrust at liftoff. The Delta Cryogenic Second Stage, powered by an Aerojet Rocketdyne RL10B-2 engine, puts the vehicle into a preliminary orbit, then fires a second time to achieve an Earth-escape trajectory. A Star 48BV third stage, built by Northrop Grumman, provides a significant kick of additional velocity for the Parker Solar Probe on its journey into the inner solar system.
The Delta IV Heavy launches on the combined power of three RS-68A engines, burning liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen to produce 702,000 pounds of thrust each. The port and starboard boosters are more than 150 feet tall, and the center core with the interstage attached is over 175 feet in length. They measure 16.7 feet in diameter.
The Delta Cryogenic Second Stage also burns liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen to produce 24,750 pounds of thrust from the RL10B-2 engine. The powerplant features a deployable carbon-carbon nozzle that is 7 feet in diameter.
The Star 48BV motor serves as the Delta IV Heavy’s third stage. It is the latest evolution in the long line of Star 48 stages and incorporates a vectorable nozzle for added maneuverability.
The Delta IV Heavy has successfully flown into space 9 times before, deploying vital national security payloads for the U.S. Air Force and National Reconnaissance Office and sending NASA’s Orion capsule on its first flight test.
-
Stage 2 helium bottles at flight pressure.
-
3rd stage power up and IMU alignment starting now.
-
NASA coverage starts in five minutes.
-
0653 UTC (2:53 a.m. EDT) -- ) – Third stage power up
We are entering the final 60 minutes until launch of the Delta IV Heavy rocket and NASA’s Parker Solar Probe, a mission decades in the making to fly through the sun’s outer atmosphere to obtain in-situ measurements of how the corona is heated and how the solar wind is accelerated.
The launch team has begun to power up the Northrop Grumman Star 48BV third stage. The stage provides a significant kick of additional velocity for the Parker Solar Probe on its journey into the inner solar system.
No significant issues are being addressed by the launch team, the current weather conditions are favorable and all activities are progressing smoothly for a liftoff at 3:53 a.m. EDT (0753 UTC).
-
3rd stage is powered up. Proceeding with IMU alignment.
-
NASA coverage has begun.
-
Our hosts. Had some issues with some ground support equipment.
-
radar is still looking good.
-
L-50 minutes.
-
Saying weather is 95% go.
-
Rollback.
-
CBC helium bottles are at flight pressures.
-
Interview with APL project scientist.
-
Why Is NASA Launching the Parker Solar Probe to the Sun at Night ? (https://spaceflightnow.com/2018/08/09/parker-solar-probe-cleared-for-saturday-launch-to-touch-the-sun/)
Tomorrow's launch will lift off sometime during a planned 65-minute launch window, which opens at that early morning hour in Cape Canaveral, Florida. Baez explained that originally, the launch window covered a 2-hour period, but launch services narrowed the time to 65 minutes to help minimize the spacecraft's exposure to the Van Allen radiation belts - a collection of charged particles held in place by Earth's magnetic field — that surround the planet. The original two-hour slot was needed to reach the probe's first destination, Venus, but other concerns shrunk it down further.
"We started this with a two-hour window," Baez said during the briefing. "As we looked at the trajectory, we realized that we are coming close to the Van Allen belts as we fly out, so we have a radiation concern on the launch vehicle." According to Baez, this is why the launch window cuts off at 65 minutes.
These belts can grow and shrink in response to incoming energy from the sun and interactions with the solar wind, one of the key things that the Parker Solar Probe will be studying.
--- [ --- ]
-
NSF and KSA live stream for your dual screen options :)
http://kerbalspaceacademy.com/live
-
From ULA website:
0708 UTC (3:08 a.m. EDT)
We are 45 minutes away for liftoff time for the Delta IV Heavy rocket and NASA’s Parker Solar Probe bound for close encounters with the sun.
This will be 129th mission for United Launch Alliance and our 32nd mission for NASA. It is the 380th Delta rocket launch since 1960, the 37th for a Delta IV rocket since 2002 and the 10th Delta IV Heavy.
“ULA is honored to launch the one-of-a-kind Parker Solar Probe,” said Tory Bruno, ULA president and CEO. “Only the Delta IV Heavy possesses the capability to deliver this unique mission to orbit, and we are proud to provide unmatched launch services to our NASA mission partners.”
-
Interview with NASA Senior Heliophysicist.
-
L-40 minutes.
-
Delta Operations Support Center.
Mission Director's Center
-
Interview with Science Mission Directorate Associate Administrator.
-
Talking about the naming of the probe.
-
Everything in the count still proceeding smoothly.
-
Showing a movie about the Sun. Core is 15 Million C.
-
Iron stripped of 13 of its electrons, indicating extreme heat in the corona.
-
Weather briefing now in work.
NO significant events in next 30mins. No space weather constraints. GREEN on all counts.
-
L-30 minutes. Talking about COLAs.
-
Go on weather. 5% chance of violation. No questions.
-
95% go on weather. Temperature is 25.6 C.
-
Showing a recap of past events leading to launch.
-
L-25 minutes.
-
Interview with APL Project Scientist.
-
0729 UTC (3:29 a.m. EDT) -- Countdown holding
This is Delta Launch Control at T-minus 4 minutes and holding. The countdown has entered the planned 20-minute built-in hold designed to give a bit of margin to deal with any problems. Also during this time, the final readiness polls of the launch team and management members will be performed.
We remain on schedule for a liftoff at 3:53 a.m. EDT (0753 UTC) from Space Launch Complex 37 at Cape Canaveral. Today’s launch opportunity remains available for 45 minutes, extending to 4:38 a.m. EDT (0838 UTC).
-
Talking about coronal heating problem.
-
L-20 minutes.
-
Heat shield demonstration. Nice and cool at the back.
-
0736 UTC (3:36 a.m. EDT)
Propellant conditioning has been achieved on all 8 liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen tanks of the Delta IV Heavy vehicle.
-
Interview with ULA engineer.
-
L-15 minutes. Showing ULA launch video.
-
From ULA website
0738 UTC (3:38 a.m. EDT)
The Delta IV Heavy rocket stands 233 feet tall, is 53 feet wide and weighs 1.6 million pounds fully fueled. It will launch on 2.1 million pounds of thrust from the three RS-68A main engines.
The Parker Solar Probe atop the launch vehicle is 9.8 feet tall, about 3.3 feet in diameter and has a mass of over 1,400 pounds.
The relatively small spacecraft needs the full power of the Delta IV Heavy rocket to achieve the necessary speed to surf through the corona and not get pulled into the sun during the close encounters.
-
L-12 minutes.
-
0741 UTC (3:41 a.m. EDT)
This is Delta Launch Control at T-minus 4 minutes and holding. All of the communications loops are quiet at the present time during this hold. The countdown remains targeted for liftoff at 3:53 a.m. EDT (0753 UTC).
Coming off the pad on 2.1 million pounds of thrust from the combined power of the three common booster cores, the rocket will perform pitch and yaw maneuvers to align with an easterly heading along a flight azimuth of 94.6 degrees. The vehicle will hit Mach 1, the speed of sound, in 78 seconds.
-
L-10 minutes.
-
0743 UTC (3:43 a.m. EDT)
Coming up on the readiness poll of the launch team in about three minutes.
-
L-9 minutes.
-
L-8 minutes.
-
L-7 minutes. Poll starting in 15 seconds.
-
L-6 minutes. Performing poll. Someone is saying no-go.
-
We are just 5 minutes away from the lift-off.
---countdown/create_countdown_action.php?event=Delta+IV+Heavy+-+Parker+Solar+Proble+Launch+Mission&month=8&day=11&year=2018&hour=7&minute=53&second=0
Today's launch mission is the 10th Delta IV Heavy mission and 2nd NASA mission.
Delta IV Heavy is a montrous workhorse launcher with 3 common core booster. Delta IV heavy with a height of 70.7 meter and Diameter of 5 meter has a launch mass of 733,400 kg and can deliver payloads of 28,790 kg into low earth orbit and 14,220 kg to GTO and 6,750 kg to GEO. The vehicle is comprised of a Common Booster Core as a central core stage with two additional Common Booster Cores attached to the core.
-
A number of NO GOs on the polling there.
-
0747 UTC (3:47 a.m. EDT)
We will be extending this hold an additional few minutes while engineers assess a technical issue.
-
L-5 minutes. Heard two no-go's.
-
From ULA website:
0749 UTC (3:49 a.m. EDT)
We do not have a new target liftoff time yet.
-
Two no go's about VME? and one was no go pending resolution of ???
-
Looking to establish new T-0.
-
EGSE taking a look at what is going on. Holding at T-4 minutes. 39 minutes left in window.
-
VME? Vehicle monitor equipment???
-
0754 UTC (3:54 a.m. EDT)
Today’s launch window extends through 4:38 a.m. EDT (0838 UTC) for liftoff of the Delta IV Heavy rocket to occur.
-
EGSE: Electrical Ground Support Equipment (maybe).
- Ed Kyle
-
First time we've seen a clock. Holding at T-4 minutes. 38 minutes left in window.
-
Two no go's about VME? and one was no go pending resolution of ???
All three refer to the same issue.
-
Can someone please confirm meaning of VME?
-
Normally I'd say Virtual Machine Environment and call it a workstation OS issue.
-
Can someone please confirm meaning of VME?
It is contained within the Terminal Sequence Control Rack, but I don't know what it stands for.
-
VME could stand for Versa Module Europa.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VMEbus
-
Proceeding with the count. Anomaly was from the vehicle team recommends proceed.
-
EGSE is ground support equipment used to run automated hardware-in-the-loop tests. VME is a computer bus used by this system to control flight hardware.
-
In a good position to proceed. The risk is the same as before. Everyone concurs.
-
0811 UTC (4:11 a.m. EDT)
The technical issue has been cleared, and a new liftoff time has been established for 4:28 a.m. EDT (0828 UTC).
-
Had gotten a hit in the ground data stream.
New T-0 of 08:28 UTC.
-
L-15 minutes.
-
What is a VME system?
VMEbus (VersaModular Eurocard bus) is a bus (computer data path) system, designed by Motorola, Signetics, Mostek, and Thompson CSF, that is used in industrial, commercial, and military applications worldwide. ... The most recent VME standard is the VME64 standard.
This seems to fit.
-
L-12 minutes.
-
L-10 minutes. Talking about launch vehicle.
-
L-9 minutes. Pad launched first Apollo Lunar Module.
-
L-8 minutes.
-
L-7 minutes.
-
L-6 minutes. Performing poll.
-
0822 UTC (4:22 a.m. EDT) -- GO for launch!
The ULA Launch Director Lou Mangieri has given the final approval to resume the countdown for flight of Delta IV Heavy rocket to send NASA’s Parker Solar Probe to the sun. His concurrence was made following a status check by NASA Launch Manager Omar Baez of the agency’s advisory team and a readiness poll of the launch team by Launch Conductor Scott Barney that verified all systems are "go."
-
Go for launch. Proceeding with the count.
L-5 minutes.
-
0824 UTC (4:24 a.m. EDT) -- Countdown resumes
T-minus 4 minutes and counting. The final phase of today’s countdown is underway at Cape Canaveral to launch the Delta IV Heavy rocket and Parker Solar Probe for NASA. The countdown clocks have resumed, leading us to a 4:28 a.m. EDT (0828 UTC) liftoff.
Over the next minute, the Delta Cryogenic Second Stage liquid oxygen tank will be secured at flight level, replenishment of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen to the three boosters will be secured in preparation to pressurize the tanks for launch, the Delta IV Heavy rocket will switch from ground-fed power to internal batteries and ordnance devices aboard the vehicle will be armed.
-
T-4 minutes and counting.
-
T-3 minutes. FTS internal.
-
0825 UTC (4:25 a.m. EDT)
T-minus 2 minutes, 30 seconds. We remain GO for liftoff of the Delta IV Heavy and Parker Solar Probe.
The liquid oxygen tanks in the three common booster cores are been confirmed at the proper level and pressure for flight. The liquid hydrogen tanks will achieve this status about one minute from now.
The liquid hydrogen system on the Delta Cryogenic Second Stage will be secured starting at T-minus 80 seconds.
-
T-2 minutes.
Hold!
-
Helium regulator issue. 9 minutes left in the window.
-
Holding due to something with helium regulator pressure.
-
0826 UTC (4:26 a.m. EDT)
HOLD. Countdown has stopped at T-minus 1 minute 55 seconds due to a problem.
-
Held at T-1 minute 55 seconds. Something about a GH helium regulator.
-
Something you may have noticed. When you see Falcon 9 do a massive vent, she's ready to go. When Delta IV does it, that's a hold.
-
Scrub. Powering down. Sorry folks.
-
Scrubbed.
-
Clock reset to T-4 minutes.
-
Its a scrub!
-
Scrub.
-
For now they are saying 24 hour re-cycle. Will have to see what happens. First VME signal then GHE regulator issue it sounded like.
-
Recycling for 24 hour turn around. Going through the scrub check list.
-
From ULA website:
0829 UTC (4:29 a.m. EDT)
This is Delta Launch Control. It has been confirmed that we will not continue with the Delta IV Parker Solar Probe launch activities this morning. We will have a 24-hour recycle, so our next launch attempt will be tomorrow.
-
Sounds like the announcer's microphone has issues.
-
Gaseous Helium Red Pressure alarm was cause of scrub.
-
Had gaseous helium regulator pressure alarm. Looking at either 24 or 48 hour turnaround.
-
Grrrrrrrrr........I did NOT want to do this twice! (at a minimum....)
-
I'm curious if I heard the LD correctly, the cause of the scrub was because the hold occured after T-2:00, and not because they were immediately out of window? Does Delta IV have a constraint on recycling the count from after T-2:00 even if there was sufficient time remaining in the window for a recycle?
-
End of coverage.
-
I'm curious if I heard the LD correctly, the cause of the scrub was because the hold occured after T-2:00, and not because they were immediately out of window? Does Delta IV have a constraint on recycling the count from after T-2:00 even if there was sufficient time remaining in the window for a recycle?
There was insufficient time to complete a recycle.
-
Delta IV Heavy aborted launch with NASA’s Parker Solar Probe
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7APk-8dTkHM
-
24h or 48h ?
-
24h or 48h ?
24h
NASA: "This morning’s launch of @NASASun’s #ParkerSolarProbe was scrubbed. Launch teams will attempt to launch on Sunday morning" https://twitter.com/NASA/status/1028197653606068224
ULA: "#DeltaIV Parker #SolarProbe launch is planned for Sunday, Aug. 12, from Space Launch Complex-37 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The forecast shows a 60 percent chance of favorable weather conditions for launch. The launch time is 3:31 a.m. ET." https://twitter.com/ulalaunch/status/1028205227097419776
-
I'm curious if I heard the LD correctly, the cause of the scrub was because the hold occured after T-2:00, and not because they were immediately out of window? Does Delta IV have a constraint on recycling the count from after T-2:00 even if there was sufficient time remaining in the window for a recycle?
There was insufficient time to complete a recycle.
Right, what I am wondering is would they have still had to scrub even if there was sufficient time left in the window?
-
Right, what I am wondering is would they have still had to scrub even if there was sufficient time left in the window?
I doubt it. A helium regulator alarm sounds like something that could be very serious (remember Amos 6?), something that would at the least require some time for analysis, and what they were running out of was time.
What struck me last night was the slight "bumpiness", shall we say, of the countdown process. There was the earlier delay, then the recycle to a T-0 time that offered no possibility of recycle, then the abort and the Launch Director beginning to call for a recycle until someone reminded him that there was insufficent time. Not a big deal, but different than what we've become used to with SpaceX, oddly enough. But upon reflection I've realized that this should not surprise. SpaceX has performed 47 launch countdowns plus a handful of aborted counts, and maybe 50-ish full static fire counts, along with at least twice as-many stage test countdowns at McGregor, since the last Delta 4 Heavy lift off from Cape Canaveral almost four years ago! SpaceX has performed 36 launch countdowns plus a handful of aborted counts, and maybe 40-ish full static fire counts, along with at least twice as-many stage test countdowns at McGregor, since the last Delta 4 Heavy lift off from Cape Canaveral more than two years ago!
- Ed Kyle
-
Right, what I am wondering is would they have still had to scrub even if there was sufficient time left in the window?
Unknowable, since "sufficient time" is undefined.
-
since the last Delta 4 Heavy lift off from Cape Canaveral almost four years ago!
Delta IV Heavy launches NROL-37, 11 June 2016
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xuHVPe8wiJw
-
What struck me last night was the slight "bumpiness", shall we say, of the countdown process.
I noticed but was not particularly surprised. It's only launched 9 times in 14 years, and never more than once a year. The GSE hardware, software, and people are presumably all a bit rusty.
Here's hoping they can shake off the cobwebs and launch successfully tonight.
-
since the last Delta 4 Heavy lift off from Cape Canaveral almost four years ago!
Delta IV Heavy launches NROL-37, 11 June 2016
Ooops. Let that one slip. So slightly more than two years ago, but SpaceX has still performed 36 counts down to launch and 40-ish to static fire, etc. since then.
- Ed Kyle
-
Ooops. Let that one slip. So slightly more than two years ago, but SpaceX has still performed 36 counts down to launch and 40-ish to static fire, etc. since then.
This is one of a kind rocket, read about the third stage https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2018/08/parker-solar-probe-unlock-mysteries-suns-corona/
-
What struck me last night was the slight "bumpiness", shall we say, of the countdown process.
I noticed but was not particularly surprised. It's only launched 9 times in 14 years, and never more than once a year. The GSE hardware, software, and people are presumably all a bit rusty.
Here's hoping they can shake off the cobwebs and launch successfully tonight.
Does that mean this year is unique and will probably remain so in the launcher’s history in that it will be launching twice?
-
What struck me last night was the slight "bumpiness", shall we say, of the countdown process.
I noticed but was not particularly surprised. It's only launched 9 times in 14 years, and never more than once a year. The GSE hardware, software, and people are presumably all a bit rusty.
Here's hoping they can shake off the cobwebs and launch successfully tonight.
Does that mean this year is unique and will probably remain so in the launcher’s history in that it will be launching twice?
A few years back there was supposed to be 3 DIVH launches this year but the Orion EFT-2 option was cancelled shortly after being exercised.
-
What struck me last night was the slight "bumpiness", shall we say, of the countdown process.
I noticed but was not particularly surprised. It's only launched 9 times in 14 years, and never more than once a year. The GSE hardware, software, and people are presumably all a bit rusty.
Here's hoping they can shake off the cobwebs and launch successfully tonight.
Does that mean this year is unique and will probably remain so in the launcher’s history in that it will be launching twice?
A few years back there was supposed to be 3 DIVH launches this year but the Orion EFT-2 option was cancelled shortly after being exercised.
Huh, there was potentially going to be an EFT-2? Today I learned.
Would it have been identical to EFT-1?
-
Right, what I am wondering is would they have still had to scrub even if there was sufficient time left in the window?
I doubt it. A helium regulator alarm sounds like something that could be very serious (remember Amos 6?), something that would at the least require some time for analysis, and what they were running out of was time.
What struck me last night was the slight "bumpiness", shall we say, of the countdown process. There was the earlier delay, then the recycle to a T-0 time that offered no possibility of recycle, then the abort and the Launch Director beginning to call for a recycle until someone reminded him that there was insufficent time. Not a big deal, but different than what we've become used to with SpaceX, oddly enough. But upon reflection I've realized that this should not surprise. SpaceX has performed 47 launch countdowns plus a handful of aborted counts, and maybe 50-ish full static fire counts, along with at least twice as-many stage test countdowns at McGregor, since the last Delta 4 Heavy lift off from Cape Canaveral almost four years ago! SpaceX has performed 36 launch countdowns plus a handful of aborted counts, and maybe 40-ish full static fire counts, along with at least twice as-many stage test countdowns at McGregor, since the last Delta 4 Heavy lift off from Cape Canaveral more than two years ago!
- Ed Kyle
no doubt it has taken a lot of money to keep "the band together"
-
What frustrates me, and granted, I understand the complexity of rocketry and the many things that must go right for launch to occur, is that there were two WDRs conducted prior to this morning’s attempt. I’m not trying to be salty, but I honestly did not expect the rocket to be what would’ve scrubbed the launch.
since the last Delta 4 Heavy lift off from Cape Canaveral almost four years ago!
Delta IV Heavy launches NROL-37, 11 June 2016
Ooops. Let that one slip. So slightly more than two years ago, but SpaceX has still performed 36 counts down to launch and 40-ish to static fire, etc. since then.
- Ed Kyle
-
Could this solar probe be launched on FH if there is a major problem with the Delta IV H?
-
What frustrates me, and granted, I understand the complexity of rocketry and the many things that must go right for launch to occur, is that there were two WDRs conducted prior to this morning’s attempt. I’m not trying to be salty, but I honestly did not expect the rocket to be what would’ve scrubbed the launch.
Why frustrated? Assuming you're not working the launch, it just means you tap a few times on your phone or keyboard Sunday morning instead of Saturday morning to see what happened. Save the frustration for JWST and SLS.
-
Could this solar probe be launched on FH if there is a major problem with the Delta IV H?
No.
-
What frustrates me, and granted, I understand the complexity of rocketry and the many things that must go right for launch to occur, is that there were two WDRs conducted prior to this morning’s attempt. I’m not trying to be salty, but I honestly did not expect the rocket to be what would’ve scrubbed the launch.
Please be patient and bear in mind that this is only the 10th launch of a Delta-IV heavy, ever.
Of the 9 flights so far, only 8 were fully successful.
The last flight of this vehicle was 792 days ago.
*effectively*, this is a rocket that is still undergoing its early career teething issues, while the ground crew is newly-trained first-timers. (*no-one* retains specialized skills for 792 days with no use of these skills. And no, simulator and other-but-similar rockets do not fully count)
.
-
*effectively*, this is a rocket that is still undergoing its early career teething issues, while the ground crew is newly-trained first-timers. (*no-one* retains specialized skills for 792 days with no use of these skills. And no, simulator and other-but-similar rockets do not fully count)
Teething issues? More like parts are approaching retirement age. The average experience of the ground crew is somewhere between 20 and 30+ years, and many of them work Atlas and Delta, and some work both coasts. Where do you come up with this?
-
other-but-similar rockets do not fully count)
Wong, single core Delta IV's do count.
-
From ULA website:
0057 UTC (8:57 p.m. EDT) – MST rolled back
The mobile service tower at Space Launch Complex 37 has been retracted to the launch position, revealing the United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket for its overnight flight to send NASA’s Parker Solar Probe to the sun.
The gantry-like structure, standing 330 feet tall and weighing nearly 10 million pounds, was wheeled on rail tracks about the length of a football field away from the rocket. It was secured in the launch location at 8:57 p.m. EDT (0057 UTC).
The MST is a critical part of the launch complex, proving the primary access and weather protection to the rocket during its stay on the launch pad, and its overhead crane system serves a vital role in vertical integration of payloads onto the Delta IV rockets.
Rollback of the MST signals a major milestone early in launch day operations. Configuring launch pad systems and securing equipment will be completed over the next couple of hours before all personnel clear the site for fueling.
Activities remain on schedule for a liftoff at 3:31 a.m. EDT (0731 UTC).
-
From ULA website:
0110 UTC (9:10 p.m. EDT)
This is Delta Launch Control at T-minus 5 hours, 21 minutes and counting.
The initiation of gaseous nitrogen flow to the launch vehicle has started. This changes the environmental control systems to supply conditioned nitrogen gas rather than air to the internal compartments of the Delta IV Heavy rocket and the payload fairing in preparation for the transfer of cryogenic propellants and in-flight environments.
We are tracking no issues this evening. An update from the Air Force launch weather officer is coming up in about an hour.
-
Live Feed
NASA TV's launch webcast begins at 3 a.m. EDT (0700 UTC)
-
0205 UTC (10:05 p.m. EDT) – Weather 70% GO
This is Delta Launch Control at T-minus 4 hours, 26 minutes and counting. The Launch Weather Officer Kathy Rice from the Air Force's 45th Weather Squadron reports conditions at Cape Canaveral are favorable for the flight of Delta IV rocket and Parker Solar Probe, forecasting a 70 percent chance of acceptable conditions at liftoff time.
The outlook calls for a few low-level clouds, a broken deck of high clouds, thunderstorms offshore from the Cape, good visibility, southwesterly winds of 10 knots and a temperature of 78 degrees F.
The only concern is anvil clouds drifting close to the launch site from the storms off the coast.
-
From ULA website:
0218 UTC (10:18 p.m. EDT)
The launch pad crew has completed its hands-on work to ready Space Launch Complex 37 for today’s mission, and the launch conductor has given the instruction for personnel to depart the site in advance of fueling operations.
0216 UTC (10:16 p.m. EDT) -- Countdown holding
This is Delta Launch Control at T-minus 4 hours, 15 minutes and holding. The countdown has entered the first of two planned, built-in holds that are scheduled in today’s timeline. Each is 30-minute blocks of time that gives the countdown some margin to resolve issues or catch up on work could be running behind.
This particular hold serves as a margin before fueling operations begin. At the present time, however, all activities are on schedule and no problems are being addressed by the launch team.
The final hold occurs at T-minus 4 minutes.
-
0244 UTC (10:44 p.m. EDT) – GO for fueling
A readiness poll of the launch team by Launch Conductor Scott Barney, with concurrence of ULA Launch Director Lou Mangieri has authorized cryogenic tanking operations to begin as the countdown continues this morning. The Delta IV Heavy rocket will be loaded with approximately 465,000 gallons of liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen over the next couple of hours.
-
0246 UTC (10:46 p.m. EDT) -- Countdown resumes
This is Delta Launch Control at T-minus 4 hours, 15 minutes and counting. The next phase of today’s launch countdown has been initiated on schedule as we continue to target 3:31 a.m. EDT (0731 UTC) for liftoff of the United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket and the Parker Solar Probe for NASA.
Preparatory steps for fueling are being kicked off, including liquid hydrogen storage tank pressurization and charging the helium bottles on the three common booster cores and second stage.
-
NASA photo from today’s rollback
-
0311 UTC (11:11 p.m. EDT) – Chilldown begins
A "go" has been given to start the cold gas chilldown conditioning of the liquid hydrogen systems on the three common booster cores. This is the precursor step before filling the stages with propellant.
The three common booster cores will be loaded with 330,000 gallons of super-cold liquid hydrogen that is chilled to minus-423 degrees Fahrenheit. The liquid hydrogen, along with the liquid oxygen to be loaded shortly as well, will be consumed by the three RS-68A main engines during the first minutes of the launch to exit Earth’s atmosphere.
The port and starboard boosters will fire at full throttle for nearly four minutes and then separate. The center booster burns at partial thrust for most of that time in a fuel-conservation mode until the outer cores jettison, then its RS-68A engine revs up to full throttle for another minute-and-a-half of propulsion before staging.
-
0340 UTC (11:40 p.m. EDT) – CBC LH2 loading begins
This is Delta Launch Control at T-minus 3 hours, 5 minutes and counting. The cold gas chilldown conditioning of the common booster cores’ liquid hydrogen system has been accomplished, clearing the way to begin propellant loading in "slow-fill" mode. That will transition to "fast-fill" after a small portion of the tanks are loaded.
0342 UTC (11:42 p.m. EDT)
The fueling specialist in the launch control room confirms that liquid hydrogen is flowing into the Delta IV Heavy rocket at the Space Launch Complex 37 pad.
-
0347 UTC (11:47 p.m. EDT) – CBC LOX chilldown
This is Delta Launch Control at T-minus 3 hours, 14 minutes and counting. The thermal condition process, known as chilldown, has started for the liquid oxygen systems on Delta IV Heavy rocket's three common booster cores. This preps the tanks and plumbing to guard against shock when the super-cold oxidizer begins flowing into the rocket stages.
-
0351 UTC (11:51 p.m. EDT)
The common booster cores liquid hydrogen loading operation is switching from "slow-fill" to "fast-fill" mode as planned.
The cryogenics are fed to the three CBCs via umbilicals from the tail service masts on the launch table.
-
0354 UTC (11:54 p.m. EDT) – CBC LOX loading begins
This is Delta Launch Control at T-minus 3 hours, 6 minutes and counting. The liquid oxygen chilldown is complete for the three booster cores, allowing 120,000 gallons of super-cold LOX to begin transferring into the rocket for today’s launch.
-
0357 UTC (11:57 p.m. EDT) – DCSS LH2 chilldown
The “go” has been given to start the chilldown conditioning of the Delta Cryogenic Second Stage liquid hydrogen system in preparation for filling that tank.
-
0409 UTC (12:09 a.m. EDT)
The common booster core liquid oxygen tanking operation is switching from "slow-fill" to "fast-fill" mode. The LOX is chilled to minus-298 degrees F.
Meanwhile, the common booster core liquid hydrogen level has reached 40 percent.
-
0414 UTC (12:14 a.m. EDT) – DCSS LOX chilldown
This is Delta Launch Control. Approval has been given to the operators at the fueling console here in the Delta operations Center to begin the second stage liquid oxygen chilldown procedures.
-
0421 UTC (12:21 a.m. EDT) – DCSS LH2 loading begins
The next step in fuel operations is getting underway by loading 10,000 gallons of liquid hydrogen into the Delta Cryogenic Second Stage following completion of that system’s chilldown.
The stage receives its fuel from the launch pad’s middle swing arm that extends from the Fixed Umbilical Tower to the Delta IV Heavy rocket.
-
0424 UTC (12:24 a.m. EDT) – DCSS LH2 loading begins
The next step in fuel operations is getting underway by loading 10,000 gallons of liquid hydrogen into the Delta Cryogenic Second Stage following completion of that system’s chilldown.
The stage receives its fuel from the launch pad’s middle swing arm that extends from the Fixed Umbilical Tower to the Delta IV Heavy rocket.
This is the last of the rocket's cryogenic tanks to be filled in today's countdown.
-
0443 UTC (12:43 a.m. EDT)
This is Delta Launch Control at T-minus 2 hour, 18 minutes and counting. We have finished the “fast-fill” loading mode for the three common booster core liquid hydrogen tanks, and the post-fueling checks and valve tests are underway before topping commences.
-
0448 UTC (12:48 a.m. EDT)
Liquid oxygen loading to the three common booster cores has finished. Topping will be completed shortly.
-
0459 UTC (12:59 a.m. EDT)
The weather forecast has improved to 80 percent favorable for launch today.
-
0505 UTC (1:05 a.m. EDT)
The Delta Cryogenic Second Stage has been loaded with its liquid hydrogen fuel supply. The propellant, along with liquid oxygen that continues to be filled, will be consumed by the stage’s RL10B-2 engine during two burns that will accelerate Parker Solar Probe into its initial parking orbit, then boost the craft on the intermediate escape trajectory today.
-
LOX 2 reports that DCSS LOX loading is complete and LC has given approval to begin the Vent/Relief (VR) valve tests.
-
LOX 1/FUEL 1 reports that all three CBCs have been completely loaded and are proceeding with the standard thermal insulation inspections.
-
MEQ has been given permission to switch the swing arm system to Launch Mode. RC is now conducting the FTS Open Loop Tests. FUEL 2 has reported that the DCSS nozzle slew tests are now in work.
-
FUEL 2 just reported that the DCSS nozzle slew tests have been completed.
-
LOX 1 reported that the 5 minute conditioning and topping is complete.
-
FTS reported that the FTS Open Loop Tests are complete.
-
FUEL 1 reports that CBC conditioning is complete and topping is active.
-
MEQ reports that the swing arm system is in Launch Mode and Functional Test is starting. PNE reports that the second stage helium bottle decay test are in work.
-
FLIGHT CONTROL has been given permission to start the flight control system final preps.
-
Launch of Delta IV Heavy - Parker Sun Probe in on track. No Issue is reported. Weather forecast has improved to 80% favorable for the launch. Countdown is running smoothly.
---countdown/create_countdown_action.php?event=Delta+IV+Heavy+-+Parker+Solar+Proble+Launch+Mission&month=8&day=12&year=2018&hour=7&minute=31&second=0
-
Swing arm Functional Test is complete. RS-68 Spin Start preps are now beginning.
-
PNE reports a good second stage helium bottle decay test.
-
CBC nozzle slew tests are complete. This completes the TVC checks.
-
3rd stage power up and IMU alignment is now being worked.
-
CBC RS-68A Spin Start Pressurization is complete and the CBC helium bottles are at flight pressure.
-
3rd stage has been powered up. The IMU is now being aligned and the CBC thermal insulation inspections were just reported complete with no issues.
-
DCSS LOX topping and 30 minute condition is complete as is it for the LH2.
-
LC just reported on the net that they're tracking no issues and working to the clock.
-
Flight control preps are complete.
-
T-15 minutes.
-
CBC Fill&Drain valve cycle tests are now being conducted.
-
3rd stage ignition now being enabled.
-
DCSS Fill&Drain valve cycle tests now being executed.
-
NASA coverage starting in five minutes.
-
T-4 minutes and holding.
-
L-30 minutes.
-
NASA coverage has begun.
-
Launch at 3:31 am local.
-
The final steering profile has been confirmed good and loaded into the onboard flight computer.
-
Talking about scrub from gaseous helium bottles. Placed in new limits for the port and starboard booster cores. Minor repairs required in TPS.
-
To avoid another breach of the red line limits on the gaseous helium bottles, they have raised the limit, per NASA LSP.
-
Weather is 95% go. Temperature is 25.6 C.
-
L-25 minutes.
-
Talking about what PSP will do.
-
L-20 minutes.
-
Interview with NASA Senior Physicist talking about measurement of solar particles and corona temperature.
-
L-20 minutes.
-
radar picture is nice and quiet
-
Launch centres.
-
No COLA cutouts for today's launch attempt.
-
hold ?
-
hold ?
Pre-planned. Right now at T-4 minutes holding.
-
L-15 minutes. Interview with Science Mission Directorate Associate Administrator.
-
L-14 minutes.
-
L-12 minutes. Showing launch preparation video.
-
L-10 minutes.
-
L-10 minutes.
-
LC now conducting the standard pre-terminal count briefing.
-
L-9 minutes. NASA feed seems to be about 50 seconds behind for me.
-
All steps complete prior to status check at L-7 minutes.
-
L-8 minutes. Showing launch animation.
-
L-7 minutes.
-
Status check - All GO!
-
L-6 minutes. Performing poll.
-
MEQ pulling the swing arm lock pins.
-
All go!
-
Transferring spacecraft to internal power.
-
Poll is go. Proceeding with the count.
L-5 minutes.
-
Swing arm lock pins have been pulled. L-5 minutes and 3rd being switched to internal power.
-
T-4 minutes and counting, ground pyros enabled.
-
DCSS LOX secured and at flight level.
-
T-4 minutes and counting.
-
T-3 minutes.
-
FTS on internal power.
-
CBC LOX secured and at flight level. Spacecraft verified on internal power.
-
T-3 minutes. Securing LOX and LH2.
-
T-2 minutes.
-
Launch sequencer started.
-
FCS launch enabled.
-
CBC LH2 at flight level.
-
T-1 minute.
-
T-2 minutes. Launch sequencer start.
-
Engine start box GO. Range GO.
-
DCSS LH2 at flight level.
-
GO Delta, GO PSP.
-
T-1 minute. Range green.
-
LIFT-OFF!
-
TOWER CLEAR!
-
RS-68A chamber pressures look good.
-
Center CBC going to the Partial Thrust Mode.
-
Liftoff!
-
Vehicle trajectory looking good.
-
LAUNCH!!
-
Max Q passed.
-
All CBCs look good.
-
T+1 minute.
-
ACS on DCSS being primed for use.
-
Delta IV now in Closed-Loop Guidance mode.
-
T+2 minutes.
-
The CBCs performing as expected.
-
T+3 minutes.
-
Booster separation.
-
Core now back into Full Thrust Mode.
-
DCSS LOX boost-phase chill down has begun.
-
T+4 minutes. Booster jettison.
-
Core MECO and separation.
-
T+5 minutes.
-
Nozzle have deployed and the RL-10 has been ignited for the first burn.
-
Fairing jettison.
-
RL-10 chamber pressure looks good and seeing good performance on the RCS.
-
Core separation.
T+6 minutes. Second stage ignition.
-
(On Review) "Very close to nominal performance on the booster" - ULA loop.
-
Fairing separation.
T+7 minutes.
-
T+8 minutes.
-
The DCSS is performing very well with everything being stable.
-
T+9 minutes.
-
MECO-1!
-
T+10 minutes.
-
MECO.
T+11 minutes.
-
T+12 minutes.
Upcoming events.
00:22:25.4 Second Main Engine Start (MES-2)
00:36:38.9 Second Main Engine Cutoff (MECO-2)
00:37:09.0 Second Stage Separation
00:37:29.0 Third Stage Ignition
00:38:58.0 Third Stage Burnout
00:43:18.0 Parker Solar Probe Separation
-
(On Review) "Very close to nominal performance on the booster" - ULA loop.
Very close to nominal is a strange phrase. Wouldn’t that mean “not nominal”
-
The DCSS first burn performance looks pretty good according to data. Everything agreeing very closely with preflight predictions.
-
T+14 minutes.
Perigee 172.1 km
Apogee 179.7 km
-
Interview with Dr. Parker.
-
(On Review) "Very close to nominal performance on the booster" - ULA loop.
Very close to nominal is a strange phrase. Wouldn’t that mean “not nominal”
It sounds like the intended meaning was "minimum deviation from the design specification," but yeah, it did sound like it could mean "just outside of normal range."
-
(On Review) "Very close to nominal performance on the booster" - ULA loop.
Very close to nominal is a strange phrase. Wouldn’t that mean “not nominal”
I'm thinking the same. It could mean, slightly sub-nominal, but still well within margin. The orbital parameters at shutdown seemed a little low (95x95 miles), but not problematically so.
-
NASA Edge interview.
-
T+20 minutes. Interview with APL Project Scientist. Talking about Venus flybys.
-
T+22 minutes. Second ignition in 25 seconds.
-
Pre-start on the RL-10.
-
MES-2! Chamber pressure looking good.
-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8ABCfetZdo
-
Second ignition! A bit later than the published timeline.
-
https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/prepping-to-launch-for-the-sun
Prepping to Launch for the Sun
NASA’s Parker Solar Probe has cleared the final procedures in the clean room before its move to the launch pad, where it will be integrated onto its launch vehicle, a United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy. This is an historic mission that will revolutionize our understanding of the Sun, where changing conditions can propagate out into the solar system, affecting Earth and other worlds. Parker Solar Probe will travel through the Sun’s atmosphere, closer to the surface than any spacecraft before it, facing brutal heat and radiation conditions — and ultimately providing humanity with the closest-ever observations of a star.
Seen here inside one half of its 62.7-foot tall fairing, the Parker Solar Probe was encapsulated on July 16, 2018, in preparation for the move from Astrotech Space Operations in Titusville, Florida, to Space Launch Complex 37 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, where it will be integrated onto its launch vehicle for its launch that is targeted for August 11, 2018.
Image Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins APL/Ed Whitman
Last Updated: July 31, 2018
Editor: Yvette Smith
May be a silly question but I don't see any acoustic protection like I've see with fabric protection or Helmoltz resonators. Did this mission not need it? is it Delta v Atlas thing?
-
NASA PA needs to actually show the launch events...
-
Everything remaining very stable right now.
-
Approx. 11 minutes remaining in the burn.
-
T+25 minutes.
Another NASA Edge interview. Talking about technologies developed for PSP.
-
RL-10 chamber pressure holding in very nicely along with the tank pressures.
-
Interview with Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems Project Manager.
-
T+30 minutes.
-
With 7 minutes remaining in the burn continuing to see good values for the RL-10, propellant tanks and the ACS bottle.
-
5 minutes remaining in the burn. Body rates are as expected for this phase of the burn.
-
T+33 minutes 3 seconds. Four minutes and 20 seconds left in burn.
-
Vehicle is past Earth eascape velocity.
-
3 minutes remaining in the burn. All systems look good.
-
T+35 minutes.
-
One minute to MECO-2.
-
T+37 minutes. 40 seconds to cutoff.
-
MECO-2!
-
Drop out in 3rd stage telemetry. AOS of 3rd stage telemetry.
-
3rd stage ignition.
-
Cutoff!
Separation!
-
Third stage ignition!
-
Still seeing some 3rd stage telemetry drop outs.
-
Looking for data to confirm burn out and turn to spacecraft separation attitude.
-
Seeing telemetry dropouts. Waiting on confirmation of burnout.
-
Should be separating in about a minute. Still no telemetry.
-
Still seeing telemetry dropouts.
-
Expecting spacecraft separation in one minute.
-
3rd stage has recorded ground station data. Standing by for play back of that data.
-
Ground station getting data, but not real time.
-
Spacecraft separation should have occurred in the last minute.
-
Applause!
-
SPACECRAFT SEPARATION!
-
S/C sep confirmed
-
Confirmation of spacecraft separation.
-
The change of expressions here!
-
Getting good data.
-
Interview with Lead Scientist.
-
Can we breathe now? That was a little tense at the end.
-
I'd guess they want to review the 3rd stage telemetry to make sure everything went well before making anything official.
-
Using IMAX projectors to simulate the Sun in testing the instruments.
-
Heat shield video.
-
Solar array deploy should be happening soon.
-
Solar arrays fully extended.
-
recap
Delta IV Heavy launches NASA’s Parker Solar Probe
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=socbr3DbxUA
Parker Solar Probe separation
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7jIl1DHfus
edit: Parker Solar Probe - orbit and timeline
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMNQeCWT09A
-
Parker Solar Probe Launch Manager.
-
Power positive.
-
Will NASA do a post flight analysis of the dropout???
-
Jim Bridenstine announces a successful launch per twitter:
Parker #SolarProbe successfully launched and is on its way to the Sun! I’m grateful to our many partners who made today’s launch a success! Thank you to @ToryBruno, @ULAlaunch, @NASAGoddard, @NASAKennedy, @NASA_LSP and countless others for your hard work.
https://twitter.com/JimBridenstine/status/1028560374482788353
-
Wrapping up coverage.
-
Odd to me that they never mentioned on NASA TV whether the third stage did what it was supposed to do.
- Ed Kyle
-
Launch replay.
End of coverage.
Congratulations to ULA, Northrop Grumman, NASA and APL for the successful launch!
-
I miss the old days when NASA TV would actually show you launch replays from every camera view before the conclusion of its coverage.
-
I miss the old days when NASA TV would actually show you launch replays from every camera view before the conclusion of its coverage.
NASA usually does launch replays for the SpaceX CRS missions.
-
Odd to me that they never mentioned on NASA TV whether the third stage did what it was supposed to do.
- Ed Kyle
Yeah, whether they reached the target velocity or not is the big open question still. It probably won't produce TLE's, so it will be just a matter of waiting.
-
What was the acceleration rate during the third stage burn, especially approaching burnout? Considering the velocity gain, the G rate must have been severe.
-
Some NASA launch photos
-
I like how in the last picture zoomed in you can see the separate rocket trails.
Seems everything went great.
-
Brilliant work from Steven and everyone else (a good number of you!) who chipped in, with the coverage on here!
ARTICLE (updated): https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2018/08/parker-solar-probe-unlock-mysteries-suns-corona/ … - by @ChrisG_NSF (Chris Gebhardt) - with new photos from @TheFavoritist (Brady Kenniston) and @NASA_Nerd (Nathan Baker) for NSF. Raw photo dumps uploaded to L2 for me to pick some out for the article.
-
The DSN network at Canberra shows two antennas dedicated to SPP but no signal being received
https://eyes.nasa.gov/dsn/dsn.html
-
How accurate is the information in the https://eyes.nasa.gov/dsn/dsn.html Deep Space Network Now website? Haven't seen SPP show any data yet. But they announced they had received confirmation of deployment of the solar panels and being power positive. ???
-
Wouldn't periodic dropouts suggest a tumbling action while a longer almost sustained dropout suggest off course???
Guess we will have to wait for NASA to give us an update.
-
Wouldn't periodic dropouts suggest a tumbling action while a longer almost sustained dropout suggest off course???
Guess we will have to wait for NASA to give us an update.
or that the receiving station was listening through the exhaust plume...
-
https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-ula-launch-parker-solar-probe-on-historic-journey-to-touch-sun
Roughly the size of a small car, the spacecraft lifted off at 3:31 a.m. EDT on a United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket from Space Launch Complex-37 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. At 5:33 a.m., the mission operations manager reported that the spacecraft was healthy and operating normally.
-
Now it’s official ;)
129
https://twitter.com/torybruno/status/1028588239165300736
-
Some NASA Kennedy photos of Dr Parker watching the launch
-
Delta IV-H launch photos often look like oil paintings
You know that camera I set 150’ away from the rocket? Well... 🤘🏻🤩🤘🏻 What do you think?? @Teslarati @ulalaunch @NASA @NASAGoddard @MiopsTrigger
https://twitter.com/_tomcross_/status/1028599075002896384
-
Both of these cameras were entirely wrapped in plastic grocery bags — that was until #DeltaIVHeavy launched #ParkerSolarProbe this morning. At just 150 feet away, the bags heated up a bit, and turned from flexible, noisy plastic, to baked, solid, hard plastic.
https://twitter.com/johnkrausphotos/status/1028597763011997696
Edit to add: fourth photo, taken from
https://twitter.com/johnkrausphotos/status/1028710734153310208
-
Looks like those cameras needed a Parker-style carbon heatshield! ;)
-
Congrats to NASA, NG, ULA, Astrotech (Jim) and Dr. Parker on a great mission thus far and continued success! Thanks to Steven, Dave and all others on team NSF for the great coverage! :) Love that Delta IV-H 8)
Excellent article Chris G!
-
“Well, I’m just waiting for the data now… Wow, here we go,” said Eugene Parker, the scientist for whom the Parker Solar Probe is named, said in a post-launch interview on NASa TV.
https://twitter.com/jeff_foust/status/1028548788791726080
Edit to add:
Nothing compares to watching a rocket launch live, says Dr. Eugene N. Parker who watched his first rocket launch this morning as his namesake spacecraft, #ParkerSolarProbe, launched to the Sun. Watch: pscp.tv/w/1LyGBQjABdbKN
https://twitter.com/nasa/status/1028550218201985026
-
SPP is talking to the DSN via Madrid
-
August 12, 2018
RELEASE 18-072
NASA, ULA Launch Parker Solar Probe on Historic Journey to Touch Sun
Hours before the rise of the very star it will study, NASA’s Parker Solar Probe launched from Florida Sunday to begin its journey to the Sun, where it will undertake a landmark mission. The spacecraft will transmit its first science observations in December, beginning a revolution in our understanding of the star that makes life on Earth possible.
Roughly the size of a small car, the spacecraft lifted off at 3:31 a.m. EDT on a United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket from Space Launch Complex-37 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. At 5:33 a.m., the mission operations manager reported that the spacecraft was healthy and operating normally.
The mission’s findings will help researchers improve their forecasts of space weather events, which have the potential to damage satellites and harm astronauts on orbit, disrupt radio communications and, at their most severe, overwhelm power grids.
“This mission truly marks humanity’s first visit to a star that will have implications not just here on Earth, but how we better understand our universe,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate. “We’ve accomplished something that decades ago, lived solely in the realm of science fiction.”
During the first week of its journey, the spacecraft will deploy its high-gain antenna and magnetometer boom. It also will perform the first of a two-part deployment of its electric field antennas. Instrument testing will begin in early September and last approximately four weeks, after which Parker Solar Probe can begin science operations.
“Today’s launch was the culmination of six decades of scientific study and millions of hours of effort,” said project manager Andy Driesman, of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland. “Now, Parker Solar Probe is operating normally and on its way to begin a seven-year mission of extreme science.”
Over the next two months, Parker Solar Probe will fly towards Venus, performing its first Venus gravity assist in early October – a maneuver a bit like a handbrake turn – that whips the spacecraft around the planet, using Venus’s gravity to trim the spacecraft’s orbit tighter around the Sun. This first flyby will place Parker Solar Probe in position in early November to fly as close as 15 million miles from the Sun – within the blazing solar atmosphere, known as the corona – closer than anything made by humanity has ever gone before.
Throughout its seven-year mission, Parker Solar Probe will make six more Venus flybys and 24 total passes by the Sun, journeying steadily closer to the Sun until it makes its closest approach at 3.8 million miles. At this point, the probe will be moving at roughly 430,000 miles per hour, setting the record for the fastest-moving object made by humanity.
Parker Solar Probe will set its sights on the corona to solve long-standing, foundational mysteries of our Sun. What is the secret of the scorching corona, which is more than 300 times hotter than the Sun’s surface, thousands of miles below? What drives the supersonic solar wind – the constant stream of solar material that blows through the entire solar system? And finally, what accelerates solar energetic particles, which can reach speeds up to more than half the speed of light as they rocket away from the Sun?
Scientists have sought these answers for more than 60 years, but the investigation requires sending a probe right through the unrelenting heat of the corona. Today, this is finally possible with cutting-edge thermal engineering advances that can protect the mission on its daring journey.
“Exploring the Sun’s corona with a spacecraft has been one of the hardest challenges for space exploration,” said Nicola Fox, project scientist at APL. “We’re finally going to be able to answer questions about the corona and solar wind raised by Gene Parker in 1958 – using a spacecraft that bears his name – and I can’t wait to find out what discoveries we make. The science will be remarkable.”
Parker Solar Probe carries four instrument suites designed to study magnetic fields, plasma and energetic particles, and capture images of the solar wind. The University of California, Berkeley, U.S. Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, and Princeton University in New Jersey lead these investigations.
Parker Solar Probe is part of NASA’s Living with a Star program to explore aspects of the Sun-Earth system that directly affect life and society. The Living with a Star program is managed by the agency’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. APL designed and built, and operates the spacecraft.
The mission is named for Eugene Parker, the physicist who first theorized the existence of the solar wind in 1958. It’s the first NASA mission to be named for a living researcher.
A plaque dedicating the mission to Parker was attached to the spacecraft in May. It includes a quote from the renowned physicist – “Let’s see what lies ahead.” It also holds a memory card containing more than 1.1 million names submitted by the public to travel with the spacecraft to the Sun.
For more information on Parker Solar Probe, go to:
https://www.nasa.gov/solarprobe
-
https://youtu.be/1lvk0tCFllY
-
Wow
Delta 4-Heavy and a Star third stage give NASA's Parker Solar Probe a 43,000 mph departure from Earth on the world's first ever mission to "touch the sun". The mammoth vehicle departed the Earth at 3:31am EDT August 12 and released the spacecraft at record speed 43 minutes later.
https://twitter.com/launchphoto/status/1028643230223683584
When this probe arrives at just over 3 million mi from the sun in 2024, having made 7 flybys of Venus to gain speed, it will be travelling 10x faster: an unbelievable 430,000 mph, setting a new record for the fastest man-made object in history. That is 120 m per sec! (ULA photos)
https://twitter.com/launchphoto/status/1028643484247498753
Edit to add: 3 more photos from
https://twitter.com/launchphoto/status/1028713858289082370
https://twitter.com/launchphoto/status/1028713880917344259
https://twitter.com/launchphoto/status/1028713905529544706
-
Solar Arrays Deploy on NASA’s Parker Solar Probe
Parker Solar Probe’s solar arrays have deployed. They will generate the electricity needed for the spacecraft during its mission. The spacecraft is in good health and operating on its own. Parker Solar Probe has begun its mission to “touch” the Sun.
-
NASA’s Parker Solar Probe Begins Journey to the Sun
NASA’s Parker Solar Probe is on its way for a rendezvous with the Sun. A United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket, carrying the spacecraft, lifted off at 3:31 a.m. EDT, from Space Launch Complex 37 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, its engines blazing golden in the clear night sky during ascent.
“It was a very quiet launch countdown, it went off like clockwork,” said Omar Baez, NASA Launch Director. “Parker Solar Probe has been one of our most challenging missions to date. I’m very proud of the team that worked to make this happen. We at NASA and the Launch Services Program are thrilled to be part of this mission.”
About four minutes into flight, a series of key events occurred. The Delta IV port and starboard booster engines shut down and separated, the main core booster engine cut off and then separated from the second stage. After second stage engine ignition, the payload fairing was jettisoned. After second stage main engine cutoff and separation, the Parker Solar Probe separated from the third stage, provided by Northrup Grumman. Shortly afterward, mission managers confirmed that the spacecraft’s solar arrays successfully deployed and the spacecraft was operating on its own power.
Parker Solar Probe Mission Patch.During its mission to “touch” the Sun, Parker Solar Probe will use gravity assists from Venus seven times over nearly seven years to gradually bring its orbit closer to the Sun. It will fly directly through the Sun’s atmosphere, as close as 3.8 million miles from its surface, closer to the surface than any spacecraft before it. The spacecraft will hurtle around the Sun at speeds up to 430,000 miles per hour. That’s 15 times faster than a speeding bullet.
Parker Solar Probe will revolutionize our understanding of the Sun’s corona. Facing brutal heat and radiation, the spacecraft will fly close enough to watch the solar wind speed up from subsonic to supersonic, and fly through the birthplace of the highest-energy solar particles. Parker Solar Probe and its instruments will be protected from the Sun’s heat by a 4.5-inch-thick, carbon-carbon composite heat shield. The shield’s front surface will be able to withstand temperatures outside the spacecraft up to 2,500 degree Fahrenheit. While the inside, or back surface of the shield will withstand temperatures up to 650 degrees Fahrenheit.
For more than 60 years, scientist have wondered how energy and heat move through the solar corona and what accelerates the solar wind as well as solar energetic particles. Now, with the help of cutting-edge thermal technology that can protect the mission on its dangerous journey, the spacecraft’s four instrument suites will study magnetic fields, plasma and energetic particles, and image the solar wind.
In 2017, the mission was renamed for Eugene Parker, the S Chandrasekhar Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus, Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics at the University of Chicago. In the 1950s, Parker, a solar astrophysicist, proposed a number of concepts about how stars–including our Sun–give off energy. He called this cascade of energy the solar wind, and he described an entire complex system of plasmas, magnetic fields, and energetic particles that make up this phenomenon. Parker also theorized an explanation for the superheated solar atmosphere, the corona, which is–contrary to what was expected by physics laws–hotter than the surface of the Sun itself. This is the first NASA mission that has been named for a living individual.
Parker Solar Probe is part of NASA’s Living With a Star program to explore aspects of the Sun-Earth system that directly affect life and society. The Living With a Star flight program is managed by the agency’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland, manages the mission for NASA. APL designed and built the spacecraft and also will operate it.
Parker Solar Probe is the fourth mission for NASA’s Launch Services Program (LSP) this year. LSP is responsible for launch service acquisition, integration, analysis and launch management for each mission.
-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9d8raqfq6oQ
-
When they said it’ll be going fast ...
Parker Solar Probe and the third stage have now passed the orbit of the Moon.
https://twitter.com/planet4589/status/1028699688889933824
-
I don't think any of my photos are all that great, but I'm nonetheless happy to contribute them.
NASA Social got to be at section J of the NASA Causeway:
https://imgur.com/gallery/y3nwjF7
-
I don't think any of my photos are all that great, but I'm nonetheless happy to contribute them.
NASA Social got to be at section J of the NASA Causeway:
https://imgur.com/gallery/y3nwjF7
The fact that you photographed *everything* is fantastic just by itself, Lupi. A lot of views of things we don't normally get to see. And there are some great shots in there as well.
-
The fact that you photographed *everything* is fantastic just by itself, Lupi. A lot of views of things we don't normally get to see. And there are some great shots in there as well.
That is true! Not everyone gets to have their bus stranded inside Complex 39b!
There are two stories I'm gonna smile about for ages after.
The bus getting stuck on pad 39b, and Tory Bruno's spontaneous visit causing my friend (WaywardPlane on twitter) to freak out.
The launch was just the cherry on top, really.
I asked the last question on the NASA TV Briefing (the one relating to Junocam), and so much great stuff happened. It was really a wonderful time.
Even if i spent more time paying attention to the crawlerway rocks than the crawler itself.
(In my defense, I've seen the crawler a lot. It was cool seeing what it did to the rocks. It completely shatters them sometimes! One shard was even so jagged it drew blood while i was holding it!)
-
Wouldn't periodic dropouts suggest a tumbling action while a longer almost sustained dropout suggest off course???
Guess we will have to wait for NASA to give us an update.
or that the receiving station was listening through the exhaust plume...
Periodic dropouts CAN suggest tumbling, but in this case, don't. The TM we were getting between dropouts showed the SV was stable. The problem, in all likelihood, lies with the ground stations assigned to acquire the SV and retransmit that data to us. As it is, we'll probably have to wait for the recorded data to make its way to our TM lab.
The plume effects are allowed for when the link budget is calculated pre-launch. It doesn't last very long, and the dropouts - or complete lack of data for some long stretches - can't be blamed on that, entirely.
-
43592 PARKER SOLAR PROBE 2018-065A PAYLOAD
43593 DELTA 4 R/B (2ND STAGE) 2018-065B ROCKET BODY
43594 DELTA 4 R/B (3RD STAGE) 2018-065C ROCKET BODY
-
Got to see this mornings launch of Delta 4 Heavy and PSP. What an amazing experience!!
-
It's not quite as close as Lupi was, but I was able to get a few shots of launch last night as well. https://dunder.smugmug.com/Rocketry/Parker-Solar-Probe/
First time seeing a Heavy in person. A little more moonlight would have been nice, but it was still an amazing experience.
-
NASA's Parker Solar Probe Launch - UP CLOSE VIEWS
AmericaSpace
Published on Aug 12, 2018
https://youtu.be/0NEFEEvVP1Y?t=001
https://youtu.be/0NEFEEvVP1Y
-
https://twitter.com/launchphoto/status/1028643230223683584
... an unbelievable 430,000 mph, setting a new record for the fastest man-made object in history. That is 120 m per sec!
I thought 120m/s sounded a bit slow- it should read 120 miles per second- which equates to 190,000 m/s!
-
Parker Solar Probe now over 1 million km from the Earth
https://twitter.com/planet4589/status/1028891709705465856
-
knows how velocity the PSP was after separation from STAR 48BV?
To the Earth
To the Sun
-
Great tracking footage at 3:00 into the video (you can see the center core throttling down at 3:10) as well as a nice shot of booster jettison at 6:30:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljsHrHcc9Nk
-
This is from https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/horizons.cgi#results
Target body name: Parker Solar Probe (spacecraft) (-96) {source: parker_bet-nominal-sep-l}
Center body name: Earth (399) {source: DE431mx}
Center-site name: BODY CENTER
2458342.875000000 = A.D. 2018-Aug-12 09:00:00.0000 TDB
X =-2.185059022544468E-04 Y =-1.821796323229520E-04 Z =-7.662292440068233E-05
VX=-4.894914159366997E-03 VY=-5.640270493403361E-03 VZ=-1.056291601684662E-03
LT= 1.701626101234993E-06 RG= 2.946274262472327E-04 RR= 7.392543928527733E-03
Target body name: Parker Solar Probe (spacecraft) (-96) {source: parker_bet-nominal-sep-l}
Center body name: Solar System Barycenter (0) {source: DE431mx}
Center-site name: BODY CENTER
2458342.875000000 = A.D. 2018-Aug-12 09:00:00.0000 TDB
X = 7.691274706445662E-01 Y =-6.530667685835918E-01 Z =-1.369661172898434E-04
VX= 6.025794859582674E-03 VY= 7.360914745893766E-03 VZ=-1.057343821604781E-03
LT= 5.827418687218205E-03 RG= 1.008986268037400E+00 RR=-1.708840180786533E-04
Orbital Elements
Target body name: Parker Solar Probe (spacecraft) (-96) {source: parker_bet-nominal-sep-l}
Center body name: Solar System Barycenter (0) {source: DE431mx}
Center-site name: BODY CENTER
2458342.875000000 = A.D. 2018-Aug-12 09:00:00.0000 TDB
EC= 6.881692314429722E-01 QR= 1.863887166962564E-01 IN= 6.343532577974535E+00
OM= 1.395954241084345E+02 W = 3.596067553360370E+02 Tp= 2458426.360704266001
N = 2.134245014815735E+00 MA= 1.818210518624044E+02 TA= 1.804636377021104E+02
A = 5.977239435311509E-01 AD= 1.009059170366045E+00 PR= 1.686779153756540E+02
Consequently 2018-Aug-12 09:00:
Earth v=13,06 km/s
Sun v=16,57 km/s
-
Drop the adjective "wonderful" and you'll capture my feelings about this "monster"! This is my fourth mission of the year as prime NASA Electrical, and this "monster" is putting the finishing touches on wearing me down.
And I've still got Pegasus/ICON to finish off! I'm so glad I'll have all of next year to rest up!
Thinking of Jim, have you been working this mission?
Worked yesterday
Hey Jim and Kim,
out of interest, what did you do for this mission specifically? Its always very interesting to hear peoples stories about their hands-on work, would be interested to know some details on what you did. Anyone else here worked that mission? Would be interested in your stories as well! :)
-
Hey Jim and Kim,
out of interest, what did you do for this mission specifically? Its always very interesting to hear peoples stories about their hands-on work, would be interested to know some details on what you did. Anyone else here worked that mission? Would be interested in your stories as well! :)
I served as NASA primary electrical systems engineer. That means I monitored electrical assembly of the Delta stages at the factory. That includes cable harness fabrication, test and installation;as well as the electrical/electronic components that make up the Flight Termination System, the GPS Tracking System and the Ordnance Control System. Once at the launch site, I participated in vehicle checkout and integrated testing down to T-0. After launch, I have to do an in-depth review of the performance of my systems to verify that they performed correctly in flight.
I was also responsible for tracking the installation and test of electrical systems and harnesses installed on the third stage.
We also have a NASA Avionics engineer, Flight Controls engineer, and Instrumentation engineer that make up the rest of the Electrical/Avionics team assigned to any particular mission. In the case of PSP, we also had a third stage avionics/flight controls team assigned specifically to that stage.
-
It's not quite as close as Lupi was, but I was able to get a few shots of launch last night as well. https://dunder.smugmug.com/Rocketry/Parker-Solar-Probe/
First time seeing a Heavy in person. A little more moonlight would have been nice, but it was still an amazing experience.
Your angle was about the same as mine, where did you end up? I was at like... the furthest West part of the NASA Causeway.
I like the brush in the foreground on yours, it really frames it well!
-
[email protected]
Sierra Nevada Corporation Provides Hardware for Mission to the Sun
NASA’s Parker Solar Probe Spacecraft Begins Record-Breaking Journey
SPARKS, Nev., August 09, 2018 –
As NASA’s Parker Solar Probe spacecraft begins its historic journey toward the sun, it is equipped with components supplied by Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) that will perform mission-critical functions. The components were provided from both SNC’s Louisville, Colorado and Durham, North Carolina production facilities to the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory for the spacecraft.
“This mission is pushing the boundaries of spacecraft engineering to deliver much needed answers,” said Matt Johnson, vice president of programs for SNC’s Space Systems business area. “Space weather is causing tangible negative effects on satellites today, and we’re proud to be part of a mission that will help us understand the origin.”
The Parker Solar Probe will travel seven times closer to the sun than any previous mission. The mission aims to help scientists better understand solar wind, flares and energy particles, which creates ‘space weather’ throughout the solar system. Space weather can have negative impacts on satellites, harm humans in space and affect power systems and communications on Earth. Launched August 12 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Parker Solar Probe will travel up to 430,000 mph and its heat shield will reach temperatures of 2,500°F.
SNC Parts Provided
* Water Coolant Pump Motors:
* Circulate a gallon of water through tubes, effectively cooling the solar arrays
* Passive thermal louvers:
* Radiate excess heat without drawing power away from critical systems
* Solar Array Drive Actuators
* Tuck and deploy solar arrays around the 4.5-inch composite heat shield
* Antenna Gimbal Actuator
* Move and point the communications antenna back to Earth with extreme precision
* Electronic control unit
* Provides smooth control for the solar array drive and antenna gimbal actuators
-
Parker Solar Probe flew over Hiil sphere 0.01 AU 2018-Aug-13 17:31,
probe speed
Earth 12.35 km / s
Sun 17.26 km / s
ellipse parameters
Aphelium 1.009AU
Perihelium 0.205 AU
I note that the planned 1st perihelium after gravity braking at Venus should be 0.166 AU
The Helios probe was the nearest 0.29032 AU
-
Just for fun...
Way back in 1965, International Rescue (Thunderbirds) saved Sun Probe, a manned Parker Solar Probe like mission to retrieve matter from a solar prominence, just before it plunged into the sun due to failed retros.
Reference: http://thunderbirds.wikia.com/wiki/Sun_Probe
Photos (fair use claimed):
1) Sun Probe prior to launch at Cape Canaveral
2) Sun Probe en route to the sun
3) The probe is fired
Those were the days my friends...
-
Rocket Cam footage from the core stage through core shutdown and separation. You can really see the particles of the ablative engines sparkling away in the dark and the side booster gets lit up really nicely after sep.
https://youtu.be/AdtkBQyqFao
-
NASA's Parker Solar Probe launch photographer behind-the-scenes
LearnTimeLapse
Published on Aug 16, 2018
Liftoff of United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy... Parker Solar Probe is headed for our nearest star! Launch photographer BTS by Ryan Chylinski
https://youtu.be/bhK0lKj2S3A?t=001
https://youtu.be/bhK0lKj2S3A
-
Rocket Cam footage from the core stage through core shutdown and separation. You can really see the particles of the ablative engines sparkling away in the dark and the side booster gets lit up really nicely after sep.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdtkBQyqFao
why wasn't this shown live?
-
Maybe because ULA wanted to keep the rocketcam a secret.
-
Rocket Cam footage from the core stage through core shutdown and separation. You can really see the particles of the ablative engines sparkling away in the dark and the side booster gets lit up really nicely after sep.
You can also see the center RS-68A throttle-up after booster sep.
-
Rocket Cam footage from the core stage through core shutdown and separation. You can really see the particles of the ablative engines sparkling away in the dark and the side booster gets lit up really nicely after sep.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdtkBQyqFao
why wasn't this shown live?
Proprietary... Still great finally see it at their pleasure!
-
Parker Solar Probe Marks First Mission Milestones on Voyage to Sun
Just two days after launch on Aug. 11, 2018, from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, NASA’s Parker Solar Probe achieved several planned milestones toward full commissioning and operations, announced mission controllers at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, or APL, in Laurel, Maryland.
On Aug. 13, the high-gain antenna, which Parker Solar Probe uses to communicate high-rate science data to Earth, was released from locks which held it stable during launch. Controllers have also been monitoring the spacecraft as it autonomously uses its thrusters to remove (or “dump”) momentum, which is part of the flight operations of the spacecraft. Managing momentum helps the spacecraft remain in a stable and optimal flight profile.
The United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket launches NASA’s Parker Solar Probe on its voyage to the Sun, Aug. 12, 2018, from Launch Complex 37 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida. Parker Solar Probe is humanity’s first-ever mission into the Sun’s atmosphere, called the corona. Here it will directly explore solar processes that are key to understanding and forecasting space weather events that can impact life on Earth.
There are four instrument suites on board Parker Solar Probe, which will each need to be powered and readied for science data collection. The FIELDS investigation, which consists of the most elements, went first. It was powered up on Aug. 13 for two activities. First was the opening of the clamps which held four of the five FIELDS antennas stowed during takeoff. These antennas will be deployed roughly 30 days after launch, and they will stick out from the corners of the spacecraft’s heat shield — called the Thermal Protection System — and be exposed to the harsh solar environment. Second, the spacecraft’s magnetometer boom was fully deployed. This boom contains three magnetometers and a fifth, smaller electric field antenna, all part of the FIELDS suite. Further instrument check-outs and deployments are scheduled in the coming days for the spacecraft.
As of 12:00 p.m. EDT on Aug. 16, Parker Solar Probe was 2.9 million miles from Earth, traveling at 39,000 miles per hour, and heading toward its first Venus flyby scheduled for Oct. 3, 2018, at 4:44 a.m. EDT. The spacecraft will use Venus to slightly slow itself and adjust its trajectory for an optimal path toward first perihelion of the Sun on Nov. 5, 2018, at 10:27 p.m. EST (Nov. 6, 2018, at 03:27 UTC).
“Parker Solar Probe is operating as designed, and we are progressing through our commissioning activities,” said Project Manager Andy Driesman of APL. “The team — which is monitoring the spacecraft 24 hours a day, seven days a week — is observing nominal data from the systems as we bring them on-line and prepare Parker Solar Probe for its upcoming initial Venus gravity assist.”
-
I'm writing a report on the observations of the stage-2 plume and dump from Australia and New Zealand. does anybody have a good time-tagged altitude-tagged ground track of the stage during that phase? Also, I've tried to get the ULA data on their stage 2 burn and passivation events to correlate with the time and duration of the plume formation phases, but no luck so far.
BTW, I was on travel last week -- I was on the beach 15 miles south of the launch with my older son's family, quite a thrill. A few hours earlier we had taken the deluxe KSC bus tour and had parked within a mile of Complex 37 and saw the booster big as life.
-
I'm writing a report on the observations of the stage-2 plume and dump from Australia and New Zealand. does anybody have a good time-tagged altitude-tagged ground track of the stage during that phase? Also, I've tried to get the ULA data on their stage 2 burn and passivation events to correlate with the time and duration of the plume formation phases, but no luck so far.
BTW, I was on travel last week -- I was on the beach 15 miles south of the launch with my older son's family, quite a thrill. A few hours earlier we had taken the deluxe KSC bus tour and had parked within a mile of Complex 37 and saw the booster big as life.
Does this help?
-
From https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/horizons.cgi#results
Parker Solar Probe 12.aug 2018 8:17 Center body name: Earth (399)
v= 14,89 km/s
dist xyz 11 488,91 km
result
characteristic energy C3=152,21 km2/s2
Vinf=12,337 km/s
not reported 153,79 in pdf
New Horizons 19.jan 2006 19:52
v= 14,77 km/s
dist xyz 13 213,95 km
C3= 157,74 km2/s2
Vinf=12,559 km/s
-
Comparison of PSP and NH missions
-
Comparison of Parker Solar Probe and New Horizons
-
After Near-Perfect Trajectory Maneuver, Parker Solar Probe On Course To Touch The Sun
At 6:07 a.m. EDT on Aug. 20, 2018, NASA’s Parker Solar Probe successfully completed its first trajectory correction maneuver (known as TCM-1), achieving a near-perfect firing of its propulsion system and putting the spacecraft on course to “touch” the Sun. This maneuver sets up the orbital geometry that will allow Parker Solar Probe to come within about 3.83 million miles (8.86 solar radii) of the Sun’s surface on its closest approach in 2024.
Following launch at 3:31 a.m. EDT on Aug. 12, the spacecraft control team at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, or APL, in Laurel, Maryland, analyzed Parker Solar Probe’s position and quickly developed a re-optimized trajectory to place it in the best path for the seven Venus gravity assist maneuvers and 24 solar orbits that the mission will make. Re-assessing a spacecraft’s trajectory after launch is a normal step, as the mission team is then able to accurately track the spacecraft’s actual speed, direction and position to create a more precise trajectory plan.
The Delta IV Heavy carrying Parker Solar Probe lifts off the pad as smoke billows beneath it.
The United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket launches NASA’s Parker Solar Probe to touch the Sun, Sunday, Aug. 12, 2018 from Launch Complex 37 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida. Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls
Spacecraft controllers at the mission operation center initiated the two-part TCM-1 beginning at 6:00 a.m. EDT on Aug. 19 with a 44-second burn of the engines. The majority of the engine firing, which lasted just over seven minutes, began at 6:00 a.m. EDT on Aug. 20.
“TCM-1 is one of the critical events of the mission and a major mission milestone,” said Parker Solar Probe mission design and navigation manager Yanping Guo, from APL. “In the future, we only need to fine-tune the trajectory periodically, and no major adjustments or large maneuvers will be required unless something unusual happens. In short: We are on our way to touch the Sun!”
“The team completely nailed this maneuver,” said APL’s Andy Driesman, Parker Solar Probe project manager. “Execution of the burn was exceptional, measuring at less than 0.2 percent magnitude error—which translates to a 0.3 standard deviation, or sigma, from optimal. We had defined success for TCM-1 as up to 3 sigma, which really illustrates how phenomenally this was executed.”
As of 12:00 p.m. EDT on August 20, Parker Solar Probe was 5.5 million miles from Earth, travelling at 39,500 miles per hour.
-
can a topic be created in the Space Science section for updates on the mission?
-
As I couldn't find one, I just created one here (https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=46240.0)
--- Tony
-
....Parker Solar Probe successfully completed its first trajectory correction maneuver (known as TCM-1)...
I would like to know something more about PSP propulsion system.
Engine layout scheme, parameters, images?
"The baseline mission includes a total of 42 TCMs that will be accomplished with a monopropellant propulsion system that consists of twelve 4.4 N thrusters."
http://drewryanjones.com/assets/conf_paper_2017_no5.pdf
-
I would like to know something more about PSP propulsion system.
Engine layout scheme, parameters, images?
"The baseline mission includes a total of 42 TCMs that will be accomplished with a monopropellant propulsion system that consists of twelve 4.4 N thrusters."
http://drewryanjones.com/assets/conf_paper_2017_no5.pdf
about 85 kg of propellant in a single tank. The layout is non intuitive and I can't post it.
-
about 85 kg of propellant in a single tank. The layout is non intuitive and I can't post it.
Thanks,
https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraftDisplay.do?id=2018-065A
"Total mass including 130 kg of propellant is 685 kg. "
130 kg are therefore all operational masses,
when is 85 kg of propellant N2H4
I found
http://www.rocket.com/article/parker-solar-probe-nasa-leaves-driving-aerojet-rocketdyne
"the system consists of a propellant tank, feed system and 12 MR-111C hydrazine thrusters"
Propulsion system PSP:
(https://directory.eoportal.org/documents/163813/3705371/ParkerSP_Auto49.jpeg)
Block diagram of the Solar Probe Plus spacecraft (image credit: JHU/APL, Ref. 4)
-
... Parker Solar Probe successfully completed its first trajectory correction maneuver (known as TCM-1), ...
Parker Solar Probe velocity and distance of the probe from the Sun (km/s AU) after TCM-1.
(https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Qb92-K5RvqQ/W5EbVOTW18I/AAAAAAAAxHI/NUtX4rP31506P7mjX_ke9iWxvWzXFk_XwCLcBGAs/s1600/PSP%2Borbit.PNG)
source:
https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/horizons.cgi
-
I would like to know something more about PSP propulsion system.
Engine layout scheme, parameters, images?
...
In the pictures I have marked the engines.
I found them 9.
Where are the others?
Would anyone know how to mark them?
A1-A4, B1-B4, C1-C4
-
A1-A4 are spaced around the aft structure of the spacecraft. They fire in the aft direction. One is above the worker's head
B1-B4 fire laterally
C1-C4 fire forward
-
A1-A4 are spaced around the aft structure of the spacecraft. They fire in the aft direction. One is above the worker's head
B1-B4 fire laterally
C1-C4 fire forward
A?
-
Correct
-
A1-A4 are spaced around the aft structure of the spacecraft. ...
B1-B4 fire laterally
C1-C4 fire forward
It is correct?
B and C are all.
Where's the other 3 A?
-
The other 3 A's have to be on the same plane as the visible one
-
http://drewryanjones.com/assets/conf_paper_2017_no4.pdf
"Launch vehicle injection targets for missions are frequently specified in terms of hyperbolic injection energy per unit mass (C3), declination of the launch asymptote (DLA), and right ascension of the launch asymptote (RLA). This is true for this mission as well. For the current best estimate of a spacecraft mass of 685 kg, the targeted C3 corresponds to roughly 152-154 km2/s2 (Figure 4)."
153.79 km2 / s2 was needed 31 July and at the end of the basewindow,
152.21 was enough on the 12th August
PSP Launch Targets: C3 (top), and RLA and DLA (bottom).
-
It's not quite as close as Lupi was, but I was able to get a few shots of launch last night as well. https://dunder.smugmug.com/Rocketry/Parker-Solar-Probe/
First time seeing a Heavy in person. A little more moonlight would have been nice, but it was still an amazing experience.
Your angle was about the same as mine, where did you end up? I was at like... the furthest West part of the NASA Causeway.
I like the brush in the foreground on yours, it really frames it well!
I was in the exploration park area, so a little bit south and further west. It does look like the angle matches up pretty well with the west side of the causeway. It was a 300mm lens with a 2x extender on a crop sensor, so it's got a lot of reach.
-
JPL Roles in NASA’s Sun-Bound Parker Solar Probe
The navigation for NASA’s Parker Solar Probe is led by the agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, which also has a role in two of the spacecraft’s four onboard instrument suites. Parker Solar Probe will fly closer to the Sun than any previous spacecraft and through the solar corona itself.
One instrument, called the Energetic Particle Instrument-Hi (EPI-Hi), will investigate the mysteries of high-speed solar particles that hurtle toward Earth at close to the speed of light. Observations by the Parker Solar Probe will lead to better predictions of space weather and address fundamental mysteries about the Sun's dynamic corona. EPI-Hi is part of the Integrated Science Investigation of the Sun, led by Principal Investigator David McComas of Princeton University in New Jersey.
"We will be exploring a region of space that has never before been visited," said Mark Wiedenbeck, the lead investigator on the EPI-Hi instrument and a principal research scientist at JPL. "We have ideas about what will be found, but the most important results may well come from observations that are completely unexpected."
Of particular interest to the EPI-Hi team is the unsolved riddle of how a small fraction of the charged particles from the Sun reach near-light speeds. These particles, protons, electrons and heavy ions can reach Earth in less than an hour, creating space weather hazards to humans and hardware in space. Until now, scientists had been observing from a distance the effects of what is happening near the Sun. With the Parker Solar Probe now on its way to fly through the region where it is happening, scientists are confident they will obtain new clues and insight into the process.
The EPI-Hi instrument consists of stacks of silicon detectors designed to snag high-speed particles and measure their energies. Some of the detectors are very thin, with the thinnest being about one-eighth the thickness of a standard sheet of paper. For the detectors to make the required measurements, the thickness of these detectors could vary by no more than one-hundredth the thickness of a sheet of paper.
Another instrument on Parker Solar Probe -- the Wide-Field Imager for Solar Probe Plus (WISPR) – is the only camera aboard the spacecraft. It will take images of the Sun’s corona and inner heliosphere. The imager has two telescopes that will capture images of the solar wind, shock waves and other coronal structures as they approach and pass the spacecraft. WISPR provides a very wide field-of-view, extending from 13 degrees away from the center of the Sun to 108 degrees away.
“If you saw the solar eclipse last August, you saw the Sun’s corona. That is our destination. WISPR will be taking images of the corona as it flies through it. The images will help us understand the morphology, velocity, acceleration and density of evolving solar wind structures when they are close to the Sun,” said JPL scientist Paulett Liewer, a member of the WISPR Science Team. The WISPR principal pnvestigator is Russell Howard of the Naval Research Laboratory.
In leading Parker’s navigation efforts, JPL is helping to implement the mission’s innovative trajectory, developed by the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, Maryland, which built and operates the spacecraft for NASA. The Parker Solar Probe will use seven Venus flybys over nearly seven years to gradually shrink its orbit around the Sun, coming as close as 3.83 million miles (6.16 million kilometers) to the Sun, well within the orbit of Mercury and about seven times closer to the Sun than any spacecraft before.
In addition, the Parker Solar Probe Observatory Scientist, Principal Investigator Marco Velli, a UCLA professor, holds a part-time appointment as Heliophysics Liaison to NASA at JPL.
The Parker Solar Probe lifted off on Aug. 12, 2018, on a United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket from Space Launch Complex-37 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The mission’s findings will help researchers improve their forecasts of space weather events, which have the potential to damage satellites and harm astronauts on orbit, disrupt radio communications and, at their most severe, overwhelm power grids.
EPI-Hi is managed for NASA by Caltech in collaboration with JPL, which is a division of Caltech. The Parker Solar Probe is part of NASA’s Living with a Star Program, or LWS, to explore aspects of the Sun-Earth system that directly affect life and society. LWS is managed by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, for the Heliophysics Division of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. Johns Hopkins APL manages the Parker Solar Probe mission for NASA.
-
Progress:
I found next one rocket engine A.
I named them
Aw is previously found, above the worker's head
Ax is new found "A" rocket engine
pic1 Aw in another view
pic2 Ax
two more remains
will they be under the solar panel on the other side?
-
The second video seems to be an extended edition, so skip to that one for the full interview.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdPoVi_h0r0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-vXJL8jXBk
-
Very interesting video!
-
From https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/horizons.cgi#results
Parker Solar Probe 12.aug 2018 8:17 Center body name: Earth (399)
v= 14,89 km/s
dist xyz 11 488,91 km
result
characteristic energy C3=152,21 km2/s2
Vinf=12,337 km/s
not reported 153,79 in pdf
New Horizons 19.jan 2006 19:52
v= 14,77 km/s
dist xyz 13 213,95 km
C3= 157,74 km2/s2
Vinf=12,559 km/s
Something I've been wondering:
If Parker Solar Probe is only slightly more massive than New Horizons, than how did 'Horizons get slightly more C3 than Parker even though Parker launched from a much larger LV?
-
Energy is close, but velocity is pointing to a quite different direction. To fly inward along an very elongated oribit, it must cancel the sideway movement of the Earth. The original Solar Probe planned to use Atlas 551 Star 48B. It was going to fly outward to meet Jupiter.
-
From https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/horizons.cgi#results
Parker Solar Probe 12.aug 2018 8:17 Center body name: Earth (399)
v= 14,89 km/s
dist xyz 11 488,91 km
result
characteristic energy C3=152,21 km2/s2
Vinf=12,337 km/s
not reported 153,79 in pdf
New Horizons 19.jan 2006 19:52
v= 14,77 km/s
dist xyz 13 213,95 km
C3= 157,74 km2/s2
Vinf=12,559 km/s
Something I've been wondering:
If Parker Solar Probe is only slightly more massive than New Horizons, than how did 'Horizons get slightly more C3 than Parker even though Parker launched from a much larger LV?
The mass difference might seem small, but it has a big effect on how much delta V the kick stage adds. From this estimate (https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=37070.msg1843074#msg1843074), for PSP:
Now how much does the Star 48 add? PSP = 685 kg. Star 48 initial mass = 2114 kg, end mass = 114 kg (this is not the exact Star variant, but close enough). So start mass = 685+2114 = 2799, end mass 685+114 = 799. Delta V at ISP 283 is then 283*9.8*ln(2779/779) = 3477 m/s.
For NH, this estimate (https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=43025.msg1850475#msg1850475)
How much delta V from the kick burn? NH mass = 478kg, Star48 initial mass = 2141 kg, burnout mass = 131 kg, ISP=292. So initial mass is 2619 kg, final mass 609 kg, and dv = 292*9.8*ln(initial/final) = 4,174 m/s.
So even though the smaller Atlas could only push the lighter NH to a C3 of 30 km^2/sec^2, whereas the D4H pushed the heavier PSP to a C3 of 60, the extra delta V from the kick stage more than made up for it, resulting in a slightly higher final C3 for NH.
-
Thanks
I was trying to wrap my head around the delta-v for the whole rocket, when I ought to have been thinking of just the kick-stage and the payload first then working backwards. Would've made a lot more sense to me that way.
So New Horizons is still "the fastest thing ever launched?" (Well, so far, anyways ;) )
-
PSP orbit was selected and this orbit has a characteristic energy of C3, see Fig.
(https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/assets/37070.0/1507409.jpg)
If the D4H would start at the end of the extendend window on August 23, it would need 155.9 km2/s2.
How many fuels I had on the start day and what D4H fuel reserves I had, I do not know, but certainly if C3 had to be higher, it would do that.
So, for the characteristic energy C3 of the desired orbit, a rocket is selected to achieve this goal.
What is the fuel reserve? 1% -2%?
(https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Alan_Pitz/publication/268063332/figure/fig6/AS:295423601332226@1447445883294/Payload-Mass-vs-C3-Plots-for-Delta-IV-and-Atlas-V-Launch-Vehicles.png)
(http://www.imagehosting.cz/images/slsc3.jpg)
It is always about a mission and its orbit.
New Horizons requested C3 156.74 km2/s2
PSP start Aug. 12 was C3 152.21 km2/s2,
Therefore, the hyperbolic velocity at infinity for NH Vinf = 12,559 km/s and for PSP Vinf = 12,337 km/s,
and so NH is the fastest probe that has escaped from Earth's gravity.
Only NH flies from the Sun, climbs out of the gravity well of the Sun, slows down.
The PSP falls into the gravity well, so it speeds up.
The result of the PSP will be at 192 km/s with the fastest probe in the Solar System,
thanks to the gravity of the Sun and valid Kepler's laws.
And yes, it's strange, the difference in probe weight is 685kg - 478kg and rockets 733,000 - 587,000kg. The gravity well is strong.
(https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/assets/37070.0/1506352.jpg)
Note.
The Star 48BV is a solid rocket propelant , the thrust can not be controlled, since the ignition of the solid fuel burn is the stroke given.
To achieve the desired resulting orbit, it is 2 stage at the right moment to release and start the Star 48BV with PSP.
ULA did not publish telemetry from start and I have not even found anywhere planned.
Only video was published
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gyBbGYEqpk
D4H flight profile, but no PSP
(http://www.imagehosting.cz/images/d4h.jpg)
I apologize for cracked English, I was not born in an English-speaking country
-
For updates on PSP see here:
https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=46240.0