What's the latest. Is the Spacecraft OK. Reading between the lines I don't feel everything went as expected.--- CHAS
Thanks to Stephan - there's a launch video clip on the free video section:http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=14685.0Great work by everyone with the coverage, especially via the dodgy webcast.
Quote from: antonioe on 10/19/2008 06:01 pmLaunch half of antonioe breathing again - spacecraft half still holding breathWell congratulations to both sides, seems both IBEX and Pegasus did a great job.
Launch half of antonioe breathing again - spacecraft half still holding breath
Let's not forget the spacecraft, though... we now have TWO beyond the GEO belt!... let's hope it does the entire mission, although I never understood the science that allows you to map the HELIOsphere boundary from just outside the GEOsphere boundary... can anybody explain that to me?
The probe is not going to the edge of the solar system. This is a remote sensing mission. The instruments measure the Energetic Neutral Atoms (ENAs) created through charge exchange at the boundary of the heliosphere and the interstellar medium. Its a cool/novel way to get data without the crazy cost of going to the edge of the solar system.Amazingly it takes 6 months to make one image (one half an orbit of Earth around the sun)
Quote from: Ronsmytheiii on 10/19/2008 06:32 pmQuote from: antonioe on 10/19/2008 06:01 pmLaunch half of antonioe breathing again - spacecraft half still holding breathWell congratulations to both sides, seems both IBEX and Pegasus did a great job.Thanks; everything looks fine, but, remember, the fat lady doesn't sing until all the telemetry is analyzed... I've been through FOURTY (40!) Pegasus launches and I STILL get butterflies until I see those plots... this one looks good, though.Let's not forget the spacecraft, though... we now have TWO beyond the GEO belt!... let's hope it does the entire mission, although I never understood the science that allows you to map the HELIOsphere boundary from just outside the GEOsphere boundary... can anybody explain that to me?
So, it turns out that in a certain speed range (think of it as a certain band of ENA colors), the shiniest, brightest thing around is the heliosphere boundary. And, the denser parts of the boundary are brighter than the less dense parts. So by scanning your ENA camera around the sky, you can see which directions correspond to brighter and denser heliosphere boundary.The only snag is that you need the sky to be 'dark', i.e. not swamped with neutral atoms going to and fro that have nothing to do with the heliosphere. That's a problem in LEO, where there's still some thin neutral Earth atmosphere, but not at IBEX's apogee. Hence the choice of IBEX orbit.
Caveat: I am not a heliospheric physicist -- extragalactic sources are my speciality.
Makes a note to use the "I'm a extragalactic astrophysicist" the next time I come across an interested lady in a bar. I reckon that'd work well
SpaceTrack is now giving the Peg third stage and the adapter cone in210 x 413 km x 11.0 deg orbits.
Radial thruster performance appeared nominal (including catbed behavior and valve soak back).
Perhaps Pegasus has a bit more capability than cataloged. - Ed Kyle