Author Topic: Pegasus XL - CYGNSS - December 15, 2016 - CCAFS  (Read 108651 times)

Offline Kim Keller

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« Last Edit: 07/22/2019 11:54 pm by gongora »

Offline sdsds

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Re: Pegasus XL - CYGNSS - December 12, 2016 - CCAFS
« Reply #1 on: 03/31/2014 07:14 pm »
Very cool.

The NASA Science Mission Directorate/Earth Science Division's (SMD/ESD) Earth Venture is a Program element within the Earth System Science Pathfinder Program (ESSP) consisting of a series of new science-driven, competitively selected, low cost missions that will provide opportunity for investment in innovative Earth science to enhance our capability to better understand the current state of the Earth system and to enable continual improvement in the prediction of future changes.
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/kennedy/news/releases/2014/release-20140328.html

The other mission mentioned in this class is Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring of Pollution (TEMPO). Is it too possibly destined for launch on Pegasus XL?
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Offline Kim Keller

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Re: Pegasus XL - CYGNSS - December 12, 2016 - CCAFS
« Reply #2 on: 03/31/2014 07:23 pm »
The other mission mentioned in this class is Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring of Pollution (TEMPO). Is it too possibly destined for launch on Pegasus XL?

The links I see related to this mission point to it being a hosted payload aboard a commercial satellite at GEO altitude. That means Pegasus is out of the running for it. However, there is another mission, ICON (early 2017), which I think Orbital could bid on with a Pegasus.

Offline Robotbeat

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Re: Pegasus XL - CYGNSS - December 12, 2016 - CCAFS
« Reply #3 on: 03/31/2014 07:30 pm »
Congratulations, Orbital!
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Online Lee Jay

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Re: Pegasus XL - CYGNSS - December 12, 2016 - CCAFS
« Reply #4 on: 03/31/2014 07:47 pm »
I'm not sure if this should be called irony or poetry.

When I first saw the thread title, my reaction was "duh!".  Then I got it.

Offline woods170

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Re: Pegasus XL - CYGNSS - December 12, 2016 - CCAFS
« Reply #5 on: 04/01/2014 07:37 am »
I'm not sure if this should be called irony or poetry.

When I first saw the thread title, my reaction was "duh!".  Then I got it.
I had exactly the same experience. It really does look a lot like the word CYGNUS.

Offline kevin-rf

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Re: Pegasus XL - CYGNSS - December 12, 2016 - CCAFS
« Reply #6 on: 04/01/2014 12:00 pm »
Agreed, for me it wasn't "Duh!", but a bit of confusion till I reread real slow and figured out it was not CYGNUS.
« Last Edit: 04/01/2014 12:01 pm by kevin-rf »
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Offline edkyle99

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Re: Pegasus XL - CYGNSS - December 12, 2016 - CCAFS
« Reply #7 on: 04/01/2014 01:45 pm »
Great to hear that Pegasus, and Orbital's L-1011, will fly on.

I'm wondering how this meshes with the recent "Minotaur C" announcement, which seemed to indicate that Orbital was updating and standardizing its launch vehicle avionics, moving from the older Pegasus set up to the newer Minotaur-based design.  Will future Pegasus vehicles use the updated avionics?

 - Ed Kyle
« Last Edit: 04/01/2014 01:49 pm by edkyle99 »

Offline jacqmans

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Re: Pegasus XL - CYGNSS - December 12, 2016 - CCAFS
« Reply #8 on: 04/01/2014 04:08 pm »
NASA Selects Orbital's Pegasus Rocket to Launch 8 CYGNSS Science Satellites

-- Company's Small Launch Vehicle to Carry Out Earth Science Mission in 2016 --

DULLES, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Apr. 1, 2014-- Orbital Sciences Corporation (NYSE: ORB), one of the world’s leading space technology companies, today announced that the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has awarded the company a contract to launch the Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System (CYGNSS) multi-satellite mission aboard a Pegasus XL rocket carried aloft by Orbital’s “Stargazer” L-1011 aircraft. The CYGNSS mission is scheduled to launch in October 2016 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

“Pegasus has been the workhorse of the small-class launch market for reliable missions to orbit for over two decades, with its last 28 consecutive missions fully successful over a 16-year period,” said Mr. Ron Grabe, Orbital’s Executive Vice President and General Manager of the Launch Systems Group. “With this new Pegasus contract, Orbital will continue its long-standing support of NASA science missions, providing our flagship rocket to launch another important mission for the global science community.”

CYGNSS will produce measurements of ocean surface winds throughout the life cycle of tropical storms and hurricanes, which could help lead to better forecasting of severe weather on Earth. The mission, led by the University of Michigan, will use a constellation of eight small satellites that will be carried to orbit on the Pegasus launch vehicle. CYGNSS’s micro-satellite observatories will receive direct and reflected signals from Global Positioning System (GPS) satellites. CYGNSS is the first award for space-based investigations in the Earth Venture-class series of rapidly developed, cost-constrained projects for NASA’s Earth Science Division. NASA’s Langley Research Center, Hampton, VA, manages the Earth System Science Pathfinder program for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate.

About the Pegasus Rocket

Pegasus is the world’s leading launch system for the deployment of small satellites into low-Earth orbit. Its patented air-launch system, in which the rocket is launched from beneath Orbital’s “Stargazer” L-1011 carrier aircraft over the ocean, reduces cost and provides customers with unparalleled flexibility to operate from virtually anywhere on Earth with minimal ground support requirements. The CYGNSS mission will be the 43rd Pegasus space launch since its introduction in 1990, and will mark a total of 93 satellites launched by the rocket. It remains the world’s only small space launch vehicle that is certified to NASA’s Payload Risk Category 3, which the space agency reserves for its highest-value space missions.
 
Jacques :-)

Offline Kim Keller

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Re: Pegasus XL - CYGNSS - December 12, 2016 - CCAFS
« Reply #9 on: 04/01/2014 04:36 pm »
Great to hear that Pegasus, and Orbital's L-1011, will fly on.

I'm wondering how this meshes with the recent "Minotaur C" announcement, which seemed to indicate that Orbital was updating and standardizing its launch vehicle avionics, moving from the older Pegasus set up to the newer Minotaur-based design.  Will future Pegasus vehicles use the updated avionics?

 - Ed Kyle

Orbital would like to, but it depends on whether NASA LSP wants to pay for it.

Offline bad_astra

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Re: Pegasus XL - CYGNSS - December 12, 2016 - CCAFS
« Reply #10 on: 04/01/2014 05:18 pm »
Good news for OSC. They should get any mission that sounds like cygnus from now on, that should be a law.
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Offline russianhalo117

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Re: Pegasus XL - CYGNSS - December 12, 2016 - CCAFS
« Reply #11 on: 09/11/2014 07:16 pm »
BUMP:
---------
TITLE: CYGNSS Overview
DESCRIPTION: Published on Sep 11, 2014 - Dr. Chris Ruf, Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite Systems (CYGNSS) Principal Investigator talks about the mission.
VIDEO LINK:


Online Comga

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Re: Pegasus XL - CYGNSS - December 12, 2016 - CCAFS
« Reply #12 on: 09/11/2014 07:29 pm »
{snip}
The other mission mentioned in this class is Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring of Pollution (TEMPO). Is it too possibly destined for launch on Pegasus XL?

Negative
TEMPO will be a hosted payload in geosynchronous orbit.  The host satellite has not been selected.
It will not ride on Pegasus.
Now back to Orbital and CYGNSS......
What kind of wastrels would dump a perfectly good booster in the ocean after just one use?

Offline baldusi

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Re: Pegasus XL - CYGNSS - December 12, 2016 - CCAFS
« Reply #13 on: 09/11/2014 08:38 pm »
Congratulations! This means we'll still have Pegasus in 2016!

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Re: Pegasus XL - CYGNSS - December 12, 2016 - CCAFS
« Reply #14 on: 08/20/2015 01:28 am »
bump

NASA Begins to Build Satellite Mission to Improve Hurricane Forecasting

http://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-begins-to-build-satellite-mission-to-improve-hurricane-forecasting

Quote
The mission is scheduled to launch in late 2016 on an Orbital ATK Pegasus XL expendable rocket from Cape Canaveral in Florida, with science operations beginning in the 2017 Atlantic hurricane season.




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Offline zubenelgenubi

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Re: Pegasus XL - CYGNSS - December 12, 2016 - CCAFS
« Reply #15 on: 10/26/2016 05:18 pm »
Cross-posting from NASA - CYGNSS - updates
Shaken Up: CYGNSS Undergoes Vibration Testing

https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/shaken-up-cygnss-undergoes-vibration-testing

Engineers prepare NASA’s eight Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System (CYGNSS) microsatellites, mounted on the deployment module, for vibration testing at the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, Texas. CYGNSS will probe the inner core of hurricanes to better understand their rapid intensification.

Vibration testing will simulate the conditions that systems will undergo while attached to the Orbital-ATK “Stargazer” L-1011 carrier aircraft and subsequent launch on a Pegasus rocket. Vibration testing will wrap up in the next two weeks and be followed by preparations to ship the microsatellites and deployment module to Vandenberg Air Force Base in California for integration with the launch vehicle.

The mission is scheduled to launch Nov. 21 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.
***

This is the last NASA news on CYGNSS that I could find.  We're less than 1 month from launch.

Any "new news"--particularly launch preparations at Vandenberg?  Did the Vandenberg wildfires delay Pegasus preparations, and therefore the launch?
« Last Edit: 10/26/2016 05:32 pm by zubenelgenubi »
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Offline Sam Ho

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Re: Pegasus XL - CYGNSS - December 12, 2016 - CCAFS
« Reply #16 on: 10/26/2016 06:15 pm »
Cross-posting from NASA - CYGNSS - updates
Shaken Up: CYGNSS Undergoes Vibration Testing

https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/shaken-up-cygnss-undergoes-vibration-testing

Engineers prepare NASA’s eight Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System (CYGNSS) microsatellites, mounted on the deployment module, for vibration testing at the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, Texas. CYGNSS will probe the inner core of hurricanes to better understand their rapid intensification.

Vibration testing will simulate the conditions that systems will undergo while attached to the Orbital-ATK “Stargazer” L-1011 carrier aircraft and subsequent launch on a Pegasus rocket. Vibration testing will wrap up in the next two weeks and be followed by preparations to ship the microsatellites and deployment module to Vandenberg Air Force Base in California for integration with the launch vehicle.

The mission is scheduled to launch Nov. 21 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.
***

This is the last NASA news on CYGNSS that I could find.  We're less than 1 month from launch.

Any "new news"--particularly launch preparations at Vandenberg?  Did the Vandenberg wildfires delay Pegasus preparations, and therefore the launch?
On their web page, the countdown timer changed from Novermber 21 to "being reviewed" last week.

http://clasp-research.engin.umich.edu/missions/cygnss/

Offline zubenelgenubi

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Re: Pegasus XL - CYGNSS - December 12, 2016 - CCAFS
« Reply #17 on: 10/27/2016 04:12 pm »
December 12 is the new launch date.
Tweet from Stephen Clark
Quote
Michael Freilich/NASA’s Earth science division: Pegasus/CYGNSS launch from Cape now Dec. 12. Next SpaceX station cargo flight around Jan. 15
« Last Edit: 10/27/2016 06:25 pm by zubenelgenubi »
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Offline jacqmans

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Re: Pegasus XL - CYGNSS - December 12, 2016 - CCAFS
« Reply #18 on: 11/04/2016 06:39 am »
November 03, 2016
MEDIA ADVISORY M16-121

NASA Announces Media Briefing on New Hurricane Mission
 
NASA will hold a media briefing at 1 p.m. EST Thursday, Nov. 10, to discuss the upcoming Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System (CYGNSS) mission, a constellation of eight microsatellites that will gather never-before-seen details on the formation and intensity of tropical cyclones and hurricanes.

The briefing will be held in the James E. Webb Auditorium at NASA Headquarters, located at 300 E St. SW in Washington, and will air live on NASA Television and stream on the agency's website.

The briefing participants are:
•Christine Bonniksen, CYGNSS program executive with the Science Mission Directorate's Earth Science Division at NASA Headquarters
•John Scherrer, CYGNSS project manager at the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio
•Chris Ruf, CYGNSS principal investigator at the Department of Climate and Space Sciences and Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
•Mary Morris, doctoral student in the Department of Climate and Space Sciences and Engineering

Media may ask questions from participating agency centers or by telephone. To participate by phone, reporters must send an email providing their name, affiliation and telephone number to Dwayne Brown at [email protected] by noon Nov. 10. Media and the public also may ask questions during the briefing on Twitter using the hashtag #askNASA.

CYGNSS, targeted for a Dec. 12 launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, is the first mission competitively selected by NASA’s Earth Venture program. This program focuses on low-cost, science-driven missions to enhance our understanding of the current state of Earth and its complex, dynamic system and enable continual improvement in the prediction of future changes.

The Space Physics Research Laboratory at the University of Michigan College of Engineering in Ann Arbor leads overall mission execution, and its Climate and Space Sciences and Engineering department leads the science investigation. The Earth Science Division of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate oversees the mission.

For NASA TV streaming video, downlink and updated scheduling information, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/nasatv

For more information about NASA's Earth science activities, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/earth

For more information about NASA’s CYGNSS mission, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/cygnss
Jacques :-)

Offline jacqmans

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Re: Pegasus XL - CYGNSS - December 12, 2016 - CCAFS
« Reply #19 on: 11/11/2016 06:18 am »
November 10, 2016
RELEASE 16-106

NASA Set to Launch New Fleet of Hurricane-Tracking Small Satellites

NASA is set to launch its first Earth science small satellite constellation, which will help improve hurricane intensity, track, and storm surge forecasts, on Dec. 12 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

The Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System (CYGNSS) hurricane mission will measure previously unknown details crucial to accurately understanding the formation and intensity of tropical cyclones and hurricanes.

“This is a first-of-its-kind mission,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate at the agency’s headquarters in Washington. “As a constellation of eight spacecraft, CYGNSS will do what a single craft can’t in terms of measuring surface wind speeds inside hurricanes and tropical cyclones at high time-resolution, to improve our ability to understand and predict how these deadly storms develop.”

The CYGNSS mission is expected to lead to more accurate weather forecasts of wind speeds and storm surges -- the walls of water that do the most damage when hurricanes make landfall.

Utilizing the same GPS technology that allows drivers to navigate streets, CYGNSS will use a constellation of eight microsatellite observatories to measure the surface roughness of the world’s oceans. Mission scientists will use the data collected to calculate surface wind speeds, providing a better picture of a storm’s strength and intensity.

Unlike existing operational weather satellites, CYGNSS can penetrate the heavy rain of a hurricane’s eyewall to gather data about a storm’s intense inner core. The eyewall is the thick ring of thunderstorm clouds and rain that surrounds the calm eye of a hurricane. The inner core region acts like the engine of the storm by extracting energy from the warm surface water via evaporation into the atmosphere. The latent heat contained in the water vapor is then released into the atmosphere by condensation and precipitation. The intense rain in eyewalls blocks the view of the inner core by conventional satellites, however, preventing scientists from gathering much information about this key region of a developing hurricane.

“Today, we can’t see what’s happening under the rain,” said Chris Ruf, professor in the University of Michigan’s Department of Climate and Space Sciences and Engineering and principal investigator for the CYGNSS mission. “We can measure the wind outside of the storm cell with present systems. But there’s a gap in our knowledge of cyclone processes in the critical eyewall region of the storm – a gap that will be filled by the CYGNSS data. The models try to predict what is happening under the rain, but they are much less accurate without continuous experimental validation.”

The CYGNSS small satellite observatories will continuously monitor surface winds over the oceans across Earth’s tropical hurricane-belt latitudes. Each satellite is capable of capturing four wind measurements per second, adding as much as 32 wind measurements per second for the entire constellation.

CYGNSS is the first complete orbital mission competitively selected by NASA’s Earth Venture program. Earth Venture focuses on low-cost, rapidly developed, science-driven missions to enhance our understanding of the current state of Earth and its complex, dynamic system and enable continual improvement in the prediction of future changes.

The Space Physics Research Laboratory at the University of Michigan College of Engineering in Ann Arbor leads overall mission execution in partnership with the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, Texas, and its Climate and Space Sciences and Engineering department leads the science investigation. The Earth Science Division of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate oversees the mission.

For more information about NASA’s CYGNSS mission, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/cygnss
Jacques :-)

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