LIVE: IBEX - Pegasus-XL - October 19, 2008

• #180 by Ronsmytheiii on 19 Oct, 2008 18:20
• confirmation of separation
• #181 by Nick L. on 19 Oct, 2008 18:20
• S/C sep confirmed!
• #182 by Chris Bergin on 19 Oct, 2008 18:20
• Spacecraft separation confirmed
  
  Great job by all concerned.
• #183 by DaveJSC on 19 Oct, 2008 18:21
• Quote from: antonioe on 19 Oct, 2008 18:15

  Quote from: eeergo on 19 Oct, 2008 18:03

  Perhaps until Ascension we won't have any data (Ascension is in the Atlantic...)
  
  Congratulations for the nominal Pegasus flight, Antonio! Hope you didn't get too blue
  

  Thanks - tomorrow at 8 am Houston time I stand before the steely-eyed NASA CRS Source Selection Board... helps to have a good launch AND spacecraft deployment behind me...
  

  
  You've got it
• #184 by eeergo on 19 Oct, 2008 18:21
• Ready for the Board Congratulations!
  
  L-1011 back on the ground.

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• #185 by Nick L. on 19 Oct, 2008 18:22
• L-1011 on the ground.

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• #186 by Nick L. on 19 Oct, 2008 18:23

• ---

  

  
• #187 by eeergo on 19 Oct, 2008 18:26
• Omar Baez giving a briefing.

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• #188 by William Graham on 19 Oct, 2008 18:26
• IBEX signal recieved through TDRS.
• #189 by Nick L. on 19 Oct, 2008 18:27
• Receiving data from TDRSS, analyzing.
• #190 by Nick L. on 19 Oct, 2008 18:29
• TDRSS data indicating everything seems OK.
• #191 by Ronsmytheiii on 19 Oct, 2008 18:32
• Quote from: antonioe on 19 Oct, 2008 18:01

  Launch half of antonioe breathing again - spacecraft half still holding breath
  

  
  Well congratulations to both sides, seems both IBEX and Pegasus did a great job.
• #192 by Nick L. on 19 Oct, 2008 18:32
• Webcast ended. Should be getting IBEX health status in a few hours. Looks like everything went according to plan.
• #193 by eeergo on 19 Oct, 2008 18:38
• I previously said there was a fourth stage apart from the Star47, I've now realized I'd mixed both of them. Sorry for the confusion, jcm's summary perfectly clarifies.
• #194 by jcm on 19 Oct, 2008 18:57
• Here's a summary so far, based on the prelaunch info from Justin Ray   
  and my own timings from the webcast:                   
  
  - L-1011 takeoff from RW06/24 at Kwajalein, 1651 UTC Oct 19
  - Pegasus Drop at 1747:22.64 UTC over 167.6E 10.5N, azimuth 81.5 deg
  - Stage 1 ignition 1747:28
  - Stage 1 burnout  Drop + 1:21
  - Stage 1 sep      Drop + 1:30
  - Stage 2 burn     Drop + 1:33
  - Fairing sep      Drop + 2:18
  - Stage 2 burnout  Drop + 2:47
  - Stage 2 sep      Drop + 4:57 ?   
  - Stage 3 burn     Drop + 5:05
  - Stage 3 burnout  Drop + 6:22
    Orbit insertion at 200 x 200 km x 11 deg
  - Stage 3 spinup   Drop + 7:47
  - Stage 3 sep      Drop + 8:22
  - Adapter cone sep       - Unknown, guessing Drop + 8:25?
  - Star 27H motor burn    - Unknown, guessing Drop + 8:30?
  - Star 27H motor burnout - Unknown, guessing Drop + 9:16?
  - Star 27H sep from IBEX - Unknown, guessing Drop + 12:38?
  
  This leaves four objects in orbit:
  
   (1)  Stage 3 Orion 38 motor, in 200 x 200 km x 11 deg orbit
      Mass probably 202 kg, cylinder + nozzle size 1.4m long 1.0m dia
  
  
  
   (2)  Adapter cone, in 200 x 200 km x 11 deg orbit     
      Mass unknown, maybe around 10 kg,
        cone frustrum size 0.6m long 0.7 to 1.0m dia
  
   (3)  Star 27H (TE-M-1157) motor, in 200 x 320000 km orbit
      Mass 27 kg size 1.2m long 0.7m dia.
      Initial mass was 368 kg prior to ignition of solid propellant
  
   (4)  IBEX spacecraft, in 200 x 320000 km orbit
      Mass 107 kg full 80 kg dry, octagonal cyl. size 0.6m high 1.0m dia
      based on Orbital Microstar bus.
      Will use hydrazine thruster to raise perigee to 7000 km.
  
  My mass estimates total 485 kg for items 2,3,4 prior to SRM ignition,
  which is a little larger than the 462 kg reported by NASA.
  
  
  
  
• #195 by jcm on 19 Oct, 2008 19:08
• Here's some more background on the Star 27 since people commented on it:
  
  The original Star 27 (TE-M-616) was the apogee motor
  for the first generation GPS satellites.
  
  First launch was Jan 1976 for Canada's Hermes CTS
  communications satellite. Also used as apogee motor for
   
   - NTS 2, Navstar 1 to Navstar 11 (GPS satellites)
   - GOES 4,5,6,7 weather satellites
   - Japanese GMS 1,2,3,4,5 weather satellites
   - Japanese BSE, CS 2A, CS 2B communications satellites
   - NATO 3D comms satellite
  
  Also used for the orbit insertion stage (OIS) for 
  the P78-1, a US Navy astronomy satellite famous for
  ending its days as an ASAT target, and the Geosat
  altimeter satellite.
  
  The last two uses were for the Japanese GMS (Himawari) 4 and 5 launches
  in 1989 and 1995. The Star 27H is a modernized version developed for
  IBEX.
  
  
• #196 by Chris Bergin on 19 Oct, 2008 19:09
• Thanks to Stephan - there's a launch video clip on the free video section:
  http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=14685.0
  
  
  Great work by everyone with the coverage, especially via the dodgy webcast.
• #197 by HIPAR on 19 Oct, 2008 20:11
• What's the latest.  Is the Spacecraft OK.  Reading between the lines I don't feel everything went as expected.
  
  ---  CHAS
• #198 by rdale on 19 Oct, 2008 21:05
• Quote from: HIPAR on 19 Oct, 2008 20:11

  What's the latest.  Is the Spacecraft OK. 
  

  
  Every post in here and every release from NASA says it is successfully in orbit - what lines are you reading between?
• #199 by otisbow on 19 Oct, 2008 21:29
• Thanks for the info about the web cast.  I recorded over an hour of the launch on WM Recorder.