 |
Up Close view of Northrop
Grumman’s air-launched Pegasus XL rocket containing NASA’s ICON Ionospheric Connection
Explorer satellite attached to belly beneath the company’s L-1011
Stargazer aircraft that deploys the probe at 39,000 feet. Seen here on the
runway of the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Skid Strip, FL, on Nov. 2, 2018.
No new date set yet after launch
scrub on Nov. 7, 2018. Credit: Ken
Kremer/kenkremer.com/spaceupclose.com
|
Ken Kremer -- SpaceUpClose.com & RocketSTEM -- 8 November 2018
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER & CAPE CANAVERAL AIR FORCE STATION, FL – The oft delayed launch of NASA’s ICON ionospheric science exploration satellite has been scrubbed yet again by NASA and Northrop Grumman due to a recurring troublesome glitch with the pesky Pegasus XL rocket that surfaced less than 30 minutes before the planned overnight launch in the wee hours of Wednesday, Nov. 7 at 3:05 a.m. EST - potentially resulting in a weeks long postponement as investigators hunt for clues to the mysterious spurious signals.
No new launch target date has been set by the NASA and Northrop Grumman team as they renew an investigation to identify the “root cause” and evaluate fixes for the continuing appearance of insidious off nominal data signatures seen while the Pegasus XL air-launched rocket was airborne and attached to the belly of the company’s L-1011 Stargazer carrier jet - and aborted while approaching the drop zone some 200 miles (320 km) off shore of Daytona Beach, FL over the Atlantic Ocean.
Hopes by the team to try once again 24 hours later on Nov. 8 were dashed when time ran out to ensure a successful flight of Pegasus & ICON on the last date in the current window of opportunity on the Eastern Range – Space UpClose confirmed with the team.
Setting a new launch date after Nov. 8 is complicated by the fact that the Eastern Range is not available for roughly a week for regular maintenance work as well as the fact that SpaceX has the range booked for a static test fire this Sunday, Nov.11 ahead of a launch of their Falcon 9 rocket slated for no earlier than Nov. 15.
Enjoy our Space UpClose photo gallery of ICON, Pegasus XL rocket and L-1011 Stargazer direct at the Skid Strip.
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER & CAPE CANAVERAL AIR FORCE STATION, FL – The oft delayed launch of NASA’s ICON ionospheric science exploration satellite has been scrubbed yet again by NASA and Northrop Grumman due to a recurring troublesome glitch with the pesky Pegasus XL rocket that surfaced less than 30 minutes before the planned overnight launch in the wee hours of Wednesday, Nov. 7 at 3:05 a.m. EST - potentially resulting in a weeks long postponement as investigators hunt for clues to the mysterious spurious signals.
No new launch target date has been set by the NASA and Northrop Grumman team as they renew an investigation to identify the “root cause” and evaluate fixes for the continuing appearance of insidious off nominal data signatures seen while the Pegasus XL air-launched rocket was airborne and attached to the belly of the company’s L-1011 Stargazer carrier jet - and aborted while approaching the drop zone some 200 miles (320 km) off shore of Daytona Beach, FL over the Atlantic Ocean.
Hopes by the team to try once again 24 hours later on Nov. 8 were dashed when time ran out to ensure a successful flight of Pegasus & ICON on the last date in the current window of opportunity on the Eastern Range – Space UpClose confirmed with the team.
Setting a new launch date after Nov. 8 is complicated by the fact that the Eastern Range is not available for roughly a week for regular maintenance work as well as the fact that SpaceX has the range booked for a static test fire this Sunday, Nov.11 ahead of a launch of their Falcon 9 rocket slated for no earlier than Nov. 15.
Enjoy our Space UpClose photo gallery of ICON, Pegasus XL rocket and L-1011 Stargazer direct at the Skid Strip.
 |
Northrop Grumman’s L-1011
Stargazer aircraft is on the runway at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station
Skid Strip, FL on Nov. 2, 2018. The company’s air-launched Pegasus XL rocket containing
NASA’s ICON Ionospheric Connection Explorer satellite is attached to the belly beneath
the aircraft. Credit: Ken
Kremer/kenkremer.com/spaceupclose.com
|
The Nov. 7 launch attempt came amidst a data review of the air
launched Pegasus XL rocket systems to confirm whether it was really ready to
carry ICON to orbit.
Stargazer was soaring aloft and preparing to drop deploy Pegasus at an altitude of about 39,000 feet (12,000 meters) over the open Atlantic Ocean on an easterly heading of 105.0 degrees and 27 degree inclination to the equator – until the launch abort was called.
ICON is NASA’s new science mission to study the Earth’s ionosphere – the tenuous upper atmospheric layer at the ‘frontier of space’ forming the dynamic boundary where Earth’s weather meets space weather.
“NASA and Northrop Grumman are continuing to investigate the off-nominal data observed during the Pegasus XL rocket’s Nov. 7 launch attempt for the agency’s Ionospheric Connection Explorer, or ICON, mission,” NASA said in a statement.
“The next launch attempt will be evaluated once the investigation is complete.”
Stargazer was soaring aloft and preparing to drop deploy Pegasus at an altitude of about 39,000 feet (12,000 meters) over the open Atlantic Ocean on an easterly heading of 105.0 degrees and 27 degree inclination to the equator – until the launch abort was called.
ICON is NASA’s new science mission to study the Earth’s ionosphere – the tenuous upper atmospheric layer at the ‘frontier of space’ forming the dynamic boundary where Earth’s weather meets space weather.
“NASA and Northrop Grumman are continuing to investigate the off-nominal data observed during the Pegasus XL rocket’s Nov. 7 launch attempt for the agency’s Ionospheric Connection Explorer, or ICON, mission,” NASA said in a statement.
“The next launch attempt will be evaluated once the investigation is complete.”
 |
Up Close view of Northrop
Grumman’s air-launched Pegasus XL rocket containing NASA’s ICON Ionospheric Connection
Explorer satellite attached to belly beneath the company’s L-1011 Stargazer
aircraft that deploys the probe at 39,000 feet. Seen here on the runway of the
Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Skid Strip, FL, on Nov. 2, 2018. No new date
set yet after launch
scrub on Nov. 7, 2018. Credit: Ken
Kremer/kenkremer.com/spaceupclose.com
|
NASA’s $252 million Ionospheric Connection
Explorer (ICON) research satellite mission
is nestled inside the nose cone of the Pegasus XL rocket that’s cradled at the
belly of the Northrop Grumman L-1011 carrier jet named ‘Stargazer’ – the very last of its kind
still flying in the world.
The quoted cost covers the ICON satellite, Pegasus launch and missions operations for the baselined 2 years long Earth science mission.
The quoted cost covers the ICON satellite, Pegasus launch and missions operations for the baselined 2 years long Earth science mission.
 |
Illustration depicts
NASA’s Ionospheric Connection Explorer, or ICON, satellite that will study the
frontier of space: the dynamic zone high in our atmosphere where terrestrial
weather from below meets space weather from above. Credit: NASA
|
The refrigerator-sized ICON weighs 634 pounds (288 kg) and measures 76 inches long and 42 inches wide.
ICON is encapsulated inside the Pegasus nose cone. The rocket is 57 feet (17 meters) long, 4.2 meters wing diameter and weighs 52,920 pounds (24,000 kg).
 |
Illustration shows flight profile of NASA ICON Ionospheric Connection Explorer satellite launch
by Pegasus XL rocket air-dropped from Northrop Grumman L-1011 carrier jet.
Credit: NASA/Northrop Grumman
|
This week’s lengthy launch postponement is another in a long string – BUT ensuring a safe and successful launch and mission is always the absolute top priority!
The team will now stand down for an indefinite period.
NASA and Northrop Grumman officials held a Launch Readiness Review (LRR) on Tuesday of this week to determine the Pegasus rockets fitness for flight and whether the launch will proceed as planned this week, officials told Space Up Close during a media tour of the rocket and L-1011 carrier aircraft at the Skid Strip launch site on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Friday, Nov. 2.
The ICON spacecraft itself has been healthy throughout, reports NASA.
The Nov. 7 launch attempt of ICON was aborted about an hour after takeoff “due to off-nominal data observed on the Pegasus XL rocket, during the captive carry flight,” said NASA.
The ICON mission was originally planned to launch in 2017 but delayed due to mishandling of the rocket motors. Since than additional delays were caused by anomalous data signatures with the Pegasus rocket that were detected while the L-1011 was ferrying the probe in flight from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Ca.
“We’ve had some Pegasus issues and are still working on them,” Omar Baez, Sr. Launch Director, Launch Services Program, NASA Kennedy Space Center, told Space UpClose in an interview at the Skid Strip.
“When we brought the plane over from Vandenberg it was powered up and we saw some signatures on the Pegasus launch vehicle that did not make us happy. So we have taken the time to change out some components and try to exonerate the issues - and are doing some analysis.”
Originally the root cause was traced to a faulty sensor, which was replaced. But the off-nominal data reading recurred forcing further data reviews and launch postponements.
“We are still working on the exact root cause and trying to recreate the issues we saw in the operating environment at altitude,” Baez explained.
The flight and rocket teams decided to conduct another test flight of the combined L-1011/Pegasus XL/ICON last Sunday to collect and assess data readings during a 4-hour, 45-minute flight that tested the aircraft’s systems prior to launch.
“We did a test flight last Sunday We want to make sure it’s
safe to fly. We didn’t see the problem
again but we are still analyzing the data,” Baez elaborated.
“We did a lot of work and it passed the review. But there
is still a lot more work to be done. It takes time to analyze the data and
absord the whole picture and convince people its safe to fly.”
“The problem was with equipment in the control system - that
was very similar to what we saw earlier. It’s taken more time than expected. So
we are analyzing that.”
“We thought we had it licked but didn’t. So we are working
the issue further to make sure it doesn’t have us licked.”
 |
Cockpit view of Northrop
Grumman’s L-1011 Stargazer aircraft slated to launch air-dropped
Pegasus XL rocket and NASA ICON research satellite. Credit: Ken
Kremer/kenkremer.com/spaceupclose.com
|
The
L-1011 Stargazer was cruising to a target drop zone box about 200 miles (320 km) off the
east coast of Daytona Beach Nov. 7, when the launch was aborted at about 2:40 a.m.
ET.
“We will fly the airplane in a race track pattern to the
drop point. That drop point is about 200 nautical miles east of Daytona,” said
Baez.
The drop was slated for about 3:05 a.m. EST Nov. 7 if all
had gone well.
“ICON orbits at an operational altitude of 575 km - and the
instruments are all looking down in a horizontal orientation all the time. Except the ion meter which makes measurements
at the orbiting altitude,” said Robert Lockwood, Program Director, Science & Environmental
Satellites, Northrop Grumman, in an interview with Space UpClose at the Skid
Strip.
ICON will study the ionosphere – “the mixed layer of charged and neutral particles extending from about 50 to 360 miles above Earth’s surface, through which radio communications and GPS signals travel, and the processes there that can distort or even disrupt these signals. Knowledge gleaned from this mission will aid in mitigating its effects on satellites and communications technology worldwide.”
During a baselined 2-year-long mission, ICON will explore the turbulent upper atmospheric ionosphere zone at the interface between the Earth’s terrestrial weather below and space weather above where giant winds whip up the particles – ionized by solar radiation.
The ionosphere is a “dynamic zone high in Earth’s atmosphere can be a source of great beauty such as the aurora, but can also be disruptive to radio communications and satellites and astronaut health. ICON will help determine the physical processes at play in this “frontier of space,” thus paving the way for mitigating their effects on our technology, communications systems and society.”
ICON was built by Northrop Grumman and is based on the LEOStar-2 bus.
The science operations team is led by the University of California, Berkeley. The probe is equipped with a suite four science instruments that will track changes physical and chemical properties of the neutral and charged atmospheric particles; MIGHTI, EUV, FUV and IVM.
“The ICON mission is looking at the interaction of the ionosphere and the charged layer of particles at the top of the atmosphere with space weather,” Lockwood explained.
“It has 4 instruments altogether including two UV instruments [EUV & FUV], an in situ ion velocity meter [IVM] to measure the speed of charged particles, and MIGHTI to measure the speed and temperature of particles in the neutral atmosphere.”
“We know there are effects and correlation with whats happening in the atmosphere and weather. But we don’t really know why.”
“So the science we are doing with ICON is are making measurements to understand how the weather systems effect the profile in the ionosphere.”
Overall this mission marks the 44th launch of Pegasus XL since the maiden flight in 1990.
 |
Northrop
Grumman’s L-1011 Stargazer aircraft is
on the runway at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Skid Strip, FL on Nov. 2,
2018. The company’s air-launched Pegasus XL rocket encapsulating NASA’s ICON Ionospheric
Connection Explorer satellite is attached to the belly beneath the aircraft as
ground crews process for launch. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/spaceupclose.com
|
ICON will study the ionosphere – “the mixed layer of charged and neutral particles extending from about 50 to 360 miles above Earth’s surface, through which radio communications and GPS signals travel, and the processes there that can distort or even disrupt these signals. Knowledge gleaned from this mission will aid in mitigating its effects on satellites and communications technology worldwide.”
During a baselined 2-year-long mission, ICON will explore the turbulent upper atmospheric ionosphere zone at the interface between the Earth’s terrestrial weather below and space weather above where giant winds whip up the particles – ionized by solar radiation.
The ionosphere is a “dynamic zone high in Earth’s atmosphere can be a source of great beauty such as the aurora, but can also be disruptive to radio communications and satellites and astronaut health. ICON will help determine the physical processes at play in this “frontier of space,” thus paving the way for mitigating their effects on our technology, communications systems and society.”
ICON was built by Northrop Grumman and is based on the LEOStar-2 bus.
The science operations team is led by the University of California, Berkeley. The probe is equipped with a suite four science instruments that will track changes physical and chemical properties of the neutral and charged atmospheric particles; MIGHTI, EUV, FUV and IVM.
“The ICON mission is looking at the interaction of the ionosphere and the charged layer of particles at the top of the atmosphere with space weather,” Lockwood explained.
“It has 4 instruments altogether including two UV instruments [EUV & FUV], an in situ ion velocity meter [IVM] to measure the speed of charged particles, and MIGHTI to measure the speed and temperature of particles in the neutral atmosphere.”
“We know there are effects and correlation with whats happening in the atmosphere and weather. But we don’t really know why.”
“So the science we are doing with ICON is are making measurements to understand how the weather systems effect the profile in the ionosphere.”
Overall this mission marks the 44th launch of Pegasus XL since the maiden flight in 1990.
The
last Pegasus launch took place in December 2016 for the launch of NASA’s $157
million hurricane forecasting mission. Space UpClose was on hand – my photos
below.
Pegasus XL was the world’s first air-launched rocket
launching satellites to orbit. It utilizes the L-1011 carrier aircraft as an “air-breathing
reusable first stage” according to Northrop Grumman.
 |
An Orbital ATK (nowe Northrop
Grumman) L-1011 “Stargazer” aircraft carrying a Pegasus XL rocket with NASA’s
CYGNSS spacecraft takes off from the Skid Strip at Cape Canaveral Air Force
Station, Florida on Dec. 15, 2016 and successfully launches the spacecraft. Credit:
Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/spaceupclose.com
|
ICON is a NASA Explorer class
mission managed by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD.
Watch for Ken’s continuing onsite coverage of NASA, SpaceX, ULA,
Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and more space and mission reports direct
from the Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida and
Wallops Flight Facility, Virginia.
Stay tuned here for Ken's continuing Earth and Planetary science
and human spaceflight news: www.kenkremer.com –www.spaceupclose.com –
twitter @ken_kremer – email: ken at kenkremer.com
Dr. Kremer is a research scientist
and journalist based in the KSC area.
………….
Ken’s photos are for sale and he is available for lectures and outreach events
Ken’s photos are for sale and he is available for lectures and outreach events
 |
NASA ICON team
pose for group shot with ICON ionospheric exploration probe encapsulated inside Northrop Grumman Pegasus XL rocket
nestled beneath last flying L-1011 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Skid Strip, FL, on Nov. 2, 2018. Team: NASA, Northrop Grumman, UC
Berkeley. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/spaceupclose.com
|
 |
Robert Lockwood, Northrop
Grumman Science Satellite Program Director (l), and Ken Kremer, Space
UpClose pose with NASA ICON logo in front of Pegasus XL rocket attached to belly
of L-1011 carrier aircraft at the Cape
Canaveral Air Force Station Skid Strip, FL, on Nov. 2, 2018. Credit:
Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/spaceupclose.com
|
No comments:
Post a Comment