OT: Sixth time the charm for Titan 2-Coriolis mission

NSS LaunchWatch

Jim Spellman
NATIONAL SPACE SOCIETY
Western Spaceport Chapter
Tel/Fax: 760-379-2503
E-mail: WSpaceport@...
Internet: www.hometown.aol.com/wspaceport/Welcome.html
www.nss.org

Titan 2 finally launches Coriolis mission on sixth attempt

VANDENBERG AFB, CA -- With High Wind advisories being issued across much of the state of California for the notorious Santa Ana conditions that has driven temperatures into the low 90's in the Los Angeles basin, the weather proved perfect as the sixth try turned out to be the charm for launching rockets.

A Lockheed Martin Titan 2 rocket carrying the $224 million Coriolis research satellite for the Air Force and Navy finally lifted off from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California at 6:19 a.m. PST. The mission has been scrubbed five times since mid-December due to bad weather and technical problems.

Clear predawn skies provided near-unlimited viewing throughout much of southern California area and its inland interior as the vehicle powered it's way into space.

Separation of the first and second stages could be clearly seen from Lake Isabella in eastern Kern County -- as well as the protective launch shrouds -- no doubt giving some viewers pause to believe a UFO was flying over the Los Angeles area. Three individual segments flew in a triangle-shaped formation, glowing and twinkling in and out of sight -- with the fourth trailing an exhaust plume and falling downward in a long, gradual arc -- as the missile caught the rays of the morning Sun that had yet to rise over the eastern horizon.

The joint government and industry project dubbed Coriolis has put a Navy Windsat Radiometer and an Air Force Solar Mass Ejection Imager in a low Earth, sun synchronous orbit.

The Windsat radiometer will provide meteorological information on wind speed and direction at or near the surface of the ocean and the Solar Mass Ejection Imager will provide early warning of coronal mass ejections that affect communications and power distribution systems on earth.

The next mission on track to launch later this week is a Boeing Delta II carrying NASA's ICESat and CHIPSat mission. Liftoff from NASA's Space Launch Complex 2 (SLC-2) at Vandenberg Air Force Base in northern Santa Barbara County, CA is tentatively scheduled as early as January 10, but will most likely occur on January 11, due to support issues for a Tomahawk missile test set for Wednesday from the Western Test Range. The 45-minute launch window extends from 4:45 p.m. - 6:30 p.m. PST.

NASA's Earth Science Enterprise spacecraft ICESat is a 661-pound satellite that will revolutionize our understanding of ice and its role in global climate change and how we protect and understand our home planet. It will help scientists determine if the global sea level is rising or falling. It will look at the ice sheets that blanket the Earth's poles to see if they are growing or shrinking. It will assist in developing an understanding of how changes in the Earth's atmosphere and climate effect polar ice masses and global sea level. The Geoscience Laser Altimeter System (GLAS) is the sole instrument on the satellite.

ICESat will be launched into a polar orbit of 375 statute miles. It will be a benchmark for the NASA Earth Observing System (EOS) series of spacecraft, supporting other satellites in this series now in orbit, and will complement other EOS spacecraft currently under development.

CHIPSat, a suitcase-size 131-pound satellite, will provide invaluable information into the origin, physical processes and properties of the hot gas contained in the interstellar medium. This can provide important clues about the formation and evolution of galaxies since the interstellar medium literally contains the seeds of future stars. When the gas cools and collapses, the gas forms clumps that can evolve into stars and planets. One of the biggest puzzles in astrophysics is the process that turns this very diffuse, hot and cold gas and dust into stars. CHIPSat will be launched into a polar orbit of 350 statute miles.

NASA TELEVISION AND VOICE CIRCUIT COVERAGE

NASA TV will carry the prelaunch news conference starting at 11 a.m. PST on Thursday, Jan. 9. An ICESat/CHIPSat video package will be broadcast following the press conference.

On launch day, NASA TV coverage of the countdown will begin at 3 p.m. PST and conclude at L+90 minutes after both spacecraft have separated from the Delta II launch vehicle.

NASA TV is carried on GE-2, transponder 9C located at 85 degrees West longitude. Audio only will be available on the "V" circuit numbers that may be accessed directly by dialing 321/867- 1220, 1240, 1260, or 7135.

NASA TV coverage of the ICESat/CHIPSat launch will also be webcast on the NASA-KSC Home Page at:

http://www.ksc.nasa.gov

Choose "KSC Live Video Feeds" followed by "NASA Television Coverage."

NASA ICESAT/CHIPSAT NEWS CENTER

The ICESat/CHIPSat News Center at the NASA Vandenberg Resident Office will be staffed beginning Wednesday, Jan. 8 and may be reached at 805/605-3051. A recorded status report will also be available at that time by dialing 805/734-2693.

Status reports and other launch information are available on the World Wide Web at:

http://www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov/kscpao/kscpao.htm

http://www.spaceflightnow.com

http://www.spaceref.tv

NASA MEDIA CONTACTS:

David Steitz/Nancy Neal
NASA Headquarters
202/358-1600

George H. Diller
NASA Kennedy Space Center
321/867-2468

Lynn Chandler
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
301/286-2806

Keith Koehler
NASA Wallops Flight Facility
757/824-1579