Wallops Flight Facility Tac Sat2Minotaur Mission December 11
Wallops Flight Facility Tac. Sat-2/Minotaur Mission December 11, 2006 All Hands Briefing November 16, 2006
Wallops Flight Facility Wallops Orbital Launch History • Worldwide: • 20 Scout missions (Wallops) • 9 Pegasus (1 mobile from Canary • Islands) • 1 Conestoga (Wallops) • 1 Athena (mobile from Kodiak, AK) • Two most recent orbital ground launches from Wallops Island: • Oct 1995 Conestoga • Dec 1985 Scout-G • The first launch involving the Mid-Atlantic Regional Space Port (MARS) and their Pad 0 B
Wallops Flight Facility
Wallops Flight Facility The Minotaur Rocket • 4 Rocket motor stages – 2 refurbished Minuteman II stages – 2 commercial Orbital Sciences Corp. stages • 69 feet tall vehicle • 5 feet wide • 5 previous Minotaur launches were from Vandenberg AFB • 450 Minuteman Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs) were in service: highly reliable Minuteman launch from silo Minuteman in silo
Wallops Flight Facility Photos of the Dummy Minotaur I Fit-Check - Wallops in June 2005
Wallops Flight Facility Nov 7 - Stages 1 & 2 Roll Transfer in PPF
Wallops Flight Facility November 15 – Stages 1 & 2
Wallops Flight Facility Tac. Sat-2 Spacecraft • Developed by the Air Force Research Laboratory (Albuquerque, NM) – 814 pounds • Advanced Concept Technology Demonstration: 1. Rapid Design, Build, Test with a launch -ready spacecraft within 15 months 2. Responsive Launch, Checkout, Operations to include launch within one week of a callup 3. Militarily Significant Capability includes images sent directly to theater
Wallops Flight Facility Tac. Sat-2 Inertial Stellar Compass • Draper Laboratory’s miniaturized star camera and gyro system enables a spacecraft to continuously determine its attitude or the direction in which it is pointing. • Funded by NASA's New Millennium Program
Wallops Flight Facility Gene. Sat-1 Secondary Spacecraft • NASA Ames Research Center experiment (10 pounds) • Fully automated, miniature spaceflight system provides life support for small living things • Looks for genetic changes in bacteria during spaceflight. • Knowledge may contribute to safe, long-duration space missions by humans
Wallops Flight Facility Stages 3 and 4 Pre-Integration
Wallops Flight Facility Stages 3 & 4 Mated
Wallops Flight Facility Nov 2: Spacecraft Arrives
Wallops Flight Facility Tac. Sat-2 Spacecraft
Wallops Flight Facility Spacecraft Integrated onto Stage 4
Wallops Flight Facility PPOD (with Gene. Sat inside) Integrated onto Stage 4
Wallops Flight Facility Tac. Sat-2/Minotaur Trajectory
Wallops Flight Facility Coquina
Wallops Flight Facility Antigua
Wallops Flight Facility
Wallops Flight Facility Cleared Hazard Areas Nominal flight path
Wallops Flight Facility Minotaur I Hazard Area
Wallops Flight Facility Wallops uses a Flight Termination System to protect the public • If the rocket is going outside the cleared hazard areas it will be destroyed. – Multiple data sources (electronic and visual) provide data to the NASA Range Safety Officer to make the decision • Small explosive charges on each stage break up the rocket and the debris falls in the cleared hazard areas.
Wallops Flight Facility Flight Termination System Observers Minotaur I Command Transmitter Radar & Telemetry Tracking Range Control Center If the flight limits are violated, The Range Safety Officer will destroy the rocket.
Wallops Flight Facility Launch Day • Launch Window: 7 AM - 10 AM; like any launch, the launch date could slip. Launch days are Dec. 11 – 20. • 10 -minute trajectory from launch to orbital insertion • Viewing – NASA has no official viewing site; however, we recommend: – Visitor Center for NASA Families – Assateague Island open to the public at 6 a. m. (Southern end of Assateague Island will be closed to vehicles and pedestrians)
Wallops Flight Facility Keeping Track of the Mission • Before launch – Launch Status Line (757 -824 -2050) – www. wff. nasa. gov • Day of launch countdown status – There are several ways to keep track of the countdown on launch day – 760 AM (range of 5 to 10 miles from Visitor Center) – www. wff. nasa. gov (running status of count) – Local radio stations will provide updates (WESR, WVES, WCTG – thus far)
Wallops Flight Facility What’s Next? • April 2007: Near Field Infra. Red Experiment (NFIRE) - (Minotaur I) • October 2007: Tac. Sat-3 (Minotaur I)
DARPA/Falcon GSFC/Wallops Flight Facility • Air. Launch Quick. Reach – Approaching flight-demonstration decision – If confirmed, 1 st flight from WFF in 2008 – Orbital rocket deployed from C-17 • Space. X Falcon – 1 st flight failure in early 2006, from Kwajalein – 2 nd flight scheduled in December – Spacecraft is WFF-built technology, Demo 2 • Autonomous Flight Safety System • Low-Cost TDRSS Transmitter • Hypersonic Test Vehicle – Flight Test 3 & 4 scheduled from WFF – Probably launched on a Minotaur 1 in 2008 BEUnderwood - 28
GSFC/Wallops Flight Facility NASA Exploration • WFF Mobile Range likely to provide the reentry tracking & data services for CEV return from orbit • WFF to manufacture components of the Low. Impact Docking System • WFF partnering with La. RC to demonstrate inflatable aeroshells as decelerators for atmospheric reentry • WFF may serve as launch site for high altitude CEV abort testing mission in 2012 • Lunar missions carrying landers and orbiting communications satellites may be launched on Minotaur V vehicles launched from WFF BEUnderwood - 29
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