1 / 29

TacSat-2/Minotaur Mission December 11, 2006

TacSat-2/Minotaur Mission December 11, 2006. All Hands Briefing November 16, 2006. 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)

barr
Download Presentation

TacSat-2/Minotaur Mission December 11, 2006

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript


  1. TacSat-2/Minotaur Mission December 11, 2006 All Hands Briefing November 16, 2006

  2. 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 0B

  3. 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

  4. Photos of the Dummy Minotaur I Fit-Check - Wallops in June 2005

  5. Nov 7 - Stages 1 & 2 Roll Transfer in PPF

  6. November 15 – Stages 1 & 2

  7. TacSat-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 the theater

  8. TacSat-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

  9. GeneSat-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

  10. Stages 3 and 4 Pre-Integration

  11. Stages 3 & 4 Mated

  12. Nov 2: Spacecraft Arrives

  13. TacSat-2 Spacecraft

  14. Spacecraft Integrated onto Stage 4

  15. PPOD (with GeneSat inside) Integrated onto Stage 4

  16. TacSat-2/Minotaur Trajectory

  17. Coquina

  18. Antigua

  19. Cleared Hazard Areas Nominal flight path

  20. Minotaur I Hazard Area

  21. 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.

  22. Flight Termination System Observers Radar & TelemetryTracking Minotaur I Command Transmitter Range Control Center If the flight limits are violated, The Range Safety Officer will destroy the rocket.

  23. 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)

  24. 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)

  25. What’s Next? • April 2007: Near Field InfraRed Experiment (NFIRE) - (Minotaur I) • October 2007: TacSat-3 (Minotaur I)

  26. DARPA/Falcon • AirLaunch QuickReach • Approaching flight-demonstration decision • If confirmed, 1st flight from WFF in 2008 • Orbital rocket deployed from C-17 • SpaceX Falcon • 1st flight failure in early 2006, from Kwajalein • 2nd flight scheduled in December • Spacecraft is WFF-built technology, Demo2 • 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

  27. 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 LaRC 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

More Related