Tag: Earth Venture
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SpaceX selected to launch Intelsat telecom satellite, NASA pollution monitor
File photo of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station before a launch in 2018. Credit: SpaceX A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch an Intelsat communications satellite with a NASA-funded air pollution monitor to be positioned over the Americas in 2022, officials announced Tuesday. The Falcon 9 will take off…
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Flock of ‘microsats’ launched to measure winds inside hurricanes
Updated at 4:15 p.m. EST (2115 GMT) with acquisition of all eight satellites. A Pegasus XL rocket fires into space after dropping from the belly of Orbital ATK’s L-1011 carrier jet. Credit: NASA TV/Spaceflight Now A winged Orbital ATK Pegasus XL rocket dropped from the belly of a carrier jet off the east coast of…
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Hydraulic pump glitch scrubs Pegasus launch
Updated at 7:30 p.m. EST (0030 GMT). A camera on-board the L-1011 carrier plane shows the aft end of the Pegasus XL rocket in flight over the Atlantic Ocean Monday. Credit: NASA TV Trouble with a hydraulic pump needed to release Orbital ATK’s air-launched Pegasus XL rocket from its carrier jet Monday has delayed the…
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Pegasus XL launch timeline with NASA’s CYGNSS microsats
Orbital ATK’s Pegasus XL rocket will take about eight minutes to reach orbit with NASA’s eight CYGNSS weather research microsatellites, then comes deployment of the spacecraft more than 300 miles (500 kilometers) above Earth. The 51,000-pound (23-metric ton) rocket will drop from the belly of a modified L-1011 carrier plane, named Stargazer, flying on an…
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Live coverage: Pegasus rocket successfully fires into orbit
Live coverage of the countdown and launch of a Pegasus XL rocket rocket with NASA’s Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System. Text updates will appear automatically below; there is no need to reload the page. Follow us on Twitter. NASA’s live video stream begins at 1200 GMT (7 a.m. EST). Please ensure your browser is updated…
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Video: Inside the CYGNSS satellite factory and the Pegasus carrier aircraft
Updated before Thursday’s launch attempt. Spaceflight Now visited the CYGNSS production facility at the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio and the Pegasus XL rocket’s carrier plane at Cape Canaveral for rare looks at hardware that make NASA’s $157 million hurricane research mission possible. In the first video, CYGNSS integration and test manager Alan Henry…
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Photos: Orbital ATK’s temporary Pegasus home base at Cape Canaveral
Take a look around the L-1011 jetliner, Pegasus rocket, and ground support gear at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station’s Skid Strip for Monday’s scheduled launch of eight microsatellites to listen for winds inside hurricanes. NASA and Orbital ATK, the Pegasus rocket’s contractor, gave reporters and photographers a tour of the “hot pad” at the Cape Canaveral…
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NASA-funded satellite fleet could give hurricane forecasting a boost
Artist’s concept of the CYGNSS satellites deploying from the carrier module on the Pegasus rocket’s third stage. Credit: NASA/University of Michigan/SWRI Eight mini-satellites packed snug inside a Pegasus rocket slung under a modified jumbo jet will fire into orbit Monday off Florida’s East Coast, launching on a $157 million NASA mission that could help forecasters…
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Photos: Hurricane research satellites readied for launch
Eight miniature weather observatories, each the size of a piece of carry-on luggage, were installed on a specially-designed deployer module and mounted on the front end of an air-launched Pegasus XL rocket to prepare for Monday’s flight into orbit. The spacecraft are part of NASA’s Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System, or CYGNSS, a $157 million project…