NASA’s CYGNSS mission, an attempt to send eight micro satellites into space on a single launch vehicle, Pegasus XL rocket, has been delayed for the second time. The first launch was scheduled for Monday, but had to be delayed due to a faulty hydraulic pump.
The mission was later rescheduled for Wednesday, just to get delayed yet again due to an issue with flight parameter data. As of now, a new date for the launch has not been decided.
Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System mission or the CYGNSS, aims to study the various aspects of tropical storms and hurricanes from orbit to understand how these cyclones form.
It will study the relationship between ocean surface properties, moist atmospheric thermodynamics, radiation and convective dynamics to determine how a tropical cyclone forms and whether or not it will strengthen, depending upon different natural phenomenon. This in turn will advance forecasting and tracking methods.
And that is not it. Thanks to this system, scientists will be able to probe key air-sea interaction processes that take place near the inner core of the storms for the first time ever.
What is novel about this satellite launch is that these eight micro satellites won’t be shot into space on top of a rocket taking off vertically from a launch pad on the ground. Instead, the launch will take place while in the air. The Pegasus XL rocket, which is developed by Orbital ATK, is made to launch after being dropped from the underside of an airplane. Sci-Fi stuff sure, but that is how it works.
Here are the steps that will follow into the launch of the satellites:
- Orbital’s aircraft dubbed Stargazer L-1011 will take off from Cape Canaveral in Florida and carry the rocket to a drop zone over the Atlantic Ocean, which is at a height of 39,000 feet.
- At this point, Pegasus XL rocket will be released and the main rocket motors will be ignited after five seconds.
- The rocket will then ignite two additional motors to get to the right altitude and orientation for the eight spacecraft to deploy properly into lower Earth orbit.
- After that the spacecraft goes in two different directions, separating opposing pairs of CYGNSS that will then probe separately every 30 seconds from the deployment module — a tube-like structure that the satellites will remain connected to throughout launch.
- 10 minutes after one satellite deploys, it will automatically open up its solar arrays to get energy from the Sun.
- The total time for the entire process, starting from the launch of the rocket to the last spacecraft deployment is 14 and a half minutes.
For now, the process has been put to a halt for the second time. Let’s hope the technical error is fixed and the satellites get to see some action as soon as possible.
