Posted on 07/07/2007 2:22:52 PM PDT by bd476
Washington, July 8 (Xinhua): The launch of NASA's Dawn spacecraft to explore two massive asteroids has been rescheduled to no earlier than Monday, July 9, NASA announced.
The launch window for Dawn on Monday will be 3:56 p.m. to 4:26 p.m. EDT (1956 GMT to 2026 GMT). It will be sent into space by a Delta 2 rocket.
The delay was prompted by difficulties with an aircraft that would gather data signals from the rocket during launch, and the availability of a tracking ship, NASA said in a statement.
Also, the weather forecast at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida raised concerns that a critical fuel loading operation would not be able to be completed Friday.
The spacecraft which had been originally set to launch Saturday was called off because thunderstorms and lightning at the launch pad prevented loading its fuel.
Seeking clues about the birth of the solar system, Dawn will first visit Vesta in 2011. And then in 2015, it will meet up with Ceres.
Space.com
NASA's Asteroid Probe Set for Monday Launch
By Tariq Malik
Staff Writer
posted: 6 July 2007
3:43 p.m. ET
NASA is hoping for a Monday liftoff for the Dawn spacecraft, a probe bound to visit the two largest asteroids in the solar system.
Dawn is now set to ride a United Launch Alliance Delta 2 rocket into space July 9 at 3:56 p.m. EDT (1956 GMT) after new issues scrapped plans for a Sunday liftoff.
Mechanical difficulties with a telemetry relay aircraft, combined with the unavailability of a tracking ship and an unfavorable weather forecast for rocket fueling, delayed plans for a Sunday launch, NASA officials said. Weather forecasts for Monday improve to a 60 percent chance of favorable liftoff conditions, they added.
Dawn's planned Monday launch will kick off an eight-year trip to Vesta and Ceres, the two largest space rocks in the Asteroid Belt that rings the Sun between the planets Mars and Jupiter. The $449 million mission will mark NASA's first to orbit two different planetary bodies, and will study space rocks that formed about 4.6 billion years ago while the solar system was still young.
"What's exciting to me is that this is comparative planetology at its best," said David Lindstrom, NASA's Dawn program scientist, during a Friday briefing. "We truly are going back in time; back to the dawn of the solar system."
Powered by an ion drive, Dawn is due to enter orbit around Vesta in October 2011 and use three onboard instruments to study the space rock's surface before heading off towards a February 2015 orbital rendezvous with Ceres.
Vesta is a dense body scarred by an ancient impact that, researchers believe, sent a myriad of small meteorites falling to Earth. Ceres, with its spherical shape and a diameter about 600 miles (almost 1,000 kilometers) wide, is so large it is considered to be a dwarf planet and may sport a subterranean cache of ice or water, mission scientists added.
Examining the differences between dense, bright Vesta and the dimmer, less-dense Ceres may yield new answers for researchers studying the formation of planets, NASA officials said.
Dawn's ability to shift from one target to another hinges on its three xenon ion-driven thrusters, which allow the probe to maneuver with less propellant than that required for chemical-based rockets.
"We couldn't do this mission without the ion drive," said Mark Sykes, a Dawn mission co-investigator from the Planetary Science Institute at the University of Arizona. "It's an extremely flexible way of moving around the solar system."
NASA now has until July 19, a window eight days longer than first announced, to launch Dawn before standing down to allow preparations for the planned Aug. 3 liftoff of Phoenix, the space agency's next Mars lander mission.
"We're kind of just threading the needle with these two launches," Kurt Lindstrom, NASA's Dawn program executive, told SPACE.com.
The next opportunity to launch the mission arises this fall. By the end of October the distance between Vesta and Ceres - which are currently relatively close to one another - will begin increasing, mission managers said, adding that the two space rocks will near each other again in 15 years.
I’ve read that July 15th is the earliest launch date now.
http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/070707_dawn_delay.html
http://spaceflightnow.com/delta/d325/status.html
Bummer, originally it could have been launched while the Daytona race was on.. quite the spectacle.
NASA’s umanned program does really well. It’s the manned program that’s been ruined by ignorant, grandstanding politicians.
News flash...it’s being delayed until September.
http://spaceflightnow.com/delta/d325/status.html
Dang.. They had a launch window ‘til July 19th too. ouch.
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NASA Latest News
July 7, 2007
Dawn Launch Delayed
Image above: The Dawn spacecraft is shown before it was encapsulated inside a protective fairing or cover atop a Delta II rocket. The spacecaft's solar array wings are folded so it can fit inside the nose section. Photo credit: NASA/Amanda Diller
07.06.07
The Dawn spacecraft launch has been postponed until no earlier than Sunday, July 15. (Updated July 6, 9 p.m.)
Artist concept showing the Dawn spacecraft with Ceres and Vesta.
Image credit: William K. Hartmann Courtesy of UCLA
NASA Mission Pages Dawn Latest News
There is a headline on Spaceflight Now and there is also one on the NASA main page, but so far, there is no further story about the delay on the NASA Dawn Mission front page other than "Launch date: No Earlier Than July 15."
Edcoil, I don't know what your connection to NASA has been yet I understand your frustration.
However, in this case and with all due respect, I don't think one can really blame NASA for unfavorable weather conditions forecast for the scheduled launch time, nor for the unavailability of the necessary tracking USAF aircraft and/or ship, nor for the small window of opportunity for the launch due to necessary trajectory path for the slingshot maneuver with Earth's persistent rotation.
Spaceflight Now
Mission Status Center
by Justin Ray
FRIDAY, JULY 6, 2007
2355 GMT (7:55 p.m. EDT)
Exerpt:
"...Problems with the tracking plane and delays getting a substitute ship into the Atlantic Ocean region has been a source of headaches for the launch officials. Either the aircraft or the instrumented ship is required to receive telemetry from the rocket during the second and third stage firings off the west-central coast of Africa.
Without a mobile tracking asset in place, engineers would have no insight or data while those critical events of the launch occur.
NASA is racing against the calendar because Dawn's current launch opportunity closes July 19, giving just a few days left to get the spacecraft on the required trajectory to fly past Mars for a sling-shot maneuver and then into the asteroid belt for its rendezvous with Vesta and Ceres over the next eight years..."
Spaceflight Now
Here's the updated article from NASA:
NASA
July 7, 2007
By: Dwayne Brown
Headquarters, Washington
NASA Mission to Asteroid Belt Rescheduled for September Launch
WASHINGTON - The launch of NASA's Dawn spacecraft, a mission that will explore the two largest objects in the asteroid belt in an effort to answer questions about the formation of our solar system, has been rescheduled to September.
The decision was made today to move the launch to September after careful review by NASA's Science Mission Directorate officials, working with Dawn mission managers, the Dawn principal investigator, and with the concurrence of the NASA Administrator.
Primary reasons for the move were a combination of highly limited launch opportunities for Dawn in July and the potential impact to launch preparations for the upcoming Phoenix Mars Lander mission, set for early August. A September launch for Dawn maintains all of the science mission goals a July launch would have provided.
NASA will hold a news briefing at 11:30 a.m. EDT on Monday, July 9, to preview the launch of the Phoenix Mars Lander. Prior to the Phoenix presentations, media will have the opportunity to learn in more detail about the rescheduled Dawn launch. The briefing will originate from the NASA Headquarters auditorium, 300 E St., S.W., Washington. It will air live on NASA Television and be streamed online at:
NASA TV
The Phoenix mission, scheduled for liftoff in early August from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., will examine whether the icy soil on Mars could have been a habitable environment for microbial life.
For more information about the Phoenix mission, visit:
Phoenix
For more information about Dawn, visit:
Dawn
NASA Mission to Asteroid Belt Rescheduled for September Launch
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