Agency Still Hopeful The Spacecraft Can Lift Off On Schedule

NASA and Boeing are reviewing an incident that occurred during final spacecraft closeout activities on the Tracking Data Relay Satellite (TDRS-M) mission at Astrotech Space Operations in Titusville, Florida, on July 14, involving the Omni S-band antenna. The mission team is developing a plan to assess flight acceptance and the schedule forward.

These additional activities are under evaluation for a planned TDRS-M launch Aug. 3, 2017, on an Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

Orbiting 22,300 miles above Earth, the TDRS spacecraft provide near-constant communication links between the ground and orbiting satellites, such as Hubble, and the International Space Station.

The TDRS-M arrived in Florida June 23, and was transported to the Space Operations Center. It is the latest spacecraft destined for the agency's constellation of communications satellites that allows nearly continuous contact with orbiting spacecraft ranging from the International Space Station and Hubble Space Telescope to the array of scientific observatories.

Started in the early 1970's, the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS) comprises the space segment of the Space Network. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center manages the development and operations of the TDRS satellites. The current Tracking and Data Relay Satellite configuration consists of nine in-orbit satellites (four first generation, three second generation and two third generation satellites) distributed to provide near continuous information relay service.

(Source: NASA. Image from file)

FMI: www.nasa.gov