Fri, Apr 28, 2006
Sixth Time The Charm For NASA
After a series of delays that forced NASA engineers and
scientists to deal with Sisyphean levels of patience -- and, it
seemed at times, futility -- the Boeing Delta II rocket carrying
the CloudSat and CALIPSO cloud-analyzing satellites launched Friday
morning from Vandenberg AFB in California.
It was a perfect launch, just after 3:00 am local time Friday
morning. The flight of the two satellites also marked the 50th
successful launch for NASA's Launch Services Program.
The CALIPSO and CloudSat spacecraft are a pair of
Earth-observing satellites designed to study clouds from orbit. The
Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation
(CALIPSO) satellite is equipped to examine the role that clouds and
airborne particles play in regulating Earth's weather, climate, and
air quality.
CloudSat (right) is an
experimental satellite using radar to detect clouds and aerosols
from space. CloudSat has special significance as the latest
spacecraft poised to join NASA's "A-Train" constellation of
environmental satellites. The satellite's Cloud-Profiling Radar is
more than 1,000 times more sensitive than typical weather radar,
and can detect clouds and distinguish between cloud particles and
precipitation.
Friday's launch marked one week since the mission's original
launch date, which had been postponed one day due to a
communications glitch between controllers in the US and France.
Five more delays followed... due to weather, the lack of a
refueling aircraft for a tracking plane, and a suspect temperature
sensor.
After an erroneous sensor reading bumped Thursday's launch
attempt, scientists determined unusual temperature readings
observed from the sensor on the Boeing Delta II rocket's second
stage, were primarily the result of higher temperature
pressurization rates -- and were not indicative of any defect in
the sensor.
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