Anonymous
(Photo by an edhat reader)
By an edhat subscriber
After two launch cancellations, one due to boats in the launch area and the second due to high winds a Delta II rocket was launched from Space Complex 2 Saturday morning at 1:47 am.
The payload consisted of a NOAA weather satellite, designated JPSS-1 and five cube satellites designed and made by students from MIT, Northwest University Nazarene, ID, Vanderbilt University, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and the Austrailian Department of Defense. The JPSS-1 satellite will orbit more than 500 miles above the earth and provide weather data for at least seven years.
The cubesats will measure weather data, monitor ionizing radiation effects on integrated circuits, measure satellite orbit decay and calibrate over the radar data. One more Delta II launch vehicle is scheduled after which other launch vehicles will be used. The rocket used six booster which accelerated the half million pound rocket faster than the speed of sound in 33 seconds.
This 78 second time exposure was made 45 miles from the launch site in Goleta, California.
By Vandenberg Air Force Base
A United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket carrying a NASA/National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration satellite was successfully launched from Space Launch Complex-2 here Saturday, Nov. 18, at 1:47 a.m. PST.
The Delta II rocket carried the first satellite of the Joint Polar Satellite System.
Col. Greg Wood, 30th Space Wing vice commander, was the space launch commander.
The Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) is the Nation’s advanced series of polar-orbiting environmental satellites. JPSS represents significant technological and scientific advancements in observations used or severe weather prediction and environmental monitoring. This data is critical to the timeliness and accuracy of forecasts three to seven days in advance of a severe weather event. JPSS is a collaborative effort between NOAA and NASA.
