Home » CYGNSS Mission Delayed After Flight Parameter Data Issue, Next Launch Attempt Pending Testing

CYGNSS Mission Delayed After Flight Parameter Data Issue, Next Launch Attempt Pending Testing

By  //  December 14, 2016

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SPACE COAST DAILY TV SPECIAL PRESENTATION

ABOVE VIDEO: NASA’s CYGNSS mission will begin with a launch into orbit aboard an Orbital ATK Pegasus. So instead of lifting straight into space from the ground, the rocket will be flown underneath an airliner to about 39,000 feet and released. After ignition, the Pegasus will soar away from the carrier aircraft, point its nose to the sky and burn through three stages to place the CYGNSS constellation of eight small satellites into orbit. Watch the launch live via Space Coast Daily TV’s Facebook Live stream beginning at 6:45 a.m., with launch set at 8:20 a.m.

BREVARD COUNTY • KENNEDY SPACE CENTER – The Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System (CYGNSS) mission was set to launch Wednesday at 8:20 a.m. from Cape Canaveral, Florida on an Orbital ATK Pegasus XL rocket. However, the launch is delayed once again due to a Flight Parameter Data Issue. 

Next launch attempt will be determined pending testing.

Monday, the launch was scrubbed due to a hydraulic system which operates the mechanism that releases the Pegasus rocket from the carrier aircraft. The hydraulic system functioned properly during the pre-flight checks of the airplane.

The current launch target allowed for a replacement L-1011 carrier aircraft component to arrive from Mojave, California, and was installed, as well as support the required crew rest requirements.

Orbital ATK’s Pegasus rocket gets its payloads into space just like a conventional rocket, but instead of lifting off from the ground, the Pegasus starts its trip already in the air.

That’s because a modified L-1011 airliner carries the Pegasus and its payload – CYGNSS in this case – to about 39,000 feet. Pegasus begins its solo flight by being released from the belly of the airliner.

Five seconds of free-fall ends when the solid-fueled first stage ignites. With its main, delta-shaped wing providing lift and a rudder and elevators on the back steering, the Pegasus noses up quickly and heads into orbit, discarding its first stage after leaving the thick portion of the atmosphere.

The CYGNSS mission will use radio signals from the GPS satellites to measure the wind speed of hurricanes near the ground in the tropics, between 35 degrees north and 35 degrees south where most hurricanes are born.

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“The mission will focus on surface winds,” said Christine Bonniksen, the CYGNSS program executive at NASA, during a press conference on Saturday at Kennedy Space Center.

“We can get information to better understand how those hurricanes grow.”

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NASA’s CYGNSS mission will begin with a launch into orbit aboard an Orbital ATK Pegasus. So instead of lifting straight into space from the ground, the rocket will be flown underneath an airliner to about 39,000 feet and released.
In the Kennedy Space Center’s Press Site auditorium, NASA and industry leaders speak to members of the media during a mission science briefing for the agency’s Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System, or CYGNSS, spacecraft. From left are: Sean Potter of NASA Communications; Dr. Chris Ruf, CYGNSS principal investigator, Department of Climate and Space Sciences and Engineering at the University of Michigan; Aaron Ridley, CYGNSS constellation scientist in the Climate and Space Department at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan; and Mary Morris, doctoral student in the Department of Climate and Space Sciences and Engineering at the University of Michigan. The eight CYGNSS satellites will make frequent and accurate measurements of ocean surface winds throughout the life cycle of tropical storms and hurricanes. The data will help scientists probe key air-sea interaction processes that take place near the core of storms, which are rapidly changing and play a crucial role in the beginning and intensification of hurricanes. (NASA image)