NASA Goddard Has More Than a Dozen Exciting Missions In Next Year

Tag : Polar Max

GREENBELT, Md. - NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, located inGreenbelt, Maryland, has the lead on many exciting space missionslaunching in the next year.
These missions include a final repair trip to upgrade the famousHubble Space Telescope and spacecraft to study powerful gamma-rays,the moon, the Sun, and Earth's weather and pollution. "This is oneof the busiest periods in the history of Goddard," said RickObenschain, acting director of Goddard.
The mission that kicked off the series of launches was CINDI.
-- The Coupled Ion-Neutral Dynamics Investigation (CINDI) wassuccessfully launched on April 16, 2008, into orbit using thePegasus launch system. CINDI is exploring the role of ion-neutralinteractions in the generation of small and large-scale electricfields in the Earth's upper atmosphere. For more information aboutCINDI, visit: http://cindispace.utdallas.edu/
-- The Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope (GLAST). GLAST launchedfrom Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla. on June 11. This novelmission is a marriage of astronomy and particle physics teamingNASA with the U.S. Department of Energy and international partners.
GLAST is a powerful new tool to explore the most extremeenvironments in the universe, where nature harnesses energies farbeyond anything possible on Earth. GLAST is also the first imaginggamma-ray observatory to survey the entire sky every day and withhigh sensitivity. It will detect thousands of gamma-ray sources,most of which will be super-massive black holes in the cores ofdistant galaxies. And it will give scientists a unique opportunityto learn about the ever-changing universe at extreme energies. Formore information about GLAST, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/glast
-- Next on the manifest is the Interstellar Boundary Explorer(IBEX), scheduled for launch in October on a Pegasus XL rocket. ThePegasus vehicle is carried to an altitude of 50,000 feet beneaththe wing of an L1011 aircraft where it is dropped and ignites arocket engine to boost the spacecraft to orbit.
IBEX will make the first global observations of the region beyondthe termination shock, an invisible shock formed as the solar windpiles up against the gas in interstellar space. The terminationshock marks the beginning of our solar system's final frontier, avast expanse of turbulent gas and twisting magnetic fields. Thisregion is critical because it blocks the vast majority of thedeadly cosmic rays that would otherwise permeate the space aroundEarth and other planets. By making the first images of theinterstellar boundaries neighboring our solar system, IBEX willprovide a first step toward exploring the galactic frontier. Formore information about IBEX, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/ibex/index.html
-- NASA is scheduled to launch shuttle Atlantis, STS 125 October 8to keep the Hubble Space Telescope operating at an incredible rateof scientific productivity.
With more than 17 years of historic and trailblazing sciencealready accomplished, Hubble will again be reborn with ServicingMission Four, during which astronauts will conduct five spacewalks;install two new cutting-edge science instruments -- the Wide FieldCamera 3 and the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph -- to enhance Hubble'scapabilities by large factors; refurbish a number of Hubble'ssubsystems including the Fine Guidance Sensor to maintain a robustability to point the telescope ; and install gyros, batteries and thermal blankets to ensureHubble functions efficiently for a minimum of five years afterservicing. Astronauts will also attempt the first ever on-orbitrepair of two existing instruments: the Space Telescope ImagingSpectrograph and the Advanced Cameras for Surveys. For moreinformation about Hubble, visit http://www.nasa.gov/hubble
-- The TacSat-3 satellite, managed by the Air Force ResearchLaboratory's Space Vehicles Directorate, is part of the effort todevelop and demonstrate the technology to furnish real-time data tothe combatant commander. A NASA Ames Research Center microsatcalled Pharmasat and two cubesats, one sponsored by Ames and one byWallops, also will fly on the mission using an Air Force Minotaur 1rocket. Launch is planned for October.
Have you always wanted to see a rocket launch but don't have thetime to take a trip to Florida's Space Coast? Then take the shortthree-hour drive to Virginia's Eastern Shore where three spacemissions are planned from Goddard's Wallops Flight Facility:TacSat-3, the Hypersonic Boundary Layer Transition (HyBoLT), andthe Max Launch Abort System.
-- A Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES),GOES-O is scheduled for launch in December. GOES is a joint effortof NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration(NOAA) that helps meteorologists better observe and predict localweather events, including thunderstorms, tornadoes, fog, flashfloods, hurricanes and other severe weather. GOES-O carries a SolarX-Ray Imager and Space Environment Monitoring instrument formonitoring space weather important for astronaut safety. For moreinformation about GOES, visit http://goespoes.gsfc.nasa.gov/goes/index.html
-- On November 24, NASA plans to return to the Moon with the launchof the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO). LRO will create the mostaccurate and comprehensive topographic maps of the lunar surface todate, vital for pinpointing landing sites for future mannedmissions.
LRO will carry a suite of six instruments and will scan forresources and create accurate temperature maps necessary fordesigning structures that can endure the extreme temperature swingscaused by the lunar day/night cycle. The moon offers radio-quietsites that do not look through a thick ionosphere, allowing the useof low-frequency radio astronomy to access a new window into theearly universe. It also allows the closest location where we canbegin to learn how to extract, process, and use extra-terrestrialmaterials, significant to sustain a human presence in space. Formore information about LRO, visit: http://lunar.gsfc.nasa.gov/
-- The Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) will provide detailedforecasts of solar activity, necessary to protect satellitesorbiting Earth, and astronauts traveling to the moon and Mars.SDO's images will be ten times better resolution than HDTV.
Slated for a December launch, SDO will look inside the Sun wheresolar activity begins, and also provide a better understanding ofthe flows of plasma inside the Sun, which is a key to predictingsolar storms and activity cycles. SDO's "X-ray vision" couldrevolutionize the forecasting of solar storms. SDO will alsomeasure the Sun's ever-changing extreme ultraviolet brightness, aswell as help solve the mystery of what magnetic structures in theSun may lead to violent space weather activity like flares andCoronal Mass Ejections. It will provide images of the Sun in eightsoft X-ray wavelengths every 10 seconds, instead of once every 45seconds as satellites do now. For more information about SDO, visit http://sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov
-- The Hypersonic Boundary Layer Transition (HyBoLT) experiment isa payload for NASA's Hypersonic project for NASA's FundamentalAeronautics Program. This effort is focused on developingfundamental knowledge of flight at all speeds and translating thatknowledge into flight vehicle design tools and capabilities. Inhypersonic flight, the state of the boundary layer (laminar,transitional, or turbulent) is critical to the amount of heatingcaused by the flow of air over the surface of a flight vehicle. TheHy-BoLT flight experiment will help unravel basic knowledge ofboundary layer heating, and use this knowledge to improve ourdesign tools. The mission on an ATK ALV-X1 rocket is currentlyscheduled for the summer. For more about HyBoLT, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/vision/earth/improvingflight/hybolt.html .
-- The Max Launch Abort System (M-LAS) test will provide data tothe NASA Engineering and Safety Center which is charged withevaluating a potential alternate design for the launch abort systemof NASA's Orion crew exploration vehicle. The name "Max" is inhonor of Maxime Faget, the original designer of the Project Mercurycapsule and holder of the patent for the "Aerial Capsule EmergencySeparation Device" (escape tower). M-LAS incorporates a sleek,bullet-shaped composite fairing that completely encapsulates theOrion crew and service modules. The M-LAS concept will be validatedby conducting an unmanned pad-abort test at Wallops in the fall.For more information about the Wallops Flight Facility visit: http://www.nasa.gov/centers/wallops .
-- NOAA-N Prime is planned for launch in February 2009 and is thelast of a fleet of polar-orbiting environmental satellites (POES),which have served the nation and the world since 1978. NOAA-N Primewill carry a suite of instruments that will provide critical globalinformation for numerical weather and climate predictions. GOES andPOES satellites collect and relay search and rescue distresssignals, and data collection system inputs from buoys and otherplatforms. Goddard has more than 40 years of experience managingthe development of GOES and POES satellites for NOAA operations.For more information on the NOAA series of weather satellites, goto http://goespoes.gsfc.nasa.gov/poes/spacecraft/noaanprime_spacecraft.html
-- The Glory mission, set for launch in June 2009, will helpscientists determine why Earth's climate is changing and how muchof that change is due to human activity.
The Earth's energy balance, and its effect on climate, requiresmeasuring black carbon soot and other aerosols, as well as thetotal solar irradiance. Glory is designed to collect data on thecomposition, properties and distribution of natural and man-madeaerosols in Earth's atmosphere and climate system. Glory's datawill help NASA scientists understand the climate-relevant chemical,microphysical, and optical properties, and spatial and temporaldistributions of human-caused and naturally occurring aerosols. Inaddition, Glory will continue the measurement of the total solarirradiance to determine the Sun's direct and indirect effect onEarth's climate.
These data are essential to predicting future climate change and tomaking sound, scientifically based economic and policy decisionsrelated to environmental change. For more information about Glory: http://glory.gsfc.nasa.gov/
-- The TWINS (Two Wide-angle Imaging Neutral-atom Spectrometers)mission in 2009 will provide a new capability for stereoscopicallyimaging the magnetosphere. For more information about TWINS, visit: http://nis-www.lanl.gov/nis-projects/twins/
For more information about this story, images and animations,please visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/news/topstory/2008/dozen_missions.html
For more information about other happenings at NASA Goddard, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/goddard