New Horizons I (and II!) Mission Update Thread

[bobw]

<font color="yellow">after it weathers out today</font><br /><br />Oh, yeah, great way to jinx it today. The Weather Underground's hourly forecast for Titusville says everything is going to be OK today <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" /> 11 MPH winds and decreasing all day long.<br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[henryhallam]

Follow this link for the latest METARs and TAFs.<br /><br />KTTS is the Shuttle Landing Facility and KCOF is Patrick AFB (which I think is probably nearest to the pad).<br /><br />For the uninitiated, METARs are the single lines and give a current weather report, while TAFs are longer paragraphs which give short-term forecasts.<br /><br />For example as of this post the most recent METAR for Patrick was<br />"KCOF 181355Z 30015KT ... (other information)"<br /><br />the 181355Z means that the information was recorded on the 18th day of the month at 13:55 "Zulu" (GMT/UTC). 30015KT means the wind was from the northwest (300 degrees) at a speed of 15 knots. Other information includes cloudbase, visibility, temperature and dewpoint and atmospheric pressure.<br /><br />The TAFs are similar but the timecode is interpreted a bit differently, "KCOF 181111" means the TAF was issued on the 18th at 11:00 UTC and is valid until 11:00 UTC on the following day. Following this are the initial conditions and then on the next lines are things like "BECMG 1314" which means "at some point between 13:00 and 14:00 UTC the conditions will become the following".<br /><br />For us the most relevant line in the 11:00 Patrick TAF is "BECMG 1718 34012G18KT" which means that starting around 17:00 to 18:00 UTC (shortly before the opening of the window) the winds are predicted to be from the north (340 degrees) at 12 knots, gusting ("G") to 18 knots.<br /><br />Of course forecasts are often wrong and conditions at the pad may be different to conditions at Patrick AFB.

 

[teije]

From SFN:<br /><br />WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 18, 2006<br />1459 GMT (9:59 a.m. EST)<br /><br />SCRUB! Today's launch attempt has been called off. The New Horizons mission control center at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory suffered a power outage this morning. The backup system using generators is not sufficient to proceed with the launch. So the first mission to Pluto will remain on Earth for another day. <br /><br />Tomorrow's launch window extends from 1:08 to 3:07 p.m. EST. <br /><br />http://www.spaceflightnow.com/atlas/av010/status.html<br /><br /><img src="/images/icons/frown.gif" /><br />Better luck tomorrow hopefully

 

[heliox]

Interesting, im seeing a report elsewhere the scrub is due to winds picking up with no forecast of them dropping.<br /><br />

 

[giofx]

bad feelings about this mission. to much issues related to strage events like the Antigua station failure and today's moring power outage at JHU...

 

[henryhallam]

There are still 9 days left before Pluto arrival will be delayed.

 

[spacester]

I can't help but think about the churlish comments made on this forum about SpaceX when they had their problem with LOX supply: "If they want to be a world class rocket company, they need to cover these kinds of contingencies". <br /><br />I don't expect that anyone will say the same kind of things about the inadequacy of the backup generators at JH APL. Not me, certainly, lol.<br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[centsworth_II]

<font color="yellow">"Not me, certainly, lol."</font><br /><br />Way to take the high road, spacester. Reminds me of the father and son praying in church. The son looks around, sees the rest otherwise occupied and says to his father, "we are the most pious, aren't we?" The father looks at him and says, "we were, until you said that." <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[jschaef5]

Theres nothing they can do about the weather, or atleast that we know of <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /><br /><br />And I'm pretty sure it would be much safer to wait until power is restored than to launch while running on any sort of backup power. But thats just my opinion so who knows... plus they have until Feb 14. I hope to see them get some better luck in the coming days. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[CalliArcale]

And not to get too far off topic, but it's an apples-to-oranges thing. The launch company isn't APL; it's Lockheed. Lockheed's the one that should be compared to SpaceX in this case, and they had no launch constraints. It was the people running the payload who had a problem, not the people running the rocket.<br /><br />Personally, I think they did the right thing. Losing primary power reduced them to a single point of failure at an unacceptably early point in the countdown. That left them quite conceivably one failure away from loss of the mission. Waiting a day to restore adequate redundancy is not a problem in my book. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><font color="#666699"><em>"People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly . . . timey wimey . . . stuff."</em>  -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink"</font></p> </div>

 

[jmilsom]

Hmm. Just read the news. I couldn't tune in last night, so was sort of hoping I'd wake up and the mission would be en route to Pluto. I was even dreaming about it last night. Hopefully, I can see the launch tonight and hopefully it will be third attempt lucky.<br /><br /><font color="orange">Days 0 Hours 14 Mins 49 Secs 05 - until launch!!!</font>/safety_wrapper> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[spacester]

<font color="orange">Not me, certainly.</font><br /><font color="yellow">Way to take the high road, spacester.</font><br />Touche' - if I take your point correctly, returning churlish with churlish is poor form. I agree and I regret that post; I had a point to make but I should've made it on the thread I referred to. <br /><br />My point: stuff happens, you plan the best you can, but stuff happens. The key in both cases is that there is no evidence of 'go'-fever despite outside pressures.<br /><br />Just for the record, I am a huge fan of JH APL. In fact I predict that in coming years they will challenge JPL for supremacy in semi-private-sector space development. They are <i>very</i> good at what they do.<br /><br />New Horizons is a very beautiful space craft. There is every reason to expect a flawless mission. I love the time of flight numbers - it illustrates just how far out Pluto is: 13 months to Jupiter, and many years after that, you get to the last major orb to be photographed.<br /><br />Trust me, I had no intention of disparaging the people who brought us NEAR, among many other things. They <i>landed</i> that puppy, how cool was that!? <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[SpaceKiwi]

<blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr /><p>They have restored power at the mission control. The launch will be attempted again tomorrow.<p><hr /></p></p></blockquote><br />Excellent news. Again I need them to hit the beginning of the window if I am to see the launch live before work.<br /><br />Are there a number of attempts that can be made before a mandatory stand-down period, as with Shuttle, or can they plug away an infinite number of times? I assume the long pole is launch crew fatigue rather than anything to do with the Atlas V? <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><em><font size="2" color="#ff0000">Who is this superhero?  Henry, the mild-mannered janitor ... could be!</font></em></p><p><em><font size="2">-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</font></em></p><p><font size="5">Bring Back The Black!</font></p> </div>

 

[jmilsom]

<font color="orange">THREE HOURS UNTIL LAUNCH WINDOW OPENS!!!!</font>/safety_wrapper> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[jmilsom]

<font color="orange">TWO HOURS UNTIL LAUNCH WINDOW OPENS!!!!</font>/safety_wrapper> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[teije]

Fueling operations are underway.<br />Centaur has been filled with LOX 70% <br />They are chilling down propellant lines for LH2 loading on the Centaur and LOX on the Atlas.

 

[henryhallam]

L-1 hour, T-50 minutes with 10 minutes' built-in hold remaining.<br /><br />http://countdown.ksc.nasa.gov/elv/public/

 

[teije]

Centaur fuelling is at topping levels<br />Atlas LOX is at 90%

 

[bobw]

NASA TV coverage just started. It looks like there is a visible stream of boiled off prop/o2 from the Centaur today. I looked around a lot yesterday for some info on this, since it didn't show up on Tuesday, with no luck. Thanks to teije for mentioning it; I probably would have missed it otherwise. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[bad_drawing]

Looking good so far for a launch today! T-35mins.<br /><br />Question for those in the know: what's the function of the four similar towers surrounding the Atlas 5 launch pad?

 

[teije]

You can also see quite clearly from the boil off cloud that the wind is a lot less then tuesday. The wind may also be the reason we can see the Centaur boil off much better today.<br /><br />I'm betting it will go on time. <img src="/images/icons/laugh.gif" />

 

[Philotas]

<font color="yellow">I'm betting it will go on time.</font><br /><br />Yeah, I`m positive too. <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" /><br /><br /><br />T-15 min, Counting<br /><br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[bobw]

I think the towers are lightning rods. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[chonner]

Just a small question, what are the 4 large open trussed towers spaced around the launch pad actually for? Only certain LVs have them. I've always wondered what they actually do but never found out. Anyone no?<br /><br />Oh and looks good so far, i reckon its gunna go today. T- 12 mins plus 10 min hold <br /><br />Edit: *looks up* oh right makes sense but a bit extreme for lightening tower i think. But ehy do only certain LVs have them, shuttle and others don't have any?

 

[Philotas]

It will be no problems with wind today; good. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>