SDO / Solar Dynamics Observatory.

[3488]

Thought I would start a thread on this upcoming Solar Observatory, due to be launched by an Atlas 5 on: Tuesday 9th February 2010, eventually ending up in a Geostationary Orbit, observing the Sun in many wavelengths simultaneously.

Also the Sun's magnetic field will be studied & how it interacts with Earth's own magnetosphere.

SDO / Solar Dynamics Observatory.

Andrew Brown.

 

[MeteorWayne]

The prelaunch readiness press conference will be held at 1 p.m. EST, on Monday, February 8, 2010
in the Kennedy News Center at NASA Kennedy Space Center (KSC) Fla. Immediately following that
will be the SDO science briefing, also held in the Kennedy News Center. These briefings will be
broadcast live on NASA Television. Media advisories will be issued in advance, outlining details of the
news conferences.

Solar Dynamics Observatory Set For Launch

The Solar Dynamics Observatory, or SDO, is set to launch from Florida no earlier than 10:30 a.m. EST on Feb. 9, on an unprecedented mission to study the sun and its dynamic behavior

 

[MeteorWayne]

Due to tonights STS-130 scrub, launch is now NET Wed Feb 10.

 

[Zipi]

Launch window: Feb 10 15:26-16:26 GMT (10:26-11:26 a.m. EST)
Launch site: SLC-41, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida

The United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket will launch NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory. SDO will be the first mission for the space agency's Living With a Star Program. The rocket will fly in the 401 vehicle configuration with a four-meter fairing, no solid rocket boosters and a single-engine Centaur upper stage.

Live stream from ULAlaunch: (starts 7:15 a.m. EST)
http://www.ulalaunch.com/index_webcast.html

Live stream from NasaTV: (start 7:30 a.m. EST)
http://playlist.yahoo.com/makeplaylist.dll?id=1369080 (Quality: 150k)
http://playlist.yahoo.com/makeplaylist.dll?id=1368162 (Quality: 300k)
http://playlist.yahoo.com/makeplaylist.dll?id=1368570 (Quality: 500k)
http://playlist.yahoo.com/makeplaylist.dll?id=1368163 (Quality: 1200k)
Above NasaTV links are direct stream links and you may need to copy & paste them to your media player to make them work. Here is also web browser link in case you for some odd reason like it more: http://www.nasa.gov/ntv

Mission overview: http://www.ulalaunch.com/launch/sdo/SDO_MOB.pdf

 

[MeteorWayne]

NASA TV has a short video on the mission at noon, and the pre launch news conference at 1 PM, both times EST (that's 5 PM and 6 PM GMT/UTC)

Launch is scheduled Wednesday morning during a 1 hour window beginning at 10:26 AM EST (1526 GMT/UTC).

MW

 

[EarthlingX]

Launch window: Feb 10 15:26-16:26 GMT (10:26-11:26 a.m. EST)
Launch site: SLC-41, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida

The United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket will launch NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory. SDO will be the first mission for the space agency's Living With a Star Program. The rocket will fly in the 401 vehicle configuration with a four-meter fairing, no solid rocket boosters and a single-engine Centaur upper stage.

Live stream from ULAlaunch: (starts 7:15 a.m. EST)
http://www.ulalaunch.com/index_webcast.html

Live stream from NasaTV: (start 7:30 a.m. EST)
http://playlist.yahoo.com/makeplaylist.dll?id=1369080 (Quality: 150k)
http://playlist.yahoo.com/makeplaylist.dll?id=1368162 (Quality: 300k)
http://playlist.yahoo.com/makeplaylist.dll?id=1368570 (Quality: 500k)
http://playlist.yahoo.com/makeplaylist.dll?id=1368163 (Quality: 1200k)
Above NasaTV links are direct stream links and you may need to copy & paste them to your media player to make them work. Here is also web browser link in case you for some odd reason like it more: http://www.nasa.gov/ntv

Mission overview: http://www.ulalaunch.com/launch/sdo/SDO_MOB.pdf

None of the above links work with FireFox on WinXP SP3.
edit. Correction:
I had to copy/past that link, it works in VLC player.

For NASA TV i had to download RealMedia or whatever file ...
from Public channel files here:
(Real Media ) http://www.nasa.gov/ram/35037main_portal.ram
(Real Media captioned ) http://www.nasa.gov/ram/122212main_main_portal_cc.ram
(Windows Media ) http://www.nasa.gov/55644main_NASATV_Windows.asx
(QuickTime) http://www.nasa.gov/qtl/151335main_NASA_TV_QT.qt

There is no picture in FF on NASA Site, with the last plugins.

 

[MeteorWayne]

It will be on regular NASA TV beginning at 7:15 AM EST as well.

http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/

On the public channel.

 

[3488]

Thanks Wayne,

I will be at work during the expected launch, so may not be able to watch, but will catch up later.

View of Atlas 5 with SDO aboard earlier today.

Andrew Brown.

 

[Swampcat]

View of Dalta 5 with SDO aboard earlier today.

Andrew Brown.

Uhmm, Andrew, that's an Atlas 5, not a Dalta 5

 

[3488]

Sorry Swampcat, I meant Atlas 5, been a long day & I'm tired. :shock:

Hope to be on form tomorrow. :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

Andrew Brown.

 

[michaelmozina]

Good luck...

Good luck to the SDO team. We're all hoping for a successful launch.

 

[Zipi]

Spaceflight Now's mission status center: http://www.spaceflightnow.com/atlas/av021/status.html
(live news)

 

[MeteorWayne]

Some scribblenotes from news conferences.

First, weather is only 40% go tomorrow (well, today now) due to possible clouds, but mostly wind. 60% go for 24 hour delay. Thay can launch any day during 10:26-11:26 AM EST window.

Expected wind is 310 d at 24-28 kn. Constraint at that angle is 23 knots. At 300 degrees wind direction contraint is 30 knots, at 320 degrees, 20 knots. So wind direction is critical. They will hold at T- 4 min to see how the winds go (assuming no low clouds).

Atlas 5 burn is 243 seconds. Launch at azimuth 93.6 degrees. First Centaur burn is 11 minutes placing it into a 95 x 3700 nm orbit for 87 minutes, then a 2nd burn of 195 seconds to GTO. 3 minutes later the spacecraft will separate (covered on NASA TV) and the solar arrays open. It will take 3 weeks to get to geosynchronous orbit, with a total of 2 months commissing time.

Data rate will be 1.5 Terabytes/day so there will be no on craft storage, rather data is directly beamed to twin 18 meter dishes on ground. Primary Mission is 5 years, with propellant for 10.

It will image the sun at 8 wavelengths every 10 seconds with IMAX level resolution. Also do Extreme Ultraviolet spectrography, and helioseismology.

MW

 

[EarthlingX]

NASA Sun Probe rolled to Pad; 10 hours to Blast off

http://www.universetoday.com[/url]":2cbq8sgr]
February 10th, 2010
Written by Ken Kremer
(Editor’s Note: Ken Kremer is in Florida for Universe Today covering the launch of SDO and Endeavour.)

NASA’s nearly $1 Billion hi tech sun probe, the Solar Dynamics Observatory or SDO, was rolled out today (Feb 9) to Launch Pad 41 on a rainy day here in Florida at 1 day from blast off. SDO will be carried aloft atop an Atlas V rocket at 10:26 AM EST on Feb 10 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The launch window extends for 1 hour. The current weather prediction is only 40% “GO”. The primary concerns for launch day are ground winds with gusts and thick clouds.

1351 GMT (8:51 a.m. EST)
Filling of the Centaur upper stage with about 4,300 gallons of liquid oxygen has begun at Cape Canaveral's Complex 41 following the thermal conditioning of the transfer pipes.

The liquid oxygen -- chilled to Minus-298 degrees F -- will be consumed during the launch by the Centaur's single RL10 engine along with liquid hydrogen to be pumped into the stage a little later in the countdown. The Centaur will perform a pair of firings today to send the Solar Dynamics Observatory into geosynchronous transfer orbit.

1401 GMT (9:01 a.m. EST)
The Centaur liquid oxygen tank is nearing one-third full.
1354 GMT (8:54 a.m. EST)
The first stage liquid oxygen loading is switching from slow-fill to fast-fill mode.

1406 GMT (9:06 a.m. EST)
First stage liquid oxygen tank is about a third full thus far. Chilled to Minus-298 degrees F, the liquid oxygen will be used with RP-1 kerosene by the RD-180 main engine on the first stage during the initial four minutes of flight today. The 25,000 gallons of RP-1 were loaded into the rocket earlier.

T-00:01:15:00

 

[EarthlingX]

1410 GMT (9:10 a.m. EST)
The Centaur engine chilldown sequence is being initiated.
1407 GMT (9:07 a.m. EST)
Half of the Centaur liquid oxygen tank has been filled so far.

T-00:01:13:00


T-00:00:58:00

 

[EarthlingX]

T-00:54:00
http://www.spaceflightnow.com/atlas/av021/status.html


T-00:41:00

1437 GMT (9:37 a.m. EST)
Chilldown of the liquid hydrogen system has been accomplished. The launch team has received the "go" to begin filling the Centaur upper stage with the supercold fuel.
1433 GMT (9:33 a.m. EST)
The first stage liquid oxygen tank is 90 percent full now.
1429 GMT (9:29 a.m. EST)

T-00:35:00
.. prediction about wind going down, but not optimistic ..
..

T-00:33:00
..

..
T-00:30:00
..

1442 GMT (9:42 a.m. EST)
Winds at the launch pad remain between 26 and 28 knots, well above the limit.

1445 GMT (9:45 a.m. EST)
Centaur's liquid hydrogen tank is 30 percent full.

T-00:28:00

1448 GMT (9:48 a.m. EST)
The Centaur liquid hydrogen tank is half loaded so far. The cryogenic propellant will be consumed with liquid oxygen by the stage's Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne-made RL10 engine.

T-00:26:00
..
T-00:22:00
T-00:20:00
...

1456 GMT (9:56 a.m. EST)
Thirty minutes from liftoff, if the weather permits. The countdown clocks are heading to the T-minus 4 minute mark where a planned 10-minute hold will occur. Launch of Atlas 5 remains scheduled for 10:26 a.m. EST.

.. hydrogen loading complete ..

T-00:18:00

1457 GMT (9:57 a.m. EST)
The liquid hydrogen tank in the Centaur upper stage just reached the 97 percent level. Topping is now beginning.

T-00:14:00

1500 GMT (10:00 a.m. EST)
The fuel-fill sequence for the first stage main engine is starting

T-00:13:00
..
T-00:04:00 and holding for 10 min hold

1514 GMT (10:14 a.m. EST)
The first stage liquid oxygen tank and Centaur's liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen tanks are reported at flight level.
1512 GMT (10:12 a.m. EST)
T-minus 4 minutes and holding. The countdown has entered the planned 10-minute hold to give the launch team a chance to review all systems before pressing ahead with liftoff.

But the ground winds at Complex 41 remain out of limits. So the clocks will stay stopped at this point in the countdown until the weather improves.

Today's launch opportunity stretches from 10:26 to 11:26 a.m. EST. There is hope the winds would ease later in the window, but it remains to be seen if that will happen.

1516 GMT (10:16 a.m. EST)
The Solar Dynamics Observatory nestled inside the nose of the Atlas 5 rocket is switching to internal power for launch.

.. hold extended for 10 min ..


wind .. :?

 

[Zipi]

Too high winds at the moment... More suitable weather is expected at the end of the window, but it could be still too high winds.

 

[EarthlingX]

10:56 launch target ...

 

[MeteorWayne]

If it would only shift 20 degrees to the west, they could fly right now.

It is pretty breezy, in one shot, I could actually see the rocket rocking slightly.

 

[EarthlingX]

If it would only shift 20 degrees to the west, they could fly right now.

It is pretty breezy, in one shot, I could actually see the rocket rocking slightly.

Pretty high winds there .. Is that common ?

1529 GMT (10:29 a.m. EST)
An additional 10 minutes have been added to the hold. That puts launch time no earlier than 10:46 a.m. But the winds remain "no go."

1531 GMT (10:31 a.m. EST)
NEW LAUNCH TIME. Liftoff now pushed back to 10:56 a.m., if the winds subside.

.. weather balloon released ..

...

1541 GMT (10:41 a.m. EST)
The countdown remains holding at T-minus 4 minutes as the Atlas 5 rocket waits on the winds to decrease for launch today. There are no technical problems being worked, it's just a matter of the weather.

1548 GMT (10:48 a.m. EST)
NASA launch director Omar Baez has polled the agency team and given his "go" to proceed with the countdown, once the weather improves.

.. not able to pick up the count ...

1549 GMT (10:49 a.m. EST)
NEW LAUNCH TIME. Liftoff now pushed back to 11:26 a.m., the very last available moment in today's launch window.

 

[MeteorWayne]

Pushing back to the end of the window 11:26 AM EST (1626 UTC/GMT), hoping the winds will decrease more.

 

[EarthlingX]

1554 GMT (10:54 a.m. EST)
The Solar Dynamics Observatory is returning to ground-fed power for this extended hold. It will go back to internal power for launch later.

.. another poll in 15 past hour ..

1559 GMT (10:59 a.m. EST)
Winds at Complex 41 are trending downward. It's just a question if they will come within limits before today's launch window closes at 11:26 a.m. EST.

1504 GMT (11:04 a.m. EST)
The launch weather officer says the trend he was expecting late in the wind is establishing itself

..

1514 GMT (11:14 a.m. EST)
Wind speeds continue to fall. Now 12 minutes away from the scheduled launch time.

back to internal power ..

...

1517 GMT (11:17 a.m. EST)
Here's a look at some stats about today's mission. This will be:

* The 602nd launch for Atlas program since 1957
* The 316th Atlas to occur from Cape Canaveral
* The 20th launch of an Atlas 5 since 2002
* The 18th Atlas 5 to occur from the Cape
* The 12th Atlas 5 under United Launch Alliance
* The 10th Atlas 5 to fly in the 401 configuration
* NASA's fourth use of the Atlas 5 family
* The 1st Atlas launch of 2010

1516 GMT (11:16 a.m. EST)
SDO is being placed on internal power for launch again.

.. all system go ..
... weather .. ?
.. countdown resumes in 2 min ..
.. winds within limits ..
..

 

[MeteorWayne]

Picking up the count in 1 minute, launch in 5 minutes!!

 

[EarthlingX]

-- cut- off .. ? from computer ..
.. continuing to top ..

1523 GMT (11:23 a.m. EST)
SCRUB! Time has run out for the winds to subside for the Atlas 5 rocket to launch NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory today.
1523 GMT (11:23 a.m. EST)
Flight control detected a redline violation caused by wind loads on the rocket.
1522 GMT (11:22 a.m. EST)
HOLD! A cutoff was declared at T-minus 3 minutes, 59 seconds.

 

[MeteorWayne]

Abort ...1 second after the count picked up at T-3:59 ...