NASA’s MAVEN Launch Blog originates today inside Hangar AE at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida just down the beach from Space Launch Complex 41 where the Mars-bound spacecraft stands ready for launch. AE, as NASA folks call it, traces its history back to before astronauts flew. It was built in 1959 and has …
For those folks near Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, there is a list of good viewing locations here.
Liquid oxygen will start flowing into the Centaur upper stage tank momentarily. The Centaur will take about 4,000 gallons of the super-cold liquid oxygen. After the Atlas V booster stage completes the first phase of launch, the Centaur’s single RL-10 engine will ignite, mixing the oxygen with liquid hydrogen to generate 22,300 pounds of thrust to …
The pipes leading from propellant storage tanks to the Atlas V rocket have been chilled to handle the cryogenic chemicals that will begin moving through them shortly. The chilldown is handled remotely by launch team controllers who basically set a very slow flow of cold materials through the lines to condition them.
MAVEN is NASA’s way of saying the “Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution” mission. It takes a lot less time to just say MAVEN. Considering that the word maven means an expert in a particular field that is looking to share that knowledge with others, the acronym works. NASA’s MAVEN mission is equipped to investigate the …
The launch team picked up the count to today’s launch again at the T-2 hour mark after a planned hold. The next step is to begin loading cryogenic – or super-cold – propellants into the Atlas V first stage and Centaur upper stage. Liquid oxygen with a temperature of minus-297 degrees will be pumped into …
The countdown is on schedule to day to resume at 11:18 a.m. EST after launch teams confirmed they are ready to begin filling the Atlas V booster and Centaur upper stage with cryogenic – super-cold – propellants.
BTW, you can get automatic updates from NASA’s MAVEN Launch Blog by subscribing to our feed at blogs.nasa.gov/maven/feed
Omar Baez, the NASA Launch Manager, received a “go” from his launch team to load the cryogenic propellants. The United Launch Alliance will next poll the Atlas V team. Everything remains on schedule to launch at 1:28 p.m. EST.
Good morning from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida where the weather is warm, the sky is blue with some thin cloud streaks and MAVEN stands atop an Atlas V rocket poised to head to Mars! The launch teams here report everything is on track for a liftoff at 1:28 p.m. EST. If some …
