Good afternoon from Florida where NOAA’s newest spacecraft stands ready for liftoff at 6:10 p.m. EST. The spacecraft, called DSCOVR, will be sent to an orbit 1 million miles away from the Earth where it will be able to watch the Sun and Earth at the same time. A SpaceX Falcon 9 is being fueled …
Managers of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and the DSCOVR spacecraft have given a “go” to load propellants aboard the two-stage Falcon. Weather remains 90 percent “go” and there are no technical issues that would prevent the launch of DSCOVR at 6:10:12 p.m. EST from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Space Launch Complex 40 in Florida.
Our continuous countdown coverage to the launch of NOAA’s DSCOVR mission will begin at 3:30 p.m. EST leading up to liftoff at 6:10 p.m. The weather is looking very good for this evening’s liftoff, too, and forecasters continue to offer a 90 percent chance of acceptable conditions at launch time. The launch window is instantaneous …
Icebergs are white, right? Well, no, not completely. As seen in this shot (above) of a recently-flipped iceberg, their undersides can come in spectacular shades of blue and green. The photograph was captured in Cierva Cove, Antarctica, by videographer Alex Cornell during a family vacation. “[It] had this arresting alien-green color to it,” Cornell said […]
Japanese Experiment Module (JEM) Small Satellite Orbital Deployer (JSSOD) Operations: Wilmore coordinated with ground teams using the Japanese Experiment Module (JEM) Remote Manipulator System (JEMRMS) to return the Multi-Purpose Experiment Platform (MPEP) containing the JSSOD to the JEMAL slide table. The slide table was retracted, bringing the MPEP inside the JEMAL. Following the activities, he …
There is a 90 percent chance of favorable weather for launch of DSCOVR, NOAA’s new deep space satellite to monitor space weather. DSCOVR is a partnership between NOAA, NASA and the U.S. Air Force. The spacecraft is targeted for launch atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket at 6:10:12 p.m. EST on Sunday, Feb. 8, from …
NASA TV will provide live coverage of a news briefing on the DSCOVR mission, NOAA’s new satellite to monitor space weather, at 1 p.m. EST Saturday, Feb. 7 from the Press Site at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The briefing also will stream live on the agency’s website here. NASA TV’s and the DSCOVR launch blog coverage of countdown …
Japanese Experiment Module (JEM) Small Satellite Orbital Deployer (JSSOD) Status: Cristoforetti activated the JEMRMS Robotics Laptop (RLT), opened the JEM Airlock (JEMAL) outer hatch and extended the slide table. Ground operations teams then performed the robotic operations to succesfully deploy the JSSOD satellite. The JEM Remote Manipulator System (JEMRMS) small fine Arm (SFA) was guided …
The January 2015 puzzler (top image) might look like bacteria in a petri dish—many guesses played off some variation of that theme. However, if you answered “coral reef,” you were on the right track. Alexandre Mathieu was the fist to submit a comment to our Earth Matters blog suggesting that the image was a reef. There […]
Europe’s Automated Transfer Vehicle-5 (ATV-5) is operating with one less electronics chain that provides power to its batteries after it failed Wednesday. The other three electronics chains are operating normally as flight controllers and the station crew prepare the ATV-5 for its departure Feb. 14. Cosmonauts Alexander Samokutyaev and Anton Shkaplerov set up gear in …
