This is not a mine, military base, salt farm, or solar plant. As explained in our March 2, 2014, Image of the Day, this is a date orchard near the Orange River in Northern Cape, South Africa. Thanks to all of you who weighed in our February 2014 puzzler. Reader JMR was first to identify […]
Every mission has its little offerings to fate to back up the hard work and attention to detail that goes into prepping for launch. While in Japan, the GPM team adopted the Japanese custom of coloring in one eye of a Daruma doll. I first encountered it when visiting the support control room for the […]
Cube Satellite (CubeSat) Operations: Overnight the final 7 CubeSats were successfully launched by JAXA Robotic Flight Controllers from two NanoRacks CubeSat Deployers (NRCSDs). Two Dove CubeSats and ArduSat-2, LitSat-1, LituanicaSat-1, UaPSat-1, and SkyCube CubeSats were launched. A total of 17 CubeSats have been deployed from the NRCSDs this week. The NRCSDs and Multi-Purpose Experiment Platform …
Launches are something special and this one was was spectacular. We were 3 kilometers (1.9 miles) from the launch pad, the absolute minimum safe distance at the Takesaki Observation Stand. The roof doubles as a tiered deck, and lined up at every available railing was a tripod and a camera. Since we had arrived a […]
On February 27, 2014, we published an Image of the Day of the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) satellite soaring above Tanegashima Space Center like a candle in the sky. However, that wasn’t the only spectacular photograph of the night launch that chief NASA photographer Bill Ingalls (@ingallsimages) captured. I collected a few of my favorites below, and […]
Cube Satellite (CubeSat) Operations: Four more CubeSats were successfully launched overnight by JAXA Robotic Flight Controllers from two NanoRacks CubeSat Deployers (NRCSDs). The remaining 7 CubeSats will be deployed overnight. CubeSat format satellites are launched from the ISS for a variety of commercial and national customers. Try Zero-Gravity (Try Zero-G) Experiments: Flight Engineer (FE)-6 Wakata set …
When you’re a three person team out in the field, there’s not always enough time to get it all done. We are Launch minus 1 hour. The weather is clear, the rocket is fueled, all systems are GO. In the press room, reporters are grabbing their hard hats and the cameras and heading up to […]
Cube Satellite (CubeSat) Operations and Deploys: Overnight 4 CubeSats were successfully launched by JAXA Robotic Flight Controllers from two NanoRacks CubeSat Deployer (NRCSD) locations. Eleven more satellites will be deployed in the next 2 days. CubeSat format satellites are launched from the ISS for a variety of commercial and national customers. Radiation Dosimetry Inside ISS-Neutrons …
I hear it was snowing in Maryland last night/today. In my inbox this evening (East Coast morning), I got the boilerplate message that while Goddard Space Flight Center is open on Feb. 26, non-critical and non-emergency personal could telework or take leave to avoid the snowy roads. The GPM team members scheduled to be on […]
The H-IIA No. 23 rocket that will carry the GPM Core Observatory into space arrived at Tanegashima Space Center on Jan. 20, 2014. The rocket has two stages, a lower first stage that, with the help of two solid rocket boosters, gets it off the ground, and an upper second stage that lights up a […]
