Month: December 2021

Space Test Program 3 Weather Forecast: 90% Chance Favorable

Lifting off from Launch Complex 41 on Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket will take the Department of Defense Space Test Program Satellite-6 (STPSat-6) spacecraft, which hosts NASA’s Laser Communications Relay Demonstration (LCRD) and the NASA-U.S. Naval Research Laboratory Ultraviolet Spectro-Coronagraph (UVSC) Pathfinder. Photo credit: United Launch Alliance

Meteorologists with the U.S. Space Force 45th Weather Squadron predict a 90% chance of favorable weather Sunday, Dec. 5, for launch of the Department of Defense (DOD) Space Test Program 3 (STP-3) mission on United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V 551 rocket. The two-hour launch window opens at 4:04 a.m. EST.

Lifting off from Launch Complex 41 on Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS) in Florida, the ULA rocket will take the DOD’s Space Test Program Satellite-6 (STPSat-6) spacecraft, which hosts NASA’s Laser Communications Relay Demonstration (LCRD) and the NASA-U.S. Naval Research Laboratory Ultraviolet Spectro-Coronagraph (UVSC) Pathfinder.

LCRD is about the size of a king-sized mattress and seeks to make operational laser communications a reality. As space missions generate and collect more data, higher bandwidth communications technologies are needed to bring data home, and laser communications systems offer higher bandwidth in a smaller package that uses less power. LCRD will send and receive data over infrared lasers at approximately 1.2 gigabits per second from geosynchronous orbit to Earth.

UVSC Pathfinder is a joint NASA-U.S. Naval Research Laboratory experiment that studies the origins of solar energetic particles, the Sun’s most dangerous form of radiation.

Forecast Details
High pressure will build at the surface over central Florida through Saturday. This will keep the launch area dry all day Friday with light winds and near average temperatures. The surface high retreats into the Atlantic Ocean slightly Sunday into Monday, bringing light winds Sunday coming from the south on Monday, and a slight chance for isolated low topped showers near the coast, especially on Monday. Therefore, the primary concern for launch day is the cumulus cloud rule.

Launch Coverage: Dec. 5
Live coverage and countdown commentary of the launch will begin at 3:30 a.m. EST and air on NASA Television and the agency’s website, as well as YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitch, Daily Motion, Theta.TV and the NASA App.

NASA invites the public to register to virtually attend the launch and receive mission updates and activities via email. NASA’s virtual guest program for LCRD includes curated launch resources, notifications about related opportunities, and a virtual guest passport stamp.

Teachers and students can explore the LCRD STEM Tool Kit. The kit includes five activity sheets, each designed for a target grade-level range, a model of STPSat-6 that students and teachers can 3D print, an overview of LCRD, and several other printable items. Many of the toolkit resources are also available in Spanish.

Stay connected with the LCRD mission on social media:
Twitter: @NASA, @NASAGoddard, @NASALaserComm, @NASA_Technology, @NASASCaN
Facebook: NASA, NASAGoddard, NASA Technology, NASA Space Communications and Navigation
Instagram: NASA, NASAGoddard

IXPE Undergoing Final Processing in Preparation for Spacecraft Mate

IXPE spacecraft arrives at Kennedy Space Center
Teams at Kennedy Space Center are doing final checkouts and testing on the Imaging X-Ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) spacecraft. The mission is scheduled to launch no earlier than Thursday, Dec. 9, at 1 a.m. EST, from the Florida spaceport. Photo credit: NASA/Isaac Watson

Weeks of work are paying off for engineers and technicians from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida who have been preparing the agency’s Imaging X-Ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) spacecraft since its arrival by truck from Ball Aerospace in Boulder, Colorado, to Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on Nov. 5, 2021.

Important activities continue inside SpaceX’s Payload Processing Facility in advance of the next major milestone – mating the spacecraft to the launch vehicle.

“We’ve been doing final checkouts and testing on IXPE prior to mating activities,” said Jake Shriver, mission integration engineer for NASA’s Launch Services Program (LSP), based at Kennedy.

IXPE is targeted to launch aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Kennedy’s Launch Complex 39A on Dec. 9, at 1 a.m. EST. The mission is NASA’s first dedicated to measuring X-ray polarization. The launch is managed by LSP.

Following mating of the spacecraft to the launch vehicle will be encapsulation, where the fairing halves come together around the spacecraft. A couple of days before launch, the encapsulated assembly will roll out to the pad to be mated to the first- and second-stage rocket boosters.

IXPE will study changes in the polarization of X-ray light through some of the universe’s most extreme sources, including black holes, dead stars known as pulsars, and more. Polarization contains clues that helps scientists better understand these mysterious phenomena.

“I can’t wait for IXPE to get into space and start returning science data,” Shriver said. “The mission is going to do amazing things for the astrophysics and science communities.”

Watch IXPE Prelaunch Activities, Launch on NASA TV

NASA's IXPE mission
IXPE is scheduled to launch aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39A no earlier than 1 a.m. EST on Dec. 9, 2021. Credit: NASA

NASA will provide coverage of the prelaunch and launch activities for the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) mission, scheduled to lift off no earlier than 1 a.m. EST Thursday, Dec. 9, on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA’s Launch Services Program based at Kennedy is managing the launch.

IXPE is the first satellite dedicated to measuring the polarization of X-rays from a variety of cosmic sources, such as black holes and neutron stars.

Live launch coverage will begin at 12:30 a.m. on NASA Television, the NASA app, and the agency’s website. On Tuesday, Dec. 7, NASA will hold a payload briefing at 1 p.m. and a prelaunch news briefing at 5:30 p.m.

Click here to view the complete mission coverage.