All countdown activities have gone smoothly this evening, and liftoff is still on schedule for 10:44 p.m., an hour from now. Operations to fill the Atlas booster and Centaur upper stage with cryogenic propellants are complete.
Month: March 2015
Open Loop Flight Termination System Checked
The communications loop between the rocket and Eastern Range antennas is undergoing a final test, ensuring that in the unlikely event the rocket strayed off course, the range would be able to send a destruct command.
Both the Centaur liquid hydrogen and Atlas liquid oxygen are nearly fully loaded and topping has started.
Tanking Update
Centaur liquid hydrogen has passed 80 percent and Atlas liquid oxygen has passed 90 percent.
Launch of the Atlas V rocket carrying MMS remains scheduled for 10:44 p.m. EDT
Video: Start of Televised Coverage
Relive the start of tonight’s televised coverage with this new video:
Centaur Liquid Hydrogen in Progress
The last major step toward fueling the Atlas V is underway with the loading of liquid hydrogen into the Centaur upper stage. The Centaur liquid hydrogen level just passed 20 percent.
Throwback Thursday
On Feb. 23, the four MMS observatories — seen here stacked one atop the other — were encapsulated within the two-piece payload fairing at the Astrotech payload processing facility in Titusville, Florida.
The fairing, with MMS sealed inside, approaches the Vertical Integration Facility on Space Launch Complex 41 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on Feb. 27.
Atlas Liquid Oxygen Loading Begins
Liquid oxygen now is being pumped into the booster stage of the Atlas V rocket. Liquid oxygen loading of the Centaur upper stage is more than 50 percent complete.
Liquid Oxygen Flowing into Centaur
Valves are open, and cryogenic liquid oxygen has started flowing into the Centaur upper stage.
The View at Launch Complex 41
T-2 Hours and Counting
The countdown has resumed and tanking operations are about to begin. This process takes roughly two hours and starts with chilldown of the ground equipment and transfer lines, allowing the hardware to acclimate to the cold temperatures of the propellants.
The Centaur’s engine runs on 4,150 gallons of liquid oxygen and 12,680 gallons of liquid hydrogen, and the Atlas booster stage uses 48,860 gallons of liquid oxygen in combination with a refined kerosene fuel called RP-1. RP-1 is not a cryogenic propellant like the others and was loaded yesterday.