ICESat-II, ELaNa-XVIII: ELFIN, IT-SPINS, CHEFsat - Delta II 7420-10C - Vandenberg SLC-2W -15.09.2018

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691589.pdf - 9.8 MB, 127 стр, 2018-05-07 14:03:36 UTC
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NASA: Assessments of Major Projects
Government Accountability Office
May 1, 2018

tnt22

https://blogs.nasa.gov/icesat2/2018/05/22/ula-delta-ii-booster-arrives-for-icesat-2-mission/
ЦитироватьULA Delta II Booster Arrives for ICESat-2 Mission

Bob Granath
Posted May 22, 2018 at 4:55 pm



At NASA's Building 836, the Spacecraft Labs Telemetry Station at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Delta II booster is removed from its shipping container on Monday, April 16, 2018. Once it was offloaded, preliminary checkouts and preflight processing began in preparation for the agency's Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite-2, or ICESat-2.

Liftoff from Space Launch Complex-2 at Vandenberg is scheduled for Sept. 12, 2018, and will be the last for the venerable Delta II rocket. The spacecraft, which is being built and tested by Orbital ATK in Gilbert, Arizona, will carry a single instrument called the Advanced Topographic Laser Altimeter System, or ATLAS. The ATLAS instrument is being built and tested at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt Maryland.

Once in orbit, the satellite is designed to measure the height of a changing Earth, one laser pulse at a time, 10,000 laser pulses a second. ICESat-2 will help scientists investigate why, and how much, Earth's frozen and icy areas, called the cryosphere, are changing.

Photo credit: USAF 30th Space Wing/Vanessa Valentine

tnt22

Цитироватьpat o. ‏ @spacepat_o 4 ч.4 часа назад

"A @ulalaunch #DeltaII booster arrives at @NASA's Building 836, the Spacecraft Labs Telemetry Station at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California." This booster will launch the #ICESat2 mission on Sept. 12, 2018. Photos: NASA/Randy Beaudoin & USAF 30th Space Wing/Vanessa Val

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tnt22

Цитироватьpat o. ‏ @spacepat_o 17 ч. назад

The final #DeltaII booster being transported to SLC-2 at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. This booster will be used to launch the ICESat-2 mission for NASA on September 12, 2018. Credit: NASA/Randy Beaudoin

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tnt22

ЦитироватьNASA_LSP‏Подлинная учетная запись @NASA_LSP 52 мин. назад

In @NASA's Building 8337 at @30thSpaceWing, technicians and engineers cleaned and took samples from the payload fairing that will protect @NASA_ICESat2 during launch. Liftoff atop a @ulalaunch Delta II is scheduled for Sept. 12, 2018. More photos: https://go.nasa.gov/2LFuioJ 

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tnt22

ЦитироватьULA‏Подлинная учетная запись @ulalaunch 42 мин. назад

Heads up! The ULA #DeltaII rocket slated to launch NASA's @ICESat-2 mission is vertical on the launch pad at Vandenberg AFB! See you in Sept as we launch this important Earth science mission – the final for the storied #DeltaII. Photos: @NASA_LSP @NASA_Edge



Старый

Дельта-2 жива старушка!
Сколько их ещё в запасе? 
1. Ангара - единственная в мире новая РН которая хуже старой (с) Старый Ламер
2. Назначение Роскосмоса - не летать в космос а выкачивать из бюджета деньги
3. У Маска ракета длиннее и толще чем у Роскосмоса
4. Чем мрачнее реальность тем ярче бред (с) Старый Ламер

tnt22

ЦитироватьСтарый пишет:
Дельта-2 жива старушка!
Сколько их ещё в запасе?
Бают, что
ЦитироватьThe final #DeltaII booster ...
и больше вроде как и нет...

Старый

1. Ангара - единственная в мире новая РН которая хуже старой (с) Старый Ламер
2. Назначение Роскосмоса - не летать в космос а выкачивать из бюджета деньги
3. У Маска ракета длиннее и толще чем у Роскосмоса
4. Чем мрачнее реальность тем ярче бред (с) Старый Ламер

tnt22

https://blogs.nasa.gov/icesat2/2018/06/13/nasas-icesat-2-spacecraft-arrives-at-vandenberg-air-force-base/
ЦитироватьNASA's ICESat-2 Spacecraft Arrives at Vandenberg Air Force Base

Linda Herridge
Posted Jun 13, 2018 at 3:34 pm


NASA's Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite-2 (ICESat-2) arrives in its shipping container aboard a heavy transport truck on June 12, 2018, at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Photo credit: USAF 30th Space Wing/Mark Mackley

NASA's Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite-2, or ICESat-2, arrived at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on Tuesday, June 12, fr om the Northrop Grumman facility in Gilbert, Arizona. The satellite will be offloaded in its shipping container from the heavy transport truck and moved into the Astrotech Space Operations facility wh ere it will be processed and prepared for its mission.

ICESat-2 is scheduled to launch Sept. 12, 2018, on the final United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket, from Space Launch Complex-2 at Vandenberg.

Once in orbit, the satellite is designed to measure the height of a changing Earth, one laser pulse at a time, 10,000 laser pulses a second. ICESat-2 will help scientists investigate why, and how much, Earth's frozen and icy areas, called the cryosphere, are changing.
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NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center manages development of the ICESat-2 mission, including mission systems engineering and mission operations on behalf of the agency's Earth Science Division. The ICESat-2 spacecraft was built and tested by Northrop Grumman in Gilbert, Arizona. The satellite will carry a single instrument called the Advanced Topographic Laser Altimeter System, or ATLAS, built and tested at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. United Launch Alliance of Centennial, Colorado, is providing the Atlas V launch service. NASA's Launch Services Program, based at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, is responsible for launch service acquisition, integration, analysis, and launch management.
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tnt22

https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2018/nasa-s-icesat-2-arrives-at-launch-site
ЦитироватьJune 13, 2018

NASA's ICESat-2 Arrives at Launch Site

NASA's Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite-2 (ICESat-2) arrived at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on Tuesday, June 12, three months before its scheduled launch on United Launch Alliance's final Delta II rocket. After launch, slated for Sept. 12, 2018, ICESat-2 will use a laser instrument to measure the height of Earth's surface in unprecedented detail.
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A truck carrying the ICESat-2 satellite, packed safely in a specialized shipping carrier, arrives at Vandenberg Air Force Base near Lompoc, California, on June 12, 2018. ICESat-2 is scheduled to launch fr om Vandenberg this fall to measure the height of ice and other surfaces across the globe.
Credits: NASA

ICESat-2's sole instrument, called the Advanced Topographic Laser Altimeter System (ATLAS), was assembled and tested at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. ATLAS was then trucked to a Northrop Grumman facility in Arizona, where it was integrated with the ICESat-2 spacecraft – which provides navigation, power, communications and more.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQg5ov6zths
(video 1:55)
ICESat-2 will measure the height of Earth, with a focus on monitoring change in the planet's icy poles.
Credits: NASA/Ryan Fitzgibbons

The final leg of ICESat-2's ground-based journey started Monday morning, as crews loaded the satellite into a specialized truck and drove about 600 miles to Vandenberg, near Lompoc, California. The team monitored the satellite's slight movements and temperatures along the route, keeping it in the low 70s as outside temperatures exceeded 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 degrees Celsius). ICESat-2 arrived midday Tuesday.

Once the satellite is unpacked in a cleanroom operated by Astrotech Corp. at Vandenberg, the ICESat-2 team will conduct a few tests, including firing the lasers, to ensure nothing was disturbed during the shipping process. The completed satellite observatory – with its instrument, spacecraft bus and solar arrays – was tested extensively in Arizona.


The ICESat-2 satellite sits in a cleanroom at Northrop Grumman in Gilbert, Arizona, where the instrument and spacecraft were integrated and tested prior to its shipping to California.
Credits: Northrop Grumman

"This year, we've gone through final testing including acoustics testing, comprehensive performance testing of the satellite with the two flight lasers, installed the solar array, conducted a solar array deployment and performed an ATLAS door deploy – we know everything is working well," said Joy Henegar-Leon, ICESat-2's Observatory and Ground Systems Manager. The team also conducted a dry run of the post-launch procedures that power up the spacecraft and instrument, and configure the satellite for science data collection.

After launch, the fast-firing laser and sensitive detectors aboard ICESat-2 will allow it to collect precise measurements of Earth's height. The mission is designed to focus on changes in the ice sheets and sea ice in Antarctica and the Arctic, wh ere warming temperatures are having dramatic effects. The satellite will track the changes in these polar regions and around the globe.

ICESat-2 will launch on United Launch Alliance's final Delta II rocket, which is undergoing final assembly at Vandenberg.

For more information on ICESat-2, visit: https://icesat-2.gsfc.nasa.gov/

For updates on ICESat-2 and its Delta II at Vandenberg, visit: https://blogs.nasa.gov/icesat2/

For more information about NASA launches, visit: https://www.nasa.gov/centers/kennedy/launchingrockets/index.html

By Kate Ramsayer
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. 
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Last Updated: June 13, 2018
Editor: Sara Blumberg

tnt22


tnt22

https://blogs.nasa.gov/icesat2/2018/06/27/32/
ЦитироватьDelta II Comes Together Ahead of ICESat-2 Launch

Anna Heiney
Posted Jun 27, 2018 at 4:13 pm


This expanded-view graphic depicts the components of the United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket that will launch NASA's ICESat-2 spacecraft. Image credit: United Launch Alliance

The United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket slated to launch NASA's Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite-2, or ICESat-2, has made significant progress toward liftoff, planned for Sept. 12. Prelaunch preparations are well underway at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, where the rocket is coming together at Space Launch Complex 2. Earlier this month the booster, or first stage, was lifted into place in the complex's mobile service tower, followed by installation of the rocket's four solid rocket motors, as well as the interstage, a connector that adjoins the first and second stages. The rocket's second stage was lifted and installed atop the booster on Thursday, June 21.
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The United Launch Alliance Delta II first stage is lifted up in the mobile service tower at Space Launch Complex 2 at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Photo credit: USAF 30th Space Wing/Pedro Carrillo

The ICESat-2 spacecraft arrived at Vandenberg on June 12 and is undergoing its own processing activities inside the Astrotech Space Operations facility.

NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center manages development of the ICESat-2 mission, including mission systems engineering and mission operations on behalf of the agency's Earth Science Division. The ICESat-2 spacecraft was built and tested by Northrop Grumman in Gilbert, Arizona. The satellite will carry a single instrument called the Advanced Topographic Laser Altimeter System, or ATLAS, built and tested at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. United Launch Alliance of Centennial, Colorado, is providing the Delta II launch service. NASA's Launch Services Program, based at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, is responsible for launch service acquisition, integration, analysis, and launch management.
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tnt22

ЦитироватьULA ретвитнул(а)

pat o.‏ @spacepat_o 2 ч. назад

The @ulalaunch #DeltaII first stage was raised vertical and moved into the Mobile Service Tower at SLC-2 at Vandenberg AFB on June 8 for its final flight. The rocket will launch @NASA's #ICESat2 spacecraft to Low Earth Orbit on Sept 12. : @30thSpaceWing / Pedro Carri

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tnt22

https://www.nasa.gov/feature/ice-ice-baby-experience-the-launch-of-nasa-s-icesat-2-and-the-final-delta-ii-rocket
ЦитироватьJuly 6, 2018

Ice, Ice Baby! Experience the Launch of NASA's ICESat-2, and the Final Delta II Rocket

Ice, space lasers, penguins and a workhorse rocket's last liftoff – it's the stuff great tweets are made of.

NASA is inviting social media users to apply for credentials to attend the launch of the agency's Ice, Cloud and Land Elevation Satellite-2, or ICESat-2, aboard United Launch Alliance's Delta II rocket. Launch from Vandenberg Airforce Base near Lompoc, California is targeted for no earlier than Sept. 12.

​ICESat-2 will measure the height of our home planet, with a focus on tracking changes to the ice sheets, glaciers and sea ice of Earth's polar regions. The satellite's novel laser instrument measures height by timing individual photons of light to the billionth of a second, which will allow scientists to precisely measure change, including the impacts of a warming climate.

The satellite launches on ULA's last Delta II rocket, which has previously carried NASA satellites and spacecraft including the Spirit and Opportunity Mars rovers, Landsat 7 and, in 2003, the original ICESat.
...
Last Updated: July 6, 2018
Editor: Kindra Thomas

tnt22

https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2018/icesat-2-lasers-pass-final-ground-test
ЦитироватьJuly 9, 2018

ICESat-2 Lasers Pass Final Ground Test

The next time lasers fire fr om NASA's Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation Satellite-2, or ICESat-2, the spacecraft will be orbiting hundreds of miles above Earth and beginning its mission to monitor changes in ice sheets, glaciers and sea ice.


ICESat-2 is uncrated inside the airlock of the Astrotech processing facility at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, prior to a successful series of tests of the satellite and its instrument.
Credits: USAF 30th Space Wing/Vanessa Valentine

On June 23, ICESat-2 engineers at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California successfully finished the final ground-based test of the lasers, which are part of the satellite's sole instrument called the Advanced Topographic Laser Altimeter System (ATLAS). ICESat-2 is scheduled to launch from Vandenberg on Sept. 12, 2018.

ATLAS was built at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, and trucked to a Northrop Grumman facility in Arizona wh ere it was integrated with the spacecraft bus that provides power, navigation and communications. The completed satellite arrived at Vandenberg on June 12.
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The second stage of the United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket is lifted high up at the Vertical Integration Facility, at left, at Space Launch Complex 2 on June 21, 2018, at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The second stage will be attached to the top of the booster, or first stage of the rocket, which is being moved out of the Mobile Service Tower, at right.
Credits: NASA/Randy Beaudoin

In the Astrotech Space Operations cleanroom at Vandenberg, the ICESat-2 team tested both the spacecraft and instrument. NASA ICESat-2 launch integration manager John Satrom reports that the data from these tests have been reviewed and everything is normal.

Meanwhile at Vandenberg's Space Launch Complex 2 along the Pacific coast, crews from United Launch Alliance are assembling the Delta II rocket that will launch ICESat-2 into space. The first and second stage, the interstage connecting them, and four solid rocket motors are in place. The ICESat-2 mission will mark the final launch for the Delta II, which will then be retired.
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After the successful completion of another round of "aliveness" tests turning on the satellite and instrument at the end of July, the ICESat-2 payload is scheduled to head to the launch pad in late August, according to Satrom.

Last Updated: July 9, 2018
Editor: Sara Blumberg

tnt22

https://blogs.nasa.gov/icesat2/2018/08/07/nasa-invites-media-to-view-launch-of-icesat-2-from-west-coast/
ЦитироватьNASA Invites Media to View Launch of ICESat-2 from West Coast

Linda Herridge
Posted Aug 7, 2018 at 5:02 pm


The ICESat-2 mission will measure the changing height of Earth's glaciers, ice sheets and sea ice, one laser pulse at a time, 10,000 laster pulses per second. Image credit: NASA

Media accreditation is open for the launch of NASA's Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite-2, or ICESat-2, scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 15, with a 40-minute window opening at 8:46 a.m. EDT (5:46 a.m. PDT). ICESat-2 will provide precise measurements of the changing height of Earth's glaciers, ice sheets and sea ice.

The spacecraft will lift off from Space Launch Complex 2 at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on the final launch of a United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket.
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...
ICESat-2 will measure the height of our changing Earth, one laser pulse at a time, 10,000 laser pulses per second. The satellite will carry a single instrument, the Advanced Topographic Laser Altimeter System (ATLAS), which measures the travel times of laser pulses to calculate the distance between the spacecraft and Earth's surface. ICESat-2 will provide scientists with height measurements that create a global portrait of Earth's third dimension, gathering data that can precisely track changes of terrain including glaciers, sea ice, forests and more.

NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, manages development of the ICESat-2 mission, including mission systems engineering and mission operations on behalf of the agency's Earth Science Division. Goddard also built and tested the ATLAS instrument. The ICESat-2 spacecraft was built and tested by Northrop Grumman in Gilbert, Arizona. United Launch Alliance of Centennial, Colorado, is providing the Delta II launch service. NASA's Launch Services Program, based at Kennedy, is responsible for launch service acquisition, integration, analysis and launch management.

For more information about the ICESat-2 mission, visit https://www.nasa.gov/icesat-2.

Join the conversation on social media by following on Twitter at https://twitter.com/NASA_ICE.

Photo and video content for ICESat-2 is available at http://images.nasa.gov/.

https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/Gallery/icesat2.html
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tnt22

https://spaceflightnow.com/2018/08/16/photos-final-delta-2-rocket-assembled-for-launch/
ЦитироватьPhotos: Final Delta 2 rocket assembled for launch in California
August 16, 2018 | Stephen Clark

The step-by-step stacking of United Launch Alliance's final Delta 2 rocket was completed in June at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California for liftoff Sept. 15 with an Earth science satellite for NASA.

Workers at Vandenberg lifted the Delta 2's first stage on its launch mount June 8, then added an interstage connector June 12. Ground crews mated four solid-fueled strap-on boosters in mid-June, and hoisted the Delta 2's second stage into position June 21.

These photos show the pieces of the Delta 2 rocket arriving at Space Launch Complex 2-West at Vandenberg ahead of liftoff Sept. 15 with NASA's ICESat 2 satellite, designed to measure changes in ice sheets, and the height of vegetation, land and ocean surfaces, and clouds from an orbit around 300 miles (500 kilometers) above Earth.

The launch window Sept. 15 opens at 5:46 a.m. PDT (8:46 a.m. EDT; 1246 GMT).

The ICESat 2 mission will be the 155th and final launch of a Delta 2 rocket since February 1989. Of the 154 Delta 2 flights completed to date, 152 have been successful.
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Read our full story for details on the Delta 2 launch campaign. The photos posted below show the Delta 2's launch preparations at Vandenberg Air Force Base.


The Delta 2 rocket is removed from its shipping container after arriving at Vandenberg Air Force Base. Credit: USAF 30th Space Wing/Vanessa Valentine


Credit: NASA/Randy Beaudoin


Credit: NASA/Randy Beaudoin


Credit: NASA/Randy Beaudoin


Technicians clean and take samples from one-half of the Delta 2's payload fairing. Credit: NASA/Randy Beaudoin


The Delta 2's first stage arrives at Space Launch Complex 2-West. Credit: USAF 30th Space Wing/Pedro Carrillo


The Delta 2's first stage is raised off its transport trailer. Credit: USAF 30th Space Wing/Pedro Carrillo


The Delta 2 rocket's first stage RS-27A main engine. Credit: USAF 30th Space Wing/Pedro Carrillo


Credit: USAF 30th Space Wing/Pedro Carrillo


The Delta 2's first stage is raised into the mobile service tower. Credit: USAF 30th Space Wing/Pedro Carrillo


The Delta 2's interstage is lifted at Space Launch Complex 2-West. Credit: USAF 30th Space Wing/Mark Mackley


Credit: USAF 30th Space Wing/Mark Mackley


The Delta 2's interstage is lowered onto the rocket's first stage. Credit: USAF 30th Space Wing/Mark Mackley


One of the Delta 2's four solid rocket boosters arrives at the launch pad. Credit: USAF 30th Space Wing/Mark Mackley


Credit: USAF 30th Space Wing/Mark Mackley


Technicians position one of the Delta 2's four solid rocket boosters onto the first stage. Credit: USAF 30th Space Wing/Mark Mackley


Credit: USAF 30th Space Wing/Mark Mackley


Credit: USAF 30th Space Wing/Mark Mackley


A member of the Delta 2 team assists in the placement of a solid rocket booster on the first stage of the Delta 2 rocket at Vandenberg Air Force Base on June 15. Credit: USAF 30th Space Wing/Mark Mackley


Workers prepare the Delta 2's second stage for its attachment to the rocket. Credit: NASA/Randy Beaudoin


The Delta 2's second stage is raised into the mobile service tower. Credit: NASA/Randy Beaudoin


Ground crews lift the second stage of a Delta 2 rocket into the mobile gantry at Space Launch Complex 2-West at Vandenberg Air Force Base. The second stage was stacked atop the Delta 2 rocket June 21. Credit: NASA/Randy Beaudoin


Credit: NASA/Randy Beaudoin
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tnt22

https://spaceflightnow.com/2018/08/16/fueling-test-marks-resumption-of-delta-2-rockets-final-launch-campaign/
ЦитироватьTanking test marks resumption of Delta 2 rocket's final launch campaign
August 16, 2018 | Stephen Clark


Ground crews lift the second stage of a Delta 2 rocket into the mobile gantry at Space Launch Complex 2-West at Vandenberg Air Force Base. The second stage was stacked atop the Delta 2 rocket June 21. Credit: NASA/Randy Beaudoin

With each day, another milestone passes like clockwork for engineers and technicians preparing a United Launch Alliance Delta 2 rocket for liftoff next month fr om California's Central Coast. With 154 missions in the books — that's a lot for a space launcher — you might be right to say getting a rocket ready to fly is just another day at the office for the Delta 2 team.

But this summer's launch campaign at Vandenberg Air Force Base, overlooking the Pacific Ocean between Los Angeles and San Francisco, is the last for the Delta 2 program after a run of launches spanning more than 29-and-a-half years.

The payload for the last Delta 2 flight is NASA's ICESat 2 satellite, an orbiting platform that will use a laser to chart the melting of ice brought on by climate change.

"In a lot of ways, the Delta 2 launch of ICESat 2 is truly going to be the end of an era," said Tim Dunn, NASA's launch director for the ICESat 2 mission, in a recent interview. "It's a little melancholy, but at the same time what a great history to celebrate."

On Wednesday, controllers loaded super-cold liquid oxygen propellant into the Delta 2's first stage on its launch pad at Vandenberg during a practice countdown — known as a wet dress rehearsal — that exercised ground teams and provided a checkout of the launch vehicle.

The successful wet dress rehearsal came three days after ULA and NASA relocated critical members of the Delta launch team fr om Cape Canaveral to Vandenberg after Sunday's liftoff of a Delta 4-Heavy rocket with the Parker Solar Probe from Florida's Space Coast.

With the practice countdown accomplished, crews at Space Launch Complex 2-West at Vandenberg will ready the Delta 2 rocket for attachment of the ICESat 2 spacecraft next week.

ICESat 2 — short for Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite — arrived at the Vandenberg launch base in June from a Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems factory in Gilbert, Arizona. Since then, the satellite has been fueled with its own supply of maneuvering propellant, and technicians have verified ICESat 2 is ready for liftoff.

Liftoff is scheduled for a launch window opening at 5:46 a.m. PDT (8:46 a.m. EDT; 1246 GMT) on Sept. 15.

On its final flight, the Delta 2 will be propelled by a kerosene-burning first stage Aerojet Rocketdyne RS-27A main engine, four strap-on solid rocket boosters, and a restartable second stage AJ10-118K engine. The target for the Sept. 15 mission: A roughly circular polar orbit around 300 miles (500 kilometers) above Earth.
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A technician opens and checks the flight door of ICESat's laser altimeter instrument during pre-launch processing inside an Astrotech clean room at Vandenberg Air Force Base. Credit: USAF 30th Space Wing/Timothy Trenkle

During its planned three-year mission, ICESat 2 will fire a downward-facing on-board laser with 10,000 pulses per second, precisely measuring the time it takes for the laser signals to bounce off Earth's surface and back to the satellite. The measurements will yield information about the height of ice caps, vegetation, land and water surfaces, and clouds.

Scientists will use data from ICESat 2 — a replacement for NASA's ICESat satellite which operated from 2003 until 2009 — to see wh ere ice is melting and flowing, helping quantify and identify the impacts of warming global temperatures.

Once bolted to the adapter cone that will connect it to the Delta 2 second stage, ICESat 2 will be placed in a transport container for the short road trip from the Astrotech payload processing facility to the SLC-2W launch pad. Cranes will hoist the spacecraft — weighing around one-and-a-half tons — into the launch pad's mobile gantry.

The moving service structure will roll back around the Delta 2, allowing workers to install the ICESat 2 spacecraft on the rocket and encapsulate it inside the launcher's composite nose shroud, capping assembly of the 128-foot-tall (39-meter) vehicle. Then comes a sequence of testing to ensure the satellite is properly connected to the Delta 2, fueling of the rocket's second stage with storable Aerozine 50 and nitrogen tetroxide propellants, and multiple readiness reviews to clear the mission for takeoff.

Workers at Vandenberg lifted the Delta 2's first stage on its launch mount June 8, then added an interstage connector June 12. Ground crews mated four solid-fueled strap-on boosters in mid-June, and hoisted the Delta 2's second stage into position June 21.

ULA's Delta team powered up the Delta 2 in late June for several weeks of avionics and propulsion checkouts, then suspended the launch campaign to focus on the Delta 4-Heavy launch from Florida with NASA's Parker Solar Probe.


A member of the Delta 2 team assists in the placement of a solid rocket booster on the first stage of the Delta 2 rocket at Vandenberg Air Force Base on June 15. Credit: USAF 30th Space Wing/Mark Mackley

The Parker Solar Probe launch was delayed several times before it lifted off early Sunday, prompting NASA and ULA to push back ICESat 2's launch by three days, giving teams time to transition from the East Coast to the West Coast.

The upcoming mission will be the 155th flight of a Delta 2 rocket since the launcher family debuted with the deployment of a GPS navigation satellite on Valentine's Day 1989.

...

Ensuring a graceful end to the Delta 2 program

...


The penultimate Delta 2 launch last November carried NOAA's JPSS 1 weather satellite into orbit from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. Credit: ULA/Walter Scriptunas II

...

The space agency booked the ICESat 2 launch on a Delta 2 rocket in 2013, adding a fourth flight to the Delta 2 program's final chapter. ULA has components for one additional Delta 2 launcher, but that rocket will not fly, and is likely bound for a museum display.

As with any long-lived flight program nearing retirement, NASA and ULA had to meticulously ensure they had enough spare parts to replace components that might be damaged during the final Delta 2 launch campaigns, according to Dunn.

In the final years of the program, officials kept an inventory spare parts for the launch vehicles and ground support equipment, and they faced concerns that Delta 2 personnel might want to leave the program because of its impending retirement, Dunn said.

"It's been incredibly successful for us in managing spare parts," Dunn said. "There were certain parts wh ere the vendor went out of business, or quit making the parts many years ago. So while the vendor was still in business, ULA ensured that at least one spare was made for every critical component on the rocket, and then an evaluation of the entire rocket was made.

"To pick a term out of fairy tails, the 'golden egg' process was put in place," Dunn said. "Certain components on the rocket, or its one-of-a-kind spare, were deemed 'golden eggs' and handled as such since the 2011 or 2012 timeframe. You would walk through the factory ... and you would see certain items with a big 'golden egg' placard on them."

"Here we are at the end of that process, we are still in very good shape in having at least one spare for all critical components," Dunn said.

Over the last six decades, the builders of the Delta rocket family changed names through multiple corporate mergers and acquisitions, beginning with the Douglas Aircraft Company, then succeeded by McDonnell Douglas, Boeing and United Launch Alliance, formed in 2006 by the marriage of Boeing and Lockheed Martin rocket programs.

The more powerful Delta 4 rocket built by ULA is a new design, incorporating different hydrogen-fueled engines, and wider propellant tanks than the Delta 2. Counting the Delta 4 family, the launch of ICESat 2 next month will be the 381st flight of a rocket carrying the Delta name since 1960.

NASA launch director shares his Delta 2 memories

"Delta has such a rich history, starting back in 1960," Dunn told Spaceflight Now. "If you talk to real gray-beards on the program, it was on death's door step probably at least three, maybe four times, when everyone thought for sure that was the last launch ever, and they were all out of jobs, and somehow it kept getting new life.

"For this version of Delta, we are certain that this one will not fly after ICESat 2," he said.

After stints as an Air Force as a GPS satellite analysis officer and a Titan 4 launch controller, Dunn joined the Delta 2 program at Boeing in 1996, supporting dozens of missions as a launch-day guidance engineer. One of his first missions on the Delta 2 rocket was the launch of Mars Pathfinder in December 1996, which delivered NASA's first rover to the red planet.

"One our first missions was the Mars Pathfinder mission," Dunn said. "That was the very small rover that we sent to Mars back in the fall of '96. That one was really satisfying to me because it was super-cool deep space mission with NASA, our customer at the time ... We were sending something to crawl around on the surface of Mars.

Hot Wheels produced a toy version of Mars Pathfinder's Sojourner rover before the mission's launch.

"My son was just a couple of years old, so it something I could relate to him with toys," Dunn said. "So Pathfinder sticks out."


NASA launch director Tim Dunn (lower right) oversees the countdown before the final Delta 2 launch from Cape Canaveral in September 2011. Credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

Dunn joined NASA's Launch Services Program in 2000 as a Delta 2 avionics and flight controls engineer, then became NASA's Delta 2 vehicle systems engineer in 2003, leading the agency's technical team ensuring Delta 2 rockets were ready to loft science probes into the solar system.

"From a constellation build-up point of view, the Globalstar sequence of launches that we did back in the summer of '99 timeframe," Dunn said. "Those were really fun because of the repetition. I want to say we were launching every couple of weeks there, at least for a few of them, fire to fire.

"Supporting the Air Force through all those years, that's a special memory with GPS," Dunn said. "From 1989 when GPS 2-1 first launched, as you progressed through the '90s, that was the time when GPS went from this military system that only the military used, to essentially a common everyday person's utility. That was really fun to be supporting and sustaining the constellation that everyone was beginning to use. Fast forward to 2018, and (when) you talk to younger kids today about GPS, they can't imagine life without GPS, on your phone, on your watch, in your car."

Other Delta 2 launches high on Dunn's favorites list include the back-to-back liftoffs in June and July 2003 with NASA's Spirit and Opportunity Mars rovers. Opportunity, which took off second in 2003's interplanetary launch window, had to use a version of the rocket known as the Delta 2-Heavy, the first Delta 2 to fly with uprated, more powerful solid rocket boosters.

"We launched them both in the summer, so we were able to hit the Mars window with two different launches from Complex 17 (at Cape Canaveral)," Dunn said. "One was a standard Delta 2-7900 series, and the other with the Heavy. That was a huge development effort, bringing the Heavy online, a real challenge because of the planetary window we had to hit."

Dunn's first mission as launch director was the last Delta 2 flight from Cape Canaveral in 2011.

"That one was very special," he told Spaceflight Now in an interview.

Dunn said his move from the Air Force's Titan 4 program, which primarily launched one-of-a-kind, costly U.S. military satellites, to the workhorse Delta 2 was a major change. The Titan 4 team vastly outnumbered the Delta 2 workforce, despite the Delta 2's higher launch rate.

"I really enjoyed those Titan 4 launches, but it was hard to identify with the whole team, and the rocket was kind of a fairly complex rocket, especially with the Centaur second stage, just big and fun," Dunn said. "Then I went to the Delta 2, and it was a little smaller. You could get your hands around the systems, and you could walk the tower a lot more easily, and the team that you were working with was kind of an order of magnitude smaller, so that made it feel more like family.

"That's one of the things that I'll miss," Dunn said. "That may be replicated on some of the newer providers, especially the smaller providers that have smaller teams ... Just my knowledge of the hardware systems on Delta 2, when you grow up and you invest so many years in a particular rocket, you really feel like you know it inside and out."

The Delta 2's iconic color will also become a part of space history with the rocket's retirement.

"And of course that baby blue paint scheme," Dunn said. "I'm going to miss that because I don't see another rocket out there painted in baby blue just yet, but maybe there will be one coming."
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https://www.ulalaunch.com/missions/delta-ii-icesat-2
ЦитироватьDELTA II TO LAUNCH ICESAT-2

• Rocket: Delta II
• Mission: ICESat-2
• Launch Date: Saturday, Sept. 15, 2018
• Launch Time: To be announced
• Launch Broadcast: To be announced
• Launch Location: Space Launch Complex-2, Vandenberg Air Force Base, California



Mission Information: United Launch Alliance will use the final Delta II rocket to launch the Ice, Cloud and Land Elevation Satellite-2 (ICESat-2) for NASA to measure the thickness of Earth's polar ice sheets. The satellite's primary instrument will pulse its laser at Earth 10,000 times a second and precisely measure the time it takes the beams to bounce off the ground and return to ICESat-2 to deduce the elevation below within the accuracy of 4 millimeters.

The satellite advances the capabilities of its predecessor, ICESat-1, launched by a Delta II rocket and operated from 2003 to 2009.

Launch Notes: This will be the final flight of the venerable Delta II rocket, which has been in use since 1989.

Launch Updates: To keep up to speed with updates to the launch countdown, dial the ULA launch hotline at 1-877-852-4321 or join the conversation at www.facebook.com/ulalaunch, twitter.com/ulalaunch and instagram.com/ulalaunch; hashtags #deltaii #icesat2
 
Go Delta! Go ICESat-2!