Tag: L-1011
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Video: Inside the CYGNSS satellite factory and the Pegasus carrier aircraft
Updated before Thursday’s launch attempt. Spaceflight Now visited the CYGNSS production facility at the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio and the Pegasus XL rocket’s carrier plane at Cape Canaveral for rare looks at hardware that make NASA’s $157 million hurricane research mission possible. In the first video, CYGNSS integration and test manager Alan Henry…
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Photos: Orbital ATK’s temporary Pegasus home base at Cape Canaveral
Take a look around the L-1011 jetliner, Pegasus rocket, and ground support gear at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station’s Skid Strip for Monday’s scheduled launch of eight microsatellites to listen for winds inside hurricanes. NASA and Orbital ATK, the Pegasus rocket’s contractor, gave reporters and photographers a tour of the “hot pad” at the Cape Canaveral…
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NASA-funded satellite fleet could give hurricane forecasting a boost
Artist’s concept of the CYGNSS satellites deploying from the carrier module on the Pegasus rocket’s third stage. Credit: NASA/University of Michigan/SWRI Eight mini-satellites packed snug inside a Pegasus rocket slung under a modified jumbo jet will fire into orbit Monday off Florida’s East Coast, launching on a $157 million NASA mission that could help forecasters…
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Photos: Hurricane research satellites readied for launch
Eight miniature weather observatories, each the size of a piece of carry-on luggage, were installed on a specially-designed deployer module and mounted on the front end of an air-launched Pegasus XL rocket to prepare for Monday’s flight into orbit. The spacecraft are part of NASA’s Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System, or CYGNSS, a $157 million project…
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Photo: New Orbital ATK paint job for Pegasus carrier jet
Credit: Orbital ATK The aircraft that air-launches the Pegasus rocket has been repainted with new livery to mark the recent corporate merge that formed Orbital ATK. The L-1011 jet, named Stargazer, carries the light-class Pegasus launchers to an altitude of 39,000 feet and releases the booster to fire into space. Pegasus has flown 42 times…