{"id":11468,"date":"2022-06-10T21:16:58","date_gmt":"2022-06-10T13:16:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/astra-to-begin-three-launch-campaign-with-nasa-hurricane-research-satellites\/"},"modified":"2022-06-10T21:16:58","modified_gmt":"2022-06-10T13:16:58","slug":"astra-to-begin-three-launch-campaign-with-nasa-hurricane-research-satellites","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/astra-to-begin-three-launch-campaign-with-nasa-hurricane-research-satellites\/","title":{"rendered":"Astra to begin three-launch campaign with NASA hurricane research satellites"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Astra\u2019s Rocket 3.3, tail number LV0010, stands its launch pad at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station before launch on NASA\u2019s TROPICS-1 mission. Credit: Brady Kenniston \/ Astra<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Astra is preparing to launch the first of three straight dedicated missions for NASA this weekend at Cape Canaveral to deploy six shoebox-size hurricane research satellites, helping pioneer a new paradigm of riskier but less expensive science missions.<\/p>\n

The commercial launch company, geared toward the burgeoning small satellite industry, won a $7.95 million contract last year to haul NASA\u2019s six TROPICS spacecraft into orbit using three rockets.<\/p>\n

The first of the three TROPICS missions is set for liftoff during a two-hour window opening at 12 p.m. EDT (1600 GMT) Sunday. Forecasters predict stormy weather at the launch site, with a greater than 50% chance conditions could prevent liftoff. Conditions should improve Monday, according to the official launch weather outlook.<\/p>\n

Astra delivered the rocket to Florida\u2019s Space Coast last month from its California factory, then completed a test-firing of the booster\u2019s five engines at Space Launch Complex 46, a commercially-operated facility near the easternmost extent of Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.<\/p>\n

The first two TROPICS satellites are mounted inside a deployer on top of the 43-foot-tall (13.1-meter) Astra launcher, which the company calls Rocket 3.3, or tail number LV0010.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re trying to make improved observations of tropical cyclones,\u201d said William Blackwell, principal investigator for the TROPICS mission from MIT Lincoln Laboratory. \u201cAnd what we\u2019re really trying to characterize is the fundamental thermodynamic environment around the storm. So that\u2019s things like the temperature, and the amount of moisture and precipitation intensity, and the structure around the storm.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose are important variables because they can be related to the intensity of the storm, and even potential for future intensification,\u201d Blackwell said in Friday in an interview with Spaceflight Now. \u201cSo we\u2019re trying to make those measurements with relatively high revisit. That\u2019s really the key new feature that the TROPICS constellation provides, is improved revisit of the storms.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll have six satellites orbiting, and one satellite will work to make a nice image of the storm, and then the next satellite will orbit closely behind it about an hour behind,\u201d Blackwell said. \u201cSo we\u2019ll get, roughly every hour, a new image of the storm, and that\u2019s about a factor of five-to-eight better than what we get today. With these new measurements of rapidly updated imagery, we hope that that will help us understand the storm better, and ultimately lead to better forecasting of the hurricane track and intensity.\u201d<\/p>\n

TROPICS stands for Time-Resolved Observations of Precipitation structure and storm Intensity with a Constellation of Smallsats. The mission has a total cost of approximately $30 million, according to NASA.<\/p>\n

Each TROPICS satellite has a single instrument. A microwave radiometer, about the size of a coffee cup and spinning 30 times per minute, will create images of tropical cyclones, collect temperature measurements, and gather vertical profiles of moisture through the atmosphere.<\/p>\n

\u201cI <\/span>love TROPICS, just because it\u2019s kind of a crazy mission,\u201d said Thomas Zurbuchen, head of NASA\u2019s science mission directorate. \u201cThink of six CubeSats doing science, looking at tropical storms with a repeat time of 50 minutes.\u201d<\/p>\n