{"id":13634,"date":"2018-08-22T17:25:51","date_gmt":"2018-08-22T09:25:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/vega-launch-timeline-with-aeolus\/"},"modified":"2018-08-22T17:25:51","modified_gmt":"2018-08-22T09:25:51","slug":"vega-launch-timeline-with-aeolus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/vega-launch-timeline-with-aeolus\/","title":{"rendered":"Vega launch timeline with Aeolus"},"content":{"rendered":"

The European Space Agency\u2019s Aeolus winds observatory is set for liftoff aboard a Vega rocket to kick off a three-year mission to measure global wind profiles from an orbit nearly 200 miles (320 kilometers) above Earth.<\/p>\n

The ascent will take nearly an hour following launch from French Guiana at 2120:09 GMT (5:20:09 p.m. EDT; 6:20:09 p.m. French Guiana time) on Aug. 22.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Credit: Arianespace<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

T+00:00:00 \u2013 Liftoff<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"The
The Vega rocket\u2019s first stage P80 solid rocket motor ignites and powers the 98-foot-tall booster off the launch pad 0.3 seconds later. The P80 first stage motor generates a maximum of 683,000 pounds of thrust.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

T+00:00:31 \u2013 Mach 1<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"The
The Vega rocket surpasses the speed of sound as it soars on a northerly trajectory from French Guiana. The rocket will reach Max-Q, the point of maximum aerodynamic pressure, at T+plus 53 seconds.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

T+00:01:54 \u2013 First stage separation<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Having
Having consumed its 194,000 pounds (88 metric tons) of solid propellant, the 9.8-foot-diameter (3-meter) P80 first stage motor is jettisoned at an altitude of about 33 miles (53 kilometers). The second stage Zefiro 23 motor will ignite a second later to begin its 103-second firing.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

T+00:03:37 \u2013 Second stage separation<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"The
The Zefiro 23 motor burns out and jettisons.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

T+00:03:51 \u2013 Third stage ignition<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Moving
Moving at a velocity of nearly 9,000 mph, or about 3.9 kilometers per second, the Vega rocket\u2019s Zefiro 9 motor ignites for the third stage burn.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

T+00:03:56 \u2013 Fairing separation<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"
The Vega\u2019s 8.5-foot-diameter (2.6-meter) payload fairing is released as the rocket ascends into space.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

T+00:06:30 \u2013 Third stage separation<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"
The Zefiro 9 third stage shuts down and separates, having accelerated the rocket to nearly orbital velocity.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

T+00:08:03 \u2013 First AVUM ignition<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"
The Vega rocket\u2019s Attitude and Vernier Module, or fourth stage, ignites for the first time. The AVUM burns hydrazine fuel with an RD-843 engine provided by Yuzhnoye of Ukraine.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

T+00:16:37 \u2013 AVUM first cutoff<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"
The Vega\u2019s AVUM fourth stage is turned off after an 8-minute, 34-second burn, beginning a nearly 37-minute coast until the engine is ignited again.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

T+00:53:06 \u2013 Second AVUM ignition<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"
The AVUM fires a second time for a 23-second burn to put the Aeolus satellite into its targeted orbit.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

T+00:53:29 \u2013 AVUM second cutoff<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"
The AVUM engine shuts down after reaching a circular orbit with an altitude of 199 miles (320 kilometers), and an inclination of 96.7 degrees.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

T+00:54:57 \u2013 Aeolus separation<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"
The European Space Agency\u2019s Aeolus winds observatory separates from the Vega upper stage.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Email the author.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @StephenClark1.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The European Space Agency\u2019s Aeolus winds observatory is set for liftoff aboard a Vega rocket to kick off a three-year mission to measure global wind profiles from an orbit nearly 200 miles (320 kilometers) above Earth. The ascent will take nearly an hour following launch from French Guiana at 2120:09 GMT (5:20:09 p.m. EDT; 6:20:09 p.m. French […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[2887,1657,498,1244,2888,159,594,831],"class_list":["post-13634","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-aeolus","tag-airbus-defense-and-space","tag-arianespace","tag-avio","tag-earth-explorer","tag-earth-observation","tag-earth-science","tag-european-space-agency"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13634"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13634"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13634\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13634"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13634"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13634"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}