{"id":13835,"date":"2018-04-27T20:20:04","date_gmt":"2018-04-27T12:20:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/ulas-heavy-lifter-rolled-out-for-solar-probe-launch\/"},"modified":"2018-04-27T20:20:04","modified_gmt":"2018-04-27T12:20:04","slug":"ulas-heavy-lifter-rolled-out-for-solar-probe-launch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/ulas-heavy-lifter-rolled-out-for-solar-probe-launch\/","title":{"rendered":"ULA\u2019s heavy-lifter rolled out for solar probe launch"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Delta 4-Heavy rocket slated to launch NASA\u2019s Parker Solar Probe was lifted vertical on its launch pad at Cape Canaveral on April 17, one day after it rolled to the pad from a nearby horizontal integration hangar. Credit: NASA\/Johns Hopkins APL\/Ed Whitman<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Gearing up for a predawn blastoff July 31, launch crews have positioned a Delta 4-Heavy rocket in the starting blocks on a seaside launch complex at Cape Canaveral as engineers inside a tightly-controlled clean room a few miles away put the final touches on a NASA probe that will travel closer to the sun than any mission before.<\/p>\n

The mission\u2019s key components were on the move earlier this month, with the Parker Solar Probe\u2019s shipment from the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory to Florida\u2019s Space Coast on April 3. After arriving in Florida aboard a U.S. Air Force cargo plane, the spacecraft was trucked to a clean room at the Astrotech Space Operations payload processing facility in Titusville.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, technicians inside the Delta 4 rocket\u2019s assembled the launcher\u2019s three first stage booster cores since their arrival from United Launch Alliance\u2019s factory in Decatur, Alabama, on two shipments aboard the company\u2019s Mariner rocket transport ship last July and August. Workers connected the Delta 4-Heavy\u2019s upper stage in early March, then transferred the launcher to Cape Canaveral\u2019s Complex 37B launch pad April 16.<\/p>\n

Hydraulic lifts hoisted the rocket vertical inside the launch pad\u2019s mobile gantry April 17, beginning checkouts that will include several launch day rehearsals, including a fueling test, in the coming months.<\/p>\n

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The Delta 4-Heavy\u2019s three Aerojet Rocketdyne RS-68A main engines are seen in this image before the rocket was lifted vertical April 17. Credit: NASA\/Ben Smegelsky<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Liftoff is scheduled for July 31 during a two-hour launch window that opens at approximately 4:15 a.m. EDT (0815 GMT).<\/p>\n

Named for Eugene Parker, the scientist who predicted in 1958 the influence of the solar wind, the Parker Solar Probe will fly closer to the sun than any past mission, reaching a point in December 2024 as close as 3.8 million miles \u2014 less than 6.2 million kilometers \u2014 from the sun\u2019s visible surface, also known as the photosphere.<\/p>\n

The Helios 2 spacecraft, a joint project by NASA and the German space agency, is the current record-holder. It flew 27 million miles \u2014 43.4 million kilometers \u2014 from the sun in April 1976.<\/p>\n

That record will be shattered early in Parker Solar Probe\u2019s mission. With the help of a big boost from the Delta 4-Heavy rocket, the most powerful launcher currently certified to carry NASA missions into space, and an extra impulse from a solid-fueled Star 48BV upper stage provided by Orbital ATK, the 1,500-pound (685-kilogram) Parker Solar Probe will reach Venus on Sept. 28 for a flyby that will use the planet\u2019s gravity to redirect the spacecraft\u2019s orbit inside the orbit of Mercury.<\/p>\n

The big rocket, upper stage and repeated encounters with Venus are required to nudge Parker Solar Probe closer to the sun, effectively slowing the spacecraft from its initial 18-mile-per-second speed \u2014 relative to the sun \u2014 at Earth\u2019s orbit to allow solar gravity to pull it closer.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince we\u2019re going so close to the sun, we have to lose a lot of energy, a lot of angular momentum, associated with the Earth\u2019s orbit,\u201d said Jim Kinnison, Parker Solar Probe\u2019s mission system engineer, in an interview with Spaceflight Now. \u201cTo do that, we need a really big rocket that can provide us with a high (escape velocity). The Delta 4-Heavy was the best we could get, but even that wasn\u2019t sufficient. We still need a third stage to provide even more of a boost for us. The third stage will do that, but we\u2019re also targeting Venus for gravity assists to lose even more.\u201d<\/p>\n

SpaceX\u2019s Falcon Heavy rocket can carry heavier cargo than the Delta 4-Heavy, but the launcher must complete multiple successful flights before NASA will allow it to dispatch the agency\u2019s most expensive science probes. At the time of NASA\u2019s selection of the Delta 4-Heavy rocket for the Parker Solar Probe mission in early 2015, the Falcon Heavy was still three years from its first test flight.<\/p>\n

Parker Solar Probe will reach its first perihelion \u2014 or close-up solar flyby \u2014 on Nov. 1 at a distance of around 15 million miles (24.1 million kilometers).<\/p>\n

Six more flybys with Venus will crank the probe closer to the sun over the course of 24 orbits through 2025.<\/p>\n

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Artist\u2019s concept of Parker Solar Probe in space. Credit: NASA\/JHUAPL<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Parker Solar Probe will eventually fly through the corona, a super-heated envelope of plasma surrounding the sun where temperatures soar to millions of degrees. The temperature at the surface of the sun is hundreds of times cooler, but still a blistering 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit (6,000 degrees Celsius).<\/p>\n

\u201cThat just doesn\u2019t make sense,\u201d said Nicola Fox, Parker Solar Probe\u2019s project scientist at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, which built the spacecraft and leads the science team. \u201cYou have a heat source, and it gets hotter as you move away. It\u2019s like walking away from a campfire and suddenly getting hotter. It breaks the laws of nature. It breaks the laws of physics.\u201d<\/p>\n

Scientists believe the million-mile-per-hour solar wind, a stream of plasma that travels outward through the solar system, is generated inside the corona.<\/p>\n

Fox said that inside the corona, plasma \u201cgets incredibly energized, so much so that it actually takes off and can break away from the huge pull of the sun with so much energy that it can move out, and it bathes all of the planets. It carries with it the sun\u2019s magnetic field.\u201d<\/p>\n

The result, Fox said, is that the Earth is impacted by solar activity, producing geomagnetic storms as the solar wind interacts with the planet\u2019s magnetosphere, activating colorful auroral displays, potentially damaging satellites and disrupting communications and electrical grids.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe live in the atmosphere of the sun, so when the sun sneezes, the Earth will catch a cold,\u201d Fox said in a presentation last month at the SXSW festival in Austin, Texas. \u201cWe feel whatever is going on on the sun.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The Delta 4-Heavy rocket slated to launch Parker Solar Probe. Credit: NASA\/Johns Hopkins APL\/Ed Whitman<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Key questions Parker Solar Probe was designed to address include charting the flow of heat and energy that accelerates the solar wind, collecting data that could help scientists forecast solar storms that might affect Earth.<\/p>\n

During its closest approaches in 2024 and 2025, Parker Solar Probe will experience 478 times the sunlight present at Earth, which orbits around 93 million miles (150 kilometers) from the sun. The spacecraft\u2019s velocity will jump to roughly 430,000 mph \u2014 120 miles per second or nearly 700,000 kilometers per hour \u2014 during its final perihelion passages.<\/p>\n

Parker Solar Probe carries a heat shield to protect the spacecraft\u2019s most critical parts from the scorching temperatures, but the craft\u2019s power-generating solar panels and some parts of its scientific payload will remain exposed.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will be orbiting through the 3-million-degree plasma region,\u201d Fox said. \u201cThat sounds really hot, but the plasma there is not very dense. If you imagine turning your oven on to 400 degrees and letting it heat up, you could put your hand inside that oven.  It won\u2019t burn you unless you touch something, so there\u2019s a difference between temperature and heat.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere aren\u2019t that many particles around, so the actual amount that couples into the front side of our heat shield means that the front side is about 2,500 degrees Fahrenheit, or 1,400 degrees Centigrade (Celsius),\u201d Fox said.<\/p>\n

Behind the heat shield, or thermal protection system, the main body of the spacecraft will be warmed a little hotter than room temperature, but still within engineering tolerances for crucial parts like the probe\u2019s computer and propulsion system.<\/p>\n

Parker Solar Probe\u2019s heat shield arrived at the Astrotech facility in Titusville, Florida, on April 18 in a ground shipment from the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, or APL, in Laurel, Maryland.<\/p>\n

One of the major activities at Astrotech in the lead-up to launch will be the installation of the heat shield, a 4.5-inch thick (11.4-centimeter) piece of carbon composite that stretches around 8 feet (nearly 2.5 meters) wide.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe idea of exploring this region around the sun has been around for about 60 years,\u201d Kinnison said. \u201cThe primary thing that\u2019s kept us from doing that is the heat shield technology that will allow you to survive there \u2026 That was one of the more critical technologies that we had to develop.\u201d<\/p>\n

Once the heat shield is bolted on to the spacecraft, engineers will transfer Parker Solar Probe to a hazardous fueling facility where it will be loaded with hydrazine propellant. Then ground crews will connect the probe to its Star 48 upper stage motor and encapsulate it inside the Delta 4\u2019s payload fairing before moving the spacecraft to the launch pad.<\/p>\n

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The Parker Solar Probe spacecraft (background at left) and the container with the mission\u2019s heat shield inside a clean room at the Astrotech Space Operations processing facility in Titusville, Florida. Credit: NASA\/Johns Hopkins APL\/Ed Whitman<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Officials are still working to resolve a couple of technical issues before clearing Parker Solar Probe for launch.<\/p>\n

Peg Luce, the acting director of NASA\u2019s heliophysics division at NASA Headquarters, said earlier this month that engineers are studying the failure of several platinum resistance thermometers on the spacecraft.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe platinum resistance thermometers are lightweight, highly sensitive temperature sensors used to help provide feedback to the spacecraft\u2019s cooling system and solar arrays,\u201d said Dwayne Brown, a NASA spokesperson. \u201cWe put all spacecraft through a rigorous test program to make sure all systems are working as designed and it is normal for a test program to uncover issues.\u201d<\/p>\n

Luce said the thermometers, which contain fine wiring, could be repaired or replaced during pre-launch processing in Florida, if necessary. After assessing the situation during recent review of Parker Solar Probe\u2019s status, officials unanimously approved the spacecraft\u2019s shipment from Maryland to Florida, Brown said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are a number of tests that we\u2019re doing back at the lab to understand what\u2019s going on,\u201d Kinnison said. \u201cThese sorts of things happen with spacecraft where you come up with an issue at the end of the day, and the team pulls together and figures out what needs to be done, and we get it done. That\u2019s what I\u2019m expecting to happen here.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a presentation to a heliophysics advisory committee April 5, Luce said the mission managers are also examining \u201csome late breaking problems that are being worked and watched very carefully\u201d regarding the Star 48 upper stage motor.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt all looks like that will be smoothed out in time for launch,\u201d Luce said.<\/p>\n

But she said NASA will not go forward with the launch if there are any lingering concerns.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are not going to fly this mission if we have concerns about it, and if we have to take more time, we will,\u201d Luce said.<\/p>\n

Parker Solar Probe\u2019s launch period extends through Aug. 19, and is limited by the position of Venus in its orbit around the sun. If the mission misses its launch opportunity this year, the next chance to send Parker Solar Probe into space will come in May 2019.<\/p>\n

More photos of the Delta 4-Heavy rocket\u2019s arrival at its launch pad are posted below.<\/p>\n

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Credit: NASA\/Ben Smegelsky<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Credit: NASA\/Ben Smegelsky<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Credit: NASA\/Ben Smegelsky<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Credit: NASA\/Ben Smegelsky<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Credit: NASA\/Ben Smegelsky<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Credit: NASA\/Ben Smegelsky<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Credit: NASA\/Ben Smegelsky<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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

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

The Delta 4-Heavy rocket slated to launch NASA\u2019s Parker Solar Probe was lifted vertical on its launch pad at Cape Canaveral on April 17, one day after it rolled to the pad from a nearby horizontal integration hangar. Credit: NASA\/Johns Hopkins APL\/Ed Whitman Gearing up for a predawn blastoff July 31, launch crews have positioned […]<\/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":[1962,2891,1688,1408,1860,1861,25,1863],"class_list":["post-13835","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-complex-37","tag-delta-380","tag-delta-4","tag-delta-4-heavy","tag-heliophysics","tag-jhuapl","tag-launch","tag-parker-solar-probe"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13835"}],"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=13835"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13835\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13835"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13835"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13835"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}