{"id":15896,"date":"2015-12-02T17:38:51","date_gmt":"2015-12-02T09:38:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/vega-lisa-pathfinder-launch-timeline\/"},"modified":"2015-12-02T17:38:51","modified_gmt":"2015-12-02T09:38:51","slug":"vega-lisa-pathfinder-launch-timeline","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/vega-lisa-pathfinder-launch-timeline\/","title":{"rendered":"Vega\/LISA Pathfinder launch timeline"},"content":{"rendered":"

Follow the major events during the launch of Europe\u2019s LISA Pathfinder gravitational probe testbed, from liftoff of its Vega rocket booster from French Guiana through deployment into its initial orbit.<\/p>\n

\"vv06_timeline\"
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 an easterly 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+00:01:53 \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+00:03:49 \u2013 Third stage ignition<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Moving
Moving at a velocity of nearly 9,000 mph, or 4 kilometers per second, the Vega rocket\u2019s Zefiro 9 motor ignites for the third stage burn.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

T+00:04:03 \u2013 Fairing separation<\/strong><\/p>\n

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

T+00:07:29 \u2013 First AVUM ignition<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"The
The Vega rocket\u2019s Attitude and Vernier Module, or fourth stage, ignites for the first time. The AVUM burns hydrazine fuel with an RD-869 engine provided by Yuzhnoye of Ukraine.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

T+00:16:23 \u2013 AVUM first cutoff<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"The
The Vega\u2019s AVUM fourth stage is turned off after an 8-minute, 54-second burn, beginning an 85-minute coast until the engine is ignited again. The first AVUM burn places the rocket and its payloads on a ballistic trajectory.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

T+01:41:19 \u2013 Second AVUM ignition<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"The
The AVUM fires a second time for a 94-second burn to put LISA Pathfinder into its preliminary orbit.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

T+01:42:53 \u2013 AVUM second cutoff<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"The
The AVUM engine shuts down after reaching an elliptical orbit with a high point of 957 miles (1,540 kilometers), a low point of 128 miles (207 kilometers), and an inclination of 5.96 degrees.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

T+01:45:33 \u2013 LISA Pathfinder separation<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"The
The 4,202-pound (1,906-kilogram) LISA Pathfinder spacecraft deploys from the AVUM fourth stage of the Vega rocket. A ground station in Kourou could acquire the first signals from LISA Pathfinder to confirm its health about two minutes later.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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

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

Follow the major events during the launch of Europe\u2019s LISA Pathfinder gravitational probe testbed, from liftoff of its Vega rocket booster from French Guiana through deployment into its initial orbit. Credit: Arianespace T+00:00:00 \u2013 Liftoff The Vega rocket\u2019s first stage P80 solid rocket motor ignites and powers the 98-foot-tall booster off the launch pad 0.3 […]<\/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":[498,1244,3871,831,1773,3243,1311,3244],"class_list":["post-15896","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-arianespace","tag-avio","tag-elv","tag-european-space-agency","tag-guiana-space-center","tag-lisa-pathfinder","tag-vega","tag-vv06"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15896"}],"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=15896"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15896\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15896"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15896"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15896"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}