Cosmic Penguin
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For NASA's unmanned spaceflight missions, the ones that are most famous are the inter-planetary probes. You may have heard about Curiosity, Opportunity, Cassini, Dawn, MESSENGER, MRO, LRO and other missions during the past few weeks.
Yet the missions targeting the most well-studied planet - the Earth - are not that famous. Especially if the mission does not feature a camera or radar.
And one such mission is waiting for launch tomorrow. Featuring two probes flying in tandem on an elliptical orbit, the Radiation Belt Storm Probes will provide unprecedented data on how the Earth's radiation belts work(crucial to our survival from cosmic zaps from the Sun and other bigger things
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. The belt's charged particles, plasma waves, and the electric and magnetic fields will be measured from both spacecrafts, allowing different perspectives of the belt from two sources in terms of time and space. It can also provide real-time observations of the changes in the radiation belt during a geo-magnetic (solar) storm.
For details, please read these articles:
NASA: RBSP: Fundamental Physics to Benefit Life on Earth, in Space
NASA: The Electric Atmosphere: Plasma Is Next NASA Science Target
The two probes are identical, weighing at 1475 pounds each (670 kilograms).
Each carries 5 instruments to address the mission's science objectives. These includes:
The launch will use the Atlas V rocket to launch them into an 500 km × 30600 km x 10° orbit. After launch, the two probes will be tested on orbit for two months before putting into service.
The launch is scheduled at 4:07 am EDT (08:07 UTC) tomorrow:
You can watch the launch on NASA TV or at the United Launch Alliance site.
Links:
NASA RBSP mission page
John Hopkins University RBSP mission site
RBSP mission press kit
More links, photos and videos related to the mission will be posted later today. In the meantime,
Go Atlas! Go Centaur! Go probes!
Yet the missions targeting the most well-studied planet - the Earth - are not that famous. Especially if the mission does not feature a camera or radar.
And one such mission is waiting for launch tomorrow. Featuring two probes flying in tandem on an elliptical orbit, the Radiation Belt Storm Probes will provide unprecedented data on how the Earth's radiation belts work(crucial to our survival from cosmic zaps from the Sun and other bigger things
wned. The belt's charged particles, plasma waves, and the electric and magnetic fields will be measured from both spacecrafts, allowing different perspectives of the belt from two sources in terms of time and space. It can also provide real-time observations of the changes in the radiation belt during a geo-magnetic (solar) storm.For details, please read these articles:
NASA: RBSP: Fundamental Physics to Benefit Life on Earth, in Space
NASA: The Electric Atmosphere: Plasma Is Next NASA Science Target
The two probes are identical, weighing at 1475 pounds each (670 kilograms).
Each carries 5 instruments to address the mission's science objectives. These includes:
- Energetic Particle, Composition, and Thermal Plasma Suite (ECT)
- Electric and Magnetic Field Instrument Suite and Integrated Science (EMFISIS)
- Electric Field and Waves Suite (EFW)
- Radiation Belt Storm Probes Ion Composition Experiment (RBSPICE)
- Relativistic Proton Spectrometer (RPS)
The launch will use the Atlas V rocket to launch them into an 500 km × 30600 km x 10° orbit. After launch, the two probes will be tested on orbit for two months before putting into service.
The launch is scheduled at 4:07 am EDT (08:07 UTC) tomorrow:
[highlight]Launch of the RBSP mission [eventtimer]2012-8-30 08:05:00?in|was;%c% %d% days, %h% hours, %m% minutes, %ss%[/eventtimer] seconds[eventtimer]2012-8-30 08:05:00?.| ago.;%c%[/eventtimer][/highlight]
You can watch the launch on NASA TV or at the United Launch Alliance site.
Links:
NASA RBSP mission page
John Hopkins University RBSP mission site
RBSP mission press kit
More links, photos and videos related to the mission will be posted later today. In the meantime,
Go Atlas! Go Centaur! Go probes!
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