Antares Maiden Soar Pierces Virginia Sky and delivers NASA SmartPhone Pioneer Nanosats to Orbit
The privately developed Antares rocket built by Orbital Sciences Corp. EDT from Mid Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS) Pad 0A at NASA Wallops thereby inaugurating the new commercial space race and delivered a pioneering trio of low cost NASA Smartphone nanosatellites dubbed PhoneSat to orbit.
The 13 story Antares rocket pierced the chilly but cloudless clear blue Virginia skies as “the biggest, loudest and brightest rocket ever to launch from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility,” said former station astronaut and now Orbital Sciences manager Frank Culbertson.
Antares picture perfect liftoff marked the first step in a public/private collaboration between NASA and Orbital Sciences to restart cargo delivery services to the International Space Station (ISS) that were lost following the forced retirement of NASA’s space shuttle orbiters in 2011.
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canada goose coats Antares accelerates to orbit on canada goose outlet in usa April 21, 2013 from NASA Wallops Flight Facility. Credit: Mark Usciak/AmericaSpaceThe canada goose outlet phone number test flight was dubbed the A One Test Launch Mission and also signified the first launch from Americas newest space port at Pad 0A. canada goose coats
buy canada goose jacket cheap The primary goal of this test flight dubbed the A One mission was to test the fully integrated Antares rocket and boost a simulated version of the Cygnus cargo carrier known canada goose outlet ottawa as a mass simulator into a target orbit of 250 x 300 kilometers and inclined 51.6 degrees. buy canada goose jacket cheap
Canada Goose sale Antares also lofted the trio of off the shelf smartphone “PhoneSats” to orbit. The three picture taking satellites are named Alexander, Graham and Bell and could be the lowest cost satellites ever flown in space. Canada Goose sale
canadian goose jacket “The Phonesats cost about $3500 each,” said Andrew Petro, NASA Small Satellite Program executive, to Universe Today. “They are deployed after separation.” canadian goose jacket
Canada Goose Parka Andrew Petro, NASA Small Satellite Program executive, holds NASA Smartphone Phonesat replica launched on Antares test flight on April 21, 2013. Canada Goose Parka
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Two of the cubesats are PhoneSat version 1.0 while the other is the more advanced PhoneSat version 2.0. canada goose outlet authentic They were developed by engineers at NASA’s Ames Research Center in Calif.
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NASA Smartphone Phonesat replica. Imaging data will be transmitted in chunks and then stitched together later.
uk canada goose The third time was the charm for Antares following a pair of launch scrubs due to a technical glitch in the final minutes of the initial countdown attempt on Wednesday, April 17 and unacceptable winds on Saturday, April 20. uk canada goose
canada goose uk outlet The rocket flew on a southeasterly trajectory and was visible for about 4 minutes. canada goose uk outlet
cheap Canada Goose This test flight was inserted canada goose victoria parka outlet into the manifest to reduce risk and build confidence canada goose outlet reviews for the follow on missions which will fly the fully outfitted Cygnus resupply spacecraft that will dock at the ISS, starting as early as this summer. cheap Canada Goose
canada goose The two stage Antares is a medium class rocket similar to the Delta II and SpaceX Falcon 9. canada goose
canada goose factory sale The canada goose outlet nyc dummy Cygnus payload was outfitted with instrumentation to canada goose outlet black friday collect aerodynamic data until separation from the canada goose outlet 2nd stage. That marked the successful conclusion of the A One mission and the end of all data transmissions. canada goose factory sale
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The upper stage features an ATK Castor 30 solid rocket motor with thrust vectoring. Antares can loft payloads weighing over 5000 kg to LEO. The 2nd stage will be upgraded starting with the 4th flight.
Antares rocket erect at the Eastern shore of Virginia slated for maiden liftoff on April 17. Only a few hundred feet of beach sand and a miniscule sea wall separate the Wallops Island pad from the Atlantic Ocean waves and Mother Nature.
Orbital’s Antares/Cygnus system is similar in scope to the SpaceX Falcon 9/Dragon system. Both firms won lucrative NASA contracts to canada goose outlet vancouver deliver approximately 20,000 kilograms each of supplies and science equipment to the ISS.
The goal of NASA’s COTS initiative is to achieve safe, reliable and cost effective transportation to and from canada goose outlet online the ISS and low Earth orbit (LEO).
Orbital will launch at least eight Antares/Cygnus resupply missions to the ISS at a cost of $1.9 Billion
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