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posted by Fnord666 on Sunday November 12 2017, @11:30AM   Printer-friendly
from the what-notam? dept.

[Update: The launch was delayed to the end of the 5-minute launch window because of a vessel in the safety area in the bay. Launch was successful. Second-stage separation went cleanly and the Cygnus supply ship is on course for its journey to the International Space Station. NASA TV coverage resumes for solar array deployment scheduled at 8:45 EST (13:45 UTC) --martyb]

[Update 2: Solar array deployment was successful and "the cargo craft is set to fine-tune its approach to the space station with a series of thruster firings over the next two days." - Fnord666]

Antares launch to resupply space station halted by wayward airplane

Managers aborted liftoff of a commercial Antares cargo launcher Saturday when an aircraft strayed into restricted airspace near the rocket's planned flight path east from Virginia's Eastern Shore.

The Antares rocket and a Cygnus supply ship, both owned by Orbital ATK, were ready for liftoff at 7:37 a.m. EST (1237 GMT) Saturday. The launch team loaded kerosene and liquid oxygen propellants into the first stage of the Antares booster, and a computer-controlled countdown sequencer took over for the final three minutes before liftoff.

But an unidentified aircraft ventured into the safety zone surrounding the rocket and its planned trajectory over the Atlantic Ocean. "LC, LC, we are red," a member of the launch team told Adam Lewis, Orbital ATK's launch conductor. "We have an aircraft in the hazard area." "Copy that," Lewis replied. "Abort, abort, abort. This is LC on the countdown net. Abort, abort, abort. Proceed to the abort safing checklist."

Another attempt will be made today (Sunday) at 7:14 AM EST (1214 GMT). You can watch coverage on NASA TV starting right now.

Also at Spaceflight Insider.


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  • (Score: 2) by takyon on Sunday November 12 2017, @02:49PM (2 children)

    by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Sunday November 12 2017, @02:49PM (#595905) Journal

    https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2017/11/antares-cygnus-crs-8-iss/ [nasaspaceflight.com]

    NASA’s E. Coli Antimicrobial Satellite (EcAMSat) will be used to examine how cultures of E. coli bacteria respond to antibiotics in microgravity, as well as demonstrating for NASA a six-unit (6U) CubeSat platform.

    The 10.4-kilogram (22.9 lb) satellite will be operated by NASA as part of a collaboration with Stanford University’s school of medicine, and is expected to operate for at least 45 days. The spacecraft carries 48 microfluidic wells that will be used to grow E. coli, thirty-six of which will then be treated with antibiotics while the remainder serve as a control. EcAMSat’s investigation will begin four days after it is deployed from the ISS.

    The Integrated Solar Array and Reflectarray Antenna, or ISARA, is a three-unit CubeSat which will conduct a technology demonstration for NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).

    After deployment from Cygnus, ISARA will deploy a folded panel reflectarray (FPR) which will serve as both a solar array and a communications antenna, providing the satellite with 56 watts of power and a 32 gigahertz Ka-band downlink with a bandwidth of up to 100 megabits per second – a significant improvement over data rates available to most current nanosatellite missions.

    --
    [SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
    • (Score: 2) by snufu on Sunday November 12 2017, @03:25PM (1 child)

      by snufu (5855) on Sunday November 12 2017, @03:25PM (#595909)

      Is ATK a subsidiary of Drax Industries [wikipedia.org]?

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 15 2017, @09:50PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 15 2017, @09:50PM (#597478)

        Maybe the folded panel retroarray is made out of diamonds?

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