Pegasus launches space sciences satellite
Posted: Tue, Oct 21, 2008, 7:02 AM ET (1102 GMT)
A Pegasus rocket successfully Sunday launched a NASA mission designed to study the solar system's distant boundary. The Pegasus XL rocket deployed from its L-1011 carrier aircraft near Kwajalein Atoll in the Pacific Ocean at 1:47 pm EDT (1747 GMT) Sunday and placed the Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) spacecraft into a temporary parking orbit about eight minutes later. The spacecraft's kick stage then fired to put the spacecraft into a highly elliptical orbit with an apogee of about 320,000 kilometers, about 80 percent the distance of the moon. IBEX, a NASA Small Explorer class mission, is designed to study the heliosphere, the region of space dominated by the solar wind, and its boundary with the interstellar medium.
A Pegasus rocket successfully Sunday launched a NASA mission designed to study the solar system's distant boundary. The Pegasus XL rocket deployed from its L-1011 carrier aircraft near Kwajalein Atoll in the Pacific Ocean at 1:47 pm EDT (1747 GMT) Sunday and placed the Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) spacecraft into a temporary parking orbit about eight minutes later. The spacecraft's kick stage then fired to put the spacecraft into a highly elliptical orbit with an apogee of about 320,000 kilometers, about 80 percent the distance of the moon. IBEX, a NASA Small Explorer class mission, is designed to study the heliosphere, the region of space dominated by the solar wind, and its boundary with the interstellar medium.
Related Links:
| <<previous article | next article>> |
|
news in brief
|
|
|
|
news links
|
|
Tuesday, November 4
Space42 Expands SAR Constellation
Aviation Week — 7:04 am ET (1204 GMT) Intuitive Machines to Acquire Lanteris Space Systems, Creating the Next-Generation Commercial, Civil, and National Security Space Prime
Intuitive Machines — 7:02 am ET (1202 GMT) As Florida doubles down on its support of space discovery, FIU takes a lead in exploring critical governance and security issues
Florida International Univ. — 7:01 am ET (1201 GMT) Why Do We Celebrate UCF Space Week? Because Discovery Starts Here
Univ. of Central Florida — 7:01 am ET (1201 GMT) MDA Space investing in $10 million in Maritime Launch Services
Canadian Press — 6:59 am ET (1159 GMT) |
