ORLANDO, Fla. — NASA and Northrop Grumman are trying again this week with the planned launch of the space agency’s ICON satellite after a late October launch date was scrapped.
The satellite, destined to explore the area between Earth and space, will be carried into orbit by Northrop’s Pegasus XL, a unique kind of rocket that launches midair after being dropped from a plane.
After a successful Launch Readiness review Tuesday morning, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration confirmed the 90-minute launch window was set to open at midnight Tuesday Pacific Standard Time. The L-1011 Stargazer was to take to the skies from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station’s Skid Strip, with a release targeted for 12:05 a.m.
Weather conditions are 90 percent “go” for launch with some threat of cumulus clouds, according to the Air Force’s 45th Weather Squadron.
NASA’s $242 million Ionospheric Connection Explorer satellite, known as ICON, was originally set to launch Oct. 26. But issues with three tail fins, discovered when the Pegasus rocket was ferried to the Space Coast from California’s Vandenberg Air Force Base, halted the launch.
According to Florida Today, engineers have since swapped out components of the electrical system that controls the tail fins.
The ICON satellite will study the ionosphere, the area of Earth’s atmosphere where terrestrial weather meets space weather. This is also the area where auroras occur. But the ionosphere can also cause disruptions in radio transmissions, satellites and astronaut health, NASA said.
The ICON satellite will help the space agency better explore the ionosphere and mitigate its effects.
The ICON launch was originally set to take place in December 2017 but has been pushed back multiple times.
