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December
7, 2001
TIMED
Spacecraft Launches, Relays First Signal to Controllers on
Earth
A
new NASA spacecraft that will study the effects of the sun
and human-induced activities on the least explored and understood
region of Earth's atmosphere soared into a clear early morning
California sky today.
The
TIMED (Thermosphere Ionosphere Mesosphere Energetics and Dynamics)
spacecraft lifted off from the Western Range of Vandenberg
Air Force Base, Calif., aboard a Delta II rocket at 10:07
a.m. EST. Spacecraft separation from the Delta II rocket's
second stage motor occurred at 12:13 p.m. EST, inserting TIMED
into a 388-mile (625-kilometer) circular orbit around the
Earth.
At
1:10 p.m. EST, controllers at the TIMED Mission Operations
Center of The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory
(APL) in Laurel, Md., made contact with TIMED as it passed
over a ground station in Kiruna, Sweden, confirming that solar
arrays deployed, providing power to the spacecraft.
"Three
hours is a long time to hold your breath," said TIMED
Project Manager Bruce Campbell at Goddard, "and
we're pleased with the way things look right now."
Solar
array deployment occurred immediately following spacecraft
separation. During the next 30 days or so, controllers will
turn the four instruments on and check them out prior to starting
science observations. TIMED should be ready to begin its global
study of the MLTI region in mid-January 2002.
"TIMED
will provide a very important benchmark for future studies
of both natural and human-induced changes to the Earth's atmosphere,
said Sam Yee, TIMED project scientist at APL. "TIMED's
measurements will help scientists understand how the region's
composition is affected by contaminants that are released
into Earth's atmosphere and by solar energy entering this
region."
The
TIMED mission is sponsored by NASA's Office of Space Science
in Washington, D.C., and managed by the Solar Terrestrial
Probes Program Office at Goddard. APL designed, built and
will operate the TIMED spacecraft and lead the science effort
for NASA.
More
information about the TIMED mission is available on the following
web sites: http://stp.gsfc.nasa.gov
/missions/timed/timed.htm or www.timed.jhuapl.edu
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