Instruments fixed; CYGNSS launch is a go for Thursday from Cape Canaveral

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — 8:15 a.m. update:
Window opens at 8:21 a.m. air launch is scheduled now to 8:35 a.m.


After a two-day delay NASA has rescheduled the launch of its Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System or CYGNSS, spacecraft for Thursday December 15 at 8:26 a.m., from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

The original launch was set to occur on Monday morning, but after a slight weather delay, the hydraulic mechanism release was not functioning properly and the mission was aborted.

Engineers worked on the mechanism failure on Tuesday and found further issues, which are explained in the following statement release, that delayed the CYGNSS launch one more day, pushing it back to Thursday morning.

"The CYGNSS launch planned for Wednesday, Dec. 14 is being delayed due to an issue with flight parameter data used by spacecraft software. The issue was discovered during routine testing Tuesday. The new flight parameter data have undergone verification testing on the engineering model, and will be uploaded to the spacecraft on Wednesday. The uploading of new flight data is a very routine procedure, and is expected correct the issue. The next launch attempt will be determined pending the results of ongoing tests," NASA explained

Orbital's "Stargazer" L-1011 carrier aircraft carries the Pegasus rocket on its belly; the rocket stores the 8 microsatellites that will be launched in a low orbit to study surface winds, to aid hurricane intensity forecast. The CYGNSS project cost about $162 million.

WFTV Channel 9 Facebook Live Stream of the mission Monday morning, scrubbed just after 9 a.m. due to mechanical issues. 

The price tag may seem large, but officials said that compared to the millions of dollars it can cost to evacuate a mile of coastline during a hurricane, in the end, the satellites could save much more than they cost.

WHAT ARE THEY?

This constellation of eight microsatellites will lead the way on the new NASA hurricane mission. Each satellite weighs about 64 pounds and is the size of a suitcase.

They have a delay Doppler mapping instrument that is capable of tracking four global positioning systems simultaneously.

The instruments allow the satellites to take 32 wind measurements per second.

Measurements will be made using a bistatic scatterometry technique based on GPS signals. It operates on low power, only 12 watts, because all it does is receive signals from the global positioning systems and signals reflected from the Earth’s surface. The latter provide the sea's surface conditions.

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The CYGNSS satellites will travel a low orbit at about 310 miles (500 km) and be operational for two consecutive hurricane seasons.

WHAT DO THE SATELLITES DO?

Each satellite will measure winds over the sea’s surface.

A trim microwave imager, or TMI, aboard the NASA TRIM satellite, which currently measures precipitation rate and winds, cannot see through heavy rain. Therefore, wherever it is raining hard, the TRIM satellite cannot detect wind speeds.

When referring to a cyclone’s intensity, this data is crucial. It also takes the TRIM satellite three days to get to get one full image of the Earth. Many times, hurricanes have changed in intensity greatly in much less than three days.

Today, we are able to fly inside the core of a cyclone aboard NOAA’s P3 plane, which is equipped with the Stepped-Frequency Microwave Radiometer, or SFMR, measuring winds inside the storm’s center.

The P3 is frequently unable to gather hurricane data, though, because the risk to crew members is too great.

CYGNSS will allow meteorologists to measure precipitation rate because it operates in a very long signal wavelength -- 19 cm.

Each satellite measures the same data as if four different P3 hurricane hunters were flying at a time covering a similar range.

Every 12 minutes, a new satellite will come across a spot in the tropics.

Due to the Earth’s rotation and the microsatellites' orbital path, the entire tropical region of the world can be covered in 5-6 hours.

To get data collected by the satellites to the ground as fast as possible scientists developed Storm Intersection Forecast Tool, or SIFT, which predicts ahead of time when the data will be intersected.

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There are three ground contact zones located in Hawaii, Chile and Western Australia.

Each of these locations is strategically located to make sure the constellation of satellites is passing over one of the contact zones in the case of a tropical cyclone.

This allows CYGNSS to transmit data as quickly as possible.

Historical records show that hurricane track forecasts have been improving steadily over the past two decades, which is demonstrated by the cone of uncertainly getting narrower and narrower.

On the other hand, intensity forecasts have remained the same, or had little improvement, in the same time period.

Experts say this is because the information inside the core of storms is very hard to obtain.

HOW WILL THEY BE LAUNCHED?

A Pegasus rocket loaded with the CYGNSS satellite will launch from a Stargazer plane over the Atlantic Ocean about 100 miles from the coast and approximately 39,000 feet altitude.

It’s been more than a decade since the last Pegasus XL launch from Kennedy Space Center.

This type of launch is more common in California and Kwajalein Atoll.

Since the microsatellites are aimed for the tropics, experts decided Florida was the best place to launch CYGNSS.

After the Stargazer reaches its peak altitude the rocket is released and falls for about five seconds before the engines are ignited and the rocket takes off, leaving the atmosphere.

Fifteen minutes later, the CYGNSS satellites are set to be in orbit.

A pair of satellites will be released every 30 seconds and 10 minutes from separation, the solar arrays will deploy and automatically turn on.

CYGNSS data will be key to improving the ability to chart cyclone intensification.

By providing data 24 hours a day of the tropical cyclone zone, it will be a great tool to improve forecasts and, experts hope, save many lives around the world.

WFTV Channel 9 will have the latest on the launch live as soon as the window opens and online here.

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