TacSat-2/Minotaur Mission

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TacSat-2/Minotaur Mission December 11, 2006
All Hands Briefing November 16, 2006
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Wallops Orbital Launch History

• Worldwide
• 20 Scout missions (Wallops)
• 9 Pegasus (1 mobile from Canary
• Islands)
• 1 Conestoga (Wallops)
• 1 Athena (mobile from Kodiak, AK)
• Two most recent orbital ground launches from
  Wallops Island
• Oct 1995 Conestoga
• Dec 1985 Scout-G
• The first launch involving the Mid-Atlantic
  Regional Space Port (MARS) and their Pad 0B

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The Minotaur Rocket

• 4 Rocket motor stages
• 2 refurbished Minuteman II stages
• 2 commercial Orbital Sciences Corp. stages
• 69 feet tall vehicle
• 5 feet wide
• 5 previous Minotaur launches were from Vandenberg
  AFB
• 450 Minuteman Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles
  (ICBMs) were in service highly reliable

Minuteman launch from silo
Minuteman in silo
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Photos of the Dummy Minotaur I Fit-Check -
Wallops in June 2005
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Nov 7 - Stages 1 2 Roll Transfer in PPF
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November 15 Stages 1 2
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TacSat-2 Spacecraft

• Developed by the Air Force Research Laboratory
  (Albuquerque, NM) 814 pounds
• Advanced Concept Technology Demonstration
• 1. Rapid Design, Build, Test with a launch-ready
  spacecraft within 15 months
• 2. Responsive Launch, Checkout, Operations to
  include launch within one week of a callup
• 3. Militarily Significant Capability includes
  images sent directly to the theater

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TacSat-2 Inertial Stellar Compass

• Draper Laboratorys miniaturized star camera and
  gyro system enables a spacecraft to continuously
  determine its attitude or the direction in which
  it is pointing.
• Funded by NASA's New Millennium Program

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GeneSat-1 Secondary Spacecraft

• NASA Ames Research Center experiment (10
  pounds)
• Fully automated, miniature spaceflight system
  provides life support for small living things
• Looks for genetic changes in bacteria during
  spaceflight.
• Knowledge may contribute to safe, long-duration
  space missions by humans

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Stages 3 and 4 Pre-Integration
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Stages 3 4 Mated
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Nov 2 Spacecraft Arrives
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TacSat-2 Spacecraft
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Spacecraft Integrated onto Stage 4
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PPOD (with GeneSat inside) Integrated onto Stage 4
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TacSat-2/Minotaur Trajectory
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Coquina
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Antigua
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Cleared Hazard Areas
Nominal flight path
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Minotaur I Hazard Area
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Wallops uses a Flight Termination System to
protect the public

• If the rocket is going outside the cleared hazard
  areas it will be destroyed.
• Multiple data sources (electronic and visual)
  provide data to the NASA Range Safety Officer to
  make the decision
• Small explosive charges on each stage break up
  the rocket and the debris falls in the cleared
  hazard areas.

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Flight Termination System
Observers
Radar Telemetry Tracking
Minotaur I
Command Transmitter
Range Control Center
If the flight limits are violated, The Range
Safety Officer will destroy the rocket.
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Launch Day

• Launch Window 7 AM - 10 AM like any launch, the
  launch date could slip. Launch days are Dec. 11
  20.
• 10-minute trajectory from launch to orbital
  insertion
• Viewing NASA has no official viewing site
  however, we recommend
• Visitor Center for NASA Families
• Assateague Island open to the public at 6 a.m.
  (Southern end of Assateague Island will be closed
  to vehicles and pedestrians)

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Keeping Track of the Mission

• Before launch
• Launch Status Line (757-824-2050)
• www.wff.nasa.gov
• Day of launch countdown status There are
  several ways to keep track of the countdown on
  launch day
• 760 AM (range of 5 to 10 miles from Visitor
  Center)
• www.wff.nasa.gov (running status of count)
• Local radio stations will provide updates (WESR,
  WVES, WCTG thus far)

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Whats Next?

• April 2007 Near Field InfraRed Experiment
  (NFIRE) - (Minotaur I)
• October 2007 TacSat-3 (Minotaur I)

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DARPA/Falcon

• AirLaunch QuickReach
• Approaching flight-demonstration decision
• If confirmed, 1st flight from WFF in 2008
• Orbital rocket deployed from C-17
• SpaceX Falcon
• 1st flight failure in early 2006, from Kwajalein
• 2nd flight scheduled in December
• Spacecraft is WFF-built technology, Demo2
• Autonomous Flight Safety System
• Low-Cost TDRSS Transmitter
• Hypersonic Test Vehicle
• Flight Test 3 4 scheduled from WFF
• Probably launched on a Minotaur 1 in 2008

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NASA Exploration

• WFF Mobile Range likely to provide the reentry
  tracking data services for CEV return from
  orbit
• WFF to manufacture components of the Low-Impact
  Docking System
• WFF partnering with LaRC to demonstrate
  inflatable aeroshells as decelerators for
  atmospheric reentry
• WFF may serve as launch site for high altitude
  CEV abort testing mission in 2012
• Lunar missions carrying landers and orbiting
  communications satellites may be launched on
  Minotaur V vehicles launched from WFF