Fwd: Atlas V selected for asteroid mission

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From: "Gary Johnson" <gjohnson144@comcast.net>
Date: August 6, 2013 9:08:35 PM GMT-06:00
To: "Gary Johnson" <gjohnson144@comcast.net>
Subject: FW: Atlas V selected for asteroid mission

 

 

Aug. 5, 2013 11:46 PM   |  

Atlas V rocket selected for NASA asteroid mission

Rocket launches missile-warning satellite to orbit: A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral on Tuesday with a new-generation missile-warning satellite. Video by ULA. Posted 3-19-2013

Written by
Todd Halvorson
FLORIDA TODAY

 

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United Launch Alliance Atlas V rolls out to Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station with a MUOS-2 Navy satellite, in preparation for Friday's morning launch.

CAPE CANAVERAL -- A NASA spacecraft destined to fly an asteroid sample return mission will launch in September 2016 aboard an Atlas V at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

United Launch Services, a subsidiary of United Launch Alliance, was awarded a firm fixed price launch services contract valued at about $183.5 million, NASA officials said Monday.

The contract covers launch vehicle and payload processing as well as integrated services, telemetry and other launch support services, the agency said.

NASA is developing a spacecraft that will rendezvous with an asteroid in 2018 and use a robotic arm to gather samples that will be returned to Earth in 2023. The spacecraft also will map the 1,900-foot-diameter asteroid, which is about the size of six football fields.

Asteroids are the rocky remnants of the formation of the solar system, and the samples are expected to shed light on its origins and evolution.

The cost of the mission is $800 million, excluding the launch services contract. The spacecraft is called OSIRIS REx, an acronym for Origins-Spectral-Interpretation-Resource Identification-Security-Regolith Explorer.

NASA's Launch Services Program at Kennedy Space Center is responsible for program management of the Atlas V launch.

United Launch Alliance, a joint partnership of Boeing and Lockheed Martin, is a commercial company that holds contracts to launch U.S. government satellites on Atlas IV and Delta IV rockets. Federal government customers include NASA, the U.S. Air Force, the National Reconnaissance Office and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, among others.

Contact Halvorson at thalvorson@floridatoday.com

 

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