WEEKLY HIGHLIGHTS FOR WEEK ENDING 12 SEPTEMBER 2003:
GRAVITY PROBE B LAUNCH STATUS
- Late last week, NASA ordered Boeing to replace several solid booster rocket motors that were found to have unacceptable delaminations.
- This week, Boeing located replacements for the delaminated motors, and these replacements are currently en route to Vandenberg AFB.
- The GP-B launch, which had been scheduled for November 13, 2003, will be delayed for a short while. A new official launch date, expected to be early in December, will be announced soon by NASA.
VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE OPERATIONS
The following activities were completed at VAFB this past week:
- Conditioning of the dewar to a superfluid state is continuing. Conditioning is the process of taking liquid helium at a temperature of about 4 Kelvin to a colder state, known as superfluid, which will allow the helium to last throughout the duration of the mission. Getting the dewar 95% full of superfluid helium is a long, iterative process of repeated evacuations and fills.
- The dewar is currently 90.6% full of helium, at a temperature of 1.732 Kelvin. Over the coming week, the dewar will be filled to 95% capacity, with a corresponding temperature drop to 1.65 Kelvin.
- All space vehicle preparation activities at Vandenberg are proceeding on schedule, as planned.
Photo: The GP-B Cryo group performing a sub-atmospheric transfer of liquid helium into the dewar's main tank.