Dec 17, 2008

George H Diller Kennedy Space Center, Fla 321-867-2468 george h diller@nasa gov

STATUS REPORT: ELV-121708

EXPENDABLE LAUNCH VEHICLE STATUS REPORT

Mission: Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO) Launch Vehicle: Taurus XL (Orbital Sciences) Launch Pad: Space Launch Complex 576-E, Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif Launch Date: Feb 23, 2009 Launch Time: 1:53 a m PST (tentative)

Due to the availability of the Western Range, the launch of OCO is being rescheduled to Feb 23 A new schedule of spacecraft and launch vehicle processing is currently being developed to support that date

The work to prepare the OCO spacecraft for launch has gone well Fueling the spacecraft is expected to occur during the week of Jan 12

Testing and prelaunch preparations continue on the Taurus launch vehicle by Orbital Sciences in Hangar 1555 on north Vandenberg Loading of software into the Taurus flight computer is under way this week

Mission: NOAA-N Prime Launch Vehicle: Delta II 7320 Launch Pad: Space Launch Complex 2, Vandenberg AFB Launch Date: Feb 4, 2009 Launch Window: 2:22:01 - 2:32:01 a m PST

Stacking of the Delta II rocket at Space Launch Complex 2 is complete, and the mechanical checkout and electrical testing are under way After the holidays, avionics system checkout is scheduled for Jan 7, a liquid oxygen tanking test and countdown demonstration is planned for Jan 8, and a simulated flight test will follow on Jan 9

NOAA-N Prime spacecraft electrical testing continues this week During one of the spacecraft tests performed previously, a Zener diode associated with solar array temperature telemetry data received a brief burst of high current causing it to short circuit

Potential sources of this anomaly are under evaluation to determine whether it was from the solar array, its associated electrical harness, or from the spacecraft bus It is important to understand the root cause of this problem to assure full spacecraft mission success while in orbit Engineers are working to understand the reason for this problem and determine a course of action later this week

Previous status reports are available at:

http://www nasa gov/centers/kennedy/launchingrockets/status/index html

-end-

To subscribe to the list, send a message to: ksc-subscribe@newsletters nasa gov To remove your address from the list, send a message to: ksc-unsubscribe@newsletters nasa gov

The following information is a reminder of your current mailing list subscription:

You are subscribed to the following list: [list_name]

using the following email: example@example.com

You may automatically unsubscribe from this list at any time by visiting the following URL:

http://www aus-city com/cgi-bin/dada/plugins/dada_bridge pl/u/[list]/

If the above URL is inoperable, make sure that you have copied the entire address Some mail readers will wrap a long URL and thus break this automatic unsubscribe mechanism

You may also change your subscription by visiting this list's main screen:

<[program_url]/list/[list]>

If you're still having trouble, please contact the list owner at:

<mailto:[list_owner_email]>

The following physical address is associated with this mailing list:

[physical_address]