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Pegasus
Launches NASA’s HETE 2 From Kwajelein
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Orbital’s
Pegasus successfully launched NASA’s HETE 2 at 0538 UTC (10:38
p.m. PDT October 8) on October 9, from Kwajalein
Missile Range in the  Pacific
Ocean. HETE 2 will detect gamma ray bursts and other cosmic
phenomena during its 4 year science mission. The High Energy
Transient Explorer (HETE) spacecraft was launched into 590 by 650
km (319 by 353 nmi) orbit, inclined at 1.95 degrees. The Pegasus
launch cost US$15 million, with the satellite costing US$8.4
million.
 The
124 kg (273 lbm) satellite was built by Massachusetts Institute of
Technology for NASA. Other partners include the Los Alamos
National Laboratory,  France's
Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES) and Centre d'Etude
Spatiale des Rayonnements (CESR) and Japan's Institute of Physical
and Chemical Research (RIKEN). The science team includes members
from the University of California (Berkley and Santa Cruz) and the
University of Chicago. HETE 2 replaces the original HETE, which
was lost in a launch failure in November, 1996.
 The
HETE 2 satellite is comprised of three main instruments and a
computer network that transmits data to other observatories. The
instruments will provide multiwavelength coverage of high-energy
transient events and can work independently or with each other.
The French
Gamma Telescope (FREGATE) was built by CESR to detect gamma ray
bursts and very bright (higher energy) X-ray transients. The
instrument's primary objective is to provide spectroscopy for
these highly energetic events. FREGATE was derived from the
successful Lilas gamma ray burst experiment flown on the Russian
Phobos mission.
The
Wide-Field X-ray Monitor (WXM) was built by RIKEN and Los Alamos
National Laboratory to detect light slightly lower in energy than
the FREGATE does. The WXM therefore will detect fewer gamma ray
bursts than FREGATE, but because of its increased resolution, will
be able to locate the FREGATE-detected bursts to within 10 arc
minute.
The Soft
X-ray Camera (SXC) was built by MIT to replace the ultraviolet
cameras on the original HETE. As with the WXM, the SXC's strength
lies in localizing bursts quickly -- to within several arc
seconds. The SXC covers the lowest energy band of the three
instruments and is ideal for detecting lower-energy X-ray
transients, such as neutron stars.
The
satellite has four solar panels, made of honeycomb aluminum with
silicon substrate, each supplying 42W. It also has 6 battery
packs, each made up of a string of 24 1.5V NiCd cells, each having
1.2 A-hrs capacity. The stowed satellite fit within a 89 x 66 cm
diameter cylinder.
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