Delta Successfully Launches IMAGE

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Delta Successfully Launches IMAGE

A Boeing Delta 2 7326 rocket successfully launched NASA's IMAGE satellite at 12:34 p.m. PST (2034:43 UTC) March 25 from Vandenberg’s SLC 2W launch pad. NASA's Imager for Magnetopause-to-Aurora Global Exploration (IMAGE) spacecraft will operate in a highly elliptical orbit around the Earth's poles. During its two-year research mission, the satellite will take images of the planet's magnetosphere. The total cost for the IMAGE mission, including satellite (US$82 M), Delta 2 launch (US$50 M), and two years of operations (US$21.5 M) is about US$154 million. IMAGE is NASA’s first Medium-class Explorer (MIDEX) mission.

The initial parking orbit was reported to be near perfect, with an apogee of 1076 km (581 nmi), a perigee of 185 km (99.9 nmi) and an orbital inclination at the desired 93.9°. The mission orbit will have an apogee of 45,922 km, with a perigee of 1000 km. The initial apogee will be at 40 degrees north latitude. During the first year of the two-year mission, the apogee will precess from 40 to 90 degrees north latitude, that is, to a position directly over the north pole; it will continue to precess until it returns to ~40 degrees by the end of the mission. Because of the Earth's annual motion about the Sun, IMAGE will be able to view each local time from apogee twice during the mission. IMAGE will complete one orbit every 14.2 hours.

The Southwest Research Institute (SRI), San Antonio, Texas, leads the IMAGE science mission for NASA. Lockheed Martin Missiles and Space, Sunnyvale, Calif. built the IMAGE spacecraft under contract to SRI. The IMAGE observatory is a spin-stabilized spacecraft that, at launch, measured 2.25 m (7.4 ft) in diameter and 1.52 m (4.99 ft) in height and weighed 494 kg (1087 lbm). On orbit, the antennas aboard IMAGE will extend 10.1 m (33 ft) parallel to the spin axis and 249.9 m (820 ft) in four directions perpendicular to the spin axis. The satellite has the form of a regular octagon. Arrays of high-efficiency, dual-junction gallium-arsenide solar cells attached to the spacecraft's eight side and two end panels provide power to the scientific instruments and subsystems, which together will require an orbit-averaged power of 250 Watts. When the spacecraft is in eclipse, power is provided by a Super Nickel-Cadmium battery. IMAGE has a nominal spin period of 2 minutes (a spin rate of 0.5 ± 0.01 rpm); its spin axis is perpendicular to the orbital plane.

The Principal Investigator of the mission is Dr. James Burch of the Southwest Research Institute. IMAGE uses six state-of- the-art instruments along with a data processor. The instruments and their developers are:

High Energy Neutral Atom (HENA) imager, developed by Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, MD
Medium Energy Neutral Atom (MENA) imager, developed by SRI
Low Energy Neutral Atom (LENA) imager, developed by NASA Goddard
Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) imager, developed by the University of Arizona, Tucson
Far Ultraviolet (FUV) imager, developed by the University of California at Berkeley
Radio Plasma Imager (RPI), developed by the University of Massachusetts at Lowell
Central Instrument Data Processor (CIDP) developed by SRI

More Information:

Delta 2 Data Sheet

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March 25, 2000

Andrews Space & Technology