Niekorzystne wiatry na dużej wysokości są powodem 24- godzinnego opóźnienia. Odłączane elementy rakiety w czasie startu mogłyby spaść poza wyznaczony obszar. Jeśli sytuacja wiatrowa się do jutra nie polepszy , to możliwe jest dalsze przesunięcie startu.
Vega launch delayed 24 hoursAugust 20, 2018 Stephen Clark
(...) Officials from Arianespace, ESA and CNES — the French space agency — convened Monday for a launch readiness review. Managers confirmed the readiness of the four-stage Vega launcher and the Aeolus spacecraft, but
unfavorable high-altitude winds predicted during at Tuesday’s launch time prompted a 24-hour delay.Liftoff of the Aeolus mission is now scheduled for Wednesday at an instantaneous launch opportunity set for 21:20:09 GMT (5:20:09 p.m. EDT; 6:20:09 p.m. French Guiana time), assuming the upper level wind conditions improve.“Wind conditions in the atmosphere along the launcher’s trajectory are among the flight safety elements taken into account for every Arianespace mission,” Arianespace said in a statement Monday.
Officials familiar with Vega launch operations said the upper level winds violated safety limits established to ensure debris from an in-flight mishap will fall away from populated areas. (...)
Aeolus weighs approximately 3,000 pounds — exactly 1,367 kilograms, according to ESA’s project manager for the mission — fully fueled for its liftoff from the Guiana Space Center on the northeastern coast of South America. (...)
Named for a figure in Greek mythology who was appointed by the gods as “keeper of the winds,” the Aeolus mission cost around 480 million euros — nearly $550 million at today’s exchange rates — to design, develop and prepare for launch.
The development of Aeolus also stretched over 16 years, a decade longer than originally planned. (...)
No other space mission has been able to measure winds at multiple layers of the atmosphere on a global scale. Previous satellites have been limited to deriving winds measurements by tracking the movement of clouds and aerosols, or by measuring the effect of winds on the ocean surface.
If scientists can prove the reliability of Aeolus data after launch, meteorologists plan to incorporate the information into global weather prediction models. The new wind input could result in more accurate forecasts, officials said.
“We were really on the edge of technology,” Kaspers said. “Each time when we resolved a problem, we got further and further, and then suddenly we hit another boundary, either on the optics, or on the electronics, or on a mechanism, and each time we had to come up with new solutions. That’s why, in the end, it took so long, but we’re here and proud of it.”
https://spaceflightnow.com/2018/08/20/vega-launch-delayed-24-hours/2 30.07.2023)
12:01 PM · Jul 28, 2023
#Throwback to 2018 when @esa_aeolus launch was delayed by 24 hours due to... STRONG WINDS! The irony😅The satellite then made it to space and spent the next 5 years profiling Earth's winds for science and weather services. #ByeByeAeolus
https://twitter.com/ESA_EO/status/1684866536576798720
Wątek: Atmospheric Dynamics Mission Aeolus (ADM-Aeolus) (Przeczytany 13848 razy)