14 DAY TRIAL // Officials with the American space agency are proud to announce that the third-generation Tracking and Data Relay Satellite L (TDRS-L) was successfully launched into space yesterday, January 23, from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS), in Florida.
The spacecraft was boosted to low-Earth orbit by a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V delivery system, which took off at 9:33 pm EST (0233 GMT, January 24). TDSR-L is currently ready to start a three-month commissioning phase, during which it will undergo numerous checks and assessments.
This spacecraft is part of a much larger network of satellites that NASA and other space agencies around the world are using to keep in touch with astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS), with the Hubble Space Telescope, and with numerous other probes around the solar system.
The TDRS network has also played a critical role in establishing and maintaining contact with the NASA space shuttles, during their treks to and from the ISS, or other LEO targets.
The constellation was put together – starting in 1973 – from two different NASA programs, the Spacecraft Tracking and Data Acquisition Network (STADAN) and the Manned Space Flight Network (MSFN). Its glory days were in the 1980s and 1990s, when numerous satellites were launched alongside space shuttle missions.
“TDRS-L and the entire TDRS fleet provide a vital service to America’s space program by supporting missions that range from Earth-observation to deep space discoveries,” NASA Administrator Charles Bolden commented after the successful launch.
“TDRS also will support the first test of NASA’s new deep space spacecraft, the Orion crew module, in September. This test will see Orion travel farther into space than any human spacecraft has gone in more than 40 years,” the top official went on to say.
The newly-launched TDRS-L is managed by mission controllers at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), in Greenbelt, Maryland. “This launch ensures continuity of services for the many missions that rely on the system every day,” GSFC expert Jeffrey Gramling explains.
The next spacecraft to launch in the TDRS constellation is TDRS-M, currently scheduled to fly into space in late 2015, or early 2016. The satellite will most likely make use of another Atlas V rocket.