14 DAY TRIAL // Officials with the American space agency announced on Tuesday, April 1, that Dulles, Virginia-based Orbital Sciences Corporation (OSC) has been tapped to launch the Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System (CYGNSS) in October 2016. This system will consist of 8 Earth-observing nanosatellites developed by NASA, and will be delivered to orbit by a Pegasus rocket.
Unlike other delivery systems, the Pegasus XL rocket is launched from underneath a carrier aircraft, which takes it high into the atmosphere before releasing it. All three of its main stages burn solid propellant, enabling the vehicle to act as a rocket-powered aircraft before leaving the atmosphere.
The rocket entered service in 1990, and has remained in use ever since. It can deliver payloads up to 443 kilograms (977 pounds) to low-Earth orbit, making it perfect for small satellites, cubesats and nanosats. Of 42 launches total, 37 were successful, giving this vehicle a good track record.
While the financial terms of the new NASA-OSC contract were not disclosed to the press, OSC said in a press release yesterday that the CYGNSS mission would take off from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS), in Florida, sometime in October 2016.
The 8 nanosats will fly in formation and use their combined observations power to measure wind speeds at the surface of the ocean during extreme atmospheric events, such as hurricanes and tropical storms. The $150 million (€109 million) mission is managed by the NASA Earth Science Directorate in Washington, DC, Space News reports.