NASA's Ionospheric Connection Explorer satellite,or ICON,has been cleared again for launch following a lengthy delay.It was originally to have been launched from the US Army Kwajalein Island's Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Test Facility in June of this year,but was called back when the Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems Pegasus rocket began emitting anomalous data during a ferry flight from Vandenburg AFB to Kwajalein.The bad data was traced to a faulty sensor which was subsequently replaced,NASA said.
The new launch date is 6 October 2018,with a ninety minute launch window that opens at 4:00 AM EDT.The Pegasus rocket will be launched from the NGIS Stargazer 1011 aircraft,a converted Lockheed TriStar L-1011 airliner,one of only three airworthy L-1011s in the world.
Takeoff will be from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station,Florida and launch will occur off the coast of Daytona at altitude 39,000 ft.,with a heading of 105.0 degrees.*
ICON will study how charged and neutral gases behave and interact in the upper atmosphere,where the forces acting in the ionosphere simultaneously include shifts in neutral winds;pressure gradients;and solar activity.ICON will study each of the forces individually so scientists can better elucidate cause-and-effect relationships.*
ICON is an Explorer-class mission with supervision from the NASA Goddard Spaceflight Center in Greenbelt,Maryland.*
Northrop Grumman Corporation (NOC)
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