CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Improved weather forecasts and a better understanding of the role water plays in our climate are two possible benefits of a $952 million science research mission launched by NASA early Saturday from California.
Six instruments designed to collect information on worldwide rain patterns, evaporation, cloud formation, ocean currents and other water-related activities were packed into a spacecraft called Aqua and successfully sent into orbit atop a commercial Boeing Delta 2 rocket, arriving about an hour after liftoff.
"The Aqua spacecraft has separated and have a good mission," Marc Lavigne, Boeing's mission events commentator, said as the launch phase safely concluded.
During its six-year mission, program officials say Aqua will observe Earth's oceans, atmosphere, land, ice flows, snow packs and vegetation. Researchers will combine and compare data from each of the instruments to get a picture of what's happening to our environment that is clearer than if each of the instrument's data was analyzed on its own.
"NASA and its international partners are counting on this powerful observatory to help researchers explore not only how the Earth lives and breathes, but also how the people of the world can best care for the only planet in the solar system known to harbor life," said Claire Parkinson, the Aqua project scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
Aqua is the second in NASA's series of three Earth Observing System spacecraft. Terra was launched in December 1999 on a mission to study Earth's land masses, while Aura is targeted to fly in January 2004 to study Earth's atmosphere, with an emphasis on collecting information about the planet's ozone layer.All three spacecraft were -- or are to be -- launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base into a polar orbit that have the satellites crossing Earth's equator at roughly the same local time on each revolution.
Terra is crossing the equator between 10:30 and 10:45 a.m. local time while Aqua's orbit crosses the equator at 1:30 p.m. local time. One benefit of this set up is that scientists can compare data captured in the morning and the afternoon over a particular spot and track how things such as ocean currents or precipitation patterns change during a single day, every day.
Aqua -- Latin for water -- safely arrived in its proper orbit and separated from the second stage of its Delta 2 rocket about an hour after its on time 5:54:58 a.m. EDT (0954.58 GMT) launch from Vandenberg.
"This countdown is what we call a snoozer. Everything went per the script," said Chuck Dovale, NASA launch manager from the Kennedy Space Center. "It appears the Aqua spacecraft got a good ride."
Almost immediately after liftoff from Space Launch Complex 2, the 12-story booster flew into the night sky , climbing through a low layer of clouds and then becoming visible again as it streaked to the south.
Standard visible light and heat-sensitive infrared tracking cameras followed the rocket downrange and pictures could be seen on NASA TV for several minutes as each of the major mission events happened in sequence.
The launch was clearly visible along the U.S. West Coast.
"A good streak against the night sky," Bob Nolan of Simi Valley, Calif., wrote SPACE.com after the shot. "Reminded me of a comet as the contrail ended."
John Sanford of the Starhome Observatory in the Sierra Foothills wrote that he picked up the rocket moments after launch and could clearly see separation of the first set of solid rocket boosters that are strapped to the Delta 2's first stage.
"The jettison of the six solid boosters could be seen as small sparkles that rotated and separated from the main flame, which became pointed as the rocket rose higher," Sanford reported.
The next West Coast mission for the NASA expendable launch vehicle (ELV) team is targeted for June 24, Dovale said. That's when NASA will support the Air Force launch of a Titan 2 rocket carrying a NOAA weather satellite.
The next NASA ELV mission from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station is targeted for July 1, when a Delta 2 is to launch the space agency's Contour comet rendezvous mission.
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