[meteorite-list] Juno/GRAIL/MSL Update - June 23, 2011

[Ron Baalke]

June 23, 2011

George H. Diller
Kennedy Space Center, Fla.
321-867-2468
george.h.diller at nasa.gov

STATUS REPORT: ELV-062311

EXPENDABLE LAUNCH VEHICLE STATUS REPORT

Spacecraft: Juno
Launch Vehicle: Atlas V-551 (AV-029)
Launch Site:  Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla.
Launch Pad:  Space Launch Complex 41
Launch Date:  Aug. 5, 2011
Launch Time: 11:39 a.m. EDT 

At the Astrotech payload processing facility near Kennedy Space 
Center, Juno's flight software is being installed into the 
spacecraft's primary computer.

At Launch Complex 41, the last of five solid rocket boosters was 
attached to the Atlas booster on June 21. The Centaur upper stage 
will be brought to the launch pad and stacked atop the Atlas stage on 
Friday. 

The solar-powered Juno spacecraft will orbit Jupiter's poles 33 times 
to find out more about the gas giant's origins, structure, atmosphere 
and magnetosphere. 


Spacecraft: GRAIL (Gravity Recovery And Interior Laboratory)
Launch Vehicle: Delta II 7920 Heavy
Launch Site:  Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla.
Launch Pad:  Space Launch Complex 17B
Launch Date:  Sept. 8, 2011
Launch Time: 8:37:06 a.m. EDT and 9:16:12 a.m. EDT 

At Astrotech, the deployment test of the GRAIL solar arrays was 
conducted June 18.

At NASA's Space Launch Complex 17B, the first stage propulsion and 
pneumatic system functional checks are under way. Electrical and 
hydraulic checkout of the rocket began Wednesday. This will be 
followed on June 27 by functional checks of the second stage 
propulsion and pneumatic systems.

GRAIL's primary science objectives will be to determine the structure 
of the lunar interior, from crust to core, and to advance 
understanding of the thermal evolution of the moon. 


Spacecraft: Mars Science Laboratory (Curiosity)
Launch Vehicle: Atlas V-541 (AV-028)
Launch Site:  Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla.
Launch Pad:  Space Launch Complex 41
Launch Date:  Nov. 25, 2011
Launch Time: 10:21 a.m. EST 

The Mars Science Laboratory rover, Curiosity, arrived at 10:33 p.m. 
EDT Wednesday at Kennedy Space Center's Shuttle Landing Facility, 
along with the rocket-powered descent stage that will fly the rover 
during the final moments before landing on Mars. NASA's Jet 
Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif., built the rover and 
descent stage. The Air Force C-17 flight began at March Air Reserve 
Base, Riverside, Calif., where the flight hardware had been trucked 
from JPL earlier in the day.

Other components of the Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft, the 
aeroshell and cruise stage, arrived at Kennedy in May. The mission is 
on track for launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station aboard a 
United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket during the period from Nov. 25 
to Dec. 18, and for landing the car-size rover on Mars in August 
2012.

The Atlas V for the mission will arrive at Cape Canaveral Air Force 
Station this summer. It will be an Atlas V-541 configuration that 
will have four solid rocket boosters attached.

The rover's 10 science instruments will search for signs of life, 
including methane, and help determine if the gas is from a biological 
or geological source. The unique rover will use a laser to look 
inside rocks and release the gasses so that its spectrometer can 
analyze and send the data back to Earth. 

Previous status reports are available at:

http://www.nasa.gov/centers/kennedy/launchingrockets/status/index.html 
	
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