[meteorite-list] MAVEN Update - October 29, 2013

[Ron Baalke]

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/atlas/av038/status.html
By Stephen Clark and Justin Ray
Spaceflight Now

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 29, 2013

Gearing up for the launch of NASA's MAVEN mission to Mars next month, 
United Launch Alliance ran through a practice countdown, loaded propellant 
into an Atlas 5 rocket, and rehearsed launch procedures Tuesday to work 
out the kinks before the real launch day Nov. 18.

It turns out there wasn't much to resolve, with no significant issues 
reported in the countdown, which aborted moments before a mock launch 
time of 1 p.m. EDT (1700 GMT).

The ULA launch team has finished assembling and testing MAVEN's Atlas 
5 rocket, and technicians moved the two-stage booster from its Vertical 
Integration Facility to the launch pad at Complex 41 on Monday.

The rocket is missing its payload and nose shroud, which will be added 
to the Atlas 5 next week.

Controllers powered up the Atlas 5 early Tuesday, tested flight and ground 
systems required for the countdown, and filled the rocket with kerosene 
and cryogenic propellants.

The wet dress rehearsal is a risk reduction exercise for the Atlas 5 and 
its support team. The test is designed to expose any potential anomalies 
that could show up on launch day, giving engineers time to fix the problems.

With the rehearsal complete, ULA will return the Atlas 5 rocket to the 
barn to await the arrival of MAVEN, which is finishing up preparations 
in a clean room at Kennedy Space Center's Payload Hazardous Servicing 
Facility.

Workers pumped fuel into the spacecraft last week, and plans call for 
MAVEN to be lifted and mated Friday to the adapter that will connect the 
orbiter to the Atlas 5 rocket's Centaur upper stage.

MAVEN will be enclosed inside the rocket's four-meter diameter payload 
fairing beginning Saturday, with the second half of the clamshell-like 
aerodynamic shroud to be added Monday.

The payload will be trucked to the towering Atlas 5 integration building 
Nov. 6 to be hoisted and attached to the top of the 189-foot-tall rocket.

Launch is on schedule for Nov. 18 in a two-hour window opening at 1:28 
p.m. EST (1828 GMT).