CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- NASA's newest Tracking and Data Relay Satellite,
known as TDRS-K, arrived Tuesday at the agency's Kennedy Space Center
in Florida in preparation for a Jan. 29 launch. TDRS-K arrived aboard a
U.S. Air Force C-17 from the Boeing Space and Intelligence Systems
assembly facility in El Segundo, Calif.
For almost 30 years, the TDRS spacecraft have provided a reliable communications network for NASA, serving numerous national and international space missions. The TDRS fleet is a space-based communication system used to provide tracking, telemetry, command, and high bandwidth data return services. The satellites provide in-flight communications with spacecraft operating in low-Earth orbit. It has been 10 years since NASA's last TDRS launch.
"This launch will provide even greater capabilities to a network that has become key to enabling many of NASA's scientific discoveries," says Jeffrey Gramling, project manager for TDRS at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.
TDRS-K will launch to geostationary orbit aboard an Atlas V rocket. The spacecraft is the first of three next-generation satellites designed to ensure vital operational continuity for NASA by expanding the lifespan of the fleet. The launch of TDRS-L is scheduled for 2014 and TDRS-M in 2015.
Each of the new satellites has a higher performance solar panel design to provide more spacecraft power. This upgrade will return signal processing for the S-Band multiple access service to the ground -- the same as the first-generation TDRS spacecraft. Ground-based processing allows TDRS to service more customers with different and evolving communication requirements.
The TDRS fleet began operating during the space shuttle era and provides critical communication support from several locations in geostationary orbit to NASA's human spaceflight endeavors, including the International Space Station. The fleet also provides communications support to an array of science missions, as well as various types of launch vehicles. Of the nine TDRS satellites launched, seven are still operational, although four are already beyond their design life. Two have been retired. The second TDRS was lost in 1986 during the space shuttle Challenger accident.
NASA's Space Communications and Navigation Program, part of the Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate at the agency's Headquarters in Washington, is responsible for the TDRS network. NASA's Launch Services Program at Kennedy is responsible for launch management. United Launch Alliance provides the Atlas V rocket launch service.
To join the online conversation about TDRS on Twitter, follow the hashtag #TDRS. To learn more about all the ways to connect and collaborate with NASA, visit:
For almost 30 years, the TDRS spacecraft have provided a reliable communications network for NASA, serving numerous national and international space missions. The TDRS fleet is a space-based communication system used to provide tracking, telemetry, command, and high bandwidth data return services. The satellites provide in-flight communications with spacecraft operating in low-Earth orbit. It has been 10 years since NASA's last TDRS launch.
"This launch will provide even greater capabilities to a network that has become key to enabling many of NASA's scientific discoveries," says Jeffrey Gramling, project manager for TDRS at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.
TDRS-K will launch to geostationary orbit aboard an Atlas V rocket. The spacecraft is the first of three next-generation satellites designed to ensure vital operational continuity for NASA by expanding the lifespan of the fleet. The launch of TDRS-L is scheduled for 2014 and TDRS-M in 2015.
Each of the new satellites has a higher performance solar panel design to provide more spacecraft power. This upgrade will return signal processing for the S-Band multiple access service to the ground -- the same as the first-generation TDRS spacecraft. Ground-based processing allows TDRS to service more customers with different and evolving communication requirements.
The TDRS fleet began operating during the space shuttle era and provides critical communication support from several locations in geostationary orbit to NASA's human spaceflight endeavors, including the International Space Station. The fleet also provides communications support to an array of science missions, as well as various types of launch vehicles. Of the nine TDRS satellites launched, seven are still operational, although four are already beyond their design life. Two have been retired. The second TDRS was lost in 1986 during the space shuttle Challenger accident.
NASA's Space Communications and Navigation Program, part of the Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate at the agency's Headquarters in Washington, is responsible for the TDRS network. NASA's Launch Services Program at Kennedy is responsible for launch management. United Launch Alliance provides the Atlas V rocket launch service.
To join the online conversation about TDRS on Twitter, follow the hashtag #TDRS. To learn more about all the ways to connect and collaborate with NASA, visit:
For more information about TDRS, visit:
New Expedition 34 Crew Members Ready for Launch
12.18.12
Expedition 34/35 Flight Engineer Tom Marshburn of NASA, left, Soyuz
Commander Roman Romanenko and Canadian Space Agency Flight Engineer
Chris Hadfield, right, pose for a photo at a press conference held at
the Cosmonaut Hotel, on Tuesday, Dec. 18, 2012, in Baikonur, Kazakhstan.
Photo Credit: NASA/Carla CioffiFinal launch preparations are under way at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan as three new Expedition 34 crew members are ready to begin a two-day journey to join their crewmates aboard the International Space Station. Flight Engineers Tom Marshburn, Roman Romanenko and Chris Hadfield are set to launch aboard their Soyuz TMA-07M spacecraft at 7:12 a.m. EST (6:12 p.m. Baikonur time) Wednesday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan. Coverage of the launch will begin at 6 a.m. Wednesday on NASA TV. › NASA TV schedule for Soyuz launch coverage
› Watch NASA TV
The new trio will join current station residents Commander Kevin Ford and Flight Engineers Oleg Novitskiy and Evgeny Tarelkin when they dock their Soyuz to the Rassvet module at 9:12 a.m. Friday.
Meanwhile aboard the orbiting laboratory, Ford, Novitskiy and Tarelkin were busy with a variety of science experiments and maintenance duties Tuesday as they await the launch and arrival of their crew mates.
Commander Kevin Ford measured the water quality inside the Aquatic Habitat, which is currently home to some space-faring Medaka fish. Astronauts experience a loss of bone density during long-duration spaceflight, and Japanese scientists are using the fish as a model animal to understand the causes with the Medaka Osteoclast experiment.
› Read more about Medaka Osteoclast
› Read more about the Aquatic Habitat
Ford also performed some regular maintenance on the COLBERT treadmill in the Tranquility node and routed a LAN cable into the cupola.
Flight Engineer Evgeny Tarelkin floats through a hatchway between the
Unity node (background) and the Destiny laboratory of the International
Space Station. Credit: NASANovitskiy worked on the Coulomb Crystal experiment, which studies the dynamics of solid dispersed environments in an inhomogeneous magnetic field in microgravity. He also completed some onboard training in his role as a Crew Medical Officer and continued to unload supplies from the ISS Progress 49 cargo craft. Tarelkin worked with the Identifikatsia experiment, which investigates dynamic loads on the station during events such as dockings, reboosts and crew exercise sessions. › Read more about Identifikatsia
He also downloaded some data from the radiation dosimeters in the Russian segment and continued packing the ISS Progress 48 cargo craft with trash and other unneeded items.
› Send a holiday postcard to the station crew
› Read more about Expedition 34
NASA
Guillermo Gonzalo Sánchez Achutegui
ayabaca@gmail.com
ayabaca@hotmail.com
ayabaca@yahoo.com
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