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WASHINGTON – A Delta 2 rocket took off on September 15, carrying a NASA Earth Science satellite on the last flight of a vehicle whose heritage dates back to the beginning of the space age.
The United Launch Alliance Delta 2 took off from Space Launch Complex 2 at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California at 9:02 am Eastern Time. The main payload, NASA's Ice, Cloud and NASA Earth 2 Landing Satellite (ICESat-2), separated from the second leg approximately 53 minutes after take-off, followed by four secondary payloads of more than 20 minutes.
ICESat-2 is a successor to the ICESat satellite that collected information on ice cover and other Earth science data from 2003 to 2010. Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems built the 1,514-kilogram satellite at launch. .
The only instrument in the spacecraft is an advanced laser altimeter called the Advanced Topographic Laser Altimeter (ATLAS), designed to fire 10,000 laser pulses per second to obtain altitude data with half a centimeter accuracy. . ATLAS will be mainly used to measure ice sheet elevation and changes in size, but will also measure the height of terrestrial vegetation.
ICESat-2 experienced delays due to problems with ATLAS, including a failure of one of its lasers. "It was a very difficult mission," Doug McLennan, ICESat-2 project manager at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, told a news conference on September 13.
The launch was the 155th and last flight of the Delta 2, launched for the first time in February 1989. Formerly a mainstay of government and commercial customers, the vehicle gradually disappeared after transferring payloads to class rockets, including Atlas 5 and Delta 4 from ULA and, more recently, Falcon 9 from SpaceX. Commercial customers have also moved into larger launchers, leaving NASA as the main user of the last years of the vehicle.
This launch, which was Delta 2's 100th consecutive success, revived a tradition of Delta 2's previous missions. "We used to put stars on the vehicle to represent the number of successful launches, but Several years ago, we removed those stars, "said Scott Messer, NASA's director of programs at ULA, during the preliminary briefing.
The stars have returned for the final launch of Delta 2, but with a twist, he said: people ranging from retirees who have already worked on the program to customers and range staff have been invited to sign the stars.
"I'm a bit melancholy about this," said Tim Dunn, NASA's launch director, at the briefing. "Delta 2 occupies a very special place in the hearts of many players in the launch industry."
Another Delta 2 exists, but will not be launched. Instead, ULA President and CEO Tory Bruno announced after the launch of ICESat-2 that the Delta 2 will be donated to the Kennedy Space Center visitor complex.
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