WEBVTT

00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.000


00:00:01.000 --> 00:00:07.000
George Diller/NASA Launch Commentator This is Taurus Launch Control at T-1 hour, 20 minutes, 35 seconds and counting.

00:00:07.000 --> 00:00:12.000
And here with us in the Mission Director's Center is Dr. Ralph Basilio.

00:00:12.000 --> 00:00:20.000
He is the deputy project manager for the Orbiting Carbon Observatory and our spacecraft mission director on console

00:00:20.000 --> 00:00:26.000
tonight who will be providng us with the "go" for launch for the OCO spacecraft.

00:00:26.000 --> 00:00:36.000
And Dr. Basilio, we would like to welcome you. First of all, tell us how things are going tonight so far from your perspective.

00:00:36.000 --> 00:00:38.000
Dr. Ralph Basilio/NASA Spacecraft Mission Manager
Yeah. Things are going quite well.

00:00:38.000 --> 00:00:45.000
We've completed the checkouts with the Mission Operations Center and the ground network and space network assets.

00:00:45.000 --> 00:00:52.000
So, all systems are operational. The observatory is in generally good health.

00:00:52.000 --> 00:01:00.000
We are monitoring the battery temperatures -- make sure that we don't exceed the defined alarm limits or constraints for launch.

00:01:00.000 --> 00:01:06.000
We don't anticipate any problems, but we are closely monitoring the battery temperature at this time.

00:01:06.000 --> 00:01:11.000
George Diller/NASA Launch Commentator Well, we've got a video now that shows some of what was done to prepare the OCO

00:01:11.000 --> 00:01:15.000
spacecraft for launch once it arrived here at Vandenberg.

00:01:15.000 --> 00:01:24.000
So if you could tell us some of what's going on in that tape and some of the other things surrounding the background of OCO.

00:01:24.000 --> 00:01:26.000
Dr. Ralph Basilio/NASA Spacecraft Mission Manager
Ok, great.

00:01:26.000 --> 00:01:32.000
Yes, this is a short video of some of the payload processing activities that occurred here at the launch site at

00:01:32.000 --> 00:01:36.000
Vandenberg Air Force Base on California's central coast.

00:01:36.000 --> 00:01:44.000
The observatory was shipped over land from the Orbital facility in Dulles, Va. Took about three days to get here.

00:01:44.000 --> 00:01:48.000
The observatory arrived on the 11th of 
November.

00:01:48.000 --> 00:01:56.000
And the payload processing facility that was selected for our operations is Astrotech Space Operations,

00:01:56.000 --> 00:02:03.000
and it's been the facility that we just recently 
used several months ago to process the 
OSTM,

00:02:03.000 --> 00:02:10.000
or the Ocean Surface Topography 
Mission/Jason-2, spacecraft. So a lot of our personnel that are on this project,

00:02:10.000 --> 00:02:14.000
also worked that project and very familiar with the facilities there.

00:02:14.000 --> 00:02:22.000
As you can see that the observatory, after being transported, is being unpacked and being wheeled into the,

00:02:22.000 --> 00:02:28.000
one of the two high bays in the Atrotech Space Operations facility.

00:02:28.000 --> 00:02:37.000
It's double bagged to make sure that the spacecraft, or the observatory, remains healthy and safe -- protected against

00:02:37.000 --> 00:02:44.000
contaminants -- both particulates, as well as helium and other trace gases.

00:02:44.000 --> 00:02:50.000
And you can see here, this is the anti-stat 
bagging that's being removed.

00:02:50.000 --> 00:02:54.000
And the spacecraft, or the observatory, will be revealed.

00:02:54.000 --> 00:03:03.000
But underneath the bagging that protects the observatory, there are other measures to further protect the observatory.

00:03:03.000 --> 00:03:09.000
You'll see that they'll actually start removing 
some of the protective covers -- there's a

00:03:09.000 --> 00:03:17.000
protective cover, or element, that protects the triple-junction gallium arsenide solar cells.

00:03:17.000 --> 00:03:24.000
The solar arrays are obviously in a stowed position during transportation and during launch.

00:03:24.000 --> 00:03:29.000
You can see one of the solar array wings here in the stowed position.

00:03:29.000 --> 00:03:35.000
Once fully deployed, the solar arrays will 
actually expand out and the wingspan is on

00:03:35.000 --> 00:03:40.000
the order of about nine meters, or a little bit less than 30 feet.

00:03:40.000 --> 00:03:47.000
You can see this gentleman, one of the technicians, removing a cover for the instrument calibration baffle assembly.

00:03:47.000 --> 00:03:53.000
And once they've completed all of the unbagging, unwrapping and cover-removal process,

00:03:53.000 --> 00:03:59.000
we actually subject the observatory through 
additional testing to make sure that it's still

00:03:59.000 --> 00:04:04.000
functioning after the three-day ride, or transit, across country.

00:04:04.000 --> 00:04:09.000
And once this additional testing is 
completed, we then fuel the observatory for

00:04:09.000 --> 00:04:16.000
flight. This is a hydrazine system that's used for the observatory.

00:04:16.000 --> 00:04:26.000
So we, after the fueling operations was completed, we put on board on the order of 45 kilograms of hydrazine fuel.

00:04:26.000 --> 00:04:32.000
Now that fuel will allow operations to far exceed the nominal two-year mission.

00:04:32.000 --> 00:04:36.000
We actually anticipate that we'll have enough fuel for more than a decade.

00:04:36.000 --> 00:04:44.000
And you can see the team here is now is getting ready for the next set of operations -- our critical operations -- and it's

00:04:44.000 --> 00:04:52.000
basically to mate the observatory with the upper stage components of the launch vehicle.

00:04:52.000 --> 00:04:57.000
There are some specialized components on the upper half of the launch vehicle -- and

00:04:57.000 --> 00:05:03.000
there's a ballast ring, a cone section -- but probably the most significant,

00:05:03.000 --> 00:05:11.000
or special part, of that upper stage component assembly is what is called the soft ride vibration isolation system.

00:05:11.000 --> 00:05:18.000
It's regarded, or it could be referred to as basically a large shock absorber to minimize any stresses -- mechanical induced,

00:05:18.000 --> 00:05:25.000
static and dynamic stresses on the observatory during the relatively quick ascent.

00:05:25.000 --> 00:05:34.000
We expect the four-stage Taurus XL launch vehicle to inject the observatory into its proper orbit in just a little over 13 minutes.

00:05:34.000 --> 00:05:42.000
You can see here the mating operations being completed. And the two halves of the fairing are now being installed.

00:05:42.000 --> 00:05:49.000
The fairing basically provides protection for 
the observatory -- basically for aerodynamic

00:05:49.000 --> 00:05:54.000
protection during the launch vehicle ascent into the proper orbit.

00:05:54.000 --> 00:06:04.000
Once the fairing has been installed, we refer to this entire assembly as the ECE, or the encapsulated cargo element.

00:06:04.000 --> 00:06:13.000
And the encapsulated cargo element is actually kept in an environment that's conducive to space or safe operations.

00:06:13.000 --> 00:06:20.000
So temperature, humidity and nitrogen purge are provided to the encapsulated cargo

00:06:20.000 --> 00:06:25.000
element all the way up through T-0, which is basically launch.

00:06:25.000 --> 00:06:34.000
So the observatory is in a cocoon -- kept in an environment that keeps it safe and well protected from the elements.

00:06:34.000 --> 00:06:42.000
Obviously this encapsulated cargo element will be exposed to the weather while the launch vehicle is out there at the pad.

00:06:42.000 --> 00:06:50.000
And you can see here, that the encapsulated cargo element is being placed on a truck and

00:06:50.000 --> 00:06:55.000
the process of trucking it over from the Astrotech Space Operations facility to the launch pad,

00:06:55.000 --> 00:07:01.000
which is Launch Complex 576-E, just took a little bit more than an hour.

00:07:01.000 --> 00:07:12.000
It's approximately a two-mile-long trek. And Launch Complex 576-E was last used on May 20, 2004, for the last, or the previous,

00:07:12.000 --> 00:07:19.000
Taurus XL launch for the ROCSAT-2 mission. So it's been refurbished, obviously since then.

00:07:19.000 --> 00:07:25.000
And you can see that the encapsulated cargo element has arrived at the launch site,

00:07:25.000 --> 00:07:33.000
and one of the first activities is obviously to remove it and integrate it with the rest of the launch vehicle.

00:07:33.000 --> 00:07:33.000