Delta 2 rocket erected to launch SMAP mission BY STEPHEN CLARK

SPACEFLIGHT NOW

Posted: September 2, 2014



United Launch Alliance ground crews have erected the two-stage Delta 2 launcher that will carry NASA's Soil Moisture Active Passive mission into orbit this winter.



The rocket is perched at Space Launch Complex 2-West at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., for liftoff as soon as mid-December with the $490 million science mission.



SMAP will measure soil moisture and freeze/thaw states with an L-band radar and radiometer from a 422-mile-high orbit, covering the globe every two or three days. The data will improve weather and climate models, aid in flood prediction and drought monitoring, and help researchers better understand the links between Earth's water, carbon and energy cycles.



A month after the last Delta 2 lifted off from Vandenberg, technicians hoisted the SMAP launcher's teal first stage on the launch pad Aug. 4. The first stage is powered by an Aerojet Rocketdyne RS-27A main engine that burns rocket-grade kerosene and liquid oxygen to produce up to 237,000 pounds of thrust in vacuum.



The Delta 2 team also lifted the rocket's interstage adapter into the launch pad's mobile gantry and bolted the spacer atop the first stage.



Two halves of the rocket's clamshell-like 10-foot-diameter nose shroud were hoisted into the mobile service tower Aug. 7. Workers will enclose the SMAP satellite inside the fairing when it arrives at the launch pad a few weeks before liftoff.



The Delta 2's three solid rocket boosters were added around the base of the first stage Aug. 18. Manufactured by ATK, the solid-fueled motors will help propel the 125-foot-tall rocket off the launch pad, firing for the first minute of the flight as the Delta 2 soars south from Vandenberg.



The build-up of the Delta 2 concluded Aug. 20 with the addition of the rocket's second stage with an Aerojet Rocketdyne AJ10-118k engine, which consumes Aerozine 50 and nitrogen tetroxide.



The images below show the Delta 2's first stage, interstage, fairing, boosters and second stage going up on the launch pad. Credit: NASA/Randy Beaudoin



Credit: NASA/Randy Beaudoin



Credit: NASA/Randy Beaudoin



Credit: NASA/Randy Beaudoin



Credit: NASA/Randy Beaudoin



Credit: NASA/Randy Beaudoin



Credit: NASA/Tony Vauccin, USAF



Credit: NASA/Tony Vauccin, USAF



Credit: NASA/Randy Beaudoin



Credit: NASA/Randy Beaudoin



Credit: NASA/Randy Beaudoin



Credit: NASA/Randy Beaudoin



Credit: NASA/Randy Beaudoin



Credit: NASA/Randy Beaudoin



Credit: NASA/Randy Beaudoin



Credit: NASA/Randy Beaudoin



Credit: NASA/Randy Beaudoin



Credit: NASA/Randy Beaudoin



Credit: NASA/Randy Beaudoin



Credit: NASA/Randy Beaudoin



Credit: NASA/Randy Beaudoin



Credit: NASA/Randy Beaudoin



Credit: NASA/Randy Beaudoin



Credit: NASA/Randy Beaudoin



Credit: NASA/Randy Beaudoin



Credit: NASA/Randy Beaudoin



Credit: NASA/Randy Beaudoin



Credit: NASA/Randy Beaudoin



