Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Komende zaterdag om 16.02 uur Nederlandse tijd [1]Uiteraard onder voorbehoud. wordt de Marsrover Curiosity gelanceerd met een Atlas V draagraket vanaf lanceerplatform 41 op Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. Uiteraard live te volgen via NASA TV of via het Ustream-kanaal van de NASA. Dat laatste biedt de mogelijkheid om uitgebreid mee te doen met Twitter-sessies, maar wees er dan wel op voorbereid dat er honderden mensen door elkaar lopen te twitteren (lees: niet doen!). Bij de Planetary Society van Emily Lakdawalla hebben ze álle gebeurtenissen die tijdens de lancering plaatsvinden – van 2,7 seconden voor de start (Liftoff) tot 2627 seconden (=ruim 43 minuten) na de start – eens op een rijtje gezet en dat ziet er als volgt uit. OK, geen zin om het allemaal te vertalen, dat doen jullie maar lekker zelf. De tijd is de Nederlandse tijd.
| Tijd (s) | Tijd | Gebeurtenis |
|---|---|---|
| -2.7 | 16:01:57 | Core booster ignition |
| -0.3 | 16:02:00 | Solid rocket booster ignition |
| 0.0 | 16:02:00 | T=0 |
| 1.1 | 16:02:01 | Liftoff. Liftoff occurs when the rocket is generating more thrust than its own weight. |
| 2.1 | 16:02:02 | Full thrust |
| 5.2 | 16:02:05 | Begin pitch/yaw/roll maneuver. After flying vertically for about 90 meters, the rocket turns to the right direction. |
| 34.6 | 16:02:35 | Mach 1 |
| 46.3 | 16:02:46 | Maximum dynamic pressure |
| 112.5 | 16:03:53 | Solid rocket booster jettison. The four solid rocket boosters, now spent, will fall away in pairs. |
| 204.9 | 16:05:25 | Payload fairing jettison |
| 227.0 | 16:05:47 | Begin 4.6 G-limiting. The rocket is throttled back to maintain the acceleration at a steady 4.6 G's. |
| 261.5 | 16:06:22 | Atlas Booster Engine Cutoff (BECO). The spacecraft will be at an altitude of about 158 kilometers. |
| 267.5 | 16:06:27 | Atlas Booster/Centaur separation |
| 277.4 | 16:06:37 | Centaur first Main Engine start (MES1). The second stage will burn for 412 seconds (about 7 minutes), placing Curiosity into a parking orbit with a perigee of 165 and an apogee of 324 kilometers, but the spacecraft will not complete even one orbit. |
| 689.8 | 16:13:30 | Centaur first Main Engine cutoff (MECO1). The exact coast period depends upon the launch time; it could be anywhere from 13 to 31 minutes. |
| 1864.6 | 16:33:05 | Centaur second Main Engine Start (MES2). This time may be incorrect by up to 10 minutes in either direction, depending on the launch time. The second stage's second firing will send Curiosity onto an interplanetary trajectory. |
| 2345.0 | 16:41:05 | Centaur second Main Engine Cutoff (MECO2). After the engine cuts off, the spacecraft turns and then spins up, rotating at 2.5 revs per minute. |
| 2567.0 | 16:44:47 | Spacecraft separation. This time may be incorrect by up to 20 minutes depending on the launch time. After separation, the Centaur upper stage will perform an "avoidance maneuver" to make sure it will not hit either Curiosity or Mars. |
| 2627.0 | 16:45:47 | X-band transmitter turned on. Only after spacecraft separation can Curiosity communicate directly with Earth. It will not start transmitting data for another five minutes. First communications are likely to be received in Canberra, but may possibly be received earlier in Mauritius. |
Hopen dat er zaterdag geen ‘Phobos-Gruntiaanse toestanden’ gaan plaatsvinden. Bron: Planetary Society.
Voetnoten
| ↑1 | Uiteraard onder voorbehoud. |
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