ICESat/CHIPSat Ready for Launch Aboard Delta II Rocket This Weekend

The launch of the ICESat (Ice Cloud and Land Elevation Satellite) and CHIPSat (Cosmic Hot Interstellar Plasma Spectrometer) polar-orbiting satellites aboard a Boeing Delta II is now scheduled to launch on Saturday, Jan. 11. Liftoff of the Delta II will be from NASA's Space Launch Complex 2 (SLC-2) at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. The 45-minute launch window on extends on Jan . 11 from 4:45 p.m. - 5:30 p.m. PST.

An employee viewing of this launch will occur in the building 8 auditorium on Saturday, Jan. 11 beginning at 7:00 p.m. EST.

NASA's Earth Science Enterprise spacecraft ICESat is a 661-pound satellite that will revolutionize our understanding of ice and its role in global climate change and how we protect and understand our home planet. It will help scientists determine if the global sea level is rising or falling. It will look at the ice sheets that blanket the Earth's poles to see if they are growing or shrinking. It will assist in developing an understanding of how changes in the Earth's atmosphere and climate effect polar ice masses and global sea level. The Geoscience Laser Altimeter System (GLAS) is the sole instrument on the satellite.

ICESat will be launched into a polar orbit of 375 statute miles. It will be a benchmark for the NASA Earth Observing System (EOS) series of spacecraft, supporting other satellites in this series now in orbit, and will complement other EOS spacecraft currently under development.

CHIPSat, a suitcase-size 131-pound satellite, will provide invaluable information into the origin, physical processes and properties of the hot gas contained in the interstellar medium. This can provide important clues about the formation and evolution of galaxies since the interstellar medium literally contains the seeds of future stars. When the gas cools and collapses, the gas forms clumps that can evolve into stars and planets. One of the biggest puzzles in astrophysics is the process that turns this very diffuse, hot and cold gas and dust into stars. CHIPSat will be launched into a polar orbit of 350 statute miles.

For more on the ICESat project, visit: http://icesat.gsfc.nasa.gov/
For more on the CHIPSat project, go to: http://chips.ssl.berkeley.edu/