NASA to launch its CYGNSS hurricane detection mission today

New Delhi: NASA will launch its Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System (CYGNSS) mission on Thursday, December 15, 2016 after a two-day delay.

As per NASA, the US space agency managers have given a 'Go' for the next attempt to launch the CYGNSS spacecraft scheduled for Thursday at 8:26 a.m. EST from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

The original launch was set to occur on Monday morning, but was aborted due to an issue with the launch vehicle release system on the L-1011 Stargazer.

Conversely, CYGNSS launch planned for Wednesday, December 14 was also delayed due to an issue with flight parameter data used by spacecraft software. The issue was discovered during routine testing Tuesday.

The CYGNSS spacecraft will ride into orbit aboard an Orbital ATK air-launched Pegasus XL rocket.

NASA says Orbital ATK’s modified L-1011 aircraft will deploy the Pegasus XL and its CYGNSS payload from an altitude of approximately 39,000 feet above the Atlantic Ocean 110 nautical miles east southeast of Daytona Beach.

During the two-year mission, the eight CYGNSS microsatellites will fly in formation about 316 miles above Earth’s surface, focusing on the tropics and studying wind speeds and intensification of tropical cyclones such as hurricanes, adds NASA.

The launch will be broadcast live on NASA-TV with coverage beginning at 7 a.m. EST. 

Live updates from the countdown will also be available on the NASA blog HERE beginning at 7 a.m. EST.