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Launch Vehicle Selection and the Implementation of the Soil Moisture Active Passive MissionSoil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) is a NASA-developed Earth science satellite currently mapping the soil moisture content and freeze/thaw state of Earth's land mass from a 685km, near-polar, sun-synchronous orbit. It was launched on January 31, 2015 from Vandenberg AFB upon a Delta II 7320 launch vehicle. Due to external considerations, SMAP's launch vehicle selection remained an open item until Project Critical Design Review (CDR). Thus, certain key aspects of the spacecraft design had to accommodate a diverse range of candidate launch vehicle environments, performance envelopes, interfaces and operational scenarios. Engineering challenges stemmed from two distinct scenarios: decisions that had to be made prior to launch vehicle selection to accommodate all possible outcomes, and post-selection changes constrained by schedule and the existing spacecraft configuration. The effects of the timing of launch vehicle selection reached virtually every aspect of the Observatory's design and development. Physical environments, mass allocations, material selections, propulsion system performance, dynamic response, launch phase and mission planning, overall size and configuration, and of course all interfaces to the launch vehicle were heavily dependent on this outcome. This paper will discuss the resolution of these technical challenges.
Document ID
20170007086
Acquisition Source
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Sherman, Sarah
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Waydo, Peter
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Eremenko, Alexander
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Date Acquired
August 1, 2017
Publication Date
March 5, 2016
Subject Category
Spacecraft Design, Testing And Performance
Launch Vehicles And Launch Operations
Meeting Information
Meeting: 2016 IEEE Aerospace Conference
Location: Big Sky, MT
Country: United States
Start Date: March 5, 2016
End Date: March 12, 2016
Sponsors: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other

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