Skip to main content

NASA launches weather satellite and inflatable heat shield test

This week NASA launched a new weather satellite, JPSS-2, into polar orbit around the Earth. But this launch was a special one, as it also included a test of a new inflatable heat shield called LOFTID.

The launch, using a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket, took place from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California early in the morning of this Thursday, November 10.

Related Videos
A United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket carrying the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS)-2 civilian polar-orbiting weather satellite for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
A United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket carrying the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS)-2 civilian polar-orbiting weather satellite for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and NASA’s Low-Earth Orbit Flight Test of an Inflatable Decelerator (LOFTID) tech demo lifts off from Space Launch Complex-3 at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California at 1:49 a.m. PT (4:49 a.m. ET) November. 10, 2022. United Launch Alliance

The Low-Earth Orbit Flight Test of an Inflatable Decelerator (LOFTID) is a heat shield designed to autonomously inflate as a payload enters an atmosphere, keeping the heat from the friction with the atmosphere away from delicate components inside. It could be used for landing heavier payloads like rovers on other planets, or for landing heavier components on Earth as well.

LOFTID was tested by releasing it after the satellite had been deployed, high above Earth, where it inflated itself and re-entered the atmosphere. Within a few minutes, it splashed down into the Pacific Ocean, from where the heat shield and data module were recovered. Each of these components holds a set of data on how the heat shield performed during the test which can now be analyzed to see how effective it was.

The Joint Polar Satellite System or JPSS-2 satellite had a small problem during deployment when one of its four solar arrays did not deploy correctly. But teams were able to fix the issue and fully deploy the array, with the satellite now operating as expected. JPSS-2 will be a part of a weather monitoring and prediction network run by NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

“NOAA is an important partner for NASA in providing essential data about climate change, weather prediction, and environmental modeling for the benefit of citizens both in the U.S. and around the world,” said NASA Associate Administrator Bob Cabana in a statement. “Our Launch Services Program has successfully launched its 100th primary mission, and on this same flight enabled us to test a new technology for atmospheric re-entry with the LOFTID demonstration.”

Editors' Recommendations

NASA confirms success of Artemis I moon mission
nasa new footage artemis i mission highlights reel orion homecoming

NASA is continuing to analyze data from last year’s Artemis I test mission that sent an uncrewed spacecraft around the moon before returning safely home.

In a meeting on Tuesday, NASA officials confirmed that so far no major problems have surfaced that would prompt it to reschedule Artemis II, the mission set for late 2024 that will follow the same route as the first flight but this time with astronauts on board.

Read more
Japan’s space agency destroys own rocket just after launch
Japan's H3 rocket at the start of a failed mission in March 2023.

Proving that rocket launches aren’t as easy as SpaceX makes them look, Japanese space agency JAXA was forced to destroy one of its own rockets after it developed a fault in the early stages of flight on Tuesday, March 7.

Mission personnel had no choice but to send a self-destruct command to the new H3 rocket after the second-stage engine malfunctioned just minutes after launch.

Read more
NASA eyes weather for Thursday’s Crew-6 launch. Here’s how it’s looking
From left, NASA astronauts Warren “Woody” Hoburg and Stephen Bowen, along with Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev and UAE (United Arab Emirates) astronaut Sultan Alneyadi, prepare to depart the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at Kennedy Space Center in Florida during a dress rehearsal for NASA’s SpaceX Crew-6 mission launch on Thursday, Feb. 23, 2023.

NASA and SpaceX are making final preparations for its first crewed launch since October 2022.

The Crew-6 mission to the International Space Station (ISS) is set to launch from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 12:34 a.m. ET on Thursday, March 2 (9:34 p.m. on Wednesday, March 1).

Read more