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Air-Launched Pegasus Sends AIM on Its Way

submitted by eric3579

1 decade 6 years 11 months 2 weeks ago

aim
, nasa

After a flawless countdown and flight, NASA's AIM spacecraft is ready to begin a two-year mission to study Earth's highest clouds. The 430-pound satellite's ride into orbit was provided by a Pegasus XL rocket. Built by Orbital Sciences, the Pegasus is a unique vehicle that begins its flight secured to the underbelly of a modified L-1011 passenger jet known as the "Stargazer." Once the L-1011 reaches an altitude of 39,000 feet, the Pegasus was released for its 10-minute powered flight into space.

NASA's AIM spacecraft began its mission April 25, 2007 after a flawless ride to Earth orbit. Launch took place at 1:26 PDT. Launch operations at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California ran smoothly, with no technical or weather issues causing concern.

The Aeronomy of Ice in the Mesosphere (AIM) mission is the first detailed exploration of Earth's unique and elusive clouds that are literally on the "edge of space." Other space-based and ground-based measurements have probed some aspects of this unusual phenomenon in Earth's mesosphere (the region just above the stratosphere), but very little is known about how these clouds form over the poles, why they are being seen at lower latitudes than ever before, or why they have been growing brighter and more frequent. Some scientists have suggested that these polar mesospheric clouds may be the direct result of human-induced climate change.

Over the course of its mission, AIM will help answer these questions by documenting for the first time the entire complex life cycle of these clouds. With this information, scientists will be able to resolve many of the mysteries about how these clouds form and be better able to predict how they will change in the future.