Rocket Lab’s Electron launcher lifts off from Launch Complex 1B in New Zealand with NASA’s fifth and sixth TROPICS hurricane research satellites. Credit: Rocket Lab
The last two spacecraft in a four-satellite constellation of tropical cyclone research platforms took off late Thursday from New Zealand on a Rocket Lab Electron launcher, helping ensure NASA’s TROPICS mission is ready for observations in time for the peak of this year’s Atlantic hurricane season.
Rocket Lab’s Electron launch vehicle lifted off from Launch Complex 1B at the company’s privately-owned spaceport in New Zealand at 11:46 p.m. EDT Thursday (0346 UTC Friday). A little more than a half-hour later, the rocket’s upper stage released NASA’s final two TROPICS CubeSats into an on-target orbit about 340 miles (550 kilometers) above Earth.
The launch, which took off at 3:46 p.m. local time Friday in New Zealand, occurred almost exactly six years after the first test flight of Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket. It was the 37th Electron launch overall in Rocket Lab’s program.
NASA’s TROPICS satellites will collect imagery, temperature and moisture data over tropical cyclones. With a fleet of four operational satellites, the TROPICS mission will be capable of monitoring rapid changes in cyclones at a cadence of at least once per hour.
TROPICS stands for Time-Resolved Observations of Precipitation structure and storm Intensity with a Constellation of Smallsats. NASA selected the TROPICS mission proposal from MIT Lincoln Laboratory in a 2016 competition for funding through the agency’s Earth Venture program, a series of competitively selected, low cost Earth science missions.
The constellation was originally supposed to consist of six satellites, plus a pathfinder spacecraft that launched in 2021. But the mission architecture only needed four spacecraft to meet minimum scientific requirements. NASA and the TROPICS science team knew the mission, relying on CubeSat technology and emerging launch providers, might carry a higher risk of a spacecraft or rocket failure.
It turned out the first two TROPICS satellites were lost in a June 2022 launch failure aboard the Rocket 3 vehicle built by Astra, which had a contract for two additional launches to finish deploying the TROPICS satellite fleet.
NASA switched the launch of the final four TROPICS spacecraft to Rocket Lab, at a cost of $13 million for two launches, as Astra retired its Rocket 3 design to focus on a larger launch vehicle. Rocket Lab has a more successful track record than Astra, and the company delivered the next pair of TROPICS satellites into orbit May 7 after liftoff from New Zealand.
Liftoff of Rocket Lab’s Electron launch vehicle with the final two CubeSats for NASA’s TROPICS mission, a constellation of smallsats to study the formation and intensification of tropical cyclones. https://t.co/8OjD1LOAG6pic.twitter.com/kpbCgFfKuZ
On Thursday night’s TROPICS mission, the nearly 60-foot-tall (18-meter) fired its nine kerosene-fueled Rutherford engines to power off the launch pad and head east from Rocket Lab’s spaceport on the North Island of New Zealand. The first and second stages of the rocket placed the two CubeSats into a roughly 340-mile-high orbit, then a kick stage fired its thruster to change the orbital inclination to angle of 32.7 degrees to the equator, giving the spacecraft regular coverage over the tropics.
“Electron was developed for exactly these kids of missions — to deploy spacecraft reliably and on rapid timelines to precise and bespoke orbits, so we’re proud to have delivered that for NASA across both TROPICS launches and meet the deadline for getting TROPICS to orbit in time for the 2023 storm season,” said Peter Beck, Rocket Lab’s founder and CEO, in a statement.
The two Rocket Lab launches with NASA’s TROPICS CubeSats were originally supposed to fly from a launch site in Virginia, but Rocket Lab and NASA agreed earlier this year to move the missions to the company’s primary spaceport in New Zealand, which would enable the smallsats to fly sooner.
Each TROPICS satellite, assembled by Blue Canyon Technologies in Colorado, weighs about 11.8 pounds (5.3 kilograms). The satellites are about the size of a loaf of bread, and each craft carries a microwave radiometer instrument.
Many CubeSats ride to space on rideshare launches, allowing operators to take advantage of lower costs by bundling their payloads on a single large rocket. But the TROPICS satellites need dedicated launches to reach their precise orbital destinations.
The low-inclination orbit selected for the TROPICS mission will focus the satellite observations on hotspots for tropical cyclone development.
“We needed multiple launches for this mission,” said Will McCarty, program scientist at NASA’s Earth Science Division. “Rocket Lab provided the ability to have the TROPICS CubeSats serve as that primary payload and thus define the orbit based on our scientific objectives.”
Artist’s illustration of two TROPICS satellites collecting data on hurricanes. Credit: NASA
“We’re trying to make improved observations of tropical cyclones,” said William Blackwell, principal investigator for the TROPICS mission from MIT Lincoln Laboratory, in an interview last year. “And what we’re really trying to characterize is the fundamental thermodynamic environment around the storm. So that’s things like the temperature, and the amount of moisture and precipitation intensity, and the structure around the storm.
“Those are important variables because they can be related to the intensity of the storm, and even potential for future intensification,” Blackwell said. “So we’re trying to make those measurements with relatively high revisit. That’s really the key new feature that the TROPICS constellation provides, is improved revisit of the storms.
“With these new measurements of rapidly updated imagery, we hope that that will help us understand the storm better, and ultimately lead to better forecasting of the hurricane track and intensity,” Blackwell said.
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The body of Ugandan Olympic athlete Rebecca Cheptegei — who died after being set on fire by her partner in Kenya — was received Friday by family and anti-femicide crusaders, ahead of her burial a day later.
Cheptegei’s family met with dozens of activists Friday who had marched to the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital’s morgue in the western city of Eldoret while chanting anti-femicide slogans.
She is the fourth female athlete to have been killed by her partner in Kenya in yet another case of gender-based violence in recent years.
Viola Cheptoo, the founder of Tirop Angels – an organization that was formed in honor of athlete Agnes Tirop, who was stabbed to death in 2021, said stakeholders need to ensure this is the last death of an athlete due to gender-based violence.
“We are here to say that enough is enough, we are tired of burying our sisters due to GBV,” she said.
It was a somber mood at the morgue as athletes and family members viewed Cheptegei’s body which sustained 80% of burns after she was doused with gasoline by her partner Dickson Ndiema. Ndiema sustained 30% burns on his body and later succumbed.
Ndiema and Cheptegei were said to have quarreled over a piece of land that the athlete bought in Kenya, according to a report filed by the local chief.
Cheptegei competed in the women’s marathon at the Paris Olympics less than a month before the attack. She finished in 44th place.
Cheptegei’s father, Joseph, said that the body will make a brief stop at their home in the Endebess area before proceeding to Bukwo in eastern Uganda for a night vigil and burial on Saturday.
“We are in the final part of giving my daughter the last respect,” a visibly distraught Joseph said.
He told reporters last week that Ndiema was stalking and threatening Cheptegei and the family had informed police.
Four in 10 women or an estimated 41% of dating or married Kenyan women have experienced physical or sexual violence perpetrated by their current or most recent partner, according to the Kenya Demographic and Health Survey 2022.
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — A rare Bronze-Era jar accidentally smashed by a 4-year-old visiting a museum was back on display Wednesday after restoration experts were able to carefully piece the artifact back together.
Last month, a family from northern Israel was visiting the museum when their youngest son tipped over the jar, which smashed into pieces.
Alex Geller, the boy’s father, said his son — the youngest of three — is exceptionally curious, and that the moment he heard the crash, “please let that not be my child” was the first thought that raced through his head.
The jar has been on display at the Hecht Museum in Haifa for 35 years. It was one of the only containers of its size and from that period still complete when it was discovered.
The Bronze Age jar is one of many artifacts exhibited out in the open, part of the Hecht Museum’s vision of letting visitors explore history without glass barriers, said Inbal Rivlin, the director of the museum, which is associated with Haifa University in northern Israel.
It was likely used to hold wine or oil, and dates back to between 2200 and 1500 B.C.
Rivlin and the museum decided to turn the moment, which captured international attention, into a teaching moment, inviting the Geller family back for a special visit and hands-on activity to illustrate the restoration process.
Rivlin added that the incident provided a welcome distraction from the ongoing war in Gaza. “Well, he’s just a kid. So I think that somehow it touches the heart of the people in Israel and around the world,“ said Rivlin.
Roee Shafir, a restoration expert at the museum, said the repairs would be fairly simple, as the pieces were from a single, complete jar. Archaeologists often face the more daunting task of sifting through piles of shards from multiple objects and trying to piece them together.
Experts used 3D technology, hi-resolution videos, and special glue to painstakingly reconstruct the large jar.
Less than two weeks after it broke, the jar went back on display at the museum. The gluing process left small hairline cracks, and a few pieces are missing, but the jar’s impressive size remains.
The only noticeable difference in the exhibit was a new sign reading “please don’t touch.”
VICTORIA – The British Columbia government is partnering with a bear welfare group to reduce the number of bears being euthanized in the province.
Nicholas Scapillati, executive director of Grizzly Bear Foundation, said Monday that it comes after months-long discussions with the province on how to protect bears, with the goal to give the animals a “better and second chance at life in the wild.”
Scapillati said what’s exciting about the project is that the government is open to working with outside experts and the public.
“So, they’ll be working through Indigenous knowledge and scientific understanding, bringing in the latest techniques and training expertise from leading experts,” he said in an interview.
B.C. government data show conservation officers destroyed 603 black bears and 23 grizzly bears in 2023, while 154 black bears were killed by officers in the first six months of this year.
Scapillati said the group will publish a report with recommendations by next spring, while an independent oversight committee will be set up to review all bear encounters with conservation officers to provide advice to the government.
Environment Minister George Heyman said in a statement that they are looking for new ways to ensure conservation officers “have the trust of the communities they serve,” and the panel will make recommendations to enhance officer training and improve policies.
Lesley Fox, with the wildlife protection group The Fur-Bearers, said they’ve been calling for such a committee for decades.
“This move demonstrates the government is listening,” said Fox. “I suspect, because of the impending election, their listening skills are potentially a little sharper than they normally are.”
Fox said the partnership came from “a place of long frustration” as provincial conservation officers kill more than 500 black bears every year on average, and the public is “no longer tolerating this kind of approach.”
“I think that the conservation officer service and the B.C. government are aware they need to change, and certainly the public has been asking for it,” said Fox.
Fox said there’s a lot of optimism about the new partnership, but, as with any government, there will likely be a lot of red tape to get through.
“I think speed is going to be important, whether or not the committee has the ability to make change and make change relatively quickly without having to study an issue to death, ” said Fox.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 9, 2024.
