Suborbital spaceflight in 2009

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A number of Suborbital spaceflights were conducted during 2009, consisting of sounding rocket missions and missile tests. Between the start of the year and 1 March, at least nine publicly announced suborbital spaceflights were conducted, the first of which occurred on 26 January.

January[]

Delta-2[]

Delta-2 was a Japanese auroral and upper atmospheric research mission, conducted using an S-310 sounding rocket. It was launched from at the Andøya Rocket Range. The launch occurred at 00:15 GMT on 26 January,[1] making it the first recorded spaceflight launch of 2009. The mission was conducted by Andøya for JAXA and Nagoya University.

ACES[]

ACES consisted of two Black Brant rockets, launched from Poker Flat on 29 January. The rockets carried an Auroral research payload for the University of Iowa. ACES-I, using a Black Brant IX, was launched at 09:49 GMT, and ACES-II, which used a Black Brant VB, followed 90 seconds later.

February[]

Trident II tests[]

On 13 February, the United States Navy test fired a Trident II missile from the USS Alabama in the Pacific Ocean.[2] This was one of two Trident II launches conducted in February, however the date of the other test was not released.[3]

Turbopause[]

Turbopause was a series of spaceflights conducted by Clemson University to research the upper atmosphere. Four Terrier-Orion rockets were launched from Poker Flat on 18 February, at 09:52, 10:29, 10:59 and 11:47 GMT.[4] The rockets released trimethyl aluminium vapours into the upper atmosphere to study turbulence at high altitudes.

CIBER[]

CIBER was an infrared astronomy mission launched from White Sands at 10:45 on 25 February. A Black Brant IX sounding rocket was used. The payload was operated by the California Institute of Technology, and the flight was reported to have been successful.[5]

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ "DELTA 2". Andøya Rocket Range. Archived from the original on 28 February 2009. Retrieved 4 March 2009.
  2. ^ "Trident II D5 Missile Achieves 126 Successful Test Flights". Space War. 27 February 2009. Retrieved 28 February 2009.
  3. ^ McDowell, Jonathan (2 March 2009). "Issue 607". Jonathan's Space Report. Retrieved 6 January 2010.
  4. ^ "41.077, 41.078, 41.079 & 41.079 UE LEHMACHER/CLEMSON UNIVERSITY". Sounding Rockets Program Office. NASA. 18 February 2009. Archived from the original on 20 March 2009. Retrieved 4 March 2009.
  5. ^ "SR-WS BLACK BRANT IX 36.226". Wallops Web Calendar. NASA. Archived from the original on 19 February 2012. Retrieved 28 February 2008.
Retrieved from ""