Quik SCAT - Construction and Launch

Construction and Launch

In 1996, the international dateline (NSCAT) was launched aboard the Japanese Advanced Earth Observing Satellite. This satellite was designed to record surface winds over water across the world for several years. However, an unexpected failure in 1997 led to an early termination of the NSCAT project. Following this briefly successful mission, NASA began constructing a new satellite to replace the failed one. They planned to build it and have it prepared for launch as soon as possible to limit the gap in data between the two satellites. In just 12 months, the Quick Scatterometer (QuikSCAT) satellite was constructed and ready to be launched, faster than any other NASA mission since the 1950s.

The QuikSCAT project was originally budgeted at $93 million, including the physical satellite, the launch rocket, and ongoing support for its science mission. A series of rocket failures in November 1998 grounded the Titan (rocket family) launcher fleet, delayed the launch of QuickScat, and added $5 million to this initial cost.

A new instrument, the SeaWinds scatterometer, was attached to the satellite. The SeaWinds instrument, a specialized microwave radar system, measured both the speed and direction of winds near the ocean surface. It used two radars and a spinning antenna to record data across nine-tenths of the oceans of the world in a single day. It recorded roughly four hundred thousand wind measurements daily, each covering an area 1,800 kilometers (1,100 mi) in width. Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the NSCAT team jointly managed the project of construction of the satellite at the Goddard Space Flight Center. Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. supplied the materials to construct the satellite.

In light of the record-setting construction time, engineers who worked on the project were given the American Electronics Achievement Award. This was only achieved due to the new type of contract made specifically for this satellite. Instead of the usual year given to select a contract and initiate development, it was constrained to one month.

The newly constructed satellite was set to launch on a Titan II rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The rocket lifted off at 7:15 pm PDT on 19 June 1999. Roughly two minutes and thirty seconds after launch, the first engine was shut down and the second was engaged as it moved over the Baja California Peninsula. A minute later, the nose cone, at the top of the rocket, separated into two parts. Sixteen seconds later, the rocket was re-oriented to protect the satellite from the sun. For the next 48 minutes, the two crafts flew over Antarctica and later over Madagascar, where the rocket reached its desired altitude of 500 mi (800 km).

At 59 minutes after launch, the satellite separated from the rocket and was pushed into its circular orbit around Earth. Shortly after, the solar arrays were deployed and connection was established with the satellite at 8:32 pm PDT with a tracking station in Norway. For the next two weeks, the shuttle used bursts from its engine to fine-tune its location and correct its course to the desired motion. Eighteen days after take-off, the scatterometer was turned on and a team of 12 personnel made detailed reviews of function of QuikSCAT. A month after entering orbit, the team completed the checks, and QuikSCAT began circling the globe constantly. NASA planned for the satellite to operate for two years.