The Latest News About the Aquarius/SAC-D Mission 2013-05-16T16:00:00Z Annette deCharon http://aquarius.nasa.gov/deCharon.html http://aquarius.nasa.gov/news-status.html Lisa Taylor's and Norman Kuring's typing fingers /favicon.ico /images/aquarius_logo.png tag:aquarius.nasa.gov,2013-05-13:Upcoming 2013-05-13T21:00:00Z Aquarius Principal Investigator, Gary Lagerloef, writes of recent and upcoming Aquarius science activities. tag:aquarius.nasa.gov,2013-04-30:SMOS_Workshop 2013-04-30T21:00:00Z Presentations from the 15-17 April "SMOS & Aquarius Science Workshop" are now available for download by clicking on the links at the top of each session. tag:aquarius.nasa.gov,2013-04-24:AskAquarius 2013-03-25T20:08:00Z Authored by Scott K. Johnson, "How salty is that seawater? Ask the Aquarius satellite" has been published on Ars Technica, a website for technologists and IT professionals. The story also includes information on the NASA Salinity Processes in the Upper ocean Regional Study (SPURS) experiment. tag:aquarius.nasa.gov,2013-02-27:NewAnimation 2013-02-25T20:40:00Z The colorful images chronicle the seasonal stirrings of our salty world: Pulses of freshwater gush from the Amazon River's mouth; an invisible seam divides the salty Arabian Sea from the fresher waters of the Bay of Bengal; a large patch of freshwater appears in the eastern tropical Pacific in the winter. These and other changes in ocean salinity patterns are revealed by the first full year of surface salinity data captured by NASA's Aquarius instrument. tag:aquarius.nasa.gov,2013-01-23:NewOceanView 2013-01-23T18:00:00Z NASA's Aquarius Mission Provides New Ocean View by Gary Lagerloef, Simon Yueh and Jeffrey Piepmeier, was published in the January 2013 issue of Sea Technology magazine. tag:aquarius.nasa.gov,2013-01-11:ScienceWorkshop 2013-01-11T19:20:00Z Abstracts for the SMOS-Aquarius Science Workshop (15-17 April 2013) are due on 18-Feb-13. tag:aquarius.nasa.gov,2012-11-08:Fingerprint 2012-11-08T23:00:00Z Changes in ocean salinity over the second half of the 20th Century are consistent with the influence of human activities and inconsistent with natural climate variations, according to a new study led by researchers at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego. tag:aquarius.nasa.gov,2012-08-20:SPURS 2012-08-20T20:30:00Z Salinity Processes in the Upper Ocean Regional Study (SPURS) research effort is actively addressing essential role of the ocean in the global water cycle. A series of cruises is exploring the salinity maximum region in the Atlantic Ocean using a plethora of oceanographic equipment and technology, including salinity-sensing satellites. Researchers are studying salinity changes that span thousands of miles simultaneously with those happening in one centimeter of water. SPURS is also providing much-needed data for computer models to improve our basic understanding of the water cycle over the oceans and its ties to climate. tag:aquarius.nasa.gov,2012-08-15:LindstromBlog 2012-08-15T23:00:00Z On September 6, a bunch of NASA-funded scientists will depart on an expedition across the North Atlantic Ocean to study salt concentration levels of seawater. But why do we want to spend six weeks at sea measuring ocean saltiness? Hopefully, over the coming months you will come to understand the motivation and get caught up in the action through this blog. tag:aquarius.nasa.gov,2012-08-13:OneYearAfter 2012-08-13T17:20:00Z "Aquarius: One Year After Launch" has been published in the latest issue of NASA's The Earth Observer. The feature article gives an overview the mission's first year accomplishments including early science results. tag:aquarius.nasa.gov,2012-06-19:EOSTrans 2012-06-19T23:00:00Z Aquarius PI Gary Lagerloef's article "Satellite Mission Monitors Ocean Surface Salinity" is featured in EOS Transactions, American Geophysical Union (Volume 93, Number 25). Understanding links between ocean circulation, the global water cycle, and climate variations requires knowledge of ocean surface salinity. NASA's Aquarius satellite mission, which began science operations last December, monitors the global open ocean surface salinity field. The mission is expected to yield a new mean global salinity map at higher spatial resolution than existing conventional data, provide new information on El Niño and other interannual climate variations, and improve scientists' knowledge of the marine freshwater budget. Aquarius salinity data is also expected to contribute to improved global coupled climate models and climate prediction. The full article is available to subscribers. tag:aquarius.nasa.gov,2012-06-13:GotSalt 2012-06-13T23:30:00Z A new interactive feature on NASA's Global Climate Change website, http://climate.nasa.gov , gives visitors a 'look under the hood' at the Aquarius spacecraft and a chance to meet some of the 'salt sleuths' on the Aquarius team. tag:aquarius.nasa.gov,2012-06-13:InstabilityWaves 2012-06-13T23:00:00Z New research using salinity data from NASA's Aquarius instrument on the Aquarius/SAC-D observatory has given scientists an unprecedented look at a key factor involved in the formation of an oceanic wave feature in the tropical Pacific and Atlantic Oceans that influences global climate patterns. tag:aquarius.nasa.gov,2012-06-11:LaunchAnniversary 2012-06-11T15:30:00Z It's been a busy first year in space for Aquarius, NASA's pioneering instrument to measure ocean surface salinity from orbit. Designed to advance our understanding of what changes in the saltiness of the ocean's top layer say about the water cycle and variations in climate, Aquarius took only two and a half months after its launch to start measuring global salinity patterns. Since then, it has also observed regional features such as the freshwater plume gushing from the Amazon River and localized changes in ocean saltiness following a tropical storm. "It was a very remarkable achievement, that within such a short period of time after turning the instrument on we were producing very good-looking data," said Aquarius Principal Investigator Gary Lagerloef, of Earth & Space Research in Seattle. "It was beyond our expectations." tag:aquarius.nasa.gov,2012-05-18:PartnershipArticle 2012-05-18T13:00:00Z NASA's "Ask" Magazine has an article about the development of the satellite from the perspective of Luis Genovese, Project Manager for the Aquarius/SAC-D observatory. tag:aquarius.nasa.gov,2012-04-27:NYTimesArticle 2012-04-27T18:00:00Z The New York Times mentions Aquarius in a story about research on the links between global warming and intensification of the water cycle. A new Science journal article by Durack et al. reports that the water cycle has accelerated by about 4 percent over the last half century. This finding may indicate a higher potential for extreme weather in the coming decades. Aquarius science team member, Raymond W. Schmitt, a senior scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution said "The amplification pattern that he sees is really quite dramatic" in an interview with the New York Times. tag:aquarius.nasa.gov,2012-02-27:ScienceTeamMeeting 2012-02-27T21:40:00Z The next Aquarius/SAC-D Science Team Meeting will be 11-13 April 2012 in Buenos Aires, and the date is fast approaching. The meeting website provides travel, venue, lodging and registration information. This will be the first post-launch reunion of the joint US-Argentine Aquarius/SAC-D Science Team and will focus on instrument performance assessments and early science results. The call for abstracts will be posted on the meeting website. Abstract deadline is 20-Mar-12. tag:aquarius.nasa.gov,2012-02-27:AlgorithmProducts 2012-02-27T21:40:00Z During the months of January and February, the algorithm team has been designing and testing a new correction to radiometer calibration drift using internal sensor data called "deflection ratios" (DR). The good news is that this does an excellent job of correcting the long-term monotonic drift. However, residual shorter-term transient variations are not fully corrected and leave small (~0.2 psu) quasi-monthly variations in the data. Of course we are working on this now, so we expect to have additional corrections to come along as soon as we can. Along with the new DR drift correction, several changes are in the works for Level 2 (L2) science data products, including an improved roughness model, and additional variables for the roughness and land corrections. These changes will be incorporated into the next operational version of the processing code, V1.3, which may be ready for evaluation release in March. As we further process the data, we will continue to investigate the bias between the data collected on the ascending passes (south to north) and the descending passes (north to south). The differences have regional patterns and the global mean ascending-descending bias is about -0.2 psu. The source is not yet understood. The Aquarius sensor and the SAC-D observatory continue to perform well. We are about to reach the milestone of six months of un-interrupted Aquarius data since the instrument commissioning sequence was finished on 25-Aug-11. tag:aquarius.nasa.gov,2012-02-27:Presentations 2012-02-27T21:40:00Z Science papers were presented at the Ocean Sciences Meeting 2012, Salt Lake City, including a focused session on Monday February 20th. An Aquarius special session is scheduled at the IEEE MicroRad meeting 5-9 March in Rome, Italy. Papers are submitted also for the European Geosciences Union General Assembly in Vienna (23-27 April) and the 44th International Liege Colloquium on Ocean Dynamics in Belgium (7-11 May). Special sessions for salinity remote sensing are also planned for the IEEE International Geoscience And Remote Sensing Symposium in Munich (22-27 July). I submitted a Brief Report on Aquarius' progress to EOS, Transactions, American Geophysical Union to be published shortly. Several of us prepared a sidebar article on Aquarius to appear in the ocean salinity section of the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society special issue later this year on State of the Climate 2011. Lastly, the proposal for a Journal of Geophysical Research - Oceans special section on salinity remote sensing science results has been approved, with submission deadline at the end of 2012. Please stay tuned for more information and I look forward to seeing you at these conferences...Gary Lagerloef, Aquarius Principal Investigator tag:aquarius.nasa.gov,2012-01-19:FirstMonthlyMaps 2012-01-19T15:00:00Z Aquarius has produced its first monthly maps of global ocean salinity for September - December 2011. These preliminary (Version 1.2) data contain uncertainties and, over time, will be updated as further calibration and validation work are completed. tag:aquarius.nasa.gov,2012-01-06:PIUpdate 2012-01-04T23:00:00 Greetings to all, and best wishes for a prosperous New Year. A couple of months have passed since my last update in October, and there is much to report on.... tag:aquarius.nasa.gov,2012-01-04:Webinars 2012-01-04T21:00:00Z In January, we will host a two-part webinar series on the Aquarius/SAC-D Satellite and its scientific findings. Principal Investigator Gary Lagerloef, Deputy Principal Investigator David Le Vine, and Project Scientist Yi Chao will discuss the complexities of getting accurate salinity measurements from space and will share recent data collected by the instrument. There will be a live "Question and Answer" session and we will also provide participants with a rich collection of educational resources related to Aquarius, salinity and technology. tag:aquarius.nasa.gov,2011-12-07:LeeEffects 2011-12-07T23:00:00 Tropical Storm Lee made landfall over New Orleans on Sept. 2-3, 2011, with predicted rainfall of 15 to 20 inches (38 to 51 centimeters) over southern Louisiana. This coincided with a surge in discharge from the Mississippi River around that time. NASA's Aquarius instrument on the Aquarius/SAC-D spacecraft detected a corresponding low-salinty feature. tag:aquarius.nasa.gov,2011-10-31:Agreement 2011-10-31T21:10:00Z NASA's top official, Administrator Charles Bolden Jr., met with President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner on October 25. During the meeting, a Framework Agreement on Cooperation in the Peaceful Use of Outer Space was signed between the governments of the United States and Argentina. tag:aquarius.nasa.gov,2011-09-22:AquariusFirstLightImage 2011-09-22T18:30:00Z NASA's new Aquarius instrument has produced its first global map of the salinity of the ocean surface, providing an early glimpse of the mission's anticipated discoveries. tag:aquarius.nasa.gov,2011-09-01:AquariusFirstMeasurements 2011-09-01T23:00:00Z NASA's Aquarius instrument has successfully completed its commissioning phase and is now "tasting" the saltiness of Earth's ocean surface, making measurements from its perch in near-polar orbit. tag:aquarius.nasa.gov,2011-08-25:AquariusOperational 2011-08-25T23:00:00Z The Aquarius instrument is fully operational in normal science mode. All the data channels appear to be working fine. Tomorrow (26-Aug-11) we will have a brief review of the commissioning activity over the past two weeks. tag:aquarius.nasa.gov,2011-08-24:AlmostComplete 2011-08-24T23:00:00Z After receiving concurrence from the Aquarius Science Team that no events correlated with the scatterometer turn-on could be seen in the radiometer data, the team proceeded to switch the scatterometer back to receive-only all-beams modes. The instrument also transmitted using all beams. The team is reviewing the x-band downlinked data. Tomorrow’s (Aug 25) activities will include one final orbit to assess the scatterometer gain in transmit mode. After that, the team will monitor the system in the full Aquarius Mission Mode. tag:aquarius.nasa.gov,2011-08-23:SatterometerTransmits 2011-08-23T23:00:00Z Today the Aquarius Science Team reviewed radiometer data: no unexpected events were seen in the timeframe of the Solid State Power Amplifier (SSPA) turn-on and the results look consistent with the radiometer data collected the previous day. There was unanimous agreement to proceed with the scatterometer single-beam transmit as planned. The scatterometer transmitted on beam 3, the team is reviewing the x-band downlinked data. Tomorrow's (Aug 24) activities will include setting the scatterometer back to "receive-only" mode, switching to all beams, and then starting to transmit on all three beams. tag:aquarius.nasa.gov,2011-08-22:RadiometerDataReview 2011-08-22T23:00:00Z Today a meeting was held with the Aquarius Science Team to discuss the radiometer data received to date, with unanimous agreement to proceed with the solid state power amplifier (SSPA) turn-on as planned. Aquarius then completed the second half of scatterometer checkout by turning on the SSPA. All commands have been successfully executed, and all telemetry has been verified to be nominal. Tomorrow's (Aug 23rd) activities will include setting the scatterometer mode to single beam, then starting its transmit on Beam 3 only. tag:aquarius.nasa.gov,2011-08-21:RadiometerInitialAnalysis 2011-08-21T23:00:00Z The Aquarius instrument calibration/validation working group worked late Saturday and early Sunday on several aspects of the radiometer data quality from the first few orbits since it was turned on Saturday evening. All the radiometer channels are showing values that are consistent with pre-launch calibration. Preliminary estimates of the biases indicate that they are much as 4 to 5 Kelvin in some channels, but that is as expected. Calibration otherwise appears to be very stable. We also see a clear, albeit noisy, wind-speed correlation that is also consistent with pre-launch estimates. tag:aquarius.nasa.gov,2011-08-20:RadiometersOn 2011-08-20T23:00:00Z On Saturday evening the team powered-on the Aquarius radiometers for the first time in space. This occurred during the pass over McMurdo Ground Station, Antarctica, during the pass that began at 2022 UT, and the power on was at about 2027 UT. All the initial telemetry looked good. It was gratifying to see the many indicators turn green on the telemetry viewer. tag:aquarius.nasa.gov,2011-08-18:DPU_ATC_up 2011-08-18T23:00:00Z The Radiometer Digital Processing Unit (DPU) was powered on today. The four Active Thermal Control (ATC) zones were configured for the nominal mission mode, and the four ATC zones were powered on. The ATC heater modules are operating at 100% until their control PRTs reach their setpoints. All commands were successfully executed, and all telemetry was verified to be nominal. Tomorrow, August 19th, will include turning on the radiometer and scatterometer replacement heaters, uplinking and installing the Scatterometer Flight SoftWare (FSW) patch, and uplinking the Science FSW patch. tag:aquarius.nasa.gov,2011-08-17:BoomDeployed 2011-08-17T17:35:00Z At approximately 12:02pm local Cordoba Argentina time, the Aquarius boom was successfully deployed and latched, confirmed by the real-time downlinked telemetry. This completes the one-time deployment of the Aquarius antenna system. Tomorrow, Aug 18th, the team will turn on the Radiometer Digital Processing Unit and the Active Thermal Control. tag:aquarius.nasa.gov,2011-08-16:ReflectorDeployed 2011-08-16T14:50:00Z At approx. 11:35am local Cordoba, Argentina time the Aquarius reflector was successfully deployed and latched, confirmed by the real-time downlinked telemetry. Tomorrow, Aug 17th, the Flight Operations Team plans to deploy the boom. tag:aquarius.nasa.gov,2011-08-15:DpuOn 2011-08-14T23:00:00Z The Radiometer Digital Processing Unit (DPU) was turned on today and DPU telemetry was nominal. During the next few passes, the Op Heaters for the Upper Deployment Mechanism (UDM) and Lower Deployment Mechanism (LDM) were turned on to prepare for the reflector deployment on August 16 and boom deployment on August 17. The technical team in Cordoba, Argentina will go through the sequences to power-on Aquarius and start collecting the first data on Sunday, August 21 (Radiometer on) followed by the turn-on sequence for the Scatterometer (22-27 Aug). tag:aquarius.nasa.gov,2011-08-14:AquariusCommissioningBegins 2011-08-14T14:00:00Z The Aquarius Instrument Control and Data System (ICDS) turned on at 13:32 UTC, as expected, on August 14 over Svalbard (island halfway between Norway and the North Pole). Tomorrow, the Digital Processing Unit (DPU) will be turned on followed by the Op Heaters in preparation for the deployment. Deployment of the Aquarius reflector is scheduled for August 16th and boom on August 17th. tag:aquarius.nasa.gov,2011-08-13:AquariusCommissioningPrep 2011-08-13T23:00:00Z Over the last few days the Aquarius team and the Flight Operations Team (FOT) completed planning and preparing for the Aquarius and FOT prerequisites required to begin Aquarius commissioning. Close out of the FOT-related prerequisites was successfully completed and the Aquarius Commissioning Readiness Review was held today. As a result, a "GO" was given to uplink commands to the spacecraft for turn-on of the Aquarius Instrument Control and Data System (ICDS) on Sunday August 14, 2011. Contingency passes have also been planned for this activity. tag:aquarius.nasa.gov,2011-07-11:CommissioningContinuing 2011-07-11T23:00:00Z The SAC-D observatory is in the process of on-orbit checkout prior to turning on the instruments. The spacecraft is healthy and the telemetry looks good. Some delays have occurred with testing the attitude control system parameters. Turning on all of the Aquarius/SAC-D instruments is now likely to begin in mid-August and will take about one month. tag:aquarius.nasa.gov,2011-06-29:CommissioningOngoing 2011-06-29T23:00:00Z The Aquarius/SAC-D observatory commissioning phase is ongoing. It is anticipated that the Aquarius instrument will be turned on by the end of July. tag:aquarius.nasa.gov,2011-06-10:PostLaunchConference 2011-06-10T23:00:00Z The Aquarius/SAC-D post-launch news conference has been made available for viewing on USTREAM. tag:aquarius.nasa.gov,2011-06-14:Episode5 2011-06-14T15:35:00Z Aquarius Project Manager, Amit Sen, gives his final update on the launch of the SAC-D/Aquarius mission. tag:aquarius.nasa.gov,2011-06-10:LiftOff 2011-06-10T14:45:00Z With a burst of light, the United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket carrying the Aquarius/SAC-D spacecraft lifted off June 10, 2011 at 7:20 a.m. PDT (10:20 a.m. EDT) from NASA's Space Launch Complex 2 at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. tag:aquarius.nasa.gov,2011-06-08:Postponement 2011-06-08T23:08:00Z The launch of the international Aquarius/SAC-D mission is postponed 24 hours until Friday, June 10, from NASA's Space Launch Complex-2 at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. The 5-minute launch window opens at 10:20 a.m. EDT (7:20 a.m. PDT). The new launch date will allow the launch team to complete additional review of an inconsistency found in the Delta II launch vehicle flight profile for wind conditions on the day of launch. These data are used to steer the Delta II through upper level winds. The weather forecast for June 10 shows a 100 percent chance of favorable weather conditions for the launch. tag:aquarius.nasa.gov,2011-06-07:Episode4 2011-06-07T23:00:00Z Aquarius Project Manager, Amit Sen, talks about fairing installation, battery charging, and rocket fueling as the time for launch draws very near. tag:aquarius.nasa.gov,2011-06-06:SaltMapper 2011-06-02T22:00:00Z Salt is essential to human life. Most people don't know, however, that salt - in a form nearly the same as the simple table variety - is just as essential to Earth's ocean, serving as a critical driver of key ocean processes. While ancient Greek soothsayers believed they could foretell the future by reading the patterns in sprinkled salt, today's scientists have learned that they can indeed harness this invaluable mineral to foresee the future - of Earth's climate. tag:aquarius.nasa.gov,2011-06-02:Webinar 2011-06-02T19:55:00Z Watch a webinar featuring Principal Investigator Gary Lagerloef and Project Scientist Yi Chao as they prepare for the launch of NASA's first space-based measurements of ocean salinity across the globe - an important observation for ocean and climate studies. From 650 kilometers (400 miles) above Earth's surface, Aquarius will detect changes in ocean salinity as small as a "pinch" of salt in a gallon of water. Two weeks before the Aquarius/SAC-D satellite launch, these eminent scientists shared their stories about the technological development of the mission and key scientific connections between salinity, the water cycle, ocean circulation and climate. tag:aquarius.nasa.gov,2011-05-31:Fairing 2011-05-31T19:35:00Z This week, a number of significant milestones were achieved at Vandenberg Air Force Base in preparation for launch. The final pre-launch electrical test of the Aquarius instrument was performed on 24-May. The test was successfully completed and all telemetry was nominal. On 27-May, the feed covers were removed from the instrument and a final contamination-control inspection was performed to confirm that the Aquarius instrument meets all of its cleanliness requirements; with these feed covers removed, Aquarius is configured for launch. On 28-May, the fairing was installed around the Aquarius/SAC-D observatory (see photos #15 and #16). tag:aquarius.nasa.gov,2011-05-27:Episode3 2011-05-27T19:15:00Z Aquarius Project Manager, Amit Sen, follows the SAC-D/Aquarius spacecraft as it gets transported to the launchpad at Vandenberg Air Force Base and lifted atop the rocket that will carry it to orbit. tag:aquarius.nasa.gov,2011-05-25:GrainOfSalt 2011-05-25T22:00:00Z The breakthrough moment for oceanographer Gary Lagerloef, the principal investigator for NASA's new Aquarius mission, came in 1991. That's when he knew it would be possible to make precise measurements of ocean salinity from space. It has taken nearly two decades to turn that possibility into a reality. tag:aquarius.nasa.gov,2011-05-20:LiftToTower 2011-05-20T22:00:00Z The canister containing the Aquarius/SAC-D Observatory is lifted to top of the launch tower at Space Launch Complex-2, Vandenberg Air Force Base, California (see photos #10 through #14). tag:aquarius.nasa.gov,2011-05-20:NASAHQ17MayBriefing 2011-05-20T18:20:00Z On May 17, 2011 NASA Headquarters held a pre-launch press briefing on the upcoming Aquarius/SAC-D mission. The video recording is now available. tag:aquarius.nasa.gov,2011-05-19:Episode2 2011-05-19T21:10:00Z This is the latest mission update video from Aquarius Project Manager, Amit Sen describing the installation of the solar panels on the spacecraft. tag:aquarius.nasa.gov,2011-05-17:Episode2 2011-05-17T14:25:00Z Here is the second in a series of video updates on the upcoming Aquarius launch. tag:aquarius.nasa.gov,2011-05-17:SaltySeas 2011-05-17T22:00:00Z Final preparations are under way for the June 9 launch of the international Aquarius/SAC-D observatory. The mission's primary instrument, Aquarius, will study interactions between ocean circulation, the water cycle and climate by measuring ocean surface salinity. tag:aquarius.nasa.gov,2011-05-17:PressKit 2011-05-17T12:55:00Z The Aquarius/SAC-D Launch PRESS KIT is now available as a PDF file. tag:aquarius.nasa.gov,2011-05-13:NewsBriefing 2011-05-13T17:55:00Z NASA will hold a news briefing on Tuesday, May 17, at 10 a.m. PDT (1 p.m. EDT), on the agency's next Earth-observing satellite mission, Aquarius/SAC-D, scheduled to launch on June 9. tag:aquarius.nasa.gov,2011-05-11:AquariusToIlluminate 2011-05-11T22:00:00Z When NASA's salt-seeking Aquarius instrument ascends to the heavens this June, the moon above its launch site at California's Vandenberg Air Force Base won't be in the seventh house, and Jupiter's latest alignment with Mars will be weeks in the past, in contrast to the lyrics of the song from the popular Broadway musical "Hair." Yet for the science team eagerly awaiting Aquarius' ocean surface salinity data, the dawning of NASA's "Age of Aquarius" promises revelations on how salinity is linked to Earth's water cycle, ocean circulation and climate. tag:aquarius.nasa.gov,2011-05-05:Episode1 2011-05-05T18:15:00Z Project Manager, Amit Sen, gives the first of a number of periodic updates as the launch of the Aquarius mission approaches. tag:aquarius.nasa.gov,2011-04-29:RedTag 2011-04-29T15:40:00Z On Thursday 21-Apr and Friday 22-Apr, members of the Aquarius instrument team completed Aq red-tag removal #1 in the Spaceport Systems International (SSI) Integrated Processing Facility (IPF) at Vandenberg. As part of this procedure, the R4 absorber was removed, the Aquarius alignment cube cover was removed, the CND test ports were terminated, the Aquarius RF Bracket connectors were terminated, the Aquarius Direct Access Bracket connectors were capped, the flight pinpuller and bipod/tripod separation assemblies were installed, and the pyros (pinpuller NSI and bipod/tripod NSI/boosters) were installed and verified. All associated cabling and thermal blankets were finalized for flight. We have one remaining aliveness test after we are on the pad, the EMC feed covers need to be removed before fairing installation, after which Aquarius is ready for launch! Preparations are now under way for the installation of the solar arrays. tag:aquarius.nasa.gov,2011-04-12:Interview 2011-04-12T20:40:00Z Here is a brief interview with Aquarius Project Scientist, Dr. Yi Chao. tag:aquarius.nasa.gov,2011-04-06:WaterBearer 2011-04-06T12:00:00Z NASA's Aquarius: The Water Bearer Flies Soon With more than a few stamps on its passport, NASA's Aquarius instrument on the Argentinian Satélite de Aplicaciones Científicas (SAC)-D spacecraft will soon embark on its space mission to "taste" Earth's salty ocean. tag:aquarius.nasa.gov,2011-03-31:InSpaceport 2011-03-31T23:55:00Z The Aquarius/SAC-D payload arrived safely at Vandenberg Air Force Base (VAFB) at 4:18 PM PDT aboard a U.S. Air Force C-17 transport plane. The spacecraft is in the Spaceport Systems International payload processing facility at VAFB. Following final tests, the spacecraft will be integrated to a United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket in preparation for the targeted June launch to low Earth orbit. tag:aquarius.nasa.gov,2011-03-31:VAFBarrival 2011-03-31T23:50:00Z An international spacecraft that will take NASA's first space-based measurements of ocean surface salinity has arrived at its launch site at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The Aquarius/SAC-D mission will provide scientists with a key missing variable in satellite observations of Earth that links ocean circulation, the global balance of freshwater and climate. tag:aquarius.nasa.gov,2011-03-30:AquariusDepartsPR 2011-03-30T16:00:00Z After overnight crew rest, the second C-17 flight with the Aquarius/SAC-D observatory left San Juan, Puerto Rico at 11:36AM local time on its way to the launch processing facility and launch site at Vandenberg Air Force Base (VAFB), California. The plane is expected to land today at VAFB around 4:30pm PDT. tag:aquarius.nasa.gov,2011-03-29:AquariusDepartsBrazil 2011-03-29T16:00:00Z The US Air Force C-17 carrying the Aquarius/SAC-D observatory departed from Brazil today at 11:57AM local time. There will be about a 7-hour flight to San Juan, Puerto Rico for an overnight stop, then on to Vandenberg Air Force Base (Calif.) tomorrow. tag:aquarius.nasa.gov,2011-03-28:FirstShipment 2011-03-26T22:00:00Z This morning the C-17 on-load began at about 8:20 am and was completed at 10:10. The C-17 flight took off at 11:30 am local from Sao Jose, headed for San Juan, Puerto Rico. The flight landed in San Juan, Puerto Rico at 5:45 pm local. Loading of the second shipment onto the trucks was completed this afternoon. The container containing the Observatory has been loaded on the transport truck and remains secured inside the airlock at INPE-LIT. The team rests tomorrow (no work planned). Second flight expected to arrive at 10:30 pm local tomorrow (27 Mar). On-load for the 2nd flight is expected at 8:00 am on Monday (28 Mar), but this will be updated after the arrival of the second flight tomorrow evening (27 Mar). tag:aquarius.nasa.gov,2011-03-28:ShippingContainer 2011-03-25T23:00:00Z The first C-17 Plane is already in Sao Jose dos Campos. It arrived at 09h45 today and will be loaded with support equipment. Tomorrow, March 26, a convoy will leave INPE at 05h00, and loading will start at 06h00 and end at about 10h00. The plane will leave at 11h00 for California with a lay-over in Puerto Rico. The cover of the shipping container was lowered over the satellite and clamped down. It is now all boxed-up. The next transport plane arrives later this weekend and will ferry the satellite to Vandenberg, leaving here the 29th and arriving there the next day. tag:aquarius.nasa.gov,2011-03-25:GSE 2011-03-23T23:30:00Z Palette loading of the Ground Support Equipment (GSE) has been completed. The GSE will leave Brazil on a C-17 on March 26th and arrive at Vandenberg Air Force Base (Calif.) on March 27th. In addition, the Aquarius/SAC-D Observatory has been lifted into its shipping container, destined for Vandenberg Air Force Base next week. tag:aquarius.nasa.gov,2011-03-21:LaunchVehicle 2011-03-21T23:00:00Z The First Stage with Solid Motors, Interstage, and Second Stage for the Aquarius/SAC-D launch vehicle have been erected at Vandenberg Air Force Base (VAFB). The Aquarius/SAC-D observatory will leave Brazil on two C-17 flights, arriving at VAFB on March 27th and 30th in preparation for launch on June 9th. tag:aquarius.nasa.gov,2011-03-15:PreShipReview 2011-03-15T23:00:00Z The Aquarius/SAC-D Pre Ship Review was successfully completed at Brazil's National Institute for Space Research in early March 2011. Air transport of the Aquarius/SAC-D observatory from Brazil to Vandenberg Air Force Base (VAFB) is scheduled for Mar 26th and 29th. The first stage of the Delta II rocket that will carry NASA's Aquarius instrument into low Earth orbit has been raised onto its launch pad at VAFB Space Launch Complex-2. The nominal launch date for Aquarius/SAC-D is June 9th, 2011. tag:aquarius.nasa.gov,2011-01-19:PostTVac 2011-01-19T23:00:00Z Aquarius MLI activities and post-t-vac cleaning/inspection tasks have been successfully completed. All blankets planned for close-out at this time have been completed and inspected. All external MLI surfaces of the Observatory were cleaned, and white-light inspection showed no visible debris, thus meeting the VC-HS (visibly clean, highly sensitive) requirement. Molecular and particulate surface samples were collected after the cleaning/inspection for analysis. tag:aquarius.nasa.gov,2011-01-18:ReflSunShade 2011-01-18T23:00:00Z MLI activities continue: the reflector and sunshade blankets were completed. All thermal instrumentation has been removed as planned; the OMT test heaters will be grounded to the instrument. The flight grounding of all blankets has been installed and verified, with the exception of about a half-dozen blankets that will be closed out later. tag:aquarius.nasa.gov,2011-01-17:Bipods 2011-01-17T23:00:00Z MLI activities continue: the +/-X spacecraft bipods and the structure have been completed, and the mechanical close-out of the sunshade was finalized. The reflector MLI and the OMT covers are in work today. tag:aquarius.nasa.gov,2011-01-16:MLIStart 2011-01-16T23:00:00Z The Aquarius team started on the MLI activities that will continue all week. Specifically, general cleaning and inspection are being done to address the fall-out observed after the thermal-vac test. The thermal instrumentation (thermocouples and test heaters) will be removed, MLI grounding is being verified, and final lacing and close-out of the MLI is being performed. The Upper Deployment Mechanism (UDM), Lower Deployment Mechanism (LDM), Launch Restraint bipod/tripod, the feeds and the -Z spacecraft bipod were completed. The activities are proceeding nominally. tag:aquarius.nasa.gov,2011-01-15:AOCSTest 2011-01-15T23:00:00Z INVAP has completed the S/P closed-loop AOCS test and the ACE special test. They demated the cabling to the spacecraft and rotated it to the horizontal position. The Aquarius EGSE cables were demated. To recover the schedule, the Aquarius team will be performing the cleaning and starting blanket activities on January 16th. tag:aquarius.nasa.gov,2011-01-14:LPT 2011-01-14T23:00:00Z The Aquarius Limited Performance Test was performed. All results were nominal.