Title :
The IRIS Mission - development of the observatory and ground systems
Author_Institution :
Lockheed Martin - Adv. Technol. Center, Orgn: ADBS, Palo Alto, CA, USA
Abstract :
The Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) is a NASA Small Explorer Mission that was launched on 27 June 2013. Its goal is to discover how the outer atmosphere of the Sun is energized. The investigation is conducted with a free-flying observatory in a sun-synchronous, low earth orbit, a mission operations center and ground data system at NASA Ames Research Center, and a ground network supported by NASA NEN ground stations and the Norwegian ground stations at Svalbard. The observatory consists of a spacecraft bus that includes the attitude control system, the power control system, the command and data handling system, and the RF communications system and the scientific instrument including a 20 cm telescope, an imaging spectrograph, and supporting electronics. This paper describes the development and testing of the observatory and the ground data system, highlighting the unique aspects of this mission.
Keywords :
attitude control; power system control; space vehicles; spectrometers; IRIS mission; NASA Ames Research Center; NASA NEN ground stations; NASA small explorer mission; Norwegian ground stations; RF communications system; attitude control system; free-flying observatory; ground data system; interface region imaging spectrograph; mission operations center; power control system; spacecraft bus; Iris; NASA; Orbits; Standards; Sun; Telescopes;
Conference_Titel :
Aerospace Conference, 2014 IEEE
Conference_Location :
Big Sky, MT
Print_ISBN :
978-1-4799-5582-4
DOI :
10.1109/AERO.2014.6836345
