IRIS (SMEX 12)

Launch data: Designation  39197 / 13033A Launch date  28 June 2013 - 02:27 UT Launch site  Va, L-1011, RW30/12 Launch vehicle  Pegasus-XL Mission  Solar observatory, Solar imaging Earth orbit: Perigee / Apogee  628 x 669 km Eccentricity   Inclination  97.9 deg Period  97.5 min

Spacecraft data:

The fully integrated spacecraft and science instrument for NASA's Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) mission is seen in a clean room at the Lockheed Martin Space Systems Sunnyvale, Calif. facility. The solar arrays are deployed in the configuration they will assume when in orbit. Credit: NASA

Description:

• The air-launched Orbital Sciences Pegasus XL rocket will deploy NASA's Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS). IRIS will make detailed measurements of the flow of energy and plasma through the sun's atmosphere and heliosphere.
• The IRIS mission will use a solar telescope and spectrograph to explore the solar chromospheres. This is a crucial region for understanding energy transport into the solar wind and an archetype for stellar atmospheres. Recent discoveries have shown the chromosphere is significantly more dynamic and structured than previously thought. The unique instrument capabilities, coupled with state of the art 3-D modeling, will explore this dynamic region in detail. The mission will greatly extend the scientific output of existing heliophysics spacecraft that follow the effects of energy release processes from the sun to Earth.
• The IRIS instrument is a multi-channel imaging spectrograph with a 20 cm UV telescope. IRIS will obtain spectra along a slit (1/3 arcsec wide), and slit-jaw images. The CCD detectors will have 1/6 arcsec pixels. IRIS will have an effective spatial resolution between 0.33 and 0.4 arcsec and a maximum field of view of 120 arcsec.
• Note: The ESRO IIB satellite of 1968 was also given the name IRIS (International Radiation Investigation Satellite); IRIS was also the name of an Italian upper stage (Italian Research Interim Stage) for the Shuttle used once in 1992. There was also an Iris sounding rocket used in the 1960s.

Mission details:

• Delayed from Dec. 1, 2012; Jan. 22, 2013 and April 28.
• NASA's IRIS satellite, part of the Explorer mission program, was launched on Jun 28, 2013. IRIS, the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph, will obtain high resolution (0.3 arcseconds) high cadence (1 second intervals) imaging and spectra of the Sun with its 20-cm telescope. The focal plane has three CCDs covering two far-UV bands (1332-1358A, 1380-1406A) and one near-UV band (2785-2835A). A fourth CCD provides images in similar UV bands. The project is led by Alan Title of Lockheed/Palo Alto and science lead Bart De Pontieu, with mission control at NASA-Ames; Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO) is a partner in the project and built the telescope. (SAO also built the telescopes for the TRACE and SDO/AIA solar observatories).
• Orbital's L-1011 aircraft took off from Vandenberg Air Force Base at 0131 UTC on Jun 28, 2013 and flew out to the standard drop location at 123.0W 36.0N over the Pacific. The Pegasus XL vehicle was dropped at 0227:46 UTC according to NASA commentator G. Diller; the first stage ignited 5 seconds later.
  The third stage ignited 8min 58s after drop to place IRIS in orbit; the spacecraft separated 4 min later in a 616 x 663 km x 97.9 deg orbit.
• NASA's IRIS ultraviolet solar observatory opened its telescope door on Jul 17, 2013 and has taken its first images of the solar transition region.

Satellite tracking: