WASP (Wallops Arc Second Pointer)

Developed by NASA - Wallops Flight Facility

Balloon launched on 9/22/2012, from Scientific Flight Balloon Facility, Fort Sumner, (NM), US

Purpose of the flight and payload description

The WASP System, is a NASA provided support system which can point telescopes on a balloon gondolas at inertial targets with arc-second accuracy.

WASP is intended to be a flexible system that can be used to support a variety of science-provided instruments and sensors to meet specific mission performance requirements.

The WASP system points an instrument using a gondola mounted pitch/yaw articulated gimbal. The range of motion of the yaw-gimbal is purposely minimized to reduce kinematic coupling during fine pointing. Thus, the gondola itself is suspended beneath a standard NASA Rotator to provide large angle azimuth targeting and coarse azimuth stabilization.

Details of the balloon flight

Balloon launched on: 9/22/2012 at 14:41 utc
Launch site: Scientific Flight Balloon Facility, Fort Sumner, (NM), US  
Balloon launched by: Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility (CSBF)
Balloon manufacturer/size/composition: Zero Pressure Balloon Winzen 29.470.000 cuft
Flight identification number: 635N
End of flight (L for landing time, W for last contact, otherwise termination time): 9/23/2012 at 4:55 utc
Balloon flight duration (F: time at float only, otherwise total flight time in d:days / h:hours or m:minutes - ): 15 h 30 m
Landing site: 25 miles SW of Grants, New Mexico, US
 Payload weight: 2905 lbs
 Overall weight: 4667 lbs

External references

Images of the mission

         

If you consider this website interesting or useful, you can help me to keep it up and running with a small donation to cover the operational costs. Just the equivalent of the price of a cup of coffee helps a lot.



11445