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Recent Successes
VPT is powering high-flying programs around the world. Here are recent updates from just a few of the programs currently relying on VPT.
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GPS IIR-M
November 17, 2006
Now We Are 3: Third Block IIR-M Satellite Launched:
A Boeing Delta booster rocket pushed up the third GPS Block IIR-M satellite on November 17 at approximately 14:12 EST.
The GPS Wing has prepared a plan to boost the remaining five IIR-Ms into orbit during 2007. If these launches take place next year, they would clear the pad for delivery of the first GPS Block IIF satellite in December 2007, and its currently scheduled launch in May 2008.
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Pluto New Horizons
November 28, 2006
New Horizons, Not Quite to Jupiter, Makes First Pluto Sighting
VPT is powering the Cosmic Dust Experiment (CDE) on this mission. The CDE is the only Pluto mission payload instrument that is already turned on. It is performing
well as it collects data on cosmic dust in the solar system on the way to Pluto.
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Venus Express
December 14, 2006
Instruments aboard the Venus Express spacecraft have obtained the first large-area temperature map of the southern hemisphere of Venus’ searing surface.
By identifying hot spots on this inhospitable planet, the new data—obtained by the Visible and Infrared Thermal Imaging Spectrometer (VIRTIS)—could spot active volcanism.
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Mercury Messenger
December 2, 2006
MESSENGER’s Trajectory Correction Maneuver 13 (TCM-13), its first since its maiden pass at Venus in October, was successfully executed December 2 and will help keep the spacecraft on track for its second flyby of Venus on June 5, 2007. Total Distance Traveled so far: 1.5 billion miles.
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TACSAT 2
December 16, 2006
Minotaur Rocket Makes Sunrise Launch from VA Spaceport
Virginia's Wallops Island hosted its first space launch in seven years this morning when a Minotaur rocket blazed a trail into orbit with a U.S. Air Force demonstration satellite.
The four-stage booster flew toward the rising Sun as it headed southeast away from the U.S. East Coast. Deployment of the TacSat 2 primary payload came 11 minutes after launch, according to the NASA Wallops Flight Facility.
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JSF
December 15, 2006
New Fighter Jet Takes to the Air
FORT WORTH, Texas - The new stealth fighter jet that will replace an aging fleet of military planes experienced a minor glitch during an otherwise successful first flight Friday, Lockheed Martin Corp. officials said. Jon S. Beesley, chief test pilot for the Joint Strike Fighter, also known as the F-35, said the plane handled "marvelously," performed flawlessly and flew better than the simulator. He flew to 15,000 feet, escorted by three jets that provided safety and took pictures.
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