News

SLS Deploys Jupiter OLS and Jupiter TMS For NASA’s ICON Mission

NASA’s ICON payload, carrying an array of instruments to collect images of the ionosphere and measure characteristics of the space environment, will depart from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Skid Strip in late October aboard a Northrop Grumman Pegasus XL air-launched vehicle.  The Pegasus XL vehicle is ferried to an altitude of 40,000 by an L-1011 aircraft, where it is released and it’s…

SLS Deploys Jupiter OLS/TMS for Historic Parker Solar Probe Mission

SLS designed and deployed a state-of-the-art lightning monitoring system for the NASA Launch Services Program (LSP) to provide precision lightning detection, location, and characterization for the upcoming Parker Solar Probe mission, scheduled for launch on August 4^th, 2018 from Delta Launch Complex 37 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.  The mission will launch during the peak of lightning…

Positive Polarity Cloud-to-Ocean Lightning at Kennedy Space Center

A high-speed camera located on the roof of NASA's Vehicle Assembly Building at the Kennedy Space Center captured this amazing positive polarity cloud-to-ocean lightning flash on May 17, 2018. The camera is part of the Launch Complex 39B lightning instrumentation system.

RS-68 Rocket Engine Test Firing at Stennis Space Center

SLS engineers recently installed two Jupiter OLS system to provide precision lightning monitoring for the B-2 Rocket Engine Test Stand at Stennis Space Center.  During the installation, a test firing of the Aerojet-Rocketdyne RS-68 engine was scheduled.  The RS-68 is used to power the core stage of the Delta IV family of orbital vehicles.  Our team had the excitement of watching the engine test…

Jupiter OLS Records Early-Season Lightning Near Launch Complex 41

Florida’s summer lightning season got an early start this year as strong, fast-moving thunderstorms rolled across the east coast earlier this week. During the afternoon hours of April 23, 2018, a Jupiter OLS system at Kennedy Space Center imaged multiple negative-polarity lightning flashes striking ground in close proximity to Launch Complex 41, where the Atlas series of vehicles are launched. 

SLS Installs Jupiter OLS at the B2 Test Stand at Stennis Space Center

SLS engineers installed two Jupiter OLS high-speed video lightning monitoring systems at the John C. Stennis Space Center in southern Mississippi.  The Jupiter OLS systems will provide vital lightning monitoring for the B2 rocket engine test stand, where the massive core stage of NASA’s new Space Launch System rocket will be tested starting in early 2019.  The Space Launch System core stage…

Jupiter OLS Captures Direct Lightning Strike at the Kennedy Space Center

A Jupiter OLS lightning monitoring system installed at Kennedy Space Center recently recorded this direct lightning strike to the Launch Complex 39B (LC-39B) lightning protection system (LPS). Launch Complex 41 is located in the foreground. At least five long upward positive leaders were launched from the LC-39B LPS in response to the downward propagating negative stepped leader. Upward leaders…

SLS Deploys Jupiter Portable Lightning Instrumentation to Monitor GOES-S

SLS engineers worked with the NASA Launch Services Program (LSP) to deploy a Jupiter Portable Lightning Instrumentation (PLI) System within the Vertical Integration Facility (VIF) at Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 41. The PLI will monitor electromagnetic fields immediately adjacent to the GOES-S spacecraft in addition to transient currents on the vehicle umbilicals. GOES-S, which is scheduled…

Rocket Launch Success: SLS' Jupiter TMS Lightning Monitoring

JPSS-1 (Joint Polar Satellite System), the second next-generation NOAA polar-orbiting operational environment spacecraft, launched from Vandenberg Airforce Base in California on November 18, 2017 atop a Delta II rocket. JPSS-1 will provide forecasters and scientists with global coverage of severe weather events, in addition to advanced atmospheric, sea, and terrestrial monitoring capabilities.

SLS…

SLS Deploys Jupiter OLS System to Provide Lightning Monitoring for GOES-S

SLS worked with the NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration Launch Services Program (LSP) to deploy a Jupiter OLS system to provide precision lightning monitoring for the upcoming GOES-S mission from Launch Complex 41 (LC-41) at the Kennedy Space Center. GOES-S will be the second next-generation NOAA weather satellite slated for placement in geostationary orbit, following the successful…