2008-051A
The IBEX mission is the only one of the proposals to study particles rather than photons, making use of the remarkable ENA (energetic neutral atom) imager technology previously pioneered in near-Earth space physics to map out the physics of the heliopause. The satellite will carry two ENA imagers, one for high energy and one for low energy particles, and will be boosted beyond the Earth's magnetosphere to allow it to detect and map out the distribution of energetic particles that are created in the shock region between the solar wind and the interstellar medium, and eventually reach the vicinity of the Earth. IBEX was boosted by a Pegasus with an extra Star 27 solid motor fourth stage to a an orbit with an apogee of around 220000 km, and then use onboard propulsion to raise the perigee to 7000 km. It was the first SMEX in high orbit. The mission is led by David McComas at Southwest Research Institute.
IBEX Interstellar Boundary Explorer, pair of cameras for heliopause? mcComas SWRI High and low energy ENA imagers
Pegasus St 3 to 200 x 200 x 11 from KMR. Discard adapter cone. Pegasus/Star 27 to 200 km x 37Re, then hydrazine perigee raise to 7000 x 37Re.
Mission ops from Orbital MCC-Dulles. ISOC at SwRI/San Antonio.
Drop point is 167.6 10.5 azimuth 81.5
Upper stage: Star 27H and adapter cone; Rounded code 1.0 dia 1.7 long 40 s burn
Cone is 1.0 dia to 0.69 dia 0.62? long Star 27H is 0.69 dia 1.22m long, Isp is 291.4
D McComas 210-522-5983 [9-5 est] John Scherrer jscherrer@swri.edu
462 kg at launch (including SRM); individual masses would imply around 485 kg.
Uses Orbital Microstar bus 0.58m h 0.96m dia oct prism
Mass 107 kg full 80 kg dry. Star 27H loaded is 368 kg 27 kg empty.
Azimuth 81.5deg inc 11.0 deg Pegasus launch mass is 23545 kg.
| IBEX dry | 80 kg |
| IBEX prop | 27 kg |
| Star 27H empty | 27 kg |
| Star 27H prop | 341 kg |
| Adapter | 10 kg? |
| Total | 485 kg vs 462 kg |
Mass prior to Orion 38 burn is 485 + 985/203 1470/688 with Isp 287.0, for dV of 2.137km/s
Mass at Star 27H burn is 475 / 134 with Isp of 291.4 which should correspond to 3616m/s. Actual burn seems to be 3027m/s.
| IBEX | |||
| Date | Time | Event | Orbit |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 Oct 11 | Depart VAFB | ||
| 2008 Oct 11 | Overnight in Hawaii | ||
| 2008 Oct 12 | Arrive Kwaj | ||
| 2008 Oct 19 | TO from Kwajalein | ||
| 1650:39 | L-1011 moving | ||
| 1651 | L-1011 T/O | ||
| 1747:23 | Drop | ||
| T+0:05 St 1 burn | |||
| T+1:21 St 1 burnout | |||
| T+1:30 St 1 sep | |||
| T+1:33 St 2 burn 70s | |||
| T+2:18 fairing sep | |||
| T+2:47 St 2 burnout | |||
| T+4:14 185 km | |||
| T+4:57? St 2 sep | |||
| T+5:05 St 3 burn | |||
| 1753 | T+6:22 St 3 burnout | 210 x 413 km x 11.0 | |
| T+7:47 Spinup to 60 rpm | |||
| 1755 | T+8:22 Stage 3 sep | ||
| T+8:25? Adapter sep | |||
| T+8:30? Star 27 burn 46s | |||
| 1756 | T+9:15? Star 27 burnout, parking orbit | ||
| 1757 | IBEX perigee | ||
| 3.5min coast | |||
| 1800? | T+12:38? Star 27 sep | ||
| 2008 Oct 19 | 7921.1 219 x 250281 x 11.0 | ||
| 2008 Oct 20 | 1043 | Pass EL1:4 | |
| 2008 Oct 20 | 6579.13 246 x 219611 x 11.0 | ||
| 2008 Oct 25 | 0600? | Star 27H reentry? | |
| AOCS burns | |||
| Operational orbit | 7000 x 320000 km | ||
| 2008 Nov 17 | 12414 x 299827 x 14.0 | ||
| 2009 Aug 10 | 10752 x 304579 x 21.5 | ||
| 2009 Sep 25 | 12260 x 304347 x 21.4 | ||
| 2010 Jun 12 | 10903.7 12686 x 300322 x 51.5 | ||
| 2011 Jun 5 | 11586.1 31448 x 295017 x 43.8 | ||
| 2011 Jun | TCM Rev 128, 129, increase period | ||
| 3 x 600s burns, 263 m/s | |||
| P/3 Lunar-synchronous orbit with 50 Re apogee | |||
| 2011 Jul 23 | 12427.5 34273 x 308422 x 36.3 | ||
| 2011 Aug 18 | 11865.7 24945 x 306956 x 28.6 (TLE) | ||
| 2012 Sep 1 | 13077.4 47016 x 307964 x 28.1 (TLE) | ||
| 2016 Jan 1 | 13099.51 59637 x 295758 x 8.90 | ||
Payload:
- IBEX-Lo ENA camera, 0.01-2 keV, 8 bands
- IBEX-Hi ENA camera, 0.3-6 keV in 6 bands
