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Watch NASA's third attempt at launching CYGNSS to space
NASA had to scrub its second attempt to launch eight weather microsatellites to space yet again. Its new target launch date? Today, December 15th, at 8:26AM Eastern time. The agency's Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System (CYGNSS) mission was supposed to leave our planet on December 12th and then again on December 14th. Unfortunately, the first one had to be delayed due to a problem with the hydraulic pump the controls the release of Orbital ATK's Pegasus rocket from its modified aircraft carrier. See, unlike typical rockets that lift off from the ground, Pegasus was designed to be dropped from an airplane. The second attempt, on the other hand, had to be scrapped due to an issue with the flight data used by the spacecraft's software.
NASA satellites to predict hurricane paths by studying their cores
NASA may soon eliminate much of the uncertainty in predicting the paths of hurricanes and other giant storms. The agency is building CYGNSS (Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System), a flock of eight microsatellites that should track hurricanes more effectively than any one full-size craft can manage. They'll be the first satellites to look at the inner core of a storm, giving them a good estimate of the wind speeds and thus the path of those swirling air currents. They'll also get updated images of the tropics within a few hours instead of a few days, so meteorologists shouldn't be caught off-guard if a hurricane quickly gathers momentum or changes direction. When CYGNSS starts helping out during the 2017 Atlantic hurricane season (between June and November), it could do a lot to help coastal residents prepare for natural disasters.
