Due to circumstances beyond our control, the CHIPSat launch scheduled for Thursday, December 19, 2002 on a Delta II rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base has been delayed and is now targeted for January 8, 2003.
The launch was delayed due to a technical glitch in the Boeing-manufactured launch vehicle. The technical problem is associated with the signal the ordnance box provides for launch vehicle devices to unlatch and separate the payload fairing. NASA is expecting the replacement of this unit to take approximately two weeks.
SpaceDev designed and built the CHIPS (Cosmic Hot Interstellar Plasma Spectrometer) spacecraft and associated subsystem products (e.g. Miniature Flight Computer) for the University of California, Berkeley under a NASA-funded contract. The CHIPS mission is designed to study the formation of stars, and will have a life span of about one year.
CHIPSat will be the first mission ever to use end-to-end satellite operations over the Internet with TCP/IP and FTP. This concept was analyzed and demonstrated by the OMNI team via UoSat-12; however, SpaceDev will be the first to implement the concept as the only means of satellite communication.
SpaceDev has overall responsibility for the design of the mission, the design, assembly, integration and testing of the microsatellite, and mission control and operations from Spacedev’s Mission Control Center.
If there are any further delays, we will send out an update immediately.
About SpaceDev
SpaceDev (OTCBB: SPDV) creates and sells affordable and innovative space products and solutions to government and commercial enterprises. SpaceDev products and solutions include the design, manufacture, marketing and operation of sophisticated micro and nanosatellites, hybrid rocket-based orbital Maneuvering and orbit Transfer Vehicles (MTVs) as well as safe sub-orbital and orbital hybrid rocket-based propulsion systems.
