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NASA's IBEX Ready For Launch

Posted by Soulskill on from the leaving-the-nest dept.

dj writes "NASA has designed a mission to map the boundary of the solar system. The mission is called IBEX (Interstellar Boundary Explorer) and it is ready to launch. The data collected by IBEX will allow scientists to understand the interaction between our Sun and the galaxy for the first time. Understanding this interaction will help us protect future astronauts from the danger of galactic cosmic rays." The IBEX Launch Blog will go active "about 2 hours before launch scheduled for 1:48 p.m. EDT," and the Southwest Research Institute will be running webcasts of the event. The IBEX fact sheet provides more details about the mission (PDF). IBEX will reach space via a Pegasus rocket launched from an L-1011 "Stargazer" carrier plane. You can see the launch countdown schedule at NASA's site.

28 comments

  1. Powered by Ubuntu ... by seyyah · · Score: 5, Funny

    Finally, a truly intrepid IBEX.

    1. Re:Powered by Ubuntu ... by TuringTest · · Score: 1

      IBEX 35 is the name of the Spanish stock market index. For a moment I thought NASA was issuing shares.

      --
      Singularity: a belief in the "God" idea with the "demiurge" relation inverted.
    2. Re:Powered by Ubuntu ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Let's hope that it won't crash as much as the Ubuntu Ibex running Firefox version will.

      We're talking total-freeze hard-reset crashing. Not even a BSOD "hit return and hope that you dont have to restart" crash. Wake me up when 'Buntu "just works" like Windows XP does.

    3. Re:Powered by Ubuntu ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ubuntu Ibex is still a BETA.

    4. Re:Powered by Ubuntu ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It looks more like a Hairy Hardon, though.

    5. Re:Powered by Ubuntu ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What's the big deal? If you're running pre-release versions of software you should be prepared for a few hiccups. I run pre-release ubuntu on my desktop and laptop and have only had one instance of truly crippled behavior since the first alpha version of edgy eft.

    6. Re:Powered by Ubuntu ... by cl0s · · Score: 1

      You probably got a Broadcom wireless adapter. Even XP can't save you from that.

  2. That can't be right... by Stormwatch · · Score: 0, Redundant

    Nasa, using beta releases? Won't somebody think of the astronauts!

    --
    Circumcision is child abuse.
  3. I thought the title said "Ibis" for a second. by Drakonik · · Score: 1, Funny

    You EVE-fags know what I'm talking about.

    1. Re:I thought the title said "Ibis" for a second. by Yvanhoe · · Score: 1

      "fag" is not an authorized callsign in the Caldari space... Gallente food

      --
      The Wise adapts himself to the world. The Fool adapts the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the Fool.
  4. Fools! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Only Scanners can survive the terrible secret of space!!!!!

  5. Regular blog updates by sphealey · · Score: 3, Funny

    > The IBEX Launch Blog will go active
    > "about 2 hours before launch

    The blog will be updated every two hours until the probe reaches the edge of the solar system.

    27 years from now.

    sPh

    1. Re:Regular blog updates by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      The probe is not going to the edge of the solar system. This is a remote sensing mission. The instruments measure the Energetic Neutral Atoms (ENAs) created through charge exchange at the boundary of the heliosphere and the interstellar medium. Its a cool/novel way to get data without the crazy cost of going to the edge of the solar system.

      Amazingly it takes 6 months to make one image (one half an orbit of Earth around the sun)

    2. Re:Regular blog updates by Kagura · · Score: 4, Interesting

      The probe is not going to the edge of the solar system.

      Yup, that's what disappointed me. I was hoping this'd be a new mission to out-race the Voyager probes in a few decades when it gets to the outskirts, but it's actually only going into a 200,000-mile altitude orbit above the Earth. Oh well.

    3. Re:Regular blog updates by khallow · · Score: 1

      There are proposals out there, but my understanding is that they need funding and perhaps some new technology like a Saturn V-class vehicle or fancy propulsion technologies like nuclear electric propulsion (combo of nuclear power and electric propulsion) or solar sails.

    4. Re:Regular blog updates by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I really don't understand how it is going to explore the edge of the solar system if it never leaves the inner solar system. Maybe the name "Interplanetary Boundary Imager" wasn't sexy enough to get funded.

    5. Re:Regular blog updates by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The New Horizons probe launched in 2006 to explore Pluto and other bodies is on a solar escape velocity and is the fastest man-made object to date. Eventually it will over take the Voyagers, however they do have a 30 year head start.

    6. Re:Regular blog updates by Nefarious+Wheel · · Score: 1

      The New Horizons probe launched in 2006 to explore Pluto and other bodies is on a solar escape velocity and is the fastest man-made object to date. Eventually it will over take the Voyagers, however they do have a 30 year head start.

      Although it can be said that urban myth travels faster and starts earlier, in the case of a certain manhole cover. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manhole_cover

      --
      Do not mock my vision of impractical footwear
  6. Fetchez l'IBEX? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    OK, to be precise, it'd be "Fetchez le bouquetin".

    It's still all about launching a hooved mammal.

  7. Pegasus info instead of lame Wikipedia links by hcdejong · · Score: 4, Informative

    Orbital Sciences has much better information on the Pegasus and its launch aircraft.

    (Damn, I've got to do something with the L1011 and Pegasus that are sitting in my 'to build' pile of scale models)

  8. subgenius by Subgenius · · Score: 1

    Gotta love the webcast (at least for Windows). A video camera pointing at a mac screen running quicktime. Hopefully this is just for the L-1011 liftoff...

    --
    Toil is Stupid. Don't be Stupid.
  9. Ibex? by gyrogeerloose · · Score: 1

    Why would NASA want to launch a goat into orbit?

    --
    This ain't rocket surgery.
    1. Re:Ibex? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Maybe because the ibex can explore areas of our world that we couldn't possibly due to our limitations?

    2. Re:Ibex? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Not enough flags on that for you? Can't parse Interstellar Boundary Explorer from your Jeep Patriot with Freedom Drive II transmission?

      Maybe like the 'goofy' names for Linux it's a filter that identifies the kiddies at the door.

    3. Re:Ibex? by cathector · · Score: 1

      .. boy can that Goat See!

  10. Both voyagers have already left the heliosphere by DJRumpy · · Score: 0

    Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but Voyager two was the last to hit the heliosphere and that was last year. I'm afraid this new probe couldn't catch the voyagers, even if it tried and as has already been stated above, it won't be leaving our neighborhood.

  11. Wait! by interploy · · Score: 1

    Understanding this interaction will help us protect future astronauts from the danger of galactic cosmic rays.

    I sense the impending loss of one of the greatest superhero teams of all time.

  12. Re:2 different airplanes? by VeNoM0619 · · Score: 1
    Anyone know why there were 2 different airplanes with different pictures that "both" dropped the Pegasus XL rocket?

    Image above: The L-1011 aircraft takes off carrying the Pegasus XL rocket under its belly. Image credit: NASA

    Image above: The Pegasus XL rocket is released from a NASA B-52 aircraft. Photo credit: NASA/ Dryden

    --
    Disclaimer: I am not god.
    We may not be created equal
    But we can be treated equal.