Jane Edwards
Northrop Grumman is set to launch on Wednesday, Nov. 7, a NASA satellite built to explore Earth’s space environment aboard its Pegasus XL rocket.
The company said Tuesday Pegasus carrying the Northrop-built Ionospheric Connection Explorer satellite will be dropped in mid-air by the Stargazer L-1011 carrier aircraft once the plane takes off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.
The launch will mark the 44th flight of the commercial rocket designed to bring small satellites into low-Earth orbit as a certified category 3 launch vehicle.
Based on Northrop’s LEOStar-2 spacecraft bus, ICON was developed at the company’s production facilities in Virginia and Arizona.
The company will carry out the mission under NASA’s Launch Services Program.
