Glory Satellite – NASA’s climate-monitoring mission is on Track

Engineers at Orbital Sciences Corporation in Dulles, Va., have successfully replaced a defective component that could have had serious consequences for the Glory satellite, NASA's next climate-monitoring mission. In June, Glory engineers noticed a problem with one of the solar array drive assemblies, or SADAs, that appeared initially like it would take five or six months to repair.

However, agile responses from two engineering companies contracted by the Glory team New York City-based Honeybee Robotics and California-based Moog Chatsworth -- have resolved the problem in little more than two months instead.

"Both Moog and Honeybee really stepped up when we needed it most. They put a lot of personnel and extra effort into this to get us back up and running," said Glory's Deputy Observatory Manager Michael Bruckner. "To fix the problem, we used a new component called a twist capsule. The part hadn't been flight-qualified, but we managed to design, build, and qualify it all in about two months. This is an unbelievable accomplishment." Artist's concept of Glory satellite in flight. Credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Glory is now scheduled to launch from Vandenberg Air Force base in California aboard a Taurus XL launch vehicle no earlier than Feb. 23, 2011.