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SPACECRAFT FUELING SERVICES

The KSC Spacecraft Fueling Services traces its origins to the 1998 KSC Strategic Project number P199 under Objective 2.2: Perform Advanced Payload Processing. KSC has implemented a total-service project to design, build, and operate generic hypergolic propellant loading equipment for NASA spacecraft customers. The objective is to provide low cost spacecraft fueling service based at KSC to missions utilizing the NASA Launch Services contract.

KSC Fueling Team's services and ground support equipment capability.
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Upcoming Fueling Support:

STSSSpace Tracking and Surveillance System (STSS) is scheduled to be launched in the summer of 2008. The propellants crew is presently preparing to load the two spacecraft with hydrazine.

STSS is a heterogeneous constellation of low-earth orbit satellites that will detect and provide critical tracking information about ballistic missiles globally.
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Solar Dynamic Observatory

Solar Dynamic Observatory is currently being built by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. The propellants team is presently evaluating its needs in preparation for loading MMH, N2O4, and helium into this large spacecraft to meet the late 2008 launch date.

SDO is designed to help us understand the Sun's influence on Earth and Near-Earth space by studying the solar atmosphere on small scales of space and time and in many wavelengths simultaneously.
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Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter LRO is being built by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. The propellants team is presently evaluating its needs in preparation for hydrazine loading requirements. LRO will be launched with LCROSS in the fall of 2008.

The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter(LRO) mission emphasizes the overall objective of obtaining data that will facilitate returning humans safely to the Moon and enable extended stays.
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LCROSS Lunar CRater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) project is managed by NASA's Ames Research Center and is being built by Northrop Grumman. The propellants team is presently evaluating its needs in preparation for hydrazine loading requirements. LCROSS will be launched with LRO in the fall of 2008.

The Mission Objectives of the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) are to advance the Vision for Space Exploration (VSE) by confirming the presence or absence of water ice in a permanently shadowed crater at either the Moon’s North or South Pole.
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Completed Fueling Support:

Microwave Anistropy Probe - MAPMicrowave Anisotropy Probe (MAP) The KSC Fueling Team successfully loaded NASA's Microwave Anisotropy Probe (MAP) in SAEF2 on June 3-4, 2001. The operation went very well and we exactly hit their target load weight of 19 gallons and a pressure of 308 psia.
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CONTOURCOmet Nucleus TOUR (CONTOUR) The KSC Fueling team had to take the show on the road to John Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in January 2002. Testing began with a water-load (demineralized water), afterwards the spacecraft underwent vibration testing and was moved to NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center for thermal/vacuum and acoustic testing. The water was offloaded using the "emergency offload procedure" and dried the spacecraft propulsion system using a combination of nitrogen pulse-purges and vacuum-pumping.

The spacecraft arrived at KSC's SAEF2 processing facility and on June 6, 2002 was loaded with 18 gallons total high-purity hydrazine into the two propellant tanks and pressurized with nitrogen to 325 psia.
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MessengerMESSENGER On June 29, 2004 the KSC Furling Team loaded 42 gallons of N204 into the spacecraft oxidizer tank. On July 1, 2004, 96 gallons of hydrazine was loaded into three spacecraft tanks.
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Pluto New HorizonsPluto New Horizons On December 4, 2005 approximately 20 gallons of hydrazine was loaded on board the spacecraft to guide it on its ten-year journey to Pluto and other Kuiper Belt objects beyond.

New Horizons was launched on January 19, 2006.
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THEMISTime History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms (THEMIS) The propellants team fueled NASA's five probes of the THIEMIS mission on January 4, 2007. Each probe contained 12.8 gallons of hydrazine evenly divided into two tanks.

We believe this operation set a record for the most tanks (10) filled in a continuous operation without conducting any intermediate connections or disconnections.
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Last Updated: April 9, 2008
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