Pegasus AIM Mission

Pegasus Boosts Aeronomy of Ice in the Mesosphere (AIM) Spacecraft into Orbit.

Launch Date:	April 25, 2007
Launch Site:	Vandenberg Air Force Base, CA
Launch Vehicle:	Pegasus XL
Mission Customer:	NASA Kennedy Space Center (launch vehicle), NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Contract /Hampton University (spacecraft)

On April 25, 2007, Orbital’s Pegasus® space launch vehicle boosted the Orbital-built AIM spacecraft into low earth orbit in the 38th Pegasus mission since its first flight in 1990.

About AIM
AIM is a NASA-funded Small Explorers (SMEX) mission for which Hampton University serves as the prime contractor. The Principal Science Investigator is James M. Russell III of Hampton University. The AIM spacecraft will conduct a two-year study Polar Mesospheric Clouds (PMCs), also called noctilucent clouds, to find out why they form and why they are changing. Results from this mission will provide the basis for study of long-term variability in the mesospheric climate. The AIM Satellite is based on Orbital’s flight-proven LeoStar-2 platform and follows on the highly successful GALEX and SORCE

About Pegasus
Pegasus is an air-launched, internally guided, three stage solid rocket capable of launching up to 1,000 lbs. to low Earth orbit. Mated to its L-1011 carrier aircraft and dropped at approximately 38,000 feet, the vehicle free falls for approximately 5 seconds before firing its first stage rocket motor. A typical flight from drop to insertion into orbit takes approximately eleven minutes. To date, Pegasus has launched nearly 80 satellites from six different locations worldwide and has achieved a 100% success rate since late 1996.

For more information:
AIM Web Page
AIM Images
Pegasus Web Page
Pegasus Images
NASA AIM Web Site
Hampton AIM Web Site

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