ICON Passes Critical Milestone
A Message from the Principal Investigator
ICON coming together
ICON's scientific payload was mated to the Orbital ATK-built spacecraft bus on 8/19: a huge milestone on its becoming a real observatory!
Two weeks ago, ICON passed a major review at NASA Headquarters, putting it on schedule to launch in ten months. It's a big milestone. ICON was approved to proceed with observatory integration at Orbital ATK in Virginia, meaning that the payload with all the attached instruments was mated to the spacecraft bus, a significant step in the journey to becoming a real science observatory.
The management council was impressed with this next NASA Explorer mission, its extraordinary capability, and the promise it holds for new scientific research in geospace. The council found that the ICON team has worked together in an excellent manner and delivered a high performance science payload that is clean and space-ready. So, congratulations all around and thanks—thanks to every one of you who have worked so hard over the past three years. I am amazed to be a part of this team. It was a pleasure to visit ICON in person recently at Orbital ATK. It looks beautiful.
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