Wallops Gears-Up for IRVE-3 Monday Morning

NASA has re-scheduled the launch of an inflatable heat shield technology IRVE-3 demonstration flight from the agency's Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, Va., for Monday, July 23, 2012 between 7 to 7:40 a.m. EDT.
NASA-TV will provide launch coverage. The rocket will be visible to residents in the Wallops and southern Chesapeake Bay region, if weather conditions permit lift-off.

The Inflatable Reentry Vehicle Experiment (IRVE-3) is to be launched on a Black Brant XI sounding rocket and land approximately 100 miles east of Cape Hatteras, NC. The launch window on Monday for all rockets, including several to test tracking systems and gather atmospheric data, is 5 to 8 a.m.

A previous inflatable heat shield technology test (IRVE-2) was conducted in 2009. The test article demonstrated that an inflatable heat shield could survive intact after coming through Earth's atmosphere. IRVE-3 is the same size as IRVE-2, but has a heavier payload and will be subjected to a much higher reentry heat.