History of the Delta Launch Vehicle

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Current NASA Programs launched by Delta rockets

WIND (Delta 227) has surpassed its five year design lifetime and continues to make detailed observations of the solar wind.

Rossi X-Ray Timing Explorer (Delta 230) is providing scientists with a wealth of data on cosmic x-ray sources.

Polar (Delta 233) is observing Earth's polar regions to study the effects of the solar wind on the ionosphere and magnetosphere.

Mars Global Surveyor (Delta 239) completed its primary mission on 31 January 2001. Five years into an extended mission, during which it continued to perform full-time mapping operations of the Red Planet and generated more than 240,000 images, MGS went silent in November 2006 and was ultimately given up for lost.

Advanced Composition Explorer (Delta 247) is making continuous solar observations from the L1 libration point.

Stardust (Delta 266) flew within 240 kilometers of comet Wild-2 on 2 January 2004, collecting samples of comet particles from the coma surrounding the nucleus. It also captured some of the clearest images ever of a comet's nucleus. Stardust became the first spacecraft to return cometary material to Earth for analysis when its sample canister landed in Utah on 15 January 2006. (It also holds the record for the greatest distance from the Sun reached by a solar-powered spacecraft, 2.72 AU, which it reached on 18 April 2002.)

Landsat-7 (Delta 268) is the latest addition to the program, frequently referred to as "the central pillar of the national remote sensing capability," that has been continuously providing Earth images in visible and infrared wavelengths since 1972.

FUSE (Delta 271) is in low Earth orbit and is providing high-resolution spectroscopy in the far ultraviolet range of the spectrum, never before possible, allowing scientists to address fundamental questions about the chemical evolution of the Universe.

IMAGE (Delta 277) is on a five-year extended mission in a highly elliptical orbit, observing the response of the Earth's magnetosphere to changes in the solar wind.

Earth Observing-1 (Delta 282) is a new technology demonstrator that should advance and economize Earth imaging systems for future versions of the Landsat satellites. EO-1 successfully completed all objectives of its one-year primary mission by November 2001, and is now in an extended mission phase.

2001 Mars Odyssey (Delta 284), the third orbiter in NASA's Mars Surveyor program, contains three primary science instruments that map the Martian surface in terms of mineralogy, morphology, and elemental composition, and measure the surface environment's radiation levels. Among other benefits, these measurements will allow scientists to search for water and shallow buried ice, data that will come in handy for future human exploration of the Red Planet. Mars Odyssey began science operations in February 2002. Its primary science mission ended in August 2004, but it continues to return spectacular images during its extended mission.

Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (Delta 286) is in orbit around the L2 Lagrange point, where it is mapping the entire sky in terms of the temperature fluctuations of the cosmic microwave background radiation. The data will help to answer questions about the Big Bang theory and galaxy formation that were hinted at by COBE (Delta 189) in 1992.

Genesis (Delta 287) spent two-and-a-half years orbiting the L1 Lagrange point, 930K miles from Earth between the Earth and Sun, where it collected particles of the solar wind. Through some fancy orbital mechanics, after about 5 orbits it naturally left L1 looped around L2 en route to Earth with its prize, a mere 10-20 micrograms of starstuff. On 08 September 2004 Genesis crash-landed in the Utah desert, its parachutes having failed to deploy. The spacecraft was heavily damaged but portions of its containment system were unbreached, and scientists are working to extract pure samples which they hope will provide clues to the origin and evolution of the solar system.

TIMED (Delta 289) is studying the uppermost layers of Earth's atmosphere, and will provide a baseline global map of this region. TIMED is an acronym for Thermosphere Ionosphere Mesosphere Energetics and Dynamics.

Jason-1 (Delta 289) is the first follow-on to TOPEX/Poseidon, and is measuring ocean surface topography in order to improve understanding of ocean circulation and its effect on the global climate. A joint project between NASA and France's Centre National d'Études Spatiales, it began its five-year operational mission in February 2002.

Aqua (Delta 291) is carrying six state-of-the-art instruments to comprehensively study Earth's water cycle, including "atmospheric temperature and humidity profiles, clouds, precipitation and radiative balance; terrestrial snow and sea ice; sea surface temperature and ocean productivity; [and] soil moisture."

The Mars Exploration Rovers (Delta 298 and Delta 299) have both far exceeded their design lifetime of 90 days, have proven that at one time Mars was "soaking wet," and continue to send a wealth of imagery and scientific evidence. Spirit landed in Gusev Crater, 15 degrees south of Mars' equator, on 4 January 2004. Opportunity landed at Meridiani Planum, about two degrees south of the equator and halfway around the planet from Gusev, on 25 January 2004.

Spitzer Space Telescope (Delta 300) is the last of the Great Observatories, a highly successful group that includes the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory, the Chandra X-Ray Observatory, and the venerable Hubble Space Telescope. Known at launch as SIRTF (Space Infrared Telescope Facility), Spitzer is mapping the sky in the infrared spectrum with resolution and sensitivity far surpassing its predecessors, IRAS (Delta 166) and COBE (Delta 189).

Gravity Probe B (Delta 304) has completed a two year tour, making precise measurements of the effect Earth's rotating mass has on the orbit of the spacecraft. This effect was first predicted by Einstein's general theory of relativity in 1920. In April 2007 it was announced that GP-B has confirmed the geodetic effect (how mass warps spacetime) to within a 1% margin of error. Final results of the frame-dragging prediction are expected to be complete by the end of 2007.

Aura (Delta 306), the third spacecraft in the Earth Observing System, carries a suite of instruments which will provide comprehensive data on atmospheric composition, chemistry and dynamics.

MESSENGER (Delta 307) will circle the Sun several times, using gravity assists from all of the three innermost planets, before reaching orbit around Mercury in March 2011, nearly seven years after launch. If successful, it will become the first spacecraft to orbit the first rock from the Sun and will map the entire planet from an altitude of as little as a couple hundred kilometers. As of July 2007 it has flown by Earth once (02-Aug-05) and Venus twice (24-Oct-06 and 05-Jun-07); it will make the first of three Mercury flybys on 14 January 2008. MESSENGER is an acronym for MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging.

Deep Impact (Delta 311) intercepted comet Temple 1 on 4 July 2005, firing an 820-pound copper projectile with precision accuracy into the comet's nucleus. The resulting impact plume, ejecta, and clouds of sublimating gasses were observed closely by both Deep Impact and Earth-based telescopes, and the data will give comet researchers fodder for analysis for years to come. The spacecraft survived its passage through the harsh environment of the coma, and project managers are now at work to find further targets for observation, although without another impactor.

CALIPSO (Delta 314), jointly operated by NASA and CNES (Centre National d'Études Spatiales) of France, is at work generating a global map of atmospheric aerosol particles. CALIPSO is an acronym for Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations.

CloudSat (Delta 314) is studying the formation and function of clouds, answering some basic questions about how they generate rain and snow, to improve the science of climatology.

STEREO (Delta 319) is the Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory, a pair of satellites that will image the Sun’s eruptions and prominences in three dimensions by viewing it from separate positions in heliocentric orbit.

THEMIS (Delta 323) is a constellation of five mini-satellites that will examine the Earth’s magnetosphere and its interaction with the solar wind from various points along the magnetotail. THEMIS is an acronym for Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms.

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