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News | Aug. 27, 2018

Aerospace Energy supports NASA’s Parker Solar Probe

By Connie Braesch DLA Energy Public Affairs

The Aerospace Energy division of Defense Logistics Agency Energy provided the High Purity Hydrazine for NASA’s Parker Solar Probe mission which launched on a United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy Rocket from the Kennedy Space Center, Aug. 12.

On a journey to study the sun, the probe carried 178 pounds of HPH and the rocket carried almost 165 pounds of HPH in its upper stage.

“The HPH, a hypergolic propellant, will be used to help maneuver the spacecraft to within 3.83 million miles from the sun to trace how energy and heat move through the sun’s atmosphere and explore what accelerates the solar wind and solar energetic particles,” said Doug Smith, director of DLA Energy Aerospace Energy Supplier Operations.

According to NASA, the Parker Solar Probe will travel through the sun’s atmosphere, closer to the surface than any spacecraft before it, facing brutal heat and radiation conditions — and ultimately providing humanity with the closest-ever observations of a star.

As the Department of Defense Integrated Materiel Manager for space and space-related products since 2001, DLA Energy has provided fuel sources for a variety of Department of Defense, federal, commercial and research missions.

“The hard work and dedication of the Aerospace Energy team is once again playing an important mission support role,” Smith said. “Team members like Barbara Peterson, a contracting officer, work tirelessly to uphold the long-standing reputation we have for providing quality specialty fuels and propellants for spacecraft such as NASA’s Parker Solar Probe.”

“It’s exciting that the work we do and the products we provide contribute to the agency’s whole of government partners and NASA scientist’s ability to gather unprecedented information about the sun and future of our solar system,” he added.

Of the 92 products Aerospace Energy provides, 11 are specific to space missions: rocket propellant-1 and -2, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, helium, gaseous nitrogen, dinitrogen tetroxide, hydrazine, methane and isopropyl alcohol.

To watch the video of the rocket launch or learn more about the probe and its mission, visit NASA’s Parker Solar Probe webpage.