Image Caption: NASA's Tracking and Data Relay Satellite, or TDRS-L, spacecraft is moved into position for mating atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station's Launch Complex 41. Credit: NASA/Dimitri Gerondidakis

NASA

The next element in the communications network that links NASAs ground controllers to orbiting spacecraft is ready for launch Jan. 23 following several weeks of preparations.

TDRS-L will become the 11th member of the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System orbiting Earth following its launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket. Liftoff is scheduled for Jan. 23 during a launch window that opens at 9:05 p.m. EST.

The constellation of satellites orbiting Earth at 22,300 miles revolutionized communications for the nations space agency by allowing nearly continuous transmission of information during a mission. Before the TDRS network was established, NASA relied on a patchwork of ground stations based around the world to stitch together coverage zones. Astronauts and Earth-orbiting scientific spacecraft would relay messages only when they passed over or near one of the ground stations.

Working in conjunction with the other TDRS satellites, TDRS-L will convey signals, information and commands from ground controllers to the International Space Station and NASAs diverse assortment of scientific satellites including the Hubble Space Telescope.

The TDRS constellation brings back all of the data and video that we see every day from the International Space Station, said Tim Dunn, NASA launch director. TDRS also supports all of the data from the Hubble Space Telescope and all of our low Earth orbit NASA science missions.

The latest TDRS spacecraft is identical to one launched a year ago, TDRS-K. Both are the third generation of TDRS spacecraft and are part of a replenishment program for NASAs Space Network overseen at the agencys Goddard Spaceflight Center in Maryland.

The satellite arrived at Kennedys Shuttle Landing Facility inside an Air Force C-17 transport aircraft from its manufacturing plant in California. It was taken to the Astrotech payload processing facility in Titusville for numerous tests and was packed inside the two-piece payload fairing that will protect it during the climb into space.

[ Watch the Video: TDRS-L Prepares to Take Its Place in NASA Constellation ]

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NASA Readies For TDRS-L For Launch January 23