[Launch Alert] X-43A Captive-Carry Flight Successful
Brian Webb
[email protected]
Sun, 1 Feb 2004 18:08:42 -0800
LAUNCH ALERT
Brian Webb
Ventura County, California
E-mail: [email protected]
Web Site: http://www.spacearchive.info
Reaching more than 2,390 e-mail addresses worldwide
2004 February 1 (Sunday) 18:07 PST
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X-43A COMPLETES CAPTIVE-CARRY FLIGHT
NASA successfully completed a dress rehearsal for this month's flight
of its unmanned X-43A research vehicle. A B-52 bomber carrying the
X-43A/Pegasus booster combination left Edwards AFB last Monday
afternoon at 15:21 PST, crossed the coast, and flew a predetermined
path over the Pacific Missile Test Range. The B-52 and chase aircraft
later returned to Edwards and landed at 17:28 PST.
The X-43A stack consists of a large solid fuel rocket tipped with the
X-43A hypersonic research vehicle. Since this was a captive-carry
mission, the stack remained attached to a pylon on the B-52's wing for
the entire two-hour flight.
The mission was a dress rehearsal for a launch of the X-43A
tentatively set for February 21st. The flight will evaluate supersonic
combustion ramjet (scramjet) technology.
During last Monday's captive-carry mission, Ventura County residents
spotted contrails and heard radio communications from the B-52 and
chase aircraft.
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VANDENBERG AFB LAUNCH SCHEDULE
As of 2004 January 31
Launch
Time/Window
Date (PST/PDT) Vehicle Pad/Silo
-------- ----------- ---------- --------
FEB 26 Unannounced Taurus SLC-576E
Payload is Taiwan's ROCSAT-2 satellite
MAR Unannounced Minuteman III LF-09
ICBM test launch (non-orbital). Payload is unarmed warheads. Impact
area is in the Reagan Test Site at Kwajalein in the central Pacific.
Glory Trip 184GM
APR 17 10:12 Delta II SLC-2W
Payload is NASA's Gravity Probe B satellite
MAY Unannounced Falcon I SLC-3W
Payload is the Naval Research Laboratory's TacSat-1 satellite
JUN Unannounced Minuteman III LF-10
ICBM test launch (non-orbital). Payload is unarmed warheads. Impact
area is in the Reagan Test Site at Kwajalein in the central Pacific.
Glory Trip 185GM
JUN 20 Unannounced Delta II SLC-2W
Payload is NASA's AURA scientific satellite
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Southern California Astronomical Events
for 2004 February
Time
Date (PST/PDT) Event
-------- --------- -----------------------------
FEB 2 01:00 Neptune Conjunction
Neptune passes behind the Sun and is lost in the Sun's glare
FEB 2 20:00 Lunar Conjunction
The Moon passes 4� north of Saturn
FEB 6 00:47 Full Moon
Moon rises at sunset and sets at sunrise and is visible all night
FEB 6 19:15-20:10 Lunar Occultation
The Moon occults (passes in front of) the +3.5 magnitude star Eta
Leonis. The star disappears at 19:15 and reappears at 20:10. Time
computed for downtown Los Angeles and will vary depending on your
location
FEB 6 22:42 Jupiter Dual Satellite Transit
Two of Jupiter's moons simultaneously pass in front of the planet's
disk
FEB 8 06:00 Lunar Conjunction
The Moon passes 3� north of Jupiter
FEB 9-10 23:20-00:21 Lunar Occultation
The Moon occults (passes in front of) the +2.8 magnitude star Gamma
Virginis. Star disappears at 23:20 and reappears at 00:21. Time
computed for downtown Los Angeles and will vary depending on your
location
FEB 13 05:40 Last Quarter Moon
Moon rises at midnight and sets at noon
FEB 20 01:18 New Moon
Moon passes between the Earth and the Sun and is invisible. Moon rises
at sunrise and sets at sunset
FEB 21 18:00 Uranus Conjunction
Uranus passes behind the Sun and is lost in the Sun's glare
FEB 21-22 --- Dark Sky Weekend
Best time this month to observe faint objects. Amateur astronomers
will hold observing sessions from dark sites
FEB 25 18:00 Lunar Conjunction
The Moon passes 0.9� south of Mars
FEB 26 21:37 Jupiter Dual Satellite Transit
Two of Jupiter's moons simultaneously pass in front of the planet's
disk
FEB 27 19:24 First Quarter Moon
Moon rises at noon and sets at midnight
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IMAGES NEEDED
My web site (www.spacearchive.info) is being expanded to also include
astronomy and space news for Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah.
Since the content will be changing on a weekly basis, I will need a
steady stream of fresh material including images.
I'm interested in high quality amateur and professional sky
photography taken in the visible, infra-red, ultra-violet, and radio
portions of the spectrum.
I'm fairly open regarding the subject matter, as long as a prospective
image was taken from the Southwest. Some of the types of photos I'm
interested in are:
- Missile launches (both Vandenberg AFB and White Sands)
- Launch vehicle or payload pre-launch checkout
- Ground-based photos of satellites launched from Vandenberg AFB
- Wide field photos
- Deep sky
- Lunar and planetary
- Spectra
- Meteors
- Planetary conjunctions
If you have an interesting image, please send it my way. At this point
I won't be able to provide any compensation for images other than free
publicity and a link to your web site.
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TIME FORMAT
All times in this newsletter are given in Pacific Time using a 24-hour
format similar to military time. Under this system, regular time is
expressed as follows:
24-hour
Regular Time Format
--------------------- -------
12:00 a.m. (midnight) 00:00
6:00 a.m. 06:00
12:00 p.m. (noon) 12:00
6:00 p.m. 18:00
No distinction is made between Pacific Standard Time and Pacific
Daylight Time.
For assistance in converting military time to regular time, go to:
http://www.spacearchive.info/military.htm
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GLOSSARY
Glory Trip Name given to strategic missile test launches
LF- Launch facility. A missile silo (such as LF-10)
PDT Pacific Daylight Time
PST Pacific Standard Time
SLC- Space Launch Complex. A launch pad (SLC-2W for example)