[Launch Alert] Vandenberg AFB Launch Schedule

[Brian Webb]

                             LAUNCH ALERT
 				  
                              Brian Webb
                     Ventura County, California
                         kd6nrp at earthlink.net
                     http://www.spacearchive.info
		       
                               2009 August 15 (Saturday) 15:56 PDT
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                   VANDENBERG AFB LAUNCH SCHEDULE
                         As of 2009 August 15

                       Launch
                    Time/Window
   Date              (PST/PDT)             Vehicle          Pad/Silo
----------		---------------		----------
--------

AUG 23		To be announced		Minuteman III	---
Vehicle will probably send one or more unarmed warheads on a ballistic
trajectory to Kwajalein in the central Pacific.  

OCT 6			~11:35			Delta II
SLC-2W
Payload is the WorldView-2 commercial reconnaissance satellite.  


OCT 22		Evening			Minotaur IV		SLC-8
First-ever Minotaur IV launch. Payload is the Space-Based Space
Surveillance (SBSS) satellite.  

NET DEC 10		To be announced		Delta II
SLC-2W
Payload is the WISE scientific satellite.  

NET APR 1		To be announced		Taurus		576-E
Payload is the Glory scientific satellite.  

Unk			09:12				Atlas V
SLC-3
Payload is the DMSP F18 military weather satellite.  

The above schedule is a composite of unclassified information
approved for public release from government, industry, and other
sources. It represents the Editor's best effort to produce a schedule,
but may disagree with other sources. Details on military launches are
withheld until they are approved for public release. For official
information regarding Vandenberg AFB activities, go to
http://www.vandenberg.af.mil.

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     ABL SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETES LOW-POWER LASER TESTS AGAINST AN
                INSTRUMENTED BOOSTING MISSILE TARGET
                Missile Defense Agency News Release
                            2009 August 13

The Missile Defense Agency's Airborne Laser (ABL) prototype aircraft
successfully acquired, tracked, provided atmospheric compensation and
simulated the directed energy kill sequence against an instrumented
boosting missile target using three onboard low-power lasers on Aug.
10 at 9:50 p.m. PDT. The missile was launched from San Nicolas Island,
located in the Naval Air Warfare Center-Weapons Division Sea Range,
off the central California coast.

This marks the third successful ABL missile engagement in just over
two months. The ABL previously engaged two sounding rockets with the
low-power lasers - this latest test was the first time laser
performance data was collected at the target missile. The Missile
Alternative Range Target Instrument is similar in size and geometry to
a ballistic missile, but with a section of sensors to record and
measure the laser performance.

Plans call for ABL to engage progressively more difficult targets in
coming months, culminating with a lethal demonstration against a
boosting threat-representative ballistic missile target later this
year.

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Copyright 2009, Brian Webb. All rights reserved. This newsletter may
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