[Launch Alert] Launches on the Point Mugu Range

Wed Nov 24 22:33:55 EST 2010

                             LAUNCH ALERT

                              Brian Webb
                     Ventura County, California
                  launch-alert-editor at earthlink.net
                     http://www.spacearchive.info

                            2010 November 24 (Wednesday) 19:18 PST
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                   LAUNCHES ON THE POINT MUGU RANGE

A few issues back, I discussed whether observers had recently seen
a missile launch from the Point Mugu sea range.

The other day I was driving and realized that there have been numerous
rocket and missile launches on the range over the years, but there
have been no reported sightings from fishing vessels or casual
observers on the coast.

Of course, the vast majority of these launches involved relatively
small air-to-air missiles (such as the Sidewinder Sparrow, Phoenix,
and so on) and ship-launched surface-to-air missiles. These create a
dense, but thin trail that is hard to see from a distance.

Still, there have been some medium-size missile launches as well such
as missile defense targets from San Nicolas Island. These would be
visible over a greater distance, but I still have not heard of these
being accidentally seen by the general public.

Many years ago, I was lucky enough to be at Point Mugu during the
demonstration launch of a Sidewinder (AIM-9) air-to-air missile.

It was mid-afternoon on a clear day. The launch aircraft, an F-4 or
an A-4 (probably from VX-4), came in screaming from the east and
passed over the base at about 2,000 feet AGL (above ground level).

The aircraft launched the heat seeking missile, which streaked away
at very high speed and headed toward a weather balloon carrying a
burning flare.

It was an interesting visual display. However, what impressed me the
most was the sound the missile made. It was similar to a loud, distant
fizz.

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  STUDENTS' PPOD WITH CUBESATS READY FOR UPCOMING VANDENBERG LAUNCH
                    by Senior Airman Steve Bauer
                   30th Space Wing Public Affairs
                            Vandenberg AFB
                           2010 November 18

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif.  -- On Nov. 16, aerospace engineering students
at California Polytechnic State University here put the finishing
touches on a project slated to carry the first education package on a
NASA expendable launch vehicle (Taurus XL) scheduled to launch from
Vandenberg Air Force Base on Feb. 23, 2011. 

The efforts of several hundred students from Cal Poly, Montana State
University, Mont., University of Colorado - Boulder, Colo., and the
Kentucky Space Consortium, Ky., reached a significant milestone as
their three, mini research satellites, or CubSats, were encapsulated
in a Poly Picosatellite Orbital Deployer, or PPOD, container that is
now ready for final review and integration onto the third stage of the
Taurus XL launch vehicle.

"For everyone involved, this is a really great day," said Jordi
Puig-Suari, a Cal Poly professor of aerospace engineering. "The
students have been working on this for several years now and they have
stepped up their quality of work to match the NASA requirements. This
is the culmination of many, many months of hard work by lots of
students from all over the country."

Both the PPOD and CubeSat projects were developed at Cal Poly and
Stanford University's Space Systems Development Lab for use on NASA's
Educational Launch of Nanosatellite, or ELaNa missions. These projects
have initiated a domino effect of academic interest among the
aerospace engineering community throughout America. 

"To be able to go out and touch as many students as possible is one of
the goals of the ELaNa Project," said Garrett Skrobot, an ELaNa
mission project manager. "Three and a half years ago, when we first
kicked all of this off, the goal was to fly one CubeSat. Now, I want
to see a healthy launch opportunity for educational packages
throughout the U.S."

The basic idea was to develop standardized PPOD and CubeSat systems to
increase the students' chances of completing their satellite projects
and witnessing the satellites launched before they graduate, said
Professor Puig-Suari.

"We have developed a standardized deployment mechanism called the PPOD
that fits these satellites and attaches them to the launch vehicle and
carries them to orbit and deploys them at the right time," said the
professor. "Any satellite that matches the standard can fit inside the
PPOD."

One important constraint each student must consider while constructing
the body of the CubeSat in order for a proper PPOD fit is the
satellite's dimensions. Each CubeSat must be exactly four inches
cubed. The overall volume of the satellite is about one quart in which
students are able to configure the satellite with the software and
power needed to collect and send data back to Earth throughout the
course of its mission. 

Each of the CubeSats were designed to fulfill a particular mission.
The mission of the Montana State University satellite, Explorer 1
Prime, is to study variations of the Van Allen radiation belts. The
goal of the satellite designed at the University of Colorado -
Boulder, the Hermes CubeSat Project, is to design a reproducible
satellite bus that can be used for future missions. For the Kentucky
Space Consortium's satellite, KySat-1 Project, the mission is to
provide opportunities for hands-on learning in Science, Technology,
Engineering, and Math (STEM) disciplines.

"The CubeSats were selected a few years ago and we have worked with
them through the entire integration process, getting the CubeSats
ready for this moment," said Larry Fineberg, a NASA systems and
integration engineer. 

Over the years, NASA has played an instrumental role in developing
educational programs for students who are interested in space
exploration. 

"This experience for the students is invaluable," Professor Puig-Suari
said. "NASA is a great motivator because the students know that they
are going to be reviewed by a board of NASA launch professionals
throughout the process. This gets everyone really serious, really
fast. This is a life changing experience for them."

The complexity of coordinating, constructing, testing, finalizing and
preparing the CubeSats for integration into the PPOD, demanded much
time and effort of the students from the moment of their satellite's
conception to its end state. 

"We had a pretty rough summer getting the hardware to do what it
needed to do," said Nicole Doyle, a student of aerospace science at
the University of Colorado. "We put in a lot of 80-hour work weeks, so
to finally see the CubeSat in the PPOD was a huge deal. This is a big
milestone for all of the students."

The anticipation is mounting among the students for Vandenberg AFB's
launch of the Taurus XL, which will catapult the students' hard work
into low Earth orbit. The PPOD, housing three CubeSats, will be sent
to NASA approximately 30 days prior to the launch to be attached to
the launch vehicle. 

"This will be my first launch with a CubeSat I have worked on in which
I will see the PPOD go from review to its final integration onto the
launch vehicle," said Sam Bowman, an aerospace engineering student at
Cal Poly. "I can hardly imagine the feeling that all of us will get on
the day of the launch - it is really going to be amazing."

The first flight of an ELaNA educational package will be one of many
for NASA. Similar student projects are already in the works and are
scheduled for flight in 2011. Although, the Feb. 23 launch at
Vandenberg AFB will be the first opportunity Project ELaNa will have
to live up to the project's mission statement: Launching education
into space. 

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                NASA's GLORY SATELLITE BACK ON TRACK
                         NASA Status Report
                          2010 November 22

Engineers at Orbital Sciences Corporation in Dulles, Va., have
successfully replaced a faulty component that could have had serious
consequences for the Glory satellite, NASA's next climate-monitoring
mission. In June, Glory engineers noticed a problem with one of the
solar array drive assemblies, or SADAs, that appeared initially like
it would take five or six months to repair.

However, nimble responses from two engineering companies contracted by
the Glory team -- New York City-based Honeybee Robotics and
California-based Moog Chatsworth -- have resolved the problem in
little more than two months instead.

"Both Moog and Honeybee really stepped up when we needed it most. They
put a lot of personnel and extra effort into this to get us back up
and running," said Glory's Deputy Observatory Manager Michael
Bruckner. "To fix the problem, we used a new component called a twist
capsule. The part hadn't been flight-qualified, but we managed to
design, build, and qualify it all in about two months. This is an
unbelievable accomplishment."

Glory is now scheduled to launch from Vandenberg Air Force base in
California aboard a Taurus XL launch vehicle no earlier than Feb. 23,
2011.

Two instruments aboard Glory -- the Aerosol Po¬larimetery Sensor (APS)
and the Total Irradiance Monitor (TIM) -- will supply scientists with
information about criti¬cal components of Earth's climate system. The
APS, a polarimeter mounted on the underside of the Glory spacecraft
and fac¬ing downward, will collect data on airborne particles called
aerosols. Aerosols can affect the climate by warming or cooling the
atmosphere depending on their type, as well as modifying the behavior
of clouds.

The TIM, located on the opposite side of the space¬craft, will face
toward the sun and measure the intensity of incoming solar radiation
at the top of the atmosphere. It will help maintain a thirty-plus year
satellite record of the sun's irradiance, which can change subtly over
time due to changes in the sun's magnetic field.

Glory will take its place among a series of Earth-observing
satellites, dubbed the Afternoon Constellation or A-Train, that orbit
the planet in a cluster at the same altitude and inclination. The
close proximity of satellites on the A-Train allows researchers to
easily compare data from complementary science instruments flying on
adjacent satellites.

Orbital Sciences Corporation is responsible for Glory integration and
testing, the Taurus XL launch vehicle, and spacecraft operations. The
Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) at the University
of Colorado provided and will operate the TIM instrument. Raytheon
provided the APS instrument, which will be operated by NASA's Goddard
Institute for Space Studies (GISS) in New York City. 

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