[Launch Alert] Possible Dawn Light Show

Mon Feb 28 22:04:57 EST 2011

                             LAUNCH ALERT

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

                               2011 February 28 (Monday) 19:00 PST
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                      POSSIBLE DAWN LIGHT SHOW
                            by Brian Webb

Observers across part of the American Southwest may enjoy a light show
on the morning of March 2nd thanks to the scheduled launch of a
missile from New Mexico.

The Juno target missile is scheduled to lift-off from Fort Wingate
near Gallup between 6:30 and 7:30 a.m. Mountain Time* and fly across
the state to White Sands.

If liftoff takes place early in the launch window, the missile's
exhaust could be illuminated by the Sun with the dawn sky as a
background.

Under ideal conditions, the launch and its aftermath may be visible to
the unaided eye from Arizona, western New Mexico, southern Nevada and
Utah, southwest Colorado, and northern Mexico.

* 6:30-7:30 a.m. Mountain Time translates to 5:30-6:30 Pacific Time

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                      NEW MEXICO MISSILE LAUNCH
               White Sands Missile Range News Release

White Sands Missile Range, N.M., February 28, 2011 - Preparations are
being completed at Fort Wingate near Gallup, N.M., for a Juno target
missile firing from the old depot to White Sands Missile Range. The
launch is tentatively scheduled for March 2 between 6:30 and 7:30
a.m. and may be viewed from Red Rock State Park.

The Juno missile will drop a booster into an evacuated safety zone
during its flight to the missile range. In addition to this safety
drop zone near Datil, N.M., there will be short safety roadblocks and
evacuations around the immediate Fort Wingate area - mostly to the
south and east.

The roadblocks include the following:  New Mexico Route 400 between
the Fort Wingate historic monument and McGaffey Lake; Forest Route 191
between New Mexico Route 400 and six miles to the west; Forest Route
547 between Sixmile Spring and McGaffey Lake.  In addition, gates
along New Mexico Route 400 will be closed to passage.

The roadblocks should last between two and four hours.  However,
traffic traveling straight through on New Mexico Route 400 will be
screened through up to 30 minutes before launch time.

In addition to the roadblocks, Quaking Aspens campground will be
evacuated for the launch.  Since the firing will be in the early
morning, camping at the site will not be allowed the night before so
that National Forest Service officials can be assured the area is
evacuated.

The evacuation area for the booster drop zone is comprised of private
and national forest lands north of Datil and includes the northern
portion of the Datil Mountains. The area is north of U.S. Highway 60,
west of State Highway 52 and east of Forest Road 6A. Roadblocks of the
perimeter of the area will be set at 4 a.m.

The airspace over Fort Wingate and the booster drop zone will be
restricted for several hours for the launch. The avoidance area will
be posted by the Federal Aviation Agency in the form of a Notice to
Airmen (NOTAM). The airspace at the end of the flight is over White
Sands Missile Range and is already restricted.

There have been 13 target missions from Fort Wingate to White Sands
Missile Range.  The first mission as conducted in November 1997 and
the most recent mission was in October 2009. The most recent Juno
mission was launched from the missile range call-up area north of New
Mexico Highway 380 in February 2010. 

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This test occurred on 2011 February 21 at 22:30 PST - Editor

              POINT MUGU SUPPORTS MISSILE DEFENSE TEST
                Missile Defense Agency News Release
                          2011 February 22

The joint U.S.-Israel Arrow Weapon System successfully intercepted a
ballistic target missile during a flight test conducted today. This
test is part of the Arrow System Improvement Program (ASIP) and was
conducted jointly by the Israel Missile Defense Organization and the
U.S. Missile Defense Agency at the U.S. Naval Air Warfare Center,
Weapons Division-Pt. Mugu Sea Range. 

At 10:30 p.m. local time (Pacific Standard Time), the target missile
was launched from a Mobile Launch Platform (MLP) off the coast of
California, within the Pt. Mugu test range. The target was
representative of potential ballistic missile threats facing Israel. 

The Arrow Weapon System's Green Pine radar successfully detected and
tracked the target and transferred information to the Citron Tree
battle management control system. The Arrow Weapon System launched an
interceptor missile which performed its planned trajectory and
destroyed the target missile. The test represented a realistic
scenario and all the elements of the weapon system performed in their
operational configuration. 

The Israel Missile Defense Organization (IMDO) and U.S. Department of
Defense officials conducted the flight test. The main contractor for
the integration and the development of the Arrow Weapon System is the
MLM division of the Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI). The "Green
Pine" Radar is developed by ELTA Industries and the "Citron Tree" BMC
is developed by Tadiran Electronic Systems, Ltd. 

The success of the test is a major milestone in the development of the
Arrow Weapon System and provides confidence in operational Israeli
capabilities to defeat the developing ballistic missile threat. 

This story was originally titled "Joint U.S.-Israel Arrow Weapon
System Intercepts Target During Successful Missile Defense Test"

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                   VANDENBERG AFB LAUNCH SCHEDULE
                       As of 2011 February 28

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

NET MAR 4         02:09                   Taurus XL          576E
Payload is the Glory scientific satellite. Vehicle will carry three
small satellites as secondary payloads: Explorer 1 Prime (Montana
State University), Hermes (University of Colorado), and KySat-1
(Kentucky space consortium).  

APR 12            To be announced         Atlas V            SLC-3E
Vehicle will launch the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office's NROL-34
payload  

NET JUN 9         Unknown                 Delta II           SLC-2W
Vehicle will launch Argentina's SAC-D scientific satellite carrying
NASA's Aquarius instrument  

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.

All launch dates and times are given in Pacific Time using a 24-hour
format similar to military time (midnight = 00:00, 1:00 p.m. = 13:00,
11:00 p.m. = 23:00, etc.). 

The dates and times in this schedule may not agree with those on other
online launch schedules, including the official Vandenberg AFB
schedule because different sources were used, the information was
interpreted differently, and the schedules were updated at different
times.

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