[Launch Alert] Vandenberg AFB Launch Schedule
Launch Alert
launch-alert at mailman.qth.net
Fri Sep 2 22:42:03 EDT 2011
LAUNCH ALERT
Brian Webb
Ventura County, California
launch-alert-editor at earthlink.net
www.spacearchive.info
2011 September 1 (Thursday) 19:42 PDT
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VANDENBERG AFB LAUNCH SCHEDULE
As of 2011 September 1
Launch
Time/Window
Date (PST/PDT) Vehicle Pad/Silo
-------- ----------------- ------------- --------
SEP 21 To be announced Minuteman III ---
The vehicle will probably send an unarmed warhead on a ballistic
trajectory to the central Pacific. The Defense Department will release
the launch window and other details a few days in advance.
NET OCT 25 02:48:01-02:57:11 Delta II SLC-2W
Vehicle will launch the NPP environmental satellite for NASA and NOAA
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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NASA EARTH-OBSERVING SATELLITE ARRIVES IN CALIFORNIA FOR LAUNCH
NASA News Release
2011 August 31
WASHINGTON -- On Tuesday, Aug. 30, NASA's next Earth-observing
research satellite arrived at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California
to begin preparations for an October launch.
The National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System
Preparatory Project (NPP) is the first of a new generation of
satellites that will observe many facets of our changing Earth.
The satellite will collect critical data to improve our understanding
of long-term climate change and short-term weather conditions. With
NPP, NASA continues many key data records initiated by the agency's
Earth Observing System satellites by monitoring changes occurring in
the atmosphere, oceans, vegetation, ice and solid Earth.
On Aug. 28, NPP was placed in a shipping container and loaded on a
transport truck at Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. in Boulder,
Colo. After Tuesday's arrival, the satellite was unloaded and moved
into the clean room at the AstroTech facility for launch preparation.
"The NPP team has produced an outstanding satellite and kept to
schedule during the past year and a half," said Ken Schwer, NPP
project manager at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt,
Md. "The world is looking forward to NPP's scientific measurements."
The NPP spacecraft will undergo prelaunch processing at Vandenberg,
including a solar array functional test; a spacecraft limited
performance test; and testing of the science instruments. Following
these tests and a spacecraft launch simulation, the satellite will be
fueled with its attitude control propellant.
NPP will be launched on a United Launch Alliance Delta II 7920
expendable launch vehicle. The Delta II first stage was hoisted into
position on the pad at NASA's Space Launch Complex 2 on July 20. By
Aug. 2, the nine solid rocket boosters were attached, and the second
stage was hoisted atop the first stage. Launch vehicle testing is
under way.
The NPP spacecraft is scheduled to move to the pad and be mated with
the rocket on Oct. 7. Launch is scheduled for Oct. 25 during a
9-minute and 10-second launch window from 5:48:01 to 5:57:11 a.m.
EDT. The Delta II will place the satellite into a 512-mile high
circular polar orbit.
NPP is the first satellite mission to address the challenge of
acquiring a wide range of land, ocean, and atmospheric measurements
for Earth system science while simultaneously preparing to address
operational requirements for weather forecasting.
NPP serves as a bridge between NASA's Earth Observing System of
satellites and the forthcoming Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS).
Previously called the National Polar-orbiting Operational
Environmental Satellite System, JPSS satellites will be developed by
NASA for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
NPP will carry five science instruments and test key technologies for
the JPSS missions. Data from NPP will help scientists ensure a
continuous record of environmental satellite data and also contribute
to weather forecasting efforts. NOAA meteorologists will incorporate
NPP data into their weather prediction models to produce accurate
forecasts and warnings that will help emergency responders monitor
and react to natural disasters.
Goddard manages the NPP mission on behalf of the Earth Science
Division of the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in
Washington. The JPSS program is providing the ground system for NPP.
NOAA will provide operational support for the mission. Launch
management is the responsibility of the NASA Launch Services Program
at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
For more information about NPP, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/npp
For information about NASA and agency programs, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov
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NASA AND ATK FULL-SCALE SOLID ROCKET MOTOR TEST SET FOR SEPT. 8
NASA Media Advisory
2011 August 24
WASHINGTON -- NASA and Alliant Techsystems Inc. (ATK) will conduct a
full-scale test of a five-segment, solid rocket motor at the ATK
Aerospace Systems test facility in Promontory, Utah, at 4:05 p.m.
EDT, Thursday, Sept. 8.
The static firing of the five-segment solid rocket motor, designated
Development Motor-3 (DM-3), will last approximately two minutes. DM-3
is the third in a series of development motors and the most heavily
instrumented solid rocket motor in NASA history, with a total of 37
test objectives measured through more than 970 instruments.
The DM-3 incorporates several performance-based improvements to the
designs of the first two development motors. Additionally, the core
of DM-3 will be heated to 90 degrees Fahrenheit for this
full-duration firing to verify the motor's performance at high
temperatures.
This test will continue to advance understanding of five-segment solid
rocket motor performance and specifically assess performance at the
highest end of the motor's accepted temperature range. Through
development testing, the solid rocket motor will be certified to fly
at ambient temperatures ranging from 40 to 90 degrees Fahrenheit.
The DM-3 test will follow wind constraint requirements different than
past development motors. Two days before the test, ATK's public
relations will notify registered media of a go/no-go decision. If
no-go, the test will slip to the next day. Notification of a decision
to proceed will be made via email, website www.atk.com/dm3 and social
media (Facebook and Twitter).
The solid rocket motor is managed by NASA's Marshall Space Flight
Center in Huntsville, Ala. ATK Space Systems is the prime contractor.
For more information about NASA and agency programs, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov
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WISE was launched from Vandenberg AFB in 2009 - Editor
NASA'S WISE MISSION DISCOVERS COOLEST CLASS OF STARS
NASA News Release
2011 August 23
WASHINGTON - Scientists using data from NASA's Wide-field Infrared
Survey Explorer (WISE) have discovered the coldest class of star-like
bodies, with temperatures as cool as the human body.
Astronomers hunted these dark orbs, termed Y dwarfs, for more than a
decade without success. When viewed with a visible-light telescope,
they are nearly impossible to see. WISE's infrared vision allowed the
telescope to finally spot the faint glow of six Y dwarfs relatively
close to our sun, within a distance of about 40 light-years.
"WISE scanned the entire sky for these and other objects, and was able
to spot their feeble light with its highly sensitive infrared
vision," said Jon Morse, Astrophysics Division director at NASA
Headquarters in Washington. "They are 5,000 times brighter at the
longer infrared wavelengths WISE observed from space than those
observable from the ground."
The Y's are the coldest members of the brown dwarf family. Brown
dwarfs are sometimes referred to as "failed" stars. They are too low
in mass to fuse atoms at their cores and thus don't burn with the
fires that keep stars like our sun shining steadily for billions of
years. Instead, these objects cool and fade with time, until what
little light they do emit is at infrared wavelengths.
Astronomers study brown dwarfs to better understand how stars form and
understand the atmospheres of planets beyond our solar system. The
atmospheres of brown dwarfs are similar to those of gas giant planets
like Jupiter, but they are easier to observe because they are alone
in space, away from the blinding light of a parent star.
So far, WISE data have revealed 100 new brown dwarfs. More discoveries
are expected as scientists continue to examine the enormous quantity
of data from WISE.
The telescope performed the most advanced survey of the sky at
infrared wavelengths to date, from Jan. 2010 to Feb. 2011, scanning
the entire sky about 1.5 times.
Of the 100 brown dwarfs, six are classified as cool Y's. One of the Y
dwarfs, called WISE 1828+2650, is the record holder for the coldest
brown dwarf with an estimated atmospheric temperature cooler than
room temperature, or less than 80 degrees Fahrenheit (25 degrees
Celsius).
"The brown dwarfs we were turning up before this discovery were more
like the temperature of your oven," said Davy Kirkpatrick, a WISE
science team member at the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center at
the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, Calif. "With the
discovery of Y dwarfs, we've moved out of the kitchen and into the
cooler parts of the house."
Kirkpatrick is lead author of a paper appearing in the Astrophysical
Journal Supplement Series, describing the 100 confirmed brown dwarfs.
Michael Cushing, a WISE team member at NASA's Jet Propulsion
Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif., is lead author of a paper
describing the Y dwarfs in the Astrophysical Journal.
The Y dwarfs are in our sun's neighborhood, from approximately nine to
40 light-years away. The Y dwarf approximately nine light-years away,
WISE 1541-2250, may become the seventh closest star system, bumping
Ross 154 back to eighth. By comparison, the star closest to our solar
system, Proxima Centauri, is about four light-years away.
"Finding brown dwarfs near our sun is like discovering there's a
hidden house on your block that you didn't know about," Cushing said.
"It's thrilling to me to know we've got neighbors out there yet to be
discovered. With WISE, we may even find a brown dwarf closer to us
than our closest known star."
Once the WISE team identified brown dwarf candidates, they turned to
NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope to narrow their list. To definitively
confirm them, the WISE team used some of the most powerful telescopes
on Earth to split apart the objects' light and look for telltale
molecular signatures of water, methane and possibly ammonia. For the
very coldest of the new Y dwarfs, the team used NASA's Hubble Space
Telescope. The Y dwarfs were identified based on a change in these
spectral features compared to other brown dwarfs, indicating they
have a lower atmospheric temperature.
JPL manages WISE for NASA's Science Mission Directorate. The principal
investigator is Edward Wright at UCLA. The WISE satellite was
decommissioned in 2011 after completing its sky survey observations.
The mission was selected under NASA's Explorers Program managed by
the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. The science
instrument was built by the Space Dynamics Laboratory in Logan, Utah,
and the spacecraft by Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corp., in
Boulder, Colo. Science operations and data processing are at the
Infrared Processing and Analysis Center at the California Institute
of Technology. For more information about WISE, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/wise
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