[Launch Alert] Vandenberg AFB Launch Schedule
Launch Alert
launch-alert at mailman.qth.net
Sat Dec 1 15:07:22 EST 2012
LAUNCH ALERT
Brian Webb
Ventura County, California
launch-alert-editor at earthlink.net
www.spacearchive.info
2012 December 1 (Saturday) 12:02 PST
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VANDENBERG AFB LAUNCH SCHEDULE
As of 2012 December 1
Launch
Time/Window
Date (PST/PDT) Vehicle Pad/Silo
---------- ----------------- ------------- --------
JAN-MAR To be announced GBI ---
A Ground-based Interceptor will be launched to assess vehicle design
changes. This missile defense-related flight does not involve an
intercept attempt.
FEB 11 10:04 Atlas V SLC-3E
Vehicle will launch NASA's Landsat Data Continuity Mission
Spring To be announced GBI ---
Missile defense test. A Ground-based Interceptor will be launched from
Vandenberg in an attempt to intercept a target launched from Kwajalein
in the central Pacific.
APR To be announced Atlas V SLC-3E
Vehicle will launch the GeoEye 2 commercial Earth-imaging satellite
NET APR 29 Dawn? Pegasus XL Offshore
Payload is NASA's Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS)
satellite. Vehicle will be air-dropped from an L-1011 jumbo jet flying
offshore. The aircraft will be staged from Vandenberg AFB. Launch may
occur shortly before sunrise and could create a weak Twilight Effect
for observers in the San Francisco area and near northern California
coast as the high altitude exhaust is illuminated by the Sun
APR-JUN To be announced Falcon 9 SLC-4E
Vehicle will launch the Cassiope satellite for the Canadian Space
Agency
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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SCHRIEVER SQUADRONS ASSURE SAFE PASSAGE IN SPACE DOMAIN
by Scott Prater
Schriever Air Force Base News Feature
2012 November 28
SCHRIEVER AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. -- Members of the 1st and 7th Space
Operations Squadrons took notice when an upper stage Russian rocket
disintegrated in low earth orbit Oct. 16. The break up introduced an
estimated 500 pieces of debris into an area where the U.S. operates a
multitude of satellites, further congesting an already crowded orbit
around Earth.
The event sheds light on an ever-growing issue for the space and
satellite industry, one that seemed far fetched only a few years ago.
"The idea that big space would someday become crowded was more theory
than fact," said Lt. Col. Mike Manor, 1 SOPS commander. "Now, the
reality is that space is growing seemingly smaller as more objects are
now orbiting Earth. Few people realize there are men and women
dedicated to assuring safe passage for our assets in space."
The Space Based Space Surveillance satellite and its sister, the
Advanced Technology Risk Reduction satellite, were designed to
provide space situational awareness of the geostationary belt, but
increasingly are being tasked to support space situational awareness
in other orbits as well.
A collision with something as small as a bolt, a rivet, even bits of
shrapnel, traveling at a high rate of speed can render a satellite
inoperable, if not totally destroy it, thus it's becoming ever more
important to accurately track such debris.
Along with radar and optical sensors on the ground, SBSS and ATRR are
providing that tracking data to the Joint Space Operations Center, the
organization that keeps a real-time catalog of orbiting objects.
Maj. Patrick Slaughter, 1 SOPS assistant director of operations, says
demand for this tracking data will do nothing but grow in the years
ahead as space gets more congested and contested.
"For the longest time, we as a nation, held on to the idea that space
is a big place, but most people don't understand what's happening up
there," he said. "Break ups like this add to the congestion, but we
also have events like the Chinese Fengyun incident, that brought
attention to the idea of contested space."
In 2007, the Chinese government demonstrated the effectiveness of an
anti-satellite system by destroying one of its own weather satellites,
the Fengyun-1C weather satellite, via a ground-launched missile.
Besides creating a large debris field, the event showed that China
possesses the capability to "kill" a satellite in LEO. Manor pointed
out that it's not a big leap to assume they could do this to a U.S.
satellite.
"The number of debris avoidance maneuvers required by the
International Space Station has significantly increased since that
incident," Slaughter said. "Then we had the Iridium-Cosmos collision
in 2009, where a U.S. and Russian satellite collided over Siberia. We
have to maneuver our LOE satellites around that debris field as well."
Manor said these combined events, among others, have not only helped
drive international policy negotiations, but signaled that the world
has recognized a need for better awareness of what's happening in
space.
"We can use the evolution of air travel as a model," he said. "When
the Wright brothers first took flight the skies were open. Gradually,
more aircraft shared the skies and eventually we reached a point where
we needed air traffic controllers and regulation to keep air travel
safe. Now, we've taken the rudimentary steps for space traffic
control."
When the JSPOC detects a satellite is on course to collide with
something, they provide a warning to that system's operators. No doubt
similar conversations happen hundreds if not thousands of times a day
between air traffic controllers and pilots.
Placing this all in perspective, why does it matter what operations
crews at 1 and 7 SOPS do?
"Along with the ground tracking stations and the JSPOC, our team is
keeping watch over space and will remain vigilant in keeping the
domain as safe as possible," Manor said. "These collective efforts not
only help minimize the potential for disastrous events, but also keep
the space domain in a condition for continued utilization by all
nations."
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WEB SITE UPDATES
The following updates were recently made to the Space Archive web
site:
Vandenberg AFB Launch History updated
www.spacearchive.info/vafblog.htm
Ground Based Interceptor / FTG-06 launch images posted
www.spacearchive.info/ground-based-interceptor-ftg-06.htm
Delta II / COSMO-4 launch image posted
www.spacearchive.info/delta-ii-cosmo-4.htm
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sources or is approved for public release.
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