[Launch Alert] Vandenberg AFB Launch Schedule
Launch Alert
launch-alert at mailman.qth.net
Sat Sep 1 22:26:29 EDT 2012
LAUNCH ALERT
Brian Webb
Ventura County, California
launch-alert-editor at earthlink.net
www.spacearchive.info
2012 September 1 (Saturday) 19:08 PDT
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VANDENBERG AFB LAUNCH SCHEDULE
As of 2012 September 1
Launch
Time/Window
Date (PST/PDT) Vehicle Pad/Silo
-------- ----------------- ------------- --------
SEP 13 To be announced Atlas V SLC-3E
Vehicle will launch the classified NROL-36 payload for the U.S.
National Reconnaissance Office. The vehicle will also carry the
following secondary payloads: CINEMA (Cubesat for Ion, Neutral,
Electron, Magnetic fields), University of California Berkeley; CSSWE
(Colorado Student Space Weather Experiment), University of Colorado at
Boulder; CP5, California Polytechnic University, San Luis Obispo; CXBN
(Cosmic X-ray Background Nanosat) Morehead State University; SMDC 1.1
and 1.2, US Army Space and Missile Defense Command; Aeneas,
University of Southern California; RE, Lawrence Livermore National
Laboratory; and three Aerocube spacecraft, the Aerospace Corporation.
NOV 14 To be announced Minuteman III ---
Test launch. The Defense Department may release some details about the
launch a few days in advance.
JAN 22 Dawn Pegasus XL N/A
Vehicle will be air-dropped from an L-1011 jumbo jet flying offshore.
The aircraft will be staged from Vandenberg AFB. Launch occurs shortly
before sunrise and may create a weak Twilight Effect as exhaust at
high altitude is illuminated by the Sun
FEB 11 To be announced Atlas V SLC-3E
Vehicle will launch NASA's Landsat Data Continuity Mission
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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The WISE spacecraft was launched from Vandenberg AFB in 2009. Go to
www.spacearchive.info/delta-ii-wise.mp3 for a pre-launch overview of
this mission.
NASA'S WISE SURVEY UNCOVERS MILLIONS OF BLACK HOLES
NASA News Release
2012 August 29
WASHINGTON -- NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE)
mission has led to a bonanza of newfound supermassive black holes and
extreme galaxies called hot DOGs, or dust-obscured galaxies.
Images from the telescope have revealed millions of dusty black hole
candidates across the universe and about 1,000 even dustier objects
thought to be among the brightest galaxies ever found. These powerful
galaxies that burn brightly with infrared light are nicknamed hot
DOGs.
"WISE has exposed a menagerie of hidden objects," said Hashima Hasan,
WISE program scientist at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "We've
found an asteroid dancing ahead of Earth in its orbit, the coldest
star-like orbs known and now, supermassive black holes and galaxies
hiding behind cloaks of dust."
WISE scanned the whole sky twice in infrared light, completing its
survey in early 2011. Like night-vision goggles probing the dark, the
telescope captured millions of images of the sky. All the data from
the mission have been released publicly, allowing astronomers to dig
in and make new discoveries.
The latest findings are helping astronomers better understand how
galaxies and the behemoth black holes at their centers grow and
evolve together. For example, the giant black hole at the center of
our Milky Way galaxy, called Sagittarius A*, has 4 million times the
mass of our sun and has gone through periodic feeding frenzies where
material falls towards the black hole, heats up, and irradiates its
surroundings. Bigger central black holes, up to a billion times the
mass of our sun, even may shut down star formation in galaxies.
In one study, astronomers used WISE to identify about 2.5 million
actively feeding supermassive black holes across the full sky,
stretching back to distances more than 10 billion light-years away.
About two-thirds of these black holes never had been detected before
because dust blocks their visible light. WISE easily sees these
monsters because their powerful, accreting black holes warm the dust,
causing it to glow in infrared light.
In two other WISE papers, researchers report finding what are among
the brightest galaxies known, one of the main goals of the mission.
So far, they have identified about 1,000 candidates.
These extreme objects can pour out more than 100 trillion times as
much light as our sun. They are so dusty, however, that they appear
only in the longest wavelengths of infrared light captured by WISE.
NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope followed up on the discoveries in more
detail and helped show that, in addition to hosting supermassive
black holes feverishly snacking on gas and dust, these DOGs are busy
churning out new stars.
"These dusty, cataclysmically forming galaxies are so rare WISE had to
scan the entire sky to find them," said Peter Eisenhardt, lead author
of the paper on the first of these bright, dusty galaxies, and
project scientist for WISE at JPL. "We are also seeing evidence that
these record setters may have formed their black holes before the
bulk of their stars. The 'eggs' may have come before the 'chickens.'"
More than 100 of these objects, located about 10 billion light-years
away, have been confirmed using the W.M. Keck Observatory on Mauna
Kea, Hawaii, as well as the Gemini Observatory in Chile, Palomar's
200-inch Hale telescope near San Diego, and the Multiple Mirror
Telescope Observatory near Tucson, Ariz.
The WISE observations combined with data at even longer infrared
wavelengths from Caltech's Submillimeter Observatory atop Mauna Kea,
Hawaii, revealed that these extreme galaxies are more than twice as
hot as other infrared-bright galaxies. One theory is their dust is
being heated by an extremely powerful burst of activity from the
supermassive black hole.
"We may be seeing a new, rare phase in the evolution of galaxies,"
said Jingwen Wu of JPL, lead author of the study on the submillimeter
observations. All three papers are being published in the
Astrophysical Journal.
For more information about WISE, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/wise
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LOOKING BACK: Space Shuttle Enterprise
by Brian Webb
More than three decades after it was built at North American Rockwell
in Palmdale, California, the Space Shuttle Enterprise went on public
display on July 19 at its final resting place at the Intrepid Museum
in New York. One of my many memories of the U.S. space program is the
day back in late 1975 when wings were joined Enterprise's fuselage.
NASA announced that a media event would be held at North American
Rockwell's facility at Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale to mark the
milestone. My friend Richard and I decided to attend. Early that
morning, we departed Torrance Airport in Richard's North American
Navion and headed to William Fox field near Palmdale. After landing,
Richard rented a car and we drove to Plant 42.
After we cleared security, our public relations contact escorted us
into a large, clean, well-lit hanger. And there it was: Enterprise
sitting in front of us. It was big and impressive.
We were taken up to a small conference room above the hanger floor
for a briefing. There were few people there and my friend and I were
the only news media. I suddenly realized that the man sitting next to
in a business suit was veteran astronaut John Young.
The briefing was informal and short. I have no recollection of what
it was about or what was said.
Several minutes later, Richard and I were taken down to the hanger
floor and were led into Enterprise's cargo bay from the rear of the
spacecraft (the tail assembly was not yet mounted to the craft). I
remember seeing several arms and legs in white nylon smocks
protruding into the cargo bay. Their owners were mostly hidden from
view as they worked within the craft's various recesses.
Although we went to the facility to see Enterprise's wings be joined
to its fuselage, we did not actually see that milestone. After a few
minutes inside the cargo bay, we departed Plant 42 for William Fox
field and the flight home.
However, what was supposed to be a routine flight proved to be
otherwise. Just as we became airborne and were climbing, Richard
had his right hand on the throttle and other levers on the center
console between our seats. As he moved the controls, the panel
containing the levers suddenly came out of the console. Even worse,
at least one of the cables had come off of its lever.
I thought I was going to die. Richard just shrugged it off and said
something to the effect that this had happened before. He then
proceeded to connect the cable and reattach the panel to the console
as we gained altitude. We later safely arrived at Torrance Airport.
A few years later, I went to Edwards AFB and attended all, or nearly
all, of the flight tests of Enterprise atop the 747 carrier aircraft.
I also managed to cross paths with John Young a few more times as I
attended various events in the Space Shuttle program.
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