[Launch Alert] Vandenberg AFB Launch Schedule
Launch Alert
launch-alert at mailman.qth.net
Fri May 2 08:40:13 EDT 2014
LAUNCH ALERT
Brian Webb
Ventura County, California
launch-alert-editor at earthlink.net
www.spacearchive.info
2014 May 1 (Thursday) 19:33 PDT
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VANDENBERG AFB LAUNCH SCHEDULE
Launch
Time/Window
Date (PST/PDT) Vehicle Pad/Silo
-------- ----------------- ------------- --------
APR-JUN To be announced GBI ---
Missile defense test involving the launch of a target missile from
the Central Pacific followed by a Ground Based Interceptor from
Vandenberg AFB. FTG-06B
JUL 1 02:56 Delta II SLC-2W
Vehicle will launch the Orbiting Carbon Observatory 2 environmental
satellite. 1-second launch window
AUG To be announced Atlas V SLC-3E
Vehicle will launch the WorldView 3 earth imaging satellite
NOV 5 06:16-06:25 Delta II SLC-2W
Vehicle will launch the Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) satellite.
Launch window occurs just after sunrise
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 CARBON-COUNTING SATELLITE ARRIVES AT LAUNCH SITE
Jet Propulsion Laboratory News Release
2014 APR 30
A NASA spacecraft designed to make precise measurements of carbon
dioxide in Earth's atmosphere is at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif.,
to begin final preparations for launch.
The Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 arrived Wednesday at its launch site
on California's central coast after traveling from Orbital Sciences
Corp.'s Satellite Manufacturing Facility in Gilbert, Ariz. The
spacecraft now will undergo final tests and then be integrated on top
of a United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket in preparation for a
planned July 1 launch.
The observatory is NASA's first satellite mission dedicated to
studying carbon dioxide, a critical component of Earth's carbon cycle
that is the leading human-produced greenhouse gas driving changes in
Earth's climate. It replaces a nearly identical spacecraft lost due to
a rocket launch mishap in February 2009.
OCO-2 will provide a new tool for understanding both the sources of
carbon dioxide emissions and the natural processes that remove carbon
dioxide from the atmosphere, and how they are changing over time.
Since the start of the Industrial Revolution more than 200 years ago,
the burning of fossil fuels, as well as other human activities, have
led to an unprecedented buildup in this greenhouse gas, which is now
at its highest level in at least 800,000 years. Human activities have
increased the level of carbon dioxide by more than 25 percent in just
the past half century.
Greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide, trap the sun's heat within
Earth's atmosphere, warming it and keeping it at habitable
temperatures. However, scientists have concluded that increases in
carbon dioxide resulting from human activities have thrown Earth's
natural carbon cycle off balance, increasing global temperatures and
changing the planet's climate.
While scientists understand carbon dioxide emissions resulting from
burning fossil fuels and can estimate their quantity quite accurately,
their understanding of carbon dioxide from other human-produced and
natural sources is relatively less quantified. Atmospheric
measurements collected at ground stations indicate less than half of
the carbon dioxide humans emit into the atmosphere stays there. The
rest is believed to be absorbed by the ocean and plants on land.
But the locations and identity of the natural "sinks" absorbing this
carbon dioxide currently are not well understood. OCO-2 will help
solve this critical scientific puzzle. Quantifying how the natural
processes are helping remove carbon from the atmosphere will help
scientists construct better models to predict how much carbon dioxide
these sinks will be able to absorb in the future.
The mission's innovative technologies will enable space-based
measurements of atmospheric carbon dioxide with the sensitivity,
resolution and coverage needed to characterize the sources of carbon
dioxide emissions and the natural sinks that moderate their buildup,
at regional scales, everywhere on Earth. The mission's data will help
scientists reduce uncertainties in forecasts of how much carbon
dioxide is in the atmosphere and improve the accuracy of global
climate change predictions.
In addition to measuring carbon dioxide, OCO-2 will monitor the "glow"
of the chlorophyll contained within plants, a phenomenon known as
solar-induced chlorophyll fluorescence, opening up potential new
applications for studying vegetation on land. NASA researchers, in
collaboration with Japanese and other international colleagues, have
discovered that data from Japan's GOSAT (Greenhouse gases observing
SATellite, also known as Ibuki in Japan), along with other satellites,
including OCO-2, can help monitor this "signature" of photosynthesis
on a global scale.
The observatory will fly in a 438-mile (705-kilometer) altitude,
near-polar orbit in formation with the five other satellites that are
part of the Afternoon, or "A-Train" Constellation. This international
constellation of Earth-observing satellites circles Earth once every
98 minutes in a sun-synchronous orbit that crosses the equator near
1:30 p.m. local time and repeats the same ground track every 16 days.
OCO-2 will be inserted at the head of the A-Train. Once in this orbit,
OCO-2 is designed to operate for at least two years. This coordinated
flight formation will enable researchers to correlate OCO-2 data with
data from other NASA and partner spacecraft.
OCO-2 is a NASA Earth System Science Pathfinder Program mission
managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., for
NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. Orbital built the
spacecraft and provides mission operations under JPL's leadership. The
science instrument was built by JPL, based on the instrument design
co-developed for the original OCO mission by Hamilton Sundstrand in
Pomona, Calif. NASA's Launch Services Program at NASA's Kennedy Space
Center in Florida is responsible for launch management. JPL is managed
for NASA by the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.
For more information about the Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2, visit:
http://oco.jpl.nasa.gov
and
http://www.nasa.gov/oco-2
NASA monitors Earth's vital signs from land, air and space with a
fleet of satellites and ambitious airborne and ground-based
observation campaigns. NASA develops new ways to observe and study
Earth's interconnected natural systems with long-term data records and
computer analysis tools to better see how our planet is changing. The
agency shares this unique knowledge with the global community and
works with institutions in the United States and around the world that
contribute to understanding and protecting our home planet. OCO-2 is
the second of five NASA Earth science missions launched into space
this year, the most new Earth-observing mission launches in the same
year in more than a decade.
For more information about NASA's Earth science activities in 2014,
visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/earthrightnow
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