[Scan-DC] FW: Wallops launch on Friday night

[Clegg, Andrew W.]

Great! Let us know what time to come by. You'll have the beer ready, right?

Does anyone have any idea of frequencies that might be active for this, particularly aeronautical (which we might stand a chance of hearing a long way from Wallops)?


-----Original Message-----
From: Ed Tobias [mailto:edtobias at comcast.net] 
Sent: Thursday, September 05, 2013 3:55 PM
To: Clegg, Andrew W.; Scan-DC at mailman.qth.net
Subject: Re: [Scan-DC] FW: Wallops launch on Friday night

Standing by at my Ocean City VIP viewing site!

Ed


-----Original Message----- 
From: Clegg, Andrew W.
Sent: Thursday, September 05, 2013 3:09 PM
To: Scan-DC at mailman.qth.net
Subject: [Scan-DC] FW: Wallops launch on Friday night

Some more info about Friday evening's planned launch from Wallops. This 
comes from a colleague at USNO (the USNO will not be open for visitors!). 
The referenced Web page has some neat Google Earth graphics of what the 
launch will look like from various tourist sites around DC and other areas 
(even the Richmond International Speedway - helllllyeh, y'all!)

Not sure about scanner frequencies. I would presume there will be spotter 
planes and stuff up out near Wallops.

Happy viewing,
Andy


All:

On Friday night, Sept. 6 at 11:27 pm EDT NASA will launch an Orbital 
Sciences/USAF Minotaur-V rocket from the Wallops Flight Facility on the 
eastern shore.  The payload will be the LADEE (Lunar Atmosphere and Dust 
Environment Explorer), which will conduct research in lunar orbit this fall. 
The launch window is quite short, extending only until 11:31 pm EDT.  If 
there's a scrub, they only have a brief time each night until Sept. 10 to 
launch before a month-long stand-down.

The Minotaur-V is a five-stage solid-propellant launcher based on the MX 
"Peacekeeper" ICBM with a first-stage thrust of ~360,000 lbf (1,607 
kilonewtons).  Based on the long-range forecast this should be quite visible 
from the DC metro area as well as many locations along the east coast.

We should see the ascending first stage rise above the east-southeast 
horizon at about L+45 seconds.  Burnout of the first stage, staging, and 
ignition of the second stage occurs between L+54 and L+57 seconds.  The 
second stage burns out at ~L+110 seconds, followed by a brief coast phase 
before third stage ignition at L+135 seconds.  The third stage burns for 62 
seconds; when that motor is depleted the vehicle enters an extended 
ballistic coast that will carry it below the horizon before fourth stage 
ignition.  At its highest, the third stage will be a glowing orange dot 
about 13° above the horizon.

My past experiences with Minotaur-I launches (which were based on the much 
smaller Minuteman-II ICBM) lead me to believe that this one should be quite 
spectacular, especially during the first/second stage burns.

Here's a link to Orbital's web page with basic facts and viewing 
circumstances for the launch.  Needless to say, the roof of USNO's Building 
1 is an ideal place to watch it from, but the web page also shows several 
more good viewing spots.  In addition to these, the east terrace of the 
George Washington Masonic Temple in Alexandria is also very good.  If I'm 
not here at USNO I will be watching it from there.

<http://www.orbital.com/NewsInfo/MissionUpdates/MinotaurV/index.shtml>



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