woody with a view - 2-21-2011 at 12:36 PM
LAUNCH ALERT
Brian Webb
Ventura County, California
launch-alert-editor@earthlink.net
www.spacearchive.info
2011 February 21 (Monday) 11:05 PST
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NASA'S GLORY CLIMATE SATELLITE READY FOR LAUNCH FEB. 23
Vandenberg AFB Notice to Editors
2011 February 10
VANDENBERG AFB, Calif. - The launch of NASA's Glory spacecraft aboard
an Orbital Sciences Taurus XL rocket is scheduled for Wednesday, Feb.
23. Liftoff will be from Space Launch Complex 576-E at Vandenberg Air
Force Base (VAFB), Calif. Liftoff is targeted for 2:09:43 a.m. PST
(5:09:43 a.m. EST) in the middle of a 48-second launch window. The
spacecraft's final polar orbit will be 438 nautical miles (508 miles)
at an inclination of 98.2 degrees.
Data from the Glory mission will allow scientists to better understand
how the sun and tiny atmospheric particles called aerosols affect
Earth's climate. Both aerosols and solar energy influence the planet's
energy budget, which is the amount of energy entering and exiting
Earth's atmosphere. An accurate measurement of these impacts is
important in order to anticipate future changes to our climate and how
they may affect human life.
The first of NASA's Educational Launch of Nanosatellite, or ELaNa,
missions also will be launched on the Taurus XL. These auxiliary
payloads are small satellites called CubeSats. Each is designed and
created by university and college students. Three satellites will be
deployed on ELaNa-1.
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LAUNCH VISIBILITY
by Brian Webb
Wednesday morning's launch of a Taurus XL rocket from Vandenberg
AFB remains on schedule. The rocket is slated to lift-off from launch
pad 576E at 02:09:43 PST, the middle of a 48-second launch window.
The Taurus will initially rise vertically before it slowly pitches
over and heads southward. If the launch occurs as planned, the rocket
will carry NASA's Glory spacecraft and several university satellites
into orbit.
The Taurus is a solid propellant, multi-stage rocket. Solid
propellant produces a dazzlingly bright light when it burns. That,
combined with the fact that the launch will occur at night, the
rocket has multiple stages that will burn for several minutes as the
vehicle gains altitude and covers a great distance, means the event
may be visible over a wide area.
The launch could be visible to the naked eye as far away as San
Francisco, Lake Tahoe, Needles, Yuma, and the interior of northwest
Mexico.
Observers within 150 miles of the vehicle's flight path should see a
bright, moving orange object. For observers further away, the Taurus
may resemble a faint, moving orange or red star.
Observers as far away as San Marcos Pass and possibly Santa Barbara
may hear a low rumble from the rocket about three minutes after
liftoff.
mcfez - 2-21-2011 at 12:45 PM
Any extra room on it for DENNIS?
woody with a view - 2-21-2011 at 01:04 PM
where's the love, man?