Air Force Minotaur Rocket Launching from Virginia November 19

NASA Photo

WALLOPS FLIGHT FACILITY, Va. — A United States Air Force Minotaur I rocket is scheduled to lift-off at 7:30 p.m. EST,  Tuesday, Nov.19, from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport’s Pad-0B at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.

The Minotaur will launch the Air Force's Operationally Responsive Space Office's ORS-3 mission, which features the deployment of 29 satellites in space.

The launch window is 7:30 to 9:30 p.m.  The backup launch days run through November 26.

The launch may be visible, depending on atmospheric conditions at one’s viewing site, from northern Florida to southern Canada and west to Indiana.

The ORS-3 Mission, also known as an enabler mission, will demonstrate and validate launch and range improvements for NASA and the military. These include automated trajectory targeting, range-safety planning and flight termination systems. The launch also will be part of the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) certification process for the Minotaur rocket. The FAA has licensing authority over American commercial rockets.

The Minotaur's primary payload is the Space Test Program Satellite-3 (STPSat-3), an Air Force technology-demonstration mission. Thirteen small cubesats aboard are being provided through NASA's Cubesat Launch Initiative. Among the cubesats is NASA's Small Satellite Program PhoneSat 2 second generation smartphone mission. Also included is the first cubesat built by high school students.

The NASA Visitor Center at Wallops and the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge/Assateague Island National Seashore will be open for viewing the launch.  Visitors to Assateague need to be on the island by 6 p.m. before the entrance gate closes.

For more information on the ORS-3 mission, visit: http://go.usa.gov/Wgbd.

Live coverage of the launch is available via UStream beginning at 6:30 p.m. EST on launch day at:  http://www.ustream.tv/channel/nasa-tv-wallops. 

Launch status can be followed on launch day on Twitter at: http://www.twitter.com/NASA_Wallops and Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/NASAWFF.

Launch status also is available on the Wallops launch status line at 757-824-2050.

Android users can download the “What’s Up at Wallops” app, which contains information on the launch as well as a compass showing the precise direction for launch viewing. The app is available for download at: http://go.nasa.gov/17veCYT.

Rocket Launch Scheduled For Tonight From Wallops

Rocket Launch Scheduled June 4 From Wallops

WALLOPS ISLAND, VA – A Black Brant XII suborbital rocket carrying the Cosmic Infrared Background ExpeRiment (CIBER)is scheduled for launch between 11 and 11:59 p.m. EDT, June 4, from NASA’s launch range at the Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.

The backup launch days are June 5 through 10. The rocket may be visible to residents in the mid-Atlantic region.

With CIBER, scientists will be studying when the first stars and galaxies formed in the universe and how brightly they burned their nuclear fuel.

Jamie Bock, CIBER principal investigator from the California Institute of Technology, said, “The objectives of the experiment are of fundamental importance for astrophysics: to probe the process of first galaxy formation. The measurement is extremely difficult technically.”

This will be the fourth flight for CIBER on a NASA sounding rocket. The previous launches were in 2009, 2010 and 2012 from the White Sands Missile Range, N.M. After each flight the experiment or payload was recovered for post-calibrations and re-flight.
For this flight CIBER will fly on a larger and more powerful rocket than before. This will loft CIBER to a higher altitude than those previously obtained, thus providing longer observation time for the instruments. The experiment, which will safely splash down in the Atlantic Ocean more than 400 miles off the Virginia coast, will not be recovered.

The NASA Visitor Center at Wallops will open at 9:30 p.m. on launch day for public viewing of the launch.

The mission will be available live on Ustream beginning at 10 p.m. on launch day at: http://www.ustream.com/channel/nasa-wallops

Mission status on launch day can be followed on Twitter and Facebook at:http://www.twitter.com/NASA_Wallops or http://www.facebook.com/NASAWFF

Mission status also is available on the Wallops launch status line at 757-824-2050.
More information on CIBER and the NASA Sounding Rocket Program is available at:http://www.nasa.gov/soundingrockets

http://www.nasa.gov/centers/wallops/news/ciberla.html

Rocket Mission Carrying University Student Experiments

WALLOPS ISLAND, Va. -- University students will put their academic skills to the test when atmospheric and technology experiments they developed fly on a NASA suborbital sounding rocket. The launch will take place between 6:30 and 10 a.m., Thursday, Aug. 23, from the agency's Wallops Flight Facility at Wallops Island, Va.
Four university experiments will be flown as part of an educational project called RockSat-X, which is designed to provide students hands-on experience in designing, fabricating, testing and conducting experiments for space flight. The project is a joint effort between NASA and the Colorado Space Grant Consortium at the University of Colorado at Boulder.

The selected experiments for this year's RockSat launch are from Baylor University in Waco, Texas; University of Colorado at Boulder; the University of Puerto Rico; and Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) in Blacksburg, Va.

"RockSat-X is part of a series of student flight programs designed to enhance students' skills and prepare them for careers at NASA and in the aerospace industry," said Chris Koehler, director of the Colorado Space Grant Consortium.

The program begins with a hands-on workshop called RockOn and then proceeds to the RockSat-C and RockSat-X programs. At each level, the experiments become more complex, which provides students an opportunity to gain a greater understanding of the requirements for developing space-based experiments.

The experiments will fly on a two-stage Terrier-Improved Malemute rocket to a projected altitude of 98 miles. After the 15-minute flight, the payload carrying the experiments will splash down via parachute in the Atlantic Ocean approximately 66 miles off the coast of Virginia. The 875-pound payload will be recovered for re-use and experiment analysis.

The University of Puerto Rico will use a mass spectrometer to conduct an analysis of atmospheric particles and pressure. Virginia Tech and Baylor universities have teamed up to measure nitric oxide and atmospheric dust. The University of Colorado will be testing a device to assist in de-orbiting small spacecraft and the Colorado Space Grant Consortium will fly seven cameras to capture all the action in high-definition, which will be made available to the public shortly after recovery.

The RockSat-X concept provides students with a payload structure with pre-defined mechanical, power and data interfaces and volume and mass limits. This is the second RockSat-X mission, with the first having been flown July 11, 2011.

The project will be the ninth suborbital rocket mission this year from NASA's launch facility on Wallops Island and the first of four launches scheduled through mid-September.

RockSat-X program information is available at:

http://spacegrant.colorado.edu/rockon/

The launch will be available live on Ustream at:

http://www.ustream.com/channel/nasa-wallops

For more about NASA's Wallops Flight Facility, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/wallops

What Were You Doing Earlier This Afternoon?

I hope that if  any of you were  out lounging by your pool in your birthday suit earlier this afternoon you reached over and found a towel to cover yourself with.

You just never know who will be watching.....

NASA Rocket Launch Rescheduled For Monday

NASA'S  WALLOPS FLIGHT CENTER
IRVE-3 Launch Scrub: Bad weather in recovery zone off N.C. coast has postponed attempt. We'll try again Monday, July 23 5-8 a.m.



NASA managers are rescheduling the launch of an inflatable heat shield technology demonstration flight from the agency's Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, Va., until no earlier than Sunday, July 22.

The Inflatable Reentry Vehicle Experiment (IRVE-3) launch was postponed for one day to allow for additional testing of launch vehicle systems. NASA has three consecutive days of launch opportunities for IRVE-3, with a liftoff window from 6 a.m. to 8 a.m. EDT each day.


IRVE-3 is part of the Hypersonic Inflatable Aerodynamic Decelerator (HIAD) Project within the Game Changing Development Program, part of NASA's Space Technology Program.


The rocket will be visible to residents in the Wallops and southern Chesapeake Bay region.


The NASA Visitor Center at Wallops will open at 4:30 a.m. on launch day for viewing the launch.


Further information on this mission including how to view the launch on the Internet and following the countdown on Twitter and

Facebook is available at: www.nasa.gov/wallops

NASA Television will air the IRVE-3 launch live and stream it on the agency's website at: http://www.nasa.gov/ntv

Further information on the IRVE-3 is available at: http://www.nasa.gov/hiad

NASA Rocket Launch from Virginia

Photo/Wikipedia

NASA Rocket Launch from Virginia Scheduled July 21

NASA will launch an inflatable aeroshell/heat shield technology demonstrator on a Black Brant XI sounding rocket July 21 from the agency’s launch range at the Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.

NASA researchers are working to develop a new kind of lightweight inflatable spacecraft outer shell to slow and protect vehicles as they blaze through the atmosphere at hypersonic speeds.

Based on the approved range schedule, the rocket is set for launch between 6 and 8 a.m. EDT. The backup launch days are July 22 - 24.

The Inflatable Reentry Vehicle Experiment (IRVE-3), developed at NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va., will be flown on a suborbital flight test ride on a three-stage launch vehicle. Approximately 20 minutes after launch, the test article is projected to splash down in the Atlantic Ocean approximately 100 miles east of Cape Hatteras, NC.

The rocket launch may be visible to residents in the Wallops and southern Chesapeake Bay region.

The NASA Visitor Center at Wallops will open at 4:30 a.m. on launch day for viewing the launch.

The launch will be webcast beginning at 5 a.m. on launch day at: http://sites.wff.nasa.gov/webcast and http://www.ustream.tv/channel/nasa-wallops

Launch status can be followed on launch day on Twitter at: http://www.twitter.com/NASA_Wallops and Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/NASAWFF

Launch status also is available on the Wallops launch status line at 757-824-2050.

Further information on the IRVE-3 is available at: http://www.nasa.gov/hiad

Test Flight From NASA On Thursday

A test flight of a NASA Terrier suborbital rocket motor will be conducted between 9 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 8 from the agency's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, officials announced.

The backup launch days are Sept. 9 and 10.

The rocket will only be visible in the Wallops area. The NASA Visitor Center will open at 8:30 a.m. on launch day for viewing the launch.

This launch will not be webcast since the Terrier motor burn will be visible for only 6 seconds, according to officials.

Launch status is available on the Wallops launch status line at (757) 824-2050.

NASA Rocket Launch From Wallops Set For Thursday

Seventeen educational experiments will fly June 23 on a Terrier- Improved Orion suborbital sounding rocket from NASA’s Launch Range at the Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.

The experiments built by university instructors and students from across the country were developed through programs conducted with the Colorado and Virginia and Space Grant Consortia. The programs are designed to provide participants an introduction in building small experiments that can be launched on sounding rockets.

Based on the approved range schedule, the rocket is set for launch between 6 and 10 a.m. EDT. The backup launch days are June 24 and 25. The rocket will be visible to residents in the Wallops area. The NASA Visitor Center will open at 5 a.m. on launch day for viewing the launch.

The launch will be webcast beginning at 5 a.m. on launch day at: http://sites.wff.nasa.gov/webcast

Launch status can be followed on Twitter at:http://www.Twitter.com/NASA_Wallops

Launch status also is available at the Wallops launch status line at 757-824-2050.

Further information on this mission is available on the Internet at: http://www.nasa.gov/centers/wallops/news/rockon2011.html

College Teams Will Launch Rockets From NASA On Saturday

Teams from three southeastern colleges will try to launch rockets 10,000 feet in the air from Wallops Island and survive a water recovery.

Students from the University of Alabama at Huntsville, Mississippi State University in Starkville, and Mitchell Community College in Statesville, N.C., will participate in the event sponsored by NASA on May 21.

As part of the challenge, each team will design and build its own rocket and operate it during flight. Each team is also required to develop a project website and write progress and post-launch analysis reports.

Teams also develop space- and exploration-themed educational projects to share with schools and youth organizations in their communities.

Source; http://www.shoredailynews.com/

Be Sure To Look For The Meteor Shower This Week

A spectacular stream of meteors believed to be leftovers from Halley's Comet is expected to streak across the skies this week, but a full harvest moon will compete for attention and may obstruct some of the show.

The meteors, a junior version of the famous Perseid meteor shower, are called the Orionids because they appear to shoot from the second-brightest star in the Orion constellation, or from the hunter's elbow. Up to 30 meteors -- fast, bright streaks like shooting stars -- could be visible each hour in the night sky, starting tonight, Space.com reports.

"The Orionids are fast meteors and also have fireballs. The radiant of the shower will be observed north of Betelgeuse, the brightest star in the constellation Orion, the Mighty Hunter," Graciano Yumul, an officer at the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration, told GMA News.

The shower's radiant point is near the celestial equator, meaning that it'll be visible in both the northern and southern hemispheres, according to iSurf News.

The annual show usually happens from Oct. 17 to Oct. 25, and this year it'll peak before dawn on Thursday. But that's also when a full moon will appear over North America, in most places on Saturday, perhaps dimming the light of the meteors. So the best viewing times are believed to be earlier in the week, when the moon isn't as bright. The best places from which to view the meteor shower are in rural spots that don't have other light pollution.

The Orionids are thought be caused by Halley's Comet, which was named for astronomer Edmond Halley and passes through the inner solar system once every 76 years. The last time was in 1986.

But every time Halley's Comet zooms past the sun, bits of ice and rock are evaporated off the comet and go flying into space. The debris hangs there in space and create the annual Orionid display.
www.aolnews.com

Geminid Meteor Shower

The best meteor shower of 2009 is predicted for this weekend. However, given the rainy forecast for the Eastern Shore, it may be tough to see.


The Geminid shower has been getting better each year since it was noticed shortly before the Civil War. The shower comes from an object called 3200 Phaethon, which is believed to be either an asteroid or the remains of a comet leaving a trail of debris. Jupiter's gravity has been steadily pulling the debris closer to Earth's orbit each year, creating brighter meteors.

The Geminid meteor shower will peak near midnight Sunday and into Monday morning, when more than 140 meteors an hour are expected. Meteors should be visible for a couple of days before and after the peak, NASA says.

For the best viewing, find a dark-sky location. If you look toward the constellation Gemini in the east, meteors with short tails should be visible.If you look away from Gemini, long-tailed meteors should be visible.


href="http://www.shoredailynews.com

Strange Lights in the Sky

For anyone that saw the bright lights in the sky Saturday evening just after dark it wasn't a visit from aliens. I heard a deep rumble, similar to thunder, from not too far away, but thought nothing of it until I got a phone call from my son concerning any rocket launches from NASA. From Assateague beach on the Maryland side a huge bright light was seen and then just poofed into a white cloud. Well, that must have been an interesting sight.



Turns out NASA successfully launched the Black Brant XII rocket from the launch pad located in Wallops Island, Virginia. The rocket was designed to gather data on the highest clouds in the atmosphere. NASA hopes that the experiment will give them useful information regarding the properties and formation of the clouds, named noctilucent clouds, which occur in the higher altitudes.




So there you have it! Lots of people living in the Northeast (even as far away as Boston) saw the lights. Many people reported the sightings to news stations, as I guess I would have too. But, sorry, no aliens, just NASA.



And that's a good thing.