RockSat-X launched from Wallops Island on August 12, 2015 (images from Wallops facebook page) at 1101UTC.
According to armyrecognition.com, China may have conducted an ICBM (DF-41) test on August 5, 2015.
RockSat-X launched from Wallops Island on August 12, 2015 (images from Wallops facebook page) at 1101UTC.
I don't think 1101 UTC is correct.
The NASA Wallops twitter feed announced at 06:00 am EDT that The clock had been restarted
after a hold and clock was T-4 minutes and counting.
Then at 6:03 am Wallops twitter feed said T-1 minute.
At 6:06 am EDT it said liftoff.
Of course those times are only approximate and one needs to allow for typing time, etc.
However it does confirm the launch was a few minutes after the window opening at 6 am EDT [10:00 UTC].
The ustream video of the launch at
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/nasa-tv-wallopshas a UTC clock showing on the screen throughout the countdown, launch and flight.
At the time the 1st stage ignites on the screen that clock shows 10:04:32 or 10:04:33 UTC
which was consistent with the call outs of T-X times on the video.
I did not hear a targeted T-0 time on the video.
I am waiting until the blue book publishes the launch time but I'm
confident it was between 10:04:30 and 10:04:35 UTC.
Carl
The following is a news release from Air Force Global Strike Command:
Minot conducts ICBM test launch on 45 year Minuteman III anniversary
By Capt. Christopher Mesnard
Air Force Global Strike Command Public Affairs
BARKSDALE AIR FORCE BASE, La. -- It was 45 years to the day that the 91st Missile Wing at Minot Air Force Base, North Dakota, put the U.S. Air Force’s first Minuteman III missiles on alert. Today, the 91st MW completed an operational test launch of an unarmed Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile at Vandenberg AFB, California, continuing its mission providing strategic deterrence for the United States and our allies.
Working with members of the 576th Flight Test Squadron and 30th Space Wing at Vandenberg AFB, the Minot team launched the ICBM today at 3:03 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time. The test reentry vehicle impacted in a pre-established test area roughly 4,200 miles away in the Pacific Ocean near the Kwajalein Atoll.
“Launching an ICBM under operational conditions is a whole team effort, and that’s what we bring out here to replicate the scenarios in the field as close as possible,” said Lt. Col. Eric Thompson, 91st MW Task Force commander. “The operations and maintenance crews who come out here with us know the job they’re doing back home is important, and actually coming out here to launch an unarmed missile really solidifies the job we do every day with nuclear deterrence.”
Prior to each operational test launch operations and maintenance crews from the supporting missile wing reassemble the missile, pull alert duties and, finally, launch the Minuteman III.
“It’s very exciting getting the opportunity to do [the launch], but it’s definitely going to be a team effort with our Minot crews, the space wing and 576th all working together,” said 1st Lt. Benjamin Shea, 741st Missile Squadron assistant flight commander. “The launch itself is going to ensure that the missile is going to do what it was designed to do, and it’s good to see that, because we don’t get this every day.”
All test launches verify the accuracy and reliability of the ICBM weapon system and provide valuable data to ensure the platform remains a safe, secure and effective nuclear deterrent, but this launch in particular offered a sense of longevity and persistence the mission the Minuteman III community has experienced over the past 45 years.
The former 741st Strategic Missile Squadron at Minot AFB originally brought the first Minuteman III missiles on alert in 1970 just one day after another ICBM anniversary, the first test launch of an operationally configured Minuteman II missile in 1965. That Minuteman II launch also took place at Vandenberg AFB, stressing the role the base holds in the strategic deterrence testing and evaluation mission.
"Vandenberg has hosted the operational test launch program for over five decades, and it's here that we really have a chance to demonstrate the effectiveness and operational capabilities of our weapon systems," said Col. Craig Ramsey, 576th FLTS commander. "Putting all the pieces together, to make a launch happen, seems simple after the fact, but we have teams from Minot working with personnel from our test and evaluation squadron and the 30th Space Wing. It truly is a complex mission to get an asset from the operational unit, add test and safety packages to it, and ensure all facets of the mission are test-ready -- but it's handled by professionals who are the best in the world at their job."
Air Force Global Strike Command’s new commander Gen. Robin Rand was also on hand to see the Airmen in action for the test.
“I’m truly impressed by the knowledge, the skills and the teamwork that our Airmen demonstrated during this test launch,” said Gen. Robin Rand, AFGSC commander. “When I think of the value of these types of tests have played over the years, I think of the messages we send to our allies who seek protection from aggression and to adversaries who threaten peace. I also think about the American people we’ve sworn an oath to protect; people like my grandchildren who count on us to get this right. We can’t let them down.”
Currently, Air Force Global Strike Command oversees the nation’s more than 400 ICBMs across Minot AFB; F. E. Warren AFB, Wyoming; and Malmstrom AFB, Montana, all of which randomly select ICBMs from their missile fields to perform operational test launches like this one.
Minuteman III Launch from Vandenberg AFB Media Release
Published on Aug 19, 2015
AUGUST 19TH, AIRMEN FROM MINOT AND VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASES CONDUCTED AN OPERATIONAL TEST LAUNCH OF AN UNARMED MINUTEMAN THREE MISSILE. THE TEST LAUNCH TOOK PLACE ON THE FORTY FIFTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE FIRST AIR FORCE MINUTEMAN THREE MISSILES GOING ON ALERT WITH THE FORMER SEVEN FORTY-FIRST STRATEGIC MISSILE SQUADRON AT MINOT. TODAY’S TEST LAUNCH USED AN INTERCONTINENTAL BALLISTIC MISSILE PULLED RANDOMLY FROM A SILO ON MINOT, WHICH WAS THEN TRANSPORTED AND REASSEMBLED AT VANDENBERG, AND LAUNCHED BY CREW MEMBERS FROM 91ST MISSILE WING AT MINOT. THE ICBM WAS EQUIPPED WITH A TEST REENTRY VEHICLE, AND TRAVELED APPROXIMATELY FOUR THOUSAND TWO HUNDRED MILES TO A TEST RANGE NEAR THE KWAJALEIN ATOLL IN THE MARSHALL ISLANDS. ICBM TEST LAUNCHES VERIFY THE ACCURACY AND RELIABILITY OF THE WEAPON SYSTEM, PROVIDING VALUABLE DATA TO ENSURE A SAFE, SECURE AND EFFECTIVE NUCLEAR DETERRENT.
RockSat-X launched from Wallops Island on August 12, 2015 (images from Wallops facebook page) at 1101UTC.
I don't think 1101 UTC is correct.
The NASA Wallops twitter feed announced at 06:00 am EDT that The clock had been restarted
after a hold and clock was T-4 minutes and counting.
Then at 6:03 am Wallops twitter feed said T-1 minute.
At 6:06 am EDT it said liftoff.
Of course those times are only approximate and one needs to allow for typing time, etc.
However it does confirm the launch was a few minutes after the window opening at 6 am EDT [10:00 UTC].
The ustream video of the launch at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/nasa-tv-wallops
has a UTC clock showing on the screen throughout the countdown, launch and flight.
At the time the 1st stage ignites on the screen that clock shows 10:04:32 or 10:04:33 UTC
which was consistent with the call outs of T-X times on the video.
I did not hear a targeted T-0 time on the video.
I am waiting until the blue book publishes the launch time but I'm
confident it was between 10:04:30 and 10:04:35 UTC.
Carl
GSFC FB page says 6:04am. The 1101 UTC is probably a mistake for the Apr 18 launch which was indeed at that time
Some pics of the Minuteman-3 launch on August 19.
Credit: VAFB
MOSES II was scheduled to fly on BB IX 36.282US.
NASA 36.291US is due to launch at 1101 MDT / 1701 UTC Sep 3. The payload is the CLASP solar telescope
and the PI is Dr. Amy Winebarger from U Alabama Huntsville.
On a personal note, Amy came to Harvard from a small Tennessee college to be an undergraduate summer student with us back in 1994,
and we set her on a solar physics project. I'm very proud to see her flying her own rocket payloads now!
NASA 36.291US is due to launch at 1101 MDT / 1701 UTC Sep 3. The payload is the CLASP solar telescope
and the PI is Dr. Amy Winebarger from U Alabama Huntsville.
On a personal note, Amy came to Harvard from a small Tennessee college to be an undergraduate summer student with us back in 1994,
and we set her on a solar physics project. I'm very proud to see her flying her own rocket payloads now!
Amy just posted to Facebook that the launch was successful! They're on their way to pick up the payload from the desert.
Just discovered in the 2014 Sounding Rockets Annual Report, that NASA is developing a sounding rocket based on surplus ATACSM missiles. ATACSM is not explicitely mentioned, but the illustration shows clearly, what the new kind of surplus missile is.
Apparently it will be available in a single stage ATACSM version and a two stage Terrier ATACSM version. Unusual is, that it will be a guided sounding rocket, while most are unguided and spin stabilized.
Has anyone more info on this project?
NASA 36.291US is due to launch at 1101 MDT / 1701 UTC Sep 3. The payload is the CLASP solar telescope
and the PI is Dr. Amy Winebarger from U Alabama Huntsville.
Some extra info:
CLASP is a new instrument. CLASP has significant heritage from past experiments: Optical layout is partly based on Solar Ultraviolet Magnetograph Instrument (SUMI), 36.213 Porter/Davis & 36.284 Cirtain. Electronics & electrical interface based on SUMI & High Resolution Coronal Imager (Hi-C), 36.272/Cirtain.
The Science goals of CLASP are:
Detection of atomic polarization of the Lyman-alpha line from the solar chromosphere.
Detection of the Hanle effect polarization.
The aim of CLASP is to achieve the first measurement of magnetic field in the upper chromosphere and transition region of the Sun through the detection and measurement of Hanle effect polarization of the Lyman alpha line. The Hanle effect (i.e. the magnetic field induced modification of the linear polarization due to scattering processes in spectral lines) is believed to be a powerful tool for measuring the magnetic field in the upper chromosphere, as it is more sensitive to weaker magnetic fields than the Zeeman effect, and also sensitive to magnetic fields tangled at spatial scales too small to be resolved. The Lyman-alpha (121.567 nm) line has been chosen because it is a chromospheric/transition-region line, and because the Hanle effect polarization of the Lyman-alpha line is predicted to be sensitive to 10-250 Gauss, encompassing the range of interest.
source:
http://sites.wff.nasa.gov/code810/news/story179.html
CARE-II (Charged Aerosol Release Experiment-II) was launched from Andoya Space Center at 1906UTC on September 16.
The vehicle followed a near nominal trajectory and reached an apogee at about 300 kilometers altitude. The scientific objective for this mission was to test the theories for radar scatter from charged dust, and it’s a continuation from the first CARE mission.
CARE is an acronym for Charged Aerosol Release Experiment, and involves releasing dust into the atmosphere. The dust release was monitored by a NASA aircraft, as well as from the EISCAT radar in Tromsø, the ALOMAR observatory at Andøya and the MAARSY-radar at Andøya.
Principal investigator for this mission is Dr. Paul A Bernhardt from the Plasma Physics Division at the Naval Research Laboratory.