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#1660 by Lewis007 on 28 Jun, 2017 06:49
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There was also a missile launch by South Korea on June 23 (Hyunmoo-2C missile).
See: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/23/world/asia/south-korea-missile-ballistic.html
or
http://thediplomat.com/2017/06/seoul-test-fires-new-ballistic-missile-in-warning-to-north-korea/
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#1661 by meberbs on 28 Jun, 2017 13:24
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Future Heavy 2017 launched on 24 June.
For anyone unfamiliar, this is a ULA intern project. http://www.ulalaunch.com/2017-future-heavy-launch-ula-ball.aspx
With the SpaceX launches the day before and after, there were 3 vertical rocket landings in 3 days. This one supported by soft soil rather than landing legs.
Also, a lot of other, smaller rockets were launched at the event. It was definitely neat to see. -
#1662 by Chris Bergin on 29 Jun, 2017 09:03
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Launch of the Wallops sounding rocket that had been delayed for days:
https://twitter.com/NASA_Wallops/status/880346410679447553 -
#1663 by catdlr on 29 Jun, 2017 11:44
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Nighttime Rocket Launch Creates Colorful Clouds in Space
NASA
Published on Jun 29, 2017
The early morning skies along the mid-Atlantic coast were lit up by luminescent clouds as NASA tested a new system to support scientific studies of the ionosphere and aurora, with a sounding rocket launch June 24 from the Wallops Flight Facility on the eastern shore of Virginia. During the flight of a two-stage Terrier-Improved Malemute sounding rocket, 10 canisters about the size of a soft drink can be deployed in the air, 6 to 12 miles away from the 670-pound main payload. The deployed canisters formed blue-green and red artificial clouds or vapor tracers which allow scientists on the ground to visually track particle motions in space. The development of the multi-canister ampoule ejection system is also designed to allow scientists to gather information over a much larger area than previously allowed when deploying the tracers just from the main payload. The vapor tracers were expected to be visible from New York to North Carolina and westward to Charlottesville, Virginia – with the total flight time for the mission expected to be about 8 minutes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YNn1C8AQRE?t=001
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#1664 by catdlr on 29 Jun, 2017 11:45
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Terrier-Improved Malemute Launch: Vapor deployment test
NASAWallops
Published on Jun 29, 2017
A NASA Terrier-Improved Malemute sounding rocket was successfully launched at 4:25 a.m., Thursday, June 29. The rocket flew to an altitude of about 118 miles. The mission was a test of a new multi-canister ejection system for deploying vapors in ionosphere or aurora sounding rocket missions.
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#1665 by Lewis007 on 30 Jun, 2017 07:52
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Some pics of the Jun 29 light show after sounding rocket launch from Wallops
source: Spaceweather website
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#1666 by Lewis007 on 30 Jun, 2017 07:53
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The CHESS 3 mission was launched from White Sands Missile Range, NM on June 27, 2017 [UT].
more info:
https://sites.wff.nasa.gov/code810/news/story206-France.html
and
https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2017/nasa-funded-chess-mission-will-check-out-the-space-between-stars
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#1667 by eeergo on 10 Jul, 2017 13:44
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Four missile tests (three confirmed) from Russia in recent weeks. A suspected Yars failure from Plesetsk on August 25. A successful Topol test from Plesetsk on September 9. Two Bulava missiles salvo launched from a submarine in the White Sea on September 27. One of the Bulava missiles "autodestructed" after launching from the missile tube. It isn't clear if the destruction was planned or not.
http://russianforces.org/
- Ed Kyle
Video has emerged from this failure (it's clear the missile was hit by some problem right from the start). I only found the video in this Vietnamese mirror in Youtube after a non-trivial search:
One can observe six phases:
1) Missile appears to hover over the sub (0:00-0:01), to then move laterally by the time its first stage ignites at 0:01.
2) Lateral movement keeps on for a while until it clears the blast cloud from the first missile (0:05), by which time it's acquired significant vertical speed and is correcting the horizontal deviation by hard TVCing.
3) Apparent nominal trajectory from 0:08 to 0:11, when it suddenly pitches down in two steps.
4) "Stable" pitch down while gaining speed from 0:15-0:20.
5) Aerodynamic forces appear to take over and bend/rupture the missile at 0:21.
6) Commanded (?) detonation at 0:22. -
#1668 by catdlr on 12 Jul, 2017 03:56
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THAAD System Shoots Down Target Over Alaska In First-of-its Kind Test
AiirSource Military
Published on Jul 11, 2017
The U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA), the Ballistic Missile Defense System Operational Test Agency, and U.S. Army soldiers of the 11th Air Defense Artillery Brigade from Fort Bliss, Texas, conducted an intercept test on July 11, 2017, of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) element of the nation’s ballistic missile defense system.
A ballistic missile target was air-launched by a U.S. Air Force C-17 over the Pacific Ocean north of Hawaii. A THAAD weapon system located at PSCA in Kodiak, Alaska, detected, tracked and intercepted the target. The test, Flight Test THAAD-18 (FTT-18), was the first-ever of the THAAD system against an incoming IRBM target, or intermediate-range ballistic missile.
The successful demonstration of THAAD against an IRBM-range missile threat bolsters the country’s defensive capability against developing missile threats in North Korea and other countries around the globe and contributes to the broader strategic deterrence architecture.
AiirSource Military covers events and missions from the United States Armed Forces: Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Coast Guard.
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#1669 by Steven Pietrobon on 17 Jul, 2017 23:11
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HIFiRE 4 launched from Woomera this month. No launch date was given. The press release is dated 10 July, so that would be the latest date. The YouTube video is dated 13 July, but was published on the Defence web site on 11 July.
https://www.minister.defence.gov.au/minister/marise-payne/media-releases/hypersonic-flight-test-success
https://www.uq.edu.au/news/article/2017/07/hypersonic-flight-test-goes-rocket
http://video.defence.gov.au/play/5237#
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#1670 by Steven Pietrobon on 18 Jul, 2017 00:05
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I've downloaded a high resolution version of the launch which is attached.
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#1671 by Steven Pietrobon on 18 Jul, 2017 00:18
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Attached a screen grab of the control room. You can see views of the pad on the far side. At the far left, you can see at clock showing 12:38:44 in red and 00:08:45 in yellow. I believe the yellow is the launch elapsed time, putting the launch time at 12:30. If in local time, that would have to be 12:30 am, as the launch was at night. If in UTC, South Australia is at +9.5 hours, which would put it at 22:00 hours local, which would also fit. A launch at 10 pm seems more likely than 12:30 am, especially as the clock does not show am/pm. This means that a press release on Monday, 10 July means the launch was at latest on 9 July, which is a Sunday.
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#1672 by Steven Pietrobon on 18 Jul, 2017 00:42
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#1673 by jcm on 18 Jul, 2017 05:16
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HIFiRE 4 is also known as HyShot V.
http://hypersonics.mechmining.uq.edu.au/hifire
In 2014 this flight was scheduled to use VSB-30 rocket serial V12, but scheduled launch date was May 2015! www.unoosa.org/pdf/pres/stsc2014/tech-44E.pdf -
#1674 by Steven Pietrobon on 18 Jul, 2017 05:56
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In 2014 this flight was scheduled to use VSB-30 rocket serial V12, but scheduled launch date was May 2015! www.unoosa.org/pdf/pres/stsc2014/tech-44E.pdf
VS-30/IO V12 flew on HIFiRE 5B on 18 May 2016. Article also confirms this launch on a VSB-30. Seems to be a coincidence that HIFiRE 5B and HIFiRE 4 have the same serials.
http://www.aeb.gov.br/foguete-com-propulsor-desenvolvido-pelo-dcta-e-lancado-na-australia/ -
#1675 by Star One on 03 Aug, 2017 16:24
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Quote
ARLINGTON: A brand-new ICBM may cost the nation more than $85 billion, but keeping the geriatric Minuteman will cost even more. That’s according to Boeing, the aerospace giant that began building the original Minuteman I in 1958 and has maintained the much-modified Minuteman III since 1970.
QuoteSure, the company can reset the odometer on the Minuteman with yet another service life extension program (SLEP), Boeing strategic deterrence chief Frank McCall told reporters this morning. But it’s still a 1950s design upgraded over six decades with a mix of technologies it was never intended to accommodate. While parts of the guidance and propulsion systems date to 1993, for example, some parts are so old the original manufacturers have long since gone out of business. That forces the Air Force to expensively reinvent the wheel – or, say, a 1961-vintage mechanical coding device.
So for about the same price as a rebuilt Minuteman, McCall told us, Boeing would rather build you an all-new missile. That’s what the Air Force calls the Ground-Based Strategic Deterrent. (Lockheed and Northrop are also competing). GBSD would get you better performance, he said, including against modern, precision-guided missile defenses, which didn’t exist when the Minuteman was designed. (Back then, cutting-edge missile defense destroyed incoming warheads by detonating a nuclear weapon over your own territory). It would be flexible for a wide range of scenarios, whereas the Minuteman was optimized for a massive exchange with Russia across the North Pole. And even sticking with low-risk, proven technology, it would be decades more advanced than Minuteman.
http://breakingdefense.com/2017/08/new-icbm-cheaper-than-upgraded-minuteman-boeing-on-gbsd/ -
#1676 by FutureSpaceTourist on 13 Aug, 2017 12:00
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Quote
Aug. 13, 2017
RockSat-X Successfully Launches from NASA Wallops
The RockSat-X student payload was successfully launched on a NASA Terrier-Improved Malemute suborbital sounding rocket at 5:30 a.m., Sunday, Aug. 13, from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.
The payload flew to an altitude of 94 miles during its suborbital flight. It descended by parachute and landed in the Atlantic Ocean where it was recovered.
The payload will be returned to Wallops later today, Aug. 13; the experiments will be removed and returned to the student teams.
More than 100 students from 15 universities and community colleges from across the Unites States participating in RockSat-X were on hand to witness the launch.
The experiments were flown through the RockSat-X program in conjunction with the Colorado Space Grant Consortium. RockSat-X is the most advance of NASA’s three-phase sounding rocket program for students. The RockOn launches are at the entry level then progress to the intermediate level RockSat-C missions, culminating with the advanced RockSat-X.
The three-tier program introduces secondary institution students to building experiments for space flight and requires them to expand their skills to develop and build more complex projects as they progress through the programs. RockSat-X experiments are flown approximately 20 miles higher in altitude than those in the RockOn and RockSat-C programs, providing more flight time in space.
The next launch from Wallops is a NASA Black Brant IX suborbital sounding rocket in mid-September carrying a technology development payload.
https://www.nasa.gov/feature/wallops/2017/rocksat-x-successfully-launches-from-nasa-wallops
3rd picture caption:QuoteRockSat-X team.
Students with the RockSat-X group pose in front of their rocket prior to launch operations. The RockSat-X mission successfully launched from NASA Wallops Aug. 13.
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#1677 by catdlr on 13 Aug, 2017 21:03
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Terrier-Improved Malemute sounding rocket launches RockSat-X payload
SciNews
Published on Aug 13, 2017
A NASA Terrier-Improved Malemute sounding rocket launched the RockSat-X student project, experiments built by students through the RockSat-X program, on 13 August 2017, at 09:30 UTC (05:30 EDT), from the Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. RockSat-X is the most advanced of NASA’s three-phase sounding rocket program for students. The RockOn launches are at the entry level, then progress to the intermedia level RockSat-C missions and then RockSat-X.
Credit: NASA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WsoWrxjgS-Y?t=001
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#1678 by Lewis007 on 15 Sep, 2017 06:49
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On Sep 12, the Russian Strategic Rocket Forces performed a successful launch of a silo-based Yars ICBM from Plesetsk to the Kura test site in Kamchatka. According to the official release by the Ministry of Defense, the goal of the launch was to confirm reliability of a party of missiles of this class. The statement also said that experimental warheads successfully reached their targets.
source: http://russianforces.org/blog/2017/09/test_launch_of_yars_missile_wi.shtml
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#1679 by Steven Pietrobon on 21 Sep, 2017 04:41
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The two WINDY payloads launched on 9 September. Note that Kwajalein is +12 UTC.
https://www.nasa.gov/Wallops/2017/feature/nasa-mission-to-study-atmospheric-disturbances-from-marshall-islands