Posted on 09/04/2013 1:53:30 PM PDT by Jack Hydrazine
Rocket: Minotaur 5
Payload: LADEE
Launch date: September 6, 2013
Launch time: 11:27 p.m. EDT (0327 GMT on 7th)
Site: Launch Pad 0B, Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport
City/State: Wallops Island, Va.
SUNDAY, AUGUST 25, 2013 UPDATE Technicians lifted a NASA moon probe on top of a Minotaur rocket on Saturday, crowning an eight-story, five-stage booster set for an historic liftoff from Virginia on Sept. 6.
The Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer, a $280 million mission to measure the dynamics of the moon's tenuous atmosphere, was hoisted atop the Minotaur launcher on pad 0B at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility on Virgnia's Eastern Shore.
The 844-pound LADEE satellite was enclosed inside a 92-inch diameter payload fairing with the Minotaur's fifth stage - a Star 37FM solid-fueled motor built by ATK.
The fifth stage will spin up and fire to inject LADEE into a highly elliptical orbit around Earth. LADEE's on-board propulsion system will propel the spacecraft on a transit trajectory toward the moon, where it will enter orbit on a mission to sample the lunar atmosphere, solve the mystery of the moon's levitating dust, and demonstrate long-range laser communications from deep space.
LADEE's mission is projected to last about 160 days.
The launch is scheduled for 11:27 p.m. EDT on Sept. 6 (0327 GMT on Sept. 7) at the opening of a four-minute launch window. The mission is the first launch of a moon mission from Wallops, which has launched more than 14,000 rockets since its establishment in 1945.
The LADEE mission marks the first flight of a new version of the Minotaur rocket family.
The Minotaur 5 features five solid-fueled rocket motors, a mix of surplus rockets from the U.S. Air Force's stockpile of decommissioned Peacekeeper missiles and commercially-procured motors built by ATK.
The U.S. Air Force uses Minotaur rockets to launch small military research satellites, but the LADEE mission is the first time NASA will fly a primary payload on the Minotaur. The launch was arranged through a special agreement between NASA and the Defense Department, which manages the Minotaur program with Orbital Sciences Corp., the rocket's prime contractor and operator.
The Minotaur 5 rocket's three lower stages, the Peacekeeper SR118, SR119 and SR120 motors, were stacked on launch pad 0B on Aug. 11 and Aug. 12. The booster's Star 48BV fourth stage was added to the Minotaur on Aug. 17.
The Minotaur 5 was assembled inside a mobile gantry and mounted on a concrete pedestal. The gantry will be moved away from the launch pad a few hours before liftoff.
The Minotaur launch team plans a mission dress rehearsal Sept. 3, and the launch readiness review Sept. 4 will give approval for final flight preps and the countdown.
What should we expect to see in the dark purple region. Would that be about 10 degrees above the horizon, for around 120 seconds? Not sure how to read those maps.
First sighting, for the map on the right for the outermost zone (yellow/green), is 5 degrees after 120 seconds after launch.
You’ll have to wait a couple of minutes before you see anything if you are in that zone assuming you gave good viz that night.
ok so I should see it at around 40 seconds into launch. (VA west of DC) How high will it go in the sky above the horizon?
Good question.
Where you are I would guess roughly around 30 degrees up from the horizon.
Sounds good, thanks Jack!
Orbital has their big campus near us in No. Va. Guess which street they’re on.
Warp Drive, of course. (No foolin’)
That’s totally kewl!
We live about 15 miles west of DC, so according to the maps, it will only be 10-15 degrees above the horizon. I’ll have to find a tall building just to get above the trees. Any suggestions? Maybe Reston has something open at that time.
If you get east of the District of Criminals the viewing is going to be better because of less light pollution.
Going higher always helps, too!
looks like it’s gonna be a clear night. cool
Wow! I’d love to work there for a summer, too!
Do they have one of those maps for dc?
There is gonna be a lot of freaked out people in NYC tonight.
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