Should be visible from here: LAUNCH ALERT Brian Webb Ventura County, California launch-alert-editor@xxxxxxxxxxxxx www.spacearchive.info 2011 February 28 (Monday) 19:00 PST ---------------------------------------------------------------------- POSSIBLE DAWN LIGHT SHOW by Brian Webb Observers across part of the American Southwest may enjoy a light show on the morning of March 2nd thanks to the scheduled launch of a missile from New Mexico. The Juno target missile is scheduled to lift-off from Fort Wingate near Gallup between 6:30 and 7:30 a.m. Mountain Time* and fly across the state to White Sands. If liftoff takes place early in the launch window, the missile's exhaust could be illuminated by the Sun with the dawn sky as a background. Under ideal conditions, the launch and its aftermath may be visible to the unaided eye from Arizona, western New Mexico, southern Nevada and Utah, southwest Colorado, and northern Mexico. * 6:30-7:30 a.m. Mountain Time translates to 5:30-6:30 Pacific Time ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 1234:6789|1234:6789|1234:6789|1234^6789|1234:6789|1234:6789|1234:6789| NEW MEXICO MISSILE LAUNCH White Sands Missile Range News Release White Sands Missile Range, N.M., February 28, 2011 - Preparations are being completed at Fort Wingate near Gallup, N.M., for a Juno target missile firing from the old depot to White Sands Missile Range. The launch is tentatively scheduled for March 2 between 6:30 and 7:30 a.m. and may be viewed from Red Rock State Park. The Juno missile will drop a booster into an evacuated safety zone during its flight to the missile range. In addition to this safety drop zone near Datil, N.M., there will be short safety roadblocks and evacuations around the immediate Fort Wingate area - mostly to the south and east. The roadblocks include the following: New Mexico Route 400 between the Fort Wingate historic monument and McGaffey Lake; Forest Route 191 between New Mexico Route 400 and six miles to the west; Forest Route 547 between Sixmile Spring and McGaffey Lake. In addition, gates along New Mexico Route 400 will be closed to passage. The roadblocks should last between two and four hours. However, traffic traveling straight through on New Mexico Route 400 will be screened through up to 30 minutes before launch time. In addition to the roadblocks, Quaking Aspens campground will be evacuated for the launch. Since the firing will be in the early morning, camping at the site will not be allowed the night before so that National Forest Service officials can be assured the area is evacuated. The evacuation area for the booster drop zone is comprised of private and national forest lands north of Datil and includes the northern portion of the Datil Mountains. The area is north of U.S. Highway 60, west of State Highway 52 and east of Forest Road 6A. Roadblocks of the perimeter of the area will be set at 4 a.m. The airspace over Fort Wingate and the booster drop zone will be restricted for several hours for the launch. The avoidance area will be posted by the Federal Aviation Agency in the form of a Notice to Airmen (NOTAM). The airspace at the end of the flight is over White Sands Missile Range and is already restricted. There have been 13 target missions from Fort Wingate to White Sands Missile Range. The first mission as conducted in November 1997 and the most recent mission was in October 2009. The most recent Juno mission was launched from the missile range call-up area north of New Mexico Highway 380 in February 2010. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This test occurred on 2011 February 21 at 22:30 PST - Editor POINT MUGU SUPPORTS MISSILE DEFENSE TEST Missile Defense Agency News Release 2011 February 22 The joint U.S.-Israel Arrow Weapon System successfully intercepted a ballistic target missile during a flight test conducted today. This test is part of the Arrow System Improvement Program (ASIP) and was conducted jointly by the Israel Missile Defense Organization and the U.S. Missile Defense Agency at the U.S. Naval Air Warfare Center, Weapons Division-Pt. Mugu Sea Range. At 10:30 p.m. local time (Pacific Standard Time), the target missile was launched from a Mobile Launch Platform (MLP) off the coast of California, within the Pt. Mugu test range. The target was representative of potential ballistic missile threats facing Israel. The Arrow Weapon System's Green Pine radar successfully detected and tracked the target and transferred information to the Citron Tree battle management control system. The Arrow Weapon System launched an interceptor missile which performed its planned trajectory and destroyed the target missile. The test represented a realistic scenario and all the elements of the weapon system performed in their operational configuration. The Israel Missile Defense Organization (IMDO) and U.S. Department of Defense officials conducted the flight test. The main contractor for the integration and the development of the Arrow Weapon System is the MLM division of the Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI). The "Green Pine" Radar is developed by ELTA Industries and the "Citron Tree" BMC is developed by Tadiran Electronic Systems, Ltd. The success of the test is a major milestone in the development of the Arrow Weapon System and provides confidence in operational Israeli capabilities to defeat the developing ballistic missile threat. This story was originally titled "Joint U.S.-Israel Arrow Weapon System Intercepts Target During Successful Missile Defense Test" ---------------------------------------------------------------------- VANDENBERG AFB LAUNCH SCHEDULE As of 2011 February 28 Launch Time/Window Date (PST/PDT) Vehicle Pad/Silo --------- --------------- ---------- -------- NET MAR 4 02:09 Taurus XL 576E Payload is the Glory scientific satellite. Vehicle will carry three small satellites as secondary payloads: Explorer 1 Prime (Montana State University), Hermes (University of Colorado), and KySat-1 (Kentucky space consortium). APR 12 To be announced Atlas V SLC-3E Vehicle will launch the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office's NROL-34 payload NET JUN 9 Unknown Delta II SLC-2W Vehicle will launch Argentina's SAC-D scientific satellite carrying NASA's Aquarius instrument The above schedule is a composite of unclassified information approved for public release from government, industry, and other sources. It represents the Editor's best effort to produce a schedule, but may disagree with other sources. Details on military launches are withheld until they are approved for public release. For official information regarding Vandenberg AFB activities, go to http://www.vandenberg.af.mil. All launch dates and times are given in Pacific Time using a 24-hour format similar to military time (midnight = 00:00, 1:00 p.m. = 13:00, 11:00 p.m. = 23:00, etc.). The dates and times in this schedule may not agree with those on other online launch schedules, including the official Vandenberg AFB schedule because different sources were used, the information was interpreted differently, and the schedules were updated at different times. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- LAUNCH ALERT WEB PAGE For information about this newsletter, including how to: - Subscribe, unsubscribe, or change addresses - Make a donation Point your browser to www.spacearchive.info/newsletter.htm ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright 2011, Brian Webb. All rights reserved. This newsletter may be distributed in its entirety without restriction. Excerpts may not be reprinted or posted elsewhere without prior permission. ______________________________________________________________ Launch-Alert mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/launch-alert Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: Launch-Alert@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html -- See message header for info on list archives or unsubscribing, and please send personal replies to the author, not the list.