OT: Vandenberg AFB Missile Launch

From: Brian Webb (kd6nrp@earthlink.net)
Date: Sat Oct 12 2002 - 23:11:24 EDT

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    Hi All:
    
    I know this is off-topic, but those of you in the southwestern U.S. might be
    interested in this.
    
    Regards,
    
    Brian Webb
    
    		ASTRONOMY/SPACE ALERT FOR SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
    
    				Brian Webb, KD6NRP
    			 Ventura County, California
    			 E-mail: kd6nrp@earthlink.net
    		Web Site: http://home.earthlink.net/~kd6nrp
    
    					    2002 October 12 (Saturday) 18:05 PDT
    ----------------------------------------------------------------------
    
    			MONDAY VANDENBERG LAUNCH
    
    A refurbished Minuteman II strategic missile is scheduled for launch
    this Monday evening from Vandenberg AFB. The vehicle will send an
    unarmed warhead and decoys to the central Pacific as part of a missile
    defense test.
    
    The launch window runs from 19:00 to 23:00 PDT. Although there's no
    guarantee when the Minuteman will be launched, there's a good chance
    it will go at 19:00 or shortly afterwards.
    
    If the Minuteman is launched between 19:00 and 19:19 PDT, the vehicle
    will exit the Earth's shadow as it heads downrange. The exhaust
    plume will be backlit by the Sun with a twilight or dark sky as a
    backdrop, creating an impressive sight.
    
    The display could be visible across a large portion of the U.S.
    southwest and Mexico.
    
    ----------------------------------------------------------------------
    
    	The following is a Defense Department press advisory
    	related to Monday's launch
    
    PRESS ADVISORY from the United States Department of Defense
    
    The Missile Defense Agency (MDA) will conduct a developmental flight
    test to include the planned intercept of a long-range ballistic
    missile target in support of the Ground-Based Midcourse Defense (GMD)
    test program on Oct. 14, 2002.
    
    The test will involve the launch of an Orbital Suborbital Program
    long-range missile from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. The OSP, a
    modified Minuteman II intercontinental ballistic missile, will carry a
    mock warhead and decoys. About 20 minutes after the target missile is
    launched, and about 4,800 miles away, a ground-based interceptor (GBI)
    carrying a prototype exoatmospheric kill vehicle (EKV) will launch
    from the Ronald Reagan Missile Test Facility at Kwajalein Atoll in the
    Republic of the Marshall Islands.  About 10 minutes later the
    intercept is planned to take place at an altitude of approximately 140
    miles above the central Pacific Ocean during the midcourse phase of
    the target warhead's flight.
    
    This will be an integrated system test, with all representative system
    elements participating:  space-based missile warning sensor;
    ground-based early warning radar, the prototype X-Band radar at
    Kwajalein Atoll and the GMD battle management, command, control and
    communications system located at Kwajalein Atoll and the Joint
    National Integration Facility in Colorado Springs, Colo. Since the
    system is in its research and development phase, these elements serve
    as either prototypes or surrogates for system elements which are in
    the developmental stage and have not yet been produced for actual
    operational use.
    
    A U.S. Navy Aegis destroyer, the USS John Paul Jones, will participate
    in the test, using its SPY-1 radar to gather data about the target and
    interceptor missiles.  While the ship's radar will not take part in
    directing the interceptor to its target, the data gathered will be
    used to confirm the potential role the SPY-1 radar and the Aegis
    weapon system could play in a defense against long-range missile
    targets.  This will be the first time an Aegis radar is participating
    in a GMD flight test.
    
    This will be the seventh intercept test of the Ground-Based Midcourse
    Defense element research and development program. The first test on
    Oct. 2, 1999 resulted in the successful intercept of a ballistic
    missile target.  The second test took place on Jan. 18, 2000, and did
    not achieve an intercept due to a clogged cooling pipe on the EKV, but
    did successfully test the integrated system of elements. The third
    test, on July 8, 2000, did not result in an intercept when the EKV and
    booster rocket failed to separate. The fourth test, on July 14, 2001,
    achieved a successful intercept of a ballistic missile target, as did
    tests on Dec. 2, 2001 and March 15, 2002. These last three tests used
    all GMD components as part of a fully integrated flight test.
    
    ----------------------------------------------------------------------
    
    			VANDENBERG LAUNCH NET
    
    Amateur radio operators interested in discussing the launch are
    invited to participate in one of the Vandenberg Launch Nets beginning
    at 18:30 PDT on Monday.
    
    The primary Vandenberg Launch Net will be held on the the WB6OBB
    repeater in Santa Barbara. This repeater has very wide coverage and
    simulcasts on 147.000, 224.900, and 449.300 MHz.
    
    Since Mondays's launch may be visible over a wide area, secondary
    launch nets will be held on the 147.090 MHz Catalina Island repeater
    and on 3.815 MHz, LSB. The Catalina repeater covers areas to the south
    that the Santa Barbara repeater cannot. Meanwhile, 3.815 MHz is in the
    high frequency, or shortwave, portion of the radio spectrum and covers
    the western U.S.
    
    There may also be some launch-related discussions on the Condor linked
    repeater system, but these are not officially part of the launch nets
    described above. The Condor system covers much of California and
    currently consists of the following repeaters:
    
    	223.840 Mount Vaca (Vacaville)
    	224.600 Mount Hamilton (San Jose)
    	224.900 Goat Mountain (Fresno)
    	224.920 Tassajara Peak (San Luis Obispo)
    	224.640 Shirley Peak (Lake Isabella)
    	224.820 Tranquillon Peak (Lompoc)
    	224.720 Frazier Mountain (Gorman)
    	223.840 Quartzite Mountain (Victorville)
    	224.000 Brush Peak (Santa Barbara)
    	223.940 Raznow Peak (Thousand Oaks)
    	224.820 Santiago Peak (Orange County)
    	224.180 Toro Peak (Palm Springs)
    	223.940 Lyons Peak (San Diego)
    	224.880 Hayden Peak (Kingman)
    	224.900 Mount Potosi (Las Vegas)
    
    ----------------------------------------------------------------------
    
    			LAUNCH PHOTOGRAPHY
    
    If Monday's launch creates a dusk light show, you might want to record
    it on film. Doing so should be farily easy. All you'll need is the
    following:
    
    	35mm camera
    	50, 100, or 135mm lens
    	Film
    	Cable release
    	Tripod
    
    To capture the vehicle on the way up, use Fuji Superia 800 film and 4,
    2, 1, and 1/2 second exposures at f/2.8.
    
    To capture the aftermath (twisted contrail), use Fuji Superia 400 with
    exposures of 16, 8, 4, and 2 seconds at f/2.8.
    
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