From rogers at ISI.EDU  Wed Oct  7 17:11:40 2009
From: rogers at ISI.EDU (Craig Milo Rogers)
Date: Wed, 7 Oct 2009 14:11:40 -0700
Subject: [oasis-members] DELTA II Launch on Thursday, Lunar Probe
Message-ID: <20091007211140.GA30932@isi.edu>


	A Delta II rocket is scheduled to launch the WorldView 2
commercial Earth-imaging satellite from SLC-2 in Vandenberg, tomorrow,
between 1137 and 1151 PDT.  This launch may be visible from coastal areas
of Los Angeles and Orange counties, but only if coastal clouds, haze
and fog are absent (unfortunately, the current weather forecast
includes morning fog).

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/delta/d345/status.html

	Early Friday morning 94:31:30 PDT, the LCROSS mission will
hammer the south polar region of the Moon.  The primary purpose of the
mission is to search for evidence of water.

	On the West coast of the US, a 10" (reflector) telescope,
properly aimed in a dark sky with a 500x objective combination, ought
to be able to resolve the ejecta from this event.

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/lcross/091005preview/
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/LCROSS/main/index.html
http://lcross.arc.nasa.gov/

	Here are some nearby star parties for observing this event:

Antelope Valley Astronomy Club
http://www.avastronomyclub.org/events.php?event_id=86

Lucerne Dry Lake
http://www.rocstock.org/
(The Web site does not advertise the LCROSS viewing party, but a mailing
to ROC members did.)

Tierra Del Sol Remote Observation Facility (San Diego)
http://sandiegospace.org/

					Craig Milo Rogers


From rogers at ISI.EDU  Thu Oct 15 13:31:07 2009
From: rogers at ISI.EDU (Craig Milo Rogers)
Date: Thu, 15 Oct 2009 10:31:07 -0700
Subject: [oasis-members] Atlas V Launch on Sunday: DMSP F18 Military
	Satellite
In-Reply-To: <20091007211140.GA30932@isi.edu>
References: <20091007211140.GA30932@isi.edu>
Message-ID: <20091015173107.GB20780@isi.edu>

	According to Brian Webb's Launch-Alert messages, Vandenberg
AFB should launch the DMSP F18 military weather satellite this Sunday,
18 Oct 2009, between 0912 and 0922.

http://www.spacearchive.info/vafbsked.htm

	This launch was previously scheduled for Tue 13 Oct 2009;
before that, it was scheduled for launch on 7 Nov 2008.  After
delivering the DMSP satellite, the flight will perform some rotational
and cryo tests on the Centaur upper stage before it is launched out of
Earth orbit for disposal.  The LCROSS moonstrike used a Centaur, too,
but I don't think they're planning to hit the Moon with this one.

http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=13210.15
http://spacefellowship.com/2009/10/15/atlas-v-set-to-launch-dmsp-f18-for-the-u-s-air-force-marking-the-600th-atlas-mission/
http://satelit.web.id/2008/11/07/update-dmsp-f18-launch-pushed-to-next-year.html
http://www.lockheedmartin.com/news/press_releases/2009/1007_ss_dmsp.html

	As usual, if conditions are clear, no clouds or haze, this
launch could be visible from the Southern California coast as far
south as San Diego.  But also as usual, the weather forecast calls for
fog in Marina del Rey that day.  If you wish to view this launch from
the Los Angeles area, a good compromise might be to drive to a high
point in the Santa Monica Mountains with a clear western view, such as
along Stunt Road northwest of Saddle Peak.

					Craig Milo Rogers