White Sands Morning Rocket Launch Scheduled

rwier

Member

Mar 1, 2012

#1

NASA - CIBER Launch Rescheduled for March 2

The launch has been rescheduled for 4:02 to 4:37 a.m. MST (6:02 to 6:37 a.m. EST), Friday, March 2.

A NASA two-stage Black Brant IX suborbital sounding rocket (like the rocket pictured) is scheduled for launch March 2 from the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. The rocket will be carrying the Cosmic Infrared Background ExpeRiment (CIBER) for the California Institute of Technology. The launch is scheduled between 4:02 and 4:37 a.m. MST (6:02 and 6:37 a.m. EST). The optical astrophysics payload is projected to fly to approximately 200 miles apogee during its 15 minute flight.

When sunlight hits the dispersing exhaust cloud, vibrant colors may be visible up to 400 miles from the launch site. These will be especially striking when viewed from areas West of the site. This is due to the back-lighting effect of the sunlight. An ideal place to look Eastward, at early morning twilight, could be Phoenix, AZ.

Thanks,
Rob

K

KB7MIB

Member

Mar 2, 2012

#2

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux i686; U; en-US) Gecko/20081217 Vision-Browser/8.1 301x200 LG VN530)

I've seen some of the contrails from pre-dawn launches in the past. They were awesome. Watch the morning news programs, I'd be willing to bet viewers will call in wanting to know WTH it is lol

K

KB7MIB

Member

Mar 2, 2012

#3

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux i686; U; en-US) Gecko/20081217 Vision-Browser/8.1 301x200 LG VN530)

5am and nothing. Either the launch went as scheduled but the sun is too far below the horizon to light up the contrails, or the launch has been delayed again, or canceled.

rwier

Member

Mar 2, 2012

#4

KB7MIB said:
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux i686; U; en-US) Gecko/20081217 Vision-Browser/8.1 301x200 LG VN530)

5am and nothing. Either the launch went as scheduled but the sun is too far below the horizon to light up the contrails, or the launch has been delayed again, or canceled.

My wild guess is 6:00 - 6:30 for the highest remains (if the launch happened) to become sunlit.

K

KB7MIB

Member

Mar 2, 2012

#5

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux i686; U; en-US) Gecko/20081217 Vision-Browser/8.1 301x200 LG VN530)

6:15 and I'm guessing there was no launch. I should see the contrail by now. Oh, well. Thanks for the heads up anyway.

rwier

Member

Mar 2, 2012

#6

KB7MIB said:
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux i686; U; en-US) Gecko/20081217 Vision-Browser/8.1 301x200 LG VN530)

6:15 and I'm guessing there was no launch. I should see the contrail by now. Oh, well. Thanks for the heads up anyway.

You may be interested in:

Launch-Alert Info Page

Get email alerts of upcoming launches at VAFB and occasionally White Sands.

rwier

Member

Mar 2, 2012

#7

White Sands Missile Range and NASA report that this morning's planned Black Brant IX rocket/CIBER launch from White Sands, NM was postponed due to high upper level winds. The next launch attempt will be late March.