The Southwest's Source for Space and Astronomy Information

The Minuteman III scheduled for launch November 18 has been delayed.

For a complete listing of all recent and past Vandenberg launches, go to Vandenberg AFB Launch History. To access launch photos, videos, and audio reports, visit the Vandenberg Rocket and Missile Launch Multimedia library.

The smoke trail from a large meteor or "fireball" hangs in the sky after sunset on November 7. Chris and Gwen Wagy spotted the unusual trail while driving in Marina, California and thought it was a noctilucent cloud. Observers in northern California reported seeing the fireball streak across the sky minutes earlier at about 17:10 PDT. The incendiary display and smokey aftermath were due to a meteor and may have been part of the annual Taurid meteor shower which was in progress. Image Copyright 2009, Gwen Wagy. Used with permission.

(NOV 13) WAUKESHA, Wis. - Meteor-watchers get their big break in the coming weeks with the return of the Leonid meteor shower. This prolific shower comes at a perfect time this year, peaking the night of November 16/17 during November's New Moon. More

(NOV 4) The University of Utah announced initial observations or “first light” of its new $860,000 research telescope in southwest Utah.

The new Willard L. Eccles Observatory’s 32-inch reflecting telescope took its first pictures the night of Oct. 15. The “first light” photo is an edge-on view of the spiral galaxy NGC 891, says Wayne Springer, who heads the project and is an associate professor of physics and astronomy.

The new observatory, with a telescope built by DFM Engineering, is located at an elevation of about 9,600 feet on Frisco Peak, near Milford, Utah.

University of Utah

Saturn shines in natural color in this Cassini spacecraft view released by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. on October 30. The scene was created using red, green, and blue images obtained with the Cassini's wide-angle camera on September 4 from a distance of approximately 1.7 million miles (2.7 million kilometers) from the planet. JPL manages the Cassini mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. Image: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

(OCT 28) SOCORRO, NM - Astronomers using the National Science Foundation's Very Large Array (VLA) radio telescope have gained tantalizing insights into the nature of the most distant object ever observed in the Universe -- a gigantic stellar explosion known as a Gamma Ray Burst (GRB). More

(OCT 20) Peering far beyond our solar system, NASA researchers have detected the basic chemistry for life in a second hot gas planet, advancing astronomers toward the goal of being able to characterize planets where life could exist. More

A United Launch Alliance Atlas V carrying the Air Force’s Defense Meteorological Satellite Program F18 spacecraft lifts off October 18th from Vandenberg AFB. Despite a foggy day, the Atlas V flawlessly delivered DMSP F18 successfully to its assigned orbit after an 18 minute flight. Photo by Pat Corkery, United Launch Alliance.

(OCT 18) VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. – Vandenberg AFB successfully launched a Atlas V rocket today at 9:12 a.m. The rocket took off from Space Launch Complex-3 carrying a Defense Meteorological Satellite Program payload.

This was Vandenberg’s second Atlas V launch and the first Air Force payload to be lifted from Vandenberg aboard an Atlas V.

Atlas V is part of the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle family. The program, which began in the 1990s with the goal of making government space launches more affordable and reliable, resulted in the development of two launch systems, Delta IV and Atlas V.

The DMSP satellites monitor the meteorological, oceanographic and solar-terrestrial physics environments for the Department of Defense. Each DMSP satellite has a 101 minute, sun-synchronous near-polar orbit at an altitude of 830 km above the surface of the Earth. DMSP sensors collect images across a 3000 km swath, providing global coverage twice per day.

Once operational, the DMSP payload will be managed by the National Oceanographic Atmospheric Administration satellite control center in Suitland, Md., with support from the 6th Space Operations Squadron, an all Air Force Reserve unit stationed out of Schriever AFB, Colo.

Vandenberg AFB

(OCT 8) VANDENBERG AFB, Calif. - Vandenberg successfully launched a Delta II rocket from Space Launch Complex-2 today at 11:51 a.m. More

NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity used its navigation camera to take this image on October 1 of an apparent meteorite. Dubbed "Shelter Island," the new meteorite was found less than three weeks after the rover drove away from a larger meteorite. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. manages the Opportunity mission on behalf of NASA. Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech

(OCT 1) Astronomers from the University of Arizona and 41 other institutions are beginning the most ambitious project yet to map the three-dimensional structure of the universe in a quest to understand dark energy. More

(SEP 25) CANOGA PARK, Calif., -- Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne, a United Technologies Corp. (NYSE: UTX) company, helped boost two tandem Space Tracking and Surveillance System (STSS) demonstrator satellites from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., today. The satellites were onboard a United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket launched for NASA, powered by a Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne RS-27A engine. It was the 231st successful flight boosted by the RS-27 family of engines.

The demonstrator satellites are designed to prove the key functions of space-based sensors for the Missile Defense Agency. They will acquire, track and discriminate ballistic missiles and communicate the data to other elements of the Ballistic Missile Defense System via the Missile Defense Space Experimentation Center ground station to provide sensor information for all phases of the missiles' flight.

Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne, Inc., a part of Pratt & Whitney, is a preferred provider of high-value propulsion, power, energy and innovative system solutions used in a wide variety of government and commercial applications, including the main engines for the space shuttle, Atlas and Delta launch vehicles, missile defense systems and advanced hypersonic engines.

Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne

Flame and smoke pour from a rocket motor on September 10 during a test firing in the Utah desert. The event was the initial full-scale, full-duration test firing of the first stage motor for the Ares I rocket, a crew launch vehicle in development for NASA's Constellation Program. NASA image by Walt Lindblom

(SEP 18) A NASA spacecraft slated for launch from California's Vandenberg Air Force Base will survey the sky at infrared wavelengths for dim objects lurking in the vast dark spaces between planets and stars. More

(SEP 9) As the flames of the raging brush fire dubbed the Station Fire threatened the northern edge of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory on Saturday, Aug. 29, the managers of NASA's Deep Space Network prepared for the worst. More

The internal structure of Hurricane Jimena (click to enlarge) is revealed in a profile from NASA's CloudSat spacecraft. CloudSat collected the microwave cross-section during an overpass of the storm as it approached Baja California on September 1. Compare the profile with an infrared view of Jimena from the GOES-12 satellite (top). CloudSat was launched from Vandenberg AFB in 2006. Image: Colorado State University Boulder

(SEP 4) WASHINGTON -- NASA and Alliant Techsystems Inc., or ATK, have rescheduled the test of the new first-stage solid rocket motor for the Ares I rocket. The static firing of the five-segment solid motor, designated development motor -1, is scheduled for 1 p.m. MDT on Thursday, Sept. 10, at the ATK test facility in Promontory, Utah. The first firing attempt on Aug. 27 was scrubbed because of an anomaly with the ground test controller.

The goal of this test is to obtain valuable thrust, roll-control, acoustics and vibration data as engineers continue to design the Ares vehicles.

The test will be carried live on the NASA media channel beginning 10 minutes prior to the firing. For NASA TV streaming video, downlink and schedule information, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/ntv

In addition, the NASA Ares Twitter feed will be updated throughout the day. To follow, visit:

http://twitter.com/nasa_ares

For more information about Ares, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/ares

NASA

(AUG 24) Astronomers have been mining a mother lode of astronomical data from The University of Arizona’s Catalina Sky Survey and finding more "optical transients" than they can characterize during the past 17 months. More

Having grown by roughly 10,000 acres (40 square kilometers), the La Brea wildfire burns north of Santa Barbara, Calif. on August 13. The MODIS instrument on NASA's Aqua satellite imaged the region during a pass the same day. In the above close-up, smoke billows from the fire while red outlines indicate where MODIS has detected unusually warm surface temperatures associated with active fires. Also visible are low clouds and fog south of Santa Barbara and the Channel Islands. Image: Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC

(AUG 23) VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. - An unarmed Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile configured with a National Nuclear Security Administration test assembly launched from North Vandenberg today at 9:01 a.m.

Vandenberg AFB

(AUG 14) WASHINGTON -- NASA and Alliant Techsystems Inc., or ATK, will conduct the first full-scale, full-duration test of the new first-stage solid rocket motor for the Ares I rocket at 1 p.m. MDT, on Thursday, Aug. 27. The test will take place at the ATK test facility in Promontory, Utah.

The test was previously scheduled for Aug. 25. The new date allows key NASA and ATK personnel to support this test and the upcoming STS-128 space shuttle Discovery mission. Discovery is targeted for launch on Aug. 24.

The static firing of the five-segment solid motor, designated Development Motor -1, will last two minutes. The goal is to obtain valuable thrust, roll-control, acoustics and vibration data as engineers continue to design Ares I.

The first-stage solid rocket motor is managed and tested by the Ares Projects Office at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. ATK Space Systems is the prime contractor for the Ares I first stage. The Ares I rocket is designed to launch the Orion spacecraft and the next generation of NASA astronauts.

For more information about Ares, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/ares

NASA

Despite having run out of liquid coolant, NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope continues to return impressive infrared views of the universe such as the one above of DR22, a cloud bursting with new stars in the constellation Cygnus. The blue areas are dusty clouds while the orange is mainly hot gas. The image was recorded by two of Spitzer's infrared detector channels that work at the spacecraft's new, warmer temperature. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. manages the Spitzer Space Telescope mission for NASA. Image courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech

(AUG 7) WASHINGTON -- NASA and Alliant Techsystems Inc. [ATK] will conduct the first full-scale, full-duration test of the new first-stage solid rocket motor for the Ares I rocket at 1 p.m. MDT, on Tuesday, Aug. 25. The test will take place at the ATK test facility in Promontory, Utah.

The static firing of the five-segment solid motor, designated Development Motor -1, will last two minutes. The goal is to obtain valuable thrust, roll-control, acoustics and vibration data as engineers continue to design Ares I.

The first-stage solid rocket motor is managed and tested by the Ares Projects Office at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. ATK Space Systems is the prime contractor for the Ares I first stage. The Ares I rocket is designed to launch the Orion spacecraft and the next generation of NASA astronauts.

For more information about Ares, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/ares

NASA

(JUL 29) PASADENA, Calif. -- NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory is introducing a new Web site that will provide a centralized resource for information on near-Earth objects – those asteroids and comets that can approach Earth.

The new Asteroid Watch site is online at http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/asteroidwatch.

It provides information on NASA's missions to study comets, asteroids and near-Earth objects, and also provides the basic facts and the very latest in science and research on these objects. News about near-Earth object discoveries and Earth flybys will be available and made accessible on the site via a downloadable widget and RSS feed. And for those who want to learn about their space rocks on the go, a Twitter feed is offered. "Asteroid Watch" also contains a link to JPL's more technical Near-Earth Objects Web site, where many scientists and researchers studying near-Earth objects go for information.

NASA supports surveys that detect and track asteroids and comets passing close to Earth. The Near-Earth Object Observation Program, commonly called "Spaceguard," also plots the orbits of these objects to determine if any could be potentially hazardous to our planet.

JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.

Jet Propulsion Laboratory

A possible impact in Jupiter's atmosphere shines brightly in this ground-based infrared image captured on July 20. Scientists at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., used NASA's Infrared Telescope Facility at the summit of Mauna Kea, Hawaii to image the planet soon after the discovery of the possible impact site by amateur astronomer Anthony Wesley of Australia. Image credit: NASA/JPL/Infrared Telescope Facility

(JUL 21) SANTA BARBARA, Calif. -- Nanosized diamonds found just a few meters below the surface of Santa Rosa Island off the coast of Santa Barbara provide strong evidence of a cosmic impact event in North America approximately 12,900 years ago, according to a new study by scientists. More

(JUL 17) PASADENA, Calif. - A panel that investigated the ill-fated February 24 launch of NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO) from Vandenberg AFB, has completed its report. More

Personnel at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. prepare a test setup on July 9 to determine how to free NASA's Mars rover Spirit which is mired in a patch of soft soil on the Red Planet. The testing was performed in a box that holds about 2.7 tons of a powdery mixture of diatomaceous earth and fire clay. This material has physical properties similar to the soil where Spirit is dug in. JPL manages the Spirit mission for NASA. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

(JUL 8) The Ventura County Astronomical Society will hold its monthly meeting on July 17 at Mesa Union School, 3901 Mesa School Road, Somis, CA. The speaker will be Dr. Ben Zuckerman Professor of Physics and Astronomy at UCLA.

Dr. Zuckerman’s presentation will be “Direct Imaging of Massive Extrasolar Planets”. The first observational indication of the existence of rocky extrasolar planets in the zone of life of an old main-sequence star will be described.

The meeting begins at 7:30 PM. Recorded Message: Starline 805-520-9666 or go to www.vcas.org

Ventura County Astronomical Society

(JUN 29) VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. - An unarmed Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile configured with a National Nuclear Security Administration test assembly launched from North Vandenberg today at 3:01 a.m.

The launch was an operational test to verify the weapon system's reliability and accuracy.

The missile carried three unarmed re-entry vehicles approximately 4,190 miles at speeds in excess of 24,000 mph to their pre-determined targets near the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands.

Col. David Buck, the 30th Space Wing commander, was the mission's launch decision authority. Lt. Col. Lesa K. Toler, the 576th Flight Test Squadron commander, was the mission director for this test launch.

Throughout the preparation and execution of the mission, maintenance and operations task force personnel from the 91st Missile Wing out of Minot AFB, N.D., integrated with the 576th FLTS to perform operational tasks. Members of the 576th FLTS installed tracking, telemetry and command destruct systems on the missile to collect data and meet 30th Space Wing safety requirements.

The data collected will be used by the entire ICBM community, including the United States Strategic Command planners and Department of Energy laboratories.

Vandenberg AFB

A series of flat-bottomed valleys flank Elysium Mons, a shield volcano on the planet Mars. Many of the valleys may have first formed by movement along faults. Then mud or lava flows could have widened the sides of the valleys, giving them a flat floor. The image was captured by the HiRISE camera aboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and released by the University of Arizona on June 25.The camera is controlled from the university's campus in Tucson. Image: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona

(JUN 24) VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. – An unarmed Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile configured with a joint test assembly is scheduled to launch from North Vandenberg Monday between 3:01 a.m. to 9:01 a.m. More

(JUN 18) NASA's Quick Scatterometer, or QuikScat, mission was conceived, developed and launched less than two years after the unexpected loss of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Advanced Earth Observing Satellite-1 spacecraft, which carried the NASA Scatterometer in June 1997. More

Late spring turns to summer in British Columbia in this image captured by the MODIS instrument on the Aqua satellite on 2009 June 3. The snow is melting off the Coast Mountains and the vegetation is turning brilliant green, though to the north, hints of winter's brown remain. The image is one of many gathered by Aqua since its launch aboard a Delta rocket from California's Vandenberg Air Force Base in 2002.

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