Posted on 08/14/2003 9:00:48 PM PDT by WSGilcrest
ASTRONOMY/SPACE ALERT FOR SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
Brian Webb Ventura County, California E-mail: kd6nrp@earthlink.net Web Site: http://home.earthlink.net/~kd6nrp
Reaching more than 2,200 e-mail addresses worldwide
2003 August 14 (Thursday) 06:02 PDT ----------------------------------------------------------------------
SATURDAY MISSILE LAUNCH
A prototype anti-missile interceptor booster is scheduled for launch this Saturday from Vandenberg AFB. Launch will probably occur at, or shortly, after 11:00 PDT, the start of a 6-hour launch window.
This launch was originally scheduled for tomorrow, but it appears to have slipped to Saturday.
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The following is a news media advisory from the Missile Defense Agency. It has been reformatted for publication.
MISSILE DEFENSE ROCKET BOOSTER TEST SCHEDULED August 8, 2003
The Missile Defense Agency (MDA) announced today that one of two booster rockets now in development for the Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) missile defense system is scheduled for launch August 15, 2003 [now apparently August 16] from Vandenberg AFB, Calif. contingent on booster readiness, favorable weather and range safety.
The three-stage developmental booster designed by Orbital Sciences Corp., will fly into the Western Test Range in the central Pacific Ocean. The launch does not involve an intercept of a ballistic missile target.
Another booster design now being developed by Lockheed Martin will participate in a similar test launch from Vandenberg AFB later this summer. Both booster systems are scheduled to participate in flight tests this fall from Kwajalein Atoll in the Republic of the Marshall Islands to evaluate system performance during integrated tests that will include a simulated intercept of a target.
Both boosters will participate in actual intercept tests beginning in early 2004, and, depending upon their performance during testing, will become the booster system for the Ground-based Interceptor (GBI) that will provide an initial defensive capability to defend against a limited long-range missile attack beginning later that year.
The objectives for the mission include demonstrating the vehicle's silo-launch capabilities, verifying the vehicle design and flight characteristics, and confirming the planned performance of its guidance, control and propulsion systems.
Orbital's GMD boost vehicle is a three-stage system based on hardware that has flown 45 times on missions carried out by the company's Pegasus, Taurus and Minotaur space launch vehicles.
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Glossary
GMD The Ground-Based Midcourse Defense system designed to destroy missiles in space during the middle (midcourse) portion of their trajectory.
PDT Pacific Daylight Time
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