SKYNET!!!! 9PM CT – 10:30PM CT
Saturday’s Topic: “Bizarre Cosmic Dance Offers Fresh Test for General Relativity” & “Constellation Monoceros”
Net Control: Bill N5BB
Afterglow Movie 10:30PM: “Adventures of Sinbad” (2017)
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Saturday’s DARC SkyNet is at 9PM CT.
Bill N5BB
Bizarre Cosmic Dance Offers Fresh Test for General Relativity
Artist’s Depiction
https://static.scientificamerican.com/sciam/cache/file/6356920D-4A3B-442C-82F88363EF7BB2CF_source.jpg?w=690&h=930&B035C15D-2833-42FB-95E46D83F8E55664
Space Exploration and Space History
Kelley K5KTX
Mars 2020: NASA is sending a new laser-toting robot to Mars.
Space/NASA History:
In space history this week…
February 3:
1995: Eileen Collins became the first woman to pilot the Space Shuttle with the launch of Space Shuttle Discovery on mission STS-63.
February 4:
1906: Clyde Tombaugh was born.
1966: The Russian probe Luna 9 landed on the Moon, a major feat in the history of the space race.
1967: Lunar Orbiter 3 was launched to the Moon.
February 5:
The Apollo 14 Lunar Module “Antares” touched down on the Moon.
February 6:
1995: The Shuttle Discovery approached the Russian space station Mir and completed a flyaround, thus marking the first shuttle rendezvous with Mir as a part of the Shuttle-Mir Program. T
February 7:
1984: Astronaut Bruce McCandless performed the first non-tethered spacewalk.
1999: NASA’s Stardust mission launched.
February 8:
1974: Skylab 4 crew returned from the third and final mission to the first US space station.
1992: The Ulysses probe arrived at Jupiter to perform a swing-by maneuver in order to establish an orbit, non-coplanar with the Earth, around the Sun.
2013: The Curiosity Rover drilled into a portion of Martian bedrock, collecting the first sample ever obtained from the interior of another planet. Waz Up?
Skynet – Waz Up? – February 08, 2020
Miss Carolyn’s Constellation of the Week
Constellation of the Week
Monoceros
Space Launches For This Week
Space Coast Launches
Space Flight Now Launch Schedule
Feb. 8/9H-2A • IGS Optical 7
Launch window: 0134-0139 GMT on 9th (8:34-8:39 p.m. EST on 8th)
Launch site: Tanegashima Space Center, Japan
A Japanese H-2A rocket will launch an Information Gathering Satellite with an optical reconnaissance payload for the Japanese government. Delayed from Jan. 26. Scrubbed on Jan. 27 by ground facility problem. [Feb. 7]
Feb. 9
Antares • NG-13
Launch time: 2239 GMT (5:39 p.m. EST)
Launch site: Pad 0A, Wallops Island, Virginia
A Northrop Grumman Antares rocket will launch the 14th Cygnus cargo freighter on the 13th operational cargo delivery flight to the International Space Station. The mission is known as NG-13. The rocket will fly in the Antares 230 configuration, with two RD-181 first stage engines and a Castor 30XL second stage. Moved forward from April 20. Delayed from Feb. 7. [Jan. 10]
Feb. 9/10
Atlas 5 • Solar Orbiter
Launch time: 0403-0603 GMT on 10th (11:03 p.m.-1:03 a.m. EST on 9th/10th)
Launch site: SLC-41, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida
A United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket, designated AV-087, will launch the Solar Orbiter spacecraft for NASA and the European Space Agency. Built by Airbus Defense and Space, Solar Orbiter, or SolO, will travel inside the orbit of Mercury to study how the sun creates and controls the heliosphere, the vast bubble of charged particles blown by the solar wind into the interstellar medium. The rocket will fly in the 411 vehicle configuration with a four-meter fairing, one solid rocket booster and a single-engine Centaur upper stage. Delayed from Feb. 5 and Feb. 7. [Jan. 31]
Mid-February
GSLV Mk.2 • GISAT 1
Launch time: TBD
Launch site: Satish Dhawan Space Center, Sriharikota, India
India’s Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mk. 2 (GSLV Mk.2), designated GSLV-F10, will launch India’s first GEO Imaging Satellite, or GISAT 1. The GISAT 1 spacecraft will provide continuous remote sensing observations over the Indian subcontinent from geostationary orbit more than 22,000 miles (nearly 36,000 kilometers) above Earth. Delayed from Jan. 15. [Feb. 1]
Feb. 15
Falcon 9 • Starlink 4
Launch time: 1546 GMT (10:46 a.m. EST)
Launch site: SLC-40, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is expected to launch the fifth batch of approximately 60 satellites for SpaceX’s Starlink broadband network, a mission designated Starlink 4. Delayed from January. [Feb. 7]
Feb. 18
Ariane 5 • JCSAT 17 & GEO-Kompsat 2B
Launch time: 2214 GMT (5:14 p.m. EST)
Launch site: ELA-3, Kourou, French Guiana
Arianespace will use an Ariane 5 ECA rocket, designated VA252, to launch the Japanese-owned JCSAT 17 communications satellite and the South Korean GEO-Kompsat 2B oceanography satellite. Built by Lockheed Martin, the JCSAT 17 satellite will provide high-power video, broadband and mobile communications services over Japan and neighboring regions for Sky Perfect JSAT Corp. of Tokyo. The GEO-Kompsat 2B spacecraft, built and owned by the Korea Aerospace Research Institute, will provide ocean and environmental monitoring services for weather forecasters and scientists from geosynchronous orbit. [Jan. 21]
Feb. 20
Soyuz • Meridian M
Launch time: TBD
Launch site: Plesetsk Cosmodrome, Russia
A Russian government Soyuz rocket with a Fregat upper stage will launch a Meridian M communications satellite for the Russian Ministry of Defense. The Soyuz rocket will fly in the Soyuz-2.1a configuration. Delayed from Jan. 24 and Feb. 9. [Feb. 1]
TBD
LauncherOne • Inaugural Flight
Launch window: TBD
Launch site: Cosmic Girl (Boeing 747), Mojave Air and Space Port, California
A Virgin Orbit LauncherOne rocket will make its first orbital test flight after dropping from a modified Boeing 747 carrier aircraft over the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California. Delayed from early 2019 and summer 2019. [Dec. 13]
February
PSLV • RISAT 2BR2
Launch time: TBD
Launch site: Satish Dhawan Space Center, Sriharikota, India
India’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), designated PSLV-C49, will launch the RISAT 2BR2 radar Earth observation satellite for the Indian Space Research Organization. The PSLV will also launch four Kleos Scouting Mission radio surveillance nanosatellites for Kleos Space, a Luxembourg-based company, and multiple Lemur 2 CubeSats for Spire Global. The mission will likely use the “Core Alone” version of the PSLV with no strap-on solid rocket boosters. Delayed from December. [Dec. 12]
Recent Astronomical Discoveries
One Small Grain of Moon Dust, One giant Leap for Lunar Studies
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/02/200207095427.htm?fbclid=IwAR1dFEAGcMtWnDVj_Bu1rpG2oKAkmiRWIJ6ZYBZneDmKpk1QNGLll3Bjqcw
Visible satellite passages over the next couple of days.
You can use the http://www.heavens-above.com website to find out what’s in orbit and
where to look during fly-overs
All times are “local” (Dallas) time.
North Korean Satellite
https://www.heavens-above.com/PassSummary.aspx?satid=39026&lat=33.0462&lng=-96.9942&loc=Lewisville&alt=0&tz=CST