SKYNET!!!! 9PM CT – 10:30PM CT
Saturday’s Topic: “X-37B Not So Secret Payloads” & “The Arc to Arcturus”
Net Control: Brenda WB5OZL
Afterglow Movie 10:30PM: “The Beyond” (2018)
2-Meter Repeater W5FC: 146.880MHz, PL 110.9, –
Echolink: W5FC-R, node 37247.
Youtube.com Search “DARC Skynet”
Facebook.com Search “DARC Skynet”
Twitch.tv Search “KE5ICX”
Direct Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCishlh8WmW7OXy9Q6sxsaag
IO Group: https://groups.io/g/DARCskynet/topics
Facebook Group: http://www.facebook.com/groups/306498286059167/
Saturday’s DARC SkyNet is at 9PM CT.
The Not So Secret X-37B Payload
Payloads revealed for next flight of X-37B military spaceplane
https://mk0spaceflightnoa02a.kinstacdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/200506-F-XX000-0000.jpg
X-37B Beauty Shot
https://i2.wp.com/asiatimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Boeing.png?resize=768%2C471&ssl=1
X-37B Fairing Installed
https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=webp_1024x576&url=23nG46_0P15EWfE00
X-37B with Service Module
https://cdn.images.express.co.uk/img/dynamic/151/590x/X37B-space-plane-launch-Space-Force-secret-spacecraft-space-news-1281772.webp?r=1589386459376
Space Exploration and Space History
Waz Up?
Miss Carolyn’s Constellation of the Month/Topic of the Week
Arc to Arcturus
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/NCqyY6t2mCxiT5KybUyzAc-1024-80.jpg
Arcturus Size Comparison to Sun
https://www.kold.com/resizer/aJI0b0FuYCM8zlS2BWBRkJk_Kr0=/1400×0/en.es-static.us/upl/2012/10/Arcturus-star_320-300×300.jpg
More on Arcturus (Alpha Bootes)
Space Launches For This Week
Space Coast Launches
Space Flight Now Launch Schedule
May 16
Atlas 5 • USSF 7/OTV-6
Launch window: 1224 GMT (8:24 a.m. EDT)
Launch site: SLC-41, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida
A United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket will launch the USSF 7 mission, formerly known as AFSPC 7, for the U.S. Space Force. The mission’s primary payload is the X-37B, a spaceplane also called the Orbital Test Vehicle, on the program’s sixth mission. The rocket will fly in the 501 vehicle configuration with a five-meter fairing, no solid rocket boosters and a single-engine Centaur upper stage. Delayed from December. Moved forward from May 20. Launch window estimate is based on airspace warning notices. The exact launch time will be released closer to launch. [May 13]
NET
May 17
Falcon 9 • Starlink 7
Launch window: 0753 GMT (3:53 a.m. EDT)
Launch site: SLC-40, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is expected to launch the eighth batch of approximately 60 satellites for SpaceX’s Starlink broadband network, a mission designated Starlink 7. Delayed from May 7. Updated to clarify the possibility of launching May 17, assuming range availability. [May 5]
May
LauncherOne • Launch Demo
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. [May 4]
May
Electron • “Don’t Stop Me Now”
Launch window: TBD
Launch site: Launch Complex 1, Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand
A Rocket Lab Electron rocket will launch on its 12th flight on a rideshare mission. The rocket will carry three payloads into orbit for the National Reconnaissance Office, the U.S. government’s spy satellite agency, and the ANDESITE CubeSat for Boston University and NASA’s CubeSat Launch Initiative, which will study Earth’s magnetosphere and Space Weather. The M2 Pathfinder satellite, a collaboration between the Australian government and the University of New South Wales Canberra Space, will also be launched on a communications and technology demonstration mission. Rocket Lab has nicknamed the launch “Don’t Stop Me Now.” Delayed from March 29 due to coronavirus pandemic. [May 4]
May 20
H-2B • HTV 9
Launch time: 1730 GMT (1:30 p.m. EDT)
Launch site: Tanegashima Space Center, Japan
A Japanese H-2B rocket will launch the ninth H-2 Transfer Vehicle. The HTV serves as an automated cargo vehicle to deliver equipment and supplies to the International Space Station. [April 3]
May 27
Falcon 9 • Crew Dragon Demo 2
Launch time: 2033 GMT (4:33 p.m. EDT)
Launch site: LC-39A, Kennedy Space Center, Florida
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch a Crew Dragon spacecraft on its first test flight with astronauts on-board to the International Space Station under the auspices of NASA’s commercial crew program. NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken will fly on the Demo-2 mission. The Crew Dragon will return to a splashdown at sea. Delayed from June, July 25, Sept. 21, February, April and May 7. [May 9]
May
Long March 3B • Beidou
Launch time: TBD
Launch site: Xichang, China
A Chinese Long March 3B rocket will launch a satellite for the country’s Beidou navigation network toward geostationary orbit. [March 9]
Late May
Falcon 9 • Starlink 8
Launch window: TBD
Launch site: SLC-40, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is expected to launch the ninth batch of approximately 60 satellites for SpaceX’s Starlink broadband network, a mission designated Starlink 8. [May 9]
Recent Astronomical Discoveries
What is Mars Made Of?
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/05/200513081755.htm
Visible satellite passages over the next couple of days.
May 17
Hubble Space Telescope
https://www.heavens-above.com/PassSummary.aspx?satid=20580&lat=33.0462&lng=-96.9942&loc=Lewisville&alt=0&tz=CST
May 24