Facebook Group: http://www.facebook.com/groups/306498286059167/
Saturday’s DARC SkyNet is at 9PM CT.
Discussion Topic of the Evening.
DART Double Asteroid Redirection Test
Collision Impact Schematic
https://dart.jhuapl.edu/Gallery/media/graphics/lg/DART-infographic_v4.jpg
Kinetic Satellite
Waz Up
Space Exploration and Space History
Miss Carolyn’s Constellation of the Week
Sculptor, the sculptor’s workshop and Phoenix, a very special bird.
Space Launches For This Week
Space Coast Launches
Space Flight Now Launch Schedule
NET Nov. 19/20
Rocket 3 • STP-27AD2
Launch window: 0500-0830 GMT on 20th (12:00-3:30 a.m. EST; 9:00-11:30 p.m. AKST on 19th)
Launch site: Pacific Spaceport Complex, Kodiak Island, Alaska
A commercial small satellite launch vehicle developed by Astra will attempt to launch a non-deployable test payload into orbit for the U.S. Space Force and the Space Test Program. Delayed from Oct. 27. Scrubbed on Nov. 19. [Nov. 19]
Nov. 23/24
Falcon 9 • DART
Launch time: 0620 GMT on 24th (1:20 a.m. EST; 10:20 p.m. PST on 23rd)
Launch site: SLC-4E, Vandenberg Air Force Base, California
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test, or DART, mission. DART is NASA’s first flight demonstration for planetary defense. The mission seeks to test and validate a method to protect Earth in case of an asteroid impact threat. The mission aims to shift an asteroid’s orbit through kinetic impact — specifically, by impacting a spacecraft into the smaller member of the binary asteroid system Didymos to change its orbital speed. Delayed from July. [Oct. 14]
Nov. 24
Soyuz • Prichal
Launch time: 1306 GMT (8:06 a.m. EST)
Launch site: Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan
A Russian government Soyuz rocket will launch the Prichal module to the International Space Station. Prichal, also known as Uzlovoy Module, will dock with the Nauka Multi-purpose Laboratory Module and be used as a docking port for visiting Russian vehicles. A modified Progress resupply craft will ferry the Prichal module to the space station. The rocket will fly in the Soyuz-2.1b configuration. [Sept. 30]
Nov. 24/25
Soyuz • EKS 5?
Launch window: 0030-0230 GMT on 25th (7:30-9:30 p.m. EST on 24th)
Launch site: Plesetsk Cosmodrome, Russia
A Russian government Soyuz rocket will launch from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome with an unspecified classified payload, likely the EKS 5 early warning satellite for the Russian military. The EKS, or Tundra, satellites fly in highly elliptical tundra orbits. The rocket will fly in the Soyuz-2.1b configuration with a Fregat upper stage. [Nov. 17]
NET Nov. 27
Electron • BlackSky 12 & 13
Launch time: TBD
Launch site: Launch Complex 1A, Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand
A Rocket Lab Electron rocket will launch two small second-generation satellites for BlackSky’s commercial fleet of Earth observation spacecraft. Delayed from September and October due to COVID-relayed restrictions. [Oct. 14]
Nov. 30/Dec. 1
Soyuz • Galileo 27 & 28
Launch time: 0035 GMT on 1st (7:35 p.m. EST on 30th)
Launch site: ELS, Sinnamary, French Guiana
An Arianespace Soyuz rocket, designed VS26, will launch on a mission from the Guiana Space Center in South America. The Soyuz will carry two Galileo full operational capability satellites for Europe’s Galileo navigation constellation. The Soyuz-2.1b (Soyuz ST-B) rocket will use a Fregat upper stage. Delayed from mid-2021, September, and Nov. 22. [Oct. 19]
Dec. 1
Falcon 9 • Starlink 4-3
Launch time: 2320 GMT (6:20 p.m. EST)
Launch site: SLC-40, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch a group of approximately 53 Starlink internet satellites. [Nov. 20]
Dec. 4
Atlas 5 • STP-3
Launch window: 0904-1104 GMT (4:04-6:04 a.m. EST)
Launch site: SLC-41, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida
A United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket will launch the STP-3 mission for the U.S. Space Force. The STP-3 rideshare mission will launch the STPSat 6 satellite and several small satellites. STPSat 6 hosts several payloads and experiments, including the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Space and Atmospheric Burst Reporting System-3 (SABRS-3) payload, and NASA’s Laser Communications Relay Demonstration (LCRD) experiment. The rocket will fly in the 551 vehicle configuration with a five-meter fairing, five solid rocket boosters, and a single-engine Centaur upper stage. Delayed from Feb. 26, June 23, early September, and Nov. 22. [Nov. 17]
Dec. 8
Soyuz • ISS 66S
Launch time: 0738 GMT (2:38 a.m. EST)
Launch site: Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan
A Russian government Soyuz rocket will launch the crewed Soyuz MS-20 spacecraft to the International Space Station on a 12-day flight with cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin and space tourists Yusaku Maezawa and Yozo Hirano. The rocket will fly in the Soyuz-2.1a configuration. Delayed from Sept. 22. [Nov. 17]
Dec. 9
Falcon 9 • IXPE
Launch window: 0600-0730 GMT (1:00-2:30 a.m. EST)
Launch site: LC-39A, Kennedy Space Center, Florida
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch the NASA’s Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer. IXPE exploits the polarization state of light from astrophysical sources to provide insight into our understanding of X-ray production in objects such as neutron stars and pulsar wind nebulae, as well as stellar and supermassive black holes. Delayed from Nov. 17. Moved forward from Dec. 13. [Oct. 19]
Dec. 12
Proton • Express AMU3 & Express AMU7
Launch time: Approx. 1220 GMT (7:20 a.m. EST)
Launch site: Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan
A Russian government Proton rocket will launch the Express AMU3 and Express AMU7 communications satellites for the Russian Satellite Communications Company. Built by ISS Reshetnev, the satellites will provide advanced communications, television and radio broadcasting services for millions of users in Russia and other countries. Thales Alenia Space supplied the telecom payloads on the satellites. Delayed from Dec. 6. [Nov. 20]
Recent Astronomical Discoveries
Carbon Dioxide Cold Traps on Moon Confirmed for First Time
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/11/211115151010.htm
Carbon Dioxide Cold Traps on Moon
https://img-s-msn-com.akamaized.net/tenant/amp/entityid/AAQMzi4.img?h=1080&w=1920&m=6&q=60&o=f&l=f
Visible satellite passages over the next couple of days.
All times are “local” (Dallas) time.
Envisat
https://www.heavens-above.com/PassSummary.aspx?satid=27386&lat=0&lng=0&loc=Unspecified&alt=0&tz=UCT
Nov. 22
Nov. 25
Nov. 28