IO Group: https://groups.io/g/DARCskynet/topics
Facebook Group: http://www.facebook.com/groups/306498286059167/
Saturday’s DARC SkyNet is at 9PM CT.
Discussion Topic of the Evening.
Open forum tonight.
What were your impressions of the Great Eclipse?
Where were you? How did you feel? Your first eclipse? Will you see another?
Waz Up
Space Exploration and Space History
Space Exploration News
Update on Titan
United Launch Alliance’s Delta IV Heavy rocket launched for the final time on Tuesday, bringing an end six decades of service by the Delta family of rockets.
Over 36,000 people helped do NASA Science during Monday’s total solar eclipse
Space-Related Birthdays
Donald Holmquest Apr 07, 1939 No flights
Timothy Kopra Apr 09, 1963 STS-127/128 (Expedition 20), Soyuz TMA (Expedition 46/47
Serena Auñón-Chancellor Apr 09, 1976 Soyuz MS-09 (Expedition 56/57)
Kenneth Cockrell Apr 09, 1950 STS-56, STS-69, STS-80, STS-98, STS-111
Piers Sellers 1955 Apr 11, 1963 STS-112, STS-121, STS-132
Frederick Hauck Apr 11, 1941 STS-7, STS-51-A, STS-26
This Week in Space History
April 11, 1960: ‘Project Ozma’ begins search for alien life
April 9, 1959: NASA introduced its very first astronaut class, known as the Mercury 7.
Yuri Gagarin
April 12, 1961: Yuri Gagarin, launched by the Soviet Union, became the first human to venture into space. His one-orbit journey around Earth marked a significant milestone in space exploration2.
Miss Carolyn’s Constellation of the Week
Constellation “Centaurus, the Centaur”
Space Launches For This Week
Space Flight Now Launch Schedule
April 17 Falcon 9 • Starlink 6-51
Launch time: Window opens at 5:24 p.m. EDT (2124 UTC)
Launch site: LC-39A, Kennedy Space Center, Florida
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch another batch of second-generation Starlink V2 Mini internet satellites. The Falcon 9’s first stage booster will return to a droneship in the Atlantic Ocean about 8.5 minutes after liftoff.
Updated: April 11
NET April 24 Electron • ‘Beginning Of The Swarm’
Launch time: TBD
Launch site: Pad B, Launch Complex 1, Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand
A Rocket Lab Electron rocket will launch a pair of satellites on behalf of both NASA and the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST). KAIST’s NEONSAT-1 is the primary payload and is described as “an Earth observation satellite with a high-resolution optical camera designed to monitor for natural disasters along the Korean Peninsula by pairing its images with artificial intelligence.” Additional NEOSAT satellites will be launched n 2026 and 2027. NASA’s Advanced Composite Solar Sail System (ACS3) is the secondary payload. It’s a technology demonstration that is geared to show off materials that can be used for solar sail propulsion. NASA “plans to test the deployment of new composite booms that will unfurl the solar sail to measure approximately 30 feet per side, or about the size of a small apartment in total. Flight data obtained during the demonstration will be used for designing future larger-scale composite solar sail systems for space weather early warning satellites, asteroid and other small body reconnaissance missions, and missions to observe the polar regions of the sun.”
Updated: April 01
April Falcon 9 • WorldView Legion 1 & 2
Launch time: TBD
Launch site: SLC-4E, Vandenberg Space Force Base, California
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch the first pair of WorldView Legion Earth observation satellites for Maxar Technologies. Maxar plans to deploy six commercial WorldView Legion high-resolution remote sensing satellites into a mix of sun-synchronous and mid-inclination orbits on three SpaceX Falcon 9 rockets. The first stage of the Falcon 9 will return to Landing Zone 4 at Vandenberg Space Force Base for landing. Delayed from April and June 2023.
Updated: March 19
NET May 6/7 Atlas 5 • CST-100 Starliner Crew Flight Test
Launch time: 10:34 p.m. ET (0234 UTC on the 7th)
Launch site: SLC-41, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida
A United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket, designated AV-085, will launch Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft on its first mission with astronauts, known as the Crew Test Flight, to the International Space Station. The capsule will dock with the space station, then return to Earth to landing in the Western United States. NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams will fly on the mission. The rocket will fly in a vehicle configuration with two solid rocket boosters and a dual-engine Centaur upper stage. Delayed from August and 1st Quarter of 2020. Delayed from mid-2020 after Boeing decision to refly the Orbital Flight Test. Delayed from early 2021, June 2021, and late 2021. Delayed from late 2022 to implement fixes on the Starliner spacecraft after OFT-2. Delayed from April 2023, July 2023 and April 2024.
Updated: April 06
June 24 Long March 2C • SVOM
Launch time: TBD
Launch site: Xichang Satellite Launch Center, People’s Republic of China
A Chinese Long March 2C rocket will launch the Space-based multi-band astronomical Variable Objects Monitor (SVOM) spacecraft. The satellite is a dual Franco-Chinese mission, which is “dedicated to the study of the most distant explosions of stars, the gamma-ray bursts.” There are four main instruments on board, two of which are French and two which are Chinese. The spacecraft will be launched to a 625-km Earth orbit and will operate for at least three years with an option to extend for another two years beyond that. Delayed from late 2023.
Updated: January 28
June 25 Falcon Heavy • GOES U
Launch time: TBD
Launch site: LC-39A, Kennedy Space Center, Florida
A SpaceX Falcon Heavy will launch the fourth and final satellite of the next-generation series of geostationary weather satellites for NASA and NOAA. GOES-U will orbit 22,300 miles above the equator to monitor weather conditions across the United States. The satellite will be renamed GOES-19 once it reaches its operational orbit. Delayed from April 30 and May.
Recent Astronomical Discoveries
Beautiful nebula, violent history: Clash of stars solves stellar mystery
Interstellar Stars Solve Stellar Mystery
Visible satellite passages over the next couple of days.
All times are “local” (Dallas) time.
ISS
Apr. 18
Apr. 19
Apr. 20
Apr. 21
Tiangong
Apr. 16
Apr. 17
Apr. 18
Hubble Space Telescope
Apr. 14
Apr. 15
Apr. 16