STS129 – Go Atlantis !

Such a beautiful day for a launch, I hope you got to watch… If not, look for the replays. I continue to be impressed every time I see one. /;^)

STS129 Mission Patch

Ares I-X launches !!

First launch of the Ares Rocket

The stars and stripes on the American flag reflect NASA’s commitment to teamwork as the Constellation Program’s Ares I-X test rocket roars off Launch Complex 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The rocket produces 2.96 million pounds of thrust at liftoff and reaches a speed of 100 mph in eight seconds. Liftoff of the 6-minute flight test was at 11:30 a.m. EDT Oct. 28. This was the first launch from Kennedy’s pads of a vehicle other than the space shuttle since the Apollo Program’s Saturn rockets were retired. The parts used to make the Ares I-X booster flew on 30 different shuttle missions ranging from STS-29 in 1989 to STS-106 in 2000. The data returned from more than 700 sensors throughout the rocket will be used to refine the design of future launch vehicles and bring NASA one step closer to reaching its exploration goals. For information on the Ares I-X vehicle and flight test, visit http://www.nasa.gov/aresIX. Photo credit: NASA/Jim Grossmann

ISS and Discovery in orbit

Tonight I managed to catch the International Space Station and the Discovery orbiter about 6 hours after they separated. I caught them in this two minute exposure with a Nikon D-40 as they drew a line in the sky from Texas to Michigan. It doesn’t take long at 17,500 miles per hour. You can’t tell from this time exposure photo, but Discovery was about 5 seconds ahead of ISS, and not nearly as bright. You may have gone outside to watch about 8:15 CDT… It is always very special to me to see them playing chase so far above. It seems so far away, but they are only about 200 miles above the surface of the earth.

ISS & Discovery leave streak across the sky.

You can use the excellent web site http://heavens-above.com for accurate predictions from your location. I have saved my Latitude and Longitude in my login profile, and I can quickly find details on overhead passes for ISS and/or any other visible satellite. The pass detail provides links to star charts and a ground track for reference. This sample illustrates the ground track for the pass in the picture above. The picture shows from about 8:15 to 8:17 CDT.

Sample image of ISS groundtrack

Heavens-Above also has a neat little program that shows me where the ISS is currently located, and I show that in the sidebar of this web site. The ISS should be visible again Wednesday and Thursday nights in the southeastern US.
Enjoy /;^)

Appreciating Hubble

Everyone now has heard about and seen many incredible images from the Hubble Space Telescope.

Hubble ULTRA Deep Field

Not as many understand or have much grasp of what this device has taught us about our universe. I recently encountered this web page that has a very clear and concise explaination of how Hubble has changed our view. You owe it to yourself to follow that link and read that page. This is a very powerful new perspective, as the universe is much bigger and more populated than we thought. There is an embedded YouTube video at the bottom of the page that is well worth watching, and is a great piece to share with your friends that may want to appreciate Hubble, without having to become an astrophysicist. More amazing Hubble images can be found on this STSCI web site.
/;^)

Castor, Pollux + BEVO-1

This bulletin from our AMSAT Area Coordinator:

Three payloads, Pollux, Castor and BEVO-1, have been deployed from the Space Shuttle today using Amateur Radio frequencies. Tune in and see if you can hear and/or decode them.

The two ANDE satellites (Castor and Pollux) have been deployed from the Space Shuttle now that it has separated from the ISS.

Both satellites will be transmitting on 145.825 MHz. Castor will transmit telemetry every 30 seconds. Pollux every 33 seconds.

Both are transmitting 1200 baud AX.25 packet Telemetry.

Most of the info is on the website:
https://goby.nrl.navy.mil/ANDE

The Pollux/Castor ANDE satellites are made mostly of parts from Digikey.

The following processors are flying:

Pollux: 1 – Atmega168, 3 – Atmega168
Castor: 1 – LPC2106, 2 – Atmega168, IGLOO FPGA AGL125, Atmega128

Sensors are gyroscopes from Melexis and Analog Devices. Magnetometer is the PNI Micro mag 3-axis unit.

The radio transmitter in the satellites are based on this module.
http://www.pratthobbies.com/proddetail.asp?prod=CANSAT-TX

BEVO-1 is also being deployed by the shuttle, freq 437.325 MHz, details at http://www.southgatearc.org/news/july2009/dual_picosat_deployment.htm

73’s,
Tim Cunningham – N8DEU
AMSAT Area Coordinator

AI4QT remembers Apollo_XI

Apollo_XI 1st US moon landing

Many of us remember the first time Apollo astronauts walked on the moon, and most of us have heard something about this being the 40th anniversary of that first flight. There are various ham radio stations around the world helping to commemorate this event, but it takes a real commitment to take on such a special event operation to help others share their memories.
Wil Robertson – AI4QT tried to gather support from a local radio club to help with this, but finds himself alone

Go Endeavour !

With great gusto, Endeavour took off this evening after waiting patiently for several weeks. Originally scheduled for June 13th, STS127 had to wait out a repair and several weather scrubs before making it to orbit tonite. I know the crew is happy, and the launch support teams are pleased to not have to re-schedule their lives (again) to try yet again… It is quite an effort each attempt, but well worth it.

Endeavour climbs to orbit.

Photo courtesy of NASA-TV.
Thanks everyone for the support and well wishes.
Safe journey and return…
/;^)

Lightning Protection

Talk about some industrial-strength protection.
This shows a direct lightning hit on the space shuttle launch pad, where the protection system safely directed all that energy into the ground, without blowing circuits on the STS.

Charging the flux-gate capacitors for launch.

Maybe someday we can capture some of that energy in a flux-gate capacitor that can provide propulsion or help meet future energy needs.
These pics and more info can be found via the SpaceFlightNow website.
Thanks !!!
Photo credit: Gene Blevins/LA Daily News.
/;^)

Watch ISS fly over tonite !

If it is dark enough, and if it doesn’t get too cloudy.
This should be a good opportunity to watch the ISS fly over tonite.

Our Space Station in orbit

http://www.nasa.gov/topics/shuttle_station/features/space_station_sighting.html

For North Alabama :
It should show up at 8:08 pm (CDT) looking SouthWest. Getting higher.
Then by 8:11 it should be nearly overhead(64 degree), to the NorthWest.
By 8:14 it will be going down, towards the NorthEast.
Even if is still cloudy, watch in between the clouds.
It will be the brightest object that you can find, and moving fairly fast.
(The only one you will find thats moving 17,500 miles per hour.)

Enjoy /;^)

Work Party At WSC

Last night I returned home after several days in New Mexico.
With a few co-workers, I attended a hardware upgrade party at NASA’s White Sands Complex – which is the earth-based end of the space links for the TDRSS. This fleet of large satellites is parked in orbit at such a distance that they go around the earth at the same speed that the earth rotates – so they appear to stay in the same place. From those lofty perches around the globe they are able to collect data from smaller satellites that orbit much closer to earth, and relay all that data back home.
Of course we are not allowed to take our own pictures, so Google found this one for me.

Dishes in the Desert

Of primary interest to us is the return-link telemetry stream