Interesting Event/Launch for mid atlantic observers

[MeteorWayne]

A rocket experiment set to launch Tuesday aims to create artificial clouds at the outermost layers of Earth's atmosphere.

The project, called the Charged Aerosol Release Experiment (CARE), plans to trigger cloud formation around the rocket's exhaust particles. The clouds are intended to simulate naturally-occurring phenomena called noctilucent clouds, which are the highest clouds in the atmosphere.

"This is really essentially at the boundary of space," said Wayne Scales, a scientist at Virginia Tech who will use computer models to study the physics of the artificial dust cloud as it's released. "Nothing like this has been done before and that's why everybody's really excited about it."

The experiment is the first attempt to create artificial noctilucent clouds. A previous spacecraft, called Aeronomy of Ice in the Mesosphere (AIM), launched in 2007 to observe the natural clouds from space.

CARE is slated to launch Tuesday between 7:30 and 7:57 p.m. EDT (2330 and 2357 GMT) from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.

http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/0 ... louds.html

Here's a link to the Wallops site (which is not in the article :

http://www.nasa.gov/centers/wallops/CARE.html

And the Webcast (Also not in the article :

http://sites.wff.nasa.gov/webcast/

And the Launch Status Twitter:

http://twitter.com/NASA_Wallops

 

[MeteorWayne]

Webcast is scheduled to begin at 6:30 PM EDT, with launch between 6:40 and 6:57, according to the tweet.

 

[jakethesnake]

Wow, never saw anything about it, will definitely check it out.

Thanks Wayne.

 

[MeteorWayne]

Latest tweet:

Count has started for tonight's rocket launch from Wallops. Targeted launch time is 7:44p.m. Backup time is 7:53 p.m.

latest from here:

http://sites.wff.nasa.gov/webcast/xml/status.html

Posted by RCC on 2009-09-15 at 16:18:41 EDT
The countdown has started for the launch tonight of a 4-stage Black Brant XII sounding rocket. The targeted launch time tonight is 7:44 p.m. with a backup time of 7:53 p.m.The launch tonight is to support studies of noctilucent clouds, the highest clouds on Earth. As part of tonight’s mission the exhaust particles from the 4th stage will form an artificial cloud at about 173miles altitude. The launch and the cloud formation may bee seen throughout the mid-Atlantic area.


Posted by RCC on 2009-09-14 at 17:33:43 EDT
A NASA Black Brant XII suborbital sounding rocket is scheduled for launch between 7:40 and 7:57 p.m.EDT, Tuesday, Sep. 15, from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility. The web cast of the mission will begin at 6:30 p.m. The launch may be seen in the mid-Atlantic area, including the 4th stage burn which will be around 173 miles altitude. The forecast is for 60% chance good weather for the mission. For the full story, go to www.nasa.gov/wallops

 

[MeteorWayne]

Sorry I messed up in the earlier posts. The launch times are 7:44 and 753 PM EDT a bit more than an hour from now.
That makes sense, since it will be dark here by then.

Posted by RCC on 2009-09-15 at 18:15:06 EDT
6:14 p.m. T-1 hour 30 minutes and counting. Time delay on audio/video on the webcast has improved to about 10 seconds. Horizontal checks are complete. Rocket is raised to vertical launch position.


Posted by RCC on 2009-09-15 at 18:01:52 EDT
6:00 p.m.: The rocket is being elevated to the appropriate position for launch.


Posted by RCC on 2009-09-15 at 17:45:06 EDT
At 5:44 p.m.we are T-2 hours and counting. Crews have completed preparing the rocket on the launch pad. Checks of the rocket systems with the rocket in the horizontal position are in progress.Note that the audio/video on the webcast is running about 1 minute behind actual events.

 

[MeteorWayne]

Posted by RCC on 2009-09-15 at 18:48:29 EDT
6:47 p.m. We are currently performing a surveillance sweep of the area to check for any boats that may be hindering our launch attempt.


Posted by RCC on 2009-09-15 at 18:40:42 EDT
We are at T-minus 1 hour and holding. We will be launching some test rockets momentarily. These are very small rockets (not visible locally) that assist in preparing and testing the team prior to launch

 

[MeteorWayne]

Scrubbed for tonight.

 

[MeteorWayne]

Posted by RCC on 2009-09-15 at 21:26:20 EDT
The next launch attempt for the Black Brant XII sounding rocket will be no earlier than Friday eveing, September 18. We scrubbed tonight's launch attempt because of cloud cover at Wallops. The weather is not expected to be favorable the next 2 nights and we have an instrumentation support conflict with the system in Bermuda for Thursday evening

 

[MeteorWayne]

The Black Brant XII rocket launch from Wallops is now no earlier than Saturday evening, Sep. 19. Weather is an issue Friday night.

 

[MeteorWayne]

Black Brant XII rocket launch on schedule between 7:32 and 7:49 p.m., Sat, Sep 19. Web cast begins at 6:30 p.m. sites.wff.nasa.gov/webcast

 

[MeteorWayne]

Posted by RCC on 2009-09-19 at 17:37:35 EDT
5:37p.m. T-2 hours and counting. Vehicle being raised to launch position.

 

[MeteorWayne]

Countdown has started for rocket launch from Wallops. Targeted launch time is 7:37 p.m.EDT Backup time is 7:46 p.m. Webcast has started.

 

[MeteorWayne]

PI (Principal Investgator) has requested the launch time be changed to 7:46 PM EDT, that has been granted...about an hour and 23 minutes from now.

 

[MeteorWayne]

PI has indicated he might go back to the original launch time of 7:37 PM EDT.
No decision yet.

 

[MeteorWayne]

Posted by RCC on 2009-09-19 at 19:53:39 EDT
Flight is nominal


Posted by RCC on 2009-09-19 at 19:52:58 EDT
4th stage burn out


Posted by RCC on 2009-09-19 at 19:52:36 EDT
4th stage ignition


Posted by RCC on 2009-09-19 at 19:48:24 EDT
4th stage ignition will be 6 minutes 13 seconds after launch


Posted by RCC on 2009-09-19 at 19:47:25 EDT
3rd stage burnout

 

[MeteorWayne]

Launch sucessful, look for artificial noctilucent clouds after midnight!

 

[murnut]

The launch caused quite a stir tonight....I live in Bucks County PA and I saw something in the sky around 8pm...glowing object, about the size of a star, but moving, and it appeared much higher than a jet.

Apparently it is burning up on twitter and even the early news did a story on it.

Many thought they had seen a ufo

http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?secti ... id=7022998

http://www.godlikeproductions.com/forum ... 883869/pg1

I thought it was a satellite...I apparently missed the flash, but did see the "glowing" of the rocket motor

 

[murnut]

http://cnnwire.blogs.cnn.com/2009/09/19 ... mpt-calls/

September 19th, 2009
Mysterious lights at dusk prompt calls
Posted: 11:11 PM ET

(CNN) — A series of spooky lights in the clouds off the coast of the northeastern United States Saturday night sparked a flurry of phone calls to authorities and television news stations, with some startled residents worried that extra-terrestrials were landing.

CNN affiliate stations from New Jersey to Massachusetts heard from dozens of callers who reported that the lights appeared as a cone shape shining down from the sky.

But the source of the illumination turned out to be a little more down to earth — well, closer to Earth, to be exact.

The lights were the result of an experimental rocket launch by NASA from the agency’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, a NASA spokesman told CNN.

Keith Koehler said the Black Brant XII Sounding Rocket was launched to study the Earth’s highest clouds. The light came from an artificial noctilucent cloud formed by the exhaust particles of the rocket’s fourth stage about 173 miles high.

Natural noctilucent clouds — also called “polar mesospheric clouds” — are “found in the upper atmosphere as spectacular displays that are most easily seen just after sunset,” according to a NASA statement published earlier this month. “The clouds are the highest clouds in Earth’s atmosphere, located in the mesosphere around 50 miles altitude.”

Normally, noctilucent clouds are not visible to the naked eye and can only be seen when illuminated by sunlight below the horizon. The Saturday launch took place at 7:46 p.m., just as the sun was setting for the day.

Observation stations on the ground and in satellites will track the artificial noctilucent clouds created by the rocket for months, NASA said.

“Data collected during the experiment will provide insight into the formation, evolution, and properties of noctilucent clouds, which are typically observed naturally at high latitudes.

“In addition to the understanding of noctilucent clouds, scientists will use the experiment to validate and develop simulation models that predict the distribution of dust particles from rocket motors in the upper atmosphere,” the NASA statement said.

–CNN’s Greg Morrison contributed to this report.