* Astronomy

Blobrana · L

RE: DMSP-18 Satellite Launch

Blobrana · L

NRL Sensor Provides Critical Space Weather Observations
Launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, aboard an United Launch Alliance Atlas V launch vehicle, Oct. 18, 2009, the Special Sensor Ultraviolet Limb Imager (SSULI) developed by NRL's Space Science Division and Spacecraft Engineering Department offers a first of its kind technique for remote sensing of the ionosphere and thermosphere from space.
Flying on-orbit the U.S. Air Force Defence Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) F18 (flight 18) satellite, SSULI's characterisation of the Earth's upper atmosphere and ionosphere provide the necessary scientific data to support military and civil systems. The upper atmosphere affects many systems from global to tactical scales including GPS positioning, High-Frequency (HF) radio communications, satellite drag and orbit determination, and over the horizon radar.

Read more

Blobrana · L

USA 210

Blobrana · L

RE: DMSP F-18 satellite

Blobrana · L

On Sunday evening, a rocket carrying a US military weather satellite blasted off from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.
The objects that people saw are believed to have been the rocket and a satellite. Once the rocket was over Europe, it dumped fuel and left Earth's orbit around Greenland.
Source

Blobrana · L

aufgenommen am 18.10.2009
Zu diesem Bild: ich bin um ca. 21.10 UHr MESZ rausgegangen, um meine Kamera zu kontrollieren.
Dabei viel mir im Norden über dem großen Wagen ein kugelförmiges Objekt auf, das sich langsam über den Horizont in den
Kasten des großen Wagens bewegte. In ca. 30 Grad abstand sah man ein divuseres Objekt und in ca. 30 Grad abstand vom 2 Objekt ein großes Halo.

Read more

Ed ~ Fuel venting possibly captured as the Centaur stage passed over Germany.

Blobrana · L

An Atlas 5 rocket carried the military's newest weather satellite to space during a Sunday morning mission from Vandenberg Air Force Base, where stubbornly dense fog let spectators only hear, not see, the departure.
The United Launch Alliance rocket, which stands 19 stories tall, blasted off at 9:12 a.m. from Space Launch Complex-3 on South Base, a loud rumble providing the only evidence of departure for onlookers at base "viewing" sites and other fogged-in locales on the Central Coast.

Read more

Blobrana · L

TLE Data

DMSP F18
1 35951U 09057C   09291.86359746 -.00000045  00000-0  00000+0 0    29
2 35951 098.9312 325.8588 0002736 315.6986 044.3897 14.12688045    19

Expand (99kb, 854 x 558)

Blobrana · L

The Defence Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) F-18 Block 5D-3 spacecraft, built under contract for the U.S. Air Force by Lockheed Martin, was launched this morning from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California at 9:12 am PDT.

"After several years of building, integrating, upgrading and testing DMSP F-18, our third Block 5D-3 spacecraft, it was enormously satisfying to see this morning's launch and hear that we have a healthy satellite on orbit that will carry out its vital mission of supporting our warfighters. Our partnership with the Air Force dates to the very beginning of the DMSP program with a common goal of ensuring that commanders have access to environmental data critical to the preparation and execution of military operations" - Sue Stretch, Lockheed Martin DMSP program director.

Read more

Blobrana · L

Adding to the Atlas rocket program's accomplished five decade legacy, a United Launch Alliance Atlas V successfully launched the U.S. Air Force's Defence Meteorological Satellite Program F18 (DMSP F18) mission from Space Launch Complex-3 here at 9:12 a.m. PDT, today. The DMSP F18 spacecraft was built for the Air Force by Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company in Sunnyvale, California.

Read more