samedi 30 juillet 2011

August will be hot on the launch pad's!












Hot on the launch pad logo.

July 30, 2011

Several rocket launch will take place in August, including two on the same day (if they are not postponed due to weather).

NASA launches spacecraft JUNO to study the pole of  Jupiter, Arianespace launches two communications satellite. Roscosmos launches satellite telecommunications Express AM4 August 18.

Juno Set to Launch For Jupiter on Aug. 5

The launch period for Juno opens Aug. 5, 2011, and extends through Aug. 26. For an Aug. 5 liftoff, the launch window opens at 11:34 a.m. EDT (8:34 a.m. PDT) and remains open through 12:43 p.m. EDT (9:43 a.m. PDT).

Atlas V-551 rocket launch

Juno will arrive at Jupiter in July 2016 and orbit its poles 33 times to learn more about the gas giant's interior, atmosphere and aurora. Juno will get closer to Jupiter than any other spacecraft and will provide images and the first detailed glimpse of its poles.


Image above: NASA's Juno spacecraft passes in front of Jupiter in this artist's depiction. The Juno mission is the first of NASA's three planetary missions launching this year, making 2011 one of the busiest ever in planetary exploration. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

JPL manages the Juno mission for principal investigator Scott Bolton. The Juno mission is part of the New Frontiers Program managed at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. Lockheed Martin Space Systems of Denver built the spacecraft. Launch management for the mission is the responsibility of NASA's Launch Services Program at the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.

More information about Juno is available at: http://www.nasa.gov/juno and http://missionjuno.swri.edu

ARIANESPACE FLIGHT VA203 - ASTRA 1N & BSAT-3c/JCSAT-110R

Liftoff is scheduled for Friday 5 August 2011.

Ariane 5 ECA launch

The reconfiguration work and the checkouts on the Ariane 5 ECA launcher are now complete. Arianespace has decided to resume the operations for Flight VA203, Ariane 5 ECA – ASTRA 1N – BSAT-3c/JCSAT-110R.

Liftoff of the Ariane 5 ECA launcher is now scheduled for:

-         Friday 05 August at 06:53 p.m., local time in Kourou, French Guiana,

-         Friday 05 August at 05:53 p.m. in Washington DC,

-         Friday 05 August at 21:53 UTC,

-         Friday 05 August at 11:53 p.m. in Paris,

-         Saturday 06 August at 06:53 a.m. in Tokyo.

Follow the launch live: http://www.videocorner.tv/index.htm

Express AM4 Satellite Launch to Baikonur

The Express AM4 satellite, designed and manufactured by Astrium teaming with Russian Khrunichev for RSCC.

The satellite will undergo preparation for its launch by a Khrunichev Proton Breeze M vehicle on August 18, 2011.

Proton Breeze M launch

Express AM4, to be positioned at 80°E, is the largest Express satellite ever ordered by national Russian operator RSCC. The satellite will provide telecommunication services for Russia and the CIS.

More details (timetable) will follow soon.

Images, Text, Credits: NASA / JPL-Caltech / Arianespace / Roscosmos PAO / Orbiter.ch.

Greetings, Orbiter.ch