Tag: NOAA
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FAA Warns Airlines to Plan for Rising Risks From Space Launch Debris
Commercial airlines should plan for an increased risk from space launch and reentry activity, including rare but potentially serious debris events, the Federal Aviation Administration said in guidance issued earlier this month, as the pace of spaceflight accelerates. In a Safety Alert for Operators, SAFO 26001, the FAA advised carriers and flight crews to prepare…
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Sentinel-6B ocean monitoring satellite launches aboard Falcon 9
Sentinel-6B, a joint US-European ocean monitoring satellite, launched Sunday aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. Liftoff from Vandenberg Space Force Base took place at 9:21 p.m. Pacific time (05:21 UTC on Monday). The Sentinel-6B spacecraft is the second of two Jason Continuity of Service (Jason-CS) missions, launching five years after its sister satellite, Sentinel-6A Michael…
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SpaceX launches NASA, NOAA missions exploring the impacts of the Sun
The Falcon 9 carrying NASA’s IMAP mission transits the disk of the Sun seconds after lifting off from Kennedy Space Center. Image: Michael Cain/Spaceflight Now. Update: Launch occurred at 7:30 a.m. EDT (1130 UTC). With successful payload deployments complete about 1.5 hours after liftoff. A trio of Sun-studying, marquee missions for both NASA and the…
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NASA, SpaceX launch IMAP and rideshare payloads to study space weather at L1
NASA and SpaceX successfully launched the agency’s Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP) from Florida on Wednesday morning. Joining IMAP on its way to Lagrange Point 1 are two additional rideshare payloads: NOAA’s Space Weather Follow On-Lagrange 1 (SWFO-L1) and the joint NASA/University of Illinois Carruthers Geocorona Observatory. Liftoff took place on Wednesday, Sept. 24,…
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NASA, NOAA prep spacecraft trio to study the Sun and its impacts
A group of technicians works to complete final inspections and checkouts of NASA’s Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP) spacecraft inside a cleanroom at Astrotech Space Operations in Titusville, Florida. Image: John Pisani / Spaceflight Now Technicians inside a pair of clean rooms at the Astrotech facility in Titusville, Florida, are busily readying a trio…
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NASA, NOAA launch GOES-U aboard SpaceX Falcon Heavy
The final satellite of the GOES-R series of satellites, GOES-U, was launched on June 25 aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy, defying an initial unfavorable weather forecast that became 70 percent favorable as weather cleared. The two-hour window opened at 5:16 PM EDT (21:16 UTC), but the vehicle took off from LC-39A at the Kennedy Space…
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SpaceX launches final NOAA GOES weather satellite on Falcon Heavy rocket
For a tenth time in program history, a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket roared off the launchpad at historic Launch Complex 39A. This was the beginning of the journey for Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites-U (GOES-U) satellite on behalf of NOAA. Image: Adam Bernstein/Spaceflight Now Update 10:10 p.m. EDT: SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy second stage completed its third…
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NOAA says “extreme” solar storm will persist through the weekend
After a night of stunning auroras across much of the United States and Europe on Friday, a severe geomagnetic storm is likely to continue through at least Sunday, forecasters said. The Space Weather Prediction Center at the US-based National Oceanic and Atmospheric Prediction Center observed that ‘Extreme’ G5 conditions were ongoing as of Saturday morning…
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Atlas rocket bids farewell to California as ULA readies for Vulcan
The Atlas rocket family, a staple of the US launch industry since June 11, 1957, ended its West Coast operations on Nov. 10 with the launch of an Atlas V rocket with the JPSS-2 weather satellite. Liftoff of the mission from Space Launch Complex-3 East (SLC-3E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, is scheduled for…
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Rocket Lab launches “It Argos Up From Here” mission
Rocket Lab has launched its 31st Electron rocket on the “It Argos Up From Here” mission from Rocket Lab’s private Launch Complex 1B (LC-1B), on the Mahia Peninsula in New Zealand. Liftoff occurred on Saturday, Oct. 8 at 6:09 AM NZT (17:09 UTC on Oct. 7). This launch marks Rocket Lab’s eighth launch of 2022…