PDA

View Full Version : NASA Wallops Rocket Launch Visible in Eastern United States



FBD
05-09-2021, 02:26 PM
https://www.nasa.gov/wallops/2021/press-release/nasa-wallops-may-8-rocket-launch-visible-in-eastern-united-states

UPDATE 5/8: The launch of the Black Brant XII sounding rocket carrying the KiNET-X payload has been postponed to no earlier than 8:03 p.m., Sunday, May 9. The launch has been postponed due to upper level winds not being within the required limits for a safe launch. The launch window for Sunday runs until 8:43 p.m.

https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/styles/side_image/public/thumbnails/image/bbxii_0.jpg

A four-stage Black Brant XII rocket will be used for the mission that includes the release of barium vapor that will form two green-violet clouds that may be visible for about 30 seconds. The barium vapor is not harmful to the environment or public health

The mission, called the KiNETic-scale energy and momentum transport eXperiment, or KiNet-X, is designed to study a very fundamental problem in space plasmas, namely, how are energy and momentum transported between different regions of space that are magnetically connected?

The vapor will be released approximately 9 minutes and 30 seconds to around 10 minutes after launch at about 217-249 miles altitude over the Atlantic Ocean and 540-560 miles downrange from Wallops and just north of Bermuda.

Immediately after release of the vapor, the spherical clouds are a mixture of green and violet, but that phase only lasts about 30 seconds when the un-ionized component of the cloud has diffused away. After exposure to sunlight the vapor clouds quickly ionize and take on a violet color.

The ionized portion of the cloud becomes tied to the magnetic field lines and diffuses parallel to the field lines but not perpendicular to it. In the mid-Atlantic region latitudes, the field lines are inclined by about 45 degrees to the horizontal, so the violet clouds stretch out in a slanted orientation and look more like short trails than a cloud. Because the motion of the neutral portion of the clouds is not constrained by the magnetic field lines, they spread out more quickly and become too thin to see with the naked eye much sooner than the ionized component.

https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/styles/ubernode_alt_horiz/public/thumbnails/image/wallops-kinetx-vismap.png

------------------------------------


= so we get a short preview of what its gonna look like when a significant enough solar flare or micronova event really blasts us

it will get interesting should said flare compress the field lines all the way to the surface....the carrington event is what sent the magnetic poles current trajectory...

deebakes
05-09-2021, 03:26 PM
:excellent:

FBD
05-10-2021, 03:56 PM
shit, I forgot to go out and look

deebakes
05-10-2021, 04:00 PM
i doubt any reputable news source has images either :(

FBD
05-10-2021, 04:10 PM
:-k


UPDATE 5/9: The launch of the Black Brant XII sounding rocket carrying the KiNET-X payload has been postponed to no earlier than 8:04 p.m., Monday, May 10. The launch has been postponed due to upper level winds not being within the required limits for a safe launch.

FBD
05-11-2021, 12:50 PM
Scrubbed again last night due to winds, trying again tonight!

deebakes
05-12-2021, 04:37 AM
where's your conspiracy take on the delay though? :(

FBD
05-12-2021, 11:37 AM
:lol: when everything adds up in a news story, there's no need to go there. high winds will fuck up the experiment. they scrubbed again last night because of a hold because of some aircraft traffic, then they said we'll have just enough time, then when just enough time came around, they said its 8:45 we're done for tonight.

try again tonight!

Teh One Who Knocks
05-17-2021, 10:21 AM
By Lucas Manfredi | FOXBusiness


NASA has successfully launched a Black Brant XII sounding rocket from its Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia on Sunday.

The launch window opened at 8:04 p.m. and the rocket blasted off at 8:36 p.m.

The rocket launched as part of NASA's KiNet-X mission, which is designed to study how energy and momentum are transported between different regions of space that are magnetically connected.

At around 10 minutes into the launch, the Black Brant XII released a barium vapor at an altitude of about 217-249 miles over the Atlantic Ocean and 540-560 miles downrange from Wallops and just north of Bermuda.

The vapor, which is not harmful to the environment, formed two green-violet clouds that were visible across the East Coast for about 30 seconds. According to NASA, the human eye does not see violet colors very well in darkness, making the KiNET-X clouds more difficult to see for the casual observer than previous vapor missions launched from Wallops.

The mission was previously set for May 8 but had been repeatedly postponed due to unfavorable weather conditions. NASA also had to inspect the launcher vehicle and replace the rocket's third stage motor.

NASA warned earlier Sunday that the mission would be the last attempt for its launch timeframe.

"The moon will begin to be too high above the horizon at sunset, so it will be too bright to be able to see vapor tracers in the sky," NASA Wallops tweeted. "If we don't launch, we will evaluate another launch time for later in the year."

NASA called the launch a "beautiful show," adding that a better story couldn't be written.

"Like a season finale, although it wasn't a cliff hanger," NASA's commentator noted. "This time it was a successful ending."

lost in melb.
05-17-2021, 10:27 AM
Damn, had to unblock to see the article. Should have known :(

FBD
05-17-2021, 12:17 PM
I saw the launch last night, but didnt see the later stages, clouds moved in

deebakes
05-19-2021, 01:26 AM
:(