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Launch Attempt for Kodiak Star Tonight

Posted by timothy on from the launching-discoballs-from-alaska dept.

Jens Lönn writes: "The delayed Launch of the Kodiak Star is scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 29 (.pdf article). This is the first launch into Earth orbit from Kodiak Island. There is a three-hour launch window extending from 5:30 - 8:30 p.m. The effect of the solar flare activity that forced launched cancellation earlier this week is being monitored. The weather forecast for Saturday is favorable for a launch attempt with approximately a 15% chance of weather criteria violation. However, after solar flare activity was factored in, the chance of not meeting the criteria is 60%. Launch coverage on NASA Television and NASA TV on the Web will begin at 8 p.m. EDT. So make sure you're seated, cuz now were gonna light those kick-ass engines and go out into space." Michael noted that this is the first launch from Alaska; one of the four science experiments on board will be the reflective Starshine 3, with mirrors ground and polished by students all over the world. Cross fingers for favorable launch.

75 comments

  1. Why Alaska? by Digitalia · · Score: 1, Interesting

    In my schooling, I was taught that the reason most launch facilities were built near the equator was to decrease the requirements for fuel needed for gravitational escape. So what advantage does this setup in Alaska give? Other than remoteness, I don't quite get it. Does anyone want to tell me what I'm missing?

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    Pax Digitalia
    1. Re:Why Alaska? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      Launching from the equator gives an initial velocity in the direction of the earth's motion. This is only useful if the desired orbit is in that direction.

      Many spacecraft are destined for a polar orbit (over the poles) rather than an equatorial orbit (guess over what). The choice of orbit depends on the mission of the spacecraft. Communication satellites typically use geosynchronous orbits (equatorial) while many earth observation satellites use a polar orbit.

    2. Re:Why Alaska? by Digitalia · · Score: 1

      Ahh. Thanks for clearing that up.

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      Pax Digitalia
    3. Re:Why Alaska? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The high latitude allows for launches into polar orbits.

    4. Re:Why Alaska? by Burnon · · Score: 3, Informative

      From the pdf mentioned in the headline:

      "The advantage to this location is its wide-open launch corridor and an unobstructed down-range flight path. The location is ideal for launching expendable launch vehicles with payloads requiring low-Earth polar or sun-synchronous orbits".

      So, if I read this properly, the remoteness of the location is a bonus for expendable vehicles which may drop parts.

      I'm not sure how important it is, but one of the mission descriptions in the article pointed out that one of the experiments would be able to take advantage of the polar orbit, putting the satellite in the line-of-sight:

      Launching Starshine 3 from the Kodiak Launch Complex at a 67-degree inclination will allow students worldwide, including northern latitudes such as Alaska, northern Canada, Scandinavia, and Russia to particpate in the project. Worldwide student participation has not been possible on previous mission launched at lower inclinations from the Space Shuttle.

      For what it's worth, I don't quite understand all of that - a satellite in polar orbit shouldn't be any more worlwide-visible than one in a more equatorial orbit - just visible to a differnt set of onlookers.

    5. Re:Why Alaska? by Burnon · · Score: 5, Informative

      Ahh - here's the answer to my question about polar orbits, and some other interesting info on the launch site, at this link

      I had no idea what a polar orbit really was. I guess it really does get full earth coverage.

    6. Re:Why Alaska? by brassrat77 · · Score: 4, Informative

      You want a location that places the flight path over water/remote areas for safety. KSC isn't in a "remote" location and population centers limit the available launch azimuths.

      Vandenburg is the main US launch site for polar orbits, the islands off California require dogleg flight paths to achieve some orbits.

      As NASA says, Kodiak provides an unobstructed launch corridor for polar orbits. Weather and the remote location make it less than ideal, however.

      French Guiana is in an excellent location for equatorial launches and has a good launch azimuth for polar - it is one of the few launch sites that can do both geotransfer (equatorial) and earth observation (polar) launches.

    7. Re:Why Alaska? by Burnon · · Score: 2, Interesting

      They've taken an interesting approach to dealing with the weather. It looks like they can prep the rocket for launch indoors, and then rotate the surrounding structure away prior to the launch.

      How far does something like this go toward getting a launch in bad weather?

    8. Re:Why Alaska? by Chagrin · · Score: 3, Informative
      • So, if I read this properly, the remoteness of the location is a bonus for expendable vehicles which may drop parts.
      You're thinking two-dimensionally -- you need to take into account that the rocket will take an orbital path around a spinning object.

      Take a gander at the flight path of the rocket and you'll see what areas of the planet will be passed over. It flies down the Pacific coast, around the southern tip of South America, and then back up and around the east coast of Africa. From there it does fly over the continent of Russia before continuing down over the middle of the Pacific, but of course any problems with the launch are going to be far past at that point. You really couldn't hope for a better flight path.

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      I/O Error G-17: Aborting Installation

    9. Re:Why Alaska? by hhe_hee · · Score: 3, Informative
      Why Alaska? There are several answers, first the answer to your question:
      • For this mission, the goal isn't to leave the planet (gravitational escape). It's just to get up in orbit around earth, so the stuff will still be trapped in the gravitational field. But to be able to "kick" the rocket out into space from an orbit, it is better that you do this from the equator. To save fuel of course.
      • The advantage of launching from this location is its wide-open launch corridor and an unobstructed down-range flight path. The location is ideal for launching expendable launch vehicles with payloads requiring low-Earth polar or sun-synchronous orbits. A look at an overwiev of the launch complex gives some more understanding. Because of the earth rotation, the rocket will fly out over the Pacific.
      • The weather on Kodiak Island is similar to that of the northwest region of the U.S. with an average rainfall comparable to Cape Canaveral in Florida (which is favorable :).
      • Along with an excellent geographic location for aerospace operations, Alaska is in the world's most active trading hemisphere and is positioned as the crown of the Pacific Rim. This strategic location, combined with a fully developed transportation system, allows for efficient logistics and worldwide distribution. Alaska has a long history of aerospace activity, and with the wealth of technical resources and skilled personnel in our state, is leading the way for an emerging commercial aerospace industry.
      --
      2 reptiles beneath your current threshold.
    10. Re:Why Alaska? by david+duncan+scott · · Score: 2
      From there it does fly over the continent of Russia

      Hey, I didn't hear that Russia got promoted! It's been a long time coming -- way to go, man! I never liked Asia and Europe anyway. :)
      --

      This next song is very sad. Please clap along. -- Robin Zander

    11. Re:Why Alaska? by Chagrin · · Score: 1

      Well, what with all the Perestroika I figured they deserved it ;)

      Point taken. My bad :)

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      I/O Error G-17: Aborting Installation

    12. Re:Why Alaska? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Why Alaska? Because the senior Senator, Ted Stevens, is second only to Robert Byrd of W. Virginia in bringing home pork to his home state. You can justify the location all you want, but the bottom line is Uncle Ted's largess.

    13. Re:Why Alaska? by Burnon · · Score: 1

      Thanks! That's a great diagram - it helps to make some sense of what's going on.

      I don't understand one point though - the track for the second pass seems to end over the middle east, but there's no event marked there. Does that imply that the rocket, after discharging its payload into various orbits, is going into its own orbit, leaving earth orbit, or doing something else?

    14. Re:Why Alaska? by Chagrin · · Score: 1

      Sounds ripe for a conspiracy theory - I wonder if the US military has a payload too? :)

      More likely they just let the remainder of the rocket fall back to earth and burn up in the atmosphere, much like the main fuel tank for the space shuttle.

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      I/O Error G-17: Aborting Installation

    15. Re:Why Alaska? by david+duncan+scott · · Score: 2
      Actually, they probably do, or at least I could never see any geographical reason to divide Europe from Asia. Cultural reasons aplenty, but it all looks like the same landmass to me.

      But of course, then we'd have one less continent and the world would start to feel cramped. Hell, there'd probably be a war over it.:)

      --

      This next song is very sad. Please clap along. -- Robin Zander

    16. Re:Why Alaska? by AndroidCat · · Score: 1

      I sure hope they launch south from Alaska, otherwise the Russians might just be a little nervous about it.

      --
      One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
  2. Government subsidies by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So what other advantage does this setup in Alaska give?

  3. the weather by Capt.+Beyond · · Score: 3, Interesting

    One of the major problems with launching from Kodiak is weather (not to mention bears chasing around the scientists! :) ). That far north, not only can storms last for months, but solar weather (as demonstrated this week) is also a major player.

    If you've never seen aurora from that far north, you have yet to really live....

    --
    -- "Perceptions create reality. By changing your perceptions you change your reality."
    1. Re:the weather by Burnon · · Score: 2, Informative

      Maybe it's not so bad as you (and I) are expecting, at least not according to the PR from the folks who built the Kodiak site:

      The weather on Kodiak Island is similar to that of the northwest region of the U.S. with an average rainfall comparable to Cape Canaveral in Florida. Because of warm Japanese currents, the climate of Kodiak Island is more moderate than its northern latitude would otherwise dictate. Kodiak has a yearly mean temperature of 40F, and in only three months of the year do the normal temperatures fall below 32F. Visibility and prevailing winds compare favorably with those at Vandenberg Air Force Base (VAFB) in California.
      Quote from this link.

  4. Kodiak by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Did they ever catch the Kodiak-killer?

  5. You can listen to one of the other payloads by brassrat77 · · Score: 5, Informative
    PCSAT, designed and built by midshipmen at the US Naval Academy, carries an APRS (Automatic Position Reporting System) transponder. Downlink is 145.825 MHz, FM, 1200bps AFSK. (Uplink for licensed amateurs is on 70cm, don't have the info handy).

    If all goes well, you should be able to at least hear the downlink packets with a VHF scanner and 1/4 wave vertical antenna (YMMV). You will need a AX.25 TNC and terminal or comparable sound-card software to see the telemetry from the satellite and APRS position reports that get relayed through the satellite. Note that locations in the US will have to wait about 9 orbits before they can hear anything.

    More info on the PCSAT web page. You can learn more about amateur radio at the ARRL web page and about amateur satellites at the AMSAT web page.

    73, KA1LM

    1. Re:You can listen to one of the other payloads by Peter+Simpson · · Score: 1

      No TNC is needed, just a sound card and the AGW Packet Engine software.

      More info at http://www.qsl.net/soundcardpacket/

  6. Ownership/control? by T.Hobbes · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Browsing around the Alaska Aerospace corp. page, I got the distinct impression that the launch facility is privately-owned; in fact, they specifically mention that they're the only commercial launch complex without an adjacent federal facility. Yet NASA is sending up the first rocket (or so it seems..). Does anyone here have a clear idea as to the ownership/control of this and other American space launch facilities?

    1. Re:Ownership/control? by primenerd · · Score: 1

      AK Aerospace is a joint venture. The federal govt. is a partiner along with private companies and the state of Alaska. The overall organization is under the broader state chartered development corp.

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  7. great education use of internet and space program by RadioheadKid · · Score: 2

    I think the Starshine 3 program is a great learning and research experience all in one. I wish I could have been involved with something like that when I was in school. Just kinda makes you feel good that we're making education exciting and getting some research done at the same time.

    KidA

    --
    "Karma can only be portioned out by the cosmos." -Homer Simpson
  8. Bad weather around there by SuperJ · · Score: 2, Informative

    The Gulf of Alaska (where Kodiak Island is located) is well known for its bad weather, especially in winter, where storms can get you hurricane force winds in a couple hours. Inaccurate weather models don't help predicting either. I did a report on several Gulf of Alaska phenomena which you can see here.

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    Sheepdot: Open Source good, Closed Source baaaaaaad!

  9. Everybody, get ready by Mathness · · Score: 3, Funny

    One Kodiak moment coming up ;)

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    Carbon based humanoid in training.
    1. Re:Everybody, get ready by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah, next thing you know, the Japanese will build a launch pad on Mount Fuji (OK, that was really lame).

  10. The stream is active! by T.Hobbes · · Score: 2

    Go to the NASATv like above!

  11. Gramar? by Mike+McTernan · · Score: 1, Offtopic

    > ...forced launched cancellation earlier this week is being monitored.

    Does this make sense? I know this is offtopic, but it does kinda disappoint me when I see mistakes like this on the front page.

    Slashdot has a great readership and needs to be a great example...

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    -- Mike
  12. Re: Flawless Liftoff. by deglr6328 · · Score: 5, Informative

    satellite is out of range at T+18 minutes. Next pass is in 1 hour over Kenya. Spaceflightnow has a status center here http://www.spaceflightnow.com/athena/kodiakstar/st atus.html

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    - "Hear that?! The percolations are imminent! Cease your ingress!"
  13. Congrats! by Minupla · · Score: 2

    I'd just like to congradulate the folks up in Kodiac on what looks like a flawless launch at this point. I doft my cap to you. Many happy orbits!

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    On the whole, I find that I prefer Slashdot posts to twitter ones because I don't get limited to 140 chars before
  14. Someone explain... by Danse · · Score: 2

    Why exactly are they sending a giant disco ball into space?

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    It's not enough to bash in heads, you've got to bash in minds. - Captain Hammer
    1. Re:Someone explain... by NonSequor · · Score: 2

      They're doing that to create an artificial eclipse of the sun. This, combined with the power plant being disabled, will allow all of the light-fearing monsters to come out and turn the city of Townsville into a dance club. Fortunately, the Powerpuff Girls will save the day by blowing up the disco ball in a hilarious Star Wars parody.

      --
      My only political goal is to see to it that no political party achieves its goals.
  15. Talk about slow deployment time... by Smack · · Score: 3, Interesting

    One of the payloads is the SAPPHIRE satellite.

    It has a digital camera on board to take pictures, just as a freebie add-on.

    The interesting thing is the specs on that camera, the Logitech Fotoman Plus. A resolution of 496 x 360, with 256 levels of gray. Stores 32 pictures in RAM. A serial interface. A cost of $520.

    See... they had to pick the camera back in 1994. So they're using 7 year old technology. Amazing how far things hav come, isn't it?

  16. Watch the Launch (Replay) by mkasei · · Score: 2, Informative

    A replay of the launch is available from SpaceRef's home page.

  17. Not all that bad... by primenerd · · Score: 1

    Florida has great weather, if you don't count all those hurricanes.
    The Gulf of Alaska has bad weather yes. But most of that weather is rain, more rain and even more rain. Kodiak is not a tropical paradise, but it has much better weather than the Aleutians, which have the truly awful weather of the gulf.

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  18. This is not the first launch... by primenerd · · Score: 1

    There has been at least two test launches (I can remember) and a handfull of sub-orbital flights from this facility. This is the largest and most recent but certainly not the first. I remember reading the headlines when the first rockets were lit off in '98 (in our AK papers of course).

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  19. Bicycle built for two by AndroidCat · · Score: 1

    Sapphire, built by Stanford University, carries a couple of experiments and a voice synthesizer microchip designed to convert text messages into a human voice for transmission over amateur radio frequencies.

    "Daisy Daisy give me your answer true.."

    The funky thing is that due to Doppler shift, it would be higher pitch as it approached, and shift downward as it passed. :^)

    --
    One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
    1. Re:Bicycle built for two by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No, the audio won't be affected by doppler, the frequnecy of the signal is. So you have to adjust it during the satellite pass. It's easier to do when all you're doing is listening in, i can tell you that trying to work one of the voice birds is another story all together!! But it's a lot of fun!

  20. Bummer... by Danse · · Score: 1

    Apparently I missed that episode. Damn me. Hafta find it on dvd when it comes out I guess. :)

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    It's not enough to bash in heads, you've got to bash in minds. - Captain Hammer
  21. Follow Starshine From Home by jlttb · · Score: 1

    Heavens-above.com (one of my favorite sites) provides visibility reports from any location on earth for Starshine, the International Space Station, Hubble, Iridium Satellites, planets, comets, asteroids and more, in easy-to-use format. I've found their data to be very accurate, and it really impresses the neighbors when you can point up and say, "Look right there-that's the Space Station."