Skynet Tonight! "Feb. 26th Space Launches" & Constellation "Gemini" 9 PM CT
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SKYNET!!!!? 9PM CT - 10:30 PM CT ? Saturday’s Topic: “Space Launches on Feb 26th” & Constellation “Gemini, the Twins”? ? Net Control: Bill N5BB ? Afterglow Movie 10:30PM: 2-Meter Repeater W5FC: 146.880MHz, PL 110.9, - Echolink: W5FC-R, node 37247. ? Youtube.com Search “DARC Skynet” Facebook.com Search “DARC Skynet” ? Direct Video Link: ? IO Group:/g/DARCskynet/topics Facebook Group: Saturday’s DARC SkyNet is at 9PM CT. Recent Astronomical Discoveries?Adsorptive regolith on Mars soaks up water, researchers reveal Mars Absorption Process Discussion Topic of the Evening.Space Launches on Feb 26: Lunar lander, lunar orbiter, geostationary transfer spacecraft, asteroid mining research spacecraft Nova-C Lander Lunar Trailblazer Chimera Geo 1 Odin ?Waz UpSpace Exploration and Space History?Space Exploration News Blue Ghost Targets Landing on Sunday Rocket Lab Neutron Rocket Launch Update Space-Related Birthdays Clayton Anderson Feb 23, 1959 STS-117, Exp 15/16, STS-120, STS-131 Susan Helms Feb 26, 1958 STS-54, STS-64, STS-78, STS-101, Expedition 2 (STS-102/STS-105) ? Anatoly Filipchenko (RKA) Feb 26, 1928, Russia - Soyuz 7 and 16 ? Susan J. Helms, Feb 26, 1958 STS-54, STS-64, STS-78, STS-101, Expedition 2 (STS-102 / STS-105) ? Jack Lousma Feb 29, 1936 Skylab-3, STS-3 ? 1924 Deke Slayton, Mar 1, 1924 - Apollo–Soyuz Test Project ? This Week in Space History February 23: 1987 Astronomers first spotted the supernova they would go on to call Supernova 1987A. February 24: 1969 Mariner 6 launched to Mars? 2011 Space Shuttle Discovery lifted off from NASA's Kennedy Space Center on her final mission February 28: ? 1990 Launch of STS-35 for Astronomy Mission ? February 29: 1959 Launch of Discoverer 1 into Polar Orbit 1966 First Saturn 1B launch February 25 1969 Launch of Mariner 6 to Mars Miss Carolyn’s Constellation of the WeekConstellation “Gemini, the Twins” Space Launches For This WeekSpace Flight Now Launch Schedule March 1/2 Falcon 9 ? Starlink 12-20 Launch time: Window opens at (8:57 p.m. EST, 0157 UTC) Launch site: SLC-40, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch another batch of Starlink V2 Mini satellites into low Earth orbit. There will likely be around 13 satellites that have Direct to Cell capabilities. A little more than eight minutes after liftoff, the first stage booster will attempt a landing on a droneship positioned in the Atlantic Ocean. Delayed from Feb. 27/28. Updated: February 27 NET March 2/3 Falcon 9 ? SPHEREx and PUNCH Launch time: 7:09 p.m. PST (10:09 p.m. EST, 0309 UTC) Launch site: SLC-4E, Vandenberg Space Force Base, California A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch two co-manifested missions on behalf of NASA. The primary payload is the Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer (SPHEREx) observatory, which is designed to map the entire sky in infrared light. The total mission cost for SPHEREx, including launch is about $488 million. Sharing the Falcon 9 rocket is the Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere (PUNCH), which consists of four suitcase-sized satellites designed to map a region around the Sun where the corona transitions to solar wind. Both missions will launch to a polar orbit and will be deployed about 11 minutes apart. A little less than eight minutes after liftoff, the Falcon 9 first stage booster will target a touchdown at Landing Zone 4 back at VSFB. Delayed from Feb. 27/28. Delayed from Feb. 28/Mar. 1. Updated: February 27 NET March 3 Ariane 6 ? CSO-3 Launch time: 1:24 p.m. local time (11:24 a.m. EST, 1624 UTC) Launch site: Europe's Spaceport, Kourou, French Guiana An Ariane 6 rocket managed by Arianespace will launch the Composite Spatiale Optique-3 (CSO-3) satellite on the second flight in the Ariane 6 program. This will be an Ariane 62 configuration, meaning there will be two solid rocket motors on the vehicle. It will send the CSO-3 satellite into a Sun-synchronous orbit (SSO) at an altitude of about 800 km (497.1 mi). The CSO-3 is a military Earth imaging satellite for the French defense procurement agency, DGA., and is expected to operate for at least 10 years. Delayed from Feb. 26. Updated: February 26 NET March 3 Starship ? Flight 8 Launch time: 5:30 p.m. CST (6:30 p.m. EST / 2330 UTC) Launch site: OLP-A, Starbase, Boca Chica Beach, Texas SpaceX will launch its eighth, suborbital flight test of its fully integrated Starship rocket, a combination of the Ship upper stage (S34) and the Super Heavy booster (B15). SpaceX will attempt to catch the Super Heavy booster using the chopsticks on the launch tower. The Ship upper stage will perform a soft splashdown in the Indian Ocean. Delayed from Feb. 28. Updated: February 27 NET March 12 Falcon 9 ? Crew-10 Launch time: 7:48 p.m. EDT (2348 UTC) Launch site: Launch Complex 39A, Kennedy Space Center, Florida A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch three astronauts and a cosmonaut to the International Space Station. The quartet will fly onboard the Crew Dragon spacecraft named ‘Endurance.’ Originally, the crew was to fly on the C213 Crew Dragon (yet unnamed), but swapped the vehicle to compensate for the fact that C213 still needs additional work before it can fly. The mission will carry NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers along with Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Takuya Onishi and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov. This will be the second spaceflight for both McClain and Onishi and the first for both Ayers and Peskov. Updated: February 11 NET Spring 2025 New Glenn ? EscaPADE Launch time: TBD Launch site: Launch Complex 36, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station A Blue Origin New Glenn rocket will launch a pair of identical spacecraft on NASA’s Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers (EscaPADE) mission. The two satellites, named Blue and Gold, will make a roughly 11-month journey to Mars where they will then perform about an 11-month science mission while orbiting the Red Planet. Blue and Gold were manufactured by Rocket Lab over about 3.5 years and carry science experiments from the University of California, Berkeley. This launch of the New Glenn rocket will also feature a landing attempt on its landing barge in the Atlantic Ocean. Delayed from October 13. Updated: September 11 NET March Falcon 9 ? Transporter-13 Launch time: TBD Launch site: SLC-4E, Vandenberg Space Force Base, California A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch a dozens of satellites on the company’s 13th smallsat rideshare mission to a sun-synchronous orbit. Among those satellites are a trio of CubeSats for NASA’s Electrojet Zeeman Imaging Explorer (EZIE) mission; Arvaker 1, the first microsatellie for Kongsberg NanoAvionics’ N3X constellation; and the Botsat-1 satellite from Botswana. Less than eight minutes after liftoff, the first stage booster will return for a touchdown at a landing pad near the launch site. Updated: February 27 Spring 2025 Alpha ? ‘Message in a Booster’ Launch time: TBD Launch site: SLC-2, Vandenberg Space Force Base, California A Firefly Aerospace Alpha rocket will launch Lockheed Martin’s LM 400 Technology Demonstrator, a mid-sized satellite bus, to low Earth orbit. This is the second flight as part of a multi-launch agreement with Lockheed Martin for up to 25 missions across a five-year timespan. Updated: February 27 NET April 8 Soyuz 2.1a ? Soyuz MS-27 / 73S Launch time: 8:47 a.m. MSK (1:47 a.m. EDT, 0547 UTC) Launch site: Baikonur Cosmodrome, Site 31 A Russian Soyuz 2.1a rocket will launch a three-man crew to the International Space Station. Crew commander Sergey Ryzhikov will be joined by fellow cosmonaut Alexey Zubritsky and NASA astronaut Jonny Kim. The Soyuz is set to dock with the ISS at about 5:04 a.m. EDT (0904 UTC). The spacecraft will remain docked with the orbiting outpost until about Dec. 8, 2025. This will be the third spaceflight for Ryzhikov and the first for both Zubritsky and Kim. Updated: February 05 TBD 2025 Vulcan Centaur ? Dream Chaser 1 Launch time: TBD Launch site: SLC-41, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida A United Launch Alliance Vulcan Centaur rocket will launch on its second demonstration flight with Sierra Space’s Dream Chaser cargo vehicle for the International Space Station. The Dream Chaser is a lifting body resupply spacecraft that will launch on top of a rocket and land on a runway. This will be the Dream Chaser’s first flight to space. The Vulcan Centaur rocket will fly in the VC4L configuration with four GEM-63XL solid rocket boosters, a long-length payload fairing, and two RL10 engines on the Centaur upper stage. Delayed from August 2022, December 2023, January 2024,? April 2024 and September 2024. Updated: October 17 NET November 2025 Falcon 9 ? Sentinel-6B Launch time: TBD Launch site: SLC-4E, Vandenberg Space Force Base, California A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch the second of the two-satellite Sentinel-6 series. NASA awarded SpaceX a $94 million firm fixed price contract for the launch in 2022. The Sentinel-6B “will use a radar altimeter to bounce signals off the ocean surface and deliver continuity of ocean topography measurements,” according to NASA. The missions is designed through a partnership between NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA), and the European Organization for the Exploration of Meteorological Studies.?? Visible satellite passages over the next couple of days.?All times are “local” (Dallas) time. ISS Mar. 4 Mar. 5 Mar. 6 Mar. 7 Mar. 8 Tiangong Mar. 3 |
Tom General