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(meteorobs) Heads-up, SW US, 2 October

                   
                   ASTRONOMY/SPACE ALERT FOR SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

                                Brian Webb, KD6NRP
                            Ventura County, California
                        E-mail: 102670.1206@compuserve.com
        Web Page: http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/rawhide_home_page

                                     1999 September 29 (Wednesday) 20:10 PDT
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                Missile Defense Test To Be Visible Across Southwest

A missile launch scheduled for 19:01 PDT on October 2nd should be visible in
four western states and northern Mexico.

The U.S. Air Force will launch an MSLS missile (a modified Minuteman II) from
Vandenberg AFB, California. The missile will send an unarmed warhead and
warhead decoys on a ballistic (non-orbital) trajectory towards an impact
area about 400 miles north of Kwajalein Island in the central Pacific.

While the warhead and decoys are in flight, a second missile carrying a Kill
Vehicle (KV) will be launched from Meck Island in the Marshall Islands. The KV
will attempt to detect, track, and collide with the warhead.

The missile to be launched from Vandenberg will fly a steep ballistic arc and
reach a maximum altitude of about 500 miles. If the missile is launched on
time, the sky will be either in evening twilight or dark, depending on your
location.
    
Several seconds after launch, when it reaches the upper atmosphere, the smoke
trail and exhaust plume will be backlit by the sun and create an impressive
sight visible as far away as eastern Arizona, central Nevada, southwestern
Utah, most of California, and northern Mexico.

The launch window runs from 19:01 to 23:00 PDT.

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                                  Launch Status

For the status of Saturday's launch, consult the following sources:   

    Joint Pacific Area Scheduling Office
    http://mocc.vafb.af.mil/launchsched.asp

    This is the official Vandenberg AFB launch schedule and is usually only
    updated during normal working hours Monday through Friday.

    Vandenberg Launch Update Line
    30th Space Wing Public Affairs Office
    805-606-1857

    A tape recorded message regarding the status of the next scheduled launch.
    It isn't usually updated during the countdown or in the event of a hold.

    Vandenberg Launch Net (VHF)
    WB6OBB Repeater
    147.000 MHz, +600 KHz Offset, 131.8 Hz PL

    Countdown updates for ham radio operators and scanner listeners by way of
    the WB6OBB ham radio repeater west of Santa Barbara. This repeater's
signal
    reaches from Thousand Oaks to San Luis Obispo. This net will be
convened at
    18:30 PDT on launch day.


    Vandenberg Launch Net (HF)
    3,815.5 KHz LSB

    For the benefit of hams in outlying areas, a second launch net will be
    conducted on HF (shortwave) in the 80-meter ham band. Hams who are within
    range of the Santa Barbara repeater and can operate on 80-meters will pass
    information from the local VHF net over to this net. This net will also
    start at 18:30 PDT on launch day.

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