Message posted by Matthew Ruch on July 05, 2010 at 16:12:13 PST:
The launch has been delayed, but the correct That would place the launch at roughly 85 to 100 minutes after sunset at the launch site. Like the Pegasus and Minotaur I boosters, the Minotaur IV uses These facts had us wondering if the Minotaur IV would climb out of the Earth's shadow and allow the Sun to illuminate the stage 4 exhaust plume and However, a technical analysis by Rick B. indicates that for the Minotaur IV/SBSS launch, the vehicle will not be sunlit at any point during the boost phase (stage 1, 2, 3, or 4 burns). Despite this, the launch should be easily visible to the naked eye for hundreds of miles and the Minotaur will probably look like a moving yellow or orange light or star. The Minotaur IV uses a Peacekeeper ICBM first stage. That particular rocket motor (which is also used by the Minotaur I), is fairly bright. From a distance of 100 miles east-southeast of the launch site, the stage I burn will look like a point of light with a visual magnitude of about -0.2 From the same distance (100 miles), the second stage will have a visual magnitude of about +1. Given the ground track of the Minotaur IV/SBSS launch, the event should be visible to the naked eye as far north as San Francisco and as far south as Regards, Matt
date is July 17 2141-2155 PDT (July 18 0441-0455 UTC).
four stages with a long delay between stage 3 burnout and stage 4 ignition.
create an artificial comet visible over a very wide area
(http://www.spacearchive.info/minotaur-jawsat.htm).
to -0.5 (refer to http://www.spacearchive.info/peacekeeper-gt-28pa.htm and
http://www.spacearchive.info/peacekeeper-gt-33pa.htm).
mid-Baja California and inland as far as Reno and the California-Arizona border.
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