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Another Launch : Tomorrow 2:30pm
by Aaron Turner - Sunday, 18 September 2016, 1:04 AM
 

If you missed the launch of OSIRIS-rEX a week ago or so, here is another opportunity to see man put a spacecraft into orbit.  This time it is the WorldView-4 satellite, which is a commercial Earth-observing telescope that can see down to about a 4 ft resolution on the ground.  For example, you could identify the color and model of your car in its best images.  Unlike the last launch, my company has some interest in this launch - we provided the small telescope that is used to control the pointing direction of the satellite by observing stars and finding their locations in a database.  These instruments are "Star Trackers".  I didn't personally work on this project, but some of the people reporting to me helped in the design and testing of them.

So, if you want to see the launch, go to www.ulalaunch.com at about 2:15pm tomorrow to see the launch occur at 2:30.  Of course spaceflight is always subject to weather and equipment cooperating, so you may find that the launch is delayed.