METD WEATHER
Akshay Deoras
Extreme Weather Forecaster,
Space shuttle discovery's landing opportunities of Kennedy space center,FL for Monday were waved off due to bad weather. The visibility was too low with rains and low cloud ceiling.
Discovery has multiple opportunities on Tuesday both at Kennedy and Edwards.
Tuesday there are 5 landing opportunities 3 at edwards and 2 at KSC.
Here are the timings and flight path details
ORBIT SITE DEORBIT LANDING STATUS
237.....KSC...06:31 AM...07:33 AM OPEN
238.....EDW...07:59 AM...09:00 AM OPEN
239.....KSC...08:07 AM...09:08 AM OPEN
240.....EDW...09:34 AM...10:36 AM CLOSE
241.....EDW...11:09 AM...12:11 PM CLOSE
METD WEATHER ANALYSIS
1] ORBIT 237
THE RECENT ANALYSIS FOR TUESDAY ORBIT SHOWS POSITIVE SIGNS FOR LANDING AT ORBIT 237 AT KSC.
MORNING WILL BE CLOUDY WITH 70% CLOUD COVER EXPECTED BUT THE CLOUD COVER WILL DECREASE TO 60% BY THE TIME OF LANDING. WINDS ARE NOT BARRIER FOR LANDING AS THEY ARE WITHIN THE STANDARD FLIGHT PARAMETERS. RAINS WILL BE FAR AWAY ABOUT 5nm FROM RUNWAY WHICH IS NOT A BIG PROBLEM BUT VIOLATES THE FLIGHT RULES.CLOUD CEILING WILL BE MORE OR LESS OK FOR THE FIRST OPP.
2] ORBIT 238,EDWARDS
EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE HAS SIMILAR CLOUD COVER BUT THE NEGATIVE FACTOR IS THE WIND SPEED AND GUSTS, THEY are just within THE FLIGHT RULES. NO RAINS ARE EXPECTED IN THE SECOND OPP. NASA MIGHT USE THIS ONE IF KSC IS NO FOR FIRST ONE
3] ORBIT 239,KSC
RADAR WILL CLARIFY THE WEATHER CONDITIONS IN A BETTER MANNER. FOR KSC, NO RAINS ARE EXPECTED TILL 2PM. THIS MEANS THIS OPTION IS OPEN TO NASA BUT THEY MIGHT NOT USE IT. WINDS UNDER CONTROL
4] ORBIT 240,EDW
HIGHER WINDS FROM WSW OF 35KM/HR ARE EXPECTED AT THIS TIME WITH NO RAIN. THIS IS NOT GOOD FOR FLIGHT RULES
5]ORBIT 241,EDW
THIS TIME, EDWARDS WILL BE WINDY. WINDS MORE THAN 32KM/HR ARE EXPECTED. THIS WILL PREVENT THE OPTION
IN MY OPINION, THE BEST TRACKS ARE THE FIRST THREE WITH KSC BETTER AT THE FIRST OPPORTUNITY
BEST OF LUCK TO ASTRONAUTS OF SPACE SHUTTLE DISCOVERY BACK HOME FROM METD WEATHER
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