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showers that could also pose a risk for the launch. However, with an hour and 45 minute window,

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Coming up in our webcast, Launch Director Chuck Dovale will take us through launch day, and Deputy Project Scientist Sue Smrekar

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will answer your questions about the mission. Question winners will be announced at the end of this show. But first, Clay Flinn,

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our launch weather officer, is here to tell us about the forecast for launch day. Thanks for joining us today, Clay.

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Thank you, Tiffany. Good to be here.

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Weather always seems to be a big story, especially during now, right now, during hurricane season. Can you tell us how things are

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looking for launch day? Sure. A major player is our weather, the type of weather that we receive here during our summer months it deals

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with the position of the subtropical ridge axis. Presently, the ridge axis is to our south, which results in southwesterly flow.

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If you take a look at that satellite picture that we have of the peninsula of Florida, you'll note that we have a line of

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thunderstorms pretty much oriented north to south and they'll move from west to east.

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So the southwesterly flow thunderstorms favor the eastern portion of the peninsula during the late afternoon and evening hours. However,

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we have an early morning launch for the MRO AB 007. With the window opening up at 7:54, we'd expect relatively benign conditions for the launch.

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We're just looking at scattered low clouds at 2,500 feet, scattered high clouds, unrestricted visibility, winds should be from the

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southwest at 8 knots gusting to 12, and we should have some isolated coastal showers out over the Atlantic Ocean.

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Are there any other weather factors that could affect the MRO launch?

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Well, yes. With the isolated coastal showers, a concern would be thick clouds that could cause a launch constraint for us if

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the clouds are greater than 4,500 feet thick. And likewise, we do have standoff distances for cumulous clouds associated with those

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I feel that we should be able to, it shouldn't last the entire window. We should be able to get the launch off.

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Thanks for the forecast, Clay. We'll hope the weather cooperates for a great launch day.

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You're more than welcome, Tiffany.

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