18.07.2022
ATLAS V TO LAUNCH SBIRS GEO 6
A United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V 421 rocket will launch the sixth and final Space Based Infrared System Geosynchronous Earth Orbit (SBIRS GEO 6) spacecraft for the U.S. Space Force's Space Systems Command (SSC)..
Launch Date: Thursday, Aug. 4, 2022
Go Atlas! Go Centaur! Go SBIRS!
Upcoming in Atlas V stacking work, a pair of GEM 63 solid rocket boosters and the Centaur upper stage featuring an RL10C-1-1 engine will be hoisted into place, followed by SBIRS GEO 6 payload attachment. Liftoff in August will be ULA's 152nd mission.
Photos by United Launch Alliance
Atlas V rockets have launched the entire constellation of Space Based Infrared System Geosynchronous Earth Orbit (SBIRS GEO) spacecraft that provides global surveillance to detect missile launches and provide early warning to those in harm's way.
Photos by United Launch Alliance
An Atlas V 421 with two side-mounted boosters will perform this U.S. national security launch for Space Systems Command. The rocket is launching the sixth and final Space Based Infrared System Geosynchronous Earth Orbit (SBIRS GEO 6) spacecraft.
Photos by United Launch Alliance
Welcome to Cape Canaveral and the start of another Atlas V launch campaign! Follow along today as we begin stacking the rocket to launch the SBIRS GEO 6 missile warning satellite for one of the U.S. Space Force's highest priority programs in August.
Photos by United Launch Alliance
MISSION OVERVIEW
A United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V 421 rocket is launching the sixth Space Based Infrared System Geosynchronous Earth Orbit (SBIRS GEO 6) missile detection and early warning satellite for the U.S. Space Force’s Space Systems Command (SSC). ULA’s Atlas V rocket will launch SBIRS GEO 6 into a performance optimized geosynchronous transfer orbit (GTO). Liftoff will occur from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida.
Equipped with powerful scanning and staring infrared surveillance sensors to protect our nation 24/7, the SBIRS spacecraft continue to serve as the tip of the spear for global missile warning as ballistic missile threats proliferate around the world. These infrared sensors, and others in a constellation of persistent overhead satellites, collect data that allow the U.S. military to detect missile launches, support ballistic missile defense, expand technical intelligence gathering and bolster situational awareness on the battlefield.
Built by Lockheed Martin using its modernized LM 2100 Combat Bus™, SBIRS GEO 6 is an enhanced space vehicle providing even greater resiliency and cyber-hardening against growing threats, as well as improved spacecraft power, propulsion and electronics.
LAUNCH VEHICLE
Payload Fairing (PLF)
The spacecraft is encapsulated in the 14-ft (4-m) diameter extra extended payload fairing (XEPF). The XEPF is a bisector (two-piece shell) fairing consisting of aluminum skin/stringer construction with vertical split-line longerons. The vehicle’s height with the XEPF is approximately 194 ft (59.1 m).
Centaur
The Centaur second stage is 10 ft (3 m) in diameter and 41.5 ft (12.6 m) in length. Its propellant tanks are pressure-stabilized and constructed of corrosion-resistant stainless steel. Centaur is a cryogenic vehicle, fueled with liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen, powered by an RL10C-1-1 engine producing 23,825 lbs (106 kilo-Newtons) of thrust. The cryogenic tanks are insulated with a combination of helium-purged blankets, radiation shields and spray-on foam insulation (SOFI). The Centaur forward adapter (CFA) provides structural mountings for the fault-tolerant avionics system and structural and electrical interfaces with the spacecraft.
Booster
The booster is 12.5 ft (3.8 m) in diameter and 106.5 ft (32.5 m) in length. The booster’s tanks are structurally rigid and constructed of isogrid aluminum barrels, spun-formed aluminum domes and intertank skirts. Booster propulsion is provided by the RD-180 engine system (a single engine with two thrust chambers). The RD-180 burns RP-1 (Rocket Propellant-1 or highly purified kerosene) and liquid oxygen and delivers 860,200 lbs (3.83 mega-Newtons) of thrust at sea level. Two solid rocket boosters (SRBs) generate the additional power required at liftoff, with each providing 371,550 lbs (1.6 mega-Newtons) of thrust. The Centaur avionics system, provides guidance, flight control and vehicle sequencing functions during the booster and Centaur phases of flight.
Space Force plans launch this week for final SBIRS missile warning sat
Assuming the Thursday launch goes as planned, the last of the satellites, SBIRS GEO-6, is expected to be up and running by "late spring, early summer" next year, according to Maj. Matt Blystone.
Space Based Infrared System (SBIRS) satellite. (USAF image)
WASHINGTON: The Space Force plans to launch the final satellite in its Space Based Infrared System (SBIRS) missile warning constellation on Aug. 4, putting a bow on the long running but often troubled program.
“This launch represents the conclusion of the production and launch phase, and the commencement of the satellites’ critical missile detection and early warning mission,” Maj. Matt Blystone, program manager at the Space Force’s Space Systems Command (SSC), told reporters today at a pre-launch briefing.
SBIRS, conceived in 1996, was designed to replace the elderly Defense Support Program (DSP) satellites, the first of which was launched in 1970. The operational constellation comprises three satellites in Geosynchronous Orbit (GEO) and two hosted payloads on classified satellites in Highly Elliptical Orbits over the poles. Lockheed Martin is the SBIRS prime contractor and Northrop Grumman the payload integrator.
Assuming the Thursday launch goes as planned, the last of the satellites, SBIRS GEO-6, is expected to be up and running by “late spring, early summer” next year, Blystone said. The time between now and then will be filled with various tests of the satellite and its subsystems.
Technically, SBIRS GEO-6 and its predecessor SBIRS GEO-5 launched last year were produced to replace two of the older SBIRS satellites (the birds have an expected 12-year lifetime) in the constellation. While there have been modifications to the satellite bus and its propulsion, the IR sensors on board both GEO-5 and GEO-6 are exactly the same as those on the first four of their sister satellites, said Col. Dan Walter, senior materiel leader at SSC’s Strategic Missile Warning Acquisition Delta.
But in reality, he explained, the service will continue to operate the older satellites basically until they die — including the older SBIRS and even the DSP satellites the newer generation was supposed to replace.
“We use the satellites as long as we possibly can,” he said during the briefing.
Walter explained that the more satellites are available, the better operators can detect and follow an adversary ballistic missile in flight by provided what is known as “stereo” coverage from the multiple sensors.
“With stereo coverage, the more looks that you have at any missile launch, the more accurate the reporting on that particular asset is,” he said. “So, GEOs -1, -2, -3 and -4. And the DSPs that are on orbit are going to continue to operate as long as possible.”
SBIRS once was the poster child for how not to do space acquisition, vastly exceeding its originally planned cost estimates and falling significantly far behind schedule. Starting in 2001, the program racked up not one, not two, not three, but four so-called Nunn-McCurdy breaches that required restructuring and downgrading planned requirements.
The Nunn-McCurdy law requires a notification to Congress if a Defense Department program has cost growth greater than 15%; if the overrun tops 25% then the Pentagon has to certify that a) the program is critical to national security and b) no viable alternatives are available.
In a 2021 report [PDF] on DoD’s missile warning and tracking programs, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) summed up SBIRS roiled history:
“Total program costs for SBIRS grew approximately 260 percent from $5.6 billion in 1996—when the Air Force initiated the program—to $20.3 billion in 2020, and launch of the first satellite was delayed roughly 9 years, from 2002 to 2011. Even after restructuring the program several times, SBIRS continued to face development challenges, including test failures and technical issues that resulted in cost growth and schedule delays on the third and fourth satellites. Additionally, the fifth and sixth SBIRS GEO satellites experienced technical issues leading to delays.”
But in recent years, the program has mostly put its woes behind it, according to the congressional watchdog.
“Still, the program has largely overcome cost, schedule, and other technical issues on recent GEO satellites,” the GAO report stated.
Indeed, Blystone noted that the SBIRS GEO-6 bird was “completed almost a month ahead of schedule.”
Further, the new Lockheed Martin bus, called LM 2100, used for SBIRS GEO-5 and -6 also will be used for the Space Force’s Next-Generation Overhead Persistent Infrared System (Next-Gen OPIR) satellites being developed to replace SBIRS. The first Next-Gen OPIR satellite is slated to launch in 2025, with the full constellation of five — three in GEO built by Lockheed Martin and two in polar orbits built by Northrop Grumman — expected to be on orbit by 2029.
Quelle: Breaking Defense
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Update: 4.08.2022
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Start von Atlas V421 the sixth and final Space Based Infrared System Geosynchronous Earth Orbit (SBIRS GEO 6) spacecraft
