16.09.2017
Atlas V to Launch NROL-42
- Rocket: Atlas V 541
- Mission: NROL-42
- Launch Date: Thursday, Sept. 21, 2017
- Launch Time: 10:38 p.m. PDT
- Live Broadcast: Stay tuned for how you can watch live
- Launch Location: Space Launch Complex 3, Vandenberg Air Force Base, California
Launch Notes: This launch will be ULA’s sixth of 2017 and 121st overall. NROL-42 will be the 25th mission that ULA has launched for the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) since the company was founded in 2006. This mission will mark the 73rd Atlas V launch since its inaugural launch on Aug. 21, 2002.
Quelle: ULA
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Atlas V Rocket Launch Rescheduled at Vandenberg AFB After Delay Due to Hurricane Irma
After being delayed by Hurricane Irma, an Atlas V rocket at Vandenberg Air Force Base has a new launch date.
Liftoff of the United Launch Alliance booster is now planned for Sept. 21 from Space Launch Complex-3 on South Base.
The launch window remains classified for the mission dubbed NROL-42 since the rocket will carrying payload for the National Reconnaissance Office.
The targeted launch time is 10:38 p.m., but the launch window does not extend beyond 11:30 p.m. based upon the notice to mariners warning boaters to remain away from the ocean off South Base.
ULA officials announced Sept. 8 that the mission was delayed a week to allow ULA crews temporarily working at Vandenberg to return home before Hurricane Irma, brewing in the Atlantic Ocean at the time, was set to hit Florida.
Following Atlas, at least two launches are planned from Vandenberg in October.
At 6:06 a.m. Oct. 4, a Space Exploration Technologies Falcon 9 rocket is set to lift another 10 Iridium Next satellites into orbit amid a push to replace the constellation of craft that allow communications anywhere on the globe.
Additionally, Orbital ATK plans to conduct a Minotaur C launch of 10 commercial Earth-imaging spacecraft at 2:37 p.m. Oct. 17 from Vandenberg.
Planet’s six SkySat and four Dove spacecraft have all been designed and manufactured in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Quelle: Noozhawk
Payload: CLASSIFIED NATIONAL SECURITY PAYLOAD
NRO satellite in Molniya orbit
Collects signals intelligence
Launch Date: Thursday, Sept. 21, 2017
Target
Launch Time: 10:38 p.m. local
1:38 a.m. EDT on Sept. 22
0538 GMT on Sept. 22
Unclassified
Launch Period: Four hours
7:25-11:35 p.m. local
0225-0635 GMT on Sept. 22
Launch Site: Vandenberg Air Force Base, California
Space Launch Complex 3-East
Customer: National Reconnaissance Office
Launch Enterprise Directorate, Air Force's
Space and Missile Systems Center
Launch Services
Provider: United Launch Alliance, Centennial, Colorado
Launch Vehicle: Atlas 5 designated AV-072
541 configuration
Weight at liftoff: 1.2 million pounds
Thrust at liftoff: 2.4 million pounds
Height: 197 feet (60 m)
Common Core Booster with RD-180 engine
73,800 gallons RP-1 kerosene and liquid oxygen
Thrust: 860,300 pounds
Four side-mounted solid-fuel rocket boosters
World's largest monolithic SRB
Thrust: 380,000 pounds each
Centaur upper stage with RL10C-1 engine
16,450 gallons liquid hydrogen and oxygen
Thrust: 23,300 pounds
5-meter Short Fairing
18-foot-dia., 68-foot-tall composite shroud
Construction: Atlas stage and Centaur upper stage built by
United Launch Alliance in Decatur, Alabama
Fairing manufactured by RUAG Space in Zurich
RD-180 from NPO Energomash, Khimki, Russia
SRBs by Aerojet Rocketdyne, Sacramento, Calif.
RL10C-1 from Aerojet Rocketdyne, West Palm
Beach, Florida
Payload Speculation: NROL-42 is believed to be the second spacecraft
in the newest generation of Molniya-orbit
signals intelligence satellites
unofficially called Trumpet Follow-On.
The highly-inclined orbit enables the craft
to dwell over northern latitudes to collect
surveillance.
The fourth Space Based Infrared System-HEO
missile-warning senor package is hosted
aboard the NROL-42 satellite.
The target orbit is roughly 1,000 by 24,000
miles at an inclination of 63 degrees.
About the NRO: Headquartered in Chantilly, Virginia, the
National Reconnaissance Office develops
and operates overhead reconnaissance
systems and conducts intelligence-related
activities for U.S. national Security.
NRO Uses: The NRO is the nation's eyes and ears in
space, supporting policy makers, the Armed
Services, the Intelligence Community,
Departments of State, Justice and
Treasury, and civil agencies. All of them
depend on the unique capabilities NRO
systems provide.
NRO Capabilities: - Monitoring the proliferation of weapons of
mass destruction
- Tracking international terrorists, drug
traffickers, and criminal organizations
- Developing highly accurate military
targeting data and bomb damage assessments
- Supporting international peacekeeping and
humanitarian relief operations
- Assessing the impact of natural disasters,
such as earthquakes, tsunamis, floods and
fires.
NRO Constellations: Exquisite-class electro-optical and
radar-imaging observatories,
geosynchronous and Molniya-orbit
eavesdropping platforms, ocean
surveillance network and data-relay
support spacecraft
Quelle: SN
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Update: 20.09.2017
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Atlas V Rocket Launch On Track For Clandestine Mission from Vandenberg AFB
National Reconnaissance Office Payload will head to orbit aboard United Launch Alliance booster
Thursday night
For the second time this year an Atlas V rocket at Vandenberg Air Force Base is ready to carry clandestine cargo for the nation’s spy satellite agency Thursday night, assuming weather cooperates.
Liftoff of the United Launch Alliance space booster from Space Launch Complex-3 on South Base is planned during a period opening at 10:38 p.m. Thursday.
Due to the hush-hush mission, the length of the launch window remains unknown, but isn’t expected to extend beyond 11:35 p.m. based upon notices warning boaters to remain out of the area.
The launch weather forecast calls for a 40-percent likelihood weather conditions — specifically, launch visibility and ground winds — will violate rules and prompt a delay.
Workers were completing their final chores while mission managers will conduct their final reviews toward giving the mission the green light to launch.
The mission, dubbed NROL-42, will carry a payload for the National Reconnaissance Office which typically remains mum about specific capabilities of its craft.
“Every national security space mission is important,” Lt. Col. Kenneth Decker, 4th Space Launch Squadron commander.
In addition to supporting national security, these types of spacecraft help senior leaders making key decisions, he added.
“It ultimately provides capability to the warfighters,” he added.
His squadron, mostly made up of active-duty military members and a few civilians, provides a mission assurance role while rockets are readied for flight.
“Every mission has unique requirements and every mission has unique challenges. Both the space vehicle and the launch vehicle are very complex machines so we do run into some technical issues,” Decket said. “Anytime there's something with elevated risk we step back and we perform that independent look. ... Our focus is to ensure these critical payloads make it to orbit.”
They also help facilitate communication among various organizations spread across the base and around the country, he added.
The launch will mark the first for Decker since assuming command of the squadron during the summer, after earlier serving in the unit eight years ago.
“Every launch there’s excitement,” he added.
This mission was delayed a week due to Hurricane Irma in the Atlantic Ocean, to allow ULA employees from Florida that were working at Vandenberg time to return to the East Coast to focus on the safety of their families and homes.
“This launch is the culmination of many months of work by United Launch alliance, the National Reconnaissance Office and the 30th Space Wing,” said Col. Gregory Wood, 30th Space Wing vice commander. “All of Team Vandenberg is dedicated to mission success and proud to play a part in delivering these capabilities to our nation.”
This will be ULA’s sixth launch of 2017 including missions from Florida and California., and comes six months after another Atlas launch of a different NRO mission from the same launch pad.
The Atlas V launch pad, notable with its gigantic white mobile service tower, is visible on the horizon looking south of Highway 246 from spots around the Lompoc Valley.
While Vandenberg has restricted access, there are several spots around the Lompoc Valley offering views including the peak of Harris Grade Road, West Ocean Avenue or locales in Vandenberg Village.
However, Vandenberg officials do not plan to open the Hawk's Nest viewing site for this launch.
Quelle: Noozhawk
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Update: 21.09.2017 / 8.40 MESZ
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Quelle: AS
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Update: 22.09.2017
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Update: 24.09.2017
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LIVE-Frams von Start Atlas-5 mit NROL-42 Satelliten
Quelle: ULA