U.S. The United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket returned to its launch pad at Cape Canaveral, late Tuesday afternoon, after an unplanned voyage inside its integration building, ready for a blastoff after sunset on Wednesday with a classified payload for the government’s spy satellite agency.
A 206-foot-tall (-63-meter) Atlas rocket rocket Tuesday evening after traveling 1,800 feet from the ULA’s .V integration facility. Arrived at Pad 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station around 0:00 EST (2230 GMT). Forced by locomotives, the Atlas 5 and its mobile launch platform led to the launching mount on Pad 41 following the railway track.
The rollout followed the same path it traveled on Monday, when ULA moved the Atlas 5 to the launch pad ahead of a planned liftoff on Tuesday evening. But officials ordered the Atlas 5 inside the VIF to address concerns over the environmental control system line providing conditioned air to the national Rick onnansis office fee payload on top of the rocket.
After the rocket returned to VIF on Monday night, technicians turned on the problematic environmental control system hose, which could have been severely damaged by wind toward the pads during the Atlas 5’s first voyage. ULA President and CEO, Tori Bruno tweeted that the company has installed a reinforced hose in its place.
Returning the VIF to the Atlas 5 allows workers to use the platform to access the location of the environmental control system line, which the ULA said is inaccessible to the launch pad.
After finishing the repair work, the ground crew withdrew the work platform and returned the Atlas 5 back to the pad. Once on the pad, the teams planned to connect the Atlas 5 to the ground system on pad 41, and the ULA’s ground crew would complete inspections, checkouts, and other activities.
Liquid oxygen will be loaded in the first phase during the calculation on Wednesday afternoon with liquid hydrogen and liquid hydrogen for the upper phase of the Centaur of Atlas 5. RP-1 fuel was loaded last month for the first phase during the countdown dress rehearsal.
The latest forecast released this morning is E.S.T. (2258 GMT) indicates a 70% chance of favorable weather conditions for the launch at 5:54 p.m. The primary concern of the weather is with the land winds at Cape Canaveral.
Forecasters forecast about 20 to 26 northerly winds from east to northeast at the initial time, with broken clouds at 3,000 feet. The temperature at launch should be 75 degrees Fahrenheit.
The lift is scheduled for about 19 minutes after sunset. Assuming clear skies, the Atlas 5 and its exhaust trail could put on a spectacular display in the twilight sky above Florida’s space coast.
Launched on Wednesday – NROL-101 designated – will mark the 86th flight of the Atlas 5 rocket since 2002 and the fifth Atlas 5 mission this year. It will be the 30th mission for the NRO, which has a fleet of spy satellites that provide optical and radar imagery, intercepted signals and communications, and other data to U.S. government intelligence agencies.
The NRO has not released information on the payload flight on the NROL-111 mission, but the warning notice issued to pilots and passengers indicates that the Atlas rocket will proceed from Cape Canaveral to the northeast route, parallel to the parallel route to the US East Coast. Flying near the Canadian coastal province.
The ball indicates that the Atlas 5 will release the NRO payload into a high-trend orbit.
NROs have data relay satellites and many spacecraft designed to intercept communications signals in elliptical molecular type orbits, extending about 25,000 miles (40,000 kilometers) from Earth to their highest points. That orbit is tilted towards the equator at about 63 degrees, giving the satellites a regular view of Russia and other parts of the Northern Hemisphere.
According to multiple independent experts monitoring spy satellite activity, the Atlas 5, scheduled for launch on Wednesday, will aim for a similar Molniya-type orbit.
The launch vehicle for the NROL-111 mission will fly in the “531” configuration of the Atlas 5 with three solid rocket boosters and a .4..4-meter diameter (17.7 ft) payload ferring.
The payload failure for the NROL-111 mission will proceed in its medium length type, with the standard short length.4. The board of a classified spacecraft will be given more volume than a meter-meter-diameter shroud. The medium-length 5.4-meter ferring has flown on seven previous Atlas 5 missions.
On Wednesday, the 531 variant will be the fourth flight of the Atlas rocket, but it will launch with the new GEM stra 63 strap-boo na boosters produced by Northrop Grumman. They have the same form, fit and function as the AJJ60A solid rocket boosters built by Aerojet RocketDin that flew on previous Atlas 5 missions that required strap-on motors.
GEM 63 motors measure 66 feet (20 m) long and 63 inches (1.6 m) wide. They can generate 373,800 pounds of thrust at maximum power.
The UEM states that the GEM 63 motors are less expensive and easier to handle during launch preparations. According to the ULA, the company’s next pay-generation Vulcan Centaur rocket will fly with a large Northrop Grumman solid booster called the GEM X63XL, and the introduction of new rocket motors on the Atlas on the UK will help risk retirement before launching the first Vulcan Centurion.
The three GEMs on the NROL-111 mission will ignite the boo 63 booster on the lunch pad and burn for seconds, the TT + Plus 1 minute, seconds 53 seconds of pre-packed solid propellant, 97,500,000 pounds (.2 44.4 metric) before jetting. Tons) will consume. Fall into the sea.
The RD-180 main engine will continue firing at the first stage of the Atlas 5, then the rocket will strike its payload firing in 3 minutes, 19 seconds, after the upper level of the lower layers of the atmosphere.
The United Launch Alliance will end live broadcasts of its launch after isolating pay-load fairings and the rest of the mission will play into a government-ordered news blackout. The NRO usually requires its launch contractors to complete live coverage within the first few minutes of the flight.
Assuming the rest of the mission follows the standard Atlas 5 launch profile, the RD-180 engine will shut down in flight for about four and a half minutes, followed by a few seconds later with the first phase split and centrifugal ignition. Stage RL 10 engine.
The RL10 engine could fire one or more times in Wednesday evening flight, depending on the final orbit targeted for the deployment of the top secret NRO payload.
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