U.S. A top secret cargo for the government’s spy satellite agency went into orbit from Cape Canaveral on Friday night at the top of the United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket, the ULA says successfully presenting a new solid-fueled booster design that is easier to do than the ULA says. . Motors on the rear belt.
The new booster design, manufactured by Northrop Grumman and named GEM 63, operates the previous Atlas 5 mission by replacing the AJ-60A solid rocket boosters with the Aerojet RocketDin.
The Russian-made RD-1 engine, powered by three GEM boo 63 boosters and kerosene, produced about 1.8 million pounds of thrust to launch the Atlas 5 at 8:25 a.m. from the launching pad at Cape Canaveral. Afternoon EST (2232 GMT) Friday.
Just over three hours later, the ULA and the National Reconnaissance Office Fees – which owns a payload launched on top of the Atlas 5 rocket – released press statements declaring the mission a success.
The Atlas 5 mission, the original attempt planned on November 3, was often delayed.
ULA rotated the Atlas 5 rocket back to its hangar to replace the conditioned air feeding with an environmental control system hose to the top of the launcher, 4 Nov., adjusted for a countdown, which was later scrubbed due to a valve problem in the ground. Liquid oxygen system on projection pad 41.
Once the teams had resolved the issue of the valve, the ULA decided to return the rocket to its ical hanger to protect it from bad weather from the tropical storm Eta. Atlas 5 rolled out to 41 pads again on Thursday afternoon in preparation for Friday’s launch opportunity.
A few technical concerns delayed the launch by 19 minutes in the Friday evening window, but the ULA cleared up the issues and the launch team raised the voice of approval to proceed with the terminal countdown as soon as the sun fell on Florida’s space coast.
The Atlas 5’s RD-180 main engine T-Minus turned to life in 2.7 seconds, followed by moments followed by the ignition of three GEM 63 strap-on boosters. After parting from the low clouds, the projection moved northeast and rose from the darkness of the sun into the light, which illuminated the smoke of the rocket in orange.
Three solid fuel boosters caught fire and exploded in about two minutes in flight from the rocket, in which the casing of the motor was clearly visible when they woke up to the Atlas 5. After the Atlas 5 reached the upper levels of the atmosphere, the rocket’s Swiss-built payload ferries moved three minutes after the mission.
At the time, the mission entered a government-ordered news blackout, citing the sensitive nature of the national security payload. The ULA’s live broadcast ended and the rest of the mission was done in secret. The Centaur Upper Phase of the Atlas 5 was expected to take multiple fires from its Aerojet RocketDin RL10 engine before deploying the NRO payload into orbit.
The NRO issued a press release EDT (0144 GMT) at 4:44 pm to confirm the successful conclusion of the launch known as LROL-111.
“The successful launch of NROL-111 is another example of the NRO’s commitment to continuing to develop our critical national security systems to support our defense and intelligence partners,” said US Space Force Colonel Chad Davis, director of NRO’s Office for Space Launch.
“2020 has been a particularly challenging year for the launching and space community in view of the COVID-19 epidemic,” Davis said in a statement. “I am constantly impressed by the ability of our partners and our NRO team members to find new and innovative ways to collaborate in this environment and ensure that we are fulfilling our mission requirements by prioritizing the safety, security and health of our entire team. . ”
The NRO did not release any information about the payload flight on the NROL-111 mission, but a warning notice issued to pilots and boats prior to the launch indicated that U.S. Following the path parallel to the east, the Atlas rocket will go up the northeast track from Cape Canaveral. Coast before flying near the Canadian coastal province.
The route indicates that the Atlas 5 will release the NRO payload into high-trend orbit.
NRO data relays consist of satellites and many spacecraft designed to intercept communications signals in an elliptical molecular-orbit about 25,000 miles (40,000 kilometers) above the earth at their highest point. That orbit is tilted toward 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 launch Friday night was probably the target for a similar Molniya-orbit.
Ted Molkenz, a leader of the global community of amateur observers who specializes in satellite movements, wrote in the See Online Sis at T-L forum that he believes the payload on the NROL-111 mission is a new space for the NRO’s fleet of satellite data systems in service. Communications stations.
SDS or Quasar, satellites relay images to analysts at NRO’s sharp-eyed optical and radar surveillance satellites, so they can capture images faster than spy satellites have to wait to fly to a ground station.
SDS satellites fly more than 22,000 miles (about 36,000 kilometers) above the equator in Molniya orbit and geo-synchronous orbit. The last two SDS satellites launched into Molania’s orbit flew in 2004 and 2007, which, according to Molkazan, is almost time to switch to join the fleet.
The NRO launched new Signal Intelligence Satellites in Molania’s orbit in 2014 and 2017. “This year seems too early for a replacement or a new pay generation,” Molkaz wrote.
Signal intelligence satellites have been orbiting Molinia more times than Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, while Molzan said the SDS satellites have been launched from Cape Canaveral.
The data collected by the NRO’s national security systems is used to provide intelligence to senior policy makers, the intelligence community and the Department of Defense, as well as US partners, the NRO said in a statement. “Furthermore, the information collected by NRO Systems can be used to assist in emergency and disaster relief efforts in the US and worldwide.”
The NROL-101 mission was the 30th launch for the ULA National Reconciliation Office fee.
“Thank you to our mission partners, the NRO, and the United States Space Force for their continued trust and partnership with the ULA,” said Gary Wentz, Vice President of Government and Commercial Programs at the ULA. “This launch was the opening of our new GEM solid 63 solid rocket motors, an important step in making UAL a flight experience in preparation for our next pay generation launch vehicle, the Vulcan St. launch.”
The launch of the new GM 63 motors at the Atlas 5 launch on Friday night is 66 feet (20 meters) long and 63 inches (1.6 meters) wide. The GEM 63 motors can generate 373,800 pounds of thrust at maximum power.
They are designed to burn on the launch pad and burn for seconds, pre-packaged solid propellant consumed by Jetisson before it falls into the sea at a pre-packaged solid propellant of 97,500,000 pounds (.2 44.5 metric tons).
The GEM boo 63 booster design is an evolution of the 60-inch GEM 60 motor built by Northrop Gruman for UALA’s Delta rocket rocket family. No more Delta 4s are left to fly for the GEM 60 Solid Rocket Booster requirement.
Northrop Gruman, through its predecessors ATK and Orbital ATK, was providing small belt-on boosters for the recently retired Delta 2 and Delta 3 rocket families.
The booster puts more pressure on missions that require the placement of rockets carrying heavy payloads into orbit or satellites into orbit. The Atlas 5 rocket can launch with a number of solid fuel boosters between zero and five depending on the needs of each mission.
Like the AJ-60A motor flying on previous Atlas 5s, the GEM 63 motor has a nozzle and turn, or ogiv, nose cone fixed, providing the proper aerodynamic shape to ensure the booster is cleared from the Atlas 5 after a burnout. Northrop Grumman’s GEM boo 63 booster produces approximately the same thrust and has the same dimensions as the AJ-60A, allowing the UAE to introduce the new booster model as a “direct replacement” for the older er rocket rocketdeen version.
Since its first use on the third launch of the Atlas 5 in July 2003, the Roset Rocketdin’s AJ-60A motor has a flawless record, with 127 boosters flying to date.
The ULA announced the selection of a brittle ATK in 2015 – now part of Northrop Grumman – to provide a solid rocket booster for future Atlas 5 launches, and for the next pay generation Vulcan Centurion rocket. At the time, the ULA said the choice of the GEM rocket 63 rocket motor would “significantly reduce prices for the ULA and the US government.”
The Northrop Grumman boosters, built with the help of advanced robotics and auto tomtation, are also designed to make it easier to attach to the launch vehicle in a vertical integration facility, the company says.
An expanded version of GEM of 63, known as the GEM X63 XL, will fly on ULA’s new Vulcan St. rocket, which is scheduled to open in late 2021. The Atlas 5 rocket can fly from zero with several solid rocket boosters. From five, while the Vulcan Centaur rocket can launch in configurations with two, four or six booster with the Blue Origin BE-4 main engine.
Before engineers cleaned the solid-fueled rocket motor for the flight, Notrop Grumman conducted three tests of the GEM 63 booster at a test site in Utah’s Promontory.
AJ-60A motors from Aerojet RocketDin are not yet complete.
July Arnold, a spokesman for the ULA, said earlier this year that the company would fly the Airjet RocketDin booster on the future Atlas 5 mission until it fully converts the Roman to Northrop Grumman Motors. The AJ-60 will continue to launch on missions with Boeing’s Starliner commercial crew capsules, and ULA is working with NASA toward the future use of GEM 63 on astronaut launches.
Arnold said ULA plans to launch all Atlas 5s after 2021 to use the new GEM 63s.
The ULA’s next mission will be the launch of the second classified NRO spy satellite payload on a Delta 4-heavy rocket from Cape Canaveral. That mission, NROL-44 designated, was scheduled to take off in August Gust but a series of launch pad problems have kept the Delta 4-heavy on the ground.
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