Cape Canaveral, Fla. – A new US spy satellite will launch into space early Saturday (Sept. 27) on the most intense rocket built by the United Launch Alliance (ULA): the giant Delta IV Heavy.
A booster blast is scheduled to take place at 12:10 a.m. EDT (0410 GMT) from Pad 37 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station here to capture the NRL-44 satellite classified in orbit by the National Reconstruction Office Fee (NRO). You can watch all the burning action live watch online courtesy of ULA. Launch coverage will begin 20 minutes before the liftoff, and you can watch the launch live here and on the Space.com homepage or directly via the ULA webcast.
The mission has been delayed by almost a month after a rare, last-second abortion on the launch pad on August 29th. According to the ULA, the launch window lasts about 94 minutes.
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This will be the third attempt to get NROL-44 off the ground. Hardware issues surround the Delta IV Heavy’s previous two launch attempts, with a rare pad dislocation called 29 seconds just three seconds before the liftoff. First Starboard Engine Lighting.
The ULA indicated the reason for having the ground system equipment controlling the rocket’s three main engines. Three flow rate regulators, which are part of the ground systems of the launch pad, control the helium gas system that spins the turbine on the rocket’s three main engines. The Starboard engine fired as expected, but could not open the regulator for the center engine, prompting an abortion.
Tory Bruno, president and CEO of the company, said the root of the regulator’s problem was a torn diaphragm and the company would replace each regulator with caution.
Saturday’s planned lift marks the 12th flight of a Delta IV heavy rocket since its launch in 2004 and will include only one of five Delta IV rockets. ULA plans to retire its next pay generation vehicle, the launcher, before it rolls out Vulcan Centaur. (ULA previously retired Delta II rocket In 2018 and its Delta IV medium In 2019.)
Before the launch countdown begins, a 30-foot-0 (100-meter) shroud – called a mobile service tower or MST – will expose the heavy craft to the rocket asing. Consisting of three hydrogen-fueled first-stage common core boosters (which are striped together) and a cryogenic second-stage, the Delta IV Heavy is 233 feet (71 m) tall and measures approximately 53 feet (16 m) wide.
The Delta IV Heavy is currently the most powerful rocket in ULA’s fleet. Powered by 465,000 gallons (1.76 million liters) of super-chilled liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen, the mega launcher generates more than 2 million pounds of thrust.
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Of the previous 11 Delta IV heavy missions, seven NROs carry payloads. NASA was initiated by some of the vehicle’s other notable missions Orion capsule A spacecraft test of Earth’s orbit in 2014 and the agency’s Parker Solar Probe On a mission to study the sun in 2018.
The remaining five Delta IV heavy launches will support the NRO mission. Three will launch from the cap, including one of these, and the other two will launch Vandenberg Air Force Base In California.
Large NRO payloads are built to be installed on top of their rockets (as opposed to horizontal), and because of their large size, launching one is like starting a school bus. For this reason, military officials say the Delta IV Heavy is the only launcher on the market today that can meet their needs.
But the Delta IV Heavy is not the only heavy-lift vehicle on the market.
SpaceX The Falcon Heavy – also has a heavy-lifter, but it uses horizontal technology to integrate its rockets and payloads. Additionally, Delta IV Heavy’s payload ferring (or nose cone) is higher than on Falcon Heavy, allowing Delta to accommodate larger NRO satellites better.
However, this Falcon heavy rocket Delta has one advantage: its overall cost. Falcon Heavy can lift heavy cargo into space at significantly shorter distances than Delta IV Heavy, according to evidence Greedy contract valued at 130 130 million – about half the price of Delta – which was awarded to SpaceX in 2018 for future military payload launches.
Onog. 7, Department of Defense announced That ULA and SpaceX will share launch duty for military launches by 2027. The ULA was awarded 60% of the contracts, with 40% being received by SpaceX.
ULA will rely on its next Vulcan Centurion rocket to launch that mission, while SpaceX will split duties between Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy. Coming offline next year, the Vulcan Centurion will have the same integration capability as the Delta; However, to make it more competitive and better accommodate the military payload, SpaceX plans to offer vert integration capabilities in the future, as well as an extended round for its Falcon heavy rocket.
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