Atlas 5 rocket back at launch site for national security mission – Space Flight Now

The United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket made its third voyage to the Cape Canaveral launch site on Thursday, reaching the liftoff level on Friday afternoon with a assorted load to the U.S. government’s spy satellite agency.

The 206-foot-high (63-meter) rocket traveled 1,800 feet (550 meters) from ULA’s vertical integration facility to Cape Canaveral’s Complex 41 launch site Thursday afternoon. Atlas 5 rode a mobile platform.

Once on the rocket pad 41, automatic connectors connected the Atlas 5 to ground systems. The ULA team planned to complete inspections, updates and other activities before Countdown begins Friday.

The center of the Atlas 5 will be loaded with liquid hydrogen and liquid hydrogen during the first phase of the countdown on Friday afternoon with liquid hydrogen. The RP-1 fuel for the first phase was loaded during a countdown clothing rehearsal last month.

A forecast issued Thursday morning by the 45th U.S. Air Force meteorological force indicates 90% favorable weather conditions for the launch at 5:13 pm EST (2213 GMT). The primary weather concern is with cumulus clouds in Cape Canaveral.

Forecasters forecast northeast winds of about 10 to 15 knots at the time of launch, with some clouds at 3,000 feet. The temperature at the time of release should be about 76 degrees Fahrenheit.

The task of the Atlas 5 – known as NROL-101 – is to introduce a classified load for the National Reassessment Office, which owns the surveillance satellites that collect intelligence from the U.S. government. Friday’s launch marks the 86th flight of the Atlas 5 rocket since 2002 and the fifth Atlas 5 flight this year. This is the 30th ULA’s mission to the NRO.

The NRO has not released information about the pilot flight on the NROL-101 mission, but warning notices issued to pilots and sailors suggest that the Atlas 5 rocket will travel in a northeasterly direction from Cape Canaveral, previously following a route parallel to the U.S. East Coast flying over Canadian waters.

This path indicates that the Atlas 5 will release the NRO payload into high-slope orbit.

The NRO owns data relay satellites and a number of spacecraft, designed to intercept communication signals in the elliptical Molniya type orbit at altitudes of about 25,000 miles (40,000 km) above Earth. The orbits will tilt 63 degrees to the equator, giving the satellites regular views of Russia and other parts of the Northern Hemisphere.

The Atlas 5, launched on Friday, could target a similar Molniya-type orbit, according to several independent experts monitoring spy satellite activity.

The launch vehicle for the NROL-101 mission will be powered by Atlas 5’s “531” configuration with three solid rocket boosters and a 5.4 meter diameter (17.7-ft) payload fairing.

The payload fairing for the NROL-101 mission will fly in its medium-length variant, which delivers more size to the assorted spacecraft on board than the standard short-length 5.4-meter-diameter shield. The medium length 5.4 meter exhibition has flown in seven previous Atlas 5 passengers.

This is the fourth time the Atlas 5 rocket has flown in the 531 variant, but it’s the debut with the new GEM63 strap-on boosters produced by Northrobe Kruman. The same shape, fit and functionality of the AJ-60A solid rocket boosters produced by Aerojet Rocketine flew on all previous Atlas 5 passengers requiring strap-on motors.

The URA originally transferred the Atlas 5 rocket to Bat 41 for NROL-101 mission on November 2, but the teams returned the rocket to VIP the same day. Vehicle.

Atlas 5 returned to the launch site on November 3, which wiped the liquid oxygen on the ULA pad 41 due to a problem with the valves in the ground system.

The ULA moved the Atlas 5 back to VIP for shelter from tropical storm Etta, which moved off the northeast Florida coast to the Atlantic Ocean on Thursday, clearing the way for the rocket to return to Bat 41 again for Friday production. Release opportunity.

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