Cosmic Penguin
Geek Penguin in GTO
While facing highly uncertain future in the roads ahead, the "old school" launch service provider of the US continues to chug out launches after launches as the United Launch Alliance (ULA) seeks to broaden its customer base for the next few years as it re-enters the commercial market and will start flying humans as early as next year.
But for its first launch, it says goodbye to an old friend as the last of the Block IIF Global Positioning System satellites flies out today. GPS IIF-12 is the last of 12 block IIF satellites built to replace the initial block II satellites launched in the early 1990s that built up the GPS as we know today.
This new GPS satellite, numbered SVN70 (SVN = Space Vehicle Number), will head for plane F, slot 1 to replace GPS IIR-6 (SVN41, launched November 2000), which in turn will move to another slot in the F plane. With this launch, the usage of the "original GPS satellites" - the Block II/IIA satellites designed and built by Rockwell in the late 1980s/early 1990s to build up the initial system will come to an end, with the very last one still in service (25 years old GPS IIA-1/SVN23) removed from active usage last week.
Looking forward, the very much delayed Block III GPS satellites is being constructed by Lockheed Martin with the first one going up as early as next year. I'm not sure about what ride they will go up on though, as ULA pulled out of the competition against the X-company in the latest saga of the ULA-SpaceX-Congress-DoD-McCain tug of war.
Have a good flight!
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Launch coverage: (starts 8:18 am EST / 13:18 UTC)
Payload:
Launch Vehicle:
The Atlas 5 was developed by Lockheed Martin Commercial Launch Services as part of the US Air Force Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) program. Each Atlas 5 rocket uses a Russian-built RD-180 engine burning kerosene and liquid oxygen to power its first stage and an American-built RL10 engine burning liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen to power its Centaur upper stage.
The Atlas 5 launcher will fly in the so-called 401 configuration, denoting a 4-meter payload fairing, no strap-on solid rocket boosters and a single-engine Centaur upper stage.
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The vehicle's reliability statistics according to http://www.spacelaunchreport.com/log2016.html#rate:
Launch Timeline & Ground Track:
Weather forecast for Titusville, Florida on February 5, 2016 (8 a.m.)
Sunshine early followed by cloudy skies this afternoon. High 16C. Winds N at 25 to 40 km/h.
Time|Temps|Dew Point|Relative Humidity|Precip|Snow|Cloud cover|Pressure|Wind|Weather
8 AM|7°C|0°C|58%|0%|0%|0%|1024 hPa|20 km/h NNW|
Clear
Links:
But for its first launch, it says goodbye to an old friend as the last of the Block IIF Global Positioning System satellites flies out today. GPS IIF-12 is the last of 12 block IIF satellites built to replace the initial block II satellites launched in the early 1990s that built up the GPS as we know today.
This new GPS satellite, numbered SVN70 (SVN = Space Vehicle Number), will head for plane F, slot 1 to replace GPS IIR-6 (SVN41, launched November 2000), which in turn will move to another slot in the F plane. With this launch, the usage of the "original GPS satellites" - the Block II/IIA satellites designed and built by Rockwell in the late 1980s/early 1990s to build up the initial system will come to an end, with the very last one still in service (25 years old GPS IIA-1/SVN23) removed from active usage last week.
Looking forward, the very much delayed Block III GPS satellites is being constructed by Lockheed Martin with the first one going up as early as next year. I'm not sure about what ride they will go up on though, as ULA pulled out of the competition against the X-company in the latest saga of the ULA-SpaceX-Congress-DoD-McCain tug of war.
Have a good flight!
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Launch date:
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February 5, 2016
Window open:
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13:38 UTC / 8:38 a.m. EST
Window close:
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13:57 UTC / 8:57 a.m. EST
Launch site:
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SLC-41, CCAFS, Florida
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[highlight]L[eventtimer]2016-02-05 13:38:00;%c%%ddd%/%hh%:%mm%:%ss%[/eventtimer][/highlight]
Mission Insignia
Launch coverage: (starts 8:18 am EST / 13:18 UTC)
- ULA webcast: http://www.ulalaunch.com/webcast.aspx
- ULA webcast 2: http://cmc-i.akamaihd.net/hls/live/201845/launch/index-launch.m3u8
- Spaceflight Now: http://spaceflightnow.com/2016/02/04/av-057-journal/
Payload:
GPS-2F (Global Positioning System) or Navstar-2F (Navigation System using Timing And Ranging) satellites are the fourth evolution stage of the second generation of the GPS satellites. Improvements included an extended design life of 12 years, faster processors with more memory, and a new civil signal on a third frequency.
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Operator:|
Contractors:|
Equipment:|
Configuration:|
Dimensions:|
Propulsion:|
Power:|
Launch Weight:|
On-orbit Weight:|
Orbit:|
Specifications
Type / Application:
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- Navigation
Operator:|
- USAF
Contractors:|
- Boeing
Equipment:|
- 2 Rubidium clocks
- 1 Cesium clock
Configuration:|
- ?
Dimensions:|
- 8.17 ft x 6.67 ft x 7.33 ft (stowed)
Propulsion:|
- ?
Power:|
- 2 deployable solar arrays
- batteries
- 1900 watts (end of life)
Launch Weight:|
- 1630 kg (3590 lb) - max wet weight at launch
On-orbit Weight:|
- 1466 kg (3230 lb) - initial on-orbit estimated wet weight
Orbit:|
- 20200 * 20200 km, 55° inc.)
Launch Vehicle:
The Atlas 5 was developed by Lockheed Martin Commercial Launch Services as part of the US Air Force Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) program. Each Atlas 5 rocket uses a Russian-built RD-180 engine burning kerosene and liquid oxygen to power its first stage and an American-built RL10 engine burning liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen to power its Centaur upper stage.
The Atlas 5 launcher will fly in the so-called 401 configuration, denoting a 4-meter payload fairing, no strap-on solid rocket boosters and a single-engine Centaur upper stage.
Specifications
Gross mass:
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- 338640 kg (746570 lb)
Payload:
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- 7095 kg (15641 lb) SSO
- 4950 kg (10910 lb) GTO
Height:
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- 58.30 m (191.20 ft)
Diameter:
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- 3.81 m (12.49 ft)
Span:
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- 3.81 m (12.49 ft)
Thrust:
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- 3827.00 kN (860343 lbf)
The vehicle's reliability statistics according to http://www.spacelaunchreport.com/log2016.html#rate:
Code:
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Vehicle Successes/Tries Realzd Pred Consc. Last Dates
Rate Rate* Succes Fail
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Atlas 5 59 60 .98 .97 50 6/15/07 2002-Launch Timeline & Ground Track:
Weather forecast for Titusville, Florida on February 5, 2016 (8 a.m.)
Sunshine early followed by cloudy skies this afternoon. High 16C. Winds N at 25 to 40 km/h.
8 AM|7°C|0°C|58%|0%|0%|0%|1024 hPa|20 km/h NNW|
Links:
