Fwd: ULA targeting Wednesday evening launch

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From: "Gary Johnson" <gjohnson144@comcast.net>
Date: July 22, 2014 10:21:57 AM CDT
To: "Gary Johnson" <gjohnson144@comcast.net>
Subject: FW: ULA targeting Wednesday evening launch

 

 

ULA targeting Wednesday evening launch

James Dean, FLORIDA TODAY 5:53 p.m. EDT July 21, 2014

 

A ULA Delta IV rocket is seen launching from its Cape Canaveral launch pad at Exploration Tower at Port Canaveral on Friday, May 16, 2014. (Photo: MALCOLM DENEMARK/FLORIDA TODAY)

 

(Photo: Craig Bailey, FLORIDA TODAY)

 

A busy period of launches from Cape Canaveral continues with this week's planned 7:03 p.m. Wednesday blastoff of a United Launch Alliance Delta IV rocket carrying a pair of military satellites.

The satellites are the first of four the Air Force will use to hunt for threats to critical satellites flying in geosynchronous orbits more than 22,000 miles above the equator.

The Air Force declassified the program earlier this year with the goal of deterring potential attacks on satellites that spot missile launches, provide command and control capability during nuclear war, and support drone operations.

The Geosynchronous Space Situational Awareness program officially seeks to improve awareness of what's flying around that region, whether it be other satellites or space debris, by drifting above and below the geosynchronous belt. The patch for the upcoming mission features images of two owls.

In addition to the two primary satellites, a small satellite developed by the Air Force Research Laboratory will fly as to advance related technologies.

A United Launch Alliance Delta IV rocket takes off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station with a U.S. Air Force Satellite on Friday, May 16, 2014.

Called ANGELS — short for Automated Navigation and Guidance Experiment for Local Space — the satellite will practice maneuvers close to the Delta IV rocket's upper stage after it flies to a higher orbit safely above the geosynchronous satellites.

The Delta IV launch comes nine days after SpaceX's July 14 launch for Orbcomm, and could be the second of four launches from the Cape within three weeks.

ULA is targeting a July 31 launch of an Atlas V and Global Positioning System satellite, and SpaceX could follow Aug. 4 with a Falcon 9 launch of a commercial communications satellite.

While the Air Force has released the targeted launch time on Wednesday, the full launch window will not be disclosed, but extends no later than 10 p.m.

The Delta IV completed a fueling and countdown demonstration July 8, and the two spacecraft were attached to the rocket July 11. A readiness review is Tuesday.

FLORIDATODAY

Photos: Delta IV soars from Cape

 

 

 

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