Fwd: Delta 4-Heavy puts spy satellite in space

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Date: August 29, 2013 5:30:42 PM GMT-06:00
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Subject: FW: Delta 4-Heavy puts spy satellite in space

Delta 4-Heavy boosts NRO spysat into space

08/28/2013 03:16 PM 

By WILLIAM HARWOOD

CBS News

 

A United Launch Alliance Delta 4 "Heavy," the most powerful rocket in the U.S. inventory, thundered away from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., Wednesday on a classified mission to boost a National Reconnaissance Office spy satellite into orbit.

 

Made up of three "common core" hydrogen-fueled boosters and a powerful upper stage, the 235-foot-tall Delta 4's trio of RS-68 first-stage engines roared to life at 2:03 p.m. EDT (GMT-4), instantly pushing the rocket away from Space Launch Complex 6 with nearly 2 million pounds of thrust.

 

The launching was held up 10 minutes by undisclosed technical snags, but engineers were able to resolve the problems and the final moments of the countdown went off without a hitch.

 

The 23-story-tall rocket initially climbed straight up through a clear sky and then arced away to the south toward an orbit tilted nearly 90 degrees to the equator. While the nature of the NRO satellite payload was not known, such orbits allow optical and radar reconnaissance spacecraft to observe the entire planet as it rotates below.

 

With the retirement of NASA's space shuttle, the Delta 4-Heavy is the most powerful rocket launched by the United States, with each Aerojet Rocketdyne first-stage engine generating some 656,000 pounds of push at liftoff.

 

"There's nothing bigger that the United States launches, period, in any way, shape or form, and that is absolutely amazing," Lt. Col. Jim Bodnar, commander of the 4th Space Launch Squadron at Vandenberg, told Spaceflight Now.

 

In the six previous flights of a Delta 4-Heavy, excess hydrogen gas escaping from the engines just before launch could ignite at main engine start, creating an alarming-looking fireball at the base of the rocket, in some cases burning away insulation during the initial moments of ascent.

 

This time around, ULA engineers decided to stagger the start sequence, igniting the right-side booster two seconds ahead the center and left-side engines. The idea was to burn off the excess hydrogen before all three engines were throttled up to minimize the resulting fireball.

 

The procedure appeared to work, and while discoloration could be seen on the first stage cores, there was noticebly less fire at the moment of liftoff and just after, compared to earlier Delta 4-Heavy launchings.

 

The climb out appeared normal as well, and the left and right common booster cores separated and fell away about four minutes and 15 seconds after liffoff. The central CBC followed suit just over one minute later.

 

At that point, the spent first-stage booster core fell away and a few seconds later, the Delta's Aerojet Rocketdyne RL10B-2 second-stage engine ignited to continue the push to space. A few moments after that, the protective payload fairing was jettisoned, exposing the satellite payload to space.

 

As usual with such blacked-out missions, United Launch Alliance provided commentary through the first six minutes of flight, but no information was provided after that.

 

"This is Delta mission control at T-plus six minutes and 30 seconds into today's mission," said ULA's launch commentator. "You've just seen the successful liftoff of the NROL-65 mission for the National Reconnaissance Office. Liftoff occurred at 11:03 a.m. Pacific Time. ... At the request of our customer, we're going to be concluding our live coverage."

 

This was the seventh Heavy version of the Delta 4 to fly, the fifth launched from Vandenberg, and the 24th rocket in the Delta 4 family since its debut in 2002.

 

© 2011 William Harwood/CBS News 

 

 

 

Biggest U.S. rocket blasts off with spy satellite

 

A Delta 4 Heavy rocket lifts off from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California

 

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - An unmanned Delta 4-Heavy rocket, the largest in the U.S. fleet, blasted off from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on Wednesday to put a classified spy satellite into orbit for the National Reconnaissance Office, officials said Wednesday.

 

The 23-story-tall rocket lifted off at 11:03 a.m. local time/1803 GMT from a launch pad originally built for, but never used by, NASA's now-retired space shuttles.

 

No details about the rocket's spy-satellite payload were released.

 

With three main booster-rocket cores, the Delta 4-Heavy is capable of putting a satellite the size of school bus into an orbit around Earth's poles.

 

Wednesday's launch was the second Delta 4-Heavy to fly from California. The rocket, built by United Launch Alliance, a partnership of Boeing Co. and Lockheed Martin Corp., also has flown five times from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

 

"We are truly honored to deliver this critical asset to orbit," United Launch Alliance vice president Jim Sponnick said in a statement, praising the groups involved in the launch effort.

 

(Reporting by Irene Klotz from Cape Canaveral, Florida; Editing by Steve Gorman and Ken Wills)

 

Copyright © 2013 Copyright Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved. 

 

 

America's Largest Rocket Launches Top-Secret Spy Satellite

By Mike Wall, Senior Writer   |   August 28, 2013 02:15pm ET

 

The United States' largest rocket launched a spy satellite on a hush-hush mission Wednesday (Aug. 28).

 

An unmanned Delta 4-Heavy rocket lifted off the pad at California's Vandenberg Air Force Base at 2:03 p.m. EDT (1803 GMT) Wednesday, carrying a classified payload to a polar orbit for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office (NRO).

 

"Today's launch is dedicated to the men and women who serve for our nation's freedom," a commentator said a few minutes into the liftoff. [See more photos of today's spy satellite launch]

 

It's unclear what intelligence the spacecraft, which is known as NROL-65, will collect as it zips around our planet. Because of the clandestine nature of the mission, it entered a planned media blackout about seven minutes after liftoff.

 

"We are truly honored to deliver this critical asset to orbit," said Jim Sponnick, United Launch Alliance vice president for the Atlas and Delta Programs. "The ULA Delta 4 Heavy is currently the world's largest rocket, providing the nation with reliable, proven, heavy lift capability for our country's national security payloads from both the east and west coasts."

 

The Delta 4 Heavy, which is built by ULA and first flew in 2004, is the biggest and most powerful American rocket in operation today. The 235-foot-tall (72 meters) launcher generates about 2 million pounds of thrust at liftoff, according to ULA officials.

 

Wednesday's launch managed to stay on schedule despite the difficulties imposed by the automatic federal budget cuts known as sequestration, which went into effect March 1. The liftoff marked the 364th flight of a Delta rocket overall, and the 24th for the Delta 4 family. Delta 4 rockets have now lifted eight payloads into space for the NRO, which builds and operates the nation's spy satellites.

 

While the Delta 4 Heavy is the current American heavyweight rocket champ, several other vehicles on the horizon will be even more powerful. For example, NASA is building a giant rocket called the Space Launch System (SLS) to send astronauts toward asteroids, Mars and other destinations in deep space.

 

The first incarnation of SLS will stand 321 feet (98 m) tall and carry up to 70 metric tons of payload. But NASA plans to develop a 384-foot-tall (117 m) "evolved" version that would be capable of blasting 130 metric tons into space, making it the most powerful rocket ever built.

 

The SLS is designed to launch a crew capsule called Orion, which is also in development. The duo is slated to fly together for the first time during an unmanned test run in 2017, with the first crewed mission expected to come in 2021.

 

Orion will be ready to fly before the SLS is up and running. Orion's first test flight is scheduled to take place in 2014, when NASA will use a Delta 4 Heavy to send an uncrewed Orion out to a distance of 3,700 miles (6,000 kilometers) from Earth — farther than any spacecraft built for humans has traveled since the Apollo program ended in 1972.

 

The private spaceflight company SpaceX is also working on a big rocket, which it calls the Falcon Heavy. That launcher, which is expected to fly for the first time in 2014, will produce nearly 4 million pounds of thrust at liftoff, SpaceX officials say.

 

TechMediaNetwork Copyright © 2013 All Rights Reserved.

 

 

 

Santa Maria Times

 

Delta 4-Heavy puts spy satellite in space

Janene Scully / jscully@santamariatimes.com

 

A super-secret satellite rode a gigantic Delta 4-Heavy rocket into space Wednesday from a storied launch pad at Vandenberg Air Force Base in a mission dedicated to military members.

 

Thousands gathered around the Central Coast to watch the rocket, which is taller than a 23-story building and built by United Launch Alliance, climb away from Space Launch Complex-6 at 11:03 a.m. The marine layer lingered off the coast, allowing onlookers to follow the rocket for several minutes.

 

"It was magnificent," said Master Sgt. Marc Jorgensen, who has been at Vandenberg's 4th Space Launch Squadron for about a year. "It was pretty magnificent seeing that large rocket taking off into space."

 

After liftoff, officials said the classified cargo — a spy satellite for the National Reconnaissance Office — had reached orbit.

 

While officials are remaining mum about the exact purpose of the rocket, military members who will use the capabilities were remembered as the spacecraft headed to orbit.

 

"Today's launch is dedicated to the brave men and women who serve for our nation's freedom," the mission director said after the rocket blasted off.

 

Because of the classified payload, the cost of the mission also is secret, but reportedly tops $1 billion.

 

Any launch of a national security payload like the one aboard the Delta 4-Heavy assists "the boots on the ground," or U.S. forces around the world, NRO representatives said.

 

"Our customer needs the innovation and technology that we are sending into space," said Sharlene Fairbanks-Kyte, NRO spokeswoman. "That's very critical to them."

 

The rocket's departure sparked a "small fire" near the flame duct, Vandenberg officials said. Base firefighters extinguished the flames.

 

Delta 4 rockets sport a Common Booster Core, but the Heavy version boasts three of those Boeing 727-fuselage-sized boosters strapped side by side. Each Common Booster Core stands 150 feet long and 17 feet in diameter,

 

The mammoth rocket carries satellites the size of a school bus.

 

"We're very proud that the country trusts us to launch its critical payloads that are enabling our warfighters to do their job and protect our country," said Chris Chavez, ULA spokesman.

 

It wasn't just the rocket's size luring people to catch a glimpse of the blastoff, but the launch pad's extensive heritage and history.

 

The Delta 4 rockets use SLC-6, built for the West Coast space shuttle program which was canceled before any launches occurred. Its original purpose dates back to the 1960s and Manned Orbiting Laboratory, also canceled before liftoffs.

 

Decades of construction mean generations of workers have had connections to the site through the years.

 

"The community is filled with people that have touched or been touched by Slick-Six and to see something as remarkable as the Delta 4-Heavy vehicle come off that pad, it's got to mean a lot of things to a lot of people," Lt. Col. James Bodnar, 4th Space Launch Squadron commander said last week.

 

This was the second Delta 4-Heavy launch from Vandenberg and the seventh overall.

 

The next NRO launch from Vandenberg is scheduled to be an Atlas 5 rocket scheduled for December.

 

However, next on Vandenberg's launch lineup will be the first West Coast flight of the Falcon rocket, built by Space Exploration Technologies. That launch, once planned for Sept. 5, reportedly has been postponed until at least Sept. 10.

 

Two tests of unarmed Minuteman 3 missiles also reportedly are planned from Vandenberg in September.

 

"This is Vandenberg's equivalent of an air show or open house and our opportunity to share with the public," Col. Keith Balts, 30th Space Wing commander said. "We are lucky enough to do this 10 to 11 times a year."

 

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