Fwd: Delta 4 lofts WGS military comsat into orbit

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From: "Gary Johnson" <gjohnson144@comcast.net>
Date: August 8, 2013 7:31:13 AM GMT-06:00
To: "Gary Johnson" <gjohnson144@comcast.net>
Subject: FW: Delta 4 lofts WGS military comsat into orbit

 

Delta 4 lofts WGS military comsat into orbit

08/07/2013 09:14 PM 

By WILLIAM HARWOOD

CBS News

 

A United Launch Alliance Delta 4 rocket carrying the latest in an international fleet of military communications satellites -- this one paid for by Australia -- climbed into orbit Wednesday after a picture-perfect launch from Cape Canaveral.

 

The 21-story-tall Delta 4, equipped with four solid-fuel strap-on boosters for extra liftoff power, roared to life on time at 8:29 p.m. EDT (GMT-4) and quickly climbed away from launch complex 37B at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

 

Trailing a thick cloud of churning exhaust and a torrent of fire from its strap-on boosters, the rocket put on a dramatic show for area residents and tourists as it rose into sunlight and accelerated away high above the Atlantic Ocean.

 

The strap-ons burned out and were jettioned in pairs about one minute and 40 seconds after liftoff. The hydrogen-fueled RS-68 first stage engine shut own two-and-a-half minutes later, the spent stage fell away and the second stage RL10B-2 engine ignited to continue the push to space.

 

The second stage engine burned for 16 minutes, putting the rocket into a preliminary elliptical orbit. A second three-minute firing completed the launch phase of the flight and the payload -- the sixth Wideband Global SATCOM, or WGS -- satellite was released to fly on its own 40 minutes after liftoff, at 9:09 p.m.

 

Built by Boeing, the 13,200-pound WGS-6 satellite will join a globe-spanning military communications network shared by the United States, Australia, Canada, Denmark, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and New Zealand.

 

At least 10 satellites are planned. Australia is paying some $700 million for the WGS-6 satellite, the ULA Delta 4 rocket and support services through the life of the program. WGS-9 is being financed by the other five partner nations while the U.S. Air Force is responsible for the rest of the fleet.

 

Dave Madden, director of the U.S. Air Force Military Satellite Communications Systems Directorate, or MILSATCOM, said sharing resources "is very consistent with what the Department of Defense wants to do to form stronger coalitions with our allied partners."

 

"When budgets get tight, it actually forces people to think more and work harder together," he said. "I think the reductions in the budgets are going to enable us to form some very strong partnerships with a lot of our allied partners that will significantly bring down our operating costs of system and create better interoperability between our forces when we deploy together."

 

Designed to replace earlier Defense Satellite Communications System spacecraft, the WGS relay stations have 10 times the capacity of the satellites they are replacing and will provide enhanced communications and expanded coverage for the United States and its six international partners.

 

Each satellite features high-speed X-band and Ka-band communications and realtime spacecraft-based "cross-banding" to enhance compatibility.

 

"Where that really comes into play is the key capability of interoperability between various terminals and war fighters," Madden said. "For example, a Navy ship can be operating X-band and go up to WGS system and be able to communicate with somebody else operating with a Ka terminal and vice-versa.

 

"It allows us more flexibility on the ground, the satellite does that conversion for them and we can cross-talk across the services."

 

Capable of data rates up to 3.6 gigabytes per second, WGS satellite can handle "large amounts of data, video type information, two commanders trying to talk to each other over video teleconference, share information, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance data, large files that have to move through the system," Madden said.

 

WGS-6 was released into a so-called super-synchronous transfer orbit with an apogee, or high point, of slightly more than 41,500 miles and a perigee, or low point, of 274 miles.

 

Over the next three months, on-board thrusters will circularize the orbit at 22,300 miles above the equator where satellites take 24 hours to complete one orbit and thus appear stationary in the sky. After a month or so of testing and checkout, Boeing will turn the satellite over to Air Force controllers for operational use.

 

This was the 23rd launch of a Delta 4 since 2002, the 19th launched from Cape Canaveral, and the 16th Delta mission managed by United Launch Alliance, a partnership between Boeing and Lockheed Martin.

 

Next up for ULA is a heavy-lift Delta 4 flight from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., on Aug. 28 to loft a classified National Reconnaissance Office satellite into orbit.

 

© 2011 William Harwood/CBS News

 

 

 

FLORIDA TODAY Aug. 8, 2013 6:35 AM   

 

Sunset gives way to stunning liftoff of Delta IV rocket

 

Payload is satellite to benefit U.S., Australia

Written by

Todd Halvorson

FLORIDA TODAY

 

CAPE CANAVERAL — A U.S. Air Force satellite paid for by Australia is in orbit today after the launch Wednesday of both an American rocket and the future of allied military satellite communications.

 

In a deal that gives the Australian Defence Force access to a constellation of U.S. military communications satellites, the commonwealth paid $707 million to fund the Boeing-built spacecraft as well as the United Launch Alliance Delta IV rocket that propelled it into orbit.

 

"It really helps all parties," said Dave Madden, the MILSATCOM director at the U.S. Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center.

 

The deal lowers the overall U.S. cost of operating a six-satellite constellation of Wideband Global SATCOM (WGS) spacecraft, he said.

 

It provides critical capability to Australia and enables U.S. and Australian military forces to use the same communications system when deployed together.

 

"So it really was a win-win, I believe, for all parties," Madden said. "And the bottom line is the cooperation we've had with Australia has been extremely successful."

 

So successful that the U.S. last year signed a similar deal with a five-nation group that includes Canada, Denmark, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and New Zealand. Those countries will pay to build and launch the ninth in a series of 10 WGS spacecraft.

 

"You know, when budgets get tight, I always say that it actually forces people to think more and work harder together, and I think the reductions in the budgets are going to enable us to form some very strong partnerships with a lot of our allied partners," Madden said. "I think it's a very promising environment in the future to have more agreements like this."

 

Mounted atop the 217-foot-tall Delta IV rocket, the sixth WGS spacecraft blasted off from Launch Complex 37 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station at 8:29 p.m.

 

Liftoff came 21 minutes after sunset and the launch turned out to be one of the most spectacular in recent memory.

 

Four strap-on solid rocket boosters peeled away from the rocket 100 seconds into flight, and the 53-foot-long motors twinkled against an ethereal twilight sky, tumbling toward the Atlantic.

 

Launch viewers from Jacksonville to south Florida and from the Space Coast to Sarasota reported seeing first and second stage separation, or payload fairing jettison, or both.

 

"Imagine our surprise to see it while vacationing in Man-O-War Cay in the Bahamas," a launch viewer named Ann Marie posted in Florida Today's countdown blog.

 

The WGS satellites provide high data rate communications to soldiers, sailors, marines and airmen deployed on missions around the world. The White House Communications Agency and the U.S. State Department are among other users.

 

A single WGS satellite is more capable than an entire constellation of previous-generation Defense Satellite Communications System spacecraft, Air Force officials say.

 

The first of the new-generation WGS satellites was launched in 2007; the second and third followed in 2009; the fourth was launched in 2012 and the fifth blasted off in May.

 

The satellites have a design life of 14 years.

 

Next up for United Launch Alliance: The Aug. 28 launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base of a Delta IV Heavy rocket and a classified payload for the National Reconnaissance Office.

 

Next up for ULA at the Cape: The Sept. 25 launch of an Atlas V rocket with an Advanced Extremely High Frequency military communications satellite.

 

The spacecraft is the third of four being built by Lockheed Martin under an Air Force contract.

 

Copyright © 2013 www.floridatoday.com. All rights reserved.

 

 

Spaceflight Now 

                       

Delta 4 rocket launches for Australian satellite deploy

BY JUSTIN RAY

SPACEFLIGHT NOW

August 7, 2013

 

A rocket launch funded entirely by Australia streaked to orbit Wednesday night from Cape Canaveral in a show of international cooperation between the U.S. military and its allies.

 

A United Launch Alliance Delta 4 rocket roared off Complex 37 at 8:29 p.m. EDT (0029 GMT), lighting up the Florida sky mere minutes after the sun had set, on a 41-minute climb into a supersynchronous transfer orbit with WGS 6.

 

The sixth Wideband Global SATCOM spacecraft was built by Boeing just like the previous five, but this satellite was paid for by Australia instead of the U.S. Air Force.

 

Through a collaborative deal, signed in 2007 and extending through 2029, the Australian Defence Force agreed to buy WGS 6, its launcher and contribute to system sustainment costs in exchange for a piece of the worldwide communications capabilities provided by the growing satellite constellation.

 

"This partnership with the U.S. provides the Australian Defence Force with a high bandwidth satellite communications capability with global coverage," said Warren King, chief executive officer of Australia's Defence Materiel Organisation.

 

"These satellites provide Australia with improved warfare capabilities through access to world-leading communications in terms of coverage, operational flexibility and bandwidth."

 

At least 10 WGS satellites will be orbited in the Pentagon's efforts to replace the aging Defense Satellite Communication System with new technology. Each WGS has 10 times the capacity of a DSCS satellite, allowing users to process and receive data quicker than ever before.

 

In addition to the Australian contribution, a five-nation deal signed last year is funding the upcoming WGS 9 satellite and brings Canada, Denmark, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and New Zealand into the system.

 

"This sharing of resources is very consistant with what the Department of Defense wants to do to form stronger coalitions with our allied partners," said Dave Madden, the MILSATCOM director at the Air Force's Space and Missile Systems Center.

 

"When budgets get tight, it actually forces people to think more and work harder together. I think the reductions in the budgets are going to enable us to form some very strong partnerships with a lot of our allied partners that will significantly bring down our operating costs of system and create better interoperability between our forces when we deploy together."

 

Four WGS satellites are in service today, covering most of the planet except for the Americas. The spacecraft responsible for that zone, WGS 5, was launched May 24 and should be ready for operations in a few months.

 

Madden said WGS 6's operational point in space has not been determined.

 

"I'm not sure where we are going to end up putting it. But from Australia's standpoint it doesn't matter because they've bought into a percentage of the constellation," he said.

 

"Symbolically, it would have been nice to say this one goes right over Australia, they could look up and say that was the one we bought, but it really doesn't matter to them, what they care about is the bandwidth and worldwide coverage."

 

The communications package on each WGS provides shaped, steerable spotbeams of bandwidth wherever requested across its field-of-view for X- and Ka-band frequencies, plus the onboard capability to switch signals from one band to the other.

 

"What this system does is it provides point-to-point, multi-point broadcast with seamless crossbanding between X- and Ka-band communications. Where that really comes into play is the key capability of interoperability between various terminals and warfighters," Madden said.

 

"For example, a Navy ship can be operating X-band and go up to WGS system and be able to communicate with somebody else operating with a Ka terminal and vice-versa. It allows us more flexibility on the ground, the satellite does that conversion for them and we can cross-talk across the services."

 

The X-band communications through DSCS and WGS allow data, photos and video to be relayed to troops on the battlefield. But WGS also brings Ka-band to the table for high-volume broadcasting to user terminals across the reception area.

 

"What we use wideband communications for is to move large amounts of data -- video type information, two commanders trying to talk to each other over video teleconference, share information, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance data (from UAVs), large files that have to move through the system...and we broadcast TV to kiosks," Madden said.

 

The next four WGS satellites -- 7 through 10 -- are in production at Boeing facilities in Los Angeles. Launches of those spacecraft begin in 2015.

 

"The demand for wideband satellite communications continues to increase," said Craig Cooning, vice president and general manager of Boeing Space & Intelligence Systems. "WGS 6 and the additional WGS spacecraft yet to be launched will help to meet that need."

 

After arriving in its prescribed supersynchronous transfer orbit Wednesday night, Boeing assumed control of WGS 6 from the same command center currently flying WGS 5.

 

WGS 6 will spend about three months using its conventional chemical engines and xenon thrusters to maneuver from the launch's elliptical dropoff orbit into its test slot in geosynchronous orbit 22,300 miles up.

 

Boeing then conducts a month of system testing before handing over the satellite to the Air Force for its own set of checks before positioning WGS 6 in its final location and setting it operational in early 2014.

 

"With each WGS satellite, Boeing further augments the DOD's highest capacity communications satellite system. Utilizing steerable and shapable spotbeams to enable the X- and Ka-band protected comm, these satellites provide tremendous operational flexibility for the DOD and allied forces worldwide," said Mark Spiwak, Boeing's WGS program director.

 

Wednesday's flight was United Launch Alliance's seventh already in 2013, using its fleets of Atlas 5 and Delta 4 boosters. The company has five more manifested this year.

 

Next up is the Delta 4-Heavy rocket on Aug. 28 carrying a classified payload for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

 

© 2012 Spaceflight Now Inc.