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ЦитироватьJames Dean ‏@flatoday_jdean  (https://twitter.com/flatoday_jdean) 3h ago (https://twitter.com/flatoday_jdean/status/651760937955889152)

ULA on Wed. delivered GPS IIF-11's Atlas booster to Cape for next launch.

ЦитироватьRocket/Payload: A United Launch Alliance Atlas V 401 will launch the GPS IIF-11 mission for the U.S. Air Force.

Date/Site/Launch Time: Friday, Oct. 30, 2015, from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida.

Mission Description: GPS satellites serve and protect our warfighters by providing navigational assistance for U.S. military operations on land, at sea, and in the air. Civilian users around the world also use and depend on GPS for highly accurate time, location, and velocity information. GPS IIF-11 is one of the next-generation GPS satellites, incorporating various improvements to provide greater accuracy, increased signals, and enhanced performance for users.

Launch Notes: GPS IIF-11 will be the third GPS mission ULA launches in 2015: GPS IIF-9 launched on a Delta IV in March, and GPS IIF-10 launched in July. This mission will be ULA's 11th in 2015 and 102nd since the company was founded in 2006.

ЦитироватьCAPE CANAVERAL — With its liftoff just 18 days away to deploy a new Global Positioning System satellite, stacking of the next United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket began today at the vertical assembly building outside Complex 41.

It will be the third launch just this month for the Atlas 5 program, following the commercial flight with the Mexican Morelos 3 mobile communications satellite on Oct. 2 from the Cape and the classified NROL-55 mission for the National Reconnaissance Office from California on Oct. 8. The Oct. 30 launch will haul the Global Positioning System 2F-11 satellite 11,000 nautical miles above Earth to replace a 12-year-old, aging spacecraft in the navigation network.

The available launch window extends from 12:17 to 12:35 p.m. EDT (1617-1635 GMT).

The rocket, designated AV-060, will stand 189 feet when fully assembled and fly in the basic, 401-variant that features an RD-180 main engine powering the first stage and an RL10 on the Centaur upper stage. The satellite will be enclosed in a 39-foot-long, 14-foot-diameter aluminum nose cone for atmospheric ascent.

This new satellite will take the place of the GPS 2R-10 craft launched aboard Delta 302 on Dec. 21, 2003 into Plane E, Slot 2 of the constellation. The old craft moves to a backup role in the network once the fresh GPS 2F-11 enters service.

The Air Force has used ULA vehicles to launch new GPS satellites two times already this year, following a Delta 4 deployment flight successfully carried out March 25 and an Atlas 5 on July 15.

For ULA, GPS 2F-11 represents the 11th launch of 12 scheduled this year and the company's 102nd mission overall since formation 106 months ago

The stacking work for the Atlas began this morning as the bronze-colored, 106.6-foot-long, 12.5-foot-diameter first stage was pulled to the Vertical Integration Facility doorway, erected upright and hoisted inside the building to be put aboard the mobile launcher platform.

Спойлер

Known as the Common Core Booster, the stage produces 860,000 pounds of thrust to lift the rocket off the ground. It burns kerosene fuel and supercold liquid oxygen during the initial minutes of flight. Upcoming, the barrel-like interstage adapter and Centaur upper stage will be lifted in place. Centaur is 41.5 feet in length, 10 feet in diameter and is fueled by liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen.

The payload is undergoing its own processing at a nearby Air Force facility. GPS 2F-11, a 3,400-pound, modernized navigation satellite made by Boeing, features improved accuracy, enhanced internal atomic clocks, better anti-jam resistance and a civil signal for commercial aviation. It is the 11th of 12 Block 2F satellites to launch.

This marks the 71st GPS satellite launch since 1978, the 16th to use an Atlas rocket and the fifth Block 2F on Atlas. The single biggest customer of ULA launches has been the Global Positioning System, which has used all three rocket families to carry replacement satellites into space 15 times thus far, representing a combined mass of 56,000 pounds of payload.

[свернуть]

ЦитироватьSalo пишет:
File photo. ULA

ЦитироватьConstellation Changes:  The Air Force Second Space Operations Squadron (2 SOPS) indicates that IIF-11, SVN-73/PRN-10, will replace SVN-47 in the E plane slot E2.  SVN-34/PRN-04 will be taken out of the operational constellation prior to SVN-73 payload initialization and sent to Launch, Anomaly Resolution, and Disposal Operations (LADO). PRN-04 is tentatively scheduled for assignment to IIF-12, launching in February of next year.  SVN-34, launched on 25 Oct 1993, has been in an auxiliary node in the D-plane and successfully served ~22 years, almost 15 years beyond its designed service life, due to the diligent efforts of the men and women of the U.S. Air Force.  SVN-47 will be re-phased from the E2 location to a newly defined E5 node (GLAN = 160°) once SVN-73 is set healthy."

ЦитироватьAtlas 5 receives payload for third launch this month       
Posted on October 22, 2015 by Justin Ray (http://spaceflightnow.com/author/justin-sfn-ray/)
(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/154769.jpg) (http://spaceflightnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/liftandmate.jpg)
File photo. Credit: ULA
 
CAPE CANAVERAL — Heading to space next week to replace a 12-year-old satellite in the Global Positioning System navigation network, a modernized spacecraft was placed atop its Atlas 5 launcher.
That completes assembly of the 189-foot-tall United Launch Alliance rocket at Cape Canaveral for liftoff of the GPS 2F-11 craft.
Launch on Oct. 30 will be possible between 12:17 and 12:36 p.m. EDT (1617-1636 GMT) to reach the correct location within the GPS constellation.
The new satellite will take the place of the GPS 2R-10 craft launched aboard Delta 302 on Dec. 21, 2003 (http://spaceflightnow.com/delta/d302/) into Plane E, Slot 2 of the constellation. The old craft moves to a backup role in the network once the fresh GPS 2F-11 enters service.
The satellite was flown to Florida on June 8 fr om Boeing's manufacturing facility in El Segundo, California. After arriving, it was taken to the Cape's Area 59 were GPS spacecraft undergo their pre-flight preps.
Final testing, loading of hydrazine maneuvering propellant and encapsulation in the rocket's nose cone was accomplished with the satellite.
Then, a convoy hauled the 3,400-pound satellite north through Cape Canaveral Air Force Station to United Launch Alliance's Vertical Integration Facility wh ere the Atlas had been stacked beginning Oct. 12.
Already shrouded in the launcher's 39-foot-tall, 14-foot-diameter aluminum nose cone, the spacecraft was hoisted atop the Centaur upper stage for attachment.
This will be the 11th Block 2F satellite sent into the GPS network since 2010. Boeing in building a dozen spacecraft of this kind featuring greater accuracy, more signals, better anti-jamming and longer design lives than previous models.
For Atlas 5, it is the rocket's third launch this month. It follows a commercial flight Oct. 2 and a national security mission Oct. 8.

ЦитироватьThe GPS IIF-11 satellite is encapsulated inside the payload fairing in preparation for its launch aboard an Atlas V from CCAFS. The launch is scheduled on Oct. 30. The 19-minute launch window opens at 12:17 EDT.

Цитировать4:31:24 - AF_SMC: During final #GPSIIF11 launch prep, a leak was discovered in water suppression system. Repairs underway, launch rescheduled for Oct. 31.

Цитироватьche wi пишет:
Немного статистики:

- The 641st launch for Atlas program since 1957
- The 346th Atlas launch from Cape Canaveral
- The 230th mission of a Centaur upper stage
- The 207th use of Centaur by an Atlas rocket
- The 463rd production RL10 engine to be launched
- The 8th RL10C-1 engine launched
- The 65th flight of the RD-180 main engine
- The 59th launch of an Atlas 5 since 2002
- The 23rd Air Force mission for an Atlas 5
- The 89th Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle flight
- The 102nd United Launch Alliance flight overall
- The 51st Atlas 5 under United Launch Alliance
- The 39th 400-series flight of the Atlas 5
- The 29th Atlas 5 to fly in the 401 configuration
- The 71st GPS satellite to launch
- The 50th Boeing-built GPS satellite
- The 11th GPS Block 2F satellite
- The 16th GPS launch on an Atlas rocket
- The 5th GPS 2F on an Atlas 5
- The 8th Atlas 5 launch of 2015

 http://spaceflightnow.com/2015/10/29/av-060-journal/

ЦитироватьUnited Launch Alliance Successfully Launches GPS IIF-11 Satellite for U.S. Air Force

 A United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket carrying the Global Positioning System (GPS) IIF-11 satellite for the U.S. Air Force lifted off from Space Launch Complex-41 Oct. 31 at 12:13 p.m. EDT.

GPS IIF-11 is one of the next-generation GPS satellites that incorporate numerous improvements to provide greater accuracy, increased signals and enhanced performance for users.

"Congratulations to the entire team on today's successful launch of the GPS IIF-11 satellite! Today's launch was made possible by the exceptional performance and teamwork exhibited by the entire team, including the men and women of ULA, our many mission partners, and our U.S. Air Force customer," said Jim Sponnick, ULA vice president, Atlas and Delta Programs. "GPS is omnipresent in our everyday lives and the system provides a critical service to the all of those serving in our military around the world. All of the operational GPS satellites have been launched on Atlas and Delta rockets and the U.S. Air Force does an outstanding job of operating this essential system."

This mission was ULA's 11th launch in 2015 and the 102nd  successful launch since the company was formed in December 2006. This mission was launched aboard an Atlas V Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) 401 configuration vehicle, which includes a 4-meter-diameter payload fairing. The Atlas booster for this mission was powered by the RD AMROSS RD-180 engine and the Centaur upper stage was powered by the Aerojet Rocketdyne RL10C-1 engine.

GPS IIF-11 will join the GPS worldwide timing and navigation system utilizing 24 satellites in six different planes, with a minimum of four satellites per plane positioned in orbit approximately 11,000 nautical miles above the Earth's surface. The GPS IIF series provides improved accuracy and enhanced performance for GPS users.