MUOS-1 = Atlas V 551 - Canaveral SLC-41 - 24.02.12 22:15 UTC

[Чебурашка]

РД-180 отработал

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Работает Центавр, прекрасный вид с рокеткама

[Чебурашка]

1-ое включение Центавра отработано. Пауза 9 минут

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2-е включение успешно

[bavv]

Видео 7:17

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http://www.spaceflightnow.com/atlas/av030/status.html

0116 GMT (8:16 p.m. EST Fri.)
T+plus 3 hours, 1 minute, 41 seconds. SPACECRAFT SEPARATION! The Centaur upper stage, marking its milestone 200th mission, has deployed the U.S. Navy's first Mobile User Objective System satellite, dubbed MUOS 1, for a 15-year mission to provide mobile communications to U.S. and allied military forces on the move.

0116 GMT (8:16 p.m. EST Fri.)
T+plus 3 hours, 1 minute, 30 seconds. Spin up of the Centaur has begun.

0114 GMT (8:14 p.m. EST Fri.)
T+plus 2 hours, 59 minutes, 30 seconds. The third burn was a full success, putting Centaur exactly where it's supposed to be, with a high point of 19,323 nautical miles, a low point of 1,869 nautical miles and inclination of 19 degrees.

0114 GMT (8:14 p.m. EST Fri.)
T+plus 2 hours, 59 minutes. Centaur is turning itself to the proper orientation for releasing the payload.
   
0113 GMT (8:13 p.m. EST Fri.)
T+plus 2 hours, 58 minutes, 2 seconds. MECO 3. Main engine cutoff confirmed. Centaur has completed the powered phase of flight for the launch of MUOS 1.
   
0112 GMT (8:12 p.m. EST Fri.)
T+plus 2 hours, 57 minutes, 30 seconds. The engine is burning well. This is a planned 54-second firing by the Centaur's single Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne RL10 engine.

0112 GMT (8:12 p.m. EST Fri.)
T+plus 2 hours, 57 minutes, 10 seconds. Ignition and full thrust! The Centaur's main engine has re-ignited for a third time in this launch sequence to accelerate the payload into the planned deployment orbit.

0111 GMT (8:11 p.m. EST Fri.)
T+plus 2 hours, 56 minutes, 20 seconds. Cryo system prestarts are underway.

0110 GMT (8:10 p.m. EST Fri.)
T+plus 2 hours, 55 minutes, 30 seconds. The vehicle is getting pressurized again for ignition.
   
0109 GMT (8:09 p.m. EST Fri.)
T+plus 2 hours, 54 minutes, 30 seconds. Centaur has reached the desired orientation for the upcoming burn.
   
0108 GMT (8:08 p.m. EST Fri.)
T+plus 2 hours, 53 minutes. Centaur uses its settling thrusters in preparation for the burn and also de-spinning from the roll.
   
0105 GMT (8:05 p.m. EST Fri.)
T+plus 2 hours, 50 minutes. The rocket is performing a turn to get into the proper position for the upcoming engine burn.
   
0053 GMT (7:53 p.m. EST Fri.)
T+plus 2 hours, 38 minutes. Centaur remains in good shape and in the correct orientation as it slowly rolls for passive thermal control in this parking orbit.
   
0045 GMT (7:45 p.m. EST Fri.)
T+plus 2 hours, 30 minutes. Just about 30 minutes from Centaur delivering the final orbital boost and casting MUOS free to fly on its own.

From its eventual spot in geosynchronous orbit, matching Earth's rotation to hover in a parking spot 22,300 miles up, the expansive footprint of MUOS 1 will cover a huge swath of the planet to serve ships, submarines, aircraft, land vehicles and terminals in the hands of troops.

Initial testing of the craft will be performed later this spring over the mid-Pacific Ocean in view of a Hawaiian ground station. However, the final operational position in space and what geographical area of the globe the craft will cover hasn't been chosen yet.

0035 GMT (7:35 p.m. EST Fri.)
T+plus 2 hours, 20 minutes. Bus and battery voltages, tank pressures and other system measurements look good as a healthy Centaur orbits in space on its 200th mission. Altitude now over 12,000 nautical miles.

0030 GMT (7:30 p.m. EST Fri.)
T+plus 2 hours, 15 minutes. In its launch configuration atop the Atlas rocket with the two power-generating solar arrays stowed on the sides and the umbrella reflectors folded up, MUOS stands 22 feet tall, 12 feet wide and 6 feet deep. The craft was built on Lockheed Martin's A2100 satellite design used by dozens of previous communications spacecraft.

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Народ, подскажите, а где будет стоять потом КА? Есть такая информация?

Initial testing of the craft will be performed later this spring over the mid-Pacific Ocean in view of a Hawaiian ground station. However, the final operational position in space and what geographical area of the globe the craft will cover hasn't been chosen yet.

Еще не определено где.

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Delivering the U.S. Navy's First MUOS


Mobile User Objective System (MUOS) Satellite


[Atlas V] Launch of MUOS-1 Satellite on Atlas V, 551 (14:19)

[bavv]

США запустили спутник связи нового поколения[/size]
25 февраля 2012, 04::21

США запустили в пятницу на околоземную орбиту тактический спутник связи нового поколения, который станет частью системы MUOS (Mobile User Objective System), запуск состоялся на мысе Канаверал (штат Флорида) в 17.15 по времени Восточного побережья США (в 02.15 по московскому времени в субботу).

Выводить спутник на орбиту было доверено United Launch Alliance - совместному предприятию авиационных гигантов Boeing и Lockheed Martin. Космический аппарат был заточен в специальную капсулу в верхней части ракеты-носителя Atlas-5, в первой ступени которой используется знаменитый российский ракетный двигатель РД-180 НПО «Энергомаш».

Система MUOS, которая будет находится в ведении военно- морских сил США, разработана компанией Lockheed Martin. Она призвана значительно улучшить связь между войсками США и их союзниками по всему земному шару.

«По сути, она будет действовать как сотовая вышка в небе», - объяснил один из руководителей программы MUOS Марк Паскаль.

«Сейчас для того, чтобы воспользоваться узкодиапазонной спутниковой связью, нашим подразделениям приходится стоять на месте с направленной в небо антенной», - добавил его коллега Пол Гизел.

«К тому времени, как мы введем MUOS в строй, мы позволим солдатам передвигаться по полю боя и одновременно поддерживаться связь, даже если спутник находится вне прямой видимости», - отметил он. По словам военных, использовать новую технологию можно будет не только на суше, но и на кораблях, самолетах и подлодках.

MUOS, эффективно сочетающая в себе самые современные технологии связи третьего поколения, предложит в 10 раз более быструю связь по сравнению с имеющимися спутниковыми системами, в том числе при одновременном голосовом подключении, передаче изображения и данных. Кроме того, спутниковый комплекс, функционирующий в дециметровом диапазоне, предложит «расширенные возможности по геолокации» и будет совместим с уже имеющимися в распоряжении войск терминалами связи, подчеркнули в компании.

Второй спутник MUOS проходит испытания и будет запущен через год. Всего Lockheed Martin планирует построить для Пентагона пять таких аппаратов, в том числе один - запасной. Одновременно General Dynamics завершает работу по созданию мобильных терминалов, способных эффективно использовать возможности новой системы, передает ИТАР-ТАСС.

[Александр Ч.]

Прошу прощения за размеры

Остальные пляжные фото http://www.spaceflightnow.com/atlas/av030/beach/

[Salo]

http://www.ulalaunch.com/site/PhotoGallery/Photo_gallery.shtml

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Atlas 5 rocket navigates new Navy satellite into orbit

Like erecting a cellular telephone tower 22,300 miles tall, the U.S. Navy's first-of-its-kind mobile communications satellite rose high above Earth tonight to provide 3G voice, data and video services to military troops on the move.

Soaring away from Cape Canaveral's Complex 41 at 5:15 p.m. EST (2215 GMT), the Atlas 5 rocket sped towards space carrying the Mobile User Objective System 1 satellite.

MUOS 1 became the heaviest payload ever launched by an Atlas rocket in more than 600 launches under the venerable booster's name, weighing nearly 15,000 pounds.

And to heave the craft into a lofty geosynchronous transfer orbit, the Atlas 5's largest, most energetic configuration previously used to hurl space probes toward Jupiter and Pluto was tapped for the mission with five forceful solid rocket boosters flanked around the vehicle.

What's more, the launch also marked the milestone 200th flight for the dependable Centaur upper stage, which conducted three critical firings over the course of three hours to position MUOS 1 into the proper orbit to score a successful launch.

The sophisticated MUOS system -- to be fully assembled with four more launches over the next few years -- was designed around the commercial third-generation cellular telephone architecture to substantially increase the number of users and amount of communications that can be routed to military forces. The satellites will ring the planet and provide capacity, availability and global coverage for mobile military communications like never before.

"If you think of the spacecraft as a cell tower in the sky, each of the satellites represents a cell tower," said Capt. Paul Ghyzel, program manager of the Navy's Communications Satellite Program Office.

From its eventual spot in geosynchronous orbit, matching Earth's rotation to hover in a parking spot 22,300 miles up, the expansive footprint of MUOS 1 will cover a huge swath of the planet to serve ships, submarines, aircraft, land vehicles and terminals in the hands of troops.

Initial testing of the craft will be performed later this spring over the mid-Pacific Ocean in view of a Hawaiian ground station. However, the final operational position in space and what geographical area of the globe the craft will cover hasn't been chosen yet.

MUOS: The Navy's next-generation satellite

MUOS will offer 10 times greater communications capacity to the mobile warfighter over the Navy's current generation of Ultra High Frequency Follow-On spacecraft to relay narrowband tactical information such as voice calls, data messaging, file transfers and email on rates of up to 384 Kilobits per second.

"Utilizing commercial 3G cell phone and satellite technology, MUOS will provide warfighters 'on the move' point-to-point and netted communications services at enhanced data rates and priority-based access to on-demand voice, video and data transfers," said Mark Pasquale, Lockheed Martin vice president and MUOS program manager.

The UHF communications routed through previous Navy satellites and soon MUOS 1 provide command and control between combatant leaders and their warfighters, connectivity to tactical forces, communications for Special Operations and support to rapid deployments of land, air and naval forces worldwide.


 
Military officials have stressed the need for additional UHF channels to supply the diverse users of the system, something that MUOS is designed to give.

"The UHF spectrum is the military's communications workhorse because it is the only radio frequency that can penetrate jungle foliage, inclement weather and urban terrain," says the Navy.

Approximately 67,000 UHF user terminals are deployed across the military branches serving around the world, according to the Navy, and many of them are carried deep into theaters of operation.

MUOS also enables users to communicate with smaller devices, like "rugged smartphones" in the hands of troops, unlike the bulky gear needed to talk with the Ultra High Frequency Follow-On (UFO) satellite fleet.

"In the current UFO environment, ground users must be stationary with an antenna positioned directly toward the satellites to send out information. With MUOS, not only will users be able to connect with the satellites while on the move, the satellites will be connected to ground-based receiving stations that provide connectivity to the Global Information Grid, enabling users to send and receive data, calls and video worldwide," said Pasquale.

"The system transitions from a circuit switch to an all-IP dynamic network which supports on demand, ad-hoc and priority based planning. MUOS also provides users with predetermined priority which allows bandwidth to be shared efficiently."

At the heart of the MUOS satellite's communications payload are two gold mesh antenna reflectors, built by Harris Corp. Coverage to legacy users will transmit through a 17.7-foot-diameter reflector on the bottom of the craft and the advanced, multi-beam features of MUOS to significantly increase the transmission capacity over the Navy's previous satellites will use a large 46-foot reflector atop the satellite.
 
"MUOS is designed to allow backward compatibility with legacy UHF terminals while providing a next generation waveform to support 'communications on the move' capabilities," said Pasquale. "This ensures that legacy systems remain compatible with the MUOS architecture, while offering the technological advancements needed by its military users."

Lockheed Martin is producing five MUOS satellites -- four primes and one in-orbit spare -- to replace the Navy's Ultra High Frequency Follow-On spacecraft that were launched by Atlas rockets from 1993 through 2003. Eight of the 11 satellites remain in operation today.

"A single MUOS satellite provides more communication access than the current UHF constellation. This capability is critical to the U.S. military because they depend on reliable, targeted communication to complete missions and to protect service members worldwide," said Pasquale.

"MUOS is designed to support those requirements by providing users narrowband communications with greater mobility, higher data rates and improved operational availability."

MUOS 2 will go up in July 2013 and the subsequent two primary satellites and one orbital spare will follow at a launch rate of approximately one per year.

"The second MUOS space vehicle is currently undergoing environmental testing, which will validate its performance in a simulated space environment. The third spacecraft is entering environmental testing, and the fourth and fifth MUOS satellites are steadily progressing in the production flow," said Pasquale.

In its launch configuration atop the Atlas rocket with the two power-generating solar arrays stowed on the sides and the umbrella reflectors folded up, MUOS stood 22 feet tall, 12 feet wide and 6 feet deep. The craft was built on Lockheed Martin's A2100 satellite design used by dozens of previous communications spacecraft.
 
The constellation's orbital zones include the vast Pacific Ocean, the continental U.S. coverage area, the Atlantic Ocean region, plus two positions over the Indian Ocean and the Middle East. The system is expected to be fully operational for global service in 2015.

"Just like your commercial cellphone providers out there, they don't build all of their cell towers in a day. They come on in a sequence, same with the satellites," said Ghyzel.

A 3-hour ride to orbit

With its kerosene-fed main engine rumbling to life, the five solid-fueled motors strapped to the first stage ignited to propel the tower 206-foot-tall rocket into the Florida sky with a crackling thunder pounding across the spaceport.

Less than five minutes later, the solids and bronze lower stage had jettisoned and the cryogenic Centaur upper stage, making its milestone 200th flight, lit the RL10 main engine to continue clawing toward orbit.

A preliminary parking perch of 104 by 388 statute miles, tilted 28 degrees to the equator, was achieved just over 12 minutes into the launch as the Centaur shut down the engine and entered a brief cruise across the central Atlantic.

A typical Atlas 5 ascent to geosynchronous transfer orbit, the standard dropoff point for communications satellites, uses just two firings by the Centaur to achieve the highly elliptical, egg-shaped orbit to deploy the payloads. From there, the satellites use their own engines in the subsequent days to fly into the operational locations 22,300 miles above the equator.

But the sizable MUOS drove planners to create a three-burn launch profile for the hefty payload to use all of the available performance from the Atlas-Centaur that in turns saves the satellite's precious onboard fuel supply for maneuvering over its 15-year life.

"The MUOS 1 mission represents an excellent example of the performance and mission design capabilities of the Centaur," said Jim Sponnick, United Launch Alliance's vice president of mission operations. "Our customers for this mission asked for a mission design that would launch this very heavy and capable satellite in a manner that would minimize the amount of energy (and propellant) that the satellite would have to consume to position itself into the final geosynchronous orbit. Considering all of the commodities and capabilities of the Centaur, our mission design team developed this three-burn mission profile to provide an optimal solution for the MUOS customer."

Just off the western coast of Africa, the Centaur main engine was restarted about 20 minutes after launch to propel MUOS to the second step on its way to the planned orbit. This six-minute burn put the rocket into a 120 by 21,400 statute mile orbit inclined 26 degrees.

Then began a lengthy coast away from the planet for two-and-a-half hours, flying to a point about 17,000 statute miles above the far eastern Indian Ocean where the final burn would occur.

"The three burn mission design for MUOS provides 1,000 pounds greater lift capability than a conventional 2-burn geosynchronous transfer orbit," said Sponnick.

One final push was given nearly two hours and 57 minutes into flight to raise the orbit's low point and reduce the inclination closer to the equator. The burn, lasting less than a minute, placed the payload into a 2,150 by 22,237 statute mile orbit at 19 degrees inclination.

The satellite separated from Centaur at 8:16 p.m. EST (0116 GMT) to complete a highly successful launch, the first of 2012 for Atlas and 29th overall in the program's 9-year history.


 
Ground controllers established contact with the satellite to begin what's expected to be a three-month process of maneuvering MUOS 1 into geosynchronous orbit, deploying its power-generating solar arrays to span more than 90 feet, unfurling a pair of umbrella-like antenna reflectors on boom assemblies and fully checking out the onboard communications equipment.

Eight orbital raising burns are expected over the next 10-14 days, followed by the test program that Lockheed Martin will perform, Ghyzel said. The military will take control of the satellite in about 90 days to conduct its own acceptance evaluation before the craft enters service.

Which of the available five orbital zones MUOS 1 will be placed in has not been determined. "We're in close coordination with the user community with U.S. Strategic Command. The final decision on where this satellite, No. 1, will go hasn't been made yet," Ghyzel said.

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/atlas/av030/

[Александр Ч.]

Уже третья страница фоток http://www.spaceflightnow.com/atlas/av030/launch/index3.html

[Sharicoff]

Еще фотки. Большие.
http://www.launchphotography.com/MUOS-1.html

[Брабонт]

Загляденье. Бен Купер, как всегда, на высоте.

[SpaceR]

Крупный агрегат запустили в этот раз. 15000 pound ~=6804 кг.
И антенна диаметром 14 метров. Правда, вроде уже бывали и покрупнее?

[bavv]

Rocketcams offer dazzling views of Atlas 5 launch[/size]
BY JUSTIN RAY | SPACEFLIGHT NOW | Posted: February 26, 2012
The Atlas 5 rocket ascends from Complex 41.

Solid rocket booster separation.

Sunset from Centaur camera.

 Продолжение

[Salo]

А что это так активно дует в RL-10?

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Стравливается лишний водород.

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Фигня, торчащая из ГО Атласа на этой фотке http://www.ulalaunch.com/site/PhotoGallery/galleryimages/images/AtlasV/A5_MUOS1/av_muos1_l4.jpg предназначена для этого же :wink: