GPS IIF-11 – Atlas V 401 (AV-060) – Канаверал SLC-41 – 31.10.2015 16:13 UTC

[che wi]

James Dean ‏@flatoday_jdean  3h ago

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

[che wi]

Atlas V to Launch GPS IIF-11
http://www.ulalaunch.com/atlas-v-to-launch-gps-iif11.aspx

Rocket/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.

[che wi]

Atlas 5 for third launch this month begins coming together
http://spaceflightnow.com/2015/10/12/atlas-5-for-third-launch-this-month-begins-coming-together/

CAPE 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]

[Salo]

File photo. ULA

[che wi]

Salo пишет:
File photo. ULA

Это фото подготовки к запуску Morelos-3.

[napalm]

Дык потому и подписали - "File photo" 

[che wi]

Constellation 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."

http://www.amerisurv.com/content/view/14389/

[Salo]

http://spaceflightnow.com/2015/10/22/atlas-5-receives-payload-for-third-launch-this-month/

Atlas 5 receives payload for third launch this month       
Posted on October 22, 2015 by Justin Ray

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 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.

[che wi]

Брошюра
http://www.ulalaunch.com/uploads/docs/Mission_Booklets/AV/av_gpsiif11_mob.pdf

[Salo]

http://spaceflightnow.com/2015/10/25/atlas-5gps-2f-11-launch-timeline/

[che wi]

GPS IIF-11 Encapsulation

The 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.

[che wi]

[che wi]

[Безумный Шляпник]

Перенос.

4:31:24 - AF_SMC: During final #GPSIIF11 launch prep, a leak was discovered in water suppression system. Repairs underway, launch rescheduled for Oct. 31.

[Salo]

Пуск перенесен на 31 октября с окном 19:13-19:32 ДМВ.

[che wi]

[che wi]

По прогнозу: 90% на благоприятные погодные условия к пуску.
http://www.patrick.af.mil/shared/media/document/AFD-070716-027.pdf

[Lesobaza]

Что-то трансляцию не могу найти ((
Подскажите, пожалуйста, адресок..

[Lesobaza]

http://www.ulalaunch.com/webcast.aspx

)))

[Lesobaza]

Не хотят в хэллоуин пускать ))