AEHF-6 – Atlas V 551 (AV-086) – Canaveral SLC-41 – 26.03.2020 20:18 UTC

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Новый опрос

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Mar 26 23:12
GO for Launch!

The ULA Launch Director Tom Heter III has confirmed that the Atlas V rocket is ready to launch and U.S. Space Force Mission Director Col. Robert Bongiovi has given the final permission to launch.

The pronouncement was made following the readiness poll of the launch team by Launch Conductor Scott Barney that verified all systems are "go" to resume the countdown today.

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Mar 26 23:14
Countdown Resumes

T-minus 4 minutes and counting. The final phase of today's countdown is underway at Cape Canaveral to launch the Atlas V rocket and AEHF-6 secure military communications satellite. The countdown clocks have resumed, leading us to liftoff of the first national security launch for the U.S. Space Force mission.

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Mar 26 23:16

T-minus 1 minute, 55 seconds. The start command has been issued to the launch sequencer. The sequencer will perform independent verifications of systems for the rest of the countdown, control the detachment of umbilicals from the vehicle and release the rocket from the pad at liftoff.

The first stage RP-1 kerosene fuel and the liquid oxygen tanks have stepped up to proper pressure levels for flight and the Atlas and Centaur stages have switched from ground power to internal batteries.

In the next few seconds, the liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen propellant topping to the Centaur upper stage will be secured and the tanks go be confirmed stable at flight pressures.

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Mar 26 23:16

T-minus 80 seconds. The rocket's ordnance controller and the vehicle safety system have been armed. The flight software on the Atlas V is going active at this time.

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Зажигание!

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Пуск!!!

Mar 26 23:18
LIFTOFF!

Liftoff of the United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket on the first dedicated U.S. Space Force mission, completing the global constellation of AEHF protected communications satellites!

ULA ✔@ulalaunch 12:11 AM - Mar 27, 2020

and LIFTOFF of the United Launch Alliance #AtlasV rocket with #AEHF6 on the 1st mission for the @SpaceForceDoD!

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Звуковой барьер

Mar 26 23:19

T+plus 60 seconds. Atlas V is launching the sixth Advanced Extremely High Frequency communications spacecraft to improve the U.S. military's strategic communications satellite technology in space.

The rocket has broken through the sound barrier to go supersonic and passed the period of maximum aerodynamic stresses in the lower atmosphere.

Atlas V is consuming propellant at a rate of 6,900 pounds per second with the main engine running at full throttle and all five SRBs firing.

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MaxQ

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Отделение боковых ускорителей

Mar 26 23:19
SRB Separation

T+plus 1 minute, 50 seconds. Solid rocket booster jettison is confirmed. All five of the Aerojet Rocketdyne-made solid rocket motors have successfully separated from the Atlas V first stage, having completed their job of proving nearly three-quarters of the energy at liftoff.

Michael Sheetz ✔@thesheetztweetz 11:25 PM - Mar 26, 2020

A great shot of the Atlas V's solid rocket boosters peeling away:

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Сброс ГО

Mar 26 23:21
Fairing Separation

T+plus 3 minutes, 30 seconds. Payload fairing jettison is confirmed from the edge of space. The two-halves of the RUAG Space-made composite shroud have separated to expose the satellite after ascent through the atmosphere. Also, the Centaur Forward Load Reactor, a two-piece deck that rings the upper stage to support the fairing during launch, has separated as planned.

The main engine is revving back up to its 95 percent throttle setting.

Centaur Forward Load Reactor

Michael Sheetz ✔@thesheetztweetz 11:31 PM - Mar 26, 2020

Here's the Atlas V nosecone ("fairing") breaking away cleanly, followed by the Centaur's Forward Load Reactors

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Выкл ДУ 1-й ст РН

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Отделение 1-й ст РН

Mar 26 23:22
Staging

T+plus 4 minutes, 49 seconds. Successful staging and ignition of the Centaur upper stage is confirmed. The vehicle now weighs a little more than five percent of its liftoff mass.

The first stage of flight was completed with booster engine cutoff, or BECO, followed by separation of the Atlas V's common core booster.

That enabled the Centaur's RL10C-1 engine to begin the first of three planned firings today to deliver AEHF-6 to the desired high-perigee geosynchronous transfer orbit.

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Вкл ДУ 2-й ст РН

Mar 26 23:24

T+plus 6 minutes. The 500th RL10 engine is performing well with good operating parameters reported. This first burn by Centaur will last seven minutes to place the vehicle into an initial parking orbit around the Earth.

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Выкл ДУ 2-й ст РН

Mar 26 23:29
MECO-1

T+plus 11 minutes, 45 seconds. The first main engine cutoff, or MECO-1, is confirmed for the Centaur upper stage. The vehicle has reached a preliminary Earth orbit where it will coast above the Central Atlantic for the next 11 minutes before the next burn begins.

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2-е вкл ДУ 2-й ст РН

Mar 26 23:40
Main Engine Start-2

T+plus 22 minutes, 50 seconds. Ignition! The Centaur's single RL10C-1 engine has re-ignited to climb from its initial parking orbit into a highly elliptical orbit on the way to the optimized geosynchronous transfer orbit later today.

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2-е выкл ДУ 2-й ст РН

Mar 26 23:46
MECO-2

T+plus 28 minutes, 55 seconds. The second main engine cutoff, or MECO-2, is confirmed for Centaur, completing the next step towards the targeted orbit to deploy AEHF-6. The rocket now begins a five-hour coast away from Earth to reach the proper point in space for the day's third burn by the upper stage to optimize the orbit for payload release.

But first we are standing by in the next few moments for ejection of the rideshare payload from Centaur.

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Есть отделение КА TDO-2!

Mar 26 23:47
TDO-2 Deploy

T+plus 29 minutes, 30 seconds. The TDO-2 rideshare payload, a 12U CubeSat, has been released from Centaur's aft bulkhead into geosynchronous transfer orbit.

TDO-2 is carrying multiple U.S. government payloads that will provide optical calibration capabilities and satellite laser-ranging to support space domain awareness.

The Space and Missile Systems Center's Launch Enterprise Mission Manifest Office delivered the small satellite vehicle to the AEHF-6 mission. The satellite was manufactured by Georgia Institute of Technology and sponsored by Air Force Research Laboratory.