NROL-129 (4 мКА) - Minotaur IV - Wallops FF, MARS Pad 0B - 15.07.2020 13:46 UTC

Автор tnt22, 02.07.2020 23:04:27

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tnt22

Цитата: Старый от 14.07.2020 15:20:16Может быть. Однако я предположил другое (см предыдущее сообщение).

NRO пока молчит, мож кто из флоридских чего разнюхает - выложит...

tnt22

https://www.nasa.gov/wallops/2020/press-release/weather-looking-good-for-minotaur-iv-launch-july-15

Цитироватьwff-2020-039-006.jpg

July 13, 2020

Weather Looking Good for Minotaur IV Launch July 15

wff-2020-039-002.jpg
Credits: NASA/Chris Perry

The weather is looking favorable for the launch of a Minotaur IV rocket July 15 from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility.

The T-48 hour forecast shows a 90% probability of acceptable weather for launch with the possibility of fog and cumulous clouds forming over the region.

The window opens at 9 a.m. for the Northrop Grumman rocket for the launch from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport's Pad 0B.

The rocket is carrying a classified payload for the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO). The U.S. Space Force (USSF) Space and Missile Systems Center's Launch Enterprise Program is providing the launch services for this mission.

The launch may be visible along the U.S. east coast. In addition, the mission will be streamed live beginning at 8:30 a.m. on the Wallops YouTube channel.

The NASA Visitor Center at Wallops will not be open for this mission.

The 78-foot tall Minotaur IV launch vehicle consists of three solid-fueled motors from decommissioned Peacekeeper ICBMs and a commercial solid rocket upper stage.

Header Image: Minotaur IV rocket on launch pad 0B at Wallops Launch Range. Credit: NASA/Chris Perry

Keith Koehler

NASA's Wallops Flight Facility

Last Updated: July 13, 2020
Editor: Patrick Black

Старый

Цитата: tnt22 от 14.07.2020 16:24:03NRO пока молчит, мож кто из флоридских чего разнюхает - выложит...
НРО никогда не комментирует эмблем. Остаётся только ждать сколько объектов обнаружат наблюдатели. Учитывая что ракета маленькая объекты могут быть маленькими и наблюдатели могут их и не разглядеть.
1. Ангара - единственная в мире новая РН которая хуже старой (с) Старый Ламер
2. Назначение Роскосмоса - не летать в космос а выкачивать из бюджета деньги
3. У Маска ракета длиннее и толще чем у Роскосмоса
4. Чем мрачнее реальность тем ярче бред (с) Старый Ламер

tnt22

Текущий (12:15 UTC) прогноз погоды на среду весьма благоприятен

Вы не можете просматривать это вложение.

P.S. Еще будет прогноз в 14:00 UTC

tnt22

Цитата: Старый от 14.07.2020 16:45:13НРО никогда не комментирует эмблем
Ну, не то, чтобы никогда, иногда коротенько так - #6, - две другие прокомментировало

Старый

1. Ангара - единственная в мире новая РН которая хуже старой (с) Старый Ламер
2. Назначение Роскосмоса - не летать в космос а выкачивать из бюджета деньги
3. У Маска ракета длиннее и толще чем у Роскосмоса
4. Чем мрачнее реальность тем ярче бред (с) Старый Ламер

Старый

Фраза 

Цитировать NRO's continued support to both defense and intelligence operations 
может намекать что полезная нагрузка является продолжением некой ранее существующей программы.
1. Ангара - единственная в мире новая РН которая хуже старой (с) Старый Ламер
2. Назначение Роскосмоса - не летать в космос а выкачивать из бюджета деньги
3. У Маска ракета длиннее и толще чем у Роскосмоса
4. Чем мрачнее реальность тем ярче бред (с) Старый Ламер

tnt22

Прогноз погоды в 14:00 UTC

Вы не можете просматривать это вложение.

tnt22

https://www.nasa.gov/wallops/2020/press-release/it-s-a-go-for-july-15-minotaur-iv-launch-from-wallops

Цитата: undefinedJuly 14, 2020

It's A Go for July 15 Minotaur IV Launch from Wallops

slide1.jpg
Credits: NASA

It's a go for launch of a Northrop Grumman Minotaur IV rocket July 15 from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility.

The rocket is carrying a classified payload for the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO). The U.S. Space Force (USSF) Space and Missile Systems Center's Launch Enterprise Program is providing the launch services for this mission.

The weather continues to look favorable for the launch. The T-24 hour forecast shows a 90% probability of acceptable weather for launch with the possibility of fog and cumulous clouds forming over the region.

The window opens at 9 a.m. for the Northrop Grumman rocket for the launch from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport's Pad 0B.

The launch may be visible along the U.S. east coast. In addition, the mission will be streamed live beginning at 8:30 a.m. on the Wallops YouTube channel.

The NASA Visitor Center at Wallops will not be open for this mission.

The 78-foot tall Minotaur IV launch vehicle consists of three solid-fueled motors from decommissioned Peacekeeper ICBMs and a commercial solid rocket upper stage.

Keith Koehler

NASA's Wallops Flight Facility

Last Updated: July 14, 2020
Editor: Patrick Black

tnt22

https://spaceflightnow.com/2020/07/14/minotaur-rocket-ready-to-launch-four-payloads-for-u-s-spy-satellite-agency/

ЦитироватьMinotaur rocket ready to launch four payloads for U.S. spy satellite agency
July 14, 2020 | Stephen Clark


Four NRO payloads are enclosed inside the Minotaur 4 rocket's payload fairing for launch Wednesday from Wallops Island, Virginia. Credit: NRO/Northrop Grumman

Four clandestine payloads for the National Reconnaissance Office are awaiting liftoff Wednesday from Wallops Island, Virginia, on a Minotaur 4 rocket powered by Cold War-era missile stages stored for more than 30 years until their conversion into a satellite launcher.

The solid-fueled Minotaur 4 launcher is scheduled for liftoff from Virginia's Eastern Shore during a launch window opening at 9 a.m. EDT (1300 GMT) Wednesday. The 78-foot-tall (23.8-meter) rocket is expected to fly toward the southeast from the Virginia coast to place the NRO's four payloads into low Earth orbit hundreds of miles above the planet, but the mission's exact orbital parameters are classified.

The four payloads were designed, built and operated by the NRO, officials said, but NRO has not released details about the satellites. The NRO owns the U.S. government's fleet of optical and radar surveillance satellites that feed information to U.S. intelligence agencies.

The mission Wednesday, designated NROL-129, "supports NRO's overall national security mission to provide intelligence data to United States' senior policy makers, the Intelligence Community and Department of Defense," the NRO wrote in a press kit for the launch.

"The team is really excited and ready to get going here on this mission," said Kurt Eberly, who oversees launch programs at Northrop Grumman, the prime contractor for the Minotaur program.

The Minotaur rocket family uses retired Minuteman and Peacekeeper missile motors originally built to launch nuclear weapons to targets around the world. The Department of Defense now uses the decommissioned missile parts for satellite launches, and engineers have added upper stages to do the additional work of accelerating payloads to the speeds required to enter orbit.

"We have successfully launched 26 Minotaur missions with our last Minotaur mission from Wallops in 2013," said Lt. Col. Ryan Rose, chief of the small launch and targets division at the Space Force's Space and Missile Systems Center, which procures Minotaur launch services and oversees launch operations for the NRO. "This will be our first U.S. Space Force mission and the first dedicated NRO mission from Wallops. We look forward to continuing to launch national priority satellites for our NRO partner."

Of the 26 Minotaur launches since the rocket family's debut in 2000, 16 have delivered satellites into orbit from launch pads at Wallops Island, Virginia, Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, and Kodiak Island, Alaska. The other Minotaur flights launched on suborbital trajectories.

The Minotaur program boasts a 100 percent mission success record to date.

"We're really focused on making this the tried-and-true small-to-medium launch vehicle for the Air Force, and when they really need to launch when they want it, and it needs to be reliable, then we want to be that provider for the NRO and other DOD agencies," Eberly said in an interview with Spaceflight Now.

"I think what we offer is the ability to get to every orbit that they need from a variety of launch ranges," Eberly said. "We've launched from Vandenberg, Cape Canaveral, here at Wallops. This will be the seventh out of Wallops. We've launched from Kodiak as well. So that just gives us the ability to fit different missions that the NRO and other DOD customers want to execute to different orbits.

"Different payloads need different processing facilities, and different availability from different ranges," Eberly said. "So the ability to launch off of austere launch pads with these all-solid vehicles, it doesn't take much. It's really just a launch stool, and then a protected vault for our electrical ground support equipment. I think that's pretty attractive to the Air Force."

The government is paying Northrop Grumman $38 million for the NROL-129 launch. The launch contract for the NROL-129 mission was awarded to Northrop Grumman in 2017 through the military's Orbital/Suborbital Program-3 procurement vehicle.


The 78-foot-tall (23.8-meter) Minotaur rocket stands on pad 0B at Wallops Island, Virginia. Credit: NASA/Chris Perry

Northrop Grumman crews finished stacking the Minotaur 4 rocket July 2, when they craned the NROL-129 payloads on top of the launcher at pad 0B, which is part of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport run by the Virginia Commercial Space Flight Authority.

Located at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility, the spaceport has three launch pads for orbital-class rockets — one used by the Minotaur family, one for Northrop Grumman's larger Antares rocket used for resupply missions to the International Space Station, and a new launch complex designed for Rocket Lab's Electron booster.

The NRO and Northrop Grumman have not disclosed the duration of the launch window Wednesday. There's a 90 percent chance of favorable weather for launch Wednesday, according to forecasters at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility.

The launch team first stacked the three lower stages of the Minotaur 4 rocket, each coming from stockpiles left over from the Air Force's retired nuclear-tipped Peacekeeper missiles. On Friday, officials completed a mission dress rehearsal to practice countdown procedures, and officials convened a launch readiness review Monday to give approval for teams to continue with launch preparations.

The Peacekeeper rocket motors awaiting launch Wednesday were filled with pre-packed solid fuel between 1988 and 1990, then placed on alert in missile silos for 15 years until the military decommissioned the Peacekeeper in 2005, according to Col. Robert Bongiovi, director of the launch enterprise division at the Space and Missile Systems Center.

The Space Force maintains an "active aging surveillance program" to ensure decommissioned Peacekeeper and Minuteman missile motors can be made flightworthy in a short time when needed for a satellite launch. The missile motors are stored at Hill Air Force Base, Utah, and refurbished there before shipping out for launch preparations.

Eberly said the three Peacekeeper motors and the Minotaur 4's fourth stage — an Orion 38 solid rocket motor produced commercially by Northrop Grumman — were shipped to Vandenberg for outfitting before they were transported to Wallops for stacking on pad 0B.

Ground teams at Wallops took precautions to reduce the risk of spreading COVID-19, Eberly said.

"Our workforce takes this seriously," Eberly said. "They're exercising a lot of personal responsibility in their personal time to make sure that they stay safe, follow the guidelines, and stay out of risky situations. So far, knock on wood, we've been able to proceed and stay on schedule."

The coronavirus pandemic caused Northrop Grumman to re-plan some operations associated with the NROL-129 mission.

"A lot of us engineers and management types can be teleworking from home, but the folks that are turning wrenches and running the system testing, and so on, need to be here (at Wallops), and they need to be touching the hardware, and in some instances they need to be in close proximity to each other," Eberly said.

During some operations, such as installing ordnance on the rocket, procedures require two or more people within six feet of each other. In those cases, Northrop Grumman ensured the workers wore personal protective equipment, Eberly said.

"We've also done some other things like spaced-out operations, and done some remote monitoring, where otherwise we'd have people there in person," he said. "It does cause us to have to plan things out further in advance, but hats off to our workforce. We've been able to stay on schedule for this launch and a couple other important launches that we're working."

Managers decided not to send as big of a crew to Wallops as would have been deployed to the launch site during normal times. Some of the Minotaur program's engineers will remain at the company's launch vehicle division headquarters in Chandler, Arizona, where Northrop Grumman set up a facility for the engineering support team to monitor the countdown and launch in real-time.

"So our engineers, a bunch are staying back there to be monitoring telemetry remotely and able to advise the folks who are in the control rooms here on the base," Eberly said. "And then we spread out the team here. We used to be in one control room, kind of elbow-to-elbow, and now we're using an additional control room where basically every other console is occupied, so we're able to be spaced out quite a bit."


The launch patch for the NROL-129 mission. Credit: NRO/Northrop Grumman

The launch Wednesday will mark the first flight of a Minotaur rocket since a Minotaur 4 launch from Cape Canaveral in August 2017. Without a waiver, U.S. government policy requires the Minotaur rocket family only be used to launch military and intelligence-gathering satellites.

The policy is intended to keep government-furnished equipment, such as the retired Peacekeeper stages, from competing with privately-developed rockets in the small satellite launch market.

The Minotaur 4 rocket can carry payloads of up to 3,814 pounds (1,730 kilograms) into low Earth orbit, according to Northrop Grumman.

The last launch of a Minotaur rocket from Wallops Island was on Nov. 19, 2013, when a Minotaur 1 rocket — using Minuteman missile motors — took off with a cluster of small military research and technology demonstration satellites.

Pad 0B in Virginia has been the starting point for six Minotaur launches — five using Minotaur 1 rockets based on the Air Force's Minuteman missile, and one with the Peacekeeper-derived Minotaur 5 booster, which adds a fifth stage on top of the Minotaur 4.

The Minotaur 4 and 5 rockets can carry heavier payloads than the commercial small satellite launchers developed by Rocket Lab, Virgin Orbit, Firefly Aerospace, Relativity Space, and numerous other firms fueled by venture capital financing.

Despite the Minotaur rocket's low flight rate, Eberly said he thinks the program "fills a niche that is not really addressed very much for U.S. launchers."

"Maybe (Europe's) Vega is something similar in the international market, but the ability to launch two metric tons to low Earth orbit isn't well-served, and I think a lot of space vehicles, and the kinds of new space vehicles that the NRO and others are producing, they just can't always be served by the by the really small end of launch market," Eberly said.

"So that's where we can come in and offer a very dependable ride on a schedule, wherever they need us, and fill that bigger niche for payloads that just aren't going to fit on a smaller vehicle, and they may not want to be on a rideshare, where you're not able to drive the schedule, or if it's a classified payload, you don't want to be in a rideshare on a bigger vehicle," he said.

"That's where I think the dedicated launch aspect is very attracted to the NRO, where they can get just what they want. They can tailor the mission just the way they want, and then we can provide that service to them."

tnt22

Шо, really?


Цитата: undefined SMC @AF_SMC 11 мин. назад

Who're getting excited? The NROL-129 mission is scheduled to #launch tomorrow morning at 6:00 a.m. PST from @NASA_Wallops
#SpaceStartsHere #LAAFB #KAFB



zandr

https://www.militarynews.ru/story.asp?rid=1&nid=534884&lang=RU
ЦитироватьКосмические силы США в среду планируют вывести на орбиту четыре секретных разведывательных спутника
15.07.2020 0:00:06
       Вашингтон. 15 июля. ИНТЕРФАКС - Ракета-носитель Minotaur-4 в среду должна стартовать на орбиту с четырьмя секретными спутниками в интересах Национального управления военно-космической разведки США (NRO), сообщили в NASA.
       Запуск ракеты планируется осуществить с космодрома NASA Уоллопс, который размещается на одноименном острове у атлантического побережья американского штата Вирджиния, во временное окно, которое открывается в 09:00 по времени Восточного побережья США (16:00 мск).
      "Запуск миссии NROL-129 предназначен для выполнения задач Национального управления военно-космической разведки по предоставлению разведывательных данных высокопоставленным политикам США, разведывательному сообществу и министерству обороны", - говорится в сообщении управления.
       О целях, орбите, размере и других характеристиках секретных американских спутников в рамках миссии NROL-129 не сообщается.
       Запуск будет первым, проводимым под управлением недавно сформированных Космических сил США с космодрома NASA Уоллопс.
       По сообщению NASA, погодные условия в районе космодрома на 90% благоприятствуют осуществлению запуска.
       Четырехступенчатая ракета-носитель Minotaur-4 разработана корпорацией Northrop Grumman на базе выведенной из эксплуатации межконтинентальной баллистической ракеты Peacekeeper ("Пискипер"). Она способна доставлять на низкую околоземную орбиту высотой 185 км полезную нагрузку массой до 1725 кг.

tnt22

https://www.losangeles.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/2273901/weather-and-minotaur-iv-rocket-are-go-for-july-15-morning-launch-of-nrol-129-mi/

Цитата: undefinedWeather and Minotaur IV rocket are "Go" for July 15 morning launch of NROL-129 mission

By SMC Public Affairs, Space and Missile Systems Center / Published July 14, 2020

NASA WALLOPS FLIGHT FACILITY, Va. --
The upcoming National Reconnaissance Office Launch (NROL)-129 mission is scheduled to lift off at 9 a.m. EST (6 a.m. Pacific) July 15 from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport's Pad 0B at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.  Latest weather briefings issued today from Wallops Island is "looking good," with only a 10 percent Probability of Violation, or 90 percent favorable conditions, with light and variable ground and upper winds, and a potential for some clouds.

A "Consent to Launch" decision was issued today by the NRO, partnered with the U.S. Space Force and the Space and Missile Systems Center's Launch Enterprise Rocket Systems Launch Program (RSLP) at Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico which prepared the NROL-129 mission. Lt. Col. Ryan Rose, chief of SMC's Launch Enterprise Small Launch and Targets Division, provided SMC's "Readiness and Go for Launch" status for tomorrow's mission.

Live streaming video of Wednesday's scheduled launch will be available to news media and the general public, starting at 8:30 a.m. EST (5:30 a.m. Pacific) via the NASA Wallops YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/user/NASAWallops

The Minotaur IV launch vehicle, built by Northrop Grumman Corporation and acquired by SMC and RSLP, will launch the NROL-129 mission. Northrop Grumman was contracted by SMC to provide the launch vehicle design, integration, and interface to the space vehicle, vehicle mating, mission planning and launch of the Minotaur IV.

"We pride ourselves on being able to meet all the launch service needs of the national defense satellite market," stated Col. Robert Bongiovi, director of SMC's Launch Enterprise. "This is another demonstration of the USSF's ability to safely place payloads, from the smallest scientific, experimental and operational satellites, to the most valuable payloads, into any orbit for our NRO mission partner."

The U.S. Space Force's Space and Missile Systems Center, located at Los Angeles Air Force Base in El Segundo, California, is the center of excellence for acquiring and developing military space systems. SMC's portfolio includes space launch, global positioning systems, military satellite communications, a defense meteorological satellite control network, range systems, space-based infrared systems, and space situational awareness capabilities.

###
С непонятным упорством продолжают жить зимой...

tnt22


тавот

Никаких трансляций не планируется?
Three, two, one, ignition, and liftoff !

Охотник утки, пьющий водки !

Это ещё не сверхтяж, но уже и не супертяж.© Д.О.Р.

tnt22

Цитата: тавот от 15.07.2020 11:05:18Никаких трансляций не планируется?
Планируется.  Ждём конкретный адрес трансляции здесь - https://www.youtube.com/user/NASAWallops

tnt22

https://spaceflightnow.com/2020/07/14/minotaur-4-nrol-129-mission-status-center/


Цитировать07/15/2020 11:32 Stephen Clark

The five-hour Minotaur countdown commenced on time at 4 a.m. EDT (0800 GMT), and clocks are currently set to tick down to a launch time of 9 a.m. EDT (1300 GMT).

The early steps in the countdown involve powering up the Minotaur 4 rocket and verifying data and telemetry links. Teams will also verify the range at Wallops and downrange telemetry stations in North Carolina, Bermuda and Ascension Island in the Atlantic Ocean are ready to support today's mission.

tnt22

Цитировать07/15/2020 11:48 Stephen Clark

The 127-foot-tall mobile gantry is being retracted away from the Minotaur 4 rocket on the launch pad at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport in Virginia. The structure is moved back from the launch pad using a truck similar to an airplane pushback tractor.

tnt22

Цитировать07/15/2020 11:53 Stephen Clark

T-minus 4 hours, 7 minutes. The Northrop Grumman launch team is now powering up the Minotaur 4 rocket on pad 0B at Wallops to begin going through the pre-launch test checklist.

tnt22

Цитировать07/15/2020 11:54 Stephen Clark

The crew at the pad 0B reports the 127-foot-tall mobile gantry has been retracted, revealing the 78-foot-tall Minotaur 4 rocket for liftoff.


07/15/2020 12:17
 Stephen Clark



Check out photos of the Minotaur 4 rocket on the launch pad at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport. These photos were taken over the past few days as teams prepared the Minotaur 4 for liftoff.