GPS-IIR-21(M8 )-Delta II 7925-17.08.09 14:35 МЛВ-Canaveral

[Salo]

http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=8184.300

17 August - GPS-IIR-21 (M8 ) - Delta II 7925 - Canaveral - 10:35-10:49

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/tracking/index.html

Aug. 17    Delta 2  •  GPS 2R-21 (M8 )
Launch window: 1035-1049 GMT (6:35-6:49 a.m. EDT)
Launch site: SLC-17A, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida

The United Launch Alliance Delta 2 rocket will launch the eighth modernized NAVSTAR Global Positioning System Block 2R military navigation satellite. The launch will be run by the U.S. Air Force. The rocket will fly in the 7925 vehicle configuration. Delayed from Sept. 11 and Dec. 18, 2008. Moved up from Aug. 21.

[Salo]

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/delta/d343/status.html

The final Delta 2 rocket launch for the U.S. Air Force is scheduled for August 17 from Cape Canaveral.

THURSDAY, AUGUST 13, 2009
After 20 years and over 50 launches for the U.S. military, the respected Delta 2 rocket will make one last flight for the Air Force at dawn Monday carrying the final spacecraft in the current generation of Global Positioning System satellites.

Liftoff from Cape Canaveral is planned during a brief window extending from 6:35 to 6:49 a.m. EDT (1035-1049 GMT).

The long-range weather outlook puts the odds of acceptable conditions at 70 percent. Coastal rain showers could pose a small threat for delaying the launch.

The launch weather team reported today: "Currently, a tropical wave over the western Atlantic will travel across southern Florida on Friday and Saturday. Afterwards, deep layered high pressure will build in from the east and be the dominant weather feature with the ridge axis located well to the north of central Florida. As a result, onshore flow will occur during the countdown. Typically under this regime widely scattered showers develop over the coastal waters during the early morning hours and move towards the coast. The primary concern during the countdown and launch window will be for one of these showers moving over the pad and flight path."

The launch time forecast includes scattered cumulus clouds, showers in the vicinity, good visibility, easterly winds of 10 to 18 knots and a temperature around 77 degrees F.

If the launch is delayed to Tuesday for some reason, the odds and forecast remain unchanged.

Riding atop the three-stage rocket is GPS 2R-21, the last satellite in the series built by Lockheed Martin to sustain the orbiting constellation for users worldwide. The Block 2R spacecraft began flying in 1997 to replenish the network and replace the older generations.

"Since the first successful launch in 1997, GPS 2R spacecraft have demonstrated unmatched capability, achieving exceptional on-orbit performance for military and civil users around the globe," said Don DeGryse, Lockheed Martin's vice president of Navigation Systems. "We are extremely proud of our partnership with the Air Force on this important program and look forward to providing increased GPS accuracy and reliability with the launch of the final GPS 2R-M satellite."

The final eight craft in the 21-satellite GPS Block 2R family were "modernized" to transmit additional signals and provide improvements aimed at greater accuracy, tougher resistance to interference and enhanced performance.

"Through effective collaboration and a joint commitment to successful execution, the GPS 2R program has significantly improved our nation's position, navigation and timing capabilities, and we look forward to enhancing the GPS constellation with this last 2R-M satellite," said Col. Dave Madden, commander of the Air Force's Global Positioning Systems Wing.

The craft will replace the aging GPS 2A-26 satellite launched in July 1996 and now well past its design life.

The new GPS 2R-21 spacecraft will take over the Plane E, Slot 3 location of the navigation network, considered one of the primary positions in the constellation that is divided into six orbital groupings with multiple satellites flying in each.

After the Air Force flies this last GPS Block 2R satellite, the military will transition to the next series of enhanced GPS 2F satellites built by Boeing that's slated to begin launching in 2010 on the larger Atlas 5 and Delta 4 rockets.

The Air Force also says goodbye to the Delta 2 after Monday's launch. The service oversaw more than 50 flights of the rocket since 1989, including the launches of GPS, National Reconnaissance Office and other research satellites.

"This launch will mark the end of an era, but we are focused first and foremost on making this last GPS 2R launch a complete success," said Lt. Col. Erik Bowman, the Air Force launch director and the commander of the 1st Space Launch Squadron at the Cape.

FRIDAY, AUGUST 14, 2009
The Launch Readiness Review occurred today and resulted in officials giving formal approval to begin the countdown for Monday's planned 6:35 a.m. EDT liftoff of the Global Positioning System 2R-21 spacecraft.

"We will not launch until it is ready, but we anticipate a very good and clean launch. So Go Delta," said John Wagner, the Air Force's mission director from the Space and Missile System Center's Launch and Range Systems Wing.

The 12-story Delta 2 rocket will be propelled off the launch pad with its main engine and six strap-on solid-propellant boosters firing to generate over 700,000 pounds of thrust.

A minute into the ascent, the rocket will already be 10 miles up as those six solid motors extinguish and separate. Three remaining solids are ignited for their minute-long firing.

The slender blue first stage keeps its RS-27A engine roaring through the initial four-and-a-half-minutes, climbing about 60 miles over the Atlantic Ocean before being jettisoned. That allows the hypergolic second stage engine to ignite and push the vehicle into a preliminary orbit stretching 111 miles at its high point and 94 miles at its lowest.

The second stage will settle into the parking orbit about 11 minutes after liftoff and begin a quiet coast to the other side of the planet where the launch sequence resumes about 50 minutes later over the western Pacific Ocean.

Another firing of the second stage, this time lasting just 42 seconds, begins the process of shaping the orbit for the GPS satellite cargo. The end result of this burn will be an orbit 670 miles at apogee and 103 miles at perigee.

Tiny thrusters then ignite to rapidly "spin up" the third stage and attached satellite to 55 rpm. The second stage separates from the spinning duo some 64 minutes after liftoff.

The solid-fuel third stage is lit moments later, delivering a minute-and-a-half of thrust to propel the satellite into a highly elliptical orbit reaching 11,000 miles at the high point, 104 miles at the lowest and inclined 40 degrees to the equator.

The Lockheed Martin-built satellite is cast free from the spent rocket 68 minutes into the ascent, completing the Delta 2 vehicle's job.

If all goes well, another solid-propellant kick motor on the satellite itself will fire in a few days to circularize its orbit at 11,000 miles and increase the inclination to 55 degrees where the GPS constellation flies.

Controllers will maneuver the craft into the Plane E, Slot 3 position of the constellation to take the place of GPS 2A-26. That aging satellite was launched in July 1996 with a seven-year design life.

"Speaking for Lockheed Martin, we have great confidence that this upcoming satellite is ready for flight and will meet our customer's expectations once on orbit," said Don DeGryse, the company's vice president of Navigation Systems.

[Чебурашка]

Улетело!!!

[Чебурашка]

Твёрдотопливные ускорители и 1-ая ступень успешно отработали. Работает 2-ая ступень.

З.Ы. А предыдущий GPS-IIR(M) так до сих пор и не ввели в эксплуатацию. Кто в курсе, что с ним?

[Чебурашка]

На опорной орбите. Баллистическая пауза между первым и вторым включением 2-ой ступени - 52 минуты. Ждёмс...

[Salo]

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/delta/d343/status.html
Вышел на эллиптическую орбиту с заданными параметрами. Скруглять орбиту будут в среду.

[Salo]

http://www.floridatoday.com/content/blogs/space/2009/08/delta-ii-blasts-off-on-49th-and-final.shtml

Monday, August 17, 2009
Delta II Blasts Off On 49th And Final GPS Mission
A United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket hauled a Navstar Global Positioning System spacecraft into orbit early today, marking the end of a near-perfect 20 years string of satellite-delivery missions.

The 125-foot tall rocket and its payload blasted off from Launch Complex 17A at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station at 6:35 a.m. Sixty-eight minutes later, the spacecraft was deployed into an orbit 11,000 miles above the planet.

The flight was the 49th and final Delta II-GPS launch. Developed specifically to launch Navstar GPS satellites, the Delta II first sent up one of the spacecraft on Feb. 14, 1989. Forty-eight of the 49 Delta II-GPS missions were successful. New generation GPS spacecraft are wider and heavier and will be launched on Atlas V or Delta IV rockets.

http://www.floridatoday.com/content/blogs/space/uploaded_images/GPS2R21_IMG_0007-741621.jpg

[Чебурашка]

А тем временем, последний GPS IIR(М), 27 августа 2009 года был введён в эксплуатацию. Оперативно, однако. Всего 10 дней после запуска.

А несколько ранее, 20 августа 2009 года вывели из системы старичка, запущенного ещё в 1992 году.

[vitkisa]

Тихо тухнем от разницы САС GPS и GLONASS спутников

[Брабонт]

Аппарат введён в строй: http://www.lockheedmartin.com/news/press_releases/2009/0903_ss_finalGPS.html

The last in a series of eight modernized Global Positioning System IIR (GPS IIR-M) satellites built by Lockheed Martin [NYSE]declared operational[/b] by the U.S. Air Force for military and civilian navigation users around the globe.

[Pyhesty]

Тихо тухнем от разницы САС GPS и GLONASS спутников

зато наши по три штуки за раз запускают ))))
количеством давим...

[Чебурашка]

А тем временем, последний GPS IIR(М), 27 августа 2009 года был введён в эксплуатацию. Оперативно, однако. Всего 10 дней после запуска.

А несколько ранее, 20 августа 2009 года вывели из системы старичка, запущенного ещё в 1992 году.

Старичка, которого 20 августа 2009 года отправили в "морг", чудесным образом оживили  ftp://tycho.usno.navy.mil/pub/gps/gpsnanu2009.txt

Set unusable 20 Aug 2009 at 1514 UT and decommissioned from
           active service 20 Aug 2009 at 1514 UT.
          Will be transitioned into the broadcast almanac after
           12 Sept 2009 at 2200 UT; Usable during transition (NANU 2009065)
          Set usable 12 Sept 2009 at 2212 UT

Видимо, взамен другому старичку 1991 года запуска, которому недавно резко поплохело.

Интерсно, сколько в GPS таких "живых мертвецов", которых можно в любой момент вернуть к жизи  :?: