- Cowardly Helldivers Turn on Malevelon Creek Veterans, Targeting Noble Cape Wearers Push Square
- Some Helldivers 2 Players Are Threatening to Teamkill Anyone Who Wears the New Malevelon Creek Cape — but the Community Is Fighting Back IGN
- Helldivers 2’s next major order is to ‘completely destroy the Automaton Legion’—and if the first game’s any indication, the galaxy could really be robot free for a while PC Gamer
- ‘Helldivers 2’ Issues Order 66 For Automatons, Extinction To Follow Forbes
- How to get the Malevelon Creek Cape in Helldivers 2 PCGamesN
Tag Archives: Cape
Some Helldivers 2 Players Are Threatening to Teamkill Anyone Who Wears the New Malevelon Creek Cape — but the Community Is Fighting Back – IGN
- Some Helldivers 2 Players Are Threatening to Teamkill Anyone Who Wears the New Malevelon Creek Cape — but the Community Is Fighting Back IGN
- ‘Helldivers 2’ Players Given Free Malevelon Creek Memorial Day Item To Claim Right Now Forbes
- Helldivers 2 honors fallen soldiers with a free cape as part of ‘Malevelon Creek Memorial Day,’ including a presidential directive from Super Earth’s leader Gamesradar
- Helldivers 2 Celebrates ‘Malevelon Creek’ Holiday With Capes Kotaku
- Helldivers 2 honours the lives lost at Malevelon Creek with an official decree from the Super Earth president, plus a cool free cape PC Gamer
Updates: SpaceX boosted another Falcon 9 Starlink mission from Cape Canaveral Saturday – Florida Today
- Updates: SpaceX boosted another Falcon 9 Starlink mission from Cape Canaveral Saturday Florida Today
- Live coverage: SpaceX Falcon 9 to launch 22 Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral – Spaceflight Now Spaceflight Now
- SpaceX launches Starlink batch in 2nd launch of day following Crew-7 VideoFromSpace
- SpaceX delays Starlink launch to Saturday night following Crew-7’s early morning liftoff News 13 Orlando
- LIVE: Spacex Falcon 9 Rocket Launches Another Batch Of 2nd-Gen Starlink V2 Mini Internet Satellites India Today
- View Full Coverage on Google News
Penelope Cruz looks sensational in a thigh-split feathered gown with a dramatic cape in Mumbai – Daily Mail
- Penelope Cruz looks sensational in a thigh-split feathered gown with a dramatic cape in Mumbai Daily Mail
- Nysa Devgan gets a warm hug from Rekha as she arrives with mom Kajol at NMACC day 2 event. Watch Hindustan Times
- WATCH: Hrithik Roshan-Saba Azad arrive hand-in-hand, Sonam Kapoor plants a kiss on Anand Ahuja at NMACC gala PINKVILLA
- NMACC Day 2: Bhumi Pednekar Is A Vision in Silver-Grey Gown, Egyptian-style head jewellery Zoom TV
- Malaika Arora, Madhuri Dixit, Kareena Kapoor stun everyone at NMACC day 2 event Hindustan Times
- View Full Coverage on Google News
SpaceX launches 56 more Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral – Spaceflight Now
“Our action will allow SpaceX to begin deployment of Gen2 Starlink, which will bring next generation satellite broadband to Americans nationwide, including those living and working in areas traditionally unserved or underserved by terrestrial systems,” the FCC wrote in its Dec. 1 order partially approving the Starlink Gen2 constellation. “Our action also will enable worldwide satellite broadband service, helping to close the digital divide on a global scale.
“At the same time, this limited grant and associated conditions will protect other satellite and terrestrial operators from harmful interference and maintain a safe space environment, promoting competition and protecting spectrum and orbital resources for future use,” the FCC wrote. “We defer action on the remainder of SpaceX’s application at this time.”
Specifically, the FCC granted SpaceX authority to launch the initial block of 7,500 Starlink Gen2 satellites into orbits at 525, 530, and 535 kilometers, with inclinations of 53, 43, and 33 degrees, respectively, using Ku-band and Ka-band frequencies. The FCC deferred a decision on SpaceX’s request to operate Starlink Gen2 satellites in higher and lower orbits.
Like the first Gen2 launch last month, the Starlink 5-2 mission Thursday will target the 530-kilometer-high (329-mile) orbit at an inclination of 43 degrees to the equator.
SpaceX currently has nearly 3,400 functioning Starlink satellites in space, with more than 3,100 operational and roughly 200 moving into their operational orbits, according to a tabulation by Jonathan McDowell, an expert tracker of spaceflight activity and an astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.
The first-generation Starlink network architecture includes satellites flying a few hundred miles up, orbiting at inclinations of 97.6 degrees, 70 degrees, 53.2 degrees, and 53.0 degrees to the equator. Most of SpaceX’s recent Starlink launches have released satellites into Shell 4, at an inclination of 53.2 degrees, after the company largely completed launches into the first 53-degree inclination shell last year.
Shell 5 of the Starlink network was widely believed to be one of the polar-orbiting layers of the constellation, at 97.6 degrees inclination. But the name of the first Gen2 missions — Starlink 5-1 and 5-2 — appear to suggest SpaceX has changed the naming scheme for the Starlink shells.
SpaceX’s launch team will be stationed inside a launch control center just south of Cape Canaveral Space Force Station for Thursday’s predawn countdown. SpaceX will begin loading super-chilled, densified kerosene and liquid oxygen propellants into the Falcon 9 vehicle at T-minus 35 minutes.
Helium pressurant will also flow into the rocket in the last half-hour of the countdown. In the final seven minutes before liftoff, the Falcon 9’s Merlin main engines will be thermally conditioned for flight through a procedure known as “chilldown.” The Falcon 9’s guidance and range safety systems will also be configured for launch.
After liftoff, the Falcon 9 rocket will vector its 1.7 million pounds of thrust — produced by nine Merlin engines — to steer southeast over the Atlantic Ocean. SpaceX has resumed launches this winter using the southeasterly corridor from Cape Canaveral, rather than trajectories to the northeast, to take advantage of better sea conditions for landing of the Falcon 9’s first stage booster.
Throughout the summer and fall, SpaceX launched Starlink missions on paths toward the northeast from Florida’s Space Coast.
The Falcon 9 rocket will exceed the speed of sound in about one minute, then shut down its nine main engines two-and-a-half minutes after liftoff. The booster stage will separate from the Falcon 9’s upper stage, then fire pulses from cold gas control thrusters and extend titanium grid fins to help steer the vehicle back into the atmosphere.
Two braking burns will slow the rocket for landing on the drone ship “Just Read the Instructions” around 410 miles (660 kilometers) downrange approximately nine minutes after liftoff.
The Falcon 9’s reusable payload fairing will jettison during the second stage burn. A recovery ship is also on station in the Atlantic to retrieve the two halves of the nose cone after they splash down under parachutes.
Landing of the first stage on Thursday’s mission will occur just as the Falcon 9’s second stage engine cuts off to deliver the Starlink satellites into orbit. Separation of the 56 Starlink spacecraft, built by SpaceX in Redmond, Washington, from the Falcon 9 rocket is expected nearly 19 minutes after liftoff. SpaceX may have to wait until the rocket passes over a ground station in Guam to confirm Starlink separation from the upper stage.
The Falcon 9’s guidance computer aims to deploy the satellites into an elliptical orbit at an inclination of 43 degrees to the equator, with an altitude ranging between 131 miles and 209 miles (212-by-337 kilometers). After separating from the rocket, the 56 Starlink spacecraft will unfurl solar arrays and run through automated activation steps, then use ion engines to maneuver into their operational orbit.
ROCKET: Falcon 9 (B1067.9)
PAYLOAD: 56 Starlink satellites (Starlink 5-2)
LAUNCH SITE: SLC-40, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida
LAUNCH DATE: Jan. 26, 2023
LAUNCH TIME: 4:32:20 a.m. EST (0932:20 GMT)
WEATHER FORECAST: 70% chance of acceptable weather; Low to moderate risk of upper level winds; Low risk of unfavorable conditions for booster recovery
BOOSTER RECOVERY: “Just Read the Instructions” drone ship northeast of the Bahamas
LAUNCH AZIMUTH: Southeast
TARGET ORBIT: 131 miles by 209 miles (212 kilometers by 337 kilometers), 43.0 degrees inclination
LAUNCH TIMELINE:
- T+00:00: Liftoff
- T+01:12: Maximum aerodynamic pressure (Max-Q)
- T+02:28: First stage main engine cutoff (MECO)
- T+02:31: Stage separation
- T+02:38: Second stage engine ignition
- T+02:42: Fairing jettison
- T+06:42: First stage entry burn ignition (three engines)
- T+07:00: First stage entry burn cutoff
- T+08:23: First stage landing burn ignition (one engine)
- T+08:43: Second stage engine cutoff (SECO 1)
- T+08:44: First stage landing
- T+18:49: Starlink satellite separation
MISSION STATS:
- 199th launch of a Falcon 9 rocket since 2010
- 209th launch of Falcon rocket family since 2006
- 9th launch of Falcon 9 booster B1067
- 171st Falcon 9 launch from Florida’s Space Coast
- 111th Falcon 9 launch from pad 40
- 166th launch overall from pad 40
- 141st flight of a reused Falcon 9 booster
- 69th Falcon 9 launch primarily dedicated to Starlink network
- 5th Falcon 9 launch of 2023
- 6th launch by SpaceX in 2023
- 5th orbital launch attempt based out of Cape Canaveral in 2023
Weather excellent for weekend launch, Cape landing
Space is important to us and that’s why we’re working to bring you top coverage of the industry and Florida launches. Journalism like this takes time and resources. Please support it with a subscription here.
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Weather conditions should be excellent for SpaceX’s next launch from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, a mission that will close out the weekend with sonic booms generated by a local booster landing.
Teams at Launch Complex 40 are looking to fly a 230-foot Falcon 9 rocket during a 20-minute window that opens at 11:45 p.m. EST Sunday, then land the booster a few miles south at Landing Zone 1. Weather during the window is expected to be 90% “go.”
“High pressure over northern Gulf Coast will dominate through the weekend, with cooler, drier air persisting,” Space Launch Delta 45 forecasters said Friday. “By late Sunday, onshore flow will slowly increase moisture resulting in a slight chance of low-topped showers off the coast, with the cumulus cloud rule as the only concern.”
Temperatures should hover around 65 degrees at 64% humidity at liftoff, making for ideal spectating conditions. Those watching will see the rocket’s 162-foot first stage touch down about eight minutes after liftoff.
As usual, sonic booms will be generated just before landing. Though startling, they are largely harmless.
Sunday night’s launch will mark SpaceX’s second mission for OneWeb, a competitor in the satellite internet industry. OneWeb was flying on Russian hardware before the war in Ukraine, after which it switched to SpaceX for launch services.
OneWeb’s internet constellation is smaller and more targeted to business users, while SpaceX’s Starlink network takes aim at a wider audience ranging from residential to military uses. OneWeb has launched about 500 of its Merritt Island-built satellites, while SpaceX stands at roughly 3,500.
For the latest, visit floridatoday.com/launchschedule.
Contact Emre Kelly at aekelly@floridatoday.com or 321-242-3715. Follow him on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at @EmreKelly.
Sanctioned Russian oligarch’s $500 million superyacht leaves Hong Kong for Cape Town
A luxury yacht belonging to sanctioned Russian oligarch Alexey Mordashov departed Hong Kong waters on Thursday heading for the South African port of Cape Town, according to private tracking site MarineTraffic.
The prominent sight of the 465 foot (141-meter) multi-deck Nord in the city’s Victoria harbor in recent weeks had sparked criticism from the US State Department, which questioned the “transparency” of the financial hub and warned of reputational risks.
Mordashov, a billionaire close to President Vladimir Putin, was among a number of Russians sanctioned by the United States and European Union – but not the United Nations – after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine for their links to Putin.
While a number of Russian superyachts have been seized or denied entry in Europe and other jurisdictions, the Nord was left undisturbed in Hong Kong after its arrival on Oct. 5.
Valued at over $500 million, it arrived via a seven-day voyage from Vladivostok in Russian Far East, down through the Sea of Japan and the East China Sea.
The Hong Kong Marine Department later confirmed that the Nord had departed Hong Kong on Thursday but said it could not comment further.
The MarineTraffic site put the vessel southeast of Hong Kong waters early on Thursday evening, heading into the South China Sea.
A witness saw a fuel barge alongside the vessel inside the harbor at noon.
Hong Kong’s leader John Lee said on Oct. 11 the city’s authorities would not act on unilateral sanctions imposed on Mordashov by individual jurisdictions.
“We cannot do anything that has no legal basis,” said Lee, who himself has been sanctioned by the US for his role on a crackdown on local freedoms.
Lee, who is due to host an international investment summit in November with global business leaders, said the Chinese-ruled city would only abide by United Nations sanctions.
Sanctions target Russian Oligarch yachts
06:55
– Source:
CNN
SpaceX counting down to late-night launch from Cape Canaveral – Spaceflight Now
Live coverage of the countdown and launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida. The Falcon 9 rocket will launch Eutelsat’s Hotbird 13F geostationary communications satellites. Follow us on Twitter.
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A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is set for blastoff at 1:22 a.m. EDT (0522 GMT) Saturday with Eutelsat’s Hotbird 13F television broadcasting satellite. The mission will mark the 100th launch by SpaceX from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
Built by Airbus, the 9,868-pound (4,476-kilogram) Hotbird 13F spacecraft will beam hundreds of television and radio channels across Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa. Hotbird 13F is the first satellite to be built on Airbus’s new Eurostar Neo spacecraft design, incorporating upgrades in propulsion, thermal control, and electrical systems.
The 116-minute launch window opens at 11:26 p.m. EDT Friday (0326 GMT Saturday) and runs until 1:22 a.m. (0522 GMT). Forecasters from the U.S. Space Force’s 45th Weather Squadron predict a 90% probability of favorable weather for liftoff, with only a slight chance of cumulus clouds that might create a threat of lightning.
A frontal boundary moved through Central Florida earlier Friday.
“Drier, cooler air along with higher winds filtering in from the north in the wake of the front should tamper any significant shower coverage this weekend and result in favorable launch conditions for both the primary and backup launch opportunities,” the weather team wrote in the official launch weather forecast.
SpaceX delayed the launch time Friday night to the end of the launch window to allow additional time for data review. The company did not elaborate on the reason for the data review.
The launch Friday night will be the fourth flight of a Falcon 9 rocket this month, following three Falcon 9 launches in as many days last week.
In preparation for Friday night’s launch, SpaceX ground crews rolled the Falcon 9 rocket and its commercial satellite payload to pad 40, then raised it vertical over the flame trench earlier in the day Friday. During Friday’s countdown, the 229-foot-tall (70-meter) launcher will be filled with a million pounds of kerosene and liquid oxygen propellants in the final 35 minutes before liftoff.
After teams verify technical and weather parameters are all “green” for launch, the nine Merlin 1D main engines on the first stage booster will flash to life with the help of an ignition fluid called triethylaluminum/triethylborane, or TEA-TEB. Once the engines ramp up to full throttle, hydraulic clamps will open to release the Falcon 9 for its climb into space.
The nine main engines will produce 1.7 million pounds of thrust for about two-and-a-half minutes, propelling the Falcon 9 and Eutelsat’s Hotbird 13F communications satellite into the upper atmosphere. Then the booster stage — tail number B1069 in SpaceX’s fleet — will shut down and separate from the Falcon 9’s upper stage.
The booster will extend titanium grid fins and pulse cold gas thrusters to orient itself for a tail-first entry back into the atmosphere, before reigniting its engines for a braking burn and a final landing burn, targeting a vertical descent to the drone ship “Just Read the Instructions” parked about 400 miles (about 640 kilometers) east of Cape Canaveral.
A successful rocket landing on the drone ship will mark the completion of the booster’s third flight to space, following launch last December on a cargo mission to the International Space Station and then on Aug. 27 with a batch of Starlink internet satellites.
The booster was damaged, apparently due to rough seas, after landing on its first mission in December. SpaceX repaired the rocket and returned it to the active rotation of Falcon 9 boosters in August.
On Friday night’s mission, the Falcon 9 rocket will fire its upper stage engine two times to inject the Hotbird 13F spacecraft into an elliptical geostationary transfer orbit with an apogee, or high point, more than 20,000 miles above Earth.
Hotbird 13F will separate from the Falcon 9 rocket about 36 minutes into the mission.
After flying free of its SpaceX launcher, Hotbird 13F will unfurl solar panels and switch on its plasma propulsion system for several months of orbit-raising maneuver to reach a circular geostationary orbit more than 22,000 miles (nearly 36,000 kilometers) over the equator. The orbit-raising using electric propulsion takes longer than maneuvers relying on conventional rocket engines.
Hotbird 13F will orbit in lock-step with Earth’s rotation at 13 degrees east longitude.
By the middle of next year, Hotbird 13F should be ready to enter commercial service to start a 15-year mission broadcasting television programming to Eutelsat customers. Hotbird 13G, set for launch in November on another Falcon 9 rocket, will follow about a month after its twin satellite, heading for the same position in geostationary orbit.
“Hotbird 13F is the first of two satellites to be placed at the Eutelsat flagship 13 degrees east position, so this is an important event for us,” said Pascal Homsy, Eutelsat’s chief technical officer. “It will be the first satellite based on the electric propulsion Eurostar Neo platform by Airbus, fostering innovation and competitiveness in the European space industry.”
Thanks to improvements in satellite communications technology, Eutelsat will only need two new Hotbird satellites to replace the three aging Hotbird spacecraft operating at 13 degree east.
Homsy said the Hotbird fleet at 13 degrees east form the highest capacity satellite broadcasting system covering the Europe, Middle East, and North Africa regions, delivering 1,000 TV channels to more than 160 million homes. Hotbird 13F and 13G will broadcast signals in Ku-band frequencies.
“We have something like over 600 pay TV channels, 300 free to air channels, 450 high definition TV, and 14 ultra high definition channels broadcast from this flagship 13 degrees east position,” Homsy said. “We are able also to provide 500 radio stations and multimedia services.”
ROCKET: Falcon 9 (B1069.3)
PAYLOAD: Hotbird 13F communications satellite
LAUNCH SITE: SLC-40, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida
LAUNCH DATE: Oct. 14/15, 2022
LAUNCH WINDOW: 11:26 p.m. – 1:22 a.m. EDT (0326-0522 GMT)
WEATHER FORECAST: 90% probability of acceptable weather
BOOSTER RECOVERY: “Just Read the Instructions” drone ship
LAUNCH AZIMUTH: East
TARGET ORBIT: Geostationary transfer orbit
LAUNCH TIMELINE:
- T+00:00: Liftoff
- T+01:12: Maximum aerodynamic pressure (Max-Q)
- T+02:32: First stage main engine cutoff (MECO)
- T+02:35: Stage separation
- T+02:42: Second stage engine ignition
- T+03:22: Fairing jettison
- T+06:29: First stage entry burn ignition (three engines)
- T+06:57: First stage entry burn ends
- T+08:07: Second stage engine cutoff (SECO 1)
- T+08:22: First stage landing burn ignition (one engine)
- T+08:45: First stage landing
- T+29:12: Second stage engine restart
- T+30:10: Second stage engine cutoff (SECO 2)
- T+36:11: Hotbird 13F separation
MISSION STATS:
- 181st launch of a Falcon 9 rocket since 2010
- 189th launch of Falcon rocket family since 2006
- 3rd launch of Falcon 9 booster B1069
- 155th Falcon 9 launch from Florida’s Space Coast
- 100th Falcon 9 launch from pad 40
- 155th launch overall from pad 40
- 122nd flight of a reused Falcon 9 booster
- 3rd SpaceX launch for Eutelsat
- 47th Falcon 9 launch of 2022
- 47th launch by SpaceX in 2022
- 45th orbital launch attempt based out of Cape Canaveral in 2022
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Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @StephenClark1.
Migrants sent by Gov. DeSantis to Martha’s Vineyard depart for Cape Cod
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) surprised federal and state officials on Wednesday by sending migrants who recently crossed the U.S.-Mexico border to the affluent resort island. The move is part of an ongoing campaign by DeSantis and other Republican governors in Texas and Arizona to send migrants to Democrat-heavy cities such as Washington, New York and Chicago to publicize soaring numbers of crossings this year on the southern border.
Many migrants might have ended up in these states anyway, but the unexpected arrivals are catching locals off guard and sending them scrambling to find supplies and shelter for the newcomers. Many of the migrants are from Venezuela, a South American nation that has been engulfed in a political and economic crisis, with shortages of food, water and electricity.
In a speech at the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute’s annual gala on Thursday night, Biden lashed out at Republicans.
“Instead of working with us on solutions, Republicans are playing politics with human beings, using them as props,” he said. “What they’re doing is simply wrong, it’s un-American, it’s reckless.”
But Republicans defended the action, saying border cities were experiencing influxes in even greater numbers. Federal border agents have made nearly 2 million apprehensions on the southern border this fiscal year, exceeding last year’s total.
“If there is a humanitarian crisis in Martha’s Vineyard, wouldn’t it stand to reason there is a drastically more significant humanitarian crisis at the Southwest border?” the House Republicans on the Homeland Security Committee tweeted Friday.
State and local politicians in Massachusetts praised the response on Martha’s Vineyard, an offshore island accessible only by air and sea, where volunteers turned out in droves to assist the migrants when they showed up carrying maps and a few belongings. Some said they had expected to arrive in a bigger city, close to public transportation, and not a small island of 20,000 people.
The state said “the island communities are not equipped to provide sustainable accommodation.”
The military base is already used as an emergency shelter and officials said it can provide “safe temporary accommodation appropriate for the specific needs of families and individuals.”
The facility also has space for access to legal services and healthcare. In the past the base has sheltered Louisiana residents who fled Hurricane Katrina and Massachusetts residents affected by covid.
“We are grateful to the providers, volunteers and local officials that stepped up on Martha’s Vineyard over the past few days to provide immediate services to these individuals,” Baker said in a statement.
“While Wednesday’s arrival on Martha’s Vineyard was unexpected, the extraordinary response was not,” Public Safety and Security Secretary Terrence Reidy said. “The work of so many state and local partners exemplify the best values of our Commonwealth, providing safe shelter, food and care for individuals that had been through a long harrowing journey.”
State official’s said they had a plan to assist the migrants who decide to stay on the base, including shelter, clothing, personal hygiene kits, good, and access to health care, mental health, and counseling in their native language. The base is unable to accept donations, officials said.
Molly Hennessy-Fiske in Houston and Joanna Slater in Williamstown contributed to this report.
Atlas 5 rocket lifts off from Cape Canaveral at dawn – Spaceflight Now
Live coverage of the countdown and launch of a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket from pad 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The mission will launch the U.S. Space Force’s SBIRS GEO 6 missile warning satellite toward geosynchronous orbit. Text updates will appear automatically below. Follow us on Twitter.
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United Launch Alliance’s fifth mission of the year lifted off from Cape Canaveral at 6:29 a.m. EDT (1029 GMT) Thursday. An Atlas 5 rocket launched on a $1.2 billion mission with a U.S. Space Force missile warning satellite.
The countdown began at 11:09 p.m. EDT Wednesday (0309 GMT Thursday) with the power-up of the rocket, checks of the launcher’s guidance system, and preparations to start loading cryogenic propellants into the Atlas 5.
The mission was the fifth Atlas 5 flight of the year, and the 95th launch of an Atlas 5 rocket overall. After Thursday’s launch, there are 21 Atlas 5s remaining in ULA’s inventory before the rocket is retired. ULA, a 50-50 joint venture between Boeing and Lockheed Martin, is developing the next-generation Vulcan Centaur rocket to replace the Atlas and Delta rocket families.
The payload for Thursday’s mission was SBIRS GEO 6, the final satellite in the Space Force’s Space Based Infrared System. The SBIRS satellites carry infrared sensors to detect heat plumes from missile launches, giving warning of a potential attack to U.S. military forces and government leaders.
Built by Lockheed Martin, the SBIRS GEO 6 satellite weighed about 10,700 pounds (4,850 kilograms) fully fueled for launch.
The first SBIRS payload in an elliptical orbit launched in 2006, and the military launched the first SBIRS satellite into geosynchronous orbit in 2011. The SBIRS program replaced the military’s Defense Support Program, a series of 23 missile warning satellites launched between 1970 and 2007.
One of the infrared cameras on each SBIRS GEO satellite scans across the spacecraft’s coverage area in a U-shaped pattern. With a fleet positioned around the world, the SBIRS satellites and the remaining long-lived DSP satellites provide global coverage to detect missile launches. Another infrared sensor can be aimed at specific regions of interest.
“There’s a staring sensor that can be pointed at and stare at a fixed point,” said Michael Corriea, Lockheed Martin’s vice president overseeing the SBIRS program. “So for example, you can task it to look over China because there was something you maybe wanted to look at in a particular area, or North Korea.
After a few hours of early countdown preparations, ULA’s launch team at Cape Canaveral’s Atlas Spaceflight Operations Center gave the “go” for the start of cryogenic tanking of the Atlas 5 around 4:30 a.m. EDT (0830 GMT).
Nearly 66,000 gallons of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen were loaded into the two-stage Atlas 5 rocket. The Centaur upper stage’s Aerojet Rocketdyne RL10 engine burns the hydrogen and oxygen propellant mix, and the Atlas first stage consumes liquid oxygen with 25,000 gallons room-temperature kerosene fuel, which was loaded into the rocket Tuesday, soon after ULA ground crews rolled the Atlas 5 the launch pad from the nearby Vertical Integration Facility.
Two built-in holds occurred in the countdown, one at T-minus 2 hours and another at T-minus 4 minutes, before the final four-minute terminal countdown sequence to prepare the Atlas 5 rocket liftoff.
The rocket’s propellant tanks were pressurized, and the RD-180 engine ignited at T-minus 2.7 seconds. After building up thrust on the main engine, the Atlas 5 sent the command to light two Northrop Grumman strap-on solid rocket boosters to power the launcher off pad 41 with 1.6 million pounds of thrust.
The version of the Atlas 5 used on the SBIRS GEO 6 mission is known as the “421” configuration, with the first number denoting the size of the payload fairing, the second number representing the number of solid rocket boosters, and the third digit the number of engines on the Centaur stage.
The SBIRS GEO 6 mission marked the ninth and final flight of an Atlas 5 rocket in the 421 vehicle configuration, and the final launch from Cape Canaveral of an Atlas 5 rocket with the Atlas program’s classic conical 4-meter (13-foot) diameter nose cone. One more Atlas 5 with a 4-meter fairing is scheduled to launch later this year from California, while the rest will fly with the larger, more bulbous 5-meter payload fairing.
After liftoff, the 194-foot-tall (59-meter) Atlas 5 rocket, designated AV-097 for this mission, headed east from Cape Canaveral to target the mission’s elliptical, or oval-shaped, geosynchronous transfer orbit
The Atlas 5 surpassed the speed of sound in 49 seconds, then shed its spent strap-on boosters at T+plus 2 minutes, 13 seconds.
The first stage’s RD-180 engine fired until T+plus 4 minutes, 12 seconds. Six seconds later, the first stage separated from the Atlas 5’s Centaur upper stage, which ignited its RL10 engine at T+plus 4 minutes, 28 seconds. The clamshell-like payload shroud on top of the Atlas 5 jettisoned at T+plus 4 minutes, 36 seconds, once the rocket was flying above the thick lower layers of the atmosphere.
Three RL10 engine burns are planned before the Atlas 5 releases the SBIRS GEO 6 satellite at T+plus 3 hours, 1 minute.
The Atlas 5’s guidance computer will aim to release the spacecraft in an orbit ranging in altitude between 3,242 miles (5,218 kilometers) and 21,956 miles (35,335 kilometers), with an inclination angle of 17.63 degrees to the equator.
The SBIRS GEO 6 spacecraft will use an on-board propulsion system to steer itself to a circular geosynchronous orbit that is continuously at an altitude of nearly 22,300 miles over the equator. In that orbit, the satellite’s velocity will be fixed with the rate of Earth’s rotation, giving the craft’s infrared early warning sensors a constant view of the same part of the planet.
The satellite will also extend power-generating polar panels and light shades to begin fine-tuning the performance of is heat-seeking sensors.
SBIRS GEO 6 should be ready to enter operational service in early 2023, according to Space Force officials. The satellite is designed for a 12-year mission. Read our mission preview story for more details on SBIRS GEO 6.
ROCKET: Atlas 5 (AV-097)
MISSION: SBIRS GEO 6
PAYLOAD: SBIRS GEO 6 missile warning satellite
CUSTOMER: U.S. Space Force
LAUNCH SITE: SLC-41, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida
LAUNCH DATE: Aug. 4, 2022
LAUNCH WINDOW: 6:29-7:09 a.m. EDT (1029-1109 GMT)
WEATHER FORECAST: 80% chance of acceptable weather
BOOSTER RECOVERY: None
LAUNCH AZIMUTH: East
TARGET ORBIT: Perigee of 3,242 miles (5,218 kilometers); Apogee of 21,956 miles (35,335 kilometers); Inclination angle of 17.63 degrees to the equator.
LAUNCH TIMELINE:
- T-00:00:02.7: RD-180 ignition
- T+00:00:01.1: Liftoff
- T+00:00:06.0: Begin pitch/yaw maneuver
- T+00:00:48.9: Mach 1
- T+00:00:52.5: Maximum aerodynamic pressure (Max-Q)
- T+00:02:13.3: Solid rocket booster jettison
- T+00:04:12.4: Atlas booster engine cutoff (BECO)
- T+00:04:18.4: Atlas/Centaur stage separation
- T+00:04:28.4: Centaur first main engine start (MES-1)
- T+00:04:36.4: Payload fairing jettison
- T+00:12:55.4: Centaur first main engine cutoff (MECO-1)
- T+00:22:54.6: Centaur second main engine start (MES-2)
- T+00:27:38.8: Centaur second main engine cutoff (MECO-2)
- T+02:57:40.5: Centaur third main engine start (MES-3)
- T+02:58:38.4: Centaur third main engine cutoff (MECO-3)
- T+03:01:27.4: SBIRS GEO 6 spacecraft separation
MISSION STATS:
- 677th launch for Atlas program since 1957
- 378th Atlas launch from Cape Canaveral
- 266th mission of a Centaur upper stage
- 243rd use of Centaur by an Atlas rocket
- 513th production RL10 engine to be launched
- 2nd RL10C-1-1 engine launched
- 101st flight of an RD-180 main engine
- 95th launch of an Atlas 5 since 2002
- 37th U.S. Air Force/Space Force use of an Atlas 5
- 18th-19th GEM-63 solid rocket boosters flown
- 79th launch of an Atlas 5 from Cape Canaveral
- 5th Atlas 5 launch of 2022
- 137th Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle flight
- 152nd United Launch Alliance flight overall
- 87th Atlas 5 under United Launch Alliance
- 110th United Launch Alliance flight from Cape Canaveral
- 6th launch of a SBIRS GEO satellite
- 57th 400-series flight of the Atlas 5
- 9th Atlas 5 to fly in the 421 configuration
- 106th launch from Complex 41
- 79th Atlas 5 to use Complex 41
- 33rd orbital launch overall from Cape Canaveral in 2022