by United Launch Alliance has released his first company Volcanic rocket On Tuesday, two military satellites in the first US Space Force-sanctioned flight of a new launcher will be increased to space, which will finally replace the company’s Atlas 5 and already transferred delta.
Equipped with four solid burning strips for additional starting power, the two methane-BE-4 engines of the 198 foot thundered to life at 8:56 p.m. EDT and immediately drove the rocket off Pad 41 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
An United Launch Alliance Vulcan Rocket, which takes his first flight for the US space Force, increases majestically from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station to open a military mission with a high priority. / Credit: United Launch Alliance
The volcano put on an eastern trajectory over the Atlantic and put on a spectacular hydration when he roared nearby on almost £ 3 million and a young brilliant exhaust, which is visible for miles.
The four strap-on-on-booster were thrown off about 90 seconds after the upswing, followed by burnout three and a half minutes later by burnout and separation of the 109 feet high first stage of the vulcan.
The two hydrogen drives from Centaur Second Stage Aerojet Rocketdyne RL10C engines ignited and took over from there, but in accordance with the standard policy for military arissions, Ula ended his start comment and the rest of the flight became secret.
It was assumed that at least two satellites are on board: a fully classified spaceship and an experimental satellite that carries out tests of improved atomic clocks and navigation technologies that could lead to more precise, marbled global positioning data for military and commercial users.
Both satellites were tied to the geosynchronian orbit, 22,300 miles above the equator, where the spaceship lasts 24 hours to complete an orbit and thus be inpatient in the sky.
The impression of an artist from the NTS-3 satellite of experimental navigation technology. / Credit: Air Force research laboratory
GPS satellites work in 12,500 miles high organs, but the navigation technology satellite 3 or NTS-3 will operate with a much higher bar with an advanced phased array antenna from operating electronic signals to recipients at several locations on wide regions.
The NTS-3 antenna. / Credit: Air Force research laboratory
It is the first experimental navigation satellite of the Pentagon since GPS started in the 1970s. Together with the NTS-3 satellites designed and created by L3Harris Technologies, the program contains a floor-based control system and recipients that are linked to software that enable quick reprogramming for upgrades or the use of different signals if necessary.
“GPS is an integral part of our lives today,” said Joanna Hinkks, Senior Aerospace Engineer of the Air Force Research Laboratory of the Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico. “You probably all use it in a way that you have not even recognized throughout your morning.
“And with NTS-3 we will experiment with a number of different technologies in which we can develop how we can develop and expand GPS to ensure that it remains the gold standard that our thoroughfish needs.”
While the main goal of the flight is to launch the USSF-106 payloads, the start for United Launch Alliance was a large milestone.
It was the third start of the powerful new vulcan after two test flights last year and the first to “certify” the space force to lead costly national security spy satellites and other expensive military spaceships.
The United Launch Alliance Vulcan Rocket on Pad 41 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station during the preparation preparations. / Credit: space flight now
“This mission drives directly to the Geosynchron orbit and will be one of our longest missions so far,” said Gary Wentz, Vice President of Ula. “This is the only purpose of this vehicle. It has been deliberately developed to support these missions that are injected directly in GEO for space.”
The Vulcan replaces Ulas already transferred Delta family of rockets and the venerable Atlas 5, which is driven by a Russian RD-180 engine of the first stage. The criticism of the use of Russian engines by ULA for the start of American military satellites and the NASA room vehicle contributed to recharging the pressure of the congress on a new all-American launcher.
Thirteen Atlas 5 are in Ulas inventory, all for civilian starts as Ula, a partnership between Boeing and Lockheed Martin, changes to an all-vulcan fleet.
In the meantime, SpaceX dominates the World Launch Market with its partially reusable and extremely successful kerosene burner falcon 9 and Triple Core Falcon Heavy Rockets. So far, SpaceX has started 97 Falcon 9S this year.
But the President and CEO of Ula, Tory Bruno, said the first stage of the vulcan, which with high-performance-BE-4 engines from Blue Origin-in possession of the Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and the upper high-performance center level for the start of heavy military operating loads in heavy.
“It is specially developed for these exotic orbits that primarily apply to the government,” he said. “And this special mission is the typical example. It is a direct injection into the geosynchronous orbit. This means that it is a very, very long mission.”
In fact, he said that the first stage was that the centaur had delivered fuel to space with a full load of “from Leo (low orbit) to another place, such as the geo-belt that is 20 times higher. And what corresponds is certainly more mass and more accuracy than for others.
While he mentioned SpaceX or his Falcon severity in the name or the retired Delta 4 heavy Delta 4 from Ula, Bruno said: “If you are a typical three-core heavy starting vehicle and … really derived from a vehicle optimized for this Leo mission, you must have three cores to get out of there, and you have to spend all.
“And here is the really complicated rocket science. You know, a core is cheaper and more efficient than three consumable cores. It is literally so easy.”
This gives Ula the ability to start heavy payload directly on high orbits without satellites using their own engines and the limited grass-in-transit to start heavy payloads.
Ula extends its soil infrastructure and expects to start nine flights in 2025, which reaches a cadence of two per month by the end of the year. The company expects to start between 20 and 25 flights in 2026.
President Trump says that the meeting with Russia’s Putin should not convey a peace agreement in Ukraine
Trump says he is putting the DC police under federal control and hiring the National Guard
Could Tropical Sturm Erin be the first Atlantic hurricane of 2025?
