Tag: SBIRS
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Timeline: Atlas 5/SBIRS GEO Flight 3 ascent events
This is the launch timeline to be followed by the Atlas 5 rocket’s ascent into orbit from Cape Canaveral with the SBIRS GEO Flight 3 satellite for U.S. military infrared reconnaissance. Launch is scheduled for Thursday at 7:46 p.m. EST (0046 GMT). T+00:01.1 Liftoff With the RD-180 main engine running, the Atlas 5 vehicle lifts…
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Preview: Advanced missile detection satellite for early-warning alerts awaits liftoff
The mission patch. Credit: Air Force CAPE CANAVERAL — Culminating years of construction and testing, a $1.2 billion satellite designed to spot and track enemy missiles threatening the United States homeland, its deployed military forces abroad or allied nations will ascend to a surveillance post in space Thursday. A United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket…
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Weather forecast now 80 percent ‘go’ for Thursday’s Atlas 5 rocket launch
Credit: United Launch Alliance Note: Updated Monday with improved forecast details CAPE CANAVERAL — Meteorologists are anticipating favorable odds of good weather during the countdown to launch an Atlas 5 rocket and U.S. military satellite on Thursday evening from Cape Canaveral. The day’s 40-minute launch opportunity that is timed to deliver the satellite into the…
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Fastest ever stacking of Atlas 5 underway for next national security launch
File video of LVOS. Credit: NASA TV CAPE CANAVERAL — Just two weeks before it flies to space, the core stage of the next Atlas 5 rocket was erected aboard the mobile launcher platform this morning by United Launch Alliance technicians to kick off a streamlined vehicle assembly that will break a record. Never before…
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SBIRS GEO-1 posting good exam grades ahead of operational certification
The first Space Based Infrared System (SBIRS) geosynchronous (GEO-1) satellite is enjoying its on orbit schooling, over a year since it was launched. The Lockheed Martin spacecraft is reported to be exceeding performance expectations ahead of being awarded its operational certification later this year, at which point it will enter service to aid allied warfighters.…