{"id":10394,"date":"2023-06-23T00:03:14","date_gmt":"2023-06-22T16:03:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/delta-4-heavy-rocket-lifts-off-with-nro-spy-satellite\/"},"modified":"2023-06-23T00:03:14","modified_gmt":"2023-06-22T16:03:14","slug":"delta-4-heavy-rocket-lifts-off-with-nro-spy-satellite","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/delta-4-heavy-rocket-lifts-off-with-nro-spy-satellite\/","title":{"rendered":"Delta 4-Heavy rocket lifts off with NRO spy satellite"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_62542\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-62542\" style=\"width: 1200px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-62542\" src=\"http:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/20230622d4hitlquick.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" srcset=\"https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/20230622d4hitlquick.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/20230622d4hitlquick-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/20230622d4hitlquick-678x452.jpg 678w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/20230622d4hitlquick-768x512.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-62542\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Liftoff of ULA\u2019s Delta 4-Heavy rocket on the NROL-68 mission. Credit: Michael Cain \/ Spaceflight Now \/ Coldlife Photography<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The second-to-last flight of United Launch Alliance\u2019s Delta rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral early Thursday and delivered a top secret spy satellite into orbit for the U.S. government, snapping the longest lull in launches in ULA\u2019s history.<\/p>\n<p>Liftoff of ULA\u2019s&nbsp;15th Delta 4-Heavy rocket, and 44th Delta 4 rocket overall, occurred at 5:18 a.m. EDT (0918 UTC) Thursday from Pad 37B at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. ULA\u2019s launch team pushed back the launch time by more than 90 minutes Thursday after preparations fell behind schedule due to stormy weather.<\/p>\n<p>The mission\u2019s first launch attempt Wednesday morning was scrubbed due to an issue with a valve in a ground pneumatics system.<\/p>\n<p>The 235-foot-tall (71.6-meter) Delta 4-Heavy rocket hauled into orbit a classified payload for the National Reconnaissance Office, the U.S. government\u2019s spy satellite agency. The NRO does not officially disclose details about its satellites, but expert observers of military space missions believe the Delta 4 rocket sent a large spacecraft into orbit designed to intercept telephone calls, data transmissions, and other types of communication by U.S. adversaries.<\/p>\n<p>The circumstances of Thursday\u2019s launch, including its due east trajectory and the use of the Delta 4-Heavy, suggest it carried a type of satellite known publicly as an \u201cAdvanced Orion\u201d or \u201cMentor\u201d spy spacecraft. The Advanced Orion satellites fly in geosynchronous orbit, circling more than 22,000 miles (nearly 36,000 kilometers) and closely hugging the equator. In that orbit, the satellites fly in lock-step with Earth\u2019s rotation, giving them fixed coverage areas over the same parts of the world 24 hours per day.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/YZP7vF2ZVJU\" width=\"678\" height=\"381\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>The Advanced Orion satellites require the combination of the Delta 4-Heavy rocket\u2019s lift capability, long-duration upper stage, and huge 65-foot-long (19.8-meter) trisector payload fairing.<\/p>\n<p>ULA\u2019s launch team at the Delta Operations Center at Cape Canaveral supervised the eight-and-a-half hour countdown beginning Wednesday night. Technicians wheeled the Delta 4\u2019s 330-foot-tall service gantry away shortly after sunset, clearing the way for loading of super-cold liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen into the rocket.<\/p>\n<p>After ticking down the final minutes until liftoff, the Delta 4-Heavy rocket fired its three RS-68A engines supplied by Aerojet Rocketdyne and flew east from Cape Canaveral powered by 2.1 million pounds of thrust. The hydrogen-fueled engines on the two side boosters of the Delta 4 burned nearly four minutes, then the side boosters dropped away from the Delta 4\u2019s core booster. The engine on the core stage throttled down for the first few minutes of the flight to conserve propellant, then powered up to continue accelerating into space after jettison of the two side boosters.<\/p>\n<p>The core stage shut down its engine about five-and-a-half minutes into the mission, followed moments later by separation of the center booster and ignition of the Aerojet Rocketdyne RL10 engine on the Delta 4\u2019s upper stage. The rocket\u2019s metallic payload fairing, which covered the NRO spacecraft during the climb through the atmosphere jettisoned more than six-and-a-half minutes after liftoff to reveal the NRO\u2019s newest spy satellite to space for the first time.<\/p>\n<p>At that time, the mission entered a government-imposed news blackout. ULA\u2019s live launch broadcast ended, and the rest of the Delta 4\u2019s climb to geosynchronous orbit occurred in secret. It was expected to take about six hours for the Delta 4 to deploy the NRO spy satellite into a nearly circular geosynchronous orbit positioned more than 20,000 miles over the planet, likely requiring three burns by the upper stage RL10 engine.<\/p>\n<p>ULA and the NRO confirmed the launch was successful in a statement just before 12 p.m. EDT (1600 UTC) Thursday. The spy satellite agency, which designated the mission NROL-68, did not disclose any details about the payload.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe NROL-68 mission is the latest national security payload to deliver critical intelligence information from space that our warfighters and decision makers need,\u201d the NRO said in a statement. \u201cNRO continues to develop the largest, most capable overhead constellation in NRO history that provides the foundation for America\u2019s advantage and strength in space.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cToday\u2019s mission is another example of how the NRO continues to go above and beyond,\u201d said Chris Scolese, director of the NRO. \u201cOur architecture is evolving to ensure the United States remains the undisputed leader in space. The capabilities we are putting into orbit expand our intelligence advantage and enable us to deliver on our mission of keeping America safe.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The NRO\u2019s Advanced Orion satellites are among the largest spacecraft ever sent into space. When viewed from Earth, they shine with the brightness of an 8th magnitude star, making them easily visible with small binoculars despite their distant orbits, according to Ted Molczan, an authoritative skywatcher who tracks satellite activity.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_62519\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-62519\" style=\"width: 579px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-62519\" src=\"http:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/20230620nrol68patch.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"579\" height=\"572\" srcset=\"https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/20230620nrol68patch.jpg 579w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/20230620nrol68patch-300x296.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 579px) 100vw, 579px\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-62519\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The official National Reconnaissance Office patch for the NROL-68 mission. Credit: NRO<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Four previous Delta 4-Heavy launches in 2009, 2010, 2012, 2016, and 2020 followed similar trajectories after taking off from Cape Canaveral, each carrying a classified cargo for the National Reconnaissance Office. Independent analysts believe all delivered top secret NRO eavesdropping satellites to space.<\/p>\n<p>Before the launch in 2010 of a suspected Advanced Orion satellite, then-director of the NRO Bruce Carlson called the payload the \u201cthe largest satellite in the world.\u201d The satellites are believed to carry giant antennas that unfurl to a diameter of up to 100 meters, or 328 feet, once in space.<\/p>\n<p>The antenna can likely be tuned to listen in on communications among U.S. adversaries. It\u2019s not known what part of the world the newest Advanced Orion satellite will cover, or whether the new spacecraft will replace an old satellite or expand the NRO\u2019s eavesdropping web.<\/p>\n<p>The Advanced Orion-series satellites began launching on Titan 4 rockets in 1995, following a pair of earlier NRO Orion payloads that launched in the 1980s on space shuttle missions. The NRO began using Delta 4-Heavy rockets for the Advanced Orion missions in 2009, following the retirement of the Titan 4 booster.<\/p>\n<p>The NRO also has a fleet of sharp-eyed optical and radar spy satellites flying in orbits closer to Earth. Many of those were also launched on Delta 4 rockets.<\/p>\n<p>The spy agency\u2019s satellites collect imagery and intelligence data to help inform decisions by military commanders, senior policy makers, and the president.<\/p>\n<p>ULA, a 50-50 joint venture between Boeing and Lockheed Martin, is retiring the Delta family of rockets in favor of the new-generation Vulcan launch vehicle, which is scheduled to make its first test flight later this year from Cape Canaveral. The Vulcan rocket will also replace ULA\u2019s Atlas 5 launcher, which will fly 19 more times before retirement later in the 2020s.<\/p>\n<p>The Atlas 5 and Delta 4 rockets currently flown by ULA show little resemblance to their forebears, but the names are steeped in history. The launch of the NROL-68 mission was the 388th flight of a rocket bearing the Delta name since 1960.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_61374\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-61374\" style=\"width: 1200px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-61374\" src=\"http:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/20230322dcssintegration.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"900\" srcset=\"https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/20230322dcssintegration.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/20230322dcssintegration-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/20230322dcssintegration-678x509.jpg 678w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/20230322dcssintegration-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/20230322dcssintegration-326x245.jpg 326w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/20230322dcssintegration-80x60.jpg 80w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-61374\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Delta Cryogenic Second Stage for the NROL-68 mission is integrated with the Delta 4-Heavy rocket\u2019s three first stage core boosters inside ULA\u2019s Horizontal Integration Facility at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Credit: United Launch Alliance<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The launch of the NRO\u2019s NROL-68 mission on the second-to-last Delta rocket was delayed from April to allow time for ULA engineers to swap out a leaky hydrogen valve on the Delta 4\u2019s upper stage. The troubleshooting required the NRO\u2019s spy satellite to be removed from the rocket, resulting in about a two-month delay.<\/p>\n<p>Wentz said engineers found a \u201creally small, hard to see\u201d piece of particulate on the sealing surface of the valve, which is used to pressurize the upper stage fuel tank. The debris caused the valve to leak.<\/p>\n<p>ULA has procured spare parts to be able to respond to replace faulty components on the final two Delta 4 rockets, even though the launch vehicle is no longer in production. Parts obsolescence is a common concern for aerospace vehicles nearing retirement.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe were able to secure, in our final order of parts, some additional critical spares, and we\u2019ve kept those on hand,\u201d Wentz said. \u201cIn a case like this with the valves, we were able to take the valves back and were able to rework those and put them back in stock as a spare part. So that\u2019s been our strategy all along is identifying the critical components, particularly the ones that aren\u2019t used in either Atlas or Vulcan.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The last flight of ULA\u2019s Delta 4-Heavy rocket is scheduled for early 2024 on another NRO mission, designated NROL-70. That launch will mark the retirement of the Delta rocket family.<\/p>\n<p>The Delta 4 rocket was developed by Boeing in the late 1990s and early 2000s, at the same time Lockheed Martin was bringing its Atlas 5 rocket into service. Boeing and Lockheed Martin merged their rocket programs in 2006 to form ULA, which was the sole provider of launch services for the military\u2019s most expensive national security satellites until SpaceX broke into the market.<\/p>\n<p>The military certified SpaceX\u2019s Falcon 9 rocket for national security missions in 2015, and SpaceX and ULA split multibillion-dollar contracts in 2020 for a series of military satellite launches. While SpaceX will employ its Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets already in service, ULA will use its new Vulcan Centaur rocket to carry out its military launch commitments.<\/p>\n<p>ULA says the Vulcan rocket is less expensive than the Atlas and Delta rockets, and it uses engines built in the United States, replacing the Russian engines that power the Atlas 5 rocket. The Delta 4-Heavy rocket also uses all U.S.-made engines, but it is more expensive than the Atlas 5, coming in at around $300 million per flight. In its most powerful configuration, the Vulcan Centaur will outlift the Delta 4-Heavy, without needing to use three first stage boosters to do the job.<\/p>\n<p>The schedule for the first flight of ULA\u2019s new Vulcan rocket is uncertain as engineers wrap up their investigation into an explosive incident on the rocket\u2019s Centaur upper stage during a structural test earlier this year in Alabama. Earlier this year, ULA hoped to launch the first Vulcan rocket in May, with an eye toward certifying the new vehicle for military satellite launches by the end of 2023.<\/p>\n<p>It now appears doubtful the Vulcan rocket will be certified for national security space missions by the end of the year. The Space Force\u2019s certification requires two successful Vulcan test launches.<\/p>\n<p>But ULA has more than 70 Vulcan rocket missions in its backlog, primarily for the Pentagon and for Amazon\u2019s Kuiper broadband network, a potential future rival to SpaceX\u2019s Starlink internet constellation. In response to the deep backlog, ULA is expanding the footprint of its 1.6 million-square-foot factory in Alabama, which was originally built by Boeing for the Delta 4 program, before ULA shifted Atlas rocket production there from Colorado. The factory is now transitioning to focus fully on Vulcan.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor a while, obviously, we had Delta 4 and Atlas flowing through that factory,\u201d Wentz said. \u201cThe most significant and obvious parts are in the final assembly area for Delta 4, which coincidentally, we\u2019ve been processing Vulcans through. So Vulcan final assembly will flow right in there, and we\u2019ll be able to increase our rate in that area.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The last remnant of the Delta 4 program at the Alabama factory is the third and final upper stage ULA is building for NASA\u2019s Space Launch System rocket to carry astronauts back to the moon. That upper stage is derived from the Delta 4-Heavy design, and will power the Artemis 3 mission into space in a few years. Then NASA will switch to a more powerful upper stage for future SLS moon rockets.<\/p>\n<p>Despite a strong backlog of missions, delays kept ULA\u2019s launch pads silent for the first half of 2023. The Delta 4-Heavy launch Thursday morning from Cape Canaveral was the company\u2019s first mission since November, while rival SpaceX has launched 42 flights in 2023 with its Falcon rocket family.<\/p>\n<p>The two-month delay in the Delta 4 launch was one reason for the slow start to the year. The first flight of astronauts on Boeing\u2019s Starliner crew capsule, which will launch on ULA\u2019s Atlas 5 rocket, has also been delayed from April until late this year, at the earliest, to allow Boeing to resolve several technical issues with the spacecraft.<\/p>\n<p>And the Vulcan rocket\u2019s first launch is also in a state of schedule uncertainty as ULA determines what it needs to do to overcome the fiery Centaur anomaly in March, which destroyed the upper stage\u2019s structural test article after an unexpected leak of flammable hydrogen fuel.<\/p>\n<p><b><i>Email the author.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @StephenClark1.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Liftoff of ULA\u2019s Delta 4-Heavy rocket on the NROL-68 mission. Credit: Michael Cain \/ Spaceflight Now \/ Coldlife Photography The second-to-last flight of United Launch Alliance\u2019s Delta rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral early Thursday and delivered a top secret spy satellite into orbit for the U.S. government, snapping the longest lull in launches in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10394","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10394"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10394"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10394\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10394"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10394"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10394"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}