{"id":12255,"date":"2020-08-27T00:54:19","date_gmt":"2020-08-26T16:54:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/delta-4-heavy-likely-heading-for-geosynchronous-orbit-with-surveillance-payload\/"},"modified":"2020-08-27T00:54:19","modified_gmt":"2020-08-26T16:54:19","slug":"delta-4-heavy-likely-heading-for-geosynchronous-orbit-with-surveillance-payload","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/delta-4-heavy-likely-heading-for-geosynchronous-orbit-with-surveillance-payload\/","title":{"rendered":"Delta 4-Heavy likely heading for geosynchronous orbit with surveillance payload"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>EDITOR\u2019S NOTE:&nbsp;<\/strong>Updated Aug. 28 before second launch attempt. Updated Sept. 28, 29 and 30 before subsequent launch attempts.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/rp1alc74k28\" width=\"678\" height=\"381\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><span data-mce-type=\"bookmark\" style=\"display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;\" class=\"mce_SELRES_start\">\ufeff<\/span><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>The top secret intelligence-gathering payload for the U.S. government set for launch Wednesday on top of a Delta 4-Heavy rocket is likely the next in a line of sensitive eavesdropping satellites designed to intercept radio signals and other communications traffic from adversaries around the world.<\/p>\n<p>The 235-foot-tall (71.6-meter) rocket will arc toward the east from Cape Canaveral following a liftoff from pad 37B set for 11:54 p.m. EDT Wednesday (0354 GMT Thursday)<\/p>\n<p>The mission has been delayed more than a month since a pair of launch attempts in late August. A launch attempt Aug. 27 was scrubbed to allow teams more time to investigate an issue with a ground pneumatics system at the launch pad. A second countdown was aborted Aug. 29 just three seconds before liftoff due to a problem with a pressure regulator at the launch pad.<\/p>\n<p>ULA then delayed the mission from Sept. 26 to investigate an issue with the launch pad\u2019s swing arm system. Countdowns Monday and Tuesday were scrubbed due to bad weather and a hydraulic leak that prevented rollback of the launch pad\u2019s Mobile Service Tower.<\/p>\n<p>Public information about the Delta 4-Heavy\u2019s easterly trajectory suggests the rocket is heading for a high-altitude circular geosynchronous orbit more than 22,000 miles (nearly 36,000 kilometers) above Earth and closely hugging the equator. Reaching such an orbit requires a rocket to follow one of the most challenging flight profiles in the launch business, with three burns by the Delta\u2019s upper stage to deploy its satellite payload at the targeted altitude.<\/p>\n<p>Four previous Delta 4-Heavy launches in 2009, 2010, 2012 and 2016 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>The NRO, part of the U.S. government\u2019s intelligence community, says it owns the payload on the Delta 4-Heavy rocket set for launch Wednesday. The mission is codenamed NROL-44.<\/p>\n<p>In a \u201cpress kit\u201d released before the launch, the NRO said the NROL-44 mission supports the agency\u2019s \u201coverall national security mission to provide intelligence data&nbsp;to the United States\u2019 senior&nbsp;policy makers, the intelligence community and Department of Defense.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Following the agency\u2019s typical practice of minimal disclosure, the NRO released no further information about the classified payload set for launch Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p>But the satellite is likely related to the NRO\u2019s fleet of \u201cAdvanced Orion\u201d or \u201cMentor\u201d signals intelligence stations flying in equatorial geosynchronous orbits. 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.<\/p>\n<p>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>Like the previous Delta 4-Heavy launches with Advanced Orion satellites, the launch time moves around four minutes earlier each day.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe use of the Delta 4-Heavy, the eastward trajectory, and the four minute per day earlier time of liftoff, point to the launch of the eighth Advanced Orion satellite,\u201d said Ted Molczan, an authoritative skywatcher who tracks satellite activity. \u201cThis signals intelligence spacecraft is so large, that when seen from Earth, it shines with the brightness of an 8th magnitude star, making it easily visible with small binoculars.\u201d<\/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 telephone calls, collect data transmissions, and eavesdrop on other communications among U.S. adversaries.<\/p>\n<p>The geographic coverage area for the satellite set for launch Wednesday is unknown, but the Advanced Orion spacecraft span the world, flying at just the right altitude to orbit the Earth at the same rate the planet rotates. That allows the satellites to remain fixed over the same region of the planet.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s also not known whether the new satellite will replace an aging member of the Advanced Orion fleet, or expand the network\u2019s coverage.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_46941\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-46941\" style=\"width: 800px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-46941\" src=\"http:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/50210060791_aada8c1629_k.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"1200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/50210060791_aada8c1629_k.jpg 800w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/50210060791_aada8c1629_k-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/50210060791_aada8c1629_k-768x1152.jpg 768w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/50210060791_aada8c1629_k-678x1017.jpg 678w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-46941\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">United Launch Alliance technicians lower a classified National Reconnaissance Office payload on top of a Delta 4-Heavy rocket July 27. The NRO payload is seen inside the Delta 4-Heavy\u2019s payload shroud. Credit: United Launch Alliance<\/figcaption><\/figure>\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>Three RS-68A main engines, each built by Aerojet Rocketdyne, will ignite in a staggered sequence beginning around seven seconds before liftoff. The engines will consume three tons of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen propellants per second to power the Delta 4-Heavy rocket off the pad with 2.1 million pounds of thrust, equivalent to 51 million horsepower.<\/p>\n<p>With its center engine throttled down to conserve fuel, the Delta 4-Heavy will surpass the speed of sound about a minute and 18 seconds later and soar toward the east over the Atlantic Ocean.<\/p>\n<p>At T+plus 3 minutes, 56 seconds, the rocket\u2019s 15-story-tall side boosters will shut down their RS-68A engines, then separate from the Delta 4 two seconds later to fall into the Atlantic. The center booster will ramp up thrust to full power to burn for another minute-and-a-half.<\/p>\n<p>The core stage will exhaust its propellant at T+plus 5 minutes, 36 seconds, allowing the booster to drop away from the Delta 4\u2019s upper stage six-and-a-half seconds later. At T+plus 5 minutes, 55 seconds, the upper stage\u2019s Aerojet Rocketdyne RL10B-2 engine will ignite with 24,750 pounds of thrust.<\/p>\n<p>After climbing into the rarefied upper layers of the atmosphere, the Delta 4 will release its nose cone to shed weight and reveal the NROL-44 payload. The trisector fairing, designed especially to accommodate large NRO and military satellites, will jettison from the launcher in three pieces rather than in two halves like payload shrouds used on most other other rockets.<\/p>\n<p>At that time, the mission will enter an NRO-ordered news blackout. ULA will end its live coverage of the launch, and the rest of the launch sequence will occur without any real-time updates on the progress of the flight.<\/p>\n<p>Three firings of the RL10 upper stage engine will be needed to place the NROL-44 payload into its targeted geosynchronous orbit.<\/p>\n<p>The first burn will put the rocket into a preliminary low-altitude parking orbit, and a second burn will raise the apogee, or high point, of the orbit to more than 20,000 miles to reach an elliptical geosynchronous transfer orbit.<\/p>\n<p>After a coast of several hours, the rocket will reignite the RL10 engine to place the NROL-44 payload into a near-circular path around Earth, and nudge the satellite into an orbit with an inclination near the equator.<\/p>\n<p>Confirmation that the mission was successful is expected to be released by ULA and the NRO around seven hours after liftoff, once the spacecraft separates from the Delta 4\u2019s upper stage.<\/p>\n<p>The launch Wednesday will mark the 12th flight of a Delta 4-Heavy rocket, and the 41st launch of a Delta 4 vehicle since 2002. It will be the 385th flight of a Delta rocket since 1960.<\/p>\n<p>After Wednesday, four more Delta 4-Heavy rockets are scheduled for launch through 2023, when ULA plans to retire the Delta rocket family in favor of the next-generation Vulcan Centaur launcher. All four remaining Delta 4-Heavy missions will loft NRO payloads \u2014 two from Cape Canaveral and two from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.<\/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>EDITOR\u2019S NOTE:&nbsp;Updated Aug. 28 before second launch attempt. Updated Sept. 28, 29 and 30 before subsequent launch attempts. \ufeff The top secret intelligence-gathering payload for the U.S. government set for launch Wednesday on top of a Delta 4-Heavy rocket is likely the next in a line of sensitive eavesdropping satellites designed to intercept radio signals [&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":[2108,1962,1963,1688,1408,25,257,848],"class_list":["post-12255","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-advanced-orion","tag-complex-37","tag-delta-385","tag-delta-4","tag-delta-4-heavy","tag-launch","tag-military-space","tag-national-reconnaissance-office"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12255"}],"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=12255"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12255\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12255"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12255"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12255"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}