{"id":12402,"date":"2020-06-23T00:56:22","date_gmt":"2020-06-22T16:56:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/atlas-5-rocket-runs-through-practice-countdown-before-mars-rover-launch\/"},"modified":"2020-06-23T00:56:22","modified_gmt":"2020-06-22T16:56:22","slug":"atlas-5-rocket-runs-through-practice-countdown-before-mars-rover-launch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/atlas-5-rocket-runs-through-practice-countdown-before-mars-rover-launch\/","title":{"rendered":"Atlas 5 rocket runs through practice countdown before Mars rover launch"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Vapors stream away from a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket during a fueling test Monday on pad 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Credit: United Launch Alliance<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Atlas 5 rocket that will send NASA\u2019s Perseverance rover toward Mars next month aced a countdown rehearsal Monday at Cape Canaveral, helping ensure the United Launch Alliance-built rocket is ready for liftoff during the rover\u2019s 23-day launch window.<\/p>\n

Working a few miles away from the Atlas 5 launch pad at the Atlas Spaceflight Operations Center, ULA\u2019s launch team powered up the Atlas 5 rocket and ran the rocket through a practice countdown. During the test \u2014 called a \u201cwet dress rehearsal\u201d \u2014 ULA loaded super-cold liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen into the Atlas 5\u2019s Centaur upper stage, and pumped liquid oxygen into the Atlas first stage booster.<\/p>\n

The Atlas 5 launch team ended the countdown rehearsal at 1:55 p.m. EDT (1755 GMT) Monday, just before the rocket\u2019s simulated launch time.<\/p>\n

ULA kicked off preparations for the wet dress rehearsal Saturday with the rollout of the Atlas 5 rocket \u2014 without the Mars Perseverance rover payload on top \u2014 from the Vertical Integration Facility to Cape Canaveral\u2019s Complex 41 launch pad about a quarter mile to the north.<\/p>\n

Once at the pad, the Atlas 5\u2019s first stage was filled with RP-1 kerosene fuel in preparation for Monday\u2019s countdown test.<\/p>\n

With the countdown rehearsal completed Monday, ULA planned to drain the Atlas 5 of its cryogenic hydrogen and oxygen propellants, then allow the rocket\u2019s tanks to warm up to ambient temperatures before rolling the rocket back into the VIF on its mobile launch platform.<\/p>\n

The kerosene fuel will remain aboard the Atlas 5\u2019s first stage through launch because it is stored at room temperature, and does not boil off.<\/p>\n

The wet dress rehearsal was once a standard part of Atlas 5 launch campaigns. In recent years, ULA has limited the fueling test to Atlas 5 launches carrying NASA payloads with limited interplanetary launch window. A wet dress rehearsal was also conducted before the Atlas 5 launch on the first unpiloted test flight of Boeing\u2019s Starliner crew capsule last year.<\/p>\n

ULA plans to hoist NASA\u2019s Perseverance rover atop the Atlas 5 rocket Friday inside the VIF. Already closed up inside its aeroshell for landing on Mars, the spacecraft was expected to be encapsulated inside the Atlas 5\u2019s Swiss-made payload fairing over the past few days.<\/p>\n

An update on the status of the encapsulation process, which was to happen inside a clean room at the Kennedy Space Center, was not available Monday.<\/p>\n

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The Perseverance rover is enclosed within its aeroshell for launch. Credit: NASA\/Christian Mangano<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

With the addition of the Perseverance rover Friday, the Atlas 5 rocket will stand 197 feet (60 meters) tall. ULA and NASA teams will perform electrical interface tests to ensure the Mars-bound payload is properly connected with the launch vehicle.<\/p>\n

The final component to be installed on the rover will be its plutonium power source, or Multi-Mission Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator, in July.<\/p>\n

Launch of the Atlas 5 rocket with the Perseverance rover is scheduled for a two-hour window opening at 9:15 a.m. EDT (1315 GMT) July 20. The mission has launch opportunities daily through Aug. 11 \u2014 and perhaps until Aug. 15 \u2014 to depart Earth on a trajectory to allow a direct seven-month journey to Mars.<\/p>\n

Developed with a budget of $2.4 billion, the Perseverance mission is NASA\u2019s first rover to launch toward the Red Planet since the Curiosity rover took off in 2011.<\/p>\n

The robotic rover will land on Mars on Feb. 18, 2021, to begin a mission to collect rock core samples for return to Earth by a future mission.<\/p>\n

Email the author.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @StephenClark1.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Vapors stream away from a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket during a fueling test Monday on pad 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Credit: United Launch Alliance The Atlas 5 rocket that will send NASA\u2019s Perseverance rover toward Mars next month aced a countdown rehearsal Monday at Cape Canaveral, helping ensure the United […]<\/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":[724,2131,1183,25,679,367,1761,1214],"class_list":["post-12402","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-atlas-5","tag-av-088","tag-jet-propulsion-laboratory","tag-launch","tag-launch-services-program","tag-mars","tag-mars-2020","tag-mars-sample-return"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12402"}],"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=12402"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12402\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12402"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12402"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12402"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}