{"id":13133,"date":"2019-06-23T22:28:57","date_gmt":"2019-06-23T14:28:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/next-atlas-5-launch-delayed-by-battery-failure\/"},"modified":"2019-06-23T22:28:57","modified_gmt":"2019-06-23T14:28:57","slug":"next-atlas-5-launch-delayed-by-battery-failure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/next-atlas-5-launch-delayed-by-battery-failure\/","title":{"rendered":"Next Atlas 5 launch delayed by battery failure"},"content":{"rendered":"

EDITOR\u2019S NOTE: Updated June 28 with new target launch date of July 17.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"
The Atlas 5\u2019s payload fairing, containing the Air Force\u2019s AEHF 5 communications satellite, was transferred to Cape Canaveral\u2019s Complex 41 launch pad June 15. Credit: United Launch Alliance<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The next launch of United Launch Alliance\u2019s Atlas 5 rocket with the U.S. Air Force\u2019s fifth Advanced Extremely High Frequency communications satellite, previously scheduled for Thursday, has been delayed to no earlier than July 17 to replace a failed battery on the vehicle.<\/p>\n

In a statement June 23, ULA said the launch was delayed \u201cdue to a vehicle battery failure discovered during final processing.\u201d<\/p>\n

ULA crews at Cape Canaveral were preparing for liftoff at 8:27 a.m. EDT (1227 GMT) Thursday, June 27, with the Lockheed Martin-built nuclear-hardened, jam-resistant AEHF 5 spacecraft designed to provide secure communications for the U.S. military and the president.<\/p>\n

\u201cAdditional time is needed for the technical team to complete the evaluation of the issue and replace the battery,\u201d ULA said in a statement.<\/p>\n

ULA said June 23 that the launch would be rescheduled for no earlier than July 9, but a spokesperson from the U.S. Air Force\u2019s Space and Missile Systems Center on June 24 said the mission\u2019s launch was later set for July 12, at the earliest.<\/p>\n

The launch company said Friday that the mission has been rescheduled for July 17.<\/p>\n

The two-hour launch window for the Atlas 5\u2019s next launch opportunity July 17 opens at 7:12 a.m. EDT (1112 GMT).<\/p>\n

The Atlas 5 rocket is fully assembled inside the Vertical Integration Facility, or VIF, at Cape Canaveral\u2019s Complex 41 launch pad. Since the Atlas 5\u2019s first stage arrived at the VIF last month, workers have installed the rocket\u2019s Centaur upper stage, five solid rocket boosters and the Atlas 5\u2019s payload shroud containing the AEHF 5 spacecraft.<\/p>\n

\"\"
The arrival of the AEHF 5 communications satellite at the Vertical Integration Facility on June 15 capped the assembly of the Atlas 5 rocket. Credit: United Launch Alliance<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The AEHF 5 satellite\u2019s launch comes after the launch of four previous AEHF spacecraft in 2010, 2012, 2013 and 2018, all on Atlas 5 rockets.<\/p>\n

The Atlas 5\u2019s Centaur upper stage will fire its RL10 engine three times to send the AEHF 5 spacecraft into an elliptical \u201chigh-energy\u201d geostationary transfer orbit ranging from 8,970 miles (14,435 kilometers) to 21,933 miles (35,298 kilometers) in altitude, with an inclination of 9.95 degrees.<\/p>\n

The rocket will deploy the AEHF 5 spacecraft around 5 hours, 40 minutes, after liftoff. The satellite\u2019s own engine will guide the craft into a circular geostationary orbit more than 22,000 miles over the equator, where AEHF 5 will join its predecessors in the secure communications network.<\/p>\n

After AEHF 5\u2019s launch, ULA plans to begin stacking its next Atlas 5 rocket inside the VIF at Complex 41 for the first unpiloted test flight of Boeing\u2019s CST-100 Starliner crew capsule, which is scheduled for liftoff in September.<\/p>\n

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

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

EDITOR\u2019S NOTE: Updated June 28 with new target launch date of July 17. The Atlas 5\u2019s payload fairing, containing the Air Force\u2019s AEHF 5 communications satellite, was transferred to Cape Canaveral\u2019s Complex 41 launch pad June 15. Credit: United Launch Alliance The next launch of United Launch Alliance\u2019s Atlas 5 rocket with the U.S. Air Force\u2019s […]<\/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":[2301,2537,724,2538,1695,1392,1708,25],"class_list":["post-13133","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-a2100","tag-aehf-5","tag-atlas-5","tag-av-083","tag-cape-canaveral","tag-centaur","tag-complex-41","tag-launch"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13133"}],"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=13133"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13133\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13133"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13133"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13133"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}