{"id":14336,"date":"2017-09-16T21:55:11","date_gmt":"2017-09-16T13:55:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/fact-sheet-atlas-5-rocket-to-launch-the-nrol-42-mission-from-vandenberg\/"},"modified":"2017-09-16T21:55:11","modified_gmt":"2017-09-16T13:55:11","slug":"fact-sheet-atlas-5-rocket-to-launch-the-nrol-42-mission-from-vandenberg","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/fact-sheet-atlas-5-rocket-to-launch-the-nrol-42-mission-from-vandenberg\/","title":{"rendered":"Fact sheet: Atlas 5 rocket to launch the NROL-42 mission from Vandenberg"},"content":{"rendered":"<pre>\t\t<strong>*** AV-072\/NROL-42 launch fact sheet *** <\/strong>\n\nPayload:               CLASSIFIED NATIONAL SECURITY PAYLOAD\n                       NRO satellite in Molniya orbit\n\t\t       Collects signals intelligence\n\nLaunch Date:           Saturday,  Sept. 23, 2017\n\nTarget\nLaunch Time:\t       10:30 p.m. local\n\t\t       1:30 a.m. EDT on Sept. 24\n\t\t       0530 GMT on Sept. 24    \n\nUnclassified\nLaunch Period:         Four hours\n                       7:25-11:35 p.m. local\n                       0225-0635 GMT on Sept. 24\n\nLaunch Site:           Vandenberg Air Force Base, California\n                       Space Launch Complex 3-East\n\nCustomer:              National Reconnaissance Office\n\t\t       Launch Enterprise Directorate, Air Force's \n\t\t\t\tSpace and Missile Systems Center\n\nLaunch Services\nProvider:              United Launch Alliance, Centennial, Colorado\n\nLaunch Vehicle:        Atlas 5 designated AV-072\n\t\t       541 configuration\n                       Weight at liftoff: 1.2 million pounds\n\t\t       Thrust at liftoff: 2.4 million pounds\n                       Height: 197 feet (60 m)\n\n                       Common Core Booster with RD-180 engine\n\t\t\t    73,800 gallons RP-1 kerosene and liquid oxygen\n\t\t\t    Thrust: 860,300 pounds\n\n\t\t\tFour side-mounted solid-fuel rocket boosters\n\t\t\t    World's largest monolithic SRB\n\t\t\t    Thrust: 380,000 pounds each\n\n                        Centaur upper stage with RL10C-1 engine\n\t\t\t     16,450 gallons liquid hydrogen and oxygen\n\t\t\t     Thrust: 23,300 pounds\n\n\t\t\t5-meter Short Fairing \n\t\t\t      18-foot-dia., 68-foot-tall composite shroud\n\nConstruction:          Atlas stage and Centaur upper stage built by \n\t\t\t      United Launch Alliance in Decatur, Alabama\n\t\t       Fairing manufactured by RUAG Space in Zurich\t\n    \t\t       RD-180 from NPO Energomash, Khimki, Russia\n\t\t       SRBs by Aerojet Rocketdyne, Sacramento, Calif.\n\t\t       RL10C-1 from Aerojet Rocketdyne, West Palm \n\t\t\t       Beach, Florida\n\nPayload Speculation:   NROL-42 is believed to be the second spacecraft\n\t\t\t       in the newest generation of Molniya-orbit \n\t\t\t       signals intelligence satellites \n                               unofficially called Trumpet Follow-On. \n                               The highly-inclined orbit enables the craft \n                               to dwell over northern latitudes to collect \n                               surveillance. \n\n\t\t\tThe fourth Space Based Infrared System-HEO \n                               missile-warning senor package is hosted \n                               aboard the NROL-42 satellite.\n\n\t\t\tThe target orbit is roughly 1,000 by 24,000 \n\t\t\t\tmiles at an inclination of 63 degrees.\n\nAbout the NRO:\t\tHeadquartered in Chantilly, Virginia, the \n\t\t\t\tNational Reconnaissance Office develops \n\t\t\t\tand operates overhead reconnaissance \n\t\t\t\tsystems and conducts intelligence-related \n\t\t\t\tactivities for U.S. national Security.\n\nNRO Uses:               The NRO is the nation's eyes and ears in \t\t\n\t\t\t\tspace, supporting policy makers, the Armed \n\t\t\t\tServices, the Intelligence Community, \n\t\t\t\tDepartments of State, Justice and \t\t\n\t\t\t\tTreasury, and civil agencies. All of them \n\t\t\t\tdepend on the unique capabilities NRO \n\t\t\t\tsystems provide.\n\nNRO Capabilities:\t    - Monitoring the proliferation of weapons of \n\t\t\t\tmass destruction\n\n\t\t\t    - Tracking international terrorists, drug \n\t\t\t\ttraffickers, and criminal organizations\n\n\t\t\t    - Developing highly accurate military \n\t\t\t\ttargeting data and bomb damage assessments\n\n\t\t\t    - Supporting international peacekeeping and \n\t\t\t\thumanitarian relief operations\n\n\t\t\t    - Assessing the impact of natural disasters, \n\t\t\t\tsuch as earthquakes, tsunamis, floods and \n\t\t\t\tfires.\n\nNRO Constellations: \tExquisite-class electro-optical and \n\t\t\t        radar-imaging observatories, \n\t\t\t\tgeosynchronous and Molniya-orbit \n\t\t\t\teavesdropping platforms, ocean \n\t\t\t\tsurveillance network and data-relay \n\t\t\t\tsupport spacecraft\n\n<strong>* Launch statistics *<\/strong>\n\n- The 655th launch for Atlas program since 1957\n- The 298th Atlas launch from Vandenberg AFB since 1959\n- The 244th mission of a Centaur upper stage\n- The 221st use of Centaur by an Atlas rocket\n- The 482nd production RL10 engine to be launched\n- The 21st RL10C-1 engine launched\n- The 79th flight of an RD-180 main engine\n- The 90-91-92-93rd AJ-60 solid rocket booster flown\n- The 73rd launch of an Atlas 5 since 2002\n- The 15th National Reconnaissance Office use of Atlas 5\n- The 5th Atlas 5 launch of 2017\n- The 108th Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle flight\n- The 25th EELV flight for National Reconnaissance Office\n- The 121st United Launch Alliance flight overall\n- The 65th Atlas 5 under United Launch Alliance\n- The 34th United Launch Alliance flight from Vandenberg\n- The 25th NRO launch by United Launch Alliance\n- The 23rd 500-series flight of the Atlas 5\n- The 5th Atlas 5 to fly in the 541 configuration\n- The 47th Atlas to use Space Launch Complex 3\n- The 14th Atlas 5 launch from Vandenberg AFB since 2008\n- The 48th NRO launch since acknowledging flights in 1996\n- The 25th acknowledged NRO launch from Vandenberg\n- The 3rd NRO launch this year\n\nTwitter Feeds: \nSpaceflight Now\nULA CEO Tory Bruno\nNational Reconnaissance Office\nUnited Launch Alliance\nAerojet Rocketdyne\n30th Space Wing\n\n\n\t\t\t<strong>* GENERAL PUBLIC VIEWING *<\/strong>\n\nThe optimal spot for the general public to view the launch is along West Ocean Avenue CA-246, immediately prior to the South Gate entrance to Vandenberg Air Force Base. The top of the rocket and launch pad will be visible only 2.7 miles away. \n<\/pre>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>*** AV-072\/NROL-42 launch fact sheet *** Payload: CLASSIFIED NATIONAL SECURITY PAYLOAD NRO satellite in Molniya orbit Collects signals intelligence Launch Date: Saturday, Sept. 23, 2017 Target Launch Time: 10:30 p.m. local 1:30 a.m. EDT on Sept. 24 0530 GMT on Sept. 24 Unclassified Launch Period: Four hours 7:25-11:35 p.m. local 0225-0635 GMT on Sept. 24 [&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":[724,3182,3160,848,3183,750,3081],"class_list":["post-14336","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-atlas-5","tag-av-072","tag-fact-sheet","tag-national-reconnaissance-office","tag-nrol-42","tag-united-launch-alliance","tag-vandenberg-air-force-base"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14336"}],"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=14336"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14336\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14336"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14336"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14336"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}