From ULA’s Webcast of the DMSP 5D3 F-19 launch. Morning chill at my feet - Turning on the heat
Mission Rundown: ULA - Atlas V 401 - DMSP 5D3 F-19
Written: January 30, 2023
What’s the weather up there?
Them are ‘fightin’ words in a movie that 6’6’’ actor James Arness is asked by smaller local men wherever he goes. It usually ends in a bar fight. So don’t ask about the weather.
The United Launch Alliance - ULA - used an Atlas V rocket to deploy the DMSP-5D3 F-19 satellite for the US Air Force. Liftoff took place on Thursday April 3, 2014 from Vandenberg Air Force Base on schedule at 07:46 PDT local time - 14:46 UTC.
This successful first launch attempt determined which one of two Atlas rockets would launch first from either Vandenberg or Cape Canaveral within this week.
– Atlas V 541 with NROL-67 took second place on Thursday April 10, 2014 –
The DMSP 5D3 F-19 payload
The Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP), which was named the Defense Satellite Application Program (DSAP) until December 1973, began in the early 1960s.
Artist's view of the deployed DMSP 5D-3 spacecraft (Image credit: USAF)
Originally operated by the National Reconnaissance Office, the satellites’ original purpose was to support early reconnaissance satellites by forecasting which areas of Soviet and Chinese territory would be covered in cloud, and which areas would be visible to the satellites. Over time the program has evolved to fulfill other roles, including providing real-time tactical weather data to troops.
The DMSP-5D3 F-19 satellite was the fifty-second to launch as part of the DMSP program, the thirtieth Block 5 spacecraft, the nineteenth Block 5D and the fifth Block 5D3.
Intended as an interim program pending the introduction of satellites capable of fulfilling both military and civilian roles, DMSP has evolved into one of the longest running series of spacecraft. The satellites are operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), who use their data for scientific purposes as well as providing it to the military.
F-19 wasn’t the penultimate DMSP satellite to launch. DMSP-5D3 F-20 was displayed at a museum in December 2017 due to lack of funding from Congress.
Block 5 DMSP satellites have proven far more reliable than expected which has allowed replacement launches to be delayed, extending the lifespan of the constellation. DMSP-5D3 F-19 was originally delivered to the US Air Force in 1998, spending more than a decade in storage before being called up for launch.
All four Block 5D3 satellites in orbit and the previous two Block 5D2 spacecraft – launched in 1995 and 1997 – remain operational.
The data satellite map shows the concentration of Arctic sea ice in summer and winter in 2020-21
In addition to serving US military and scientific uses, DMSP rainfall data is contributed to the Global Precipitation Mission (GPM), a multinational collaboration to produce near-real-time global maps of precipitation.
The instrument suite aboard DMSP-5D3 F-19 consists of the Operational Linescan System (OLS), Special Sensor Microwave Imager/Sounder (SSMIS), Special Sensor Ion and Electron Sensor 3 (SSIES3), Special Sensor Magnetometer Boom (SSM), Special Sensor Ultraviolet Spectrographic Imager (SSUSI), Special Sensor Ultraviolet Limb Imager (SSULI), Special Sensor F (SSF) and Special Sensor J5 (SSJ5).
This is the same complement of instruments carried by the last three satellites; the next spacecraft will also have the same configuration.
The Operational Linescan System, introduced with Block 5D1, is the satellite’s primary instrument. It is used to image clouds, ice and dust storms and can also be used to observe smoke in the atmosphere. The Special Sensor Microwave Imager/Sounder (SSMIS) is used for atmospheric humidity and precipitation profiling, studying microwave emissions at a range of predefined wavelengths.
The SSUSI package consists of a scanning imaging spectrometer and a nadir-pointing photometer, which combine to measure the intensities of visible and ultraviolet electromagnetic radiation coming from the Earth including the aurorae. SSULI uses another scanning spectrometer to measure more high-energy radiation. SSUSI and SSULI draw upon technology developed for the ARGOS and TIMED satellites launched in 1999 and 2001 respectively.
The remaining sensors comprise the Space Environment Sensor Suite (SESS), collecting data on the environment in which the satellite is operating, the ionosphere and the Earth’s magnetic field.
The satellite’s magnetometer is mounted at the end of a boom deployed from the side of the vehicle. A three-axis fluxgate magnetometer, it will measure variations in the magnetic field along each of the satellite’s axes. SSIES3 uses a Langmuir probe and a collector to study the densities and temperatures of ions and electrons in the ionosphere, as well as the molecular weights of the ions hitting it.
Special Sensor F is a laser-based system which will be used for threat detection, while Special Sensor J5 is an electron/proton spectrometer which will be used to study precipitation in auroral regions of the ionosphere.
From the beginning of the program, DSAP and later DMSP satellites were manufactured by the Radio Corporation of America’s Astro Electronics Division (RCA Astro). RCA was bought by General Electric in 1986, with RCA Astro becoming GE Astro Space. Sold to Martin Marietta in 1993, Astro Space became Lockheed Martin Space Systems following the 1995 merger of Martin Marietta with Lockheed.
The Atlas V 401 launch
AV-044 ignited its RD-180 main engine 2.7 seconds ahead of its scheduled launch time, with liftoff occurring at T+1.1 seconds when the thrust being produced exceeded the vehicle’s weight.
Around 17.1 seconds after launch the vehicle pitched over and maneuvered to attain an azimuth of 186.4 degrees, taking it to the south-southwest over the Pacific Ocean. Atlas passed through the area of maximum dynamic pressure 85.7 seconds after liftoff.
The Common Core Booster burned for the first four minutes and 4.6 seconds of flight, after which its engine was shut down. Ten seconds later the spent stage was jettisoned, with the Centaur’s engine igniting after a further ten seconds.
The Centaur’s burn will last 11 minutes and 18.8 seconds, taking its payload directly into its operational orbit. Eight seconds into second stage flight the payload fairing separated from around DMSP-5D3 F-19.
Spacecraft separation occurred 18 minutes and 28.4 seconds after launch, or two minutes and 49 seconds after the end of powered flight. The target is a circular sun-synchronous low Earth orbit at an altitude of 852.8 kilometers (529.9 miles, 460.5 nmi) and an inclination of 98.87 degrees.
Owing to a lack of Notices to Airmen regarding the location where Centaur was deorbited, it has been speculated that following spacecraft separation the upper stage will restart, making a burn to depart Earth for Heliocentric orbit.
The Atlas V 401 rocket
United Launch Alliance used an Atlas V 401, tail number AV-044, to deploy DMSP-5D3 F-19. AV-044 was the forty-fourth flight of the Atlas V and the twenty-first use of the 401 configuration, the rocket’s smallest and most-flown variant.
The rocket’s first stage is a Common Core Booster (CCB), powered by a single RD-180 engine. Derived from the RD-170 series developed in the Soviet Union for the Zenit and Energia rockets, the RD-180 has two chambers and burns RP-1 propellant oxidized by liquid oxygen. Up to five Aerojet Solid Rocket Motors (SRMs) can be attached to the CCB to augment its thrust at liftoff; however none were used for Thursday’s launch.
The second stage is a Single Engine Centaur, powered by an RL10A-4-2 engine which burns liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen.
Single and Dual-engine configurations are offered by ULA, however to date only the Single-Engine Centaur has flown on the Atlas V. Atop the Centaur sat the payload, encapsulated in a four-meter payload fairing. A Long Payload Fairing, the shortest of the three available for the Atlas V, was used on this flight.
The DMSP launch took just eighteen and a half minutes from liftoff to spacecraft separation, a short mission requiring just one burn of the Centaur’s RL10 engine.
The Atlas V 401 rocket, tail no. AV-044 is standing 57.31 meters - 188 feet tall on SLC-3E.
Atlas V 401 split in its major parts. This is a generic non mission specific graphic configuration
Facts on the Atlas V 401 launch vehicle
Height of Atlas V 401: 188 feet (57.31 meters)
Mass at liftoff: 336,582 kilograms - 740,480 pounds
Thrust at liftoff: 3.8 mega-Newtons - 0.86 million lbf
Fuel onboard: 91,000 gallons of liquid propellant
LOX+LH2 = 66,000 gallon of cryogenic liquid propellant in three tanks
Core stage Atlas: 25,000 gallon RP-1 or 94,64 m3 - 48,800 gallon LOX or 184,73 m3
Core stage weighs fully fueled 306,271.7 kilograms - 675,213.5 pounds
Core stage measures 35.63 meters - 116,9 feet tall and 3.81 meters - 12,5 feet wide
Core stage RD-180 main engine produces 3,826.9 kilonewtons - 860,321.35 pounds of thrust at sea level while the thrust level increases to 933,406.73 pounds in space
Upper Stage Centaur: 13,050 gallon LH2 or 48,07 m3 - 4,150 gallon LOX or 15,71 m3
Upper Stage Centaur weighs fully fueled 23,073 kilograms - 50,867.3 pounds
Upper Stage Centaur measures 12.68 meters - 41,6 feet tall - 3.05 meters - 10 feet wide
RL-10A-4-2 engine is optimized for vacuum usage with a big nozzle - engine bell, so it only produces 99.1 kilonewtons - 22,300 pounds in space
Centaur has 150 kg (340 lb) of Hydrazine + Ammonia is stored in two diaphragm tanks
Centaur has 2-3 Helium 100-150 gallon pressure vessel storage tanks
Atlas V 401 XEPF 4.2 meter fairings weigh 2,487.0 kilograms - 5,482.9 pounds
Atlas V 401 LPF Payload Fairing measures 12.2 meter - 40 feet in length
DMSP 5D3 F-19 payload weighs 4 950 kg ~ 10 890 pounds - Maximum for polar mission
HAZ GAS operations are completed when the hydrazine is loaded. The RCS thrusters on the Centaur stage are using hydrazine as a monopropellant during orbit insertion.
The reaction control system (RCS) includes the ullage gas pressure thrust from the tanks and consists of twenty hydrazine monopropellant engines located around the stage in two 27 newton twin-thruster pods and four 40 newton quad-thruster pods.
For propellant, 150 kg (340 lb) of Hydrazine and Ammonia is stored in a pair of diaphragm tanks and fed to the RCS engines aided by pressurized helium gas, which is also used to accomplish some of the Centaur RL-10A-4-2 engine start up functions.
The Centaur 2nd stage with a RL-10A-4-2 engine is hanging here in the Vertical Integration Facility
This photo of the Centaur with the RL-10A-4-2 vacuum engine depicts two insulated green pressure vessels - one behind the engine - a white insulated Ammonia sphere and a blue insulated Hydrazine sphere with propellant used to feed the thrusters in the Attitude/ Reaction Control System - ARS/RCS.
The propellant is visibly divided in a large Hydrogen tank forward and a smaller Oxygen tank below it supporting the engine mount. The RL-10A-4-2 vacuum engine's red nozzle will get a longer gray nozzle cone extension mounted.
In the 401 configuration, the Atlas V is capable of carrying a structural maximum of 9,050 kg to Low Earth Orbit - LEO, 8,200 kg to the International Space Station - ISS and 4,950 kg to Geostationary Transfer Orbit - GTO.
The Common Core Booster contains a total of 284,089 kilograms - 626,309 pounds of RP-1 kerosene and liquid oxygen, weighs 306,271.7 kilograms - 675,213.5 pounds fully fueled, and is 35.63 meters - 116,9 feet tall and 3.81 meters - 12,5 feet wide.
The Centaur III upper stage contains 20,830 kilograms - 45,922.3 pounds of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen, weighs 23,073 kilograms - 50,867.3 pounds fully fueled, and is 12.68 meters - 41,6 feet tall & 3.05 meters - 10 feet wide.
The DMSP 5D3 F-19 spacecraft weigh 4,950.0 kilograms - 10,890 pounds on its own, that’s with the fairings weight excluded.
The Atlas V 401 XEPF fairings weigh 2,487.0 kilograms - 5,482.9 pounds. The weight of a 6 foot fairing extension is estimated to be a small part of the LPF fairing. 200 kg at most.
Doing the math: 306272 kg + 23073 kg + 4950 kg DMSP 5D3 F-19 + 2287 kg = 336582 kg.
The Atlas V 401 rocket has a three number configuration code.
The first number represents the fairing diameter size in 4 or 5 meters, so in this instance there is a 4 meter fairing. This launch will use the 12.2 meter long (40 ft) LPF.
The standard four-meter fairing, named the Long Payload Fairing (LPF), measures 12.2 meter (40 feet) in length and was first introduced as a larger fairing for the Atlas I rocket that was used as a launch vehicle in 1990.
One or two 90-centimeter (3-foot) cylindrical segments can be added to the fairing to form an Extended Payload Fairing (EPF) 13.1 meters (43 feet) or Extra-Extended Payload Fairing (XEPF) 14.0 meters (46 feet) respectively for payloads that require the additional space.
The second number denotes the number of solid rocket boosters (SRBs), which attach to the base of the rocket. The number of SRBs for a 5 meter fairing can range from 0 – 5.
The third number shows the number of engines on the Centaur Upper Stage, which is 1 in this configuration. So this means that this rocket will have a 4 meter fairing, no solid rocket boosters, and 1 engine bell on the Centaur Upper Stage.
Ingen kommentarer:
Send en kommentar