Screenshot from ULA Webcast of the CLIO launch. And then I can’t even tell anyone about my day
Mission Rundown: ULA - Atlas V 401 - CLIO
Written: January 21, 2023
What didn’t you see and hear?
United Launch Alliance launched an Atlas V rocket into orbit with a classified payload called CLIO for an undisclosed agency of the United States government. The purchase of the launch was on a civilian contract with government funding behind it.
The launch occurred Tuesday evening on September 17, 2014 by the end of the launch window at 20:10 EDT - 00:10 UTC, following some severe weather-related issues at Cape Canaveral in Florida.
Centaur ‘blowdown’ with releasing remaining gasses and propellants gave it a 15 m/s reduction in orbital velocity, making it derelict space debris. The battery onboard however was still chemical active and after 1443 days in space it exploded ripping the Centaur second stage to shreds. Space chilled metals don’t react well to shock waves.
The CLIO Payload
The payload for Tuesday’s mission is a spacecraft named CLIO. Constructed by Lockheed Martin, CLIO is believed to be based on the A2100 bus that Lockheed produces for commercial communications satellites.
The A2100A Basic Utility Structure - platform is equipped with two solar arrays, batteries, propulsion system, avionics and core electronics in a frame that can support the military payloads mounted on the A2100A satellite. There is known to be 5 lbf and 0.2 lbf Rocket Engines for station keeping maneuvers.
Lockheed Martin’s civilian A2100A satellite must be considered to be a military spacecraft after its rebuild, so it is designated as an A2100M satellite.
In this regard CLIO is similar to a previous clandestine communication spacecraft, PAN, which was launched by an Atlas V in similar circumstances five years ago.
Also built by Lockheed, around their A2100 Basic Utility Structure - BUS platform, PAN was deployed by an Atlas V under a commercial delivery-in-orbit contract for a US Government agency which has never been identified.
From the Lockheed Martin logo which is prominent on its mission patch, it is possible that the CLIO mission may be using a similar contract to PAN. It is unclear whether the PAN and CLIO missions are related beyond these similarities.
The patch for Tuesday’s launch gave little away, consisting of little more than the payload name and Lockheed Martin’s insignia. A second patch, likely produced by the launch team, features several symbols.
At the left of the patch is the Roman numeral II, suggesting that it may be the second satellite in a series or that two satellites are being launched. The symbol at the top of the patch appears to be the infinity sign, while the one on the right of the patch may be an algebraic X or a mirrored letter C.
Symmetry seems to be an important theme as all three symbols are symmetrical along both the horizontal and vertical axes. This is also evident in the presentation of the flight number, with the A and V of AV-049 reflected along the center of the patch.
The five stars at the bottom are part of the insignia for the Fifth Space Launch Squadron, responsible for overseeing the launch.
The letters A over V with 49 in the middle flanked by the astrological signs for Gemini and Taurus topped by the sign of ‘Eternity’ and with the five stars of the Fifth Launch Squadron. Who knows?
The ground tracks for the CLIO launch show the rocket’s trajectory will be somewhat more southerly than is usual for a geosynchronous launch, suggesting that if the satellite is bound for the geosynchronous belt it will probably be operated in an inclined orbit rather than the more typical zero-inclination geostationary orbit over the equator.
One possibility is that CLIO is a replacement for AMC-14, a commercial communications satellite which was purchased by the US Department of Defense in 2008 after a launch failure left it unusable for its original mission.
Although AMC-14 was designed for a fifteen year lifespan, it is likely that recovering it from the orbit its Proton carrier rocket left it in; expended a significant portion of its fuel reserves, reducing its life expectancy.
If CLIO is not a geosynchronous satellite, it’s not immediately clear what purpose placing it into a low-inclination Medium Earth orbit would serve, as such a position would be of little or no value for most of the typical military applications of satellites. The purpose of CLIO is something which is likely to become more clear once the spacecraft is established in orbit and can be observed by amateur satellite watchers.
CLIO was given a military designation number USA-257, therefore CLIO is an United States military communication satellite of the ELINT class variety. Spies too need secure satellite up and down links to assets on the - in this case middle eastern - ground.
The Atlas V 401 launch
The Atlas V used for Tuesday’s launch, AV-049, was the forty-ninth Atlas V to fly.
The first stage is a Common Core Booster, which is powered by an RD-180 engine burning RP-1 and liquid oxygen.
This engine ignited 2.7 seconds before the countdown reached zero, with liftoff occurring approximately 1.1 seconds after the zero point in the count, when the thrust produced by the first stage engine exceeded the weight of the vehicle.
Climbing away from its launch pad, AV-049 headed on a south-easterly launch azimuth with a series of pitch and yaw adjustments that began seventeen and a half seconds into flight. The rocket’s speed reached Mach 1 around the one minute, 19.1-second mark in the mission, with the vehicle passing through the area of maximum dynamic pressure (max-Q) 11.8 seconds later.
The first stage burned for four minutes and 1.8 seconds before the RD-180 shut down, an event designated Booster Engine Cutoff (BECO). BECO was followed six seconds later by the separation of the spent first stage from the vehicle.
With the spent stage separated from the second stage it began its pre-start sequence, with ignition taking place ten seconds after staging.
The second stage of AV-049 is a single-engine Centaur. Powered by an RL10A-4-2 engine, the Centaur made two burns for Tuesday’s launch. The first of these lasted for 13 minutes and 40.3 seconds, taking AV-049 and her payload into an initial parking orbit.
Separation of the payload fairing around CLIO occurred around 8 seconds into the burn.
After the end of the first burn, the Centaur entered a two and a half hour coast phase. At two hours, forty seven minutes and 52.9 seconds mission elapsed time the Centaur’s engine restarted for the second burn.
This burn lasted 70.4 seconds, injecting CLIO into its planned deployment orbit.
Parameters for this orbit have not been published, however observers have noted that the burn times would place the satellite in a lower orbit than would be expected for a geosynchronous launch.
This has led to speculation that the satellite may not be bound for a geosynchronous mission, but instead for a near-equatorial medium Earth orbit. It should be noted, however, that the mission profile for the CLIO launch is similar to that which was used for PAN, albeit with a longer first burn and coast phase, and a shorter second burn.
The Atlas V 401 rocket
United Launch Alliance’s Atlas V was on Tuesday flying in the 401 configuration.
The Atlas V is an expendable medium lift launch system and member of the Atlas rocket family. The rocket is one of the most reliable in the world, having more than 50 launches with no complete failures.
The Atlas V 401 rocket, tail no. AV-049 is standing 58.22 meters - 191 feet tall on SLC-41.
The Atlas V, tail number AV-049, consists of a Common Core Booster (CCB), which is powered by an RD-180 engine with two bells and burns kerosene (RP-1) and liquid oxygen (LOX). This is accompanied by up to five strap-on solid rocket boosters. The second stage is the Centaur upper stage, which is powered by one RL10A-4-2 engine which burns liquid hydrogen (LH2) with liquid oxygen (LOX).
Facts on the Atlas V 401 launch vehicle
Height of Atlas V 401: 191 feet (58.22 meters)
Mass at liftoff: 336,682.7 kilograms - 740,701.9 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
Atlas V 401 split in its major parts. This is a generic non mission specific graphic configuration
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 XEPF Payload Fairing measures 14.0 meter - 46 feet in length
CLIO payload weighs 4 950 kg ~ 10 890 pounds at maximum
Centaur burn one: 13 minute 40 second burn direct into a Medium Transfer Orbit
94.97 x 15 598 nautical miles x 27.910 or in metric 176 km x 28 870 km x 27.910
Centaur burn two: 70 second circularization burn into a Medium Earth Orbit
15 594 x 15 598 nautical miles x 17.910 or in metric 28 870 km x 28 900 km x 17.910
Centaur then has a ‘blowdown’ with releasing of remaining gasses and propellants.
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 ‘oxidizer’ insulated Ammonia sphere and a blue insulated Hydrazine sphere with propellant used to feed the thrusters in the Attitude slash Reaction Control System 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 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 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 CLIO spacecraft can weigh a structural maximum of 4,950 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 3 foot fairing extension is estimated to be a small part of the LPF fairing. +100 kg at most.
Doing the math: 306 272 kg + 23 073 kg + 4 950 kg CLIO + 2 387 kg = 336 682 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 13.1 meter long (43 ft) EPF.
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 the nineties.
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. In this case there will be no SRB’s attached to the center core.
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.
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