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Boeing's New Delta 4 Heavy Rocket Launches Successfully On Test Mission |
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Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fl, Dec. 22/Satnews Daily/ ¾ Boeing's Delta 4 Heavy rocket finally lifted off into space Tuesday carrying two small satellites and a large mock payload during a test mission for the U.S. Air Force. The 232-foot-tall, triple-bodied rocket lifted off from its launch pad at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida at 4:50 p.m. (2150 GMT) on a mission to prove the vehicle’s capability to loft giant military satellites into orbit. For the inaugural launch, the Delta IV Heavy launched a demonstration payload called DemoSat designed to replicate future military satellites and to collect information that will be used to evaluate the mission. Two integrated experimental satellites called Nanosat-2, designed by university students, were also deployed sequentially. DemoSat, an instrumented payload whose sole job is to test vibrations and other Delta 4 Heavy flight phenomena during launch, was expected enter geosynchronous orbit at about 10:30 p.m. EST (0330 Dec. 22 GMT).
According to Boeing, the Heavy is designed to accommodates 5-m class spacecraft and can lift 12,757 kg (28,124 lbs) to a geosynchronous transfer orbit (GTO) of 185 km x 35,786 km (100 nmi x 19,323 nmi) @ 27.0 degrees inclination. The major components of the Delta IV heavy include: three common booster core (CBC) first stage boosters, each powered by a state-of-the-art RS-68 main engine, a single cryogenic second stage that integrates a 5-m-diameter fuel tank, powered by the RL10B-2 engine, and 5-m-diameter payload accommodations hardware. Fired simultaneously, each of the three hydrogen-powered Rocketdyne-built RS-68 main engines can generate as much as 17 million horsepower, according to Boeing. Boeing also built a $450 million state-of-the-art, lean manufacturing Delta Launch Vehicle Factory in Decatur, Alabama, dedicated to the production, assembly, and testing of Delta launch vehicle hardware. The company built a modern, robust launch facility at Space Launch Complex 37B (SLC-37B) at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS), which includes the horizontal integration facility (HIF), dedicated to the final integration and testing of Delta IV vehicles. Boeing modified the SLC-6 complex at Vandenberg Air Force Base The launch was to have taken place as early as Saturday last week, but was delayed because of bad weather and technical glitches. Recent Stories: |
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