Keep the shuttle flying: Fwd: Delta IV launches GPS satellite

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From: "Gary Johnson" <gjohnson144@comcast.net>
Date: March 26, 2015 at 7:06:38 PM CDT
To: "Gary Johnson" <gjohnson144@comcast.net>
Subject: FW: Delta IV launches GPS satellite

United Launch Alliance Successfully Launches Second Mission in Less than Two Weeks
Delta IV GPS IIF-9 Mission Brochure

Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., (March 25, 2015) – A United Launch Alliance (ULA) Delta IV rocket successfully launched the ninth Global Positioning System (GPS) IIF satellite for the U.S. Air Force at 2:36 p.m. EDT today from Space Launch Complex-37. This is ULA's fourth launch in 2015 and the 95th successful launch since the company was formed in December 2006.

"Congratulations to the Air Force and all of our mission partners on today's successful launch of GPS IIF-9! The ULA team is privileged to work with this world-class U.S. government and contractor mission team, and we are proud to contribute to the GPS capabilities that were delivered to orbit today," said Jim Sponnick, ULA vice president, Atlas and Delta Programs." This entire team is focused on 100 percent mission success, one launch at a time, and also providing on-time launches to meet our customer's mission needs."

This mission was launched aboard a Delta IV Medium-plus (4,2) configuration Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) using a single ULA common booster core powered by an Aerojet Rocketdyne RS-68 main engine, along with two Orbital ATK GEM-60 solid rocket motors. The upper stage was powered by an Aerojet Rocketdyne RL10B-2 engine with the satellite encapsulated in a four-meter-diameter composite payload fairing.

GPS IIF-9 is the ninth in a series of next generation GPS satellites and will join the GPS worldwide timing and navigation system utilizing 24 satellites in six different planes, with a minimum of four satellites per plane positioned in orbit approximately 11,000 miles above the Earth's surface. The GPS IIF series provides improved accuracy and enhanced performance for GPS users.

ULA's next launch is the Atlas V AFSPC-5 mission for the United States Air Force, scheduled for May 6 from Space Launch Complex-41 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida.

The EELV program was established by the United States Air Force to provide assured access to space for Department of Defense and other government payloads. The commercially developed EELV program supports the full range of government mission requirements, while delivering on schedule and providing significant cost savings over the heritage launch systems.

With more than a century of combined heritage, United Launch Alliance is the nation's most experienced and reliable launch service provider. ULA has successfully delivered more than 90 satellites to orbit that provide critical capabilities for troops in the field, aid meteorologists in tracking severe weather, enable personal device-based GPS navigation and unlock the mysteries of our solar system.

For more information on ULA, visit the ULA website at www.ulalaunch.com, or call the ULA Launch Hotline at 1-877-ULA-4321 (852-4321). Join the conversation at www.facebook.com/ulalaunch, twitter.com/ulalaunch and instagram.com/ulalaunch.
Copyright © 2015 United Launch Alliance, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Ninth Boeing GPS IIF Reaches Orbit, Sends First Signals
Launch is first of three planned in 2015
Photos(1)

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla., March 25, 2015 – Boeing [NYSE: BA] Global Positioning System (GPS) IIF satellites are steadily replenishing the orbiting constellation, continuing to improve reliability and accuracy for users around the world. The ninth GPS IIF reached orbit about three hours, 20 minutes after launching today aboard a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Delta IV rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., and sent signals confirming its health.
"Boeing, ULA and the Air Force successfully launched four GPS IIFs last year, the highest operations tempo in over 20 years, and today's mission marks the first of three launches planned in 2015," said Dan Hart, vice president, Boeing Government Space Systems. "As they enter service, the IIFs are advancing and modernizing the GPS constellation by improving accuracy, signal strength and anti-jamming capability. We are also introducing the L-5 civilian 'safety-of-life' signal intended mainly for aviation and transportation."
The GPS IIF-9, designated as SVN-71, will undergo on-orbit testing and checkout before beginning full operation.
Boeing has served as a prime contractor on GPS since the program's inception, contributing multiple generations of GPS satellites and accruing more than 525 years of on-orbit operation.
A unit of The Boeing Company, Defense, Space & Security is one of the world's largest defense, space and security businesses specializing in innovative and capabilities-driven customer solutions, and the world's largest and most versatile manufacturer of military aircraft. Headquartered in St. Louis, Defense, Space & Security is a $31 billion business with 53,000 employees worldwide. Follow us on Twitter: @BoeingDefense.
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Defense, Space & Security
Office: +1 310-364-7362
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Copyright © 2015 - Boeing. All Rights Reserved.

Delta IV rocket launch successfully deploys GPS satellite
James Dean, FLORIDA TODAY 6:54 p.m. EDT March 25, 2015

A Delta IV rocket launch propels a new GPS satellite for the Air Force from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The launch happened at 2:36 p.m., the beginning of the window. ULA video. 3-25-2015
The rocket launched from Cape Canaveral on time at 2:36 p.m.
(Photo: MALCOLM DENEMARK/FLORIDA TODAY)

Update, 6:04 p.m.: United Launch Alliance has confirmed successful deployment of the GPS IIF-9 satellite in orbit by a Delta IV rocket, following its 2:36 p.m. launch today from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.
CAPE CANAVERAL – If your smart phone's maps and directions seem a little smarter in the coming weeks, thank Wednesday's launch of the Air Force's latest Global Positioning System satellite.
The $245 million spacecraft, the ninth in a series of 12 modernizing the military's GPS constellation, blasted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station at 2:36 p.m. on top of a United Launch Alliance Delta IV rocket.
The 206-foot rocket bolted from Launch Complex 37 with more than a million pounds of thrust, leaving a long, white trail of exhaust as it angled up the East Coast of the United States.
Big crowds on Space Coast beaches enjoyed the afternoon launch during spring break for local students and thousands of visitors.
A United Launch Alliance Delta IV rocket carrying the Global Positioning System IIF satellite lights up the sky over Launch Complex 37 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, thrilling spring breaker and beach goers in Cocoa Beach on Wednesday afternoon. (Photo: CRAIG RUBADOUX/FLORIDA TODAY)
More than three hours after liftoff, the rocket's upper stage dropped the satellite in orbit roughly 11,000 miles over the southern Indian Ocean, southwest of Australia.
The spacecraft within six weeks is expected to join a constellation of 30 GPS satellites flying in six orbital planes, replacing one that launched from the Cape nearly 22 years ago.
"That's a pretty old satellite," said Brig. Gen. Bill Cooley, director of the Global Positioning System Directorate at the Air Force's Space and Missile Systems Center (SMC) in Los Angeles.
The newer satellite with more accurate and powerful GPS signals will support military operations with improved timing, position and navigation information.
Millions of civilians also take advantage of the signals to figure out where they are in an unfamiliar place, generate driving directions or map a jogging route. The signals also play a critical role in the timing of financial transactions.
Wednesday's launch added to the capability of "the most widely recognized satellite constellation in the world," said Air Force Col. Kent Nickle, the mission director from SMC.
The Air Force reported before the launch that the GPS constellation had suffered no noticeable ill effects from a recent powerful solar flare, a type of space weather event that can disrupt GPS and other satellite operations.
"For most folks trying to find the closest Starbucks or something with their Garmin (GPS receiver), they're probably not going to notice any sort of degraded signal," said Cooley.
The mission was the first of three GPS missions planned this year, following four last year.
All of the dozen Boeing-built GPS satellites in the current series known as IIF, or 2F, should be in orbit by early 2016.
The launch was the 29th by a Delta IV rocket, and the first since ULA announced plans to retire the rocket (except for its heavy-lift version) by 2019.
The Boeing-Lockheed joint venture is working to streamline its operations as it begins competing with SpaceX for national security space missions.
The launch was ULA's fourth this year – after a Navy communications satellite and two NASA science missions – and 95th since the company was formed in 2006.
And it was the third successful launch from the Cape in 25 days, from three different pads.
Next up could be SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket, which is targeting a launch no earlier than April 10 of NASA's next cargo resupply mission to the International Space Station.
Contact Dean at 321-242-3668 or jdean@floridatoday.com.

Copyright © 2015 www.floridatoday.com. All rights reserved.

Photos: Delta 4's foggy launch
March 25, 2015 by Justin Ray
The 721,000-pound United Launch Alliance Delta 4 rocket launches on-time at 2:36 p.m. EDT into a deck of low-hanging clouds over Complex 37 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station carrying the GPS 2F-9 navigation satellite.
Credit: Tim Dodd Photography

Recap story: New bird flies for GPS navigation network
Posted on March 25, 2015 by Justin Ray
Credit: ULA
CAPE CANAVERAL — Climbing away from Earth on the power of its liquid hydrogen-fueled main engine and twin solid rockets, a Delta 4 booster successfully launched a new Global Positioning System satellite Wednesday to benefit U.S. military operations and civilian society as a whole.
"This thing called GPS is such a treasure to humanity," said Lt. Col. Matthew Brandt, 2nd Space Operations Squadron ops director .
Lifting off at 2:36 p.m. EDT, the 721,000-pound Delta rocket rapidly darted through fog hanging over pad 37B at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida and arced to the northeast to reach Plane B of the navigation network.
It is in that orbital grouping that a once-retired, 22-year-old GPS satellite brought back to life is finally being replaced after Air Force ground controllers extracted all the useful out of the bird.
The Delta 4 finished first stage in four minutes, then transitioned to its second stage and jettisoned the 13-foot diameter, 39-foot-long composite nose cone. The second stage's initial burn reached a preliminary orbit, concluding less than 16 minutes into flight over the North Atlantic.
Coasting above Europe, the Middle East and Indian Ocean, a second burn by the second stage more than three hours after liftoff finished the powered phase of flight to reach the proper orbit, the 24th successful Delta 4 launch for the Air Force.
Credit: ULA
Deployment of the $245 million payload into an 11,000 nautical mile circular orbit, tilted 55 degrees to the equator occurred 3 hours and 14 minutes into flight.
"In my humble opinion we must protect and augment GPS to ensure it meets the user's needs," said Dr. Brad Parkinson, one of the founding fathers of GPS.
"The signals are great, accuracies down to a millimeter, availability close to 100 percent and a GPS receiver costs about a dollar and a half."
The new satellite will be checked out and enter service in a month's time, becoming the ninth Block 2F spacecraft in the constellation. The Boeing-built satellites feature improved accuracy, enhanced anti-jamming and longer design lives.
GPS 2F-9 will replace the GPS 2A-22 satellite originally launched aboard Delta 222 on August 30, 1993.
It previously was decommissioned from active service in 2009, hung around in orbit as a spare, then was set usable again in 2011. The satellite was declared unusable in 2013 and decommissioned a second time. It was tested yet again in 2014.
Now, a fresh spacecraft is going up as a permanent replacement.
There are 30 operational satellites today, including three GPS 2A, 12 GPS 2R, 7 GPS 2R-M and eight GPS 2F spacecraft.
"Right now, we're running a full GPS constellation," said Bill Causey, Aerospace Corp. senior project leader for spacecraft and system engineering. "It provides very accurate navigation and timing signals for customers."
The continuous navigation signals emitted by GPS satellites allow users to find their position in latitude, longitude and altitude and measure time. A GPS user receiver measures the time delay for the signal to reach the receiver, which is the direct measure of the apparent range to the satellite.
Credit: Aerospace Corp.
"GPS is very simple concept but very, very difficult to implement in its greatest detail," said Rita Lollock, Aerospace Corp. general manager of the navigation division.
Measurements collected simultaneously from four satellites are processed to solve for the three dimensions of position, velocity and time.
The constellation is comprised of six orbital groupings, or planes, that circle the planet at a tilt of 55 degrees inclination relative to the equator, allowing their paths to cover most of the populated globe.
"The entire world now depends on GPS for navigation and for timing, and it's a signal you can trust," Causey said.
Today's launch was the 371st for a Delta rocket since 1960 and the 29th Delta 4 vehicle. It also marked the 69th GPS satellite launch, the 55th to use a Delta rocket and the sixth Block 2F on Delta. For United Launch Alliance, it was the company's 95th launch overall since 2006 and the fourth of 13 this year.
ULA intends to phase out the Delta 4-Medium configurations, leaving only the triple-body Delta 4-Heavy rocket in service after 2019. The company will continue flying the less-expensive Atlas 5 rocket and develop its Next Generation Launch System vehicle with an American-made main engine.
"The NGLS will have an American engine, it will be less expensive and it will have greater capability than our current fleet," said ULA President Tory Bruno.
"We are the world's premier provider of launch services. We build rockets and fly our rockets from LEO (low-Earth orbit) to Pluto. We launch our country's most important payloads and we touch your lives every single day. If you ever used a GPS to find where you are going, we helped you get there."
As few as 15 Delta launches now remain through 2020. See our page with flight history and the remaining backlog of the Delta 4 rocket.
See our earlier GPS 2F-9 coverage.
And see our Delta archive for further information.

Photos: More shots of Delta 4 liftoff
March 26, 2015 by Justin Ray
The 721,000-pound United Launch Alliance Delta 4 rocket launches on-time at 2:36 p.m. EDT into a deck of low-hanging clouds over Complex 37 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station carrying the GPS 2F-9 navigation satellite.
Credit: ULA

© 2015 Spaceflight Now Inc.

Delta rocket blasts off from Florida with improved GPS satellite
By Irene Klotz

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla (Reuters) - An unmanned Delta 4 rocket blasted off from Florida on Wednesday to deliver the ninth of 12 next-generation Global Positioning System satellites into orbit.
The 207-foot (63 meter) booster, built and flown by United Launch Alliance, bolted off its seaside launch pad at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station at 2:36 p.m. EDT, the third launch in 25 days from the nation's busiest spaceport. ULA is a partnership of Lockheed Martin Corp and Boeing Co.
Three more of the Boeing-built GPS 2F satellites remain to be launched over the next 10 months, completing an orbital network that provides military, civilian and commercial radio signals for precision navigation and timing.
The 2F series, which cost most than $122 million each, feature improved clocks, more power, longer lifetime and added signals, Air Force Brigadier General Bill Cooley, director of the Space and Missile Systems Center's Global Positioning Systems Directorate, told reporters during a pre-launch conference call.
Once in position about 12,700 miles (20,440 km) above Earth and inclined 55 degrees relative to the equator, the new satellite will become part of a 38-strong network that includes seven spares.
The three remaining 2F satellites will be launched on ULA's lower-cost Atlas 5 rockets.
ULA intends to phase out medium-lift versions of the Delta 4 rocket, which are used to fly GPS and similarly sized spacecraft, to more effectively compete against privately owned Space Exploration Technologies, whose Falcon 9 rockets are about half the price.
SpaceX, as the California-based company is known, is expected to win approval from the Air Force in June to compete for future U.S. military launch business, breaking ULA's monopoly.
SpaceX, which flies cargo to the International Space Station for NASA as well as communications satellites for commercial customers, pegs its Falcon 9 flights for military payloads at about $100 million a mission.
(Reporting by Irene Klotz; Editing by Tom Brown)
Copyright © 2015 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.