Keep the shuttle flying: Fwd: Atlas V blasts off from Cape with Navy's MUOS-4 satellite

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From: "Gary Johnson" <gjohnson144@comcast.net>
Date: September 2, 2015 at 9:33:53 AM CDT
To: "Gary Johnson" <gjohnson144@comcast.net>
Subject: FW: Atlas V blasts off from Cape with Navy's MUOS-4 satellite

Atlas V blasts off from Cape with Navy's MUOS satellite
James Dean, FLORIDA TODAY 7:17 a.m. EDT September 2, 2015

LIFTOFF! A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket blasted off from Cape Canaveral at 6:18 a.m. with the Navy's fourth Mobile User Objective System satellite. ULA video. Posted Sept. 2, 2015
(Photo: TIM SHORTT/FLORIDA TODAY)

A military communications satellite is on its way to orbit after a spectacular 6:18 a.m. blastoff from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station atop an Atlas V rocket.
Launching 19 minutes later than planned after resolving a technical problem during fueling, the United Launch Alliance rocket lit up the dark sky as it roared from Launch Complex 41 with 2.5 million pounds of thrust.
As the 21-story rocket arced southeast over the Atlantic Ocean, the morning's first light enveloped the exhaust plume and surrounding atmosphere in a glowing white oval that stretched as the rocket plowed forward, as if it was leaving behind a wake.
On top of the rocket was the fourth satellite in the U.S. Navy's $7.6 billion Mobile User Objective System, or MUOS.
The system is designed to help troops on the move and in combat make secure calls and send texts, video or other mission data, enabling hand-held radios in the field to work much like smart phones.
Using commercial cell phone technology, the MUOS program promises a tenfold increase in capacity for the Navy's "narrowband" communications network.
That capability is about 18 months behind schedule, however, and won't be deemed fully operational until late next year or early 2017.
The program is overcoming challenges developing the new technology and integrating it with a network of four ground stations and thousands of Army radios that will be upgraded to use the improved communications capabilities.
The fourth MUOS satellite – the second launched by ULA this year – gives the constellation nearly global coverage.
That will allow troops to communicate with commanders wherever they are, no longer being limited to connections within a single satellite's footprint.
The nearly 7.5-ton MUOS-4 satellite, built by Lockheed Martin, was scheduled to be deployed just under three hours after liftoff, on its way to a geosynchronous orbit 22,300 miles over the equator.
The mission was delayed two days by Tropical Storm Erika as it approached Florida.
Contact Dean at 321-242-3668 or jdean@floridatoday.com.
Copyright © 2015 www.floridatoday.com. All rights reserved.

Atlas V blasts into space with Navy satellite
By Scott Powers
contact the reporter

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER - A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket blasted into space this morning carrying a Navy communications satellite that will help American troops worldwide have smart phone communications anywhere, any time.
The MUOS-4 satellite completes a quartet that the Navy and ULA have now put in orbit. Together with ground relay systems and specialized phones available, they will provide smart phone coverage to sailors at sea, troops in remote locations and even the Coast Guard in the Arctic.
At 6:18 a.m., the rocket blasted into a pre-dawn starry sky over Cape Canaveral Air Force Station for what appeared to be a flawless launch. It carried the 7.5-ton MUOS-4 satellite into space.
The spectacular luminescence from the rocket's blast and contrail, made to look like some sort of aurora against the first rays of the rising sun, was so bright it could be seen in South Florida, even in Key West. The bright streak in the sky was so apparent the National Weather Service office in Miami put out a tweet advising people that what they were seeing was the Atlas V launch, not a meteor or some other strange event.
About five minutes after liftoff, people watching the rising rocket might have been struck with concern as the second-stage ignition caused a huge puff of bright, white cloud, expanding the aurora image. In the wake of the June 28 explosion of a SpaceX rocket, some were wondering what happened. However, all was going well. As those moments were described by commentator Marty Malinowski i, "We have ignition and full thrust... engine response looks good."
And the second-stage successfully went toward orbit.
The Mobile User Objective System will be fully tested next month. When fully operational, it is designed to provide units down to the platoon level with simultaneous voice, text and data communication that flawlessly links from point to point through the relays and satellites.
With the three satellites already in orbit, the Navy has been able to test the system as far north as 30 miles from the north pole. With the fourth satellite, officials say it should provide full, secure, clear, worldwide coverage, even in locations that sometimes provide difficult signals, such as urban areas and jungles.
This launch marks the 56^th consecutive successful mission of an Atlas V rocket since it debuted in 2002, and the sixth launch of the 551 configuration of the Atlas V, including the New Horizons mission to Pluto.
Navy Commander Paul Benishek, assistant program manager for MUOS, said the military already has 55,000 field radios and terminals that can be easily upgraded to use the MUOS system.
Benishek said the system "works like a smart phone network in space, vastly improving secure satellite communications for mobile users in U.S. forces.
"Legacy satellite communication systems allowed users to talk as long as they were within the same satellite footprint," he added. "MUOS allows troops all over the world to talk, text, and share mission data seamlessly without having to worry about where they are in relationship with a satellite."
Copyright © 2015, Orlando Sentinel

By William Harwood CBS News September 2, 2015, 8:04 AM
Atlas 5 rocket boosts Navy communications satellite into space
A cellphone view of launch from Merritt Island, Fla., as the Atlas 5 climbed into sunlight well above the dense lower atmosphere, resulting in a brilliant, expanding exhaust plume from its Russian-built RD-180 first stage engine. William Harwood/CBS News

In a spectacular dawn climb to space, a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket boosted a high-power Navy communications satellite into orbit Wednesday, the fourth of five planned relay stations providing high-speed smartphone-like capabilities to troops around the world.
Running two days late because of concerns about then-Tropical Storm Erika, the Atlas 5's Russian-built RD-180 first stage engine roared to life at 6:18 a.m. EDT (GMT-4) followed by ignition of five solid-fuel strap-on boosters that quickly pushed the rocket away from pad 41 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.
Liftoff was delayed 19 minutes because of problems with a gaseous nitrogen supply, but the remainder of the countdown proceeded smoothly to launch, and after briefly climbing straight up on 2.5 million pounds of thrust, the 206-foot-tall rocket arced over onto an easterly trajectory and accelerated toward space.
The strap-on boosters burned out and fell away about one minute and 50 seconds after liftoff. Then, climbing into sunlight, the rocket put on a jaw-dropping sky show with an expanding, brilliant white exhaust plume briefly visible that looked like a giant comet streaking toward the horizon.
The RD-180 fired for four minutes and 24 seconds before it shut down as planned and the first stage fell away. A hydrogen-burning Aerojet Rocketdyne RL10C-1 engine in the rocket's Centaur second stage then fired up to continue the climb to orbit.
The second-stage engine shut down a little more than 12 minutes after launch, putting the vehicle into a preliminary orbit. Two additional second-stage firings were needed to put the payload into the required elliptical "geostationary transfer" orbit with a low point of some 2,370 miles and a high point of around 22,236 miles.
The business end of an Atlas 5 rocket moments after liftoff from Cape Canaveral boosting a Navy communications satellite toward space.
ULA webcast
The Navy's fourth Mobile User Objective System (MUOS) satellite was expected to be released from the Centaur stage about two hours and 54 minutes after launch.
If all goes well, the satellite's on-board propulsion system will be used over the next nine days or so to raise the low point, or perigee, of the orbit, putting MUOS-4 into a circular orbit 22,300 miles above the equator. At that geosynchronous altitude, satellites take 24 hours to complete one orbit and thus appear stationary in the sky.
Flight controllers then will oversee deployment of the satellite's solar arrays and two main antennas. A 17-foot-wide gold mesh dish will send and receive signals from ground terminals that currently send voice and data through older Ultra High Frequency Follow-On, or UHF, satellites.
A much larger 46-foot-side antenna will provide the equivalent of 3G-class cellular network-type communications.
"MUOS will provide crystal-clear voice communications where the users on a line will be able to recognize each other's voices," Iris Bombelyn, a Lockheed Martin vice president, told reporters in a pre-launch conference call. "It is better than your cell phone and ... this is very important for our war fighters."
The newest MUOS satellite will provide "beyond-line-of-sight communications" with "smartphone-like features," she said, so "our mobile forces will not only be able to talk, they'll be able to use those simultaneously with text, exchange videos, transfer mission data or do conference calls. And we have a prioritization system so the most urgent message will get through."
Built by Lockheed Martin, MUOS-4 will complete the core of an operational network with a fifth spacecraft, scheduled for launch next year, serving as an orbital spare. The new satellites eventually will replace the Navy's older UHF comsats.
"We're looking forward to ... completing the Navy's initial constellation of four satellites in orbit," Bombelyn said. "With all ground stations now in place, the MUOS network will have near-global coverage allowing mobile forces to communicate from almost anywhere in the world."

© 2015 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Video: Liftoff of Atlas 5 rocket to deploy Navy's MUOS 4 satellite
September 2, 2015 by Justin Ray
A replay of the United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket launching the Navy's Mobile User Objective System communications satellite No. 4 from Cape Canaveral, Florida.
Credit: United Launch Alliance
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCJv7n3yuqM
See earlier MUOS 4 coverage.
Our Atlas archive.
Payload mated to rocket:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39HpmPTHxPU

MUOS 4 encapsulated in nose cone:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQAP4b7X8yA

© 2015 Spaceflight Now Inc.

United Launch Alliance rocket blasts off with military satellite
By Irene Klotz

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla (Reuters) - An unmanned Atlas 5 rocket blasted off from Florida on Wednesday to put a next-generation communications satellite into orbit for the U.S. military.
The 20-story tall rocket, manufactured and launched by United Launch Alliance, a joint venture of Lockheed Martin Corp. and Boeing Co., lifted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station at 6:18 a.m. EDT.
Perched on top of the rocket was the fourth satellite in the U.S. Navy's $7.3 billion Mobile User Objective System, or MUOS, network, which is intended to provide 3G-cellular technology to vehicles, ships, submarines, aircraft and troops on the move.
"MUOS works like a smartphone network in space, vastly improving secure satellite communications for mobile users," said Paul Benishek, a deputy director with the Navy's Communications Satellite Program Office, said during a launch webcast.
The satellites are designed to provide secure voice conversations, networked conference calls and data relay services, including video, worldwide. They work like cell phone towers, with four ground stations handling switching and routing.
The MUOS network will supplement and eventually replace the Navy's Ultra High Frequency Follow-On satellite system to provide 16 times more capacity than the current network, the Navy said.
"MUOS is a game-changer in communications for every branch of our military," said Iris Bombelyn, vice president of Narrowband Communications at Lockheed Martin, which built the satellites.
Topping the scales at nearly 15,000 pounds (6,804 kg), the MUOS satellite needed the most powerful version of the Atlas rocket, which was outfitted with five strap-on solid rocket motors built by GenCorp Inc's Aerojet Rocketdyne.
The MUOS satellite launched on Wednesday completes the operational system. A fifth spacecraft is slated for launch in July 2016 to serve as an on-orbit spare, the Navy said.
(Reporting by Irene Klotz; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

Copyright © 2015 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.

US Military Launches Advanced Tactical Communications Satellite Into Orbit
by Calla Cofield, Space.com Staff Writer | September 02, 2015 06:54am ET
An unmanned Atlas V rocket carrying the U.S. Navy's Mobile User Objective System 4 satellite (MUOS-4) launches into space from Florida's Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in a pre-dawn liftoff on Sept. 2, 2015.
Credit: United Launch Alliance View full size image
The United States Navy launched an advanced new tactical communications satellite into orbit today (Sept. 2) to join a growing network designed to aid U.S. military forces stationed around the world.
An unmanned Atlas V rocket carrying the Navy's fourth Mobile User Objective System satellite, or MUOS-4, lit up the pre-dawn sky in a dazzling display as it lifted off from a launchpad at Florida's Cape Canaveral Air Force Station at 6:18 a.m. EDT (1018 GMT). It will eventually assume a geosynchronous orbit above Earth. The mission, which was overseen by the U.S. launch provider United Launch Alliance (ULA) was originally scheduled for Aug. 31, but delayed due to bad weather.
The satellite is the fourth installment in the MUOS communications system, which is "designed to significantly improve ground communications for U.S. forces on the move," according to a statement from Lockheed Martin, is building a total of five MUOS satellites for the U.S. military.
A camera mounted to a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket captures an amazing view of the Earth from space while launching the U.S. Navy's Mobile User Objective System 4 satellite (MUOS-4) on Sept. 2, 2015.
Credit: United Launch Alliance
View full size image
The first two MUOS satellites launched in 2012 and 2013. The third MUOS satellite launched in January and is still undergoing testing before it becomes fully operational.
Lockheed Martin, the company that built the MUOS satellites, created this graphic to show how the MUOS communications array benefits the U.S. military.
Credit: Lockheed Martin
View full size image
A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket carrying the MUOS-4 satellite mission for the U.S. Navy lifted off from Space Launch Complex 41 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station at 6:18 a.m. ET.
Credit: United Launch Alliance
View full size image
"The MUOS works like a smartphone network in space, vastly improving secure satellite communications for mobile U.S. forces," Navy Commander Paul Benishek said in a ULA webcast just after liftoff.
MUOS is particularly helpful for troops in remote locations, because these soldiers can transmit and receive high-quality communications when the satellites are beyond the line of sight. All U.S. military services will be able to use the MUOS system, the statement said.
"MUOS provides satellite communications in the narrowband spectrum," the Navy statement said. "Although narrowband communication is less than 2 percent of total Department of Defense [DoD] bandwidth, it represents more than 50 percent of all DoD satellite communication users. In addition to ad-hoc situations such as disaster response, narrowband represents the majority of communications for SEAL teams."
The U.S. Navy's fourth Mobile User Objective System (MUOS-4) satellite is encapsulated inside a 5-meter (16 feet) payload fairing in preparation for launch on an Atlas V rocket.
Credit: United Launch Alliance
View full size image
This is the 56th launch of an Atlas V rocket by ULA since the rocket's debut in 2002. It is the sixth launch of an Atlas V rocket in the 551 configuration, which refers to the size of the payload capsule (5.4 meters or 17.7 feet wide), the number of solid rocket boosters (five) and the number of engines (one).
The next MUOS satellite, MUOS-5, is expected to launch in 2016.

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