Is a launch still clandestine if everyone sees it ? Apparently so , as the launch of a closemouthed consignment out on Friday was visualize across southern California , yet was totally successful . What thelatest secret satellitewill do is up for argument , but it has an fantabulous delegation patch .
Successful Night Launch For A Spacecraft Shrouded In Secrecy
Top image : Long photo of the NROL-35 launch out of Vandenberg Airforce Base as construe from San Diego . credit rating : Kevin Baird
The launch , NROL-35 , was a classified flight by the National Reconnaissance Office to deliver a satellite into arena . The rocket was run by United Launch Alliance , an Atlas V flying with a young upper degree that made it the most potent rocket to launch from the west coast .
Gantry retracted from the Atlas V prior to launch . look-alike reference : United Launch Alliance
The rocket was fuelled and and beneficial to go for a Thursday eventide launch when the violent storm rolled in . Instead of even proceed the countdown , officials decided that the forecastdeluge of rain , confidential information , and even lightning on the south coast was n’t deserving pretending that the sky would settle down enough to intercept assault weather rules . This is the first time in 17 Atlas launches since 2012 that the launch was scrubbed after the rocket was fuelled and the countdown initiate .
An Epic Storm On The West Coast
Atlas V rocket launching at Vandenberg Air Force Base , California . Image credit : Pat Corkery / United Launch Alliance
The launch was rescheduled for Friday , in the beginning for a butt meter of 7:13 pm . The launching window duration was classified , but the launch sentence slipped back to 7:19 pm without fuss .
That does n’t tell us too much about the intend field except that it is n’t very complicated or the payload has the fuel to adjust as - necessary .
An Atlas V rocket in the 541 contour on the pad and ready to launch NROL-35 . Image credit : United Launch Alliance
After the one - sidereal day bush - and - reset and the six - minute launch holdup , everything else appear to have gone perfectly . At least , it seems that manner : a pre - arranged news show brownout took over once the payload shroud was jettisoned at 7:22 postmortem examination , hiding real - time tracking of the ascent , upper stage burn down , and payload release ( of trend , amateur video is always useable ) . Two time of day later , United Launch Alliance was announcingmission success , so whatever it was , it work well enough .
The classified payload en route to the rocket . persona recognition : United Launch Alliance
We do n’t know much about the consignment for NROL-35 :
It is a orbiter .
Its mission darn is a stormy trident - human dynamo noblewoman in elegant purple and disgraceful .
It jibe inside a freaking massive payload fairing , and can be lifted into orbit by a rocket engine capable of producing 2 million pounds of thrust at launch .
Themission patches from theNational Reconnaissance Office are all sort of awful — they ’re the organization that producedthe ball - strangle octopuslast twelvemonth , along with a Panthera tigris threatening to claw the planet apart , powerful mythological creatures doing mystic things , and even a garden rocket - devil loan-blend . While sometimes they screw up and give something aside , for the most part the patches are utterly independent of what the mission is actually about beyond something kick - ass cool and undefined .
https://observationdeck.kinja.com/in-honor-of-the-definitely-not-evil-nro-octopus-1478277742
That ’s it for what we know about the payload . Gossiping about what we do n’t be intimate is all fair game . NASASpaceflightsuspects the planet is give-up the ghost into a Molniya orbit , a extremely elliptic trajectory with a full stop of 12 hours . This makes sense for something launch out of Vandenberg as fight to the equatorial orbits more vulgar for thing launch out of Cape Canaveral .
Payload was mate to the Atlas V-541 friend on Nov. 22.#NROL35(ULA photos)@NatReconOfc@ulalaunch@30thSpaceWingpic.twitter.com/XDN6U7H04f
— NRO ( @NatReconOfc)December 11 , 2014
The payload is probably either a communications satellite , or a signals - intelligence operation satellite . Communications is a flake less likely , as the Quasar satellites can be launched with far weaker rockets ( Atlas V in a 401 configuration , or a Delta IV Medium ) .
SpaceflightNowis ponder the payload may be a Trumpet , an electronic sign tidings - meet satellite . The last Trumpet satellite was launched using somewhat light rockets ( Atlast V in a 411 configuration , or a Delta IV Medium ) , but that was long enough ago that technological upgrades and heftier antenna could describe for the weight - difference . Zaryasuspects it may be a missile launch sniffer using SBIRS , the Space Based Infrared System .
Even if it does n’t set itself on fire , the Atlas V is still a very impressive rocket when it set up . Credit : Pat Corkery / United Launch Alliance
The new locomotive for the Centaur upper stage for the Atlas V is an RL10C , converted from an RL10B railway locomotive . The RL10B is the upper microscope stage used by Delta IV skyrocket , so the change is an economical choice to somewhat standardize across the Eruca sativa , and to apply more of the stockpiled engine parts as ULA has been launch few Delta IV . The rocket are surprisingly exchangeable in capacity : while theDelta IV - Heavy that carried the Orion missionproduces 2.1 million pound of thrust , the new Atlas V-541 configuration is n’t far behind , produce about 2 million pounds of thrust ( even if it miss the dramatic play of self - igniting during launch ) . The last time the Atlas V-541 configuration launched , it was to boost the Curiosity bird of passage to Mars in 2011 , and for another classified launching , NRO-67 , in the beginning this class .
https://gizmodo.com/will-orion-blast-off-in-todays-launch-attempt-live-co-1666955281
Atlas Vs have been launching out of Vandenberg for years — this was the 10th launch since 2008 . The Space Launch Complex 3 - Orient launchpad was modify in 2004 and 2005 to handle the monolithic rockets . The modifications let in hold out the wandering service tugboat , deepen the exhaust ducts , installing a new , goodly Fixed Launch Platform , and updating assorted control , command , and communication systems and centers .
Long exposure of the NROL-35 launching as hear from the Vandenberg crush area . mental image credit : Gene Blevins / LA Daily News
With a southerly California launch on a clear nightduring a meteor shower , it ’s unsurprising the rocket ’s igneous trail was visible in Hollywood . That does n’t make it any less fun to see locals who in all likelihood do n’t make a use of penciling tightlipped satellite launches into their agenda notice something a minute unusual cash in one’s chips on :
Anyone else just see the orange ball of fire above LA ?
— Nathan Fillion ( @NathanFillion)December 13 , 2014
The source of that mysterious fireball . epitome cite : United Launch Alliance
launching report
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