AEHF-2 = Atlas V 531 - 4.05.12 22:42 - Canaveral SLC-41

[Salo]

27 April - AEHF-2 - Atlas V 531 - Canaveral SLC-41

[Salo]

http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/aehf-1.htm

AEHF 1, 2, 3, 4


AEHF [USAF]

The AEHF (Advanced Extreme High Frequency Satellite), a.k.a. AWS (Advanced Wideband Satellite), program is the next generation of highly secure, high capacity, survivable communications to the U.S. warfighters during all levels of conflict, and will become the protected backbone of the Department of Defense's military satellite communications architecture. The AEHF system will be integrated into the legacy Milstar (Military Strategic & Tactical Relay) constellation, and will be backward compatible with Milstar's low data rate (LDR) and medium data rate (MDR) capabilities, while providing extreme data rates (XDR) and larger capacity at substantially less cost than the Milstar system. Each satellite will be launched on an Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV), with the first launch planned for April 2008. They cost approximately $580 million per satellite

On-board signal processing will provide protection and ensure optimum resource utilization and system flexibility among the Armed Forces and other users who operate terminals on land, sea and air. The AEHF system will be integrated into the legacy Milstar constellation, and will be backward compatible with Milstar's low data rate (LDR) and medium data rate (MDR) capabilities, while providing extreme data rates (XDR) and larger capacity at substantially less cost than the Milstar system.

AEHF satellites feature following antennas:

2 SHF Downlink Phased Arrays,
2 Crosslinks,
2 Uplink/Downlink Nulling Antennas,
1 Uplink EHF Phased Array,
6 Uplink/Downlink gimbaled Dish Antenna,
1 Each Uplink/downlink earth coverage horns

Up to six satellites were planned, but in late 2004 it was decided, to end the AEHF program after the third satellite in favour of introducing the next generation T-Sat earlier. Problems with the T-Sat program might lead to procurement of two more AEHFs instead.

AEHF 1 was launched in August 2010. After launch, the apogee propulsion system developed problems and the orbit will be raised over a longer period using the attitude control engines and the Hall Current Thruster electric propulsion system.

Nation:       USA
Type / Application:       Comsat
Operator:       USAF
Contractors:       Lockheed Martin (Bus), Northrop Grumman (ex TRW) (Payload)
Equipment:       ?
Configuration:       A2100M
Propulsion:       IHI BT-4, HCT
Power:       2 deployable 5 segment solar arrays, batteries
Lifetime:       14 years
Mass:       6168 kg
Orbit:       GEO

[Salo]

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n1202/23mariner/

Cape takes delivery of next Atlas 5 aboard Mariner ship
BY JUSTIN RAY
SPACEFLIGHT NOW
Posted: February 23, 2012

A month after striking a darkened bridge in Southern Kentucky and a span of roadway collapsing onto its bow, the rocket-carrying Delta Mariner cargo vessel finally sailed into the Cape Canaveral wharf Thursday.


File image of the Delta Mariner cruising off the Cape Canaveral coast. Credit: Boeing

The ship, which is used to transport rocket stages from the manufacturing factory in Alabama to the two primary U.S. launch sites in Florida and California, hit the Eggner's Ferry Bridge in Kentucky while trying to pass beneath it Jan. 26.

A section of the bridge that crosses Kentucky Lake and the Tennessee River was knocked down in the mishap. The bridge was opened to traffic in 1932.

The Delta Mariner is owned and operated by Foss Marine, a shipping firm that hauls United Launch Alliance Delta 4 and Atlas 5 components to Cape Canaveral, Florida, and Vandenberg Air Force Base, California.

The ship was carrying the next Atlas 5 rocket to Cape Canaveral from the factory in Decatur, Alabama, when the crash occurred at U.S. Highway 68 and Kentucky Highway 80 over the Tennessee River on Jan. 26 at 8:15 p.m. Central Time.

Although the crash remains under investigation, lights on the bridge apparently weren't working the night of the incident and the ship tried to pass under one of the lower, outer spans instead of the higher, center lane.

Remarkably, there were no injuries aboard the ship or to people driving across the bridge at the time.

The Mariner was heading northward on a course to intercept the Mississippi River en route to the Gulf of Mexico on what's typically a week-long, 2,000-mile trek from Decatur to Cape Canaveral.

After removing the tangled bridge structure and roadway from the Mariner, the ship sought repairs to its superficial damage in Paducah, Kentucky, before resuming the trip to Florida last Friday. The vessel was certified to proceed on the voyage by the American Bureau of Shipping.

It reached Port Canaveral and safely docked at the unloading area adjacent to the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station's south gate Thursday afternoon.


File image of Atlas 5 unloading from the Mariner shows the Centaur (left) and first stage (right). Credit: NASA

"An incredibly talented and dedicated team came together to support this recovery and repair operation in an exceptionally safe, professional and timely manner," said Dan Collins, ULA's chief operating officer. "On behalf of the ULA team, I thank and congratulate everyone who played a role in the salvage operation."

With the vessel now at the Cape, technicians will be unloading the Atlas 5 rocket first stage and Centaur upper stage for launching the Air Force's second Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF 2) ultra-secure communications satellite on April 27 during a window of 3:08 to 5:08 p.m. EST (1908-2108 GMT).

The spacecraft was shipped aboard a C-5 aircraft from Lockheed Martin's satellite plant in California to the Cape on Feb. 13 to begin its own pre-launch preparation campaign.

Despite the delay getting the rocket to the Florida spaceport, officials say there should be no impact to the planned launch date.

Also aboard the Mariner is the interstage adapter for the Atlas to deploy NASA's Radiation Belt Storm Probes in August.

The cargo area of the ship was instrumented during the trek and data indicated no harm was done to the rocket stages in the bridge collision.

The 312-foot roll-on, roll-off ship was commissioned in 2002. Over the years, it was used primarily for bringing Delta 4s to the Cape before taking on Atlas 5 as a new passenger last summer in the consolidation efforts between the two rocket families under United Launch Alliance.

See file photos of the Mariner delivering a Delta 4-Heavy to Vandenberg.

Video and pictures of the collision and bridge collapse can be seen on the local NBC affiliate's website here and here.

With the Atlas 5 rocket now ready to roll onto Florida soil this weekend, the stages will be taken to the high bay at the Atlas Spaceflight Operations Center for brief checkout and storage before they are brought one-by-one up the road to the Vertical Integration Facility to begin stacking aboard the mobile launch platform. That assembly work, however, won't begin until after Friday's planned launch of an Atlas 5 rocket with a Navy satellite using that same platform.

[Pol]

http://www.satnews.com/cgi-bin/story.cgi?number=1994413112

February 24, 2012

U.S.A.F. + Lockheed Martin... AEHF-2 Has Been Trippin'
The U.S. Air Force and Lockheed Martin team successfully delivered....
....the second Advanced Extremely High Frequency Flight communication satellite to Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, where it will be prepared for launch aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V launch vehicle. AEHF-2 completed its California-to-Florida journey Feb. 13 aboard an Air Force C-5 Galaxy aircraft operated by the 60th Air Mobility Wing from Travis Air Force Base, California.

Over the next 75 days, the satellite will undergo final launch preparations, encapsulation and transport to Launch Complex 41 at CCAFS. AEHF-2 is on-track for an April 27 launch. AEHF is a joint service satellite communications system that will provide survivable, global, secure, protected, and jam-resistant communications for high-priority military ground, sea and air assets. The AEHF system is the follow-on to the Milstar system, augmenting, improving and expanding the Department of Defense's MILSATCOM architecture.

AEHF-2 was procured from Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company by the MILSATCOM Systems Directorate, part of the Air Force's Space and Missile Systems Center. The MILSATCOM Systems Directorate plans, acquires and sustains space-based global communications in support of the president, secretary of defense and combat forces. The MILSATCOM enterprise consists of satellites, terminals and control stations and provides communications for more than 16,000 air, land and sea platforms.

The U.S. Air Force's second Advanced Extremely High Frequency communications satellite arrived at the Shuttle Landing Facility at Kennedy Space Center, Fla. U.S. Air Force photo by Capt. Matthew R. Syme.

[Salo]

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/atlas/av031/120312stacking/

Atlas 5 being stacked for its next U.S. military launch
BY JUSTIN RAY
SPACEFLIGHT NOW
Posted: March 12, 2012

[img8]https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/81399.jpg[/img]

The 30th Atlas 5 rocket began taking shape Monday as United Launch Alliance technicians hoisted the giant first stage onto the mobile launching platform for next month's mission to deploy an ultra-secure U.S. government communications satellite.

[img [Широкая улыбка] 046ecfb78]http://www.spaceflightnow.com/atlas/av031/120312stacking/firststage.jpg[/img [Широкая улыбка] 046ecfb78]      
File image of an Atlas first stage being hoisted into VIF. Credit: NASA

At the Vertical Integration Facility adjacent to Cape Canaveral's Complex 41 launch pad, the stacking operations got underway to assemble the vehicle for its planned April 27 blastoff carrying the second Advanced Extremely High Frequency spacecraft.

Monday's operation featured the first stage, known as the Common Core Booster, driving up the road fr om the Atlas Spaceflight Operations Center high bay to the 30-story VIF building wh ere workers attached lifting devices. The 106.6-foot-long stage was rotated vertical, then maneuvered into the building and stood upright on the mobile platform.

Bronze in color and 12.5 feet in diameter, the stage is equipped with a dual-nozzle RD-180 main engine that will burn kerosene fuel and supercold liquid oxygen during the initial four minutes of flight.

In the coming days, three solid-fuel boosters will be mounted to the stage and adapter hardware added atop the stage before the Centaur is attached.

The payload and nose cone, already married together, come to the VIF for installation in mid-April to complete the 196-foot-tall vehicle for flight in the Atlas' 531 configuration.

Rollout to the launch complex occurs the day before liftoff as the 1.4-million pound platform rides the rail tracks 1,800 feet from the VIF to the pad.

The seven-hour countdown operation begins at 8:08 a.m. EDT on launch day, leading to cryogenic liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen fueling operations in the early afternoon for a planned blastoff at 3:08 p.m. EDT. The day's launch window stretches two hours.

[img [Широкая улыбка] 046ecfb78]http://www.spaceflightnow.com/atlas/av031/120312stacking/aehf2patch.jpg[/img [Широкая улыбка] 046ecfb78]

It will be the second teaming between Atlas and the Air Force-led Advanced Extremely High Frequency satellite program. The first launch was conducted successfully in August 2010, hauling the 13,420-pound AEHF 1 into orbit.

Heroic efforts by satellite ground controllers, however, were needed over the subsequent 14 months to rescue the craft when debris clogged the main propulsion system and it couldn't be maneuvered as planned. Engineers devised an alternate strategy using smaller engines and the craft's exotic electric thrusters firing more than 500 times to salvage the satellite valued at over $1 billion.

Contractor Lockheed Martin finished its on-orbit testing of AEHF 1 last month, clearing the way for the craft to soon enter service.

"I am extremely proud of the team that raised SV-1 to geosynchronous orbit and successfully demonstrated its on-orbit performance," Lockheed Martin's Global Communications Systems vice president and general manager, Kevin Bilger, said in a recent statement. "Their ingenuity, perseverance, and dedication to the mission enabled this critical national asset to stand ready to provide our warfighters around the globe with unprecedented new protected communications capabilities."

The Air Force has purchased a fleet of AEHF satellites to replace the heritage MILSTAR constellation as the preeminent path for communications between the president, military commanders and troops on the battlefield.

Designers say a single AEHF spacecraft has more capacity than Milstar's five-satellite constellation combined.

AEHF birds are sophisticated satellites with highly protected communications, low probability of intercept, resistant to jamming and harden to continue operating in a nuclear war.

[img [Широкая улыбка] 046ecfb78]http://www.spaceflightnow.com/atlas/av031/120312stacking/aehf2.jpg[/img [Широкая улыбка] 046ecfb78]      
The AEHF 2 satellite. Credit: Lockheed Martin

The AEHF 2 was delivered from the factory in Sunnyvale, California, to the Florida spaceport on Feb. 13 to undergo final preps, the loading of maneuvering fuel and encapsulation within the launch shroud before heading to the Atlas rocket's assembly building.

"Delivery of the second AEHF satellite is a significant milestone in the nation's protected communications mission," Bilger also said recently. "Our team is focused on achieving mission success and delivering this much needed capability to the warfighter."

Lockheed Martin is under contract to build four AEHF satellites and the Air Force has awarded a contract to begin buying the parts to manufacture two more.

The April 27 launch of AEHF 2 will be the Atlas 5 rocket's second of seven planned flights of 2012, following the Feb. 24 deployment of the Navy's MUOS 1 mobile communications satellite.

Five additional launches are slated later in the year including a pair of missions with classified payloads for the National Reconnaissance Office in June and August, two NASA flights with a space physics payload in August and the next Tracking and Data Relay Satellite in December and the Pentagon's X-37B orbital spaceplane taking its third voyage in October.

All launches will occur from the Cape except for the early August NRO flight that originates from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California.

[hecata]

А кто-нибудь может подсказать, на каких частотах работает AEHF?

[Salo]

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/tracking/index.html

May 5     Atlas 5  •  AEHF 2
Launch window: 1438-1638 GMT (2:38-4:38 p.m. EDT)
Launch site: SLC-41, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida[/size]

[instml]

Mission/Vision

The Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) System is a joint service satellite communications system that will provide survivable, global, secure, protected, and jam-resistant communications for high-priority military ground, sea and air assets. Advanced EHF will allow the National Security Council and Unified Combatant Commanders to control their tactical and strategic forces at all levels of conflict through general nuclear war and supports the attainment of information superiority.

Background

The AEHF System is the follow-on to the Milstar system, augmenting and improving on the capabilities of Milstar, and expanding the MILSATCOM architecture. AEHF will provide connectivity across the spectrum of mission areas, including land, air and naval warfare; special operations; strategic nuclear operations; strategic defense; theater missile defense; and space operations and intelligence. AEHF 1 was launched on Aug. 14, 2010.

Features

The Protected SATCOM Division of the Space and Missile Systems Center's MILSATCOM Directorate is the program office for the AEHF system. The system consists of four satellites in geosynchronous earth orbit (GEO) that provides 10 times the throughput of the 1990s-era Milstar satellites with a substantial increase in coverage for users. First launched in August 2010, AEHF will provide continuous 24-hour coverage between 65 degrees north and 65 degrees south latitude. The AEHF system is composed of three segments: space (the satellites), ground (mission control and associated communications links) and terminals (the users). The segments will provide communications in a specified set of data rates from 75 bps to approximately 8 Mbps. The space segment consists of a cross-linked constellation of four satellites. The mission control segment controls satellites on orbit, monitors satellite health and provides communications system planning and monitoring. This segment is highly survivable, with both fixed and mobile control stations. System uplinks and crosslinks will operate in the extremely high frequency (EHF) range and downlinks in the super high frequency (SHF) range. The terminal segment includes fixed and ground mobile terminals, ship and submarine terminals, and airborne terminals used by all of the Services and international partners (Canada, Netherlands and UK). MILSATCOM is responsible for acquisition of the space and ground segments as well as the Air Force terminal segments. The Army and Navy will acquire their own terminals.

General Characteristics

Primary Function: Near-worldwide, secure, survivable satellite communications

Primary Contractor: Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company

Payload: Onboard signal processing, crossbanded EHF/SHF communications

Antennas: 2 SHF Downlink Phased Arrays, 2 Crosslinks, 2 Uplink/Downlink Nulling Antennas, 1 Uplink EHF Phased Array, 6 Uplink/Downlink Gimbaled Dish Antenna, 1 Each Uplink/downlink earth coverage horns

Capability: Data rates from 75 bps to approximately 8 Mbps

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/atlas/av031/aehf.html

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/atlas/av031/factsheet.pdf

[instml]

A May launching now planned for next Atlas 5

Given the delays launching the year's first Atlas 5 rocket due to high-altitude winds and scheduling conflicts with a Navy submarine missile test off Cape Canaveral, the next Atlas mission is moving out a week or so as a result.

A spokesperson for the Air Force's Space and Missile Systems Center confirmed the targeted April 27 Launch date will slide into early May.

But the exact date depends on avoiding another schedule conflict on the Eastern Range at the Cape, which is booked for the planned April 30 blastoff of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon cargo vessel on the first private spacecraft launch to the International Space Station. That mission has its primary and backup attempts reserved on the Range, pushing the Atlas to May 5.

But if the Falcon goes on time or experiences a lengthy delay in advance, the Atlas will be postured to leap forward a couple of days to fly as soon as around May 3.

The Air Force-run Range provides all of the critical and necessary tracking, communications and safety services for Cape Canaveral rocket launches. It needs time between missions to reset equipment to support the next vehicle in the queue.

Realigning the Atlas target date will ensure ample time for assembling and preparing the massive 19-story rocket for flight, as well as building slack back into the overall schedule.

"The new launch date was not the cause of any problem, but rather ensuring there was adequate time between launches as well as adequate time required to prepare/process for the launch," the SMC spokesperson said.

A launch on May 5 would be possible during a two-hour window opening at 2:38 p.m EDT (1838 GMT).

The Atlas launch on Feb. 24 hauled the first in a new-generation of mobile communications spacecraft into orbit for the Navy. The upcoming mission will deploy the second satellite for the Air Force's new Advanced Extremely High Frequency system for ultra secure, top priority communications between the president and military brass.

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/atlas/av031/120408slip/

[Salo]

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/

Atlas 5 rehearses count for early May mission

Countdown clocks were ticking at Cape Canaveral Thursday, but only for practice as the Atlas 5 rocket team gears up for a military communications satellite launch in three weeks.

[Salo]

http://msdb.gsfc.nasa.gov/launches.php

5/3/2012, 1846-2046Z   AEHF 2

[Salo]

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/atlas/av031/120423payload/

Atlas 5 topped with anti-jam communications satellite
BY JUSTIN RAY
SPACEFLIGHT NOW
Posted: April 23, 2012

A gleaming new spacecraft valued at over $1 billion to serve in the top-notch mission of providing the president and military leaders a secure and survivable communications link in wartime was mounted atop its Atlas 5 rocket at Cape Canaveral today.

The second Advanced Extremely High Frequency satellite, AEHF 2, is scheduled for blastoff next week, either May 3 or May 5, depending on Range availability and when a SpaceX Falcon 9 vehicle flies fr om the Cape on its voyage to the International Space Station.

If the Falcon goes as planned April 30, the Atlas will target a liftoff May 3 during a window of 2:46 to 4:46 p.m. EDT (1846-2046 GMT).

However, if the SpaceX flight misses its initial instantaneous launch opportunity, the next shot to send the first private spacecraft to rendezvous with the station won't come until May 3. That would push the Atlas date to May 5 during a two-hour window opening at 2:38 p.m. EDT (1838 GMT).

The Air Force-controlled Range provides all of the necessary tracking, communications and safety services for Cape launches, and needs time in between flights to reset equipment in support of the next booster in the lineup.

But despite the uncertainty on exactly when the Atlas will take its aim at space, preparations are progressing by the United Launch Alliance rocket team. Technicians today accomplished one of the key milestones left before liftoff when AEHF 2 took a middle-of-the-night road trip from the commercially-run Astrotech satellite processing campus in Titusville to the launch site aboard a trailer-like transporter.

The slow-moving drive crossed the river, went northward through Kennedy Space Center, passed by the Vehicle Assembly Building and the old space shuttle launch pad before cruising down along the beach to the Atlas rocket's Vertical Integration Facility.

AEHF 2's launch campaign at the Cape began when the craft was delivered Feb. 13 from Lockheed Martin's factory in Sunnyvale, California, arriving inside an Air Force transport aircraft. The shipping crate was taken to Astrotech wh ere the craft was unboxed for final testing, loaded with maneuvering propellants and encapsulated in the rocket's nose cone.

After pulling up to the doorway of the Vertical Integration Facility this morning, technicians went to work attaching the heavy-duty lifting sling to hoist the spacecraft in the bullet-shaped fairing off the ground and atop the Centaur upper stage.

The United Launch Alliance-made rocket was assembled inside the VIF aboard a mobile launching platform over the past month. It was wheeled out to the launch pad one-third-of-a-mile away two weeks ago for a countdown dress rehearsal and fueling exercise before returning to the building to await the satellite installation.

Mating of the payload to the rocket was underway this afternoon, followed by work to affix the nose cone's ogive section to the lower base of the fairing.

Functional checks of the spacecraft and the combined systems test between AEHF and the Atlas vehicle will occur this week to verify the payload and rocket are talking to each other properly.

The fully stacked rocket, now standing 196 feet tall, features a main stage fed with refined kerosene and liquid oxygen, three strap-on solid propellant boosters, the liquid hydrogen-powered cryogenic Centaur upper stage and a composite payload shroud 16 feet in diameter.

Rollout to the pad for flight will occur the day prior to liftoff, leading to the 7-hour countdown sequence picking up on launch morning.

It will take the Atlas just over 51 minutes to heave the cargo, weighing nearly 7 tons, into a highly elliptical supersynchronous transfer orbit with a high point of 31,070 statute miles, low point of 140 statute miles and inclination about 21 degrees to the equator.

Controllers plan to spend 100 days or so using the craft's conventional and exotic electric propulsion systems to circularize the orbit 22,300 miles high and reduce inclination to 4.8 degrees for months-long testing in view of the U.S.

The first AEHF satellite, launched in August 2010, suffered an accidental clogging of plumbing to its main engine, prompting a remarkable rescue using smaller thrusters to raise the craft into geosynchronous orbit.

The upcoming craft has been thoroughly checked to ensure a repeat problem does not occur.

Built in a collaboration between Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman, a series of AEHF spacecraft will replace the aging Milstar satellite fleet. They feature the highest levels of encryption, low probability of intercept and detection, jammer resistance and the ability to penetrate the electro-magnetic interference caused by nuclear weapons.

AEHF was envisioned to keep communications flowing between the military and civilian leadership in any extreme wartime environment, giving the U.S. information superiority.

Designers say one AEHF spacecraft has more capacity than the existing five-satellite Milstar constellation combined and its faster data rates will benefit tactical military communications, enabling higher quality maps, targeting data and live video to be transmitted without being detected by the enemy.

Constructed around Lockheed Martin's A2100 satellite model with a 14-year life expectancy, the AEHF satellites feature power-generating solar panels stretching 89 feet tip-to-tip and two antenna-laden deployable wings.

Next week's ascent will mark United Launch Alliance's 60th rocket flight since forming in 2006 and the 30th mission by the Atlas 5 in its decade-long history.

[Salo]

http://www.ulalaunch.com/site/docs/missionbooklets/AV/av_aehf2_mob.pdf

[instml]

AEHF 2 hoisted atop its Atlas launcher
http://www.spaceflightnow.com/atlas/av031/hoisting/

[Salo]

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/

Atlas 5 rocket set for rollout to pad and blastoff

Ready to deploy the Air Force's AEHF 2 satellite for secure and dependable war-time communications to the U.S. military, the Atlas 5 rocket will be rolled to its Cape Canaveral pad Wednesday morning in preparation for blastoff Thursday afternoon.

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/atlas/av031/groundtrack.html



http://www.spaceflightnow.com/atlas/av031/ascenttimeline.html

Atlas/AEHF launch timeline
BY SPACEFLIGHT NOW
Posted: April 23, 2012

T-00:02.7 Engine Start
The Russian-designed RD-180 main engine is ignited and undergoes checkout prior to launch.

T+00:01.1 Liftoff
The three strap-on solid rocket boosters are lit as the Atlas 5 vehicle, designated AV-031, lifts off and begins a vertical rise away fr om Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida.

T+01:56 Jettison SRBs
Having burned out of propellant approximately 25 seconds earlier, the spent solid rocket boosters are jettisoned to fall into the Atlantic Ocean.

T+03:34 Nose Cone Jettison
The payload fairing that protected the AEHF 2 spacecraft during launch is separated once heating levels drop to predetermined lim its.

T+03:39 Forward Load Reactor Jettison
The Forward Load Reactor deck that supported the payload fairing's structure to Centaur upper stage is released seconds after the shroud's jettison.

T+04:18 Main Engine Cutoff
The RD-180 main engine completes its firing after consuming its kerosene and liquid oxygen fuel supply in the Atlas first stage.

T+04:24 Stage Separation
The Common Core Booster first stage of the Atlas 5 rocket separates from the Centaur upper stage. Over the next few seconds, the Centaur engine liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen systems are readied for ignition.

T+04:34 Centaur Ignition 1
The Centaur RL10 engine ignites for the longer of the two upper stage firings. This burn will inject the Centaur stage and AEHF 2 spacecraft into a parking orbit.

T+13:57 Centaur Cutoff 1
The Centaur engine shuts down after arriving in a planned parking orbit. The vehicle enters a brief coast period lasting nearly 8 minutes before arriving at the required location in space for the second burn.

T+22:06 Centaur Ignition 2
The Centaur re-ignites over the equatorial Atlantic to accelerate the payload into geosynchronous transfer orbit from the parking achieved earlier in the launch sequence.

T+27:48 Centaur Cutoff 2
At the conclusion of its second firing, the Centaur will have delivered the AEHF 2 spacecraft into the targeted orbit with an apogee of 31,070 statute miles, perigee of 140 statute miles and inclination of 21 degrees.

T+51:11 Spacecraft Separation
The U.S. military's second Advanced Extremely High Frequency communications satellite is released into orbit from the Centaur upper stage to complete the AV-031 launch.

Data source: United Launch Alliance.

[instml]

http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=28237.msg892407#msg892407

45th Weather Squadron L-2 forecast attached; link to current version: http://www.patrick.af.mil/shared/media/document/AFD-070716-027.pdf

Currently only 30% chance of weather violation.

[instml]

Atlas 5 rocket rolled out to launch pad
http://www.spaceflightnow.com/atlas/av031/rollout/

[instml]

Atlas 5 rocket poised for military satellite launch
http://www.spaceflightnow.com/atlas/av031/prelaunch/

[instml]

http://www.ulalaunch.com/site/PhotoGallery/Photo_gallery.shtml

     

     

     

     

[instml]

Atlas 5 rocket at night
http://www.spaceflightnow.com/atlas/av031/ularollout/index3.html