GPS IIF-12 – Atlas V 401 (AV-057) – Канаверал SLC-41 – 05.02.2016 13:38 UTC

[che wi]

Last of the dozen GPS IIF satellites arrive at CCAFS for processing
http://www.patrick.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123460438

10/8/2015 - PATRICK AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. -- The last Air Force GPS IIF in a block of 12 satellites was delivered to Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, from Boeing's manufacturing facility in El Segundo, California Oct. 8 via a C-17 Globemaster III.

A crowd from the government and industry partnership, who will complete the satellite's final assembly, gathered on the Cape's "Skid Strip" to watch the off-loading of the satellite they will prepare to launch aboard a United Launch Alliance rocket in 2016.

"This GPS IIF-12 satellite represents the end of a legacy as it will be the last of the 61 GPS satellites processed here at CCAFS," said Brig. Gen. Wayne Monteith, 45th Space Wing commander. "This culminates an incredible 27-year legacy at our Area 59 Satellite Processing Facility. We are the Nation's premier gateway to space and are humbled to be a part of the team that provides GPS and its capabilities to the world."

Although there have been other models of GPS launched into space, the Airmen-led processing team at Area 59 is particularly proud to begin preparations to send the last IIF block satellite into orbit. They've been behind every launch of the series since the first GPS IIF launched here in May 2010.

"Our combined team's objective is 100% mission success--each and every time." said Col. Eric Krystkowiak, 45th Launch Group commander. "My Airmen work, in partnership, with Boeing and the System Program Office at the Space and Missile Systems Center throughout the final stages of satellite processing prior to launch. From spacecraft containerization, shipment from California, the arrival at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Landing Strip, final checkouts, fueling and encapsulation, the team is laser focused on identifying and mitigating any issues that could potentially jeopardize mission success."

The Boeing-assembled GPS IIF 12 that arrived at the Cape will undergo a series of pre-launch preparations, checks and rehearsals. These included functional checkout of the spacecraft, compatibility testing, battery installation, fueling, mating to the payload adapter and obtaining a final flight weight.

Спойлер

Members of the quality assurance team range from young military officers to career enlisted troops to seasoned civilians.

"Mission Assurance at the launch base is executed with our 'triad' of professionals," said Krystkowiak. "Our mission assurance technicians are enlisted personnel with many years of experience in missile maintenance who are fully engaged and observe the contractor's work with the satellite. They bring their hands-on experience, strict technical compliance and discipline to the satellite processing realm. Beside them are our company grade officers and civilian engineers who bring their engineering rigor and innovative ideas into the process. Lastly are our Aerospace Corporation partners who provide invaluable experience and legacy system insight to the team with their continuity of satellite processing. Many of these members have been here at the Cape since GPS first launched in 1989 and achieved full operational capability in 1995."

A field program manager for the team interfaces with 45th SW leadership, the Air Force Space and Missile Center and the contracted partners throughout the months in between the satellite's delivery and its launch.

The Evolved Expendable Launch vehicle is used to launch GPS satellites from CCAFS into nearly 11,000-mile circular orbits. While circling the earth, GPS satellites transmit extremely accurate timing data on multiple L-band frequencies. Design life across the satellite blocks range from 7.5 to 12 years, but many are lasting more than 20 years, with the oldest vehicle turning 25 in November of 2015.

The GPS Master Control Station, operated by the 50th Space Wing's 2nd Space Operations Squadron at Schriever Air Force Base, Colorado, is responsible for monitoring and controlling the GPS as a 24-satellite system, consisting of six orbital planes, with a minimum of four satellites per plane. There are currently 39 vehicles in the GPS constellation.

GPS satellites serve and protect U.S. warfighters by providing navigational assistance and timing standards for military operations on land, at sea, and in the air. Civilian users around the world also use and depend on GPS for highly accurate time, location, and velocity information.

[свернуть]

[Salo]

http://www.ulalaunch.com/atlas-v-to-launch-gps-iif12.aspx?title=Atlas+V+to+Launch+GPS+IIF-12&Category=2

Atlas V to Launch GPS IIF-12



Rocket/Payload: A United Launch Alliance Atlas V 401 will launch the GPS IIF-12 mission for the U.S. Air Force.

Date/Site/Launch Time: Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2016, from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida.

Mission Description: GPS satellites serve and protect our warfighters by providing navigational assistance for U.S. military operations on land, at sea, and in the air. Civilian users around the world also use and depend on GPS for highly accurate time, location, and velocity information.

GPS IIF-12 is one of the next-generation GPS satellites, incorporating various improvements to provide greater accuracy, increased signals, and enhanced performance for users.

Launch Notes: GPS IIF-12 will be the ULA's mission of 2016 and the 60th operational GPS mission to launch on a ULA or heritage rocket.

Launch Updates: To keep up to speed with updates to the launch countdown, dial the ULA launch hotline at 1-877-852-4321 or join the conversation at www.facebook.com/ulalaunch, twitter.com/ulalaunch and instagram.com/ulalaunch; hashtags #GPSIIF12, #AtlasV

Go Atlas! Go Centaur! Go GPS IIF-12!

[Salo]

http://www.ulalaunch.com/atlas-v-to-launch-gps-iif12.aspx?title=Atlas+V+to+Launch+GPS+IIF-12&Category=2

Date/Site/Launch Time: Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2016, from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida. The 18-minute launch window opens at 8:47 a.m. EST.

3 февраля  в 16:47-17:05 ДМВ.

[Salo]

https://twitter.com/flatoday_jdean/status/686686853400018946

James Dean Подлинная учетная запись ‏@flatoday_jdean  
At Cape Canaveral's LC41 today, ULA lifted vertical the Atlas V booster slated to launch Air Force's 12th GPS IIF satellite on Feb. 3.
  15:11 - 11 янв. 2016 г.  

[Salo]

https://twitter.com/flatoday_jdean/status/686966749078646784

James Dean Подлинная учетная запись ‏@flatoday_jdean
Centaur upper stage today was hoisted atop Atlas V booster at LC41 in preparation for Feb. 3 launch of #GPS IIF-12.
  9:43 - 12 янв. 2016 г.

[che wi]

Last Block IIF to replace oldest GPS satellite
http://gpsworld.com/last-block-iif-to-replace-oldest-gps-satellite/

On Feb. 3, the Air Force plans to launch the 12th, and last, satellite in the Block IIF series of modernized GPS spacecraft. The Air Force has produced 12 IIF satellites, featuring new clocks, new civil and military signals, and other upgrades for enhanced accuracy and robustness.

Currently, 31 GPS satellites are in operational service, including 11 Block IIF satellites and 20 spacecraft from previous generations.

The Air Force Second Space Operations Squadron (2SOPS) indicates that IIF-12 (SVN-70/PRN-32) will replace SVN-41/PRN-14 in the F plane, slot F1. SVN-41 will be re-phased from the F1 location to a newly defined F7 node (GLAN = 45°) once SVN-70 is set healthy.

Meanwhile, SVN-23/PRN-32 (IIA-10) will be taken out of the operational constellation before IIF-12's launch and sent to Launch, Anomaly, Resolution, and Disposal Operations (LADO).

"SVN-23, launched on Nov. 26, 1990, has been an 'Iron Bird' workhorse in the E-plane and has successfully served the world's GPS users for over 25 years," said Rick Hamilton, CGSIC Executive Secretariat, in an email. "This is over 18 years past its designed service life, having operationally outlasted (and, in many cases, outperformed) its peers on-orbit due to the diligent efforts of the men and women of the U.S. Air Force."

PRN-04 is tentatively scheduled for assignment to the first of the new generation of GPS-III satellites, available for launch sometime in 2017.

[che wi]

патчик

[Salo]

Не ранее 4 февраля.

[Salo]

James Dean ‏@flatoday_jdean   24 часа назад  
ULA: GPS IIF-12 launch delayed a day, to Feb. 4, "to evaluate concerns over the integrity of electrical connectors on the Atlas V booster."

[Salo]

Не ранее 5 февраля в 16:38-16:57 ДМВ.

[Salo]

James Dean Подлинная учетная запись ‏@flatoday_jdean  
At Cape Canaveral's LC41 today, #GPSIIF12 satellite was hoisted atop @ulalaunch #Atlas V rocket for 8:38am Friday launch.
  11:19 - 30 янв. 2016 г.

[Salo]

http://spaceflightnow.com/2016/01/30/gps-satellite-moves-to-atlas-5-facility-for-launch/

GPS satellite moves to Atlas 5 facility for launch next Friday      
Posted on January 30, 2016 by Justin Ray

File photo of GPS satellite lift atop Atlas 5. Credit: ULA
 
CAPE CANAVERAL — After a quarter-century readying Global Positioning System satellites for launch at a Cape Canaveral Air Force Station processing hub, the final bird rolled out today as the navigation program transitions to a new era.
"This GPS 2F-12 satellite represents the end of a legacy as it will be the last of the 61 GPS satellites processed here at CCAFS," Brig. Gen. Wayne Monteith, 45th Space Wing commander, said in a press release.
"This culminates an incredible 27-year legacy at our Area 59 Satellite Processing Facility. We are the nation's premier gateway to space and are humbled to be a part of the team that provides GPS and its capabilities to the world."
Beginning with the advanced GPS 3 series next year, preparing those satellites shifts off-base to nearby Titusville and the commercially-run Astrotech complex.
The GPS 2F-12 satellite, with its liftoff planned for next Friday, emerged fr om Area 59 early this morning to be hauled to the Atlas 5 rocket's assembly building for attachment.
The satellite had flown to Florida on Oct. 8 fr om Boeing's manufacturing facility in El Segundo, California. After arriving, it was taken to Area 59 for final testing, loading of hydrazine maneuvering propellant and encapsulation in the rocket's nose cone.
Then, today, a convoy moved the 3,400-pound satellite north through Cape Canaveral Air Force Station to United Launch Alliance's Vertical Integration Facility wh ere the Atlas had been stacked.
Already shrouded in the launcher's 39-foot-tall, 14-foot-diameter aluminum nose cone, the spacecraft was hoisted atop the Centaur upper stage for mating.
The fully assembled rocket will be transported to the launch pad on Thursday in advance of the countdown and liftoff Friday. The morning launch window extends from 8:38 to 8:57 a.m. EST (1338-1357 GMT).
This will be the 12th and last Block 2F satellite sent into the GPS network since 2010. Boeing built the dozen spacecraft of this kind featuring greater accuracy, more signals, better anti-jamming and longer design lives than previous models.
It replaces the oldest GPS satellite still in operation, a craft originally launched 25 years ago.

The first successful launches in the GPS 2 generation — Block 2 in 1989, Block 2A in 1990, Block 2R in 1997, Block 2R-M in 2005 and Block 2F in 2010. Credit: McDonnell Douglas, Boeing and ULA
 
GPS launch operations at Cape Canaveral began with the advent of the Delta 2 rocket by McDonnell Douglas to construct a navigation system in the sky.
It was part of the U.S. military's transition away from dependency on the space shuttle program for lifting satellites into space after Challenger. That accident in 1986 sparked development of small, medium and heavy-lift expendable launch vehicles for the Defense Department's needs.
The maiden Delta 2 launch occurred on Feb. 14, 1989, carrying the initial operational craft into orbit for the NAVSTAR GPS network.
Over the next few years, a constellation of GPS satellites was successfully launched to give the military — and civilans — precision location and timing services anywhere in the world.
And all of those satellites were being processed for launch at Area 59 before moving to Complex 17 for launch atop Delta 2s. That rocket and payload pairing lasted for 20 years, through 2009, and 49 launches.
The past six years saw a continued passage through the processing hub for 12 satellites before launches on more-powerful Delta 4 and Atlas 5 rockets, affording the satellites to ride the boosters directly into the navigation network instead of taking circuitous routes after separating from the Delta 2 launchers.
GPS 2: 9 satellites launched (1989-1990)
 GPS 2A: 19 satellites launched (1990-1997)
 GPS 2R: 13 satellites launched (1997-2004)
 GPS 2R-M: 8 satellites launched (2005-2009)
 GPS 2F: 11 satellites launched so far (2010- )
As times change with the introduction of GPS 3, a whole new generation of satellite, a commercial approach the readying the craft for flight will occur in a new setting, Astrotech, wh ere most spacecraft now flow through.
"There are no customers scheduled to use Area 59 following the GPS 2F-12 mission. The 45th Space Wing is currently investigating options for future use of the campus," the Air Force tells Spaceflight Now.
A Delta 4 rocket is slated to launch GPS 3-01 in May 2017.

[che wi]

ещё патчик

[Брабонт]

Брутальный дядя Орион готов шахарнуть палицей по оплоту мирового капитализма :-)

[Сатурн-5]

Виктор Воропаев пишет:
Брутальный дядя Орион готов шахарнуть палицей по оплоту мирового капитализма :-)

По Гренландии?  

[triage]

что за темное пятно с другой стороны?

[Брабонт]

Вообще, там должна быть морда быка (у Гевелия - зеркально)?

[eng. Alex]

Сатурн-5 пишет:

Виктор Воропаев пишет:
Брутальный дядя Орион готов шахарнуть палицей по оплоту мирового капитализма :-)

По Гренландии?    

Скорее по Азии, судя по положению земного шара.

[тавот]

Виктор Воропаев пишет:

Брутальный дядя Орион готов шахарнуть палицей по оплоту мирового капитализма

В правом плече у Ориона красная звезда Бетельгейзе ( вроде и этот спутник так же называется ).  Так вот она может шарахнуть в любой момент в виде взрыва сверхновой. По крайней мере в ближайшую тысячу лет.

[Salo]

James Dean ‏@flatoday_jdean  10 мин10 минут назад  
Early Cape forecast 40% "go" for 8:38 a.m. EST Friday launch of #Atlas V, #GPSIIF12; 80% "go" on Saturday, if necessary.