Atlas V
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 Launch of the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, 11:43:00 am GMT August 12, 2005 on the first Atlas V rocket used by NASA. The rocket is in the 401 configuration. |
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| Function | EELV/Medium-heavy launch vehicle |
|---|---|
| Manufacturer | United Launch Alliance |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Size | |
| Height | 58.3 m (191.2 ft) |
| Diameter | 3.81 m (12.49 ft) |
| Mass | 546,700 kg (1,205,200 lb) |
| Stages | 2 |
| Capacity | |
| Payload to LEO | 9,750 - 29,420 kg [1] (21,490 - 64,860 lb) |
| Payload to GTO |
4,750 - 13,000 kg [1] (10,470 - 28,660 lb) |
| Launch history | |
| Status | Active |
| Launch sites | SLC-41, Cape Canaveral SLC-3E, Vandenberg AFB |
| Total launches | 16 (401: 7, 411: 2, 421: 3, 431: 1) (521: 2, 551: 1) |
| Successes | 15 (401: 6, 411: 2, 421: 3, 431: 1) (521: 2, 551: 1) |
| Partial failures | 1 (401)[2] |
| Maiden flight | 401: 21 August 2002 411: 20 April 2006 421: 10 October 2007 431: 11 March 2005 521: 17 July 2003 551: 19 January 2006 |
| Notable payloads | Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter New Horizons Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter |
| Boosters (Not Heavy) - Aerojet | |
| No boosters | 1 to 5 (see text) |
| Engines | 1 Solid |
| Thrust | 1,270 kN (285,500 lbf) |
| Specific impulse | 275 sec |
| Burn time | 94 seconds |
| Fuel | Solid |
| Boosters (Atlas V Heavy (5HX)) - Atlas CCB | |
| No boosters | 2 |
| Engines | 1 RD-180 |
| Thrust | 4,152 kN (933,406 lbf) |
| Specific impulse | 311 sec |
| Burn time | 253 seconds |
| Fuel | RP-1/LOX |
| First stage - Atlas CCB | |
| Engines | 1 RD-180 |
| Thrust | 4,152 kN (933,406 lbf) |
| Specific impulse | 311 sec |
| Burn time | 253 seconds |
| Fuel | RP-1/LOX |
| Second stage (Atlas V XX1) - Centaur | |
| Engines | 1 RL10A |
| Thrust | 99.2 kN (22,290 lbf) |
| Specific impulse | 451 sec |
| Burn time | 842 seconds |
| Fuel | LH2/LOX |
| Second stage (Atlas V XX2) - Centaur | |
| Engines | 2 RL10A |
| Thrust | 147 kN (41,592 lbf) |
| Specific impulse | 449 sec |
| Burn time | 421 seconds |
| Fuel | LH2/LOX |
Atlas V is an active expendable launch system in the Atlas rocket family. Atlas V was formerly operated by Lockheed Martin, and is now operated by the Lockheed Martin-Boeing joint venture United Launch Alliance. Each Atlas V rocket uses an RD-180 engine burning kerosene and liquid oxygen to power its first stage and an RL10 engine burning liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen to power its Centaur upper stage. The RD-180 engines are provided by RD AMROSS and the RL10 engines by Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne. Some configurations also use strap-on booster rockets made by Aerojet. The payload fairings, which can be 4 or 5 meters in diameter and three lengths, are made by Contraves. The rocket is assembled in Decatur, Alabama; Harlingen, Texas; San Diego, California; and at ULA's headquarters near Denver, Colorado.[3]
In its 16 launches, from its maiden launch in August 2002 to June 2009, Atlas V has had a near-perfect success rate. On one flight, NRO L-30 on June 15, 2007, an upper-stage anomaly occurred when the engine in the vehicle's Centaur upper stage shut down early, leaving the payload—a pair of ocean surveillance satellites—in a lower than intended orbit.[4] However, the customer, the National Reconnaissance Office, categorized the mission as a success.[5][6] Atlas V has made six successful flights since the anomaly.
Contents |
[edit] History
The Atlas V is the newest member of the Atlas family, and is a direct descendant of the previous Atlas II and especially the Atlas III vehicles. Most propulsion, avionic and structural elements are either identical to or straightforward derivations of those used on the previous vehicles.
The most obvious external change is to the first stage tanks, which no longer use 10-foot-diameter, stainless steel monocoque, common intermediate bulkhead "balloon" construction. The "1.5 staging" technique was also dropped in order to use a 12.5-foot-diameter welded aluminum alloy construction first stage, much like that of the Titan family of vehicles or the Space Shuttle external tank.
The Atlas V was developed by Lockheed Martin Commercial Launch Services as part of the US Air Force Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) program. The term expendable launch vehicle means it is only used once. Launches are from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station and Space Launch Complex 3-E at Vandenberg Air Force Base.
The first Atlas V was launched on August 21, 2002. Twelve Atlas V launches to date have been successful except for the 2007 anomaly. The Atlas V family uses a single-stage Atlas main engine, the Russian RD-180 and the newly developed Common Core Booster (CCB) with up to five Aerojet made strap-on solid rocket boosters. The CCB is 12.5 ft (3.8 m) in diameter by 106.6 ft (32.5 m) long and uses 627,105 lb (284,450 kg) of liquid oxygen and RP-1 rocket fuel propellants. The booster operates for about four minutes, providing about 4 meganewtons (860,000 lbf) of thrust at start, the major part of this thrust, 4.152 meganewtons being provided by Russian RD-180 engine.
The Centaur upper stage uses a pressure stabilized propellant tank design and cryogenic propellants. The Centaur stage for Atlas V is stretched 5.5 ft (1.68 m) and is powered by either one or two Pratt & Whitney RL10A-4-2 engines, each engine developing a thrust of 99.2 kN (22,300 lbf). Operational and reliability upgrades are enabled with the RL10A-4-2 engine configuration. The inertial navigation unit (INU) located on the Centaur provides guidance and navigation for both Atlas and Centaur, and controls both Atlas and Centaur tank pressures and propellant use. The Centaur engines are capable of multiple in-space starts, making possible insertion into low-earth parking orbit, followed by a coast period and then insertion into GTO. A subsequent third burn following a multi-hour coast can permit direct injection of payloads into geostationary orbit. The Centaur vehicle has the highest proportion of burnable propellant relative to total mass of any modern upper stage and hence can deliver substantial payloads to a high energy state.
Many systems on the Atlas V have been the subject of upgrade and enhancement both prior to the first Atlas V flight and since that time. An upgrade to a Fault Tolerant INU (FTINU) was recently made to enhance mission reliability for Atlas vehicles.
On April 14, 2008, Atlas V lifted its heaviest payload to date into orbit - a 14,625-pound (6,634 kg) telecommunications satellite built by Space Systems/Loral.[7]
[edit] 2007 Valve Anomaly
The only anomalous event in the use of the Atlas V launch system occurred June 15, 2007, when the engine in the Centaur upper stage of an Atlas V shut down early, leaving its payload – a pair of NRO L-30 ocean surveillance satellites – in a lower than intended orbit.[4] The cause of the anomaly was traced to a leaky valve. Replacing the valve led to a delay in an upcoming Atlas V launch.[8]
[edit] Future developments
The Atlas V-Heavy or HLV configuration is available 30 months from order.[9] It would use three CCB stages strapped together to provide the capability necessary to lift the heaviest spacecraft. Approximately 95% of the hardware required for the Atlas HLV has already been flown on the Atlas V single core vehicles.
The Atlas V has two general payload fairing sizes. The classic 4-meter fairing, used since the Atlas II, comes in regular and slightly stretched versions (see AV-004/Inmarsat 4-F1 launch), and Lockheed Martin introduced a 5.4-meter (4.57 meters usable) payload fairing developed and built by Contraves Space (now Oerlikon Space[1]) in Switzerland. The Contraves fairing is a composite design and is based on flight proven hardware. Three configurations will be manufactured to support Atlas V. The short and medium length configurations will be used on the Atlas V 500 series. The long configuration will be used on the Atlas V-Heavy. The classic fairing covers only the payload, leaving the Centaur stage exposed to open air. With the Contraves fairing, the Centaur is enclosed within the fairing as well as the payload.
The Atlas V Common Core Booster will be used as the first stage of the joint US-Japanese GX rocket, which is scheduled to make its maiden flight in 2012.[10] GX launches will be conducted from the Atlas V launch complex at Vandenberg AFB, SLC-3E.
[edit] Versions
Each Atlas booster has a three-digit version designation that is determined by the features of the rocket. The first digit is the diameter (in meters) of the nosecone fairing, and is always either '4' or '5'. The second digit is the number of solid rocket boosters attached to the base of the rocket, and can number anywhere from '0' through '3' with the 4-m fairing and '0' through '5' with the 5-m fairing. The third digit is the number of engines on the Centaur stage, either '1' or '2'. As of 2009, only the Single-engine Centaur (SEC) has been used, and no launches using a Dual-engine Centaur (DEC) are currently planned.
For example, if the Atlas V version is 552, this means that the fairing is five meters, has five solid rocket boosters, and has two Centaur engines.
If the Atlas V version is 431, this means that the fairing is four meters, has three solid rocket boosters, and has a single Centaur engine.
An agreement between Lockheed and Bigelow Aerospace in September 2006 could lead to a human-rated version of the Atlas V to tap into the potential space tourism market.[11]
Versions: List Date: June 18, 2009
| Version | Fairing | Boosters | Upper stage | Payload to LEO | Payload to GTO | Launches to date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 401 | 4 m | - | SEC | - | 4,951 kg | 7 |
| 402 | 4 m | - | DEC | 12,500 kg | - | 0 |
| 411 | 4 m | 1 | SEC | - | 5,951 kg | 2 |
| 421 | 4 m | 2 | SEC | - | 6,832 kg | 3 |
| 431 | 4 m | 3 | SEC | - | 7,642 kg | 1 |
| 501 | 5.4 m | - | SEC | - | 3,971 kg | 0 |
| 502 | 5.4 m | - | DEC | 10,300 kg | - | 0 |
| 511 | 5.4 m | 1 | SEC | - | 5,271 kg | 0 |
| 512 | 5.4 m | 1 | DEC | 12,050 kg | - | 0 |
| 521 | 5.4 m | 2 | SEC | - | 6,287 kg | 2 |
| 522 | 5.4 m | 2 | DEC | 13,950 kg | - | 0 |
| 531 | 5.4 m | 3 | SEC | - | 7,202 kg | 0 |
| 532 | 5.4 m | 3 | DEC | 17,250 kg | - | 0 |
| 541 | 5.4 m | 4 | SEC | - | 7,982 kg | 0 |
| 542 | 5.4 m | 4 | DEC | 18,750 kg | - | 0 |
| 551 | 5.4 m | 5 | SEC | - | 8,672 kg | 1 |
| 552 | 5.4 m | 5 | DEC | 20,050 kg | - | 0 |
| Heavy (HLV (5H1)) | 5.4 m | 2 CCB | SEC | - | 13,605 kg | 0 |
| Heavy (HLV DEC (5H2)) | 5.4 m | 2 CCB | DEC | 25,000 kg | - | 0 |
[edit] Atlas V Launches
List Date: June 2009
| Date | Type | Serial-no. | Startplace | Payload | Kind of payload | Orbit | Outcome | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| August 21, 2002 | 401 | AV-001 | CC LC41 | Hot Bird 6 | Commercial communications satellite | GSO | Success | First Atlas V launch |
| May 13 2003 | 401 | AV-002 | CC LC41 | Hellas Sat 2 | Commercial communications satellite | GSO | Success | First satellite for Greece and Cyprus |
| July 17, 2003 | 521 | AV-003 | CC LC41 | Rainbow 1 | Commercial communications satellite | GSO | Success | First Atlas V 500 launch |
| December 17, 2004 | 521 | AV-005 | CC LC41 | AMC 16 | Commercial communications satellite | GSO | Success | |
| March 11, 2005 | 431 | AV-004 | CC LC41 | Inmarsat 4-F1 | Commercial communications satellite | GSO | Success | |
| August 12, 2005 | 401 | AV-007 | CC LC41 | Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter | Mars orbiter | Escape | Success | First Atlas V launch for NASA |
| January 19, 2006 | 551 | AV-010 | CC LC41 | New Horizons | Pluto and Kuiper Belt probe | Escape | Success | Boeing Star 48B third stage used, first Atlas V launch with a third stage |
| April 20, 2006 | 411 | AV-008 | CC LC41 | Astra 1KR | Commercial communications satellite | GSO | Success | Final Atlas commercial launch for ILS |
| March 8, 2007 | 401 | AV-013 | CC LC41 | Space Test Program-1 | 6 military research satellites | LEO | Success | FalconSAT-3 |
| June 15, 2007 | 401 | AV-009 | CC LC41 | NRO L-30R (NOSS-4-3A & B) | Two NRO Reconnaissance satellites | LEO | Lower than intended orbit | First Atlas V flight for the National Reconnaissance Office |
| October 11, 2007 | 421 | AV-011 | CC LC41 | WGS SV-1 | Military communications satellite | GTO | Success | Valve replacement[8] |
| December 10, 2007 | 401 | AV-015 | CCAFS SLC-41 | NRO L-24 | NRO reconnaissance satellite | Molniya | Success | |
| 2008-03-13 | 411 | AV-006 | VAFB SLC-3E | NROL-28 | NRO reconnaissance satellite | Molniya | Success | First Atlas V launch from Vandenberg |
| 2008-04-14 | 421 | AV-014 | CC LC-41 | ICO G1 | Commercial communications satellite | GTO | Success | First ULA launch with customer not involving the U.S. government (commercial customer launch on behalf of Lockheed Martin Commercial Launch Services) Heaviest payload to be launched by an Atlas rocket |
| 2009-04-04 | 421 | AV-016 | CC LC-41 | WGS SV2 | Military communications satellite | GTO | Success | |
| 2009-06-18 | 401 | AV-020 | CC SLC-41 | LRO/LCROSS | Lunar exploration | HEO | Success | White painted Centaur stage, to protect the vehicle from heat during its four months mission. First time that the Centaur stage will impact on the moon (at the end of its lengthy mission). |
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List of Atlas V launches#Planned launches |
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[edit] Photo Gallery
 An Atlas V 551 with the New Horizons Deep Space Probe launches from Launch Pad 41 in Cape Canaveral |
 Core stage of an Atlas V being raised to a vertical position |
[edit] See also
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Wikinews has related news: NASA launches two space probes to the moon |
Comparable rockets: Delta IV — Proton — Ariane 5 — Chang Zheng 5 — GSLV Mk.III — Angara — Falcon 9 — H-IIA — H-IIB — Zenit
[edit] References
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Atlas |
- ^ a b United Launch Alliance. "Atlas V Product Card" (PDF). http://www.ulalaunch.com/docs/product_sheet/AtlasProductCardFinal.pdf.
- ^ Gunter's Space Page - Atlas V (401)
- ^ http://www.lockheedmartin.com/ssc/commercial_launch_services/launch_vehicles/index.html
- ^ a b Morring, Frank, Jr. (June 22, 2007). "NRO Shortfall May Delay Upcoming ULA Missions". Aviation Week. http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/story_channel.jsp?channel=defense&id=news/NRO062207.xml.
- ^ NRO (June 15, 2007). NRO satellite successfully launched aboard Atlas V. Press release. http://www.nro.gov/PressReleases/prs_rel91.html.
- ^ NRO (June 18, 2007). NROL-30 launch update. Press release. http://www.nro.gov/PressReleases/prs_rel91a.html.
- ^ "Telecommunication Satellite Launches With Heavy Payload". Associated Press. April 14, 2008. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,351292,00.html.
- ^ a b "Faulty valve pushes back Atlas 5 launch". Florida Today. http://www.floridatoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070902/NEWS02/709020335/1007.
- ^ http://www.globalsecurity.org/space/systems/atlas-v.htm Atlas V EELV - Lockheed-Martin Retrieved on 2008-02-08
- ^ "GX Launch Vehicle". United Launch Alliance. http://www.ulalaunch.com/docs/product_sheet/GXProductCard.pdf. Retrieved on 2009-05-07.
- ^ Gaskill, Braddock (2007-01-31). "Human Rated Atlas V for Bigelow Space Station details emerge". NASASpaceflight.com. http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/content/?cid=5008.
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