On Friday afternoon, United Launch Alliance will try and launch a uniquely fitted Atlas 5 rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. You can watch the motion stay proper right here.

The window for right this moment’s launch will open at 2:00 p.m. EST (11:00 a.m. PST), with forecasters predicting an 80% likelihood of excellent climate at Cape Canaveral.

The ULA Atlas V 511 rocket, with its extra-wide faring and lone facet rocket booster, will blast off from Space Launch Complex-41. United Launch Alliance will use this distinctive configuration to launch two satellites for the U.S. Space Force, in a mission referred to as USSF-8. You can stream ULA’s webcast right here, with protection beginning at 1:30 p.m. EST (10:30 a.m. PST):

The two an identical satellites, GSSAP-5 and GSSAP-6, signify the fifth and 6 satellites of Space Force’s Situational Awareness Program. The satellites will go on to geosynchronous orbit, some 22,300 miles (36,000 km) above the equator, the place they’ll present “neighborhood watch services” for the aim of “improving flight safety for all spacefaring nations operating in that orbit,” in keeping with ULA’s mission overview. Data from the GSSAP satellite tv for pc community will permit for improved orbital predictions, such that satellite tv for pc controllers will be alerted to doable collisions with area junk or different satellites. The earlier 4 GSSAP satellites had been delivered in pairs on Delta 4 rockets in 2014 and 2016.

ULA says this’ll be the primary and solely flight of the Atlas V 511 configuration, and it stays the one unflown configuration within the Atlas household of rockets. Since 2002, the Atlas V has flown in 10 completely different configurations, this being the eleventh. Today’s launch can be ULA’s third direct-to-GEO mission, the earlier two being AFSPC-11 in 2018 and STP-3 in 2021.

The “511” configuration is in reference to the fairing, facet booster, and second stage booster. The “5” represents the width of the payload fairing, which is 5 meters, or 17 ft, throughout. The first “1” is the variety of stable rocket boosters strapped to the facet, and the second “1” refers back to the variety of engines on the second stage Centaur booster. ULA has beforehand flown an Atlas V 411 rocket, a configuration you need to have the ability to work out for your self given my clear and concise rationalization.

The single solid-fueled booster offers the rocket a distinctly asymmetrical look, however it would present the extra energy wanted at liftoff: 371,500 kilos of thrust. The kerosene-fueled fundamental booster will present 860,200 kilos of thrust, for a complete of 1.23 million kilos of thrust at liftoff. The Atlas V 511 is able to delivering as much as 11,570 kilos (5,250 kg) of payload to an elliptical geostationary orbit, according to SpaceFlightNow.

The Atlas V 511, along with wanting off-kilter, may also exert asymmetrical thrust, as AmericaSpace explains in a post from final 12 months:

Like its smaller cousin, the Atlas V 411—which carries a barely smaller payload fairing, measuring 13 ft (4 meters) throughout, and which noticed service most just lately in February 2020 to launch Solar Orbiter—the 511 will exhibit an uncommon “sideways-flying” perspective because it “slides” upward from the pad.

Steering actuators on the Atlas V’s RD-180 engine will counteract the asymmetrical thrust from the one stable and be sure that the rocket flies straight and true, however it would undoubtedly supply a disconcerting sight for spectators. And as [ULA CEO Tory] Bruno beforehand famous, all Atlas Vs have their very own nicknames. With the 411 already dubbed “Slider”, the moniker for the larger 511 is “Super Slider”.

The total mission will take barely lower than eight minutes to finish. Key moments will embrace the jettisoning of the stable rocket booster at two minutes, the jettisoning of the payload fairing on the 3:30 mark, separation of Atlas/Centaur at 4:27, and the primary fundamental engine begin of Centaur 10 seconds later. The two satellites will separate at marks 6:35 and 6:45. Fingers are crossed that the Super Slider will carry out as anticipated.

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