ULA Atlas V Successfully Launches with GPS IIF-8 Satellite

As reported by NASA Spaceflight: 
In what is proving to be a dramatic week for space flight, United Launch Alliance’s Atlas V rocket made its fiftieth flight on Wednesday, tasked with orbiting the GPS IIF-8 satellite for the US Air Force. Liftoff from SLC-41 at Cape Canaveral was on schedule at the start of an eighteen minute window that opened at 13:21 local time (17:21 UTC).

Atlas V Launch:
Introduced in 2002, the Atlas V was originally developed by Lockheed Martin for the US Air Force’s Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) program, along with Boeing’s Delta IV.

Based loosely on the earlier Atlas-Centaur series of rockets, the Atlas V is a two-stage rocket with a Common Core Booster (CBC) first stage and a Centaur upper stage.

Early Atlas V launches were conducted by International Launch Services (ILS), however Lockheed withdrew in 2006 ahead of the formation of United Launch Alliance (ULA) that December.
A partnership between Lockheed Martin and Boeing, ULA is responsible for the manufacture and operation of both EELVs and the older Delta II, as well as marketing them to US Government customers.

ULA has also conducted commercial missions under contract to Lockheed Martin for the Atlas V, and Boeing for the Delta II. The Delta IV is not offered for commercial launches.

Both the Atlas V and Delta IV were designed to be adaptable to all of the US Air Force’s payload requirements, with multiple configurations depending on the required capacity.
For the Atlas V this meant a Light configuration with a modernised Agena upper stage, a series of medium to intermediate configurations with varying numbers of solid rocket boosters to increase performance, and a Heavy configuration with two additional Common Core Boosters to provide the maximum capacity. The Light and Heavy configurations were cancelled and never flew.

The first flight of the Atlas V took place successfully in August 2002, carrying Eutelsat’s Hot Bird 6 spacecraft (since renamed Eutelsat 8 West C).

All of the rocket’s early flights carried commercial communications satellites, with the next few launches orbiting HellasSat-2, Rainbow 1, AMC-16 and Inmarsat-4F1. In August 2005 the sixth Atlas V embarked on the type’s first mission for the US Government, deploying NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter on the first leg of its mission to the Red Planet.

The next launch in January 2006 carried the New Horizons probe, which is currently en route to Pluto with a flyby expected next July.

In April 2006 the Atlas flew its last mission for International Launch Services, carrying SES Astra’s Astra-1KR spacecraft. Eleven months later ULA flew its first Atlas mission, carrying six small satellites for the Space Test Program.

The only blemish on the Atlas V’s launch record to date occurred during the rocket’s tenth flight, in June 2007. Carrying a pair of Intruder ocean surveillance satellites, designated NROL-30 or USA-194, for the National Reconnaissance Office, the Atlas injected its payload into a lower than planned orbit after the upper stage ended its final burn prematurely.

The fault was later traced to a liquid hydrogen leak caused by a faulty valve. Despite the shortfall both satellites were able to maneuver themselves into a usable orbit.

The Atlas returned to flight in October 2007 with the launch of the first Wideband Global Satcom spacecraft for the Air Force, finishing the year with the deployment of a Quasar communications satellite for the NRO in December.

In 2008 two Atlas V launches occurred, including the type’s first mission from Vandenberg Air Force Base in March – using a pad which had previously been used by the Atlas II. This launch carried a signals intelligence satellite for the National Reconnaissance Office, while the other launch, in April, deployed ICO Global Communications’ ICO-G1 satellite.

Despite the satellite being deployed successfully, concerns regarding the performance of the first stage on the ICO mission kept the Atlas grounded for the rest of 2008. A year later the rocket returned to flight, again deploying a Wideband Global Satcom communications satellite.

This was the first of five launches in 2009, including NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) and Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS), which were deployed in June. As part of the LCROSS mission the Atlas’ upper stage was intentionally impacted into the south pole of the Moon.

The three other launches in 2014 carried the PAN communications satellite for an undisclosed government agency, a Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) weather satellite and the Intelsat 14 communications spacecraft.

Four Atlas launches in 2010 carried NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, the first flight of the recoverable X-37B spacecraft, an Advanced Extremely High Frequency military communications satellite and a Topaz radar imaging spacecraft.

Five launches in 2011 included NASA’s Juno mission to Jupiter and the Curiosity rover bound for Mars as well as three military payloads – one of which was a further X-37B mission.

In 2012 six launches were made, including the third X-37B – which landed earlier this month after nearly two years in orbit – three military communications satellites, a pair of Intruder ocean surveillance satellites and NASA’s Van Allen Probes to study Earth’s radiation belts.

Last year the Atlas made eight flights; deploying NASA’s TDRS-11 data relay satellite, Landsat 8 Earth imaging spacecraft and the MAVEN probe to study Mars. The remaining launches carried military payloads; a SBIRS-GEO missile defence satellite, a GPS navigation spacecraft, MUOS and AEHF communications satellites and a Topaz radar reconnaissance bird for the NRO.

Wednesday’s launch is the eighth Atlas launch of 2014.
For Atlas, the year began with the launch of NASA’s TDRS-12 in January, before a launch from Vandenberg carried a DMSP weather satellite into orbit in early April.

Seven days after the DMSP launch another Atlas flew from Cape Canaveral carrying the NROL-67 payload – believed to be a successor to the Mercury signals intelligence satellites launched in the 1990s. In May an Atlas V carried an NRO Quasar satellite, NROL-33, into orbit.

Early August saw the launch of the previous GPS satellite – GPS IIF-7 – from the Cape, followed by a commercial launch from Vandenberg with the WorldView-3 Earth imaging satellite. The most recent Atlas launch occurred in mid-September with the CLIO satellite. Like 2009’s PAN, CLIO is a communications satellite launched for an undisclosed government agency.

The Atlas that launched on Wednesday had the tail number AV-050.

Wednesday’s payload, GPS IIF-8, is the eighth Block IIF satellite in the Global Positioning System (GPS) constellation. Used to provide navigation data to both military and civilian users, the GPS programme began in the 1970s with the first demonstration satellite launching in February 1978.

The first-generation GPS constellation consisted of ten test satellites – an eleventh was launched by failed to achieve orbit – operating in more highly inclined orbits than those which would later be used for operational missions.
Begun as a military programme, US President Ronald Reagan ordered that the system be made available to civilian users once complete after the Soviet Union shot down a Korean Air Lines Boeing 747 which strayed into its airspace in 1983.

The first operational, or Block II, GPS satellite was launched on the maiden flight of the Delta II rocket in 1989, with all operational spacecraft until 2009 riding to orbit atop Delta IIs. In late 1990 the Block II spacecraft were replaced with the upgraded Block IIA, which itself gave way to the Block IIR (Replenishment) series in 1997.

The current-generation GPS satellites, the Block IIF, are an interim series designed to bridge the gap between the IIR and the new Block III spacecraft which will replace them.

Constructed by Boeing the new satellites are lighter than the previous generation, achieved in part by eliminating the solid apogee motor used to inject the satellites into their final orbit.
The Atlas V and Delta IV, being far more powerful than the Delta II, are able to place the spacecraft directly into their operational medium Earth orbits.

The first Block IIF satellite was deployed by a Delta IV in May 2010. Of the seven launched to date, two have flown aboard Atlas Vs and the remaining five atop Delta IVs.

Wednesday’s launch took place from Space Launch Complex 41 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, a former Titan launch pad which was converted for the Atlas V in the late 1990s. The complex was originally built in the 1960s for the Titan IIIC, with the Titan IIIE and Titan IV rockets later launching from it.

During the 1970s Complex 41 was the launch site for both of NASA’s Viking missions to Mars and both Voyager missions to the Outer Planets, which made use of the Titan IIIE with its Centaur upper stage.

The final Titan IV launch from Complex 41 occurred in 1999, and was an unsuccessful attempt to place a Defense Support Program missile detection satellite into geostationary orbit. Demolition work on pad structures began later the same year to set the facility up for the Atlas V’s “clean pad” approach.

Atlas rockets are assembled off-pad in the Vertical Integration Facility, before being rolled to the launch complex atop a mobile launch platform. By contrast the Atlas pad at Vandenberg, SLC-3E, uses a traditional assembly-on-pad approach.

The launch on Wednesday began with ignition of the Atlas’ RD-180 main engine 2.7 seconds before the countdown reached zero. Liftoff occurred at the +1.1 second mark as the thrust the vehicle is producing exceeds its weight.

For GPS launches the Atlas V flies in the 401 configuration, with a four-meter payload fairing, a single engine Centaur upper stage and no solid rocket motors attached to the first stage. As a result all thrust during the early stages of flight comes from the RD-180 burning RP-1 propellant in liquid oxygen.

The RD-180, which is derived from the RD-170 developed for the Soviet Union’s Zenit and Energia rockets, is a two-chamber engine which was first introduced on the Atlas III, a short-lived rocket which served as a test-bed for the Atlas V development program.

Around 17.2 seconds into flight AV-050 will began a series of pitch and yaw manoeuvres to establish the trajectory it required to reach its target orbit.

The rocket flew downrange on an azimuth of 45.8 degrees, reaching a speed of Mach 1 at around the one minute, 18.5 second mark.

The vehicle passed through Max-Q, the area of maximum dynamic pressure, 90.3 seconds after liftoff.

First stage flight lasted four minutes and 3.8 seconds, with separation of the spent Common Core Booster occurring six seconds after its engine cut off.

Following staging the second stage, the Centaur, entered its prestart phase with ignition of its RL10A-4-2 engine taking place ten seconds later. The payload fairing separated from the nose of the rocket eight seconds into second stage flight.

The Centaur burned for twelve minutes, 49.6 seconds, entering an elliptical transfer orbit. Three hours, one minute and 7.3 seconds later, after coasting to its apogee, the Centaur restarted for a brief second burn. Lasting 89.7 seconds, this burn circularised the spacecraft’s orbit ready for deployment.

The satellite separated four minutes and 45.7 seconds after the burn ended, or three hours, 24 minutes and 17.5 seconds after lifting off. The target orbit for spacecraft separation is a circular semi-synchronous orbit at an altitude of 20,448 kilometres (12,705 miles, 11,041 nautical miles) and an inclination of 55.0 degrees.

Once operational GPS IIF-8 will broadcast pseudo-random noise (PRN) code 03. The satellite will operate in slot 1 of plane E of the GPS constellation, replacing the GPS IIR-4 satellite which was launched in May 2000. IIR-4, which is also known as USA-150, will then be re-phased into a reserve slot in the A plane of the constellation to replace GPS IIA-19, the final Block IIA satellite to launch, which is being decommissioned.

The seventieth orbital launch attempt of 2014, Wednesday’s mission comes less than twenty four hours after the failure of the United States’ previous launch.

An Orbital Sciences Antares rocket flying from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport on Wallops Island, Virginia, appeared to suffer a failure seconds after launch, crashing in flames close to the launch pad. The Antares had been carrying a Cygnus spacecraft intended for a resupply mission to the International Space Station.

The GPS launch is the twenty-first US launch of the year, with the Antares the only failure. AV-050 is the eighth Atlas V to fly in 2014, and the twelfth mission for United Launch Alliance, who have also launched three Delta IVs and a Delta II.

ULA’s next mission is scheduled to be the 4 December launch of a Delta IV Heavy with NASA’s Exploration Flight Test 1 (EFT-1), which will be the first test flight for the Orion spacecraft. The next Atlas V will launch a week later from Vandenberg with the NROL-35 payload for the National Reconnaissance Office.

Two GPS launches are scheduled to occur next year, with the next launch being of a Delta IV with GPS IIF-9 in March. GPS IIF-10 will ride an Atlas into orbit in June.

'Ambulance Drone' Prototype Unveiled in the Netherlands

As reported by Yahoo News: A Dutch-based student on Tuesday unveiled a prototype of an "ambulance drone", a flying defibrillator able to reach heart attack victims within precious life-saving minutes.

Developed by Belgian engineering graduate Alec Momont, it can fly at speeds of up to 100 KM per hour (60 miles per hour).

"Around 800,000 people suffer a cardiac arrest in the European Union every year and only 8.0 percent survive," Momont, 23, said at the TU Delft University.

"The main reason for this is the relatively long response time of emergency services of around 10 minutes, while brain death and fatalities occur with four to six minutes," he said in a statement.

"The ambulance drone can get a defibrillator to a patient within a 12 square KM (4.6 square miles) zone within a minute, reducing the chance of survival from 8 percent to 80 percent."

Painted in emergency services yellow and driven by six propellers, the drone can carry a four kilogram load -- in this case a defibrillator.

It tracks emergency mobile calls and uses the GPS to navigate.

Once at the scene, an operator, like a paramedic, can watch, talk and instruct those helping the victim by using an on-board camera connected to a control room via a livestream webcam.

The prototype has already attracted the interest of emergency services including that of Amsterdam, the Dutch daily Algemeen Dagblad said.

The Dutch Heart Foundation also applauded the idea, the newspaper added.

Momont however wants his drone to become a "flying medical toolbox" able to carry an oxygen mask to a person trapped in a fire or an insulin injection to a diabetes sufferer.

However, the drone is still in its infancy as far as developing its steering mechanism and legal issues regarding its use are concerned, Momont said.

He said he hopes to have an operational emergency drone network across the Netherlands in five years.

The drone is expected to cost around 15,000 euros ($19,000) each.

"I hope it will save hundreds of lives in the next five years," Momont said.

Drones Could 3D Map Large Areas of Land in just a Few Hours

As reported by ScienceMag.org: Unmanned drones aren't just for warfare. In recent years, they’ve been used to map wildlife and monitor crop growth. But current software can’t always handle the vast volume of images they gather. Now, researchers have developed an algorithm that will allow drones to 3D-map scores of hectares of land in less than a day—an advance that is important for cost-effective farming, disaster relief, and surveillance operations. “It is revolutionary for the problem of mosaicing large volumes of imagery,” says computer scientist Dalton Rosario of the U.S. Army Research Laboratory in Adelphi, Maryland, who was not involved with the study.

Camera-equipped, autonomous, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) can fly low to the ground and take high-resolution images of crops that tell farmers exactly where to plant their seeds or add fertilizers—at a tenth the cost of flying a plane or purchasing satellite images. To stitch the photos together into a mosaic, a computer program needs to figure out the exact angle and position of the camera for each picture taken in order to build a 3D model of the land.  

Conventional software does that by looking at common features in neighboring photos—for example, the same corn plant that appears in two images—and marking them with points called tie points. The software then tweaks its calculation of the camera positions for all the photos at once, so that when it projects the tie points onto a 3D model, points from different images match up to form a coherent projection of the corn plant. This method works well for a few hundred photos, but once the number of images exceed a thousand—typical for mapping a 40-hectare farm—the process can take 1000 hours, an impossible load for desktop computers.

So computer scientist Mark Pritt and colleagues at Lockheed Martin in Gaithersburg, Maryland, took a different route. Their computer program directly projects the points from each photo onto a 3D space without knowing the exact shape of the land or the camera positions. As a result, the tie points don’t necessarily match up, which means the same corn plant can have two projections on the model. When that happens, the algorithm automatically takes the middle point between the two projections as the more accurate location and adjusts the camera position accordingly, one image at a time. Because the algorithm tweaks far fewer things at each step, the shortcut drastically speeds up calculations. Once the software has adjusted the camera positions for all the photos, the software repeats the entire process—starting from projecting the points to the 3D space—to correct for any errors.

With the new algorithm, the researchers can produce a map from a thousand images in just 4 hours, they reported this month at the annual IEEE Applied Imagery Pattern Recognition Workshop. That means it can render a map of the land within 24 hours after the drones fly, giving farmers a head start on taking care of their crops and enabling them to use drones routinely to monitor crop health.

The image-mosaicing algorithm can also speed up applications of drone imaging such as surveillance and disaster relief, says computer scientist Kannappan Palaniappan of the University of Missouri, Columbia, who was not involved with the study. When an earthquake strikes, for example, rescue teams could survey the affected area with drones and create a detailed 3D map of the damage in less than a day. The next step for researchers, Palaniappan says, is to improve the algorithm so that it can produce a map within minutes.

SpaceX to try Rocket Landing on Floating Ocean Platform

As reported by Fox News: The private spaceflight company SpaceX is hoping to bring a rocket back from space and land it on a giant, floating platform in the middle of the ocean, SpaceX founder Elon Musk said Oct. 24.

The company is expecting to try to land the booster on the platform as part of their next launch to space. Musk explained that landing a reusable rocket on the floating platform — which measures about 300 feet long by 170 feet wide — is a big step toward bringing the company's Falcon 9 rocket back to dry land. Musk and SpaceX hope to develop reusable rocket systems and capsules in order to decrease the cost of access to space, which could even make a colony on Mars a viable option at some point.

SpaceX has already successfully flown boost stages of the Falcon 9 back to Earth, landing in the ocean after delivering various payloads to space, but the company has not attempted to land the rocket back on a floating platform before. According to publicly released schedules, SpaceX's next Falcon 9 launch is currently scheduled for December, when the California-based company is expected to launch its fifth official robotic cargo mission for NASA to the International Space Station using the Dragon spacecraft. [SpaceX Reusable Rocket Re-entry Caught by Chase Plane (Video)]

"We're going to try to land on [the floating landing platform] on the next flight," Musk said today  during a discussion here at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's AeroAstro 100 conference. "If we land on that flight, I think we'll be able to re-fly that booster."

Musk doesn't necessarily think that this first attempt will be successful, however. The landing platform will be floating in the Atlantic Ocean with engines that can be used to keep it in position; however, it could still be "tricky" to land on top of it, Musk said.

Musk expects that SpaceX has about a 50 percent or less chance of succeeding in landing on the next flyback, but future launches and landing could have more chance of success.

Carrying almost two tons of cargo, a SpaceX Dragon capsule splashed down
 west of Baja California, marking an end to the forth of 12 unmanned deliveries
 by the company to the International Space Station.

"There are a lot of launches that will occur over the next year," Musk said. "I think it's quite likely that one of those flights, we'll be able to land and re-fly, so I think we're quite close."

In July, SpaceX successfully brought its Falcon 9 booster in for a soft landing in the ocean after launching to space, but they weren't able to recover the rocket stage. After landing in the Atlantic, the Falcon 9 toppled over as planned, but, according to a Twitter post from Musk at the time, the boost stage broke apart shortly after the soft landing. Other than that, the July test appeared to go as planned.

The Geography of NFL Fandom

"This map displays Facebook fans of NFL teams across the United States.  Each county is color-coded based on which official team page has the most 'Likes' from people who live in that county." (Facebook)

As reported by the Atlantic: Last Thursday, the Seattle Seahawks crushed the Green Bay Packers in the first regular NFL game of the season.

One way of looking at that: The 46 players wearing Seattle Seahawks uniforms had a higher score than the 46 players in Green Bay Packers uniforms, in a nationally televised game of American football.

Another? The residents of Seahawks terrain—which stretches from the northernmost Alaskan tundra to the potato fields of central Idaho—won some spiritual victory against the cheeseheads of Packers territory, which consumes all of Wisconsin and some of Michigan’s upper peninsula.

We can be so precise about these geographies of fandom because the Facebook Data Science team just released its 2014 NFL American fandom map. The map shows every American county’s favorite professional football team, as judged by the NFL team that Facebook users in that county have ‘liked’ the most.

The Cowboys rule a lot of land, but they’re not unambiguously “America’s Team.”

The New York Times called the baseball version of the map “unprecedented,” arguing that, for questions like this, there’s no superior data set: “Fans may not list which team they favor on the census, but millions of them do make their preferences public on Facebook.”

Now we can examine the football version. Here’s a larger version of the map if you want to check out your home county, but there are also some regions and phenomena that stuck out.

First of all, unlike the MLB map, there’s no clear “national” team. In the baseball map, Yankees fans functioned like cosmic background radiation. Love for the the Bronx Bombers bubbled up in the absence of some local franchise, appearing not only in greater New York City but also in North Carolina, Nebraska, Nevada and New Mexico.

That’s just not a feature of the NFL map. The Cowboys come closest, but they’re not “America’s team” as unambiguously. Beyond Texas and its neighbors, the only isolated pockets of Cowboys fandom are in southern Nevada and southeastern Virginia. That’s it.

After the Cowboys, the Broncos control a huge region. Pluralities of Broncos fans can be found all the way from three of the Four Corners to the 49th northern parallel. Rivaling the Broncs in terms of sheer regional hegemony are the 49ers, which rule almost all of California; and the Patriots, whose fans run from Hartford, Connecticut to Caribou, Maine.

And hopefully fans of all of those teams can work up some pity for the New York Jets, whose supporters rule… well, nowhere. No U.S. county has a plurality of Jets fans, at least on Facebook.

Most interesting to me, though, is the Great Lakes region, where old clubs compete for dominance.

Facebook Data Science

The borders here become stark and stubborn. The Lions would control all of Michigan—except for those pesky Packs in the southern Upper Peninsula. The Colts could claim Indiana—if not for greater Gary. And Packers green hovers at the edge of Vikings country, as if waiting to move in.

Though none of these borders are quite as patchwork as the Jaguars fans tucked between Georgia’s Falcons and Panthers country:

Facebook Data Science

Another place to check out: Los Angeles, whose residents apparently still cling to the Raiders—a franchise which abandoned the city 20 years ago.

Facebook Data Science

Facebook is one of many tech companies that periodically releases free analyses of data. In February, for instance, it revealed what it sees when two users fall in love. Data like this is always fun, and helps us get at questions that are otherwise unanswerable—but it’s also a chance to think about everything that giant social networks like Facebook can see, things that are deeper or more important than which team a certain county roots for.

NASA Antares Rocket Headed to the ISS Explodes Shortly after Launch

As reported by ClickOrlando: NASA's Antares rocket, headed to the International Space Station, exploded shortly after launch Tuesday night.

The rocket was unmanned, and NASA officials said no personnel appeared to be in danger.
However, there was "significant" property damage.

The explosion lit up the sky at the launch pad in Virginia and occurred about 6 seconds after liftoff.

The Orbital Sciences Corp.'s Antares rocket and Cygnus cargo spacecraft were set to launch at 6:22 p.m. ET. It was set to carry some 5,000 pounds of supplies and experiments to the International Space Station.

"There was failure on launch," NASA spokesman Jay Bolden said. "There was no indicated loss of life.

Bolden added, "There was significant property and vehicle damage. Mission control is trying to assess what went wrong."

GPS IIF-8 Ready for Launch

As reported by Schriever Air Force Base: The U.S. Air Force is scheduled to launch the eighth Boeing-built Global Positioning System (GPS) IIF satellite aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V launch vehicle, Oct. 29. The launch window opens at 1:21 p.m. EDT and will remain open for 18 minutes.

This mission marks a major achievement for the GPS IIF program; this will be the fourth GPS IIF space vehicle launched this year. The first seven of the twelve GPS IIF satellites are currently on-orbit and meeting all mission requirements. The Boeing built GPS IIF satellites add a new third civil signal (L5) for commercial aviation and safety-of-life applications, improved navigational accuracy through advanced atomic clocks and a longer design life than its predecessor models.

"The GPS IIF-8 satellite vehicle is ready for launch, and the improved capabilities of the GPS IIF satellite continues the legacy of delivering global positioning, navigation and timing services" said Col. Bill Cooley, director of Space and Missile Systems Center's Global Positioning Systems Directorate. "We have a legacy to be very proud of and we will continue to live up to our commitments by sustaining and enhancing GPS mission capabilities to ensure we continue to deliver a healthy, stable and robust GPS constellation for users around the world," he said. 

GPS continues to perform as the world's premier space-based positioning and navigation system providing Positioning, Navigation, and Timing services for users with continued uninterrupted service. Operated by U.S. Air Force Space Command, the GPS constellation continues to provide worldwide PNT services seven days a week, 24-hours a day.

Air Force Space Command's Space and Missile Systems Center, located at Los Angeles Air Force Base, Calif., is the U.S. Air Force's center of acquisition excellence for acquiring and developing military space systems. Its portfolio includes the Global Positioning System, military satellite communications, defense meteorological satellites, space launch and range systems, satellite control networks, space-based infrared systems and space situational awareness capabilities.