Author Topic: LIVE: Orbital Minotaur-1 - ORS 3 - November 19, 2013  (Read 73234 times)

Offline jacqmans

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Boeing Delivers 2 Nanosatellites to US Air Force

SENSE vehicles will validate nanosatellite use in military space

 
HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif., Dec. 18, 2012 -- Boeing [NYSE: BA] has delivered two Space Environmental NanoSat Experiment (SENSE) satellites to the U.S. Air Force that will help assess the value of small satellites in military space operations.
 
Weighing less than 9 pounds (4 kilograms) each and measuring 30 x 10 x 10 centimeters in size, the nanosats are scheduled to launch on the ORS-3 mission in the summer of 2013 and shortly after will begin collecting and transmitting weather data. Each nanosat contains a sensor and GPS receiver to gather data to support weather prediction and assessments. A miniature S-band transceiver downlinks spacecraft and mission data at one megabit per second.
 
"We anticipate these nanosatellites will play a significant role as affordable and resilient assets in future Air Force space architectures," said Col. Scott Beidleman, director, Development Planning Directorate, Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center. "We look forward to the important data they will collect and provide to the warfighter."
 
"The SENSE nanosats offer customers an affordable, operationally robust option to conduct military missions using spacecraft no larger than a standard loaf of bread," said Bruce Chesley, Boeing director of Advanced Space & Intelligence Systems, a division of Boeing Phantom Works.
 
Boeing worked with the Office of Naval Research, SRI International, The Aerospace Corp., and Atmospheric & Space Technology Research Associates to build, test and integrate the nanosats. The satellites are powered by highly efficient ultra triple-junction solar cells produced by Boeing subsidiary Spectrolab.
 
http://boeing.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=43&item=2535
« Last Edit: 11/19/2013 02:35 pm by Chris Bergin »
Jacques :-)

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Re: Minotaur-1 - ORS 3 - Wallops Island - August 2013
« Reply #1 on: 09/17/2013 09:17 am »
29 satellites (mostly cubesats  :P) on one launch - is that a world record?

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n1309/16wallops/

(no, this doesn't count  ;))
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Online William Graham

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Re: Minotaur-1 - ORS 3 - Wallops Island - August 2013
« Reply #2 on: 09/17/2013 09:59 am »
29 satellites (mostly cubesats  :P) on one launch - is that a world record?

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n1309/16wallops/

(no, this doesn't count  ;))

If you don't count Westford or any of the Taifun satellites which deployed 20-30 "Romb" calibration targets, the current record is 14, set by a Dnepr in 2007. There  was a launch (another Dnepr) in 2006 which carried 18 satellites, but it failed to orbit.

There are three launches this year with over 20 payloads; in addition to this one there is a Dnepr currently scheduled for November with 28 satellites aboard, and an Antares in December with 30.
« Last Edit: 09/17/2013 10:00 am by William Graham »

Offline Salo

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Offline Salo

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Re: Minotaur-1 - ORS 3 - Wallops Island - November 2013
« Reply #5 on: 10/17/2013 06:43 pm »
Launch postponed.

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Source?
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Offline Salo

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The same source is now reporting a new launch date of November 19 at 6:30-9:30 pm EST (23:30-02:30 UTC).
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Offline Skyrocket

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Re: Minotaur-1 - ORS 3 - Wallops Island - November 2013
« Reply #9 on: 10/21/2013 09:29 am »
Does anyone have a confirmed list of the cubesats on board of this mission?

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Re: Minotaur-1 - ORS 3 - Wallops Island - November 2013
« Reply #10 on: 10/30/2013 01:44 am »
Does anyone have a confirmed list of the cubesats on board of this mission?

....and the distributions of the satellites among various deployment mechanisms?
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Offline jacqmans

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Re: Minotaur-1 - ORS 3 - Wallops Island - November 2013
« Reply #11 on: 10/31/2013 05:37 am »
RELEASE M13-164


Media Accreditation Open for ORS-3 Mission from Wallops in November


Media accreditation is open for the Nov. 19 launch of a U.S. Air Force Minotaur I rocket from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport's Pad 0B at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. The Minotaur will launch the Air Force's Operationally Responsive Space Office's ORS-3 mission and 28 small cubesat satellites.

The ORS-3 Mission, also known as an enabler mission, will demonstrate and validate launch and range improvements for NASA and the military. These include automated trajectory targeting, range safety planning and flight termination systems. The launch also will be part of the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) certification process for the Minotaur rocket. The FAA has licensing authority over American commercial rockets.

The Minotaur's primary payload is the Space Test Program Satellite-3 (STPSat-3), an Air Force technology demonstration mission. Thirteen of the cubesats aboard are being provided through NASA's Cubesat Launch Initiative. Among the cubesats is NASA's Small Satellite Program PhoneSat 2 second generation smartphone mission. Also included is the first cubesat built by high school students.

Journalists with U.S. citizenship must apply for accreditation by Nov. 15. Non- U.S. citizens will not be accredited due to lack of time for processing of credentials before the scheduled launch. To request accreditation, media should contact Keith Koehler at [email protected] or 757-824-1579.

For more information on the ORS-3 mission, visit:

http://go.usa.gov/Wgbd

For information on NASA's Cubesat Launch Initiative, managed by the Launch Services Program, visit:

http://go.usa.gov/WgbR

Jacques :-)

Offline fatjohn1408

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Re: Minotaur-1 - ORS 3 - Wallops Island - August 2013
« Reply #12 on: 10/31/2013 09:43 am »
29 satellites (mostly cubesats  :P) on one launch - is that a world record?

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n1309/16wallops/

(no, this doesn't count  ;))

If it is it will only be a record for 2 days: http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/dubaisat-2.htm

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Re: Minotaur-1 - ORS 3 - Wallops Island - November 2013
« Reply #13 on: 11/02/2013 10:35 am »
Launch window apparently moved to 5:30-9:30 pm EST (22:30-02:30 UTC) on November 19.
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Offline edkyle99

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Re: Minotaur-1 - ORS 3 - Wallops Island - November 2013
« Reply #14 on: 11/02/2013 04:40 pm »
One of the interesting things about this launch, to me, is that a Minotaur 1 will lift off from the same pad that hosted a Minotaur 5 (the first Minotaur 5) in September.  Similar pad sharing has happened at Vandenberg SLC 8 and at Kodiak (Athena and Minotaur 4), but not to my knowledge with such a quick turnaround.  Does anyone know what has to be changed at the pad?  Is is just the launch mount?

 - Ed Kyle

Offline Kim Keller

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Re: Minotaur-1 - ORS 3 - Wallops Island - November 2013
« Reply #15 on: 11/08/2013 09:24 pm »
Athena and Minotaur 4 both use Castor 120s, so the launch mount would be common to both. The rockets would require different upper stage umbilicals, though.

M1 & M4 have different-sized first stages, so a mechanical adapter would be required. There are common avionics shared by M1 & M4, but I would think connector pin-outs would vary to some extent, and cable runs back to the launch equipment racks may differ. Payloads would definitely require mission-unique support.

Offline edkyle99

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Re: Minotaur-1 - ORS 3 - Wallops Island - November 2013
« Reply #16 on: 11/08/2013 10:25 pm »
Here is a comparison of Minotaur 1 and Minotaur 5 vehicles on pad "zero-bee" at Wallops.  There do appear to be different adapters that fit to the basic the launch mount for each rocket, but the basic structure is unchanged.  The umbilical mast looks surprisingly similar for both rockets.  Note that these images were taken from opposite sides of the pad.

 - Ed Kyle
« Last Edit: 11/09/2013 05:22 am by edkyle99 »

Offline GClark

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Re: Minotaur-1 - ORS 3 - Wallops Island - November 2013
« Reply #17 on: 11/09/2013 05:51 am »
Just for completeness, the ATK ALV X-1 on 0B...

Offline Skyrocket

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Re: Minotaur-1 - ORS 3 - Wallops Island - November 2013
« Reply #18 on: 11/09/2013 09:26 am »
Does anyone know, which kind of payload fairing will be used on the ORS-3 mission?

Offline Kim Keller

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Re: Minotaur-1 - ORS 3 - Wallops Island - November 2013
« Reply #19 on: 11/09/2013 03:35 pm »
The umbilical mast looks surprisingly similar for both rockets.

These all-solid-motor rockets tend to use simple, cheap and expendable triangular-section antenna towers to route their cables and ECS ducts to the appropriate points on their rockets. The need for a lot of physical strength just isn't there when propellant and fluid lines are not present.

Here's Taurus XL's umbilical mast.
« Last Edit: 11/09/2013 03:40 pm by Kim Keller »

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