Author Topic: Atlas V 551 - AFSPC-11 - April 14, 2018  (Read 51421 times)

Online Galactic Penguin SST

Atlas V 551 - AFSPC-11 - April 14, 2018
« on: 01/20/2018 10:35 am »
Seeing that launch is coming up and no topic exists yet for this one, here's one.  ;)

So does anyone have ideas of what AFSPC-11 is? I was initially surprised by the use of the -551, but according to Gunther the EAGLE spacecraft will be on board and to be flown directly to geostationary orbit. That spacecraft "...can support payloads up to a weight of 1086 kg for a mission of at least one year." so it could be weighting up to 2 tonnes, which is already about half of the maximum capability of the -551 (just shy of 4 tonnes to GEO).

So another "satellite surveillance/inspector" thingy? What other kinds of satellites would the AFSPC potentially operate?
« Last Edit: 04/16/2018 12:52 pm by input~2 »
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Online Alter Sachse

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Re: Atlas V 551 - AFSPC-11 - April 12, 2018
« Reply #1 on: 01/20/2018 11:26 am »
Seeing that launch is coming up and no topic exists yet for this one, here's one.  ;)

So does anyone have ideas of what AFSPC-11 is? I was initially surprised by the use of the -551, but according to Gunther the EAGLE spacecraft will be on board and to be flown directly to geostationary orbit. That spacecraft "...can support payloads up to a weight of 1086 kg for a mission of at least one year." so it could be weighting up to 2 tonnes, which is already about half of the maximum capability of the -551 (just shy of 4 tonnes to GEO).

So another "satellite surveillance/inspector" thingy? What other kinds of satellites would the AFSPC potentially operate?
With the Atlas V-551 the MUOS satellites were placed in the GEO orbit, which had a mass of ~ 6740 kg!
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Offline Skyrocket

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Re: Atlas V 551 - AFSPC-11 - April 12, 2018
« Reply #2 on: 01/20/2018 11:30 am »
Seeing that launch is coming up and no topic exists yet for this one, here's one.  ;)

So does anyone have ideas of what AFSPC-11 is? I was initially surprised by the use of the -551, but according to Gunther the EAGLE spacecraft will be on board and to be flown directly to geostationary orbit. That spacecraft "...can support payloads up to a weight of 1086 kg for a mission of at least one year." so it could be weighting up to 2 tonnes, which is already about half of the maximum capability of the -551 (just shy of 4 tonnes to GEO).

So another "satellite surveillance/inspector" thingy? What other kinds of satellites would the AFSPC potentially operate?
With the Atlas V-551 the MUOS satellites were placed in the GEO orbit, which had a mass of ~ 6740 kg!

The MUOS satellites were not directly put into GEO, but into a ~ 3800 km by 35700 km transfer orbit with 19° inclination

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Re: Atlas V 551 - AFSPC-11 - April 12, 2018
« Reply #3 on: 01/20/2018 11:36 am »
Seeing that launch is coming up and no topic exists yet for this one, here's one.  ;)

So does anyone have ideas of what AFSPC-11 is? I was initially surprised by the use of the -551, but according to Gunther the EAGLE spacecraft will be on board and to be flown directly to geostationary orbit. That spacecraft "...can support payloads up to a weight of 1086 kg for a mission of at least one year." so it could be weighting up to 2 tonnes, which is already about half of the maximum capability of the -551 (just shy of 4 tonnes to GEO).

So another "satellite surveillance/inspector" thingy? What other kinds of satellites would the AFSPC potentially operate?
With the Atlas V-551 the MUOS satellites were placed in the GEO orbit, which had a mass of ~ 6740 kg!

The MUOS satellites were not directly put into GEO, but into a ~ 3800 km by 35700 km transfer orbit with 19° inclination
You are right, not directly in GEO.
One day you're a hero  next day you're a clown  there's nothing that is in between
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Offline Newton_V

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Re: Atlas V 551 - AFSPC-11 - April 12, 2018
« Reply #4 on: 01/20/2018 03:22 pm »
It has a humorous logo.  Took me a while to get it.  Younger people might not right away.  (Sorry, can't post it yet)

Offline c3infinity

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Re: Atlas V 551 - AFSPC-11 - April 12, 2018
« Reply #5 on: 01/22/2018 06:26 pm »
It has a humorous logo.  Took me a while to get it.  Younger people might not right away.  (Sorry, can't post it yet)

I would suggest "This is Spinal Tap" for those wishing to do some background research...

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Re: Atlas V 551 - AFSPC-11 - April 12, 2018
« Reply #6 on: 01/22/2018 10:53 pm »
It has a humorous logo.  Took me a while to get it.  Younger people might not right away.  (Sorry, can't post it yet)

I would suggest "This is Spinal Tap" for those wishing to do some background research...

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I look forward to seeing the artwork.
« Last Edit: 01/22/2018 10:54 pm by zubenelgenubi »
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Online Galactic Penguin SST

Re: Atlas V 551 - AFSPC-11 - April 12, 2018
« Reply #7 on: 03/03/2018 09:27 am »
Bumping this thread in seek of potential answers to the questions below:

Quote
So another "satellite surveillance/inspector" thingy? What other kinds of satellites would the AFSPC potentially operate?
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Online Galactic Penguin SST

Re: Atlas V 551 - AFSPC-11 - April 12, 2018
« Reply #8 on: 03/08/2018 07:11 am »
Note that the launch time is given as 6-10 pm Eastern (22:00-02:00 UTC) by SFN. ;)
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Offline Star One

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Re: Atlas V 551 - AFSPC-11 - April 12, 2018
« Reply #9 on: 03/08/2018 09:35 am »
Bumping this thread in seek of potential answers to the questions below:

Quote
So another "satellite surveillance/inspector" thingy? What other kinds of satellites would the AFSPC potentially operate?

Do you mean GSSAP 5 & 6?

Offline russianhalo117

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Re: Atlas V 551 - AFSPC-11 - April 12, 2018
« Reply #10 on: 03/08/2018 04:52 pm »
Bumping this thread in seek of potential answers to the questions below:

Quote
So another "satellite surveillance/inspector" thingy? What other kinds of satellites would the AFSPC potentially operate?

Do you mean GSSAP 5 & 6?
Payloads flying on AFSPC-11:
Primary Payload AFSPC-11 is completely classified at this time.
Secondary Rideshare is EAGLE (carrying payloads: HTI-SpX, MYCROFT (Classified), CEASE-III-RR, ISAL, ARMOR).

Public information:
http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/eagle.htm
http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/mycroft.htm

ISAL is satellite surveillance/inspector" thingy that you are looking for. ISAL (Inverse Synthetic Aperture Ladar) to provide high resolution images which are not limited in resolution by the diffraction limit of the telescope collecting the imaging data. This makes it an ideal method for imaging Geosynchronous Earth Orbit (GEO) space objects which happens to be ISAL's primary mission.

Spacecraft/Payload Acronyms:
EAGLE (ESPA Augmented Geostationary Laboratory Experiment) (Built using OATK ESPAStar Platform
HTI-SpX (Hypertemporal Imaging Space Experiment)
MYCROFT (Acronym is classified. Built using OATK ESPASat Bus.)
CEASE-III-RR (Compact Environmental Anomaly Sensor III Risk Reduction)
ISAL (Inverse Synthetic Aperture Ladar)
ARMOR (AFRL - 1201 Resilient Spacecraft Bus Development Experiment)
« Last Edit: 03/09/2018 01:13 am by russianhalo117 »

Offline Star One

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Re: Atlas V 551 - AFSPC-11 - April 12, 2018
« Reply #11 on: 03/08/2018 05:08 pm »
Bumping this thread in seek of potential answers to the questions below:

Quote
So another "satellite surveillance/inspector" thingy? What other kinds of satellites would the AFSPC potentially operate?

Do you mean GSSAP 5 & 6?
Payloads flying on AFSPC-11:
Primary Payload is completely classified at this time.
Secondary Rideshare is EAGLE (carrying payloads: HTI-SpX, MYCROFT (Classified), CEASE-III-RR, ISAL, ARMOR).

Public information:
http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/eagle.htm
http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/mycroft.htm

ISAL is satellite surveillance/inspector" thingy that you are looking for. ISAL (Inverse Synthetic Aperture Ladar) to provide high resolution images which are not limited in resolution by the diffraction limit of the telescope collecting the imaging data. This makes it an ideal method for imaging Geosynchronous Earth Orbit (GEO) space objects which happens to be ISAL's primary mission.

Thanks. Is this the launch that at one stage people thought initially was an X-37B flight?

Offline russianhalo117

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Re: Atlas V 551 - AFSPC-11 - April 12, 2018
« Reply #12 on: 03/08/2018 05:28 pm »
Bumping this thread in seek of potential answers to the questions below:

Quote
So another "satellite surveillance/inspector" thingy? What other kinds of satellites would the AFSPC potentially operate?

Do you mean GSSAP 5 & 6?
Payloads flying on AFSPC-11:
Primary Payload is completely classified at this time.
Secondary Rideshare is EAGLE (carrying payloads: HTI-SpX, MYCROFT (Classified), CEASE-III-RR, ISAL, ARMOR).

Public information:
http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/eagle.htm
http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/mycroft.htm

ISAL is satellite surveillance/inspector" thingy that you are looking for. ISAL (Inverse Synthetic Aperture Ladar) to provide high resolution images which are not limited in resolution by the diffraction limit of the telescope collecting the imaging data. This makes it an ideal method for imaging Geosynchronous Earth Orbit (GEO) space objects which happens to be ISAL's primary mission.

Thanks. Is this the launch that at one stage people thought initially was an X-37B flight?
I think so, but I dont remember that far back right now.

Offline zubenelgenubi

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Re: Atlas V 551 - AFSPC-11 - April 12, 2018
« Reply #13 on: 03/08/2018 05:37 pm »
Inverse synthetic aperture LADAR for geosynchronous space objects – signal-to-noise analysis
Pellizzari, Matson, and Gudimetla
September 2011
http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/ADA550680
http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a550680.pdf

Inverse synthetic aperture LADAR (ISAL) provides high resolution images which are not limited in resolution by
the diffraction limit of the telescope collecting the imaging data. This makes it an ideal method for imaging
Geosynchronous Earth Orbit (GEO) space objects. Although LADAR is a well researched topic, little has been
published on the suitability of ISAL for imaging GEO space objects and the associated SNR models. This paper
derives an expression for the return signal detected by a coherent ISAL system. Using tomographic techniques
common to synthetic aperture radar (SAR), a model is developed for the signal-to-noise ratio of the reconstructed
image. Noise sources considered include photon noise and laser speckle noise.
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Offline russianhalo117

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Re: Atlas V 551 - AFSPC-11 - April 12, 2018
« Reply #14 on: 03/08/2018 07:00 pm »
Inverse synthetic aperture LADAR for geosynchronous space objects – signal-to-noise analysis
Pellizzari, Matson, and Gudimetla
September 2011
http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/ADA550680
http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a550680.pdf

Inverse synthetic aperture LADAR (ISAL) provides high resolution images which are not limited in resolution by
the diffraction limit of the telescope collecting the imaging data. This makes it an ideal method for imaging
Geosynchronous Earth Orbit (GEO) space objects. Although LADAR is a well researched topic, little has been
published on the suitability of ISAL for imaging GEO space objects and the associated SNR models. This paper
derives an expression for the return signal detected by a coherent ISAL system. Using tomographic techniques
common to synthetic aperture radar (SAR), a model is developed for the signal-to-noise ratio of the reconstructed
image. Noise sources considered include photon noise and laser speckle noise.
ISAL is one of the experiments that will form the basis for missions such as for example GSSAP Follow On, which, is soon to enter the formulation stage by USAF and other government agency partners, might use technology derived from ISAL and other flown and upcoming STP experiments. ISAL also has  a air based hyperspectral equivalent that is used by the Civil Air Patrol (USAF AUX) and other agencies called Airborne Real-time Cueing Hyperspectral Enhanced Reconnaissance (ARCHER) that is currently in use for Search and Rescue and other classified sorties.
« Last Edit: 03/08/2018 07:06 pm by russianhalo117 »

Online Galactic Penguin SST

Re: Atlas V 551 - AFSPC-11 - April 12, 2018
« Reply #15 on: 03/21/2018 05:57 am »
It has a humorous logo.  Took me a while to get it.  Younger people might not right away.  (Sorry, can't post it yet)

Any signs of that logo around? I saw that ULA's website already have the mission poster for this launch on their website.
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Offline FutureSpaceTourist

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Re: Atlas V 551 - AFSPC-11 - April 12, 2018
« Reply #17 on: 03/27/2018 10:54 am »
Quote
Completed the President’s Mission Readiness Review for AFSPC11. Clean bird. Everything about this one is interesting. Too bad I can’t tell you anything about it...

https://twitter.com/torybruno/status/978582173589516288

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Re: Atlas V 551 - AFSPC-11 - April 12, 2018
« Reply #18 on: 03/27/2018 09:12 pm »
Is there a confirmed launch time for this date?

Offline zubenelgenubi

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Re: Atlas V 551 - AFSPC-11 - April 12, 2018
« Reply #19 on: 03/27/2018 09:52 pm »
Is there a confirmed launch time for this date?

Probably sourced from the March 2 SFN Launch Schedule
https://spaceflightnow.com/launch-schedule/

From the US Launch Schedule thread:
Scheduled:
Date - Satellite(s) - Rocket - Launch Site - Time (UTC)

2018

April 12 - AFSPC-11, EAGLE (ESPA Augmented Geostationary Laboratory Experiment): HTI-SpX, MYCROFT, CEASE-III-RR, ISAL, ARMOR - Atlas V 551 (AV-079) - Canaveral SLC-41 - 22:00-02:00

Changes on March 2nd
Changes on March 8th
« Last Edit: 03/27/2018 09:57 pm by zubenelgenubi »
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