Has the Star-48BV ever flown before? Or is the 48B the only flown variant?
Is the only difference a TVC nozzle on the 48BV variant?
The STAR 48BV has been qualified (1993) as an upper stage for EER System’s Conestoga Vehicle. The STAR 48V is derived from the highly successful STAR 48B (TE-M-711 series) rocket motor. The STAR 48V provides the same range of total impulse as the STAR 48B with the long exit cone and includes an electromechanically actuated flexseal nozzle thrust vector control system for use on a nonspinning spacecraft. Case attachment features can be modified or relocated for varying applications without requalification.
Quote from: longdrivechampion102 on 03/19/2015 07:30 pmIs the only difference a TVC nozzle on the 48BV variant?From the Orbital ATK Motor Catalog (p104):QuoteThe STAR 48BV has been qualified (1993) as an upper stage for EER System’s Conestoga Vehicle. The STAR 48V is derived from the highly successful STAR 48B (TE-M-711 series) rocket motor. The STAR 48V provides the same range of total impulse as the STAR 48B with the long exit cone and includes an electromechanically actuated flexseal nozzle thrust vector control system for use on a nonspinning spacecraft. Case attachment features can be modified or relocated for varying applications without requalification.http://www.orbitalatk.com/flight-systems/propulsion-systems/GEM-strapon-booster-system/docs/orbital_atk_motor_catalog_(2012).pdf
Oh so they did go for the Delta IV-H in the end. Did think Falcon 9H was unlikely because of its newness as a launcher also the lack of relevant upper stage needed due to high energy needs of this launch. As a general point it will be good to see the Heavy on another rare civilian launch.@Chris good article.
SpaceX was probably allowed to compete for the contract just as a courtesy. They really had no shot at winning it since Falcon Heavy hasn't even flown once yet. I'm not even sure Falcon Heavy would have the required performance to launch this mission. For ULA to say it won a "competitive procurement" is probably just a way of rubbing it in.
July 14, 2016Solar Probe Plus Mission Moves into Advanced DevelopmentNASA’s first mission to “touch” the sun has passed a critical development milestone that keeps it well on track toward its scheduled summer 2018 launch.Following a successful NASA management review on July 7, the Solar Probe Plus mission — which will send a spacecraft on several daring data-collecting runs through the sun’s atmosphere — is moving into the system assembly, integration, test and launch stage of the project. NASA terms this period as Phase D, during which the mission team will finish building the spacecraft, install its science instruments, test it under simulated launch and space conditions, and launch it.“Reaching this stage means a lot to the team and our stakeholders,” said Andy Driesman, Solar Probe Plus project manager at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL), which manages the mission for NASA and is building the spacecraft. “It shows we’ve designed a spacecraft, instruments and a mission that can address the engineering challenges associated with the harsh solar environment, and send back the data that scientists have sought for decades. It’s humbling to see designs and ideas start to become a spacecraft.”Solar Probe Plus is set to launch during a 20-day window that opens July 31, 2018. Over 24 orbits, the spacecraft will use seven flybys of Venus to reduce its distance from the sun. The closest three orbits will be within 3.9 million miles of the sun’s surface — roughly seven times closer than any spacecraft has come to our star — where it will face solar intensity more than 500 times what spacecraft experience while orbiting Earth.This mission of extreme exploration will provide new data on solar activity and contribute significantly to our ability to forecast major space-weather events that impact life on Earth. The primary science goals for Solar Probe Plus are to trace the flow of energy from and understand the heating of the sun’s outer atmosphere — its corona — and to explore the physical mechanisms that accelerate the solar wind, the continuous stream of charged and energetic particles flowing out from the sun. To do that requires sending a probe through the corona to better understand the solar wind and the material it carries into our solar system. It’s been a goal of scientists for nearly 60 years, one that is only possible today through cutting-edge thermal engineering advances.Solar Probe Plus will carry four instrument suites designed to study magnetic fields, plasma and energetic particles, and image the solar wind. The spacecraft and instruments will be protected from the sun’s heat by a 4.5-inch-thick carbon-composite shield, which will need to withstand temperatures that reach nearly 2,500 degrees Fahrenheit — but keep the spacecraft’s payload operating at room temperature.Solar Probe Plus is part of NASA’s Living With a Star program to explore aspects of the sun-Earth system that directly affect life and society. LWS is managed by the agency’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington, D.C. APL, in Laurel, Maryland, manages the mission for NASA and is designing and building and will operate the spacecraft.Media contacts:Michael Buckley, Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, 240-228-7536, [email protected]Dwayne Brown, NASA Headquarters, 202-358-1726, [email protected]Karen Fox, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, 301-286-6284, [email protected]The Applied Physics Laboratory, a not-for-profit division of The Johns Hopkins University, meets critical national challenges through the innovative application of science and technology. For more information, visit www.jhuapl.edu.
Will the probe be getting any gravity assists?
http://www.orbithangar.com/searchid.php?ID=6473One of many Orbiter simulator addons, Solar Probe, includes a fictional launch scenario of SPP atop an Atlas V 551, which is on July 30, 2018 at 09:43 UTC (5:43 AM EDT). However, the actual launch date is one day later on the 31st and the Delta IV Heavy will boost SPP.Having explained all that, I ask one question:Will Solar Probe Plus launch in the early morning of July 31, 2018 or is the time of day earlier or later?
Quote from: ZachS09 on 12/27/2016 04:53 amhttp://www.orbithangar.com/searchid.php?ID=6473One of many Orbiter simulator addons, Solar Probe, includes a fictional launch scenario of SPP atop an Atlas V 551, which is on July 30, 2018 at 09:43 UTC (5:43 AM EDT). However, the actual launch date is one day later on the 31st and the Delta IV Heavy will boost SPP.Having explained all that, I ask one question:Will Solar Probe Plus launch in the early morning of July 31, 2018 or is the time of day earlier or later?It is also the first time that a D-IV version of any type will sport a third stage with the SRM version being a Star-48BV.
A spacecraft supplied stage is not considered part of the Launch vehicle. Whereas, SPP will use a Delta IV with a third stage, because ULA is supplying it. PNH supplied its own motor and it was not part of the Atlas V. The determining factor is who does the integration of the "stage" with the spacecraft and who buys the hardware for the stage.