Author Topic: Delta IV-H - Parker Solar Probe - SLC-37 - Aug 12, 2018  (Read 194317 times)

Offline Skyrocket

  • Extreme Veteran
  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2631
  • Frankfurt am Main, Germany
  • Liked: 940
  • Likes Given: 172
Has the Star-48BV ever flown before? Or is the 48B the only flown variant?

It has flown twice on the Minotaur-4+ and the Minotaur-5 launch vehicles.

Online ZachS09

  • Space Savant
  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 8406
  • Roanoke, TX
  • Liked: 2344
  • Likes Given: 2060
Is the only difference a TVC nozzle on the 48BV variant?
Liftoff for St. Jude's! Go Dragon, Go Falcon, Godspeed Inspiration4!

Offline Sam Ho

  • Full Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 817
  • Liked: 580
  • Likes Given: 71
Is the only difference a TVC nozzle on the 48BV variant?

From the Orbital ATK Motor Catalog (p104):
Quote
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.

http://www.orbitalatk.com/flight-systems/propulsion-systems/GEM-strapon-booster-system/docs/orbital_atk_motor_catalog_(2012).pdf

Offline Helodriver

  • Full Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 1076
  • Liked: 5971
  • Likes Given: 700
Is the only difference a TVC nozzle on the 48BV variant?

From the Orbital ATK Motor Catalog (p104):
Quote
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.

http://www.orbitalatk.com/flight-systems/propulsion-systems/GEM-strapon-booster-system/docs/orbital_atk_motor_catalog_(2012).pdf


Qualified on Conestoga?!  Well shoot, that's all the data you need right there! ;)

Online ZachS09

  • Space Savant
  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 8406
  • Roanoke, TX
  • Liked: 2344
  • Likes Given: 2060
If Conestoga did not self-destruct on its October 1995 mission, then the Star-48BV stage would have made its debut ahead of time.
Liftoff for St. Jude's! Go Dragon, Go Falcon, Godspeed Inspiration4!

Offline .gif

  • Member
  • Posts: 96
  • Liked: 179
  • Likes Given: 22
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.

Offline Jim

  • Night Gator
  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 37440
  • Cape Canaveral Spaceport
  • Liked: 21450
  • Likes Given: 428
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.

If that were true, NASA could have done a sole source justification and not gone through a source competition.

Offline enzo

  • Full Member
  • *
  • Posts: 137
  • USA
  • Liked: 118
  • Likes Given: 884
Front page article on GPS IIF-9 states "Due to SPP’s required target orbit, the Delta IV Heavy is the only qualified rocket in the US fleet capable of launching it, and only with the aid of a Star 48B upper stage."
So, does this include F9H? It's technically not "in the US fleet" but....

Online jacqmans

  • Moderator
  • Global Moderator
  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 21709
  • Houten, The Netherlands
  • Liked: 8560
  • Likes Given: 320
Orbital ATK Teams with ULA to Launch NASA's Solar Probe Plus Mission

Delta IV Heavy Capability to be Augmented by Orbital ATK Third Stage

(Dulles, Virginia 3 April 2015) – Orbital ATK (NYSE: OA) is teamed with United Launch Alliance (ULA) to launch NASA’s Solar Probe Plus (SPP) mission on ULA’s Delta IV Heavy rocket. A fully integrated third stage provided by Orbital ATK will give the spacecraft the high-energy boost needed to send it on its mission to study the Sun’s outer atmosphere.

Orbital ATK’s third stage leverages flight-proven inertial navigation, avionics, attitude control and separation systems used on the company’s Pegasus®, Minotaur and Minotaur-C launch vehicles. The venerable STARTM 48BV rocket motor, which traces its roots back to the 1980s, will provide the propulsion. The STAR 48 motor series has logged more than 130 successful missions.

“One of Orbital ATK’s strengths is providing new launch capabilities that leverage flight-proven subsystems,” said Ron Grabe, President of Orbital ATK’s Flight Systems Group. “We are proud to team with ULA to augment the Delta IV Heavy for this very challenging mission.”

After separating from the launch vehicle’s second stage, Orbital ATK’s third stage motor will ignite and accelerate the SPP spacecraft, making it one of the fastest man-made objects in history. During the motor’s nominal burn time of 81 seconds, Orbital ATK’s flight computer and guidance control system will guide the SPP observatory on its way to an elliptical orbit around the Sun. The observatory, using several gravity assists from Venus, will ultimately pass within 10 solar radii of the Sun, many times closer to the sun than the planet Mercury.

The Orbital ATK stage is being designed specifically to support the challenging SPP mission. When vertically integrated, it will measure approximately seven feet tall and four-and-a-half feet in diameter. The stage will be developed at the company’s facilities in Dulles, Virginia; Chandler, Arizona; and Elkton, Maryland.

In addition to the third stage, Orbital ATK’s contributions to the Delta IV Heavy launch vehicle include cutting-edge technologies from across the company. These include 12 key composite structures, manufactured using advanced layup, machining and

inspection techniques in Iuka, Mississippi, and Clearfield, Utah; the RS-68 rocket engine’s nozzle, manufactured in Promontory, Utah; the booster separation rocket motors, manufactured in Rocket Center, West Virginia; and the diaphragm propellant tanks, manufactured in Commerce, California.

The SPP mission, which will enter the Sun’s outer atmosphere to study the streams of charged particles the Sun hurls into space, is scheduled to launch in 2018. The SPP spacecraft is being developed at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland. SPP is part of NASA’s “Living with a Star” program, managed by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, for the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C.
Jacques :-)

Offline StarTracker

  • Member
  • Posts: 23
  • Liked: 11
  • Likes Given: 17
http://www.jhuapl.edu/newscenter/pressreleases/2016/160714.asp
Quote
July 14, 2016

Solar Probe Plus Mission Moves into Advanced Development

NASA’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.

Offline vapour_nudge

  • Full Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 485
  • Australia
  • Liked: 266
  • Likes Given: 338
Now at 550 days until launch.

Offline MATTBLAK

  • Elite Veteran & 'J.A.F.A'
  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 5362
  • 'Space Cadets' Let us; UNITE!! (crickets chirping)
  • New Zealand
  • Liked: 2239
  • Likes Given: 3883
Always like watching a Delta IV-Heavy launch - that's one heck of a rocket. I've always wanted it to become America's primary heavy lift launcher from Constellation onwards. Lots of potential there.
"Those who can't, Blog".   'Space Cadets' of the World - Let us UNITE!! (crickets chirping)

Offline M_Puckett

  • Full Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 482
  • Liked: 96
  • Likes Given: 63
Will the probe be getting any gravity assists?

Offline russianhalo117

  • Global Moderator
  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 8755
  • Liked: 4672
  • Likes Given: 768
Will the probe be getting any gravity assists?
yes, read reply 29 for details.

Online ZachS09

  • Space Savant
  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 8406
  • Roanoke, TX
  • Liked: 2344
  • Likes Given: 2060
http://www.orbithangar.com/searchid.php?ID=6473

One 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?
« Last Edit: 12/27/2016 05:30 am by ZachS09 »
Liftoff for St. Jude's! Go Dragon, Go Falcon, Godspeed Inspiration4!

Offline russianhalo117

  • Global Moderator
  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 8755
  • Liked: 4672
  • Likes Given: 768
http://www.orbithangar.com/searchid.php?ID=6473

One 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.

Offline Skyrocket

  • Extreme Veteran
  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2631
  • Frankfurt am Main, Germany
  • Liked: 940
  • Likes Given: 172
http://www.orbithangar.com/searchid.php?ID=6473

One 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.
Not quite - the two DSCS-3 launches used IABS as third stages. But anyway, all third stages on Delta IV are considered part of the payload.

Offline Jim

  • Night Gator
  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 37440
  • Cape Canaveral Spaceport
  • Liked: 21450
  • Likes Given: 428
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.
« Last Edit: 12/27/2016 04:00 pm by Jim »

Offline Star One

  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 13997
  • UK
  • Liked: 3974
  • Likes Given: 220
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.

New Horizons is marked as a three stage launch as it used a Star upper stage on the Atlas V.

Offline Jim

  • Night Gator
  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 37440
  • Cape Canaveral Spaceport
  • Liked: 21450
  • Likes Given: 428
By who?

Tags:
 

Advertisement NovaTech
Advertisement Northrop Grumman
Advertisement
Advertisement Margaritaville Beach Resort South Padre Island
Advertisement Brady Kenniston
Advertisement NextSpaceflight
Advertisement Nathan Barker Photography
0