 Thunder God: U.S. Space Launch Workhorse
A Continuing Review of Thor Family History
Thor History Home Page
Part 1: Thor
IRBM
Part 2: Thor, Able, and Star
Part 3: Thor Agena A & B, Photospy Launchers
Part 4: Thor to Thorad: Prolific Agena D Boosters
Part 5: Suborbital Thor:
Big Shot to Fishbowl to 437
Part 6: Thor Burner:
"Emily" to Orbit
Part 7: Thor-Delta Beginnings
Part 8: Delta, Improved
Part 9: Long Tank Thor-Delta
Part 10: Extended Long Tank Delta
Part 11: Japan's "Deltas"
Part 12: Delta Reborn (Delta 2)
Part 13: Thunder Lost (Delta
3) (New)
 Russian Proton Launches Navsat Triplet
Russia's Proton, world leader in year to date launch
numbers, successfully boosted another navigation satellite triplet into orbit on September
2, 2010. A Krunichev Proton M with an RSC Energia DM-2 fourth stage lifted off from
Baikonur Cosmodrome's Area 81, Pad 24 at 00:53 UTC with three Glonass M satellites within
its payload fairing. About 3.5 hours after the dawn liftoff, after multiple DM-2
burns, the satellites separated into their 19,100 km x 64.8 deg near-operational orbit.
Each Glonass M weighed about 1.415 tonnes, for a total
4.245 tonne payload mass.
It was the year's 15 orbital flight from Baikonur.
 China
Orbits Mapping Satellite
A Chang Zheng (Long March) 2D rocket
orbited China's Tianhui 1 (Mapping Satellite 1) from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center on
August 24, 2010. The two-stage storable propellant rocket lifted off from the Left
pad at Launch Area 4 at 07:10 UTC, bound for sun synchronous low earth orbit.
Tianhua 1, developed by China Aerospace
Science and Technology Corporation, reportedly carried a stereo imager with 5 meter
resolution.
The flight was the seventh CZ launch of the
year, matching Russia's world-leading Proton total.
 Atlas Launches First Advanced EHF Satellite
AV-019, an Atlas 531 with three strap-on solid boosters
and a 5.4 meter diameter payload fairing, boosted the first U.S. Air Force Advanced EHF
communications satellite (AEHF 1) into supersynchronous transfer orbit from Cape
Canaveral, Florida on August 14, 2010. The 6,169 kg satellite separated into a 222 x
50,245 km x 22.2 deg transfer orbit about 51 minutes after an 11:07 UTC dawn liftoff from
Space Launch Complex 41.
The separation occurred about 23 minutes after the
second Centaur burn ended, allowing the vehicle to coast within range of the Diego Garcia
tracking station.
AEHF 1 is the first of a Lockheed Martin A2100M
satellite constellation meant to replace Milstar. The satellite uses EHF uplinks and
crosslinks and SHF downlinks.
AV-019 was the 22nd Atlas 5, but was the first to fly in
the 531 configuration.
 China Launches
Remote Sensing Satellite
China orbited a remote-sensing satellite
named Yaogan 10, from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in northern Shanxi Province on
August 9, 2010. A Chang Zheng (Long March) 4C rocket boosted the satellite into a
600 km-plus sun synchronous orbit inclined 97.8 degrees to the equator. Official
reports stated that the satellite will be used to "conduct scientific experiments,
carry out surveys on land resources, estimate crops yield and help with natural
disaster-reduction and prevention". Most analysts believe that the Yaogan
satellites are actually part of a multi-satellite network used to monitor other nation's
militaries.
The flight was the 40th orbital attempt of
2010 and was the sixth CZ launch of the year, matching Russia's R-7 total.
 Ariane 5
Launches Comsat Pair
Ariane 5 ECA No. 554 performed the 196th Arianespace
mission from Kourou on August 4, 2010. The 2.5 stage rocket boosted 3,200 kg Nilesat
201 and 3,050 kg Rascom QAF into geosynchronous transfer orbit from ELA 3.
Liftoff occurred at 20:59 UTC. The satellites will provide communication services
for different areas of Africa.
 China
Launches Navigation Satellite
A three stage CZ-3A orbited China's Beidou 2-5
navigation satellite from XiChang Pad 3 on July 31, 2010. The 17th CZ-3A lifted off
at 21:30 UTC. The rocket's hydrogen-fueled third stage boosted its payload into a
transfer orbit inclined 55 degrees to the equator.
It was the 30th CZ-3 series launch since the type first
flew in 1984.
 PSLV
Orbits Indian/Algerian Satellites
PSLV C-15, a four-stage "Core Alone" variant,
orbited India's Cartosat 2B, Algeria's Altsat 2A, and three microsatellites from India's
Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) at Sriharikota on June 12, 2010. 694 kg Cartosat
2B was the primary payload, while 116 kg Altsat 2A was deployed as a secondary payload
from a dual payload adapter. The satellites entered a 637 km x 98.1 deg sun
sychronous orbit about 17 minutes after liftoff from Sriharikota's First Launch Pad (FLP).
C-15 was the 15th success in 17 PSLV flights, and the
6th "Core Alone" launch. It was also the 13th consecutive successful PSLV
launch.
 Proton Boosts
Echostar 15
A four-stage Proton M/Briz M orbited Echostar 15 into
orbit from from Baikonur Cosmodrome on July 10, 2010. Echostar 15, a 5,521 kg
communciations satellite built by Space Systems Loral entered a 6,030 x 35,786 km x 18.7
deg orbit more than nine hours after Proton's 18:40 UTC liftoff from Area 200 Pad
39. The flight included five burns of the rocket's Briz M upper stage.
It was the seventh Proton flight of 2010, and the 40th
launch of a Proton M/Briz M..
 Progress
Freighter Launched Toward Station
A Soyuz-U lifted off from Baikonur
Cosmodrome with cargo-hauling Progress M-06M on June 30, 2010. The 7.25 tonne
spacecraft, loaded with more than 2 tonnes of supplies for the International Space
Station, lifted off from Area 1 Pad 5 at 15:35 UTC. It was the third Progress
mission of the year, the fifth R-7 launch for ISS in 2010, and the sixth R-7 launch year
to date. The flight was the 35th orbital launch attempt of the year.
 Ariane 5
Launches Arabsat 5A/COMS
An Ariane 5 ECA, flying the 195th Arianespace
mission, hauled Arabsat 5A and COMS (Communications, Ocean, and Meterological Satellite)
into geosynchronous transfer orbit from Kourou Space Center on June 26, 2010.
Vehicle 551 lifted off from ELA 3 at 21:41 UTC. The flight orbited 4,939 kg Arabsat
5A for Arabsat group of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and 2,460 kg COMS for South Korea.
It was the 25th launch of an Ariane 5 ECA variant.
 Shavit
Orbits Israeli Spysat
A Shavit-2 rocket boosted Israel's Ofek 9 imaging
"spy" satellite into orbit from Palmachim air force base on June 22, 2010.
The three-stage solid motor launcher lifted off from the Mediterranean coast base,
located south of Tel Aviv, at about 10 PM local time. Okek 9, a 300 kg satellite,
was subsequently tracked in a 343 x 588 km x 141.8 deg retrograde orbit.
The flight was the first by a Shavit since 2007, and the
sixth Shavit success in nine known or suspected attempts.
 Dnepr
Orbits German Radarsat
The 16th Dnepr launch vehicle successfully orbited
Germany's 1.35 tonne TanDEM-X radar mapping satellite from Baikonur on June 21. The
converted "Satan" missile was blasted out of its Area 109 underground silo at
02:14 UTC. TanDEM-X separated into a 514 km sun synchronous orbit about 10 minutes
later.
TanDEM-X is similar to the TerraSAR-X satellite launched
by a Dnepr in 2007.
It was the 15th Dnepr orbital success in 16 attempts
flown since 1999.
 June
15: Three Launches in One Day
Three orbital launches, all successful, occurred on June
15, 2010.
China's CZ-2D started the triplet with a 01:39 UTC
launch from Jiquan's Site 4-Left. The two stage hypergolic fueled rocket carried
SJ-12 (Practice Satellite 12) into a 575 x 597 km x 97.7 deg orbit. The mission was
not announced.
A Russian Dnepr lifted off from the Yasny site at
Dombarovsky Missile Base at 14:42 UTC. The converted ICBM carried Sweden's
dual-satellite PRISMA mission and France's Picard solar physics satellite into low Earth
orbit. A Ukrainian engineering test fixture was also carried, remaining attached to
the Dnepr's third stage.
Russia also launch a Soyuz FG carrying Soyuz TMA-19 with
three crewmembers from Baikonur Area 1 Pad 5 at 21:35 UTC. The ISS-bound crew
included Russia's Fyodor Yurchihin and new U.S. ISS crew members, Douglas Wheelock and
Shannon Walker. The crew will join Russian cosmonauts Alexander Skvortsov and
Mikhail Korniyenko and U.S. astronaut Tracy Caldwell Dyson on the station.
Soyuz TMA-19 was the 106th Soyuz spacecraft flight since
the program began in 1967.
 Second
KSLV-1 Launch Fails
The second Korean Space Launch Vehicle (KSLV-1) failed
after liftoff from South Korea's Naro space center on June 10, 2010. A
"flash" was seen and telemetry was lost 137 seconds into the flight, about 60%
of the way into the burn of the vehicle's Energomash RD-151 first stage engine. The
cause of the failure was not immediately apparant.
The rocket was carrying a second STSat-2B engineering
test satellite, similar to the satellite lost when the first KSLV-1 failed on August 25,
2009. That failure was the result of a payload fairing separation problem.
KSLV-1 was developed jointly by the Korea Aerospace
Research Institute (KARI) and by Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center.
Khrunichev builds the Anagara-based first stage. KARI is resposible for the solid
motor upper stage and payload fairing. The 3 by 33 meter, two-stage rocket weighs
140 metric tons and is able to lift about 100 kg to low earth orbit.
SpaceX Falcon 9 Inaugural Launch (Updated June
10, 2010)
 
The first SpaceX Falcon 9 two-stage kerosene rocket
launched from Cape Canaveral on June 4, 2010. Liftoff from Space Launch Complex 40
occurred at 18:45 UTC. The rocket carried a Dragon spacecraft simulator
toward a planned 250 km x 34.4 deg low earth orbit.
Falcon 9's nine Merlin first stage engines developed
387.825 tonnes of liftoff thrust to slowly lift the 320-333 tonne, 47 meter tall rocket
off its launch platform. The rocket rolled slightly immediately after liftoff, but
steadied itself as it cleared the pad. Falcon 9 then flew smoothly through its
initial ascent and pitch profile as it projected a thunderous roar back down onto
observers at the Cape and Kennedy Space Center.
The center two Merlin engines shut down as planned about
165 seconds into the flight. The remaining first stage engines cut off at about 181
seconds.
 Staging and second stage engine start - the first
in-space start of a Merlin engine - appeared nominal, but a roll developed during the five
minute long burn of the second stage Merlin Vacuum engine. The roll did not appear
to have a substantial effect on first burn velocity performance. The roll began
about 5 minutes after liftoff, after the turbopump exhaust nozzle stopped vectoring.
Merlin shut down about 517 to 524 seconds after liftoff, just as the stage completed its
fourth roll. The stage was rolling about three times per minute at second stage
engine cutoff.
SpaceX claimed that the stage and payload had reached
orbital parameters very close to the planned orbit, but initial U.S. orbital tracking data
showed a less precise, 235 x 276 km x 34.5 deg orbit. Subsequent tracking showed the
stage in a 242 x 269 km x 34.5 deg orbit.
During a teleconference after the launch, Elon Musk of
SpaceX stated that the second stage Merlin Vacuum engine had performed a brief
"burp" restart during its first orbit as an engineering test, but provided no
details of the burn. Jonathan McDowell subsequently reported, on June 8, that a
planned restart of the Merlin Vacuum engine had failed 54 minutes after liftoff.
Observers in eastern Australia saw the stage pass
overhead about 65 minutes after liftoff. Video of the pass showed that the stage was
still rotating out of control, venting gas to form a spiral pattern. The
relationship of the reported engine restart failure and the spiral gas pattern remains
uncertain.
Falcon 9 No. 1 produced more thrust at liftoff than any
U.S.-powered kerosene-fueled rocket since Saturn IB SA-210 carried the Apollo Soyuz Test
Project spacecraft with three crew into orbit on July 17, 1975. Merlin Vacuum
performed the first U.S. turbopump-fed kerosene engine air-start since the last Titan I
ICBM flew in 1965.
 Super Heavy Fight
The White House and Congress are locked in a battle over
NASA's future mission.
Two Super Heavy Launch Vehicles
stand in the fight.
One would presevere NASA's infrastructure. The
other would see it scrapped. One would lift more payload. The other would cost
fewer dollars.
 All-Liquid: A Super Heavy Lift Alternative?
The recent Augustine Committee report evaluated a series of
Super-Heavy launch options for deep space human exploration, but it did not describe an
"all-liquid" approach for 100 tonne plus payload Super Heavy Lift (or, as NASA
calls it, Heavy Lift Launch Vehicle (HLLV)). With a November 23, 2009 article,
Space Launch Report begins to examine the All Liquid Super Heavy
alternatives.
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