*** AV-075/NROL-52 launch fact sheet ***
Payload: CLASSIFIED NATIONAL SECURITY PAYLOAD
NRO geosynchronous communications satellite
Relays imagery and intelligence from LEO craft
Launch Date: Thursday, Oct. 5, 2017
Target
Launch Time: 4:07 a.m. EDT
0807 GMT
Launch Period: 90 minutes
3:30-5:00 a.m. EDT
0730-0900 GMT
Launch Site: Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida
Space Launch Complex 41
Customer: National Reconnaissance Office
Launch Enterprise Directorate, Air Force's
Space and Missile Systems Center
Launch Services
Provider: United Launch Alliance, Centennial, Colorado
Launch Vehicle: Atlas 5 designated AV-075
421 configuration
Weight at liftoff: 950,000 pounds
Thrust at liftoff: 1.6 million pounds
Height: 194 feet (59 m)
Common Core Booster with RD-180 engine
73,800 gallons RP-1 kerosene and liquid oxygen
Thrust: 860,300 pounds
Two side-mounted solid-fuel rocket boosters
World's largest monolithic SRB
Thrust: 380,000 pounds each
Centaur upper stage with RL10C-1 engine
16,450 gallons liquid hydrogen and oxygen
Thrust: 23,300 pounds
Extra Extended Payload Fairing
14-foot-dia., 45-foot-tall aluminum shroud
Construction: Atlas stage and Centaur upper stage built by
United Launch Alliance in Decatur, Alabama
Fairing manufactured by ULA in Harlingen, Texas
RD-180 from NPO Energomash, Khimki, Russia
SRBs by Aerojet Rocketdyne, Sacramento, Calif.
RL10C-1 from Aerojet Rocketdyne, West Palm
Beach, Florida
Payload Speculation: NROL-52 is believed to be the second spacecraft
in the Fourth Generation of the Satellite
Data System. The NRO has used earlier
versions of the SDS in geosynchronous orbit
to relay data from low-Earth orbiting
surveillance platforms.
Two classified missions -- NROL-61 last July and
NROL-52 -- are payloads on fixed-price
contracts that include provisions for
Atlas 5 launch vehicles provided as
government-furnished equipment.
About the NRO: Headquartered in Chantilly, Virginia, the
National Reconnaissance Office develops
and operates overhead reconnaissance
systems and conducts intelligence-related
activities for U.S. national Security.
NRO Uses: The NRO is the nation's eyes and ears in
space, supporting policy makers, the Armed
Services, the Intelligence Community,
Departments of State, Justice and
Treasury, and civil agencies. All of them
depend on the unique capabilities NRO
systems provide.
NRO Capabilities: - Monitoring the proliferation of weapons of
mass destruction
- Tracking international terrorists, drug
traffickers, and criminal organizations
- Developing highly accurate military
targeting data and bomb damage assessments
- Supporting international peacekeeping and
humanitarian relief operations
- Assessing the impact of natural disasters,
such as earthquakes, tsunamis, floods and
fires.
NRO Constellations: Exquisite-class electro-optical and
radar-imaging observatories,
geosynchronous and Molniya-orbit
eavesdropping platforms, ocean
surveillance network and data-relay
support spacecraft
* Launch statistics *
- The 656th launch for Atlas program since 1957
- The 359th Atlas launch from Cape Canaveral
- The 245th mission of a Centaur upper stage
- The 222nd use of Centaur by an Atlas rocket
- The 483rd production RL10 engine to be launched
- The 22nd RL10C-1 engine launched
- The 80th flight of an RD-180 main engine
- The 94-95th AJ-60 solid rocket booster flown
- The 74th launch of an Atlas 5 since 2002
- The 16th National Reconnaissance Office use of Atlas 5
- The 60th launch of an Atlas 5 from Cape Canaveral
- The 6th Atlas 5 launch of 2017
- The 109th Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle flight
- The 26th EELV flight for National Reconnaissance Office
- The 122nd United Launch Alliance flight overall
- The 66th Atlas 5 under United Launch Alliance
- The 88th United Launch Alliance flight from Cape Canaveral
- The 26th NRO launch by United Launch Alliance
- The 51st 400-series flight of the Atlas 5
- The 7th Atlas 5 to fly in the 421 configuration
- The 87th launch from Complex 41
- The 60th Atlas 5 to use Complex 41
- The 49th NRO launch since acknowledging flights in 1996
- The 24th acknowledged NRO launch from Cape Canaveral
- The 4th NRO launch this year
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