The U.S. Air Force’s fifth Advanced Extremely High Frequency satellite, designed for secure, jam-resistant communications, is set for launch aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket. These photos show the AEHF 5 satellite during encapsulation inside the Atlas 5’s payload shroud.
The AEHF 5 satellite, built by Lockheed Martin, will join four other satellites in the Air Force’s protecting communications network providing secure data, voice and video links to the military and government leaders.
The spacecraft weighs around 13,600 pounds (6,168 kilograms) fully fueled. The Atlas 5 rocket set to launch with the AEHF 5 satellite will fly in the “551” configuration — the most powerful Atlas 5 variant — with a 5.4 meter (17.7-foot) diameter payload fairing produced by Ruag Space and five solid rocket boosters from Aerojet Rocketdyne.
The AEHF 5 communications satellite was encapsulated inside the Atlas 5 rocket’s payload fairing in early June at the Astrotech payload processing facility in Titusville, Florida. Credit: Lockheed MartinThe AEHF 5 communications satellite was encapsulated inside the Atlas 5 rocket’s payload fairing in early June at the Astrotech payload processing facility in Titusville, Florida. Credit: Lockheed MartinThe AEHF 5 communications satellite was encapsulated inside the Atlas 5 rocket’s payload fairing in early June at the Astrotech payload processing facility in Titusville, Florida. Credit: Lockheed MartinThe AEHF 5 communications satellite was encapsulated inside the Atlas 5 rocket’s payload fairing in early June at the Astrotech payload processing facility in Titusville, Florida. Credit: Lockheed MartinThe AEHF 5 communications satellite was encapsulated inside the Atlas 5 rocket’s payload fairing in early June at the Astrotech payload processing facility in Titusville, Florida. Credit: Lockheed MartinThe AEHF 5 communications satellite was encapsulated inside the Atlas 5 rocket’s payload fairing in early June at the Astrotech payload processing facility in Titusville, Florida. Credit: Lockheed Martin
An innovative commercial Capella radar observation spacecraft with night vision and a small payload from the California-based smallsat manufacturer Tyvak are set to ride into orbit from Florida’s Space Coast Saturday with 52 more Starlink internet satellites on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.
The sixth and final satellite in the U.S. military’s most secure satellite communications fleet lifted off from Cape Canaveral Thursday aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket, extending the network’s expected lifetime beyond 2030.
Continuing support of the International Space Station amid the coronavirus pandemic, Russian teams transferred a Soyuz rocket to a launch pad in Kazakhstan on Wednesday in preparation for liftoff with a Progress resupply freighter.
