WASHINGTON The U WASHINGTON The U.S. Air Force Jan. 23 postponed indefinitely the launch of a new weather satellite after detecting a problem in the spacecrafts guidance system at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California.
Liftoff of the $93 million Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) spacecraft was called off late Jan. 22 after a problem was detected with the onboard guidance system, according to Jack Hokanson, a public affairs officer at Vandenberg.
It was the third postponement during the past week after problems with ground support equipment at Space Launch Complex 4 West halted the first two attempts.
The planned Jan. 19 launch of the
DMSP spacecraft was delayed a day because of a problem with a cable that allows controllers to send commands to the rocket. With about three minutes remaining before blastoff Jan. 20, a hold was called when controllers could not send a command to the satellite. The DMSP satellites weather sensors will be able to sweep over Earths surface once every 12 hours, providing up-to-the-minute forecasting information to Air Force, Army, Navy and Marine Corps ground stations and ships at sea anywhere in the world.
Although the DMSP program is managed by the Air Force at Los Angeles Air Force Base, the satellite will be operated by a team of military and civilian controllers at a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration facility in Suitland, Maryland.
The most recent DMSP launch was Dec. 12, 1999, and more than 30 of the spacecraft have been launched since 1966, according to Al Lauer, director of weather satellite programs with
Lockheed Martin Corp. [LMT], Bethesda, Maryland."Our partnership with the Air Force goes back to the very beginning of the DMSP program with a common goal of ensuring that commanders have access to environmental data critical to the preparation and execution of military operations," Lauer said in a prepared statement.
The launch vehicle to be used in this latest mission is a refurbished
Titan 2 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) that sat on alert in an underground silo at McConnell Air Force Base in Kansas from 1967 to 1986. The Titan 2 missile was developed during the 1950s to carry nuclear bombs from the United States to any point on Earth, especially the Soviet Union.More than 140 of the missiles eventually were placed in buried silos all over the nation to sit and wait for the order to fly. A modified version of the Titan 2 also was used by NASA during Project Gemini.
Eventually replaced by the Minuteman and submarine-launched Trident missiles, most of the Titan 2s were removed from their launch bunkers and dismantled or destroyed. But in January 1986 the Air Force awarded a $659 million contract to Lockheed Martin to convert 14 of the ICBMs into space launchers.
advertisement
