SPACE.com -- Russia Launches Weather Satellite; U.S. Navy Tests Nuclear Missiles


	Russia Launches Weather Satellite; U.S. Navy Tests Nuclear Missiles By SPACE.com Staff posted: 04:00 pm ET 10 December 2001

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- A Russian weather satellite and four secondary payloads were carried into Earth orbit Monday riding atop a Ukranian-built rocket launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, while the U.S. Navy on Sunday test fired a quartet of Trident missiles off the Florida coast.

According to Russian news reports, the Russian Space Forces launched the Zenit 2 booster at 12:36 p.m. EST (1736 GMT) and the satellites were successfully deployed into their intended sun-synchronous orbits some 632 miles (1,018 kilometers) above the planet.

Interfax reported that the Zenit 2 put into orbit the Meteor-3M satellite, which also carries the Sage-3 American instrument for studying the Earth's ozone layer, as well as one Moroccan, one Pakistani and two Russian micro-satellites named Compass and Reflector.

Among Meteor 3M's duties: help improve weather forecasts, discovery cyclones and tropical storms in the ocean, help select the best navigation routes for ships and planes, and observe the borders of the ice crust in the Arctic.

Meanwhile, a classified launch Sunday off of Florida's Space Coast in the Atlantic Ocean was reported on Monday to be a complete success.

According to missile builder Lockheed Martin, four unarmed U.S. Navy Trident 1 C4 Submarine Launched Ballistic Missiles were successfully test fired from the USS Ohio.

The dummy missile flight tests were the latest in an ongoing series of operational evaluation tests conducted by the U.S. Navy during the past four decades to monitor the safety, reliability, readiness and performance of the Trident 1 weapon system.

The Trident 1 C4's are scheduled to be retired from strategic service in 2005 in favor of the more modern, accurate and supportable Trident 2 D5 missile system, which is currently deployed in the Atlantic fleet. The four missiles represented the 218th through 221st test firings of the Trident 1.

"These missile tests demonstrate to our adversaries, who ever they might be, that the U.S. continues to maintain a credible, robust strategic nuclear deterrent," said Tom Morton, vice president, strategic missile programs, Lockheed Martin Space Systems.

The Trident 1 is a three-stage, solid fueled ballistic missile that is 34 feet long and 74 inches in diameter. It can fly about 4,000 miles and carry up to eight nuclear explosives.

The Navy selected Lockheed Martin Space Systems as its prime missile system manufacturer in 1955. Since then, the Fleet Ballistic Missile team has produced all variants of the Polaris, Poseidon and Trident missile for the Navy.