By Todd HalvorsonVideo of the launch.
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. A multimillion Navy satellite that can instantaneously beam spy satellite photos, intelligence reports and missile warning alerts to troops around the world is hovering high above Earth after a night-owl rocket launch from Floridas coastal spaceport late Monday.
Mounted atop a 15-story Atlas rocket, the advanced Navy communications satellite blasted off from Cape Canaveral Air Stations complex 36B at 11:06 p.m ET and then blazed a fiery trail through starry black skies as it arced out over the Atlantic Ocean on its way into space.
About a half an hour after launch, the Lockheed Martin rocket was to have dropped off the UHF Follow-On spacecraft in an orbit with a high point of about 14,000 miles, marking a successful start for the $200 million satellite-delivery mission.
A series of thruster firings will be carried out over the next couple of weeks to boost the satellite into an orbit 22,300 miles above the Indian Ocean. The crafts power-producing solar arrays and communications antennas then will be unfurled as ground controllers begin extensive satellite systems tests.
If all goes well, the satellite will be turned over to the Navy in about 90 days. At that point, it will join eight others in a $2 billion satellite constellation the Navy has been building since 1993.
Made by Hughes Space & Communications Co. of El Segundo, Calif., the satellite is the 10th in a series of advanced spacecraft that enable U.S. Navy ships, submarines and aircraft to communicate anytime, anywhere on Earth.
The first seven in the series were designed to link naval forces on tactical missions around the world with Ultra High Frequency communications capability. One of those spacecraft failed to reach its intended orbit and was declared useless after a botched $172 million mission in March 1993. "This system is in great demand," said U.S. Navy Capt. James Loiselle, who manages the UHF Follow-On satellite program. "And in reality we cant satisfy all the needs with that system today."
Those spacecraft also were equipped with what is know as an EHF or Extremely High Frequency payload designed specifically to thwart enemy attempts to electronically jam U.S. Navy communications.
"Its a very powerful system," Loiselle said. It supplements the same type of anti-jamming capability provided to U.S. armed forces by the Air Forces $1 billion Milstar military communications satellites.
Yet another advanced communications package was added to the most-recent version of UHF Follow-On satellites. The reason: U.S. military commanders encountered difficulty transmitting large amounts of data in a timely fashion during the 1991 Persian Gulf War.
For a total cost of $150 million, the Navy outfitted those satellites with a communications package based on the same technology that enables commercial companies to deliver satellite television programming directly to homes.
Dubbed the Global Broadcast System, the package will enable the Navy to deliver maps, messages, missile warning alerts, strike orders and other information in seconds or minutes rather than hours or days.
Battlefield management plans and near real-time intelligence imagery can be transmitted just as rapidly, and the satellites also can be used to broadcast events such as the Super Bowl to troops overseas.
The first two UHF Follow-On satellite with the advanced broadcast system were launched from Cape Canaveral in 1998 and placed in orbits over the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. With the new satellite over the Indian Ocean, the Navy will have near-global coverage for its satellite broadcast system.
The Navy earlier this month ordered an 11th and final UHF Follow-On satellite from Hughes. That spacecraft is to be launched in October 2003.
Four companies including Hughes now are conducting studies that could lead to a multi-year, multi-billion-dollar production contract for a new generation of advanced Navy communications satellites. The contract is expected to be awarded in 2003.
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