Watch a Satellite Launch from Wallops

[Yazata]

It's a little unusual, since most go from Cape Canaveral and the rest from Vandenberg.

This one will be a Northrup-Grumman Minotaur IV rocket, carrying several National Reconaissance Office spy satellite payloads. Launch window opens at 9 AM EDT (6 AM PDT, 13:00 UTC). They say that they will live stream it on the NASAWallops Youtube channel.

https://www.youtube.com/user/NASAWallops

Apparently all of Northrup-Grumman's launches go from Wallops, which is also going to be Rocketlab's American launch site. Northrup has already been launching a series of supply capsules to the International Space Station from Wallops.

The National Reconaissance Office has actually produced a rather good press-kit for this launch, something that nobody seems to remember them doing for earlier spy satellite launches.

https://www.nro.gov/Portals/65/documents...134345-553

The Minotaur IV is an interesting rocket. Unlike most satellite launchers, it uses solid rocket engines. Apparently Minotaur IV's are modified decommissioned ICBMs. Solid rocket engines have lots of drawbacks for space vehicles, such as inability to throttle them, inability to shut them off or restart them, but they are good for ICBMs since they store well for long periods in silos) Another unusual feature is that this is a four stage rocket. (Most satellite launchers are two stage and sometimes three.)

And something new seems to be happening with the National Reconnaissance Office. Historically, Cold War spy satellites were huge and incredibly expensive. (The size of a bus and costing upwards of $1 billion each.) Only the most capable and reliable rockets could launch them. Now the NRO is suddenly launching lots of small satellites. (They've even put cubesat-size payloads on Rocketlab's Electron.) I guess that small commercial photo-imaging satellites have been getting better and better, and cheaper and cheaper. So the NRO is exploring various kinds of newer technology. Plus the NRO probably puts up lots of small "ferret" satellites that capture radio communications, radar emissions and stuff like that. Maybe even cell-phone traffic.

(National Reconnaissance Office Photos)

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[Yazata]

9:11 EDT - currently holding at t - 15 minutes. Reason is that two boats have intruded into the exclusion area. Apparently the Coast Guard isn't as good at controlling access as they are at Cape Canaveral. Otherwise, the rocket is looking good for launch.

9:30 EDT - countdown has resumed. Launch should be at 9:46 AM EDT - Prelaunch poll taken, all 'go'.

Edit: Wow, that was different!! The thing just jumped off the pad and immediately pitched over at a steep angle. It hit mach 1 at 17 seconds where Falcon 9's take more than a minute. Solid rocket engines have a crazy-high thrust to weight ratio. (Twice a Falcon 9) The ICBM ancestry is obvious in how it immediately got away from the pad and headed downrange.

https://twitter.com/NASASpaceflight/stat...4090515459

Edit 2: Mission is a success, satellites are up. Interesting fact --- this rocket was originally built as a Peacekeeper ICBM in 1988. It's 32 years old and still worked great.

NASA Wallops livestream

https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/KUUc6rYpm4U

NSF has another livestream at

https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/1__7QidQhFI