Saturday, April 6, 2013
Friday, April 5, 2013
USA-212
2010-015A
The Boeing Phantom Works/HB Orbital Test Vehicle X-37B will be launched on Atlas V 501 for a reentry and landing test. Developed under AFRL-Kirtland's Military Spaceplane Technology Program and the Air Vehicle Directorate at WPAFB; flight control by USAF Space Command and DARPA.
Flight control by AFSC 3rd Space Experimental Sqn.
Shape half-cylinder + wings + fin Launch by EELV inside fairing 8.8m long 4.5m span 2.9m high 2.0? dia. Mass 5000 kg.
Atlas V 501 has CCB, Centaur with RL10A-4-2, and 5-m fairing with the CFLR (Centaur Forward Load Reactor)
The flight demonstrates GN&C; systems with autonomous reentry and runway landing, lightweight high-temperature structures for the heat shield, plus on-orbit thermal and attitude control tests. Landing is at Vandenberg, with Edwards as a backup.
N2O4/hydrazine propulsion.
AV-012 went to solar orbit. Ted M calculates a burn rate of 22.454 kg/s so 3323 kg of prop used in the second burn. Assume a 2673 kg empty mass (inert is 2086 kg but does not include some adapters?) gives us dV =3569 m/s.
The UN registration document gives an orbit of 393 x 417 x 40.0 deg for OTV 1, and 393 x 417 km x 33.0 deg for the Centaur rocket - the 33.0 inclination may be an error or disinformation.
| X-37B | |||
| Date | Time | Event | Orbit |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 Apr 22 | 2352:00 | Launch by Atlas V 501 | CC SLC41 |
| T+3:37 Fairing sep | |||
| T+3:44 CFLR sep | |||
| T+4:25 Atlas BECO | |||
| T+4:30 Atlas sep | |||
| 2356 | T+4:41 Centaur MES-1 | ||
| 2010 Apr 23 | |||
| 0008 | 428 km alt, 4158 km range, Vrel 7.2070 km/s | ||
| 0009 | T+17:18 Centaur MECO-1 400 x 450 km? x 40.0 ? | ||
| 0010 | Centaur sep | |
| 0037:10 | Centaur MES-2 2:28 depletion | ||
| 0039:37 | Centaur MECO-2, escape | 403 x -104242 x 40.0 | |
| 0110? | Payload bay open | ||
| 0125? | Solar array deploy | ||
| 0957 | Centaur pass EL1:4 | ||
| 2010 Apr 27 | 0030? | Centaur depart E sphere (1 sigma high) | |
| 2010 Apr 28 | 0900? | Centaur depart E sphere | |
| 2010 May 4 | 1800? | Centaur depart E sphere (1 sigma low) | |
| 2010 May 20 | Discovered in orbit | 398 x 419 x 40.0 | |
| 2010 May 23 | 398 x 419 x 40.0 | ||
| 2010 Aug 9 | 403 x 420 x 40 | ||
| 2010 Aug 9 | 1712 | Burn over 40S 98E | 420 x 445 x 40 |
| 1758 | Burn over 40N 100W | 432 x 445 x 40 | |
| 2010 Dec 3 | 0800? | Payload bay close | |
| 0822? | Deorbit | ||
| 0850? | Reentry | ||
| 0916 | Landing at VAFB | ||