New age of Military SATCOM
 

Starts today.......Hopefully!:D Launch is from Canaveral.

Here is the Webcast URL:

:::: United Launch Alliance, LLC ::::

First MUOS Launch is currently scheduled for:

Thursday, February 16, 2012
5:46 p.m. – 6:30pm (EST)

The live simulcast of the launch broadcast will begin at:

5:26 p.m. – 6:30pm (EST)

2:26 p.m. – 3:30pm (PST)

Best wishes on a successful launch and orbital insertion!

Thanks Jim. My pins and needles will start when they turn on the Ka after getting the SV into the test slot. 24/7 on call for about three weeks once that happens....

Can't imagine how I'd be feeling right now if I was involved in building the bird or getting her up there...:eek:

another link here with streaming Launch control status..:cool:

Spaceflight Now | Atlas Launch Report | Mission Status Center

Fingers crossed - I'm sure the pressure / anxiety is high for you right now, so I hope it goes smoothly for your bird, Michael! SmileWavy

The first bird was delayed a couple of years....What's one more day.:D

Launch scrubbed due to weather. Yeah, I'm used to that from my days living near Kennedy Space Center. No worries, Michael. It'll be fine.

Waiting here for lift off, and it didn't happen. Where in my life has that ever happened before? NOT!

have you considered Viagra? :D

Congratulations Michael, but what does this mean, RE: new age?

About 25 years ago, I did a study of the air impacts of the rockets at Canaveral, IIRC, the steam that you see coming off of the launch pad is because they flood it with water to prevent reflected heat from melting the rocket. The pH of the steam is about 1, like battery acid. A big part of the launch sequence, besides upper atmosphere considerations, is where the wind is blowing at the ground level.

Shaun, blue pills are something I definitely don't need. But thanks for your concern. :)

It's a brand new global military satcom constellation.

3G Cellular like multimedia links over satcom without the portable terminals for the warfighter on the ground. Mobile links will still use portable terminals. The increased capacity is through the bandwidth made possible by the frequencies used and the waveform structure. It also has legacy payloads to transition from the original UFO constellation.

My GD group designed, built and tested the main Earth Station Terminals (18M antennas) along with the associated RF equipment. Sister groups in Texas provided the antenna drive system and the equipment monitoring system. We just finished up our third site and have one left. I've been on the program 100% since we were awarded our contract in early 2005. LM is the prime and my parent GD company (technically my customer:p) has the whole ground transport segment.

Hopefully, third time is the charm. :cool: We have the pad! Launch windows for Tomorrow, Sat and Sun.

Spaceflight Now | Atlas Launch Report | Mission Status Center

80% chance today predicted.:)

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1330102856.jpg

Fingers crossed...in and amongst my helo flying, I was an Aerospace Engineering Duty Officer in the Nav so I bet we know a lot of the same folks

I've had the pleasure to work with several of the SPAWAR guys on this program.SmileWavy It's been 20 plus since I discharged but, I remember how excited we were to get LNAs in our systems instead of all the old parametric amps and of course the WSC-3s:D. Nothin like getting the new guys up on the O-10 at night for the "Satellite Watch":D;)

Televised?

Live streaming closer to the launch and major launch prep milestones updates. See post 11 for that link.

There is another site that is streaming (with a one to two second delay from the other site) that has better screen resolution:

:::: United Launch Alliance, LLC ::::

T-4 hold.......

Looking really good.:cool:

t-2

LETS GO!!!!

That was awesome. I love watching that stuff.

On board video is pretty cool as well.

We use the same STK software but, not for flight simulation obviously...