ULA Launches Atlas V Rocket for USSF-51 – Final National Security Mission

31st Jul 2024
ULA Launches Atlas V Rocket for USSF-51 – Final National Security Mission

On 30 July the United Launch Alliance (ULA) successfully launched a secret mission USSF-51 for the U.S. Space Force. The Atlas V rocket lifted off at 6:45 a.m. ET (11:45 a.m. BST) from the Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

The Atlas V flew eastward on a trajectory used to fly payloads to a geosynchronous equatorial orbit 35,786 kilometres above Earth. 

ULA’s Secret Mission: What Do We Know About It?

As USSF-51 is a classified national security mission, details about it remain top secret. However, it is known that past Atlas V national security launches from Florida have flown satellites used for secure communications by the United States Armed Forces along with missile warning and signals intelligence spacecraft.

Atlas V rocket
ULA’s Atlas V rocket for the United States Space Force USSF-51 mission rolls from the Vertical Integration Facility (VIF) to the launch pad at Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida. Credit: ULA

The Final National Security Launch of Atlas V Rocket

ULA cooperates with the U.S. Space Force and has flown 100 national security missions over the last 18 years using the Delta II, Delta IV, and Atlas V rocket families. USSF-51 is ULA’s 100th national security launch.

Atlas V is a launch system and the fifth major version in the Atlas launch vehicle family. It was designed by Lockheed Martin as part of the U.S. Air Force Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) program and made its inaugural flight on 21 August 2002. Since 2006 it has been operated by ULA and flew its first U.S. national security mission in 2007.

Each Atlas V launch vehicle consists of two main stages. The first stage was powered by a single Russian RD-180 engine burning kerosene and liquid oxygen. However, after the Russian invasion and annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula in 2014, the RD-180 was replaced with Blue Origin’s BE-4 engine.

ULA’s Atlas V rocket booster
Five solid rocket boosters (SRBs) are mounted onto the ULA’s Atlas V rocket that will launch the USSF-51 mission for the Space Force’s Space Systems Command. Credit: ULA

While it will be the last national security mission for Atlas V, it still has 15 more launches planned before the retirement. Most of the remaining Atlas V flights will be for Project Kuiper broadband satellites and Starliner. 

What’s next?

The US Space Force plans to use ULA’s new Vulcan Centaur rocket for NSSL launches. The Vulcan is designed to fly the full range of missions that had been done by the Atlas V and Delta IV families.

Vulcan has already launched one flight of Astrobotic’s Peregrine moon lander in January this year. The launch was successful, but Peregrine ran into problems shortly after getting into space and did not reach the moon as planned. So, now the vehicle needs to pass some tests to be certified. The first Vulcan’s flight for national security payloads is planned for this September already.

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