Conference 7.286::space

    What is the  $$/lb  for the shuttle?

From: [email protected]
Date: 1 Apr 91 22:58:59 GMT

	EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. (UPI) -- A 110-foot developmental solid
rocket motor scheduled for use in the Titan 4 program was destroyed
during its inaugural test-firing Monday.
	No injuries were reported in the incident, which occurred at 1:17 p.
m. PST on a test stand used by the Air Force's Phillips Laboratory on
the eastern end of the 301,000-acre desert base.
	Dennis Shoffner, an Air Force spokesman, said the motor was
undergoing its first static, or in-place, test firing.
	Damage was confined to the motor and the test stand.
	Shoffner said the cause of the explosion was not immediately known,
adding that an Air Force investigative board would be appointed to
review what happened.
	Air Force emergency crews maintained their positions at the scene as
the day wore on, apparently to ensure that the incident remained
contained.
	Shoffner said base officials determined that the incident posed no
danger to residents in any of the communities that surround the base,
including Boron, North Edwards or California City.
	There are no rocket launch facilities at Edwards. All testing is
conducted in a static mode to measure rocket motor thrust levels and
performance.

    I saw a news shot on CNN played today (4/2) during lunch - what a
    blast.  They will probably show it on tonight's news.
    
    Joe
    

Apparently a Titan 4 carrying a Lacross spy satellite was launched from VAFB
yesterday and exploded at around T+2 minutes.  It fell into the Pacific.  They
claimed it exploded by itself, and was not commanded to self-destruct by the RSO.

Burns

    do you know the time of the launch, trying to figure out what type
    of bird it was carring...
    

Sorry, I don't know.  I saw this in the Globe, and I don't think it said.  There
may be more in the NYT article referenced in the following posting:

From: [email protected] (Paul Dietz)
Subject:  Titan IV Failure
Message-ID: <[email protected]>
Organization: Computer Science Department University of Rochester
Date: Tue, 3 Aug 1993 16:21:22 GMT
Lines: 11

The NY Times reports the Air Force lost a Titan IV yesterday (8/2/93).
The rocket, carrying a secret payload (speculated to be a Lacrosse
radar satellite) exploded 2 minutes after launch from Vandenburg.  The
rocket blew itself up without deliberate activation of the range
safety system.  Col. Frank Stirling, manager of the Titan IV program,
said that while the cause of the accident is not known, the solid
rocket boosters appeared to separate prematurely just before the
explosion.

	Paul F. Dietz
	[email protected]

This is from "Jonathan's Space Report, no. 163 (revised)", Jonathan McDowell
at Harvard.


A Titan 4 blew up one minute 41 seconds after launch on Aug 2, and is
being billed as the most expensive space accident since the loss of
Challenger. According to the New York Times, the  payload was not a
LACROSSE as originally thought, but an advanced Naval Ocean Surveillance
Satellite system. This system, consisting of three satellites which
maintain a fixed distance from each other to carry out interferometric
location of radio signals from ships, is the third in a
second-generation series. In the first generation, WHITECLOUD, which
flew from 1976 to 1987, the three satellites were reportedly physically
connected by long (several km!) wires to a central deployer core, 
the configuration being visible in binoculars from the ground as a 
fixed pattern moving across the sky. The details of the new generation 
are not yet clear.

Launch of the Titan 4 was from Space Launch Complex
4-East at Vandenberg AFB, California. This is the seventh
Titan 4 launch and its first failure. The largest Titan 4
variant, the Titan 401/Centaur, has been stuck on the pad
at Cape Canaveral for over a year because of various delays;
this setback will certainly delay the launch even further.

Titan 4 launches:

1       1989 Jun 15     Titan 402/IUS   DSP F14 early warning
2       1990 Jun  8     Titan 405       Advanced Ocean Surveillance
3       1990 Nov 13     Titan 402/IUS   DSP F15 early warning
4       1991 Mar  8     Titan 403       LACROSSE 2
5       1991 Nov  8     Titan 403       Advanced Ocean Surveillance
6       1992 Nov 28     Titan 404/TPA   Advanced CRYSTAL spy sat?
7       1993 Aug  2     Titan 403       Advanced Ocean Surveillance

First Generation WHITECLOUD launches:

Test vehicle       1971 Dec 14          983x999x70      1971-110A,C,D,E

NOSS 1             1976 Apr 30          1092x1128x63    1976-38 A,C,D,J
NOSS 2             1977 Dec  8          1054x1169x63    1977-112A,D,E,F
NOSS 3             1980 Mar  3          1048x1166x63    1980-19 A,C,D,G 
NOSS 4                  Dec  9          -       -
NOSS 5             1983 Feb  9          1052x1168x63    1983-08 A,E,F,H
NOSS 6                  Jun  9          1051x1170x63    1983-56 A,C,D,G
NOSS 7             1984 Feb  5          1052x1172x63.4  1984-12 A,C,D,F
NOSS 8             1986 Feb  9          1049x1166x63.0  1986-14 A,E,F,H
NOSS 9             1987 May 15          1045x1179x63    1987-43 A,E,F,H

Article: 2152
From: [email protected] (UPI)
Newsgroups: clari.tw.space,clari.local.california,clari.tw.aerospace
Subject: Air Force to launch communications satellite
Date: Fri, 4 Feb 94 16:04:19 PST
 
	SUNNYVALE, Calif. (UPI) -- Barring technical glitches or bad
weather, the U.S. Air Force will launch the first of its
next-generation Milstar communications satellites Saturday. 

	Built by Lockheed Missiles and Space Co. of Sunnyvale, the
10,000- pound spacecraft will be the first of two to be sent into
orbit to enable U.S. military forces to communicate with each other
from anywhere in the world. 

	The first Milstar Block I satellite will be launched from Cape
Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla. and sent into orbit by a Titan IV
booster mated to a Centaur upper stage.

	The second will be launched by the end of the decade.

	Later in the decade, second-generation Block II satellites with
greater communications capability will be sent into orbit.

	Lockheed officials said the satellites will be able to transmit
voice, data and imagery and provide teleconferencing services.

	They said Operation Desert Storm in Kuwait three years ago
showed the need for tactical command and control operations, better
data for ``smart weapons'' and improved links between field-operable
computer systems. 

	The Milstar system boasts equipment and terminals that can
quickly adjust to changing demands; security for U.S. transmissions
that enemies cannot easily intercept, and protected command and control 
links between national command officials and forces in the field. 

RE: <<< Note 632.8 by VERGA::KLAES "Quo vadimus?" >>>

Today's Boston Globe reported that the Milstar was launched. No mention was
made of problems, so I assume it's up and away OK.
						-- Tom

Article: 15428
From: [email protected] (IRENE BROWN, UPI Science Writer)
Newsgroups: clari.tw.space,clari.tw.aerospace,clari.news.military
Subject: Titan rocket blasts off
Date: Mon, 7 Feb 94 15:02:25 PST
 
	CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (UPI) -- A powerful Titan 4 rocket -- the
nation's biggest unmanned booster -- blasted off Monday, carrying the
first communications satellite designed to outlast nuclear war. 

	The 18-story rocket hurled off its Cape Canaveral Air Force Station
launch pad at 4:46 p.m., the first flight of the beleaguered booster
since an August 1993 explosion two minutes after liftoff from Vandenberg
Air Force Base, Calif. The failure was blamed on an inadequate preflight
booster repair job.

	Monday's Titan launch was the eighth in a $26-billion program to wean
military payloads off of NASA's space shuttles. However, program delays
have diminished Titan's popularity in Congress, as its price tag soared.

	The last launch of a Titan 4 from Cape Canaveral took place more than
three years ago. In the interim, rockets rusted and surpassed their
design lifetimes on the launch pad and had to be replaced.

	Problems with the Centaur upper-stage booster, which is making its
debut Titan flight on the rocket launched Monday, also delayed the
program while investigators probed Centaur failures during Atlas rocket
launches in 1991 and 1992. The upper-stage booster provides the final
push to deposit satellites into their proper high-altitude orbits.

	The Titan rocket launched Monday carries a $1-billion Milstar
communications satellite, a controversial program initiated a decade ago
to provide the president and Pentagon chiefs a secure, jam-resistant
link during nuclear war.

	With the demise of the Soviet Union and the Cold War thaw, critics
say Milstar is no longer needed. But program managers argue the six-
spacecraft system is still vital, providing a needed service for
conventional tactical warfare.

	Milstar's features include large maneuvering engines to evade attack
and communications equipment resistant to electromagnetic disturbances
caused by nuclear explosions.

Having worked on Milstar, all I can say is "Hot Damn!".

Article: 4005
From: [email protected] (AP)
Newsgroups: clari.local.florida,clari.tw.space,clari.news.usa.military
Subject: Air Force Launches Spy Rocket
Date: Tue, 3 May 94 10:10:33 PDT
 
	CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) -- After numerous delays, America's
most powerful unmanned rocket blasted off Tuesday carrying a spy
satellite for the Pentagon. 

	The Titan 4 thundered into a hazy sky at 11:55 a.m. from Cape
Canaveral Air Station, and the satellite quickly was boosted into
orbit as planned, officials said. It was the fourth launch attempt in
less than two weeks. 

	``It feels great,'' said Lt. Col. Craig McAlister, launch director. 

	The Air Force had kept the exact launch time secret for
security reasons and refused to disclose details about the satellite
on board. But some military space observers believe it's an electronic
eavesdropping craft. 

	The 20-story rocket arced out over the Atlantic Ocean and
headed to the northeast, skirting the eastern seaboard. Its course had
it passing briefly over the eastern tip of Newfoundland. 

	Air Force officials expected the spent rocket stages to land
in the Atlantic more than 200 miles off the Canadian coast. 

	The first three launch attempts were thwarted by technical
problems and bad weather. 

	Air Force officials said the satellite launched Tuesday should
have gone up on a Titan 4 hauled to the pad in June 1991. Rocket
problems, however, forced the payload to be transferred to other Titan
vehicles, prompting a long and expensive wait. 

	This is the second Titan 4 flight this year and the ninth
since the Air Force launched the first in 1989. The rockets were
grounded for months after a Titan 4 exploded shortly after liftoff
last August in California. 

Article: 4006
From: [email protected] (Reuter/Beth Dickey)
Newsgroups: clari.local.florida,clari.tw.space,clari.news.usa.military
Subject: Titan Rocket Lofts Spy Satellite on Fourth Try
Date: Tue, 3 May 94 10:30:41 PDT
 
	 CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla (Reuter) - An Air Force Titan 4 rocket
blasted off Tuesday, bound for orbit with a mysterious military cargo
believed to be a $1 billion eavesdropping satellite equipped with
monster-sized antenna. 

	 The powerful Martin Marietta rocket darted skyward from the
Cape Canaveral Air Station at 11:55 a.m. EDT after three delays due to
technical problems and bad weather. 

	 The most recent delay was April 26 when ground computers
halted a countdown 17 seconds from liftoff. The computers detected low
voltage in a battery that powers the rocket's self-destruct safety
system. The battery was replaced. 

	 About six hours after launch, the rocket's Centaur upper
stage was to release the classified cargo into an orbit often used by
spy satellites. 

	 Citing national security concerns, the Air Force refused to
say exactly what was aboard the Titan 4. However, published reports
have identified the payload as a gigantic signals intelligence
satellite, code-named Aquacade, equipped with an antenna as long as a
football field. 

	 The antenna would allow it to listen in on private telephone
conversations, radio chatter and other satellite transmissions to gather 
information about missile tests and nuclear blasts, the reports say. 

	 The satellite was nearly three years late in getting off the
ground.  The original Titan 4 that was to have placed it in orbit was
hauled to a seaside launch pad in June 1991. 

	 The rocket rusted and had to be replaced twice during 34
months of subsequent delays caused by problems loading the satellite,
problems with the launch pad and investigations into the failures of
two Centaurs and a Titan 4. 

	 Tuesday's launch was the ninth of a Titan 4 since June 1989,
when the Department of Defense began the program as an alternative to
the manned space shuttle.