SpaceX launched a army climate satellite tv for pc designed to exchange growing old satellites from a program relationship again to the Nineteen Sixties. The USA Area Pressure-62 (USSF-62) mission featured the launch of the primary Climate System Observe-on Microwave (WSF-M) spacecraft.
Liftoff of the Falcon 9 rocket from Area Launch Complicated 4 East (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Area Pressure Base occurred at 7:25 a.m. PDT (10:25 a.m. EDT (1425 UTC), which was the opening of a 10-minute launch window.
The booster supporting this Nationwide Safety Area Launch (NSSL) mission, B1082 within the SpaceX fleet, made its third flight after beforehand launching the Starlink 7-9 and 7-14 missions this yr.
“We’re completely thrilled be out right here on the Central Coast, with an outstanding workforce primed and able to launch the U.S.-62 satellite tv for pc. It has an vital mission forward of it and we’re excited for flight-proven Falcon 9 to ship the satellite tv for pc to orbit,” mentioned Col. Jim Horne, senior materiel chief for the Area System Command’s Launch Execution Delta, in a press release. “And on this mission, we’re utilizing a first-stage booster whose historical past is solely business.”
About eight minutes after liftoff, B1082 touched down at Touchdown Zone 4 (LZ-4). This was the seventeenth land touchdown in California and the 295th booster touchdown for SpaceX.
A big milestone for the corporate on the U.S.-62 mission was the usage of flight-proven payload fairings, which can be a primary for an NSSL mission. They beforehand flew on the U.S.-52 mission, which featured the launch of the X-37B spaceplane from NASA’s Kennedy Area Heart in December 2023.
“With every nationwide safety launch, we add to America’s capabilities and enhance its deterrence within the face of rising threats,” Horne said.
USSF-62 was considered one of three missions granted to SpaceX in Could 2022 as a part of the NSSL Part 2 Order Yr 3 award, which collectively are valued at $309.7 million. SpaceX launched USSF-124 in February 2024 and can doubtless launch the SDA-Tranche 1 satellites later this yr.
Subsequent-generation climate sensing
Ball Aerospace, the producer of the WSF-M, mentioned the spacecraft’s major payload is a passive microwave radiometer, which has been demonstrated on earlier spacecraft. It additionally boasts a 1.8 meter antenna, which mixed with the first instrument permit the spacecraft to handle so-called “space-based environmental monitoring (SBEM) gaps.”
It’s capabilities will present priceless data for safeguarding the property of america and its allies, primarily in ocean settings.
“The WSF-M satellite tv for pc is a strategic answer tailor-made to handle three high-priority Division of Protection SBEM gaps – particularly, ocean floor vector winds, tropical cyclone depth, and energetic charged particles in low Earth orbit,” mentioned David Betz, WSF-M program supervisor, SSC Area Sensing, in a press release. “Past these major capabilities, our devices additionally present very important information on sea ice characterization, soil moisture, and snow depth.”
Deployment of USSF-62’s Climate System Observe-on – Microwave Area Automobile confirmed pic.twitter.com/M9DX2A9XOW
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) April 11, 2024
The spacecraft is “based mostly on the Ball Configurable Platform” and features a International Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Microwave Imager (GMI) sensor and an Energetic Charged Particle sensor. Ball Aerospace has been concerned with different, comparable spacecraft, together with the Suomi Nationwide Polar-orbiting Partnership (Suomi-NPP) and the Joint Polar Satellite tv for pc System-1 (JPSS-1).
In response to a public FY2024 Division of Protection funds doc, the WSF-M system will encompass two spacecraft. As soon as the primary is on orbit, it’s going to assess the extent of Ocean Floor Vector Wind (OSVW) measurement uncertainty and Tropical Cyclone Depth (TCI) latency.
The primary seeds of this system had been planted again in October 2012 throughout what’s known as the Materiel Answer Evaluation part. That resulted within the Division of the Air Pressure issuing a request for proposals from firms in January 2017.
In November 2017, the Area and Missile Programs Heart (now Area Programs Command) awarded a $93.7 million firm-fixed-price contract to Ball Aerospace for the WSF-M venture with an anticipated completion date of Nov. 15, 2019.
“That is an thrilling win for us, and we’re wanting ahead to increasing our work with the Air Pressure and persevering with to help warfighters and allies world wide,” mentioned Rob Pressure, the then president, Ball Aerospace, in a 2017 assertion. “WSF-M extends Ball’s legacy of offering exact measurements from area to allow extra correct climate forecasting.”
Roughly a yr later, Ball acquired a $255.4 million contract modification, which “offers for the train of an choice for improvement and fabrication of the [WSF-M] Area Automobile 1.” This new contract additionally pushed out the anticipated completion date to Jan. 15, 2023.
In Could 2020, the U.S. Area Pressure’s SMSC famous the completion of the WSF-M system’s crucial design assessment that April, which opened the door to the start of fabrication.
Over the next yr, the spacecraft went via a sequence of assessments, operating each the software program and {hardware} via its paces. The first bus construction was accomplished by August 2021 and by October 2022, the spacecraft entered its integration readiness assessment (IRR) and take a look at readiness assessment (TRR).
Earlier than that although, in Could 2022, Ball was awarded a $16.6 million cost-plus-incentive-fee contract modification, which was “for the train of an choice for integration, take a look at and operational work” of the spacecraft. That introduced the cumulative face worth of the contract to about $417.4 million.
Shortly earlier than the top of that yr, in November 2022, Ball acquired a $78.3 firm-fixed-price contract modification to develop the second WSF-M spacecraft. That work is predicted to be accomplished by Nov. 15, 2027, which might arrange a launch alternative no sooner than January 2028.
It was lastly delivered from Ball’s amenities in Boulder, Colorado, to Vandenberg Area Pressure Base for pre-launch processing in February 2024.
“This supply represents a serious milestone for the WSF-M program and is a crucial step in direction of placing the primary WSF-M satellite tv for pc on-orbit for the warfighter,” mentioned Col. Daniel Visosky, senior materiel chief, SSC’s Area Sensing Environmental and Tactical Surveillance program workplace, in a press release. “It represents a long-term collaboration and unity-of-effort between the Area Pressure and our mixed groups at Ball Aerospace, help contractors and authorities personnel.”
Out with the outdated, in with the brand new
This primary WSF-M satellite tv for pc, and ultimately the second, will take the place of the legacy Protection Meteorological Satellite tv for pc Program (DMSP) satellites, which have roots going again within the Nineteen Sixties. This system options two major satellites, which function in sun-synchronous LEO polar orbits at about 450 nautical miles in altitude.
Initially referred to as the Protection Satellite tv for pc Purposes Program (DASP), the primary of those legacy satellites launched in 1962 and so they had been categorized underneath the purview of the Nationwide Reconnaissance Workplace (NRO) as a part of the Corona Program. The DMSP was declassified in 1972 to permit information for use by non-governmental scientists and civilians.
In response to a Area Pressure historic accounting, a tri-agency organizational settlement was solid between the DoD, the Division of Commerce and NASA following President Invoice Clinton’s directive for the DOC and the DoD “to converge their separate polar-orbiting climate satellite tv for pc packages.” Funding accountability stayed with the DoD, however by June 1998, the operational accountability of the DMSP transferred to the Division of Commerce.
Satellite tv for pc operations for the DMSP then grew to become the accountability of the Nationwide Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Workplace of Satellite tv for pc and Product Operations (OSPO).
This system was not with out challenge over time. In 2004, the DMSP-F11 satellite tv for pc, launched in 1991 and retired in 1995, disintegrated and created dozens of items of orbital particles. In 2015, a defective battery was blamed for the same disintegration of DMSP-F13, which resulted in 147 items of particles.
That yr, Congress ordered an finish to the DMSP program and the yet-to-launch F20 satellite tv for pc was to be scrapped.
In February 2016, the DMSP-F19 had its deliberate five-year mission minimize quick lower than two years after launch. The satellite tv for pc suffered an influence anomaly that triggered engineers to lose management of it. The spacecraft was declared misplaced in March.
The DMSP-F17 satellite tv for pc, launched in 2006, was then relocated to the first place vacated by F19. In response to the Observing Programs Functionality Evaluation and Assessment (OSCAR), a instrument developed by the World Meteorological Group, there are three DMSP satellites nonetheless in service: F16, F17 and F18. They launched in 2003, 2006 and 2009 respectively.
The latter two have anticipated end-of-life dates of 2025, with F16 supposed to conclude its mission in December 2023, in accordance with the Committee on Earth Remark Satellites (CEOS). Nonetheless, that expiration has been prolonged because the WSF-M replacements are nonetheless on the way in which.
It’s unclear if F17 and F18 can hold on till the second WSF-M spacecraft is accomplished and launched in 2028.
