Washington. December 7. INTERFAX - The American Atlas V launch vehicle, launched on Tuesday, successfully launched a group of satellites into orbit in the interests of the US Space Forces and NASA, the operator company United Launch Alliance (ULA) reported.
The launch was carried out from the 41st launch complex at the US Space Force base at 05:19 East Coast time (at 13:19 Moscow time) at Cape Canaveral in Florida.
As part of the Space Test Program-3 (STP-3) mission, the rocket, in particular, put into geosynchronous orbit with a height of 35.4 thousand km an experimental military satellite STPSat-6 with the Space and Atmospheric Burst Reporting System-3 system for tracking space and atmospheric explosions, which was created by the US National Nuclear Safety Administration (NNSA).
It provides detection of nuclear explosions and tracking of data on the space environment and is designed to complement the nuclear detonation detectors on board modern GPS spacecraft.
The rocket also put into orbit, in the interests of NASA, an experimental LCRD satellite - a demonstrator of a Laser Communications Relay Demonstration. According to the US Space Agency, the infrared laser relay technology will be tested on the device, which will allow satellites to transmit two-way communication data between the International Space Station and the Earth from geosynchronous orbit at speeds of about 1.2 Gbit. In addition, the laser communication system will significantly reduce the weight, dimensions and power consumption compared to other communication devices. The satellite will have to work in orbit for two years.
In addition, the rocket brought out the LDPE-1 payload adapter, designed for the deployment of small military satellites, and six more spacecraft in the interests of the Pentagon, whose technical data are classified.
The Atlas V two-stage launch vehicle was created by ULA, which is a joint venture of Boeing and Lockheed Martin corporations, carrying out launches in the interests of the Pentagon and the American intelligence community. It has several configurations that differ in the number of solid-fuel boosters and the payload thrown into orbit.