DMSP-5D3 F18

Spacecraft n°:

US spacecraft n°:

Launch data: Designation  38951 / 09057A Launch date  18 Oct 2009 - 16:12 UT Launch site  Va, SLC-3E Launch vehicle  Atlas-5/401 (AV-017) Mission  Military: Earth Science/Meteorology Sun-Synchronous LEO Earth orbit: Perigee / Apogee  842 x 859 km Eccentricity  1.18E-03 Inclination  98.93 deg Period  101.94 min

Spacecraft data: Prime contractor  Lockheed Martin Missiles and Space Platform   Operator  DoD/NOAA Mass at launch  1155 kg Dry Mass  825 kg Basic shape   Dimension (m)   Solar array   Stabilization   DC power  900 W Design lifetime  5 yrs - still active

The DMSP F18 satellite. Credit: Lockheed Martin

Mission details:

• Near-polar orbits; investigate Earth's environment.
• The US Air Force launched a weather satellite from Vandenberg on Oct 18. The Block 5D-3 F-18 launch in the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program is the latest in a series which began with the first Block 5D launch in 1976. The program began in 1962 with the first Program 35 weather satellites used by NRO to scout cloud-free regions for spy satellites, and was transferred to the Air Force in the late 1960s when it proved essential for supporting US war operations in Vietnam.
• Earlier DMSP satellites were launched on much smaller rockets; the new generation Delta 4 (used for DMSP 5D F-17) and the Atlas V 401 (used in this launch) have a lot of leftover capacity. On this flight that excess was used to perform tests on the Centaur AV-017 rocket and propel it into solar orbit. AV-017's hyperbolic Earth orbit had a C3 (specific energy at infinity) of 37.47 km**2/s**2, enough to send it into the asteroid belt if it were going in the right direction.
• It is the second solar orbit launch from Vandenberg (after NRL's Clementine space probe in 1994).