Centaur handles everything that comes after liftoff, from LEO to GEO to heliocentric orbit. Many space missions have depended on it, from national security to […]
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Space Launch Complex-41, the East Coast home of the Vulcan and Atlas V rockets at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, employs a “clean pad” concept of operations to ready launch vehicles and payloads for ascent into space. The rocket elements are assembled atop a Vulcan Launch Platform (VLP) inside the Vertical Integration Facility (VIF) located adjacent to the launch pad. The platform and fully stacked Altas V rocket then travel by rail approximately 1,800 feet northward from the VIF to the pad for the final countdown, fueling and liftoff.
1. Advanced Spaceflight Operations Center (ASOC)
2. Delta Operations Center (DOC)
3. Amazon Payload Processing Facility
4. Vertical Integration Facility (VIF)
The spacecraft are encapsulated in a 17.7-ft (5.4-m) diameter medium payload fairing. The PLF is a sandwich composite structure made with a vented aluminum-honeycomb core and graphite-epoxy face sheets. The bisector (two-piece shell) PLF encapsulates both the Centaur and the satellites. The vehicle’s heights with the 5-meter medium PLF is approximately 205 ft. (62.5 m).
The Centaur second stage is 10 ft (3 m) in diameter and 41.5 ft (12.6 m) in length. Its propellant tanks are pressure-stabilized and constructed of corrosion-resistant stainless steel. Centaur is a cryogenic vehicle, fueled with liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen, powered by an RL10C-1-1 engine producing 23,825 lbs (106 kilo-Newtons) of thrust. The cryogenic tanks are insulated with a combination of helium purged blankets, radiation shields and spray-on foam insulation (SOFI). The Centaur forward adapter (CFA) provides structural mountings for the fault-tolerant avionics system and structural electrical interfaces with the spacecraft.
The booster is 12.5 ft (3.8 m) in diameter and 106.5 ft (32.5 m) in length. The booster’s tanks are structurally rigid and constructed of isogrid aluminum barrels, spun-formed aluminum domes and intertank skirts. Booster propulsion is provided by the RD-180 engine system (a single engine with two thrust chambers). The RD-180 burns RP-1 (Rocket Propellant -1 or highly purified kerosene) and liquid oxygen and delivers 820,200 lbs (3.83 mega-Newtons) of thrust at sea level. Five solid rocket boosters (SRBs) generate the additional power required at liftoff, with each providing 371,550 lbs (1.6 mega-Newtons) of thrust. The Centaur avionics system, provides guidance, flight control and vehicle sequencing functions during the booster and Centaur phases of flight.