Tonights launch opportunity is instantaneous and set for precisely 0135:15 GMT (9:35:15 p.m. EDT; 10:35:15 p.m. French Guiana time). >0115 GMT (9:15 p.m. EDT Mon.) Live streaming video from the Guiana Space Center is due to begin in about 5 minutes. The synchronized launch sequence takes over the countdown about four minutes prior to liftoff. The computer-controlled final sequence checks thousands of parameters in the final steps of the countdown. After liftoff, Vega will clear the pads four lightning towers and pitch north from the Guiana Space Center, heading over the Atlantic Ocean and surpassing the speed of sound in about 30 seconds. The Vegas solid-fueled P80FW first stage, producing a maximum of 683,000 pounds of thrust, burns out 113 seconds after liftoff, giving way to the launchers Zefiro 23 second stage at an altitude of about 33 miles. After a 102-second burn, the second stage consumes its propellant 3 minutes, 36 seconds after launch and separates. The Vegas third stage, the Zefiro 9A motor, ignites 3 minutes, 51 seconds into the mission. A few seconds later, Vegas 8.5-foot-diameter payload fairing will jettison. Vegas third stage fires for more than two minutes, turning off and separating 6 minutes, 14 seconds after liftoff. The fourth stage, known as AVUM, ignites its liquid-fueled Ukrainian engine 6 minutes, 21 seconds into the mission, burning more than five minutes to reach a transfer orbit above Earth. After coasting for about 41 minutes, the AVUM fourth stage will fire again to reach a circular 466-mile-high (750-kilometer) orbit with an inclination of 98.5 degrees. Separation of the DZZ-HR payload, also known as KazEOSat 1, is expected 55 minutes, 29 seconds into the flight.
Posted on: Tue, 29 Apr 2014 01:21:16 +0000
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