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52-491: It was launched as a rideshare on the Atlas V that launched Landsat 9 on September 27, 2021. Designed to operate for at least 8 months and study 10 exoplanets, CUTE remains operational as of December 2023, 27 months after launch. The spacecraft is expected to remain in orbit until 2027. CUTE can measure near-UV (255-330 nm) and do low resolution spectroscopy of atmospheric tracers (eg. Fe II, Mg II, Mg I, OH). The UV sensor

104-484: A 100% mission success rate and a 99% vehicle success rate. Atlas I The Atlas I was a US expendable launch system manufactured by General Dynamics in the 1990s to launch a variety of satellites. It was largely a commercial rebrand of the Atlas G (although it did fly multiple government payloads), but did feature several electrical and guidance improvements. Atlas I did not feature any major payload capacity improvements over its predecessor but did offer

156-538: A base price for each launch vehicle configuration, which ranges from US$ 109 million for the 401 up to US$ 153 million for the 551. Each additional SRB adds an average of US$ 6.8 million to the cost of the launch vehicle. Customers can also choose to purchase larger payload fairings or additional launch service options. NASA and Air Force launch costs are often higher than equivalent commercial missions due to additional government accounting, analysis, processing, and mission assurance requirements, which can add US$ 30–80 million to

208-490: A fault-tolerant unit. The upgraded FTINU first flew in 2006, and in 2010 a follow-on order for more FTINU units was awarded. In 2015, ULA announced that the Aerojet Rocketdyne-produced AJ-60A solid rocket boosters (SRBs) then in use on Atlas V would be superseded by new GEM 63 boosters produced by Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems . The extended GEM 63XL boosters will also be used on

260-543: A larger payload fairing option. Eleven launches took place, with three failures. Atlas I would be further developed and improved upon to produce the highly successful Atlas II rocket. The production line of Atlas G , the predecessor to Atlas I, was wound down and eventually mothballed in the 1980s as the Space Shuttle came online. The Shuttle's promise of a rapid launch cadence and lower launch costs resulted in dwindling demand for Atlas, and expendable rockets as

312-685: A schedule acceleration to 2014 was possible if funded. Other than the addition of the Emergency Detection System, no major changes were expected to the Atlas V rocket, but ground infrastructure modifications were planned. The most likely candidate for the human-rating was the N02 configuration, with no fairing, no solid rocket boosters, and dual RL10 engines on the Centaur upper stage. On 18 July 2011, NASA and ULA announced an agreement on

364-729: A third stage. On 6 December 2015, Atlas V lifted its heaviest payload to date into orbit – a 16,517 lb (7,492 kg) Cygnus resupply craft . On 8 September 2016, the OSIRIS-REx Asteroid Sample Return Mission was launched on an Atlas V 411 launch vehicle. It arrived at the asteroid Bennu in December 2018 and departed back to Earth in May 2021 to arrive September 2022 at with a sample ranging from 60 grams to 2 kilograms in 2023. Five Boeing X-37B spaceplane missions were successfully launched with

416-433: A three-digit designation. The first digit shows the diameter (in meters) of the payload fairing and has a value of "4" or "5" for fairing launches and "N" for crew capsule launches (as no payload fairing is used). The second digit indicates the number of solid rocket boosters (SRBs) attached to the core of the launch vehicle and can range from "0" through "3" with the 4 m (13 ft) fairing, and "0" through "5" with

468-728: A whole. However, the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster in January 1986 caused second-guessing of the Shuttle's ability, and renewed interest in uncrewed expendable launch vehicles. Atlas G production would now be restarted, under the name Atlas I, sporting guidance upgrades. In June 1987, General Dynamics committed $ 100M to acquire long-lead procurement items to support the build of 18 vehicles for sale commercially. The "I" in "Atlas I" can cause confusion, as all previous Atlas rockets were designated using letters, ending with

520-482: Is a 2048 x 515 pixel CCD array, with the spectrum lengthwise across the sensor. The 515 pixel width provides tolerance from sensor damage. This astrobiology -related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Atlas V Atlas V is an expendable launch system and the fifth major version in the Atlas launch vehicle family . It was designed by Lockheed Martin and has been operated by United Launch Alliance (ULA) since 2006. It

572-520: Is for nine launches. Project Kuiper aims to put thousands of satellites into orbit. ULA is Amazon's first launch provider. Two Kuiper test satellites were launched on Atlas V in 2023 because their originally-contracted launch vehicles were not available on time. The remaining eight Atlas V Kuiper launches will each carry a full payload of Kuiper satellites. Most of the Kuiper constellation will use other launch vehicles. Each Atlas V booster configuration has

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624-654: Is powered by a single Russian RD-180 engine burning kerosene and liquid oxygen . The Centaur upper stage is powered by one or two American RL10 engine(s) manufactured by Aerojet Rocketdyne and burns liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen . Strap-on solid rocket boosters (SRBs) are used in many configurations. AJ-60A SRBs were used originally, but they were replaced in November 2020 by Graphite-Epoxy Motor (GEM 63) SRBs for all except Starliner launches. The standard payload fairings are 4.2 or 5.4 m (14 or 18 ft) in diameter with various lengths. The Atlas V

676-549: Is used for DoD , NASA, and commercial payloads. It is America's longest-serving active rocket. After 87 launches, in August 2021 ULA announced that Atlas V would be retired, and all 29 remaining launches had been sold. As of July 2024 , 15 launches remain. Production ceased in 2024. Other future ULA launches will use the Vulcan Centaur rocket. Each Atlas V launch vehicle consists of two main stages. The first stage

728-530: The Atlas H . However, subsequent rockets were designated using Roman numerals, starting with the Atlas II . Officially, the "I" is the Roman numeral "1". Atlas I was the last use of the classic Atlas design with three engines, a jettisonable booster section, and two vernier engines. While retaining most of those features, Atlas II replaced the verniers with a hydrazine roll control system. The first stage of

780-523: The Atlas II with better-performing engines derived from the RS-27 . The upper stage of the Atlas I was the Centaur I stage, derived from earlier models of Centaur that also flew atop Atlas boosters. Centaur I featured two RL-10-A-3A engines burning liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen, making the stage extremely efficient. To help slow the boiloff of liquid hydrogen in the tanks, Centaur featured fiberglass insulation panels that were jettisoned 25 seconds after

832-649: The Boeing Starliner CST-100 spacecraft as part of the Commercial Crew Program . Atlas V is the launch vehicle for Starliner. The first launch of an uncrewed Starliner, the Boeing OFT mission, occurred atop a human-rated Atlas V on the morning of 20 December 2019; the mission failed to meet goals due to a spacecraft failure, though the Atlas V launcher performed well. In 2022, an Atlas V launched an uncrewed Starliner capsule for

884-788: The Common Core Booster (not to be confused with the Delta IV's Common Booster Core ), is 3.8 m (12 ft) in diameter and 32.5 m (107 ft) in length. It is powered by one Russian NPO Energomash RD-180 main engine burning 284,450 kg (627,100 lb) of liquid oxygen and RP-1 . The booster operates for about four minutes, providing about 4 MN (900,000 lb f ) of thrust. Thrust can be augmented with up to five Aerojet AJ-60A or Northrop Grumman GEM 63 strap-on solid rocket boosters , each providing an additional 1.27 MN (290,000 lb f ) of thrust for 94 seconds. The main differences between

936-544: The SpaceX Falcon 9 . In 2006, ULA offered an Atlas V Heavy option that would use three Common Core Booster (CCB) stages strapped together to lift a 29,400 kg (64,800 lb) payload to low Earth orbit . ULA stated at the time that 95% of the hardware required for the Atlas ;V Heavy has already been flown on the Atlas V single-core vehicles. The lifting capability of the proposed launch vehicle

988-749: The United Launch Alliance . This led to a proposal to combine the 5-meter-diameter Delta IV tankage production processes with dual RD-180 engines, resulting in the Atlas Phase ;2 . An Atlas V PH2-Heavy consisting of three 5-meter stages in parallel with six RD-180s was considered in the Augustine Report as a possible heavy lifter for use in future space missions, as well as the Shuttle-derived Ares ;V and Ares V Lite . If built,

1040-474: The Vulcan Centaur launch vehicle that will replace the Atlas V. The first Atlas V launch with GEM 63 boosters happened on 13 November 2020. Proposals and design work to human-rate the Atlas V began as early as 2006, with ULA's parent company Lockheed Martin reporting an agreement with Bigelow Aerospace that was intended to lead to commercial private trips to low Earth orbit (LEO). Human-rating design and simulation work began in earnest in 2010, with

1092-583: The 5 m (16 ft) fairing. As seen in the first image, all SRB layouts are asymmetrical. The third digit represents the number of engines on the Centaur stage, either "1" or "2". All of the configurations use the Single Engine Centaur , except for the "N22" which is only used on Starliner crew capsule missions, and uses Dual Engine Centaur . Atlas V has flown in eleven configurations:    Active    Retired Before 2016, pricing information for Atlas V launches

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1144-472: The Atlas I was essentially a copy of the first stage of the Atlas G . It featured 2 LR-89-7 booster engines, one LR-105-7 sustainer engine, and 2 LR-101 vernier engines for roll control. The structure of the first stage consisted of stainless steel balloon tanks, much like earlier Atlas rockets. The sustainer and vernier engines were mounted onto this tank structure. The two booster engines, however, were mounted to their own cylindrical skirt structure attached to

1196-557: The Atlas I: Both fairing models were also offered on the Atlas II series of rockets, and the Large model continued to fly until 2022 on the Atlas V . The payload mass numbers for Atlas I were based on vehicles flying with a 4.2 m (14 ft)-diameter Large fairing. If a vehicle flew using a Medium fairing, the lower mass of the fairing would enable an approximately 135 kg (298 lb) increase in payload capacity to

1248-551: The Atlas V and earlier Atlas I and II family launch vehicles are: The Centaur upper stage uses a pressure-stabilized propellant-tank design and cryogenic propellants . The Centaur stage for Atlas V is stretched 1.7 m (5 ft 7 in) relative to the Atlas IIAS Centaur and is powered by either one or two Aerojet Rocketdyne RL10A-4-2 engines, each engine developing a thrust of 99.2 kN (22,300 lb f ). The inertial navigation unit (INU) located on

1300-628: The Atlas V as the initial launch vehicle for its CST-100 crew capsule. CST-100 will take NASA astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) and was also intended to service the proposed Bigelow Commercial Space Station . A three-flight test program was projected to be completed by 2015, certifying the Atlas V/CST-100 combination for human spaceflight operations. The first flight was expected to include an Atlas V rocket integrated with an uncrewed CST-100 capsule,

1352-607: The Atlas V to be the booster for its still-under-development Dream Chaser crewed spaceplane . The Dream Chaser was intended to launch on an Atlas V, fly a crew to the ISS, and land horizontally following a lifting-body reentry. However, in late 2014 NASA did not select the Dream Chaser to be one of the two vehicles selected under the Commercial Crew competition. On 4 August 2011, Boeing announced that it would use

1404-609: The Atlas V. It will fly 15 more launches. For planned launches, see List of Atlas launches (2020–2029) . The first payload, the Hot Bird 6 communications satellite, was launched to geostationary transfer orbit (GTO) on 21 August 2002 by an Atlas V 401. On 12 August 2005, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter was launched aboard an Atlas V 401 launch vehicle from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS). The Centaur upper stage of

1456-653: The Atlas V. The flights are launched on Atlas V 501s from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The X-37B, also known as the Orbital Test Vehicle (OTV), is a reusable robotic spacecraft operated by USAF that can autonomously conduct landings from orbit to a runway. The first Vandenberg Air Force Base landing at the Space Shuttle 15,000 ft (4,600 m) runway occurred in December 2010. Landings occur at both Vandenberg and Cape Canaveral depending on mission requirements. On 20 December 2019,

1508-454: The Atlas PH2-Heavy was projected to be able to launch a payload mass of approximately 70 t (69 long tons; 77 short tons) into an orbit of 28.5° inclination . The Atlas V Common Core Booster was to have been used as the first stage of the joint US-Japanese GX rocket , which was scheduled to make its first flight in 2012. GX launches would have been from the Atlas V launch complex at Vandenberg Air Force Base, SLC-3E . However,

1560-461: The Centaur provides guidance and navigation for both the Atlas and Centaur and controls both Atlas and Centaur tank pressures and propellant use. The Centaur engines are capable of multiple in-space starts, making possible insertion into low Earth parking orbit , followed by a coast period and then insertion into GTO . A subsequent third burn following a multi-hour coast can permit direct injection of payloads into geostationary orbit . As of 2006 ,

1612-420: The Centaur vehicle had the highest proportion of burnable propellant relative to total mass of any modern hydrogen upper stage and hence can deliver substantial payloads to a high-energy state. Atlas V payload fairings are available in two diameters, depending on satellite requirements. The 4.2 m (14 ft) diameter fairing, originally designed for the Atlas II booster, comes in three different lengths:

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1664-619: The Japanese government decided to cancel the GX project in December 2009. In May 2015, a consortium of companies, including Aerojet and Dynetics , sought to license the production or manufacturing rights to the Atlas V using the AR1 engine in place of the RD-180. The proposal was rejected by ULA. Last flight of the 431 configuration 100th flight of an RD-180 engine ULA has stopped selling

1716-494: The RUAG fairing is much longer and fully encloses both the Centaur upper stage and the payload. Many systems on the Atlas V have been the subject of upgrade and enhancement both prior to the first Atlas V flight and since that time. Work on a Fault Tolerant Inertial Navigation Unit (FTINU) started in 2001 to enhance mission reliability for Atlas vehicles by replacing the earlier non-redundant navigation and computing equipment with

1768-675: The award of US$ 6.7 million in the first phase of the NASA Commercial Crew Program (CCP) to develop an Emergency Detection System (EDS). As of February 2011, ULA had received an extension to April 2011 from NASA and was finishing up work on the EDS. NASA solicited proposals for CCP phase 2 in October 2010, and ULA proposed to complete design work on the EDS. At the time, NASA's goal was to get astronauts to orbit by 2015. Then-ULA President and CEO Michael Gass stated that

1820-430: The booster engines, dropping the booster engines increased the stage's performance. The LR-105-7 sustainer engine and LR-101 vernier engines shut down when all propellant in the first stage tanks was depleted, around four and a half minutes after liftoff. Toward the end of the first stage burn, the payload fairing was jettisoned. Atlas I featured the same first-stage engines as the Atlas G. They would later be replaced on

1872-463: The bottom of the tanks. Each LR-89-7 had its own turbopump to feed propellants into the combustion chamber, but the two engines shared a single common gas generator. The complete sustainer and booster engine assembly was referred to as the MA-5 . The booster engines, along with their support structure and plumbing, would drop away in one piece during flight. As the sustainer engine was more efficient than

1924-406: The cost of a launch. In 2013, launch costs for commercial satellites to GTO averaged about US$ 100 million, significantly lower than historic Atlas V pricing. However, after the rise of reusable rockets , the price of an Atlas V [401] has dropped from approximately US$ 180 million to US$ 109 million, in large part due to competitive pressure that emerged in the launch services marketplace during

1976-517: The early 2010s. ULA CEO Tory Bruno stated in 2016 that ULA needs at least two commercial missions each year in order to stay profitable going forward. ULA is not attempting to win these missions on purely lowest purchase price, stating that it "would rather be the best value provider". In 2016, ULA suggested that customers would have much lower insurance and delay costs because of the high Atlas V reliability and schedule certainty, making overall customer costs close to that of using competitors like

2028-467: The first Starliner crew capsule was launched in Boe-OFT un-crewed test flight. The Atlas V launch vehicle performed flawlessly but an anomaly with the spacecraft left it in a wrong orbit. The orbit was too low to reach the flight's destination of ISS , and the mission was subsequently cut short. In its 100 launches (as of June 2024), starting with its first launch in August 2002, Atlas V has achieved

2080-401: The first stage booster engines were jettisoned. Centaur I was the last version of the stage to feature separating insulation panels. Centaur could be reignited to propel payloads to a geostationary transfer orbit, which was by far the most common flight profile on Atlas I. The maximum coast time of Centaur (essentially the stage's mission lifetime on orbit) was around 90 minutes when the stage

2132-535: The in-flight launch abort system test flight did not materialize, and the third flight, a crewed orbital test flight with two astronauts (in the end NASA's, not Boeing's astronauts) materialized in June 2024 as Boeing Crewed Flight Test . The launch abort system was tested in 2019 in the Boeing Pad Abort Test mission but this did not take place in-flight but from the launch pad. In 2014, NASA selected

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2184-411: The launch vehicle completed its burns over a 56-minute period and placed MRO into an interplanetary transfer orbit towards Mars. On 19 January 2006, New Horizons was launched by a Lockheed Martin Atlas V 551 rocket. A third stage was added to increase the heliocentric (escape) speed. This was the first launch of the Atlas V 551 configuration with five solid rocket boosters, and the first Atlas V with

2236-538: The necessity of an EELV heavy-lift variant, including development of an Atlas V Heavy", and to "resolve the RD-180 issue, including coproduction, stockpile , or United States development of an RD-180 replacement". In 2010, ULA stated that the Atlas V Heavy variant could be available to customers 30 months from the date of order. In late 2006, the Atlas V program gained access to the tooling and processes for 5-meter-diameter stages used on Delta IV when Boeing and Lockheed Martin space operations were merged into

2288-503: The original 9 m (30 ft) version and extended 10 and 11 m (33 and 36 ft) versions, first flown respectively on the AV-008/ Astra 1KR and AV-004/ Inmarsat-4 F1 missions. Fairings of up to 7.2 m (24 ft) diameter and 32.3 m (106 ft) length have been considered but were never implemented. A 5.4 m (18 ft) diameter fairing, with an internally usable diameter of 4.57 m (15.0 ft),

2340-420: The possibility of certifying the Atlas V to NASA's standards for human spaceflight. ULA agreed to provide NASA with data on the Atlas V, while NASA would provide ULA with draft human certification requirements. In 2011, the human-rated Atlas V was also still under consideration to carry spaceflight participants to the proposed Bigelow Commercial Space Station . In 2011, Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) picked

2392-434: The second flight an in-flight launch abort system demonstration in the middle of that year, and the third flight a crewed mission carrying two Boeing test-pilot astronauts into LEO and returning them safely at the end of 2015. These plans were delayed by many years and morphed along the way so that in the end, the first orbital test flight with no crew materialized in 2019, but it was a failure and needed to be reflown in 2022,

2444-412: The second time on Boe-OFT 2 mission; the mission was a success. In June 2024, on Boe-CFT mission, Atlas V carried humans into space for the first time, launching two NASA astronauts to the ISS. Amazon has selected the Atlas V to launch some of the satellites for Project Kuiper . Project Kuiper will offer a high-speed satellite internet constellation service. The contract signed with Amazon

2496-577: Was developed and built by RUAG Space in Switzerland . The RUAG fairing uses carbon fiber composite construction and is based on a similar flight-proven fairing for the Ariane 5 . Three configurations are manufactured to support the Atlas V: 20.7 m (68 ft), 23.4 m (77 ft), and 26.5 m (87 ft) long. While the classic 4.2 m (14 ft) fairing covers only the payload,

2548-649: Was developed by Lockheed Martin Commercial Launch Services (LMCLS) as part of the U.S. Air Force Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) program and made its inaugural flight on 21 August 2002. The vehicle operates from SLC-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS). It also operated from SLC-3E at Vandenberg Space Force Base until 2022. LMCLS continued to market the Atlas V to commercial customers worldwide until January 2018, when United Launch Alliance (ULA) assumed control of commercial marketing and sales. The Atlas V first stage,

2600-502: Was equipped with a long-coast kit. This kit included a larger battery, increased helium storage, additional shielding on the stage, and an extra bottle for hydrazine. General Dynamics offered an optional Star 48B third stage for Earth-departure launches. This small solid rocket motor would help give payloads a final push away from Earth shortly after separating from Centaur. Although Star motors flew on other Atlas rockets, they never flew on Atlas I. Two fairing models were available for

2652-534: Was limited. In 2010, NASA contracted with ULA to launch the MAVEN mission on an Atlas V 401 for approximately US$ 187 million. The 2013 cost of this configuration for the U.S. Air Force under their block buy of 36 launch vehicles was US$ 164 million. In 2015, the TDRS-M launch on an Atlas 401 cost NASA US$ 132.4 million. Starting in 2016, ULA provided pricing for the Atlas V through its RocketBuilder website, advertising

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2704-765: Was to be roughly equivalent to the Delta ;IV Heavy , which used RS-68 engines developed and produced domestically by Aerojet Rocketdyne. A 2006 report, prepared by the RAND Corporation for the Office of the Secretary of Defense , stated that Lockheed Martin had decided not to develop an Atlas V heavy-lift vehicle (HLV). The report recommended for the U.S. Air Force and the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) to "determine

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