United Launch Alliance (ULA) launched an Atlas V launch vehicle with military satellites. The spacecraft were launched by order of the US Space Force. TASS reports.
The rocket, the first stage of which received the Russian RD-180 engine, was launched from the cosmodrome at Cape Canaveral (Florida) on December 7, at 05:22 am US East Coast time (13:22 Moscow time). Initially, the launch was planned for December 5, but the launch was postponed due to a fuel leak in the ground storage.
Atlas V carries STPSat-6 and LDPE-1 satellites, which were developed by Northrop Grumman. The ULA press service noted that the vehicles will be launched into geostationary orbit. The LDPE-1 satellite is designed to test new technological developments.
The STPSat-6 satellite received equipment for tracking nuclear explosions on the Earth's surface and in underground complexes. The device will be able to transmit information to the Pentagon and the National Nuclear Safety Administration (NSNS) under the US Department of Energy.
STPSat-6 was also equipped with NASA communications equipment that converts electrical signals into modulated laser radiation in the infrared range. This will allow the exchange of data at a speed of 1.2 gigabits per second.
Earlier, The Independent noted that more than a third of the satellites in Earth's orbit are under the control of SpaceX. The enterprise controls 37 percent of the total number of active satellites.
