NEXT SPACEFLIGHT

Status

Success

JPSS-2

Launch Time
Thu Nov 10, 2022 09:49 UTC

Rocket

Atlas V 401
Image Credit: ULA
ULA
Status: Active
Price: $109.0 million
Liftoff Thrust: 3,826 kN
Payload to LEO: 9,797 kg
Payload to GTO: 4,750 kg
Stages: 2
Strap-ons: 0
Rocket Height: 58.3 m
Fairing Diameter: 4.2 m
Fairing Height: 13.8 m

Mission Details

JPSS-2

JPSS-2, or Joint Polar Satellite System-2, is the second of the United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's latest generation of U.S. polar-orbiting, non-geosynchronous, environmental satellites called the Joint Polar Satellite System. JPSS-2 will join NOAA-20 the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership satellite in the same orbit. Circling the Earth from pole-to-pole, it will cross the equator about 14 times daily, providing full global coverage twice a day.

Payloads: 1
Total Mass: 2,930.0 kg
Sun-Synchronous Orbit

LOFTID

NASA's LOFTID (Low Earth Orbit Flight Test of an Inflatable Decelerator) is demonstrating a cross-cutting aeroshell -- a type of heat shield -- for atmospheric re-entry. For destinations with an atmosphere, one of the challenges NASA faces is how to deliver heavy payloads (experiments, equipment, and people) because current rigid aeroshells are constrained by a rocket’s shroud size. One answer is an inflatable aeroshell that can be deployed to a scale much larger than the shroud. This technology enables a variety of proposed NASA missions to destinations such as Mars, Venus, Titan as well as return to Earth.

LOFTID is demonstrating a large aeroshell -- 6 meters in diameter or about 20 feet -- entry from low-Earth orbit, to demonstrate this technology in conditions relevant to many potential applications.

After JPSS-2 reaches orbit, LOFTID will be put on a reentry trajectory from low-Earth orbit to demonstrate the inflatable aeroshell or heat shield’s ability to slow down and survive re-entry.

Payloads: 1
Total Mass: 1,089.0 kg
Suborbital

Location

SLC-3E, Vandenberg SFB, California, USA

Stats

2022

155th orbital launch attempt

United Launch Alliance

155th mission
8th mission of 2022
154th successful mission
150th consecutive successful mission

Atlas V

97th mission
7th mission of 2022
96th successful mission
87th consecutive successful mission