Most Powerful Atlas V Ready to Boost Heavyweight MUOS-3 Satellite to Orbit on Tuesday
After completing a banner 14 flights last year, United Launch Alliance (ULA)—the Centennial, Colo.-based operator of the Atlas V, Delta IV, and Delta II boosters out of Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., and Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif.—will kick off an ambitious 2015 with its inaugural launch on the evening of Tuesday, 20 January. The mission will deliver the third heavyweight Multi-User Objective System (MUOS-3) satellite into geostationary transfer orbit, with an apogee of 22,240 miles (35,790 km), on behalf of the U.S. Navy. Following on the heels of the launches of MUOS-1 in February 2012 and MUOS-2 in July 2013, the 15,000-pound (6,800-kg) MUOS-3 represents the third of an eventual constellation of five next-generation narrowband tactical satellites to offer U.S. and allied military forces improved communications capabilities whilst on the move. Continue reading