Atlas V Flies, But Will It Sell?

CRAIG COVAULT/CAPE CANAVERAL

The successful flight test must be matched
by competitive cost performance in the launch market

The Lockheed Martin Atlas V evolved expendable launch vehicle has succeeded in its first flight test, but now must pass an equally challenging market test, based on cost as well as flight performance.

BIONETICS PHOTO SERVICES

The first Atlas V EELV sits on Pad 41 at sunset the night before launch, illuminated by floodlights at Cape Canaveral.

LOCKHEED MARTIN

A camera on a lightning tower captures the moment of ignition when fire erupts under the 12.5-ft.-dia. common core booster and smoke blasts from the pad's exhaust duct. The Atlas V Vertical Integration Facility is at far left.

International Launch Services (ILS) which sells the Atlas and Russian Proton said there were 30 firm orders for the new launcher before its first flight, with the likelihood of additional orders once the vehicle proved itself. This compares with about 50 orders for its Boeing Delta IV competitor. The Atlas V launched the Eutelsat/Alcatel Hot Bird 6.

Five or six potential Atlas V customers were in a "wait-and-see" mode prior to the Aug. 21 first flight. ILS managers said they hoped to have at least one of these in the Atlas V camp by the end of the month.

The Atlas V team is also awaiting a U.S. Air Force decision about whether it will pull a Defense Satellite Communications System (DSCS) payload off the Delta IV EELV and shift it to Atlas because of Delta IV launch delays. The first Delta IV launch carrying the Eutelsat/Alcatel W5 spacecraft has been postponed until at least Nov. 3. The DSCS was to have been launched by December under the original plan.

The second Atlas V is scheduled for launch in December carrying a Telesat Canada spacecraft, and ILS managers said they could also fit in the DSCS mission before the end of 2002 or early 2003 if requested by the Air Force.

The first flight of the Atlas V is documented here by Aviation Week & Space Technology photographer Carleton Bailie and photographers from Lockheed Martin and Bionetics Photo Services, Lockheed Martin's engineering photo contractor at Cape Canaveral.

Right: The Atlas V lifts off at 100% throttle on 860,000 lb. thrust from its twin-nozzle oxygen/ kerosene Russian RD-180 engine.	CARLETON BAILIE
CARLETON BAILIE
Above: Viewed from 4 mi. away, the 191-ft.-tall Atlas V climbs out, framed by 340-ft.-tall lightning protection towers.

LOCKHEED MARTIN

The full expanse of Launch Complex 41 and the Atlantic Ocean horizon was captured at liftoff by a camera on the Atlas V Vertical Integration Facility, 1,800 ft. from the pad. Before Pad 41 was totally reconfigured for Atlas V, it was a Titan/Centaur pad that launched the Vikings to Mars, Voyagers to Jupiter and Saturn and Cassini to Saturn

BIONETICS PHOTO SERVICES

An engineering camera pointed into the mobile launcher flame pit shows the 737,000-lb. Atlas V starting to move upward on rocket plumes from the twin-nozzle RD-180 engine.

BIONETICS PHOTO SERVICES

A split second later, with the booster moving out of the picture, tens of thousands of gallons of water begin to fire into the flame pit. The water was used to cool the platform and reduce acoustic shock. The pad and mobile launch had minimal damage, a factor in launch cost.

© September 16, 2002 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc.

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