Waste of a Delta 4 Heavy?

(Neil Fraser) wrote in message . com...
On July 3, a test flight of a Delta 4 Heavy will be launched from Cape
Canaveral. As stated on http://spaceflightnow.com/tracking/

"Boeing Delta 4 Heavy rocket will launch on a demonstration mission
for the U.S. Air Force. ... This launch will carry only a dummy
payload ...

I fully understand why they don't want to fly a valuable satellite on
this relatively risky mission. But I don't understand why they don't
strap on one of the many small satellites that are quietly sitting in
storage containers, waiting for rides to space that may never arrive.
One in particular is Triana:
http://triana.gsfc.nasa.gov/home/


My guess is that the U.S. Air Force wants to see
Delta 4-Heavy demonstrate an ability to launch a
specific type of very large/heavy payload to a
specific orbit. Subsequent actual payloads will
cost much more than the cost of a demo launch.

- Ed Kyle

(ed kyle) wrote



My guess is that the U.S. Air Force wants to see
Delta 4-Heavy demonstrate an ability to launch a
specific type of very large/heavy payload to a
specific orbit.


Has the orbit for the D-4H demo launch been announced yet?

"Allen Thomson" wrote in message
om...
Has the orbit for the D-4H demo launch been announced yet?

It's a launch to GTO with a three-burn second stage. NASA will be watching
closely, as that is the profile to be used for GOES-N.

-Kim-