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Delta 4H

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Delta IV Heavy Credit: Boeing

AKA: Delta IV Heavy. Status: Active. First Launch: 2004-12-21. Last Launch: 2019-01-19. Number: 11 . Payload: 25,800 kg (56,800 lb). Thrust: 8,670.00 kN (1,949,090 lbf). Gross mass: 733,400 kg (1,616,800 lb). Height: 70.70 m (231.90 ft). Diameter: 5.00 m (16.40 ft). Span: 15.00 m (49.00 ft). Apogee: 185 km (114 mi).

LEO Payload: 25,800 kg (56,800 lb) to a 185 km orbit at 28.50 degrees. Payload: 10,843 kg (23,904 lb) to a GTO, 27 deg. Development Cost $: 500.000 million. Launch Price $: 254.000 million in 2004 dollars in 2002 dollars.

Stage Data - Delta IV Heavy

• Stage 0. 2 x Delta RS-68. Gross Mass: 226,400 kg (499,100 lb). Empty Mass: 26,760 kg (58,990 lb). Thrust (vac): 3,312.755 kN (744,737 lbf). Isp: 420 sec. Burn time: 249 sec. Isp(sl): 365 sec. Diameter: 5.10 m (16.70 ft). Span: 5.10 m (16.70 ft). Length: 40.80 m (133.80 ft). Propellants: Lox/LH2. No Engines: 1. Engine: RS-68. Status: In production. Comments: Low cost expendable stage using lower performance engine. Used in Delta 4, Boeing EELV. Engine can be throttled to 60%.

• Stage 1. 1 x Delta RS-68. Gross Mass: 226,400 kg (499,100 lb). Empty Mass: 26,760 kg (58,990 lb). Thrust (vac): 3,312.755 kN (744,737 lbf). Isp: 420 sec. Burn time: 249 sec. Isp(sl): 365 sec. Diameter: 5.10 m (16.70 ft). Span: 5.10 m (16.70 ft). Length: 40.80 m (133.80 ft). Propellants: Lox/LH2. No Engines: 1. Engine: RS-68. Status: In production. Comments: Low cost expendable stage using lower performance engine. Used in Delta 4, Boeing EELV. Engine can be throttled to 60%.

• Stage 2. 1 x Delta 4H - 2. Gross Mass: 30,710 kg (67,700 lb). Empty Mass: 3,490 kg (7,690 lb). Thrust (vac): 110.050 kN (24,740 lbf). Isp: 462 sec. Burn time: 1,125 sec. Diameter: 2.44 m (8.00 ft). Span: 5.00 m (16.40 ft). Length: 12.00 m (39.00 ft). Propellants: Lox/LH2. No Engines: 1. Engine: RL-10B-2. Status: In production. Comments: Delta 4 second stage with hydrogen tank increased to 5.1 m diameter.

• USA 181 - . Payload: Demosat / HLVOLSDP. Mass: 5,993 kg (13,212 lb). Nation: USA. Agency: USAF. USAF Sat Cat: 28500 . COSPAR: 2004-050A. Apogee: 36,413 km (22,625 mi). Perigee: 19,035 km (11,827 mi). Inclination: 13.48 deg. Period: 1,044.23 min.

  Mass model payload. First launch of a heavy EELV. The demonstration satellite was supposed to have been inserted into a sub-geosynchronous 36,350 km circular orbit but was instead deployed in a 19,035 km x 36,413 km orbit following a 5-hour and 50-minute flight. A shorter than expected first burn of the Centaur upper stage led to an orbit well below that planned. The Air Force EELV program office claimed that the primary flight objectives were accomplished. These included the heavy boost phase, flight of the new five-meter diameter Centaur upper stage and five-meter payload fairing, extended coast, upper stage third burn and payload separation, and activation and usage of Space Launch Complex 37B. Delayed from September 2003, July 3, September 10, November 18, December 10, 11 and 12.

• 3CSat 1 Sparkie - . Payload: Nanosat 2. Mass: 15 kg (33 lb). Nation: USA. Agency: USAF. Manufacturer: New Mexico. Class: Technology. Type: Navigation technology satellite. Spacecraft: 3CSat. COSPAR: 2004-050x.

  One of a pair of student-built nanosats for stero cloud imagery. The satellites did not contact the ground after separation from the booster in a lower-than-planned orbit and their fate was unclear. It was believed that they separated but re-entered rapidly from the 105 km perigee orbit.

• 3CSat 2 Ralphie - . Payload: Nanosat 2. Mass: 15 kg (33 lb). Nation: USA. Agency: USAF. Manufacturer: Colorado. Class: Technology. Type: Navigation technology satellite. Spacecraft: 3CSat. COSPAR: 2004-050x.

• USA 197 - . Payload: DSP-1 Block 18 F23. Mass: 2,270 kg (5,000 lb). Nation: USA. Agency: NSA. Manufacturer: TRW. Class: Surveillance. Type: Early warning satellite. Spacecraft: DSP. USAF Sat Cat: 32287 . COSPAR: 2007-054A. Apogee: 36,325 km (22,571 mi). Perigee: 35,800 km (22,200 mi). Inclination: 0.00 deg. Period: 1,436.00 min.

  Final DSP launch. The series was to be replaced by SBIRS, which was in the middle of a troubled development program. The Delta 4H performed well after problems on its first launch. The RL10-powered upper stage made three burns before releasing the early-warning satellite in its final geosynchronous orbit. Total cost of the flight was $700 million, with the DSP worth $400 million. The DSP carried a special 25 kg supplementary payload designed to detect extremely small nuclear tests in space. The payload was required by a secret White House/National Security Council directive to detect any attempted covert nuclear tests by Iran or North Korea.

• USA 202 - . Payload: Orion 6 / NROL-26. Mass: 5,400 kg (11,900 lb). Nation: USA. Agency: NRO. Class: Surveillance. Type: SIGINT. Spacecraft: Advanced Orion. USAF Sat Cat: 33490 . COSPAR: 2009-001A. Apogee: 38,077 km (23,659 mi). Perigee: 35,943 km (22,333 mi). Inclination: 3.00 deg. Period: 1,440.00 min. Classified signals intelligence satellite. It was speculated that it was a large-antenna spacecraft with the same mission as earlier Rhyolite, Aquacade, Magnum, and Orion missions..

• USA 223 - . Payload: Orion 7 / NROL-32. Mass: 5,400 kg (11,900 lb). Nation: USA. Class: Surveillance. Type: SIGINT. Spacecraft: Advanced Orion. USAF Sat Cat: 37232 . COSPAR: 2010-063A. Apogee: 35,800 km (22,200 mi). Perigee: 35,800 km (22,200 mi). Inclination: 0.00 deg. Period: 1,436.00 min. Probable geosynchronous signals intelligence satellite..

• USA 224 - . Payload: EIS-6 / NROL-49. Mass: 17,000 kg (37,000 lb). Nation: USA. Class: Surveillance. Type: Military surveillance satellite. Spacecraft: EIS. USAF Sat Cat: 37348 . COSPAR: 2011-002A. National Reconnaissance Office satellite placed into 252 km x 1023 km x 97.9 deg polar orbit, consistent with reports that it is was an Improved CRYSTAL type (KH-11 derivative) imaging reconnaissance satellite..

• USA 237 - . Payload: Orion 8 / NROL-15. Mass: 5,400 kg (11,900 lb). Nation: USA. Class: Surveillance. Type: SIGINT. Spacecraft: Advanced Orion. USAF Sat Cat: 38528 . COSPAR: 2012-034A. Apogee: 35,800 km (22,200 mi). Perigee: 35,800 km (22,200 mi). Inclination: 0.00 deg. Period: 1,440.00 min. Probable geosynchronous signals intelligence satellite..

• USA 245 - . Payload: EIS- 7 / NROL-65. Mass: 15,000 kg (33,000 lb). Nation: USA. Class: Surveillance. Type: Surveillance satellite. Spacecraft: EIS. USAF Sat Cat: 39232 . COSPAR: 2013-043A. Apogee: 1,002 km (622 mi). Perigee: 259 km (160 mi). Inclination: 97.90 deg. Secret payload for the National Reconnaissance Office; thought to be an imaging spy satellite of the EIS/Enhanced CRYSTAL type..

• Orion EFT-1 - . Mass: 9,400 kg (20,700 lb). Nation: USA. Class: Manned. Type: Manned spacecraft. Spacecraft Bus: Orion CEV. Spacecraft: Orion. Decay Date: 2014-12-05 . USAF Sat Cat: 40329 . COSPAR: 2014-077A. Apogee: 5,809 km (3,609 mi). Perigee: -37 km (-37 mi). Inclination: 28.80 deg.

  Exploration Flight Test 1 used an Orion Crew Module (probably around 9400 kg) with an LAS launch escape tower, atop a dummy Service Module with jettisonable side panels, which in turn was fixed to the OSA (Orion-to-Stage-Adapter). This vehicle was mounted on the second stage of a Delta IV Heavy vehicle 369. Delta 369's second stage was inserted into a 185 km x 888 km x 28.8 deg orbit at 12:22 GMT, 17 minutes after launch. The stage made a second burn at 14:00, entering a -37 km x 5.807 km orbit; apogee was at 1510. At 15:28 the Orion CM separated from the stage. The Orion CM made a small RCS adjust burn at 16:02 and entered the atmosphere at 8.9 km/s at 16:18, landing at 16:29 off Baja California at 23.60 deg N x 116.46 deg W. It was recovered by the USS Anchorage.

• USA 268 - . Payload: SIGINT. Nation: USA. Class: Surveillance. Type: SIGINT. Spacecraft: Advanced Orion. USAF Sat Cat: 41584 . COSPAR: 2016-036A. Apogee: 36,000 km (22,000 mi). Perigee: 35,612 km (22,128 mi). Inclination: 7.50 deg.

  The NROL-37 mission was a large signals intelligence (SIGINT) satellite, placed in geosynchronous orbit at 103 deg E over the Indian Ocean. Possibly the second Orion/Sharp model. There were two main lineages of GEO SIGINT satellites operated by the US National Reconnaissance Office: MERCURY (originally CANYON); and RHYOLITE (later AQUACADE), which was replaced in the 1980s by ORION (whose other rumoured codenames include MAGNUM and MENTOR). Launches of the MERCURY series ended in 1998, at which time it was rumoured that its capabilites would be merged into the ORION series. A number of observers suggested that the 2014 GEO SIGINT launch of USA 250 on an Atlas V was a one-off mission not part of the ORION series, and that with an increase in mass ORION had moved to using the RS-68A-powered Delta 4 Heavy rockets. It was further been suggested that the 2014 launch might be the NEMESIS 2 satellite mentioned in leaked FY2013 budget documents; however a close reading of those documents showed that funding for the latter project was cut off after FY2011, which implies that it was either launched by then or cancelled (more likely given the sudden drop from half-billion-dollar-level funding to zero). The documents also mention SHARP, the SIGINT High Altitude Replenishment Program, funded at a high level in FY2011-2013 and reportedly also since. It's possible the 2012 and 2016 launches may represent a new ORION/SHARP series, or that they are beefed up ORION and the 2014 launch was a SHARP prototype. The shorter fairing used for the 2014 launch suggests that it was not in fact an ORION.

• Parker Solar Probe - . Nation: USA. USAF Sat Cat: 43592 . COSPAR: 2018-065A. See Parker Solar Probe (PSP, Solar Probe Plus, SPP). ..

• USA 290 - . Nation: USA. Type: Imaging 0. Spacecraft: Improved Crystal. USAF Sat Cat: 43941 . COSPAR: 2019-004A.

  See KH-11 17 (Crystal 17, USA 290, NROL 71) ?. National Reconnaissance Office satellite believed to be the first of a new series of imaging spy satellites, probably derived from the Improved CRYSTAL design that in turn descended from the 1970s KENNEN spacecraft which carried the KH-11 camera system.