Delta
II Launch Vehicle
Unofficial
names/slang: n/a
Function:
Space lift vehicle
Date
deployed: November 26, 1990
Contractor:
Boeing Company, Expendable Launch Systems
Unit cost:
unavailable
Diameter:
Fairing: 9' - 6"; Core: 8' - 0"
Wingspan:
none
Height:
125' - 9"
Thrust at
Liftoff: 699,250 lbs
Weight - max
take-off: 511,190 lbs (231,870 kg)
Lift
Capability: Up to 11,100 pounds (4,995
kilograms) into low earth orbit, 28-degree circular
near-earth orbit and up to 8,420 pounds (3,789
kilograms) into a 90-degree polar orbit. Up to 4,010
pounds (1,804.5 kilograms) into geo-transfer orbit,
approximately 12,000 miles [19,200 kilometers] and
up to 2,000 pounds (909 kilograms) into
geosynchronous orbit, approximately 22,000 miles
(35,200 kilometers).
Payloads:
Department of Defense Navstar Global Positioning
System, NASA Mars probes and commercial satellites
such as Iridium and Globalstar
Guidance
System: Delta Redundant Inertial Flight Control
Assembly manufactured by Allied Signal Aerospace
Engines
(First Stage): (1)
Rocketdyne RS-27 and (2) LR-101-NA-11 vernier
engines; both use refined kerosene and liquid oxygen
as its propellants @ 200,000 lbs thrust
Engines
(First Stage): Restartable Aerojet AJ10-110K
motor; uses nitrogen tetroxide and Aerozine 50
propellants @ 9,750 lbs thrust
Payload assist
module: If used, Star-48B Solid-fuel Rocket @ 14,920
lbs thrust. (9) Alliant Techsystems strap-on
graphite-epoxy motors surround the first stage for
augmented lift-off @ 100,270 lbs thrust total |
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Mission:
Delta II Launch Vehicle Mission The Delta II is an
expendable launch, medium-lift vehicle used to launch
Navstar Global Positioning System (GPS) satellites into
orbit, providing navigational data to military users.
Additionally, the Delta II launches civil and commercial
payloads into low-earth, polar, geosynchronous transfer and
stationary orbits.
Features: The Delta II stands a total height of
125.75 feet (38.32 meters). The payload fairing -- the
shroud covering the third stage and the satellite -- is 2. 9
meters (9.5 feet) wide to accommodate the GPS satellite. A
3-meter (10 feet) stretched version fairing also is
available for larger payloads. Six of the nine solid-rocket
motors that ring the first stage separate after one minute
of flight, and the remaining three ignite, then separate,
after burn-out one minute later.
Background: The Delta launch vehicle family
began in 1959 when NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
awarded a contract to Douglas Aircraft Company (now Boeing)
to produce and integrate 12 space-launch vehicles. The Delta
used components from the U.S. Air Force's Thor
intermediate-range ballistic missile as its first stage and
the U.S. Navy's Vanguard launch-vehicle program as its
second. The first Delta was launched from Cape Canaveral Air
Force Station, FL, on May 13, 1960 and had the ability to
deliver a 100-pound spacecraft into geostationary transfer
orbit.
In January 1987 the Air Force awarded a contract to
McDonnell Douglas, now Boeing, for construction of 18 Delta
IIs to launch Navstar GPS satellites, originally programmed
for launch on the space shuttle. Since then, the order
expanded to accommodate 28 GPS satellite-dedicated launch
vehicles.
The first Delta II was successfully launched on Feb.
14, 1989, at Cape Canaveral. There are two primary versions
of the Delta II (6925 and 7925). The Delta 6925, the first
version, carried the initial nine GPS satellites into orbit.
Since May 1960, the Delta program has more than 270
successful military, civil and commercial launches. The
Delta accomplished many firsts over the years. These include
the first international satellite, Telstar I, in 1962; the
first geosynchronous-orbit satellite, Syncorn II, in 1963;
and the first commercial communications satellite, COMSAT I,
in 1965.
The Delta II is launched primarily from Cape Canaveral
AFS, but is also launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base,
CA. Members of Air Force Space Command's 45th Space Wing,
with headquarters at Patrick AFB, FL, and 30th Space Wing at
Vandenberg are responsible for the Delta II's military
launch missions.
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